vSphere SDK for Perl scripts retrieve objects, such as virtual machines, from the server and work with these objects.

vSphere SDK for Perl scripts follow the basic pattern shown in Basic vSphere SDK for Perl Script (simpleclient.pl).

Important: The sample script does not use filters or property filters for efficiency. See Refining vSphere SDK for Perl Scripts for information about those topics.
Table 1. Basic vSphere SDK for Perl Script (simpleclient.pl)
Code element Discussed in 
#!/usr/bin/perl
use strict;
use warnings;
use VMware::VIRuntime;
 Step 1: Import the vSphere SDK for Perl Modules 
my %opts = (
      entity => {
      type => "=s",
      variable => "VI_ENTITY",
      help => "ManagedEntity type: HostSystem, etc",
      required => 1,
      },
);

Opts::add_options(%opts);
Opts::parse();
Opts::validate();
 Step 2: (Optional) Define Script-Specific Command-Line Options 
Util::connect();
 Step 3: Connect to the Server 
# Obtain all inventory objects of the specified type
my $entity_type = Opts::get_option('entity');
my $entity_views = Vim::find_entity_views(
      view_type => $entity_type);
 Step 4: Obtain View Objects of Server-Side Managed Objects 
# Process the findings and output to the console

foreach my $entity_view (@$entity_views) {
   my $entity_name = $entity_view->name;
   Util::trace(0, "Found $entity_type:
    $entity_name\n");
}
 Step 5: Process Views and Report Results 
# Disconnect from the server
Util::disconnect();
 Step 6: Close the Server Connection