Name

Description

($err, $vmHandle) = VMOpen($hostHandle,
                           $vmxFilePathName);

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.

Parameters

hostHandle

The handle of a host object, typically returned from HostConnect.

vmxFilePathName

The path name of the virtual machine configuration file on the local host.

Return Value

$vmHandle. The handle to the opened virtual machine.

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 vSphere (ESX or vCenter Server) or VMware Server 2.x, the path contains a preceding data store, for example [storage1] vm/vm.vmx.
• For ESX/ESXi hosts and VMware Server, 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 RegisterVM.
• For vSphere, the Virtual Machine opened may not be the one desired if more than one Datacenter contains vmxFilePathName.
• For ESX/ESXi hosts and vSphere, the user account specified in the call to HostConnect 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 HostConnect 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".

Side Effects

Requirements

use VMware::Vix::Simple;
use VMware::Vix::API::Constants;

Example

my $err = VIX_OK;
my $hostHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;
my $vmHandle = VIX_INVALID_HANDLE;

($err, $hostHandle) = HostConnect(VIX_API_VERSION,
                                  VIX_SERVICEPROVIDER_VMWARE_WORKSTATION,
                                  undef, # hostName
                                  0, # hostPort
                                  undef, # userName
                                  undef, # password
                                  0, # options
                                  VIX_INVALID_HANDLE); # propertyListHandle

die "HostConnect() failed, $err ", GetErrorText($err), "\n" if $err != VIX_OK;

($err, $vmHandle) = VMOpen($hostHandle,
                           "c:\\Virtual Machines\\vm1\\win2000.vmx");
die "VMOpen() failed, $err ", GetErrorText($err), "\n" if $err != VIX_OK;