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PowerCLI Essentials
PowerCLI Essentials

PowerCLI Essentials: Simplify and automate server administration tasks with PowerCLI

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PowerCLI Essentials

Chapter 2. Comparing Point and Click Administration to PowerCLI and Scripting

It's now 5 pm on a Friday and the report script that your boss asked you to create is ready to run. As the prompts flash on the screen, you say "Yes! It is done". You quickly load your e-mail client and you send the script off. You quietly think, "I should include a fake invoice for $1 million dollars." and chuckle to yourself. You notice that the office is silent and empty, and you begin packing up to go when you notice the datastores beginning to go offline and the VMs going gray. Do you leave and hope the environment is okay or do you deal with this next crisis that is about to surface?

Daily administration can be simple and straightforward and turn to chaos in a matter of minutes. Scripting, automation, and centralized management and reporting are critical to any environment. Orchestration tools, centralized version stores, and prebuilding of commonly used scripts can be crucial...

Getting started

As an administrator, the desire is to produce reports on current system performance and configuration. Perhaps an audit of the drift of such systems is the typical use case that explains why PowerCLI has been downloaded in the first place. Most individuals start by downloading someone else's script and attempting to run it in the environment. This chapter deals with that—pinpointing safe and viable scripts to run within your environment.

Where do we begin?

One key tool that can be used to begin to understand the capabilities of scripting is RVTools (at www.robware.net), which provides a quick report of almost everything in the Virtual Environment. This truly is a fantastic example of what information can be garnished from a running vSphere/vCenter instance. It uses the proper Software Developers Kit (SDK) and the .NET framework to pull the information into a CSV file.

A PoSH-centric file named vCheck, originally started by the author of www.virtual.net, Alan Renouf...

Where do we find scripts and snippets that are safe to run?

There are, literally, hundreds of sites, blogs, and developer sites that contain PoSH code and PowerCLI optimized scripts. This book is not going to list every single place to start; however, it is going to list key ways to validate the code and some places to start.

VMware communities

The VMware communities are a great place to start. Where not all code is good, there are key individuals that stand out as contributors of merit. LucD, Alan Renouf, RvdNieuwendijk, and others have built an impressive list of appropriate scripts for various tasks. Typical searches in a favorite search engine, <Script purpose> (site: https://communities.vmware.com), should find any number of examples of scripts to supply syntax and methods to run.

VMware blogs

Heading to https://blogs.vmware.com/powercli will lead you to many interesting articles about PowerCLI and different ways to program interesting areas of the utility. All the articles are written...

Programming interfaces

PowerShell, by default, includes the Integrated Scripting Environment or ISE. This application provides instant help reference, command completion, syntax prompting, an integrated PowerShell interface, and coloring for visual reference. It does not support PowerCLI out of the proverbial box and adding it is also not available at this point in the lifecycle of the product; however, starting each script with the following code snippet will ensure PowerCLI commands are included in the running of the script.

Add-PSSnapinVMware.VimAutomation.Core -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

This command calls the PowerCLI snap-in to ensure that even if the script is run outside of the PowerCLI interface, it can still reference all the commands in the snap-in. As of Version 6 of PowerCLI, the get-module –ListAvailable command will now show the PowerCLI modules.

Writing the script

Writing a script should be straightforward and to the point. There needs to be a purpose, a breakdown of what inputs are needed, what outputs are needed, and who needs to run it. In most cases, this can be done on the fly as each line is typed, but it still is a methodized approach. This section deals with the mentality of writing a command, how to approach it, and planning the writing of it. As the IT Administration field looks more and more to DevOps frameworks, the more important building a process on how to do it becomes.

Planning the purpose

The basics of planning are to set the final expectations before beginning any typing.

Let's start with the example shown in the introduction of Chapter 1, An Introduction to Essential Administration with PowerCLI, where the boss needs a report of configuration data for a C-level individual in your company. What would a C-level be interested in seeing? Would it be CPU utilization and storage performance? Probably not—...

Report-VMHostConfigStatus

VMware created a method to maintain and keep a VMHost at a certain compliance level using a component called Host Profiles. Host Profiles maintain a record within vCenter to a base configuration using a Reference Host, and PowerCLI can be used to configure this reference host.

Running a simple PowerCLI command allows the creation of a basic profile:

New-VMHostProfile –Name TestProfile –Description "PowerCLI basic Profile" –ReferenceHost VMHost1

It takes a few moments and a TestProfile is created within the vCenter environment. Default settings store domain authentication and the network and storage settings. It leaves the rest of the profile open for changes and alterations. As a consultant at numerous organizations, many companies feel the host profiles are overkill to a basic implementation script of certain configurations. So, with that in mind, let's think of implementing this type of script and name it Report-VMHostConfigStatus...

