• vSphere Web Services API, SOAP based
• vSphere Automation API, REST based

vCenter and ESXi API Simulator (vcsim)

• Download the current version of vCenter and ESXi Web Service API based simulator from the release page.
  
  
• Start the vCenter server simulator with the command:
  & .\vcsim -username root -password root
  
  
• Check its function in the browser with the URL:
  https://root:root@127.0.0.1:8989/about
  
  
  
  
• It is also possible to work without Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption, but not with PowerCLI:
  & .\vcsim -username root -password root tls=false
  
  
• To activate the SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol) trace start it with the command:
  & .\vcsim.exe -username root -password root -trace
  With this setting detailed and interesting information about the request and the response is output.

Folder                       /
Datacenter                   /DC0
Folder                       /DC0/vm
VirtualMachine               /DC0/vm/DC0_H0_VM0
VirtualMachine               /DC0/vm/DC0_H0_VM1
VirtualMachine               /DC0/vm/DC0_C0_RP0_VM0
VirtualMachine               /DC0/vm/DC0_C0_RP0_VM1
Folder                       /DC0/host
ComputeResource              /DC0/host/DC0_H0
HostSystem                   /DC0/host/DC0_H0/DC0_H0
ResourcePool                 /DC0/host/DC0_H0/Resources
ClusterComputeResource       /DC0/host/DC0_C0
HostSystem                   /DC0/host/DC0_C0/DC0_C0_H0
HostSystem                   /DC0/host/DC0_C0/DC0_C0_H1
HostSystem                   /DC0/host/DC0_C0/DC0_C0_H2
ResourcePool                 /DC0/host/DC0_C0/Resources
Folder                       /DC0/datastore
Datastore                    /DC0/datastore/LocalDS_0
Folder                       /DC0/network
Network                      /DC0/network/VM Network
DistributedVirtualSwitch     /DC0/network/DVS0
DistributedVirtualPortgroup  /DC0/network/DVS0-DVUplinks-9
DistributedVirtualPortgroup  /DC0/network/DC0_DVPG0

PowerCLI

• Download the current .NET package manager.
  
  
• Download of VMware PowerCLI from PowerShell Galery and all dependencies with the command:
  & .\nuget.exe install vmware.powercli -Source https://www.powershellgallery.com/api/v2/
  An internet connection is required to use this command, because necessary files are downloaded here.
  
  Hint: The response time of the PowerShell Gallery is not always fast, so this approach is recommended.
  
  
• Extract all NuGet packages from the directories with the PowerShell script
  

  $NuGets = Get-ChildItem -LiteralPath $PSScriptRoot *.nupkg -Depth 1; ForEach($NuGet in $NuGets) { Copy-Item "$($NuGet.DirectoryName)\$($NuGet.Name)" -Destination $PSScriptRoot; Remove-Item "$($NuGet.DirectoryName)" -Recurse -Force; }

  
  
• Install VMware PowerCLI with the following PowerShell commands in admin mode:
  Register-PSRepository -Name "myRepositoryName" -SourceLocation "C:\Dummy";
Install-Module -Name "VMware.PowerCLI" -Repository "myRepositoryName" -AllowClobber;
Unregister-PSRepository -Name "myRepositoryName";
  
  Hint: To uninstall use
  Uninstall-Module -Name "VMware.PowerCLI";
  
  Hint: If you use an old Windows version, it is necessary to switch to TLS 1.2 with
  [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12;
  
  Hint: If NuGet package provider is not installed, install it first with
  Install-PackageProvider -Name NuGet -MinimumVersion 2.8.5.208;
  To check if it is installed use the command Get-PackageProvider;
  
  
• Set the configuration with the command
  Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -ParticipateInCEIP $false -InvalidCertificateAction Ignore -Confirm:$false;
  
  
• Connect the PowerCLI to vCenter server simulator with the command
  Connect-VIServer -Server 127.0.0.1 -Port 8989 -User "root" -Password "root";
  and check the function with the commands
  Get-VMHost; or Get-VM;
  
  
  PowerCLI in PowerShell Windows with vCenter simulator
  
  
  PowerCLI in PowerShell Core on Windows with vCenter simulator
  
  
  PowerCLI in PowerShell Core on Linux with vCenter simulator
  
  
• Get the current version of PowerCLI with
  

  $PowerCLIVersion = Get-Module -Name VMware.VimAutomation.Core; Write-Host "$($PowerCLIVersion.Version.toString())";

  
  
• It is possible to get more information with
  $global:DefaultVIServer | select *;
  If the attribute ProductLine delivers vpx, a connection to a vCenter was established.
  
  
• The following code can be used for testing the connection.
  

  if ($global:DefaultVIServer) { # Your code here }

  
  
• It is possible to view all available commands with Get-VICommand;
  A detailed help for each command is available with e.g. Get-Help Get-VM -Full;
  

pyVmomi

• Download the current version of pyVmomi from the release page.
  
  
• Convert the tar.gz source code file to a wheel with
  pip wheel pyvmomi-8.0.2.0.1.tar.gz
  
  
• Install pyVmomi with
  pip install pyvmomi-8.0.2.0.1-py2.py3-none-any.whl
  
  
• The following code can be used for testing the connection.
  

  from pyVim.connect import * serviceInstance = Connect( host = "127.0.0.1", port = 8989, user = "root", pwd = "root", sslContext = None ) serviceInstanceContent = serviceInstance.RetrieveContent() aboutInfo = serviceInstanceContent.about print("Name:", aboutInfo.name) print("Fullname:", aboutInfo.fullName) # Your code here Disconnect(serviceInstance)

  
  
  pyVmomi on Windows with vCenter simulator

Conclusion