Name

VixHost_OpenVM

Description

VixHandle
VixHost_OpenVM(VixHandle hostHandle,
               const char *vmxFilePathName,
               VixVMOpenOptions options,
               VixHandle propertyListHandle,
               VixEventProc *callbackProc,
               void *clientData);

This function opens a virtual machine on the host that is identified by the hostHandle parameter and returns a context to that machine as a virtual machine handle. This function supercedes VixVM_Open().

Parameters

hostHandle: The handle of a host object, typically returned from VixHost_Connect().
vmxFilePathName: The path name of the virtual machine configuration file on the local host.
options: Must be VIX_VMOPEN_NORMAL.
propertyListHandle: A handle to a property list containing extra information that might be needed to open the VM. This parameter is optional; you can pass VIX_INVALID_HANDLE if no extra information is needed.
callbackProc: A callback function that will be invoked when the operation is complete.
clientData: A parameter that will be passed to the callbackProc procedure.

Return Value

VixHandle. A job handle that describes the state of this asynchronous call.

Remarks

This function opens a virtual machine on the host that is identified by the hostHandle parameter. The virtual machine is identified by vmxFilePathName, which is a path name to the configuration file (.VMX file) for that virtual machine.
The format of the path name depends on the host operating system. For example, a path name for a Windows host requires backslash as a directory separator, whereas a Linux host requires a forward slash. If the path name includes backslash characters, you need to precede each one with an escape character. For VMware Server 2.x, the path contains a preceeding data store, for example [storage1] vm/vm.vmx.
This function is asynchronous, and uses a job object to report when the operation is complete. The function returns a handle to the job object immediately. When the job is signaled, the virtual machine handle is stored as the VIX_PROPERTY_JOB_RESULT_HANDLE property of the job object.
For VMware Server hosts, a virtual machine must be registered before you can open it. You can register a virtual machine by opening it with the VMware Server Console, through the vmware-cmd command with the register parameter, or with VixHost_RegisterVM().
For vSphere, the virtual machine opened may not be the one desired if more than one Datacenter contains vmxFilePathName.
To open an encrypted virtual machine, pass a handle to a property list containing the property VIX_PROPERTY_VM_ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD set to the password for the virtual machine.
To enable SSL certificate checking, refer to the VixHost_Connect function. HostConnect function. If enabled, one must check the boolean property VIX_PROPERTY_VM_SSL_ERROR on the resulting Virtual Machine handle to determine if the host machine's SSL certificate was signed by a trusted certificate authority.
For ESX/ESXi hosts and vSphere, the user account specified in the call to VixHost_Connect must have "System.View" privilege at the level of the Datacenter containing the ESX server that hosts the VM to be opened.
For ESX/ESXi hosts and vSphere, the user account specified in the call to VixHost_Connect must have sufficient privileges to access guest operations in the virtual machine. For vSphere 4.1 and later, the privilege is "Virtual Machine.Interaction.Acquire Guest Control Ticket". For 4.0, the privilege is "Virtual Machine.Interaction.Console Interaction".

Requirements

vix.h, since VMware Workstation 7.0

Example

The following sample illustrates how to open a regular virtual machine on a VMware Workstation host:

VixError err;
VixHandle hostHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;
VixHandle jobHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;
VixHandle vmHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;

// Connect to the local host:
jobHandle = VixHost_Connect(VIX_API_VERSION,
                            VIX_SERVICEPROVIDER_VMWARE_WORKSTATION,
                            NULL, // hostName
                            0, // hostPort
                            NULL, // userName
                            NULL, // password
                            0, // options
                            VIX_INVALID_HANDLE, // propertyListHandle
                            NULL, // callbackProc
                            NULL); // clientData

err = VixJob_Wait(jobHandle,
                  VIX_PROPERTY_JOB_RESULT_HANDLE,
                  &hostHandle,
                  VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);
if (VIX_OK != err) {
   // Handle the error...
   goto abort;
}
// Release handle when done:
Vix_ReleaseHandle(jobHandle);

