Managed Object - ManagedEntity

Property of: AlarmInfo, AlarmState, DatacenterMismatchArgument, EventFilterSpecByEntity, Folder, InvalidFolder, InvalidName, ManagedEntity, ManagedEntityEventArgument, PerfEntityMetricBase, PerfProviderSummary, PerfQuerySpec, Permission, ResourceConfigSpec, ScheduledTaskInfo, TaskFilterSpecByEntity, TaskInfo, TaskReasonAlarm
Parameter to: CreateAlarm, CreateScheduledTask, FindChild, GetAlarm, GetAlarmState, LogUserEvent, MoveIntoFolder_Task, MoveIntoResourcePool, QueryAvailablePerfMetric, QueryPerfProviderSummary, RemoveEntityPermission, ResetEntityPermissions, RetrieveEntityPermissions, RetrieveEntityScheduledTask, SetEntityPermissions, SetField
Returned by: FindByDnsName, FindByInventoryPath, FindByIp, FindByUuid, FindChild
Extended by: ComputeResource, Datacenter, Folder, HostSystem, ResourcePool, VirtualMachine
See also: AlarmState, CustomFieldValue, Event, ManagedEntityStatus, Permission, Task

Managed Object Description

ManagedEntity is an abstract base type for all managed objects present in the inventory tree. The base type provides common functionality for traversing the tree structure, as well as health monitoring and other basic functions.

Most Virtual Infrastructure managed object types extend this type.

Properties

Name	Type	Description
configIssue*	Event[]	Current configuration issues that have been detected for this entity. Typically, these issues have already been logged as events. The entity stores these events as long as they are still current. The configStatus property provides an overall status based on these events.
configStatus	ManagedEntityStatus	The configStatus indicates whether or not the system has detected a configuration issue involving this entity. For example, it might have detected a duplicate IP address or MAC address, or a host in a cluster might be out of compliance. The meanings of the configStatus values are: red: A problem has been detected involving the entity. yellow: A problem is about to occur or a transient condition has occurred (For example, reconfigure fail-over policy). green: No configuration issues have been detected. gray: The configuration status of the entity is not being monitored. A green status indicates only that a problem has not been detected; it is not a guarantee that the entity is problem-free. The configIssue property contains a list of the problems that have been detected.
customValue*	CustomFieldValue[]	Custom field values.
declaredAlarmState* P	AlarmState[]	A set of alarm states for alarms that apply to this managed entity. The set includes alarms defined on this entity and alarms inherited from the parent entity, or from any ancestors in the inventory hierarchy. Alarms are inherited if they can be triggered by this entity or its descendants. This set does not include alarms that are defined on descendants of this entity.
disabledMethod*	xsd:string[]	List of operations that are disabled, given the current runtime state of the entity. For example, a power-on operation always fails if a virtual machine is already powered on. This list can be used by clients to enable or disable operations in a graphical user interface. Note: This list is determined by the current runtime state of an entity, not by its permissions. This list may include the following operations for a HostSystem: EnterMaintenanceMode_Task ExitMaintenanceMode_Task RebootHost_Task ShutdownHost_Task ReconnectHost_Task DisconnectHost_Task This list may include the following operations for a VirtualMachine: AnswerVM Rename_Task CloneVM_Task PowerOffVM_Task PowerOnVM_Task SuspendVM_Task ResetVM_Task ReconfigVM_Task RelocateVM_Task MigrateVM_Task CustomizeVM_Task ShutdownGuest StandbyGuest RebootGuest CreateSnapshot_Task RemoveAllSnapshots_Task RevertToCurrentSnapshot_Task MarkAsTemplate MarkAsVirtualMachine ResetGuestInformation MountToolsInstaller UnmountToolsInstaller Destroy_Task UpgradeVM_Task This list may include the following operations for a ResourcePool: CreateResourcePool
effectiveRole* P	xsd:int[]	Access rights the current session has to this entity.
name P	xsd:string	Name of this entity, unique relative to its parent. Any / (slash), \ (backslash), character used in this name element will be escaped. Similarly, any % (percent) character used in this name element will be escaped, unless it is used to start an escape sequence. A slash is escaped as %2F or %2f. A backslash is escaped as %5C or %5c, and a percent is escapped as %25.
overallStatus	ManagedEntityStatus	General health of this managed entity. The value combines the status of all the alarms attached to a managed entity. If any of the alarms has a gray status, the overall status of the managed entity is gray. Otherwise, if any of the alarms has a red status, the overall status of the managed entity is red. Otherwise, if any of the alarms has a yellow status, the overall status of the managed entity is yellow. Otherwise, the overall status of the managed entity is green.
parent* P	ManagedObjectReference to a ManagedEntity	Parent of this entity. This value is null for the root object.
permission*	Permission[]	List of permissions defined for this entity.
recentTask*	ManagedObjectReference[] to a Task[]	The set of recent tasks operating on this managed entity. This is a subset of recentTask belong to this entity. A task in this list could be in one of the four states: pending, running, success or error. This property can be used to deduce intermediate power states for a virtual machine entity. For example, if the current powerState is "poweredOn" and there is a running task performing the "suspend" operation, then the virtual machine's intermediate state might be described as "suspending." Most tasks (such as power operations) obtain exclusive access to the virtual machine, so it is unusual for this list to contain more than one running task. One exception, however, is the task of cloning a virtual machine.
triggeredAlarmState* P	AlarmState[]	A set of alarm states for alarms triggered by this entity or by its descendants. Triggered alarms are propagated up the inventory hierarchy so that a user can readily tell when a descendant has triggered an alarm.

