The previous parts (Part1, Part2 & Part 3) in the dvSwitch series showed how to create a dvSwitch, a portgroup for Virtual Machines and a Service Console & vmKernle portgroup. The test setup now looks something like this:
The double Service Consoles and vmKernel connection might look confusing at first. But when you select one these connections, the vSphere client will show you to which uplink a specific connection is going.
In the previous dvSwitch posts (see Part1 & Part2) I created a dvSwitch with a dvPortgroup, and we migrated some guests to this dvSwitch .
In this part I’ll show you how to create Service Console and vmKernel portgroups over the dvSwitch. Again, all the shown scripts will do a minimal configuration of the new portgroups. More advanced configurations will be discussed in future posts in the dvSwitch series.
This is the schematic view of the configuration that we currently have.
With the introduction of vSPhere the types of Tasks you can select when you create a new Scheduled Task has increased. This is a very useful feature that allows you to schedule for example your (s)vMotions, your Snapshots, your Imports and Exports and so on.
In the PowerCLI Community there was a recent question on how these Scheduled Tasks can be created from PowerShell (see relocate vm’s from csv file and create schedule task in VC).
Being able to create a Scheduled Task for a svMotion for several guests from a PowerShell script, instead of clicking away in the vSphere Client, would be another step on the path of vSphere automation. Continue reading Scheduled Tasks – MethodAction
In Part 1 of the dvSwitch scripting series I created a simple dvSwitch with 2 uplinks, which I connected to all the ESX hosts that were returned as possible candidates. In this part I will show you how to add a dvPortgroups and how you can connect Virtual Machines to this dvPortgroup.
This is the schematic of what we have so far.
With the introduction of vSphere one of the new features that was introduced was the vNetwork Distributed Switch. This new type of switch offers many more features than the “classical” vSwitch we knew.
In the current PowerCLI build there are no cmdlets present to create, configure, manage and remove this new type of switch. Surely this will change in one of the upcoming PowerCLI releases.
To bridge the time till the next release, I decided to write a number of functions that would allow PowerCLI users to work with the vNetwork Distributed Switch. Continue reading dvSwitch scripting – Part 1 – Creation
On the PowerCLI community someone raised a question how he could get a list of guests that were created longer than 30 days ago. The obvious source to get this kind of information are the events that VI/vSphere keeps. Note that in vSphere you will have to take into account how long events are kept! The current PowerCLI build provides the Get-ViEvent cmdlet that allows you to get at the information. Continue reading Events: a great source of information – Part 1
On Carter’s vSPhere PowerCLI Blog site we learned, just before VMworld, about Project Onyx. The program that will come out of this project will allow users to generate PowerShell code from actions done in the vSphere Client. But while we wait till the program comes in GA, is there an alternative for finding out what API call(s) an action in the vSphere Client generates ? In fact there is. And it’s free ! Continue reading The Onyx alternative ?
With VMware vCenter you get a feature-rich free product called VMware vCenter Converter. One of the things you can do with the Convertor product is to read disk images created by VMware Consolidated Backup and import them in a vCenter. In the current release the Convertor doesn’t come with any support for the PowerCLI automation tools but that doesn’t mean we can’t use the Convertor from our PowerShell scripts. Continue reading Automating Converter Enterprise jobs with PS
As a follow-up to my My PS toolbelt entry this article gives an overview of my current PowerShell/PowerCLI library. The library is a collection of actual books and Internet links that I reference quite regularly. The order in which books and links are listed does not indicate any preference from my side.
Update August 6th 2011: updated the list of books
A question I get quite regularly is what tools and utilities do I use for developing PowerShell and PowerCLI scripts. The following list should shed a bit of light. A warning, this is my personal selection of tools and utilities and it is not my intention to convince anyone to switch to any of the tools mentioned. Continue reading My PS toolbelt
