Non-Blocking and Blocking Methods

All server-side operations available in the vSphere API are non-blocking operations listed in the vSphere API Reference Guide. The vSphere SDK for Perl provides a non-blocking method corresponding to the server-side operation, and also provides a blocking (synchronous) method (<opname>() method).

• Non-blocking methods – Asynchronous methods that return control to the client immediately after invocation and return a task object to the calling program. Non-blocking methods allow you to monitor progress (of the *_Task object) outside the main processing logic of the script. This monitoring can be useful during long-running operations. These methods also allow you to interleave local (client-side) processing and server-side processing.
• Blocking methods – Synchronous methods that fully process the operation before returning control to the client script. Does not return a reference to a task object. If you use a blocking method, you do not have to handle a task object with additional code.