Working with PowerShell

In this recipe, we will enable Orchestrator to execute PowerShell scripts on a Windows host and deal with the results.

Getting ready

We need a Windows host where the PowerShell scripts are stored and can be executed from. This can be any Windows host; however, a Windows 2008 R2 (or better) server contains all the programs required to allow Orchestrator to connect to the Windows host.

To configure the Windows host, we need to use Windows Remote Management (WinRM), which is already installed and integrated into Windows.

Installing the VMware PowerCLI add-on to PowerShell on the Windows host is optional.

You may also add a Linux PowerShell host to vRO. Check this: http://kaloferov.com/blog/how-to-add-a-linux-machine-as-powershell-host-in-vro-skkb1030/

How to do it...

This recipe is split into preparation, adding the host, executing a PowerShell script, and generating a workflow.

Preparing the Windows host with WinRM

In this part, we will configure WinRM with basic authentication...