Tagged: vSphere

Automate VMware VM Deployment – Template creation with Packer

Automation is something that I have tried to incorporate as much as possible within my solutions.  The benefits are obvious and often the work behind it is the most interesting, even if it ends up being just a few lines of PowerShell.  Infrastructure as Code is one of the areas I have had on my to-do list for a while and I have finally started dipping my toe into it this year. I’ve discussed previously how I like to handle deploying appliances and VMs using PowerCLI and an existing VM template but I want to take that a stage further...

0

Reset vSphere VCSA root password

So I absolutely have not forgotten my appliance root password for my VCSA but I am getting the below error when attempting to logon to the GUI – WTF? Fortunately, there is a simple resolution to this problem.  The password has expired and needs resetting.  This will need attention if I want to perform an upgrade, which I most certainly do (vCenter 6.7 to 7). Logon to the appliance GUI with your SSO administrator account and enable SSH. Then open a SSH session on the appliance using Putty and your expired root credentials. *If you have forgotten the password completely...

0

Create a nested ESXi template in vSphere

Nested Hosts are a great way to try new features out and can be quickly provisioned/removed in a home lab or test environment.  There is no official VMware support for them however so please no production use. Anyway, using nested hosts is certainly not new – William Lam is the go-to for this and has a load of consumable resources which can be found on his excellent website here.  However, like many, I wanted to have a go myself so here is how I created a template in my lab. For starters let’s get an ESXi VM created.  I’m not...

0

vSphere 7 – ESXi upgrade

So having upgraded vCenter it’s time to do the hosts.  I’d normally use Update Manager for this – which has had an overhaul and is now Lifecycle Manager. One thing to call out here is that I ran a test prior to upgrading my hosts by installing the hypervisