vSphere 6.7 is here! There are a ton of updates and improvements to comb through. However, the ones that I’m most excited about are on the developer and automation side.
As part of the vSphere 6.5 release, we announced a new set of RESTful based APIs. These new APIs were completely re-written so they could be easier to use and made available in a more modern standard. The amount of interest and usage has been incredible thus far! With vSphere 6.7, we are continuing to add functionality to those existing APIs and expanding the coverage of these APIs into several new areas.
Let’s take a bit of a deeper dive into what’s being released with the vSphere 6.7 APIs.
Appliance API Updates
We received a ton of feedback on the appliance APIs and quite a few of those requests made it into this update. The most requested areas were backup and recovery as well as updates. The process of creating and monitoring backups was improved with several new methods as well as the ability to now schedule backups through the API! We can also manage the update lifecycle through the API as well. From prechecks to staging to installation and validation, it’s all available by API now.
Many API methods were also taken out of technical preview and are now supported. Controlling the appliance-based services are now supported. Managing the appliance’s network configuration and NTP settings have been added to the supported side. The other important methods which are now supported, managing the power status of the appliance itself!
vCenter API Updates
The vCenter RESTful APIs also received a ton of feedback. These APIs have been increased by more than 40 new methods. New APIs have been added to interact with the VM’s guest operating system (OS), viewing Storage Policy Based Management (SPBM) policies, and managing vCenter server services.
There are also a handful of new APIs to handle the deployment and lifecycle of the vCenter server. Stage 2 deployment activities are now available! We can now easily make configuration updates through the API like repointing a Platform Services Controller (PSC) or reconfiguring the deployed topology. Last, but not least, manage updates!
Other API Updates
There have been a handful of updates to the vSphere Web Services (SOAP) APIs as well. There’s a new method to clear all triggered alarms, a lot of Trusted Platform Module (TPM) functionality, and some new features to Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC).
However, there are two areas I would highly recommend looking into. First, the new Instant Clone method. You may remember this as Project Fargo or even VMFork, but it is now included in vSphere 6.7 and available by API! Second, there’s a brand-new property that has been highly requested and finally added to the ‘VirtualMachineConfigInfo’ data object. This property, named: createDate, gives the timestamp when a VM was created!
Summary
vSphere 6.7 has been released and it is packed full of new stuff for those developers and automation specialists! The RESTful APIs introduced in vSphere 6.5 for vSphere and the appliance have been expanded. There are new APIs to update an appliance, schedule backups, and control service statuses. The vCenter server can be deployed from Stage 2, have upgrades applied, and even have their deployment topologies updated. New APIs have also been introduced to help manage VMs through the guest OS. There has even been the much-requested creation date property added to VM objects.
Install vSphere 6.7 today and let us know in the comments what APIs you’re looking forward to using the most!
