Set the Icon for a Type of Virtual Machine or vApp That an Extension Manages

You can provide an icon for each type of virtual machine or vApp that an extension manages by setting the ExtManagedEntityInfo smallIconUrl property.

The icon that you set in the ExtManagedEntityInfo smallIconUrl property allows you to identify the types of virtual machines or vApps that your extension deploys. If an extension deploys different types of virtual machines, you can create several ExtManagedEntityInfo instances, with a different icon for each type. The virtual machines that the extension deploys appear in the vCenter Server inventory with the icons that you set.

The icon image must be in the PNG format and must measure 16 by 16 pixels. You must save the icon image to an appropriate location in the Web application that defines the extension. You provide a URL or path to the image to the ExtManagedEntityInfo instance for the type of virtual machine or vApp that this icon represents. Extensions access the icon image by using HTTP. Extensions do not support HTTPS URLs to icon images.

Prerequisites

• Verify that you have set the managedBy property in the configuration of the virtual machines or vApps that an extension deploys. See Identify the Virtual Machines or vApps that an Extension Manages.

• Verify that you have created an instance of ExtManagedEntityInfo in the program that defines an extension.

Note: The EAM Sample Solution uses ESX Agent Manager to deploy ESX agent virtual machines. ESX Agent Manager sets the ManagedByInfo properties on these virtual machines to mark them as belonging to ESX Agent Manager. The EAM Sample Solution does not set the ManagedByInfo properties itself. The code extracts in this procedure are not taken from the source files of the EAM Sample Solution.

Procedure

1. Create an icon image of type PNG and of dimensions 16 by 16 pixels.
2. Save the icon image to an appropriate location in the Web application that defines your an extension.
3. Call ExtManagedEntityInfo.setSmallIconUrl() to set the ExtManagedEntityInfo smallIconUrl property for a type of virtual machine or vApp that the extension deploys.

   Extension extension = new Extension();
   ExtManagedEntityInfo extManagedEntityInfo = new ExtManagedEntityInfo();
   extManagedEntityInfo.setType("your_vm_type");
   extManagedEntityInfo.setDescription("Description of this type of virtual machine or vApp.");
   extManagedEntityInfo.setSmallIconUrl("path_to_PNG_image");
   extension.getManagedEntityInfo().add(extManagedEntityInfo);

Results

Virtual machines and vApps that the an extension deploys appear in the vCenter Server inventory with the icon that you set.