Developers have access to a growing number of options for spinning up virtual machines. With each new software release from virtualization titans such as VMware there are also developer community efforts such as VI Java API with a wide base of contributors. Just as the contributors expand so do the options for developers familiar with other languages.
Let’s take a look at how VMware is expanding options with a recent beta that targets the PHP developer community.
Here Comes Beta
The VMware vCloud SDK for PHP Beta is an example of expansion in available language support for the PHP developer community. The appending of beta speaks to the path and desire for inclusion longer term.
Indeed, sometimes the popularity within a developer community that includes paying customers can have an impact on a company roadmap. Perhaps this post regarding PHP and VMware reflects how continued pursuit of more options can benefit the PHP developer community.
Hit the Power Button PHPlease
Here’s a simple example for powering on a virtual machine in just a few lines of code from one of the documents on the VMware developer community portal:
Resources and Recourses
More resources are available within the VMware community portal (free registration required). Once you are logged in you can review documents such as the vCloud SDK for PHP introduction and the programming guide will get you started quickly. For now, those appear to be the only formal resources RWH was able to find for this post.
A quick search on “PHP” within the VMware community portal returns hundreds of discussions, documents, and blog posts. However, you’ll need to be mindful of the quality of those search hits.
While “hundreds” of hits might seem like a lot or a little depending on your point of view, it’s important to understand that many of the resources mentioned are going to be comments that make reference to websites with a URL ending in .php or that contain references to index.php where RewriteRule was not enabled. Unfortunately, not all developer community portals have the sophistication of Google (yet) when it comes to searching on blobs of text and mixed file types for a generic term like “PHP”.
In short, now is your chance to create meaningful and relevant paths within the community portal!
Of course, there are other resources outside of the corporate portals to help you understand a specific product better. For example, if you are curious about what the object model for vCloud API would look like in a picture, head over to Steve Jin’s blog for the UML diagram.
If you are currently working with VMware or within a VMware shop, do you expect to make use of the vCloud SDK using PHP? Are you a PHP developer that is active in the VMware community portal and if so does this latest beta excite you? What resources have you come across in your own searches?
Let us know in the comments below!