Getting started


As an administrator, the desire is to produce reports on current system performance and configuration. Perhaps an audit of the drift of such systems is the typical use case that explains why PowerCLI has been downloaded in the first place. Most individuals start by downloading someone else's script and attempting to run it in the environment. This chapter deals with that—pinpointing safe and viable scripts to run within your environment.

Where do we begin?

One key tool that can be used to begin to understand the capabilities of scripting is RVTools (at www.robware.net), which provides a quick report of almost everything in the Virtual Environment. This truly is a fantastic example of what information can be garnished from a running vSphere/vCenter instance. It uses the proper Software Developers Kit (SDK) and the .NET framework to pull the information into a CSV file.

A PoSH-centric file named vCheck, originally started by the author of www.virtual.net, Alan Renouf, has blossomed...

Left arrow icon Right arrow icon

Key benefits

  • Automate VMware’s VSphere environment by learning the essentials of PowerCLI
  • Impress your peers by developing scripts to perform administration tasks
  • Discover the intricate workings of PowerCLI through simple and real-life examples

Description

Have you ever wished you could automatically get a report with all the relevant information about your VMware environments in exactly the format you want? Or that you could automate a crucial task that needs to be performed on a regular basis? Powerful Command Line Interface (PowerCLI) scripts do all these things and much more for VMware environments. PowerCLI is a command-line interface tool used to automate VMware vSphere environments. It is used to handle complicated administration tasks through use of various cmdlets and scripts, which are designed to handle certain aspects of VSphere servers and to help you manage them. This book will show you the intricacies of PowerCLI through real-life examples so that you can discover the art of PowerCLI scripting. At the start, you will be taught to download and install PowerCLI and will learn about the different versions of it. Moving further, you will be introduced to the GUI of PowerCLI and will find out how to develop single line scripts to duplicate running tasks, produce simple reports, and simplify administration. Next, you will learn about the methods available to get information remotely. Towards the end, you will be taught to set up orchestrator and build workflows in PowerShell with update manager and SRM scripts.

Who is this book for?

PowerCLI Essentials is focused toward virtualization professionals and system administrators who want to discover and learn about the automation techniques associated with PowerCLI for complex virtual environments.

What you will learn

  • Download and install PowerCLI and its basics as well as the basics of PowerShell
  • Enchance your scritping experience
  • Build longer scripts and simpler reports
  • Relate a task in VMware administration to a PowerCLI script
  • Discover methods to acquire and change information remotely
  • Set up orchestrator to manage your workflow
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Length: 194 pages
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Language : English
ISBN-13 : 9781785881770
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Table of Contents

7 Chapters
1. An Introduction to Essential Administration with PowerCLI Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
2. Comparing Point and Click Administration to PowerCLI and Scripting Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
3. Enhancing the Scripting Experience Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
4. Windows Administration within VMware Administration Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
5. Workflows and vRealize Orchestrator Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
6. Running Workflows with Other VMware Products Chevron down icon Chevron up icon
Index Chevron down icon Chevron up icon

Customer reviews

Rating distribution
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 3
(2 Ratings)
5 star 50%
4 star 0%
3 star 0%
2 star 0%
1 star 50%
Amazon Customer Sep 11, 2016
Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon Full star icon 5
Great tips and tricks as to how to approach and execute scripting tasks.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
Mindstorm Dec 23, 2016
Full star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon Empty star icon 1
Ich habe mir dieses Buch in der Hoffnung gekauft, endlich eine sinnvolle Einführung in die PowerCLI von VMware zu bekommen. Faktisch gesehen ist dieses Buch eine Sammlung von Skripten, die mal hier und da erklärt werden oder eben auch nicht. Die Fachrezensionen in den VMware-Blogs loben dieses Buch über den Klee. Wie man das guten Gewissens begründen kann, ist mir ein Rätsel.Die Machart des Buches erinnert mich an schnell zusammen geflickte Studien-Skripte, weil für tiefere Ausführungen keine Zeit war.Knappe 40€ sind für dieses Werk nicht gerechtfertigt, zumal es hauptsächlich Skripte enthält, die aus der Community stammen. Solltet ihr das Buch mal für 10€ auf einem Wühlhaufen finden, schaut mal rein und entscheidet selbst. Mehr ist das Buch (oder eher Sckriptsammlung) meiner Meinung nach nicht wert.
Amazon Verified review Amazon
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