Basic overview of automation over vSphere

1. vSphere Automation
Vladan Laxa

2. • Vladan Laxa
• Systems Engineer / Consultant
• Latraxa.cz
• VMware VCP 2,3,4,5,6,6.5 (2006 – 2019)
• 14 years in IT
• vlaxa@latraxa.cz
• @latraxa
Who I am?
latraxa.cz

3. • Single host => take a coffe
• Few hosts => you are welcome
• HA Datacenter => you already know?
Infrastructure Complexity
latraxa.cz

4. • Transform your work from this:
Sysadmin nightmare
latraxa.cz

5. • To this:
Sysadmin nightmare
latraxa.cz

6. Automation Expert
latraxa.cz

7. • 7 teams
• 2.5 Hours of coding
• 1 leader (Luc Dekens)
• 5 Members
• Networking
• Development
• Presentation
• Lot of fun
• Enough food and beer
VMware {code} Hackathon 2016
latraxa.cz

8. • Slack Channel
https://code.vmware.com/web/code/join
• Twitter @vmwarecode
• https://code.vmware.com/samples
VMware {code} Slack channel
latraxa.cz

9. • Opensourced PowerShell => multiplatform PowerCLI
• Support for Linux
• Support for macOS
• Modules instead of Snap-ins
• Integrations of VS Code
• New cmdlets
VMware PowerCLI Core
latraxa.cz

10. • Minimal Linux OS (25 MB)
• Optimalized for the containers
• Integration to vSphere, API
• Updates by VMware
• Photon Controller for management
• Virtual Appliance ISO, OVA, AWS EC2,
Google, Azure
• https://github.com/vmware/photon/wiki
Photon OS 2.0
latraxa.cz

11. • INF8092 The Power Hour: Deep Dive DevOps and New Feaures of PowerCLI
• INF8255 Evolving the vSphere API for the Modern Era
• INF8430 vSphere 6.x Host Resource Deep Dive
• INF8038 Getting Started with PowerShell and PowerCLI in your VI
• INF9205 Troubleshooting vSphere 6 made Easy Expert Talk
Top 5 Sessions
latraxa.cz

12. • Proven configuration for the VMware vSphere ESXi 6.5
• Intel NUC 6i3SYH
• Corsair SO-DIMM 32GB KIT DDR4 2133MHz CL15 ValueSelect
• Intel 600p M.2 256GB SSD NVMe
• 14925,- (550€)
• Edimax EU-4306 USB3 1Gbit LAN
• http://www.virtuallyghetto.com/2016/11/usb-3-0-ethernet-adapter-nic-
driver-for-esxi-6-5.html
• Update BIOS!
HomeLab Environment
latraxa.cz

13. ESXCLI
latraxa.cz
• ESXCLI features and new commands
https://code.vmware.com/doc/preview?id=4164
• Esxcli software vib command to patch ESXi
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2008939

14. • PowerCLI 6.5 R1 Poster
https://blogs.vmware.com/PowerCLI/2017/02/powercli-65-poster.html
• Performing common virtual machine-releated tasks with command line utilities
• https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2012964
vSphere and PowerCLI
latraxa.cz

15. • You can simply install PowerCLI from PS Gallery
• PSVersion Value of 5.0 or above is required
• Find-Module -Name VMware.PowerCLI
• Install-Module -Name VMware.PowerCLI –Scope CurrentUser –AllowClobber
• Get-Module VMware.PowerCLI -ListAvailable
• Upgrade:
• If you use Update-Module, the existing version of the module is not removed. To update a
module, you should first uninstall the existing version of the module and then install the
new version
• (Get-Module VMware.PowerCLI -ListAvailable).RequiredModules | Uninstall-Module –
Force
• Get-Module VMware.PowerCLI -ListAvailable | Uninstall-Module –Force
• And install it again, it will install current version
• Do not do this on the Mac, only PowerShell core and PowerCLI core is working now.
PowerCLI from PowerShell Gallery
latraxa.cz

16. • You can easily enable SSH on the ESXi host
• Connect-VIServer -Server 192.168.1.2 -User root -Password Heslo123
• get-vmhostservice | where {$_.Key -eq "TSM-SSH"} | Start-VMHostService
• All hosts in the cluster:
• Connect-VIServer -Server 192.168.1.3 -User <your account> -Password
<your password>
• Get-VMHost | foreach { get-vmhostservice -VMHost $_.name | where
{$_.Key -eq "TSM-SSH"} | Start-VMHostService}
• More usefull examples:
• https://github.com/vmware/PowerCLI-Example-Scripts
• Copy / Paste from community is good way to learn, then you can
contribute back
PowerCLI in the field
latraxa.cz

17. • HOL-1721-SDC-6 – vSphere Automation with PowerCLI
http://labs.hol.vmware.com
VMware Hands On Labs
latraxa.cz

18. • Datacenter Command-Line interface (DCLI)
• Works exclusively with vSphere Automation
API
• Supported on Windows and Linux
• As part of the vSphere Command-Line
Interface (vCLI)
• Interactive shell or via scripting mode
• Offline example:
• dcli +server vcsa.lab.local +skip-server-
verification +interactive
• https://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2016/12/
getting-started-datacenter-cli.html
DCLI in Action
latraxa.cz

19. • Python SDK for the VMware vSphere API that
allows you to manage ESXi and vCenter
• https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pyvmomi/
• https://github.com/vmware/pyvmomi-
community-samples
pyVmomi 6.5
latraxa.cz

20. • Backup
• PS C:PS> Add-PSSnapin VeeamPSSnapin
• PS C:PS> Get-VBRCommand –Verb „Start“
• PS C:PS> Get-Help Add-VBRViBackupJob
• Endpoint
• Free VeeamZIP
• Quick Migration
• Veeam PowerShell Reference
https://helpcenter.veeam.com/docs/backup/powershell/
connect-vbrserver.html?ver=95
https://github.com/VeeamHub/powershell
Veeam and PowerShell
latraxa.cz

21. https://go.veeam.com/learn-powershell-basics-free-tutorial-course-ty/
• Timothy Devin
https://github.com/tdewin/powershell
https://sourceforge.net/p/powershellrepository/code/HEAD/tree/general
/getting%20started/
Veeam PowerShell Resources
latraxa.cz

22. • Example of the VM restore to the different location:
• Loading a backup job into a variable
• PS C:PS> $backup = Get-VBRBackup -Name "Daily_Backup"
• Selecting the most recent restorepoint
• PS C:PS> $restorepoint = Get-VBRRestorePoint -Backup $backup -Name “test_001"
| Select -Last 1
• Selecting server for the restore
• PS C:PS> $server = Get-VBRServer -Name "esx1.lab.local“
• Selecting the resource pool
• PS C:PS> $resourcepool = Find-VBRViResourcePool -Server $server -Name “Servery“
• Starting the restore process
• PS C:PS> Start-VBRRestoreVM -RestorePoint $restorepoint -Server $server -
ResourcePool $resourcepool
Veeam 9.5 PowerShell Automation
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23. Recommended Learning Resources
latraxa.cz

24. • It saves you a lot of time
• They will love you
• You will get a lot more work, because of you can do that
Do not be afraid to start automate
latraxa.cz

25. Thank you
latraxa.cz
• Enjoy the rest of the time
• Thank you

26. Vladan Laxa
Systems Engineer / Consultant
Latraxa.cz
vlaxa@latraxa.cz
@latraxa
latraxa.cz