Save Time With PowerCLI

How To Save Your Time With PowerCLI
Jonathan Medd

Pick the right management tool for you or the situation

Do You Manage Any Of These Technologies?

Write your own script or function help, for you or someone else
They will thank you, and you will be pleased one day that you did it too

Help Demo

Digitally Sign Your Scripts
Save time and costly mistakes by helping prevent unauthorised changes
Most IDEs will sign the script for you

Be Green, Create Advanced Functions as Reusable Code

Advanced Functions - Features
Add –Confirm, -WhatIfcapabilities
Parameter Attributes
Mandatory, Parameter Sets, Accept Pipeline Input, Help Message, Validation

Advanced Functions - Demo

Competition Time – PowerCLI Book Giveaway
Where is PowerCLI Guru Alan Renouf originally from?
France
Netherlands
Jersey
Outer Space

Modules Make Distributing Your Code Easier
VS

What is a PowerShell Module?
A collection of files containing functions, scripts etc and possibly other files such as the manifest to make it more professional
Stored within a folder as a subfolder of the Modules location. Can be found via $env:PSModulePath
Contents made accessible to the user via the Import-Module cmdlet

Why Bother with a PowerShell Module?
Makes sharing of groups of functions and scripts easy
Simple XCOPY style deployment of the module folder either internally or publishing to an external website
Make your commonly used functions available to yourself without ‘Profile Bloat’ – they are available as and when you need them from a module

Make Your First Module
Create two functions
Save them into a *.psm1 file to the module folder
Import them for use into your session
Go!

Make Your First Module - Demo

PowerCLIBook Module - Demo

If you borrow it, make sure you test it!
Share back your own scripts / solutions. You know how good it was when you found something useful, give someone else that same experience.

Good places to start borrowing
Virtu-Al.net
LucD.info
VMware PowerCLI Community Site

Borrowed Examples

PowerGUI VMware PowerPack

Use in combination with VMware Community PowerPack to kick start your PowerCLI scripting

PowerGUI Quick Overview

Automate Deployment of ESXi
At a minimum use PowerCLI to create a standard host config
For bonus points use additional technologies to automate further:
Kickstart
Host Profiles
AutoDeploy

In Jeffrey We Trust

http://www.jonathanmedd.net	615
http://feeds.feedburner.com	3
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com	1

Save Time With PowerCLI

by jonathanmedd on Jul 14, 2011

Accessibility

Categories

Upload Details

Usage Rights

3 Embeds 619

Statistics

Save Time With PowerCLI — Presentation Transcript