*May not be presentP Required privilege: System.View

Methods

Methods defined in this Managed Object
Destroy_Task, Reload, Rename_Task

Destroy_Task

Destroys this object, deleting its contents and removing it from its parent folder (if any).

NOTE: The appropriate privilege must be held on the parent of the destroyed entity as well as the entity itself.

This method can throw one of several exceptions. The exact set of exceptions depends on the kind of entity that is being removed. See comments for each entity for more information on destroy behavior.

Required Privileges: When object is VirtualMachine - VirtualMachine.Inventory.Delete
When object is Datacenter - Datacenter.Delete
When object is Folder - Folder.Delete
When object is HostSystem - Host.Inventory.RemoveHostFromCluster
When object is ResourcePool - Resource.DeletePool
When object is ComputeResource - Host.Inventory.RemoveHostFromCluster
When object is ClusterComputeResource - Host.Inventory.DeleteCluster

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the ManagedEntity used to make the method call.

Return Value

Type	Description
ManagedObjectReference to a Task	This method returns a Task object with which to monitor the operation.

Faults

Type	Description
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.
VimFault

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" name="Destroy_Task">
            <complexType>
               <sequence>
                  <element name="_this" type="vim2:ManagedObjectReference"/>
               </sequence>
            </complexType>
         </element>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" name="Destroy_TaskResponse">
            <complexType>
               <sequence>
                  <element name="returnval" type="vim2:ManagedObjectReference"/>
               </sequence>
            </complexType>
         </element>

Reload

Reload the entity state. Clients only need to call this method if they changed some external state that affects the service without using the Web service interface to perform the change. For example, hand-editing a virtual machine configuration file affects the configuration of the associated virtual machine but the service managing the virtual machine might not monitor the file for changes. In this case, after such an edit, a client would call "reload" on the associated virtual machine to ensure the service and its clients have current data for the virtual machine.

Required Privileges: System.Read

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the ManagedEntity used to make the method call.

Return Value

Type	Description
None

Faults

Type	Description
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" name="Reload">
            <complexType>
               <sequence>
                  <element name="_this" type="vim2:ManagedObjectReference"/>
               </sequence>
            </complexType>
         </element>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" name="ReloadResponse">
            <complexType/>
         </element>

Rename_Task

Renames this managed entity.

Any % (percent) character used in this name parameter must be escaped, unless it is used to start an escape sequence. Clients may also escape any other characters in this name parameter.

See name

Required Privileges: When object is VirtualMachine - VirtualMachine.Config.Rename
When object is Datacenter - Datacenter.Rename
When object is Folder - Folder.Rename
When object is ResourcePool - Resource.RenamePool
When object is ClusterComputeResource - Host.Inventory.RenameCluster

Parameters

Name	Type	Description
_this	ManagedObjectReference	A reference to the ManagedEntity used to make the method call.
newName	xsd:string	See name

Return Value

Type	Description
ManagedObjectReference to a Task	This method returns a Task object with which to monitor the operation.

Faults

Type	Description
DuplicateName	Thrown if another object in the same folder has the target name. See name
InvalidName	Thrown if the new name is not a valid entity name. See name
RuntimeFault	Thrown if any type of runtime fault is thrown that is not covered by the other faults; for example, a communication error.

Show WSDL type definition

         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" name="Rename_Task">
            <complexType>
               <sequence>
                  <element name="_this" type="vim2:ManagedObjectReference"/>
                  <element name="newName" type="xsd:string"/>
               </sequence>
            </complexType>
         </element>
         <element xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema" name="Rename_TaskResponse">
            <complexType>
               <sequence>
                  <element name="returnval" type="vim2:ManagedObjectReference"/>
               </sequence>
            </complexType>
         </element>