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Other VMware Control Projects
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There are a number of existing alternatives for controlling
VMware. None of them are particularly satisfactory.
- `VMPlayer Command Line`_. Start only.
- `VIX vmrun command`_. Clunky to script, since everything involves :mod:`subprocess`.
- `PyVix`_. Hard to build.
- `PyVMWare`_. No features. However, this does show how well :mod:`ctypes` can
be used to interface with VIX.
VMPlayer Command Line
=====================
We can use this application to start a VM. And not much more.
::
"C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Player\vmplayer.exe" "C:\VMWareGuests\Server\Windows Server 2003 Standard Edition.vmx"
http://sanbarrow.com/vmx.html
This doesn't do much.
VIX vmrun command
=====================
::
C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware VIX\vmrun
vmrun version 2.0.2 build-203138
Usage::
vmrun [AUTHENTICATION-FLAGS] COMMAND [PARAMETERS]
AUTHENTICATION-FLAGS:
These must appear before the command and any command parameters.
.. option:: -h <hostName>
Specify the host to control. (not needed for Workstation)
.. option:: -P <hostPort>
Specify the port number to be used. (not needed for Workstation)
.. option:: -T <hostType> (ws|server|server1) for example, use '-T server' for Server 2.0 use '-T server1' for Server 1.0
.. option:: -u <userName in host OS>
Authentication required for host access. (not needed for Workstation)
.. option:: -p <password in host OS>
Authentication password required for host access. (not needed for Workstation)
.. option:: -gu <userName in guest OS>
Guest username for commands which require a valid login.
.. option:: -gp <password in guest OS>
Guest password for commands which require a valid login.
POWER COMMANDS:
start Path to vmx file Start a VM
[gui|nogui]
stop Path to vmx file Stop a VM
[hard|soft]
reset Path to vmx file Reset a VM
[hard|soft]
suspend Path to vmx file Suspend a VM
[hard|soft]
pause Path to vmx file Pause a VM
unpause Path to vmx file Unpause a VM
SNAPSHOT COMMANDS:
snapshot Path to vmx file Create a snapshot of a VM
Snapshot name
deleteSnapshot Path to vmx file Remove a snapshot from a VM
Snapshot name
revertToSnapshot Path to vmx file Set VM state to a snapshot
Snapshot name
RECORD/REPLAY COMMANDS:
beginRecording Path to vmx file Begin recording a VM
Snapshot name
endRecording Path to vmx file End recording a VM
beginReplay Path to vmx file Begin replaying a VM
Snapshot name
endReplay Path to vmx file End replaying a VM
GUEST OS COMMANDS:
runProgramInGuest Path to vmx file Run a program in Guest OS
[-noWait]
[-activeWindow]
[-interactive]
Complete-Path-To-Program
[Program arguments]
fileExistsInGuest Path to vmx file Check if a file exists in Guest OS
Path to file in guest
setSharedFolderState Path to vmx file Modify a Host-Guest shared folder
Share name
Host path
writable | readonly
addSharedFolder Path to vmx file Add a Host-Guest shared folder
Share name
New host path
removeSharedFolder Path to vmx file Remove a Host-Guest shared folder
Share name
listProcessesInGuest Path to vmx file List running processes in Guest OS
killProcessInGuest Path to vmx file Kill a process in Guest OS
process id
runScriptInGuest Path to vmx file Run a script in Guest OS
Interpreter path
script_text
deleteFileInGuest Path to vmx file Delete a file in Guest OS
Path in guest
createDirectoryInGuest Path to vmx file Create a directory in Guest OS
Directory path in guest
deleteDirectoryInGuest Path to vmx file Delete a directory in Guest OS
Directory path in guest
listDirectoryInGuest Path to vmx file List a directory in Guest OS
Directory path in guest
copyFileFromHostToGuest Path to vmx file Copy a file from host OS to guest OS
Path on host
Path in guest
copyFileFromGuestToHost Path to vmx file Copy a file from guest OS to host OS
Path in guest
Path on host
