First of all, how cool is it that these guys are paying me to essentially work on the same stuff I used to do for fun? Many thanks to the fine folks at Hyper9 for funding my exploration of the VMware code base. I couldn't ask for a better group of fellows and fellowettes to work with!
Down the Rabbit Hole
As I dig deeper into the VI client code base I find that I am able to do more interesting things, including affecting parts of the VI client that are not even exposed by the plug-in interface. As I was proof-of-concepting some various ideas that were floating around in my too-big-for-my-body head, I realized I could do something visually interesting with the VI client with what I'd uncovered thus far. Hence, the GuessMyOS plug-in for VI3.
All the Pretty Colors
So what does the plug-in do? Well, it is pretty simple -- the icons for VMs in the VI inventory tree are replaced with guest OS-specific icons for Windows and Linux guests. You'll notice in the image to left that the VM icons are specific to the guest OS the VM is running -- a Windows flag for Windows and Tux for Linux. Even the power state badges have been preserved. The single Solaris host has not been skinned yet because I haven't created the icon set for Solaris. I am working on that as well as a BSD devil.
That is So Cool!
It is isn't it? You're probably wondering how to do something like it yourselves. Well, it's not easy, but it's about to get a lot easier. I have been doing so much with the plug-in architecture in VI3 and vSphere4 lately that I've begun on a plug-in builder that will make it trivial for developers to create their own plug-ins that hook into the deepest bowels of VI3 and vSphere4. I'm not sure how Hyper9 will be making this plug-in builder available yet, but stay tuned to this space to find out!
Downloading the Plug-in
You can get the GuessMyOS plug-in at the following link. Stay tuned for an update on the status of all my previous and future plug-ins. Hyper9 is about to make an announcement regarding bleeding edge virtualization development that we hope will make a lot of VI admins (and developers) incredibly happy.
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-a