Fully unlock the power of virtualization by writing VMware applications that automate virtual infrastructure management--The definitive guide to writing applications that run on VMware servers and virtual infrastructure. An indispensable tool for every VMware admin and developer. Task-based coverage of VMware's key APIs, with proven code samples. Covers the new vSphere 4.0, including new APIs for managing ESX servers and clusters, VirtualCenter servers, and more. Companies running VMware have already achieved enormous gains through virtualization. The next wave of benefits will come when they reduce the time and effort required to administer VMware. The VMware Software Development Kit (SDK) includes multiple APIs that allow administrators and developers to write programs on top of VMware and across a VMware infrastructure. These APIs, however, are complicated and poorly documented. In this book, VMware senior technical staffer Steve Jin thoroughly demystifies the existing VMware VI SDK, and introduces new APIs that make it easier to take full advantage of the possibilities of virtualization. Jin offers a task-based introduction to VMware's key APIs, and presents proven code that developers and administrators can use in their own applications. He also introduces new APIs that will make it far easier to automate the management of ESX servers, ESX clusters, and VirtualCenter servers; and to develop applications on top of or around VMware platforms. This book goes far beyond VMware's standard reference materials, offering new context and showing how to use multiple API features together to build robust, highly effective VMware solutions.