renameFileInGuest Path to vmx file Rename a file in Guest OS
Original name
New name
captureScreen Path to vmx file Capture the screen of the VM to a local file
Path on host
writeVariable Path to vmx file Write a variable in the VM state
[runtimeConfig|guestEnv]
variable name
variable value
readVariable Path to vmx file Read a variable in the VM state
[runtimeConfig|guestEnv]
variable name
VPROBE COMMANDS:
vprobeVersion Path to vmx file List VP version
vprobeLoad Path to vmx file Load VP script
'VP script text'
vprobeReset Path to vmx file Disable all vprobes
vprobeListProbes Path to vmx file List probes
vprobeListGlobals Path to vmx file List global variables
GENERAL COMMANDS:
list List all running VMs
upgradevm Path to vmx file Upgrade VM file format, virtual hw
installtools Path to vmx file Install Tools in Guest
register Path to vmx file Register a VM
unregister Path to vmx file Unregister a VM
listRegisteredVM List registered VMs
clone Path to vmx file Create a copy of the VM
Path to destination vmx file
full|linked
[Snapshot name]
Examples
Starting a virtual machine with Workstation on a Windows host
::
vmrun -T ws start "c:\my VMs\myVM.vmx"
Stopping a virtual machine with Server on a linux host
::
vmrun -T server -h https://myHost.com/sdk -u hostUser -p hostPassword stop "[storage1] vm/myVM.vmx"
Running a program in a virtual machine with Workstation on a Windows host with Windows guest
::
vmrun -T ws -gu guestUser -gp guestPassword runProgramInGuest "c:\my VMs\myVM.vmx" "c:\Program Files\myProgram.exe"
Running a program in a virtual machine with Server on a linux host with linux guest
::
vmrun -T server -h https://myHost.com/sdk -u hostUser -p hostPassword -gu guestUser -gp guestPassword runProgramInGuest "[storage1] vm/myVM.vmx" /usr/bin/X11 /xclock -display :0
Creating a snapshot of a virtual machine with Workstation on a Windows host
::
vmrun -T ws snapshot "c:\my VMs\myVM.vmx" mySnapshot
Reverting to a snapshot with Workstation on a Windows host
::
vmrun -T ws revertToSnapshot "c:\my VMs\myVM.vmx" mySnapshot
Deleting a snapshot with Workstation on a Windows host
::
vmrun -T ws deleteSnapshot "c:\my VMs\myVM.vmx" mySnapshot
PyVix
=====
PyVix is old. http://sourceforge.net/projects/pyvix/
It also has a very complex build, since it creates it's own VIX library,
rather than relying on the VMware VIX installation.
Needs Win32API -- http://sourceforge.net/projects/pywin32/files/pywin32/
Needs Mingw or some other C compiler. ``mingw-get install gcc`` may work.
It may benefit from installing the VMware VIX SDK.
The title is "VMware Virtual Machine Automation APIs"
An older link: http://www.vmware.com/download/sdk/vmauto.html
The install script looks for the server.
However, this can be fixed to look for just VIX.
setup.py Lines 107::
serverInstKey = _winreg.OpenKey(r,
#r'SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VMware Server'
r'SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VMware VIX'
)
Also _support.py lines 14::
serverInstKey = _winreg.OpenKey(r,
#r'SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VMware Server'
r'SOFTWARE\VMware, Inc.\VMware VIX'
)
Before using MinGW, you should add ``C:\MinGW\bin;`` to the ``PATH`` environment variable
::
python setup.py build -c mingw32 install
Compile Notes: http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vix-api/vix17_reference/
Also...
As noted by clintd, one can choose a specific vix.lib; the ViX documentation (available in "C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware VIX\doc") calls this "Compiling Without the Wrapper Library", and hints that ws-1 is for VMware Server 1.0, ws-2 for Workstation 6.0 and ws-3 for Workstation 6.0.1 (I found no description of ws-4 and ws-5, though).
PyVMWare
============
PyVMWare is old. http://code.google.com/p/pyvmware/
Only does a few things. A good jumping-off point.
There's little benefit in "completing" it. It has the wrong object model.