As of vSphere 8.0 Update 3, developers can re-use a vSphere Management (VIM) session for making vSphere Automation (vAPI) calls, or re-use a vAPI session for making VIM calls. Examples follow.

Here is Python code to establish a vSphere Automation (vAPI) session to then invoke a vSphere Management (VIM) call: 

import requests
from pyVim.connect import SmartConnect
from vmware.vapi.vsphere.client import create_vsphere_client

vc_host = '10.168.203.112'
user = '[email protected]'
password = 'NKCF_n4PagP0jmz_'

# vAPI setup
session = requests.session()
session.verify = False

client = create_vsphere_client(vc_host, user, password, session=session)

# Acquire session_id
session_id = client.get_session_id()

# Reuse session_id in SmartConnect
si = SmartConnect(host=vc_host,
                  port=443,
                  disableSslCertValidation=True,
                  sessionId=session_id)
content = si.RetrieveContent()
dc_moref = content.rootFolder.CreateDatacenter("TEST")
print(dc_moref)

Here is Python code to establish a vSphere Management (VIM) session to then invoke a vSphere Automation (vAPI) call:

import requests
from pyVim.connect import SmartConnect
from vmware.vapi.vsphere.client import create_vsphere_client

vc_host = '10.168.203.112'
user = '[email protected]'
password = 'NKCF_n4PagP0jmz_'

# Login with pyvmomi
si = SmartConnect(host=vc_host,
                  port=443,
                  user=user,
                  pwd=password,
                  disableSslCertValidation=True)

# TODO GetSessionId documentation
session_id = si._GetStub().GetSessionId()

# vAPI setup
session = requests.session()
session.verify = False

client = create_vsphere_client(vc_host, session=session, session_id=session_id)
print(client.vcenter.compute.Policies.list())

Here are Curl commands to establish a VIM session via JSON, make a vAPI call, and then call the REST tag API. The second and third are get requests and do not apply anything. The second command returns a list of folders. The third returns a list of tags for folder group-d3.

$ curl "https://$VC/sdk/vim25/8.0.2.0/SessionManager/SessionManager/Login" 
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json'
  -d '{"userName": "[email protected]", "password": "$PSWD"}' -ki
$ curl https://$VC/api/vcenter/folder -H "vmware-api-session-id: $VIM_SESSION" -k
$ curl https://$VC/sdk/vim25/8.0.2.0/Folder/group-d3/tag
  -H "vmware-api-session-id: $VIM_SESSION" -k

Here are Curl commands to create a REST session and use it to call the VIM tag API:

$ curl -X POST https://$VC/api/session -u "[email protected]:$PSWD" -k
$ curl "https://$VC/sdk/vim25/8.0.2.0/Folder/group-d1001/tag"
  -H "vmware-api-session-id: $VAPI_SESSION" -k

The following caveats and limitations apply to unified VIM/vAPI sessions:

  • Session timeout can be configured with property config.vmacore.soap.sessionTimeout in file /etc/vmware-vpx/vpx.conf on vCenter Server, or using the vSphere Client UI.
  • Default session lifespan can be configured with property vpx.sso.sts.tokenLifetime, also in vpx.conf, or using the vSphere Client UI.
  • The maximum number of inflight sessions can be configured with property config.vmacore.soap.maxSessionCount, also in vpx.conf, or using the vSphere Client UI.

  • Session IDs from either endpoint work in the other endpoint. Clients that want the benefit of single session should adjust to accept variable size Session ID tokens.