// Open the virtual machine:
jobHandle = VixHost_OpenVM(hostHandle,
                           "c:\\Virtual Machines\\vm1\\win2000.vmx",
                           VIX_VMOPEN_NORMAL,
                           VIX_INVALID_HANDLE,
                           NULL, // callbackProc
                           NULL); // clientData
err = VixJob_Wait(jobHandle,
                  VIX_PROPERTY_JOB_RESULT_HANDLE,
                  &vmHandle,
                  VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);
if (VIX_OK != err) {
   // Handle the error...
   goto abort;
}
// Release handle when done:
Vix_ReleaseHandle(jobHandle);

The following sample illustrates how to open a regular virtual machine on a VMware ESX host:

VixError err;
VixHandle hostHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;
VixHandle jobHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;
VixHandle vmHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;

// Connect to the local host:
jobHandle = VixHost_Connect(VIX_API_VERSION,
                            VIX_SERVICEPROVIDER_VMWARE_VI_SERVER,
                            "https://10.20.30.40/sdk", // hostName
                            0, // hostPort
                            "username", // userName
                            "password", // password
                            0, // options
                            VIX_INVALID_HANDLE, // propertyListHandle
                            NULL, // callbackProc
                            NULL); // clientData

err = VixJob_Wait(jobHandle,
                  VIX_PROPERTY_JOB_RESULT_HANDLE,
                  &hostHandle,
                  VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);
if (VIX_OK != err) {
   // Handle the error...
   goto abort;
}
// Release handle when done:
Vix_ReleaseHandle(jobHandle);

// Open the virtual machine:
jobHandle = VixHost_OpenVM(hostHandle,
                           "[datastore] vm1/vm1.vmx",
                           VIX_VMOPEN_NORMAL,
                           VIX_INVALID_HANDLE,
                           NULL, // callbackProc
                           NULL); // clientData
err = VixJob_Wait(jobHandle,
                  VIX_PROPERTY_JOB_RESULT_HANDLE,
                  &vmHandle,
                  VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);
if (VIX_OK != err) {
   // Handle the error...
   goto abort;
}
// Release handle when done:
Vix_ReleaseHandle(jobHandle);

The following sample illustrates how to open an encrypted virtual machine on a VMware Workstation host:

VixError err;
VixHandle hostHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;
VixHandle jobHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;
VixHandle vmHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;
VixHandle propertyHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;

// Connect to the local host:
jobHandle = VixHost_Connect(VIX_API_VERSION,
                            VIX_SERVICEPROVIDER_VMWARE_WORKSTATION,
                            NULL, // hostName
                            0, // hostPort
                            NULL, // userName
                            NULL, // password
                            0, // options
                            VIX_INVALID_HANDLE, // propertyListHandle
                            NULL, // callbackProc
                            NULL); // clientData

err = VixJob_Wait(jobHandle,
                  VIX_PROPERTY_JOB_RESULT_HANDLE,
                  &hostHandle,
                  VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);
if (VIX_OK != err) {
   // Handle the error...
   goto abort;
}
// Release handle when done:
Vix_ReleaseHandle(jobHandle);

err = VixPropertyList_AllocPropertyList(hostHandle,
                                        &propertyHandle,
                                        VIX_PROPERTY_VM_ENCRYPTION_PASSWORD,
                                        "vmPassword",
                                        VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);
if (err != VIX_OK) {
   // Handle the error...
   goto abort;
}

// Open the virtual machine:
jobHandle = VixHost_OpenVM(hostHandle,
                           "c:\\Virtual Machines\\vm1\\win2000.vmx",
                           VIX_VMOPEN_NORMAL,
                           propertyHandle,
                           NULL, // callbackProc
                           NULL); // clientData
err = VixJob_Wait(jobHandle,
                  VIX_PROPERTY_JOB_RESULT_HANDLE,
                  &vmHandle,
                  VIX_PROPERTY_NONE);
if (VIX_OK != err) {
   // Handle the error...
   goto abort;
}
// Release handle when done:
Vix_ReleaseHandle(jobHandle);
Vix_ReleaseHandle(propertyHandle);