Most VMware Cloud Director API objects have a number of common attributes. Except the name attribute, these common attributes are not required in request bodies, and are ignored if included. All of them are included in response bodies.

Object Name

Every object requires a name attribute. The string value of this attribute is included in all object references, and can be used as the display name for the object. The value of name must be unique within a given scope.

Table 1. Requirements for Unique Object Names
Object Type Name Scope
ProviderVdc Cloud
Org Cloud
Vdc Organization
Catalog Organization
CatalogItem Catalog
vAppTemplate None
vApp Organization
Vm vApp
Media Catalog
Disk None
Network Container (Organization VDC, vApp, or cloud)

Object Identifier, Type, and Reference

These attributes are common to all object representations.

id
The object identifier, expressed in URN format. The value of the id attribute uniquely identifies the object, persists for the life of the object, and is never reused. The id attribute value is intended to provide a context-free identifier that can be used with the VMware Cloud Director API entityResolver (see Retrieve an Object as an Entity).
type
The object type, specified as a MIME content type.
href

An object reference, expressed in URL format. This reference includes the object identifier portion of the id attribute value, and supplies additional information, including the current location of the object when accessed in a specific view. Although URLs have a well-known syntax and a well-understood interpretation, a client should treat each href as an opaque string. The rules that govern how the server constructs href strings might change in future releases.

Object Creation Status

Objects such as VAppTemplate, VApp, and Vm, that extend the ResourceEntity type have a status attribute whose value indicates the state of the object. In this table, YES indicates that a status value is allowed for the object listed in the column header. The status value for a VAppTemplate or VApp, which contain Vm objects that each have a status attribute of their own, is computed from the status of the contained objects. When returned in an XML representation, status has a numeric value. When returned by the query service, it has a string value.

Table 2. status Attribute Values for VAppTemplate, VApp, Vm, and Media Objects
Numeric Value String Value Description vAppTemplate App Vm Media
-1 FAILED_CREATION The object could not be created. YES YES YES YES
0 UNRESOLVED The object is unresolved. YES YES YES YES
1 RESOLVED The object is resolved. YES YES YES YES
2 DEPLOYED The object is deployed. No No No No
3 SUSPENDED The object is suspended. No YES YES No
4 POWERED_ON The object is powered on. No YES YES No
5 WAITING_FOR_INPUT The object is waiting for user input. No YES YES No
6 UNKNOWN The object is in an unknown state. YES YES YES No
7 UNRECOGNIZED The object is in an unrecognized state. YES YES YES No
8 POWERED_OFF The object is resolved and powered off. YES YES YES No
9 INCONSISTENT_STATE The object is in an inconsistent state. No YES YES No
10 MIXED Children do not all have the same status. Also, a vApp might have one or more VMs in the PARTIALLY_POWERED_OFF or PARTIALLY_SUSPENDED status. YES YES No No
11 DESCRIPTOR_PENDING Upload initiated, OVF descriptor pending. YES No No No
12 COPYING_CONTENTS Upload initiated, copying contents. YES No No No
13 DISK_CONTENTS_PENDING Upload initiated , disk contents pending. YES No No No
14 QUARANTINED Upload has been quarantined. YES No No No
15 QUARANTINE_EXPIRED Upload quarantine period has expired. YES No No No
16 REJECTED Upload has been rejected. YES No No No
17 TRANSFER_TIMEOUT Upload transfer session timed out. YES No No YES
18 VAPP_UNDEPLOYED The vApp is resolved and undeployed. YES No No No
19 VAPP_PARTIALLY_DEPLOYED The vApp is resolved and partially deployed. YES No No No
20 PARTIALLY_POWERED_OFF The VM is deployed and powered off. (Applicable to VMware Cloud Director API version 36.1) No No Yes No
21 PARTIALLY_SUSPENDED The VM is deployed and suspended. (Applicable to VMware Cloud Director API version 36.1 and later) No No Yes No

VDC objects have their own set of status values and mappings.

Table 3. Status Attribute Values for VDC Objects
Numeric Value String Value Description
-1 FAILED_CREATION The VDC could not be created.
0 NOT_READY The VDC is not ready for use
1 READY The VDC is ready for use
2 UNKNOWN The VDC status cannot be retrieved
3 UNRECOGNIZED The VDC status cannot be mapped to a known state.