Use the VMware Fusion REST API Service

You can access the Fusion REST API from a local machine or a remote machine.

Note:

To view the Fusion API online, see https://code.vmware.com/apis/218/fusion.

Procedure

Install Fusion on your Mac.
Before you start the REST API service the first time, set up your credentials.
1. In a Terminal window, run the vmrest -C command.
2. Enter a user name and password as prompted.
  
  The user name and password are saved to the ~/Library/Preferences/VMware Fusion/preferences file.
  
  You do not need to set up credentials when you start the REST API on subsequent occasions.

Configure the REST API service for HTTP and HTTPS access.

You can configure the REST API service to provide HTTP access locally and HTTPS access both locally and remotely.

Option	Description
Provide HTTP service	In a Terminal window, run the vmrest command. The command returns the IP address and port number from which you can access the HTTP service. The default IP address is 127.0.0.1:8697. Open a web browser and go to http://`address-returned-by-vmrest-command`. Click Authorize in the top-right corner of the Fusion API Explorer page. To authenticate, enter the user name and password you configured in Step 2 above.
Provide HTTPS service	To enable remote access to Fusion REST API, you must configure the REST API service to provide HTTPS service. In this situation, when you use the vmrest command to start the REST API service, you must use the -c and -k options together to specify the certificate and private key. In a Terminal window, run a command to generate a certificate and a private key. The example command that follows, generates a self-signed OpenSSL-based certificate and a private key. openssl req -x509 -newkeyrsa:4096 -keyoutfusionapi-key.pem -out fusionapi-cert.pem -days 365 -nodes To start the Fusion REST API service, run the following command, replacing the placeholders with the full path to the certificate file, full path to the private key file, and the IP address from which you want to serve the REST API. vmrest -c `certificate-file` -k `private-key-file` -i `ip-address` The command returns the IP address and port number from which you can access the HTTPS service. On a remote machine, open a web browser and go to https://`address-returned-by-vmrest-command`. Click Authorize in the top-right corner of the Fusion API Explorer page. To authenticate, enter the user name and password you configured in Step 2 above.

Option

Description

Provide HTTP service

In a Terminal window, run the vmrest command.
The command returns the IP address and port number from which you can access the HTTP service. The default IP address is 127.0.0.1:8697.
Open a web browser and go to http://address-returned-by-vmrest-command.
Click Authorize in the top-right corner of the Fusion API Explorer page.
To authenticate, enter the user name and password you configured in Step 2 above.

Provide HTTPS service

To enable remote access to Fusion REST API, you must configure the REST API service to provide HTTPS service. In this situation, when you use the vmrest command to start the REST API service, you must use the -c and -k options together to specify the certificate and private key.

In a Terminal window, run a command to generate a certificate and a private key.
The example command that follows, generates a self-signed OpenSSL-based certificate and a private key.
```
openssl req -x509 -newkeyrsa:4096 -keyoutfusionapi-key.pem -out fusionapi-cert.pem -days 365 -nodes
```
To start the Fusion REST API service, run the following command, replacing the placeholders with the full path to the certificate file, full path to the private key file, and the IP address from which you want to serve the REST API.
```
vmrest -c certificate-file -k private-key-file -i ip-address
```
The command returns the IP address and port number from which you can access the HTTPS service.
On a remote machine, open a web browser and go to https://address-returned-by-vmrest-command.
Click Authorize in the top-right corner of the Fusion API Explorer page.
To authenticate, enter the user name and password you configured in Step 2 above.