VMware prepping unified SDK for its core hybrid cloud products

Also working to clean up inconsistent APIs and lack of SSO across vSphere, vSAN, NSX, SDDC Manager, vRealize and more

VMware Explore VMware by Broadcom is working on a unified SDK for its core products and will deliver it before the major release of its flagship Cloud Foundation (VCF) suite that the virtualization giant has previously said will express its strategy of offering a unified hybrid cloud suite.

The Register learned of the new SDK today in a session at VMware’s annual user conference, Explore. Director of product management Sandeep Byreddy and product marketing engineer Jatin Purohit admitted that VMware’s core products – such as vSphere, vSAN, and NSX – have their own SDKs, or no SDK at all in the case of SDDC Manager and vRealize.

The products also have different APIs – some using SOAP, and others REST, some compliant with OpenAPI 2 and others using OpenAPI 3. Single sign-on is also absent across the range.

That mess means it’s hard for developers to effectively create automations for VMware-powered clouds – yet easy automation that improves IT operations is central to Broadcom’s plans to make the VMware stack more powerful and valuable.

Work on a unified SDK covering all products has begun and will offer language bindings to Python and Java, meaning coders using those languages will be able to create automations that run across VMware’s core products. Integration with PowerCLI, Terraform, and Ansible are also on the agenda.

Unified authentication across the APIs provided by the components of VMware’s flagship Cloud Foundation suite is also under development and will likely be welcome, as developers and ops types currently must arrange sign-on to each component. This is true even when – as is the case with the vSphere and vSAN compute and storage virtualization tools – they work in harmony.

Another effort that’s already commenced is called “VI/JSON” and will provide a REST-like API for SOAP API endpoints. Byreddy and Purohit explained that VI/JSON will provide access to the vSphere Web service APIs – the interface automation tools used to control virtual infrastructure managed by VMware. VI/JSON will help to preserve existing automations even as VMware makes VCF more consistent.

The Register understands the SDK will arrive between the two major releases of VCF that VMware has planned.

The first of those releases, VCF 5.2, debuted in early July 2024. We're told the second major release, which VMware has billed as its first properly unified version of VCF, will debut in the first half of 2025. We expect news of the second release to be a highlight of VMware Explore tomorrow.

A single SDK and the other work mentioned above are obvious preconditions to delivering a unified suite. This conference session therefore represents a significant hint about how VMware by Broadcom plans to enact its strategy of steering customers towards VCF instead of selling the suite’s components as standalone products. ®