When using the vSphere API the vSphere API Reference is indispensable. In the pre-REST age, we had to fall back to calling the vSphere API, based on SOAP, from within a PowerCLI script. But with our current automation tool of choice, VMware PowerCLI, the New-HardDisk cmdlet doesn’t allow that. For some applications, or even just as a requirement for VM management, it can be required to be able to select a predefined unit number. You can select the SCSI controller, but not the unit number of the device. In a VMware vSphere environment, when you add a hard disk to a virtual machine with PowerCLI, the system decides which unit number the hard disk will get. The differences between these two should make it clear where your gain, as the consumer/coder, is located.
Soap vs rest how to#
We now have a broad picture of REST API in VMware environments and how to consume those from PowerShell, but what does it actually mean in practice? Why should we convert from calling SOAP in favor of calling REST? As an example, I’m going to show how to perform the same action twice, once via the SOAP API and once via the REST API. In this article, Luc builds on the earlier one by comparing how SOAP and REST work in performing a task in a VMware environment. Be sure to check out Luc’s blog and his Twitter page.
He is a co-author of the PowerCLI Reference and a regular speaker at conferences. Luc is a vExpert and MVP and is interested in all things automation, and more specifically through PowerShell and PowerCLI. SOAP uses service interfaces to expose its functionality to client applications while REST uses Uniform Service locators to access to the components on the hardware device. SOAP is a protocol whereas REST is an architectural pattern. In a previous article, we learned from Luc Dekens about the REST API in VMware environments. SOAP stands for Simple Object Access Protocol whereas REST stands for Representational State Transfer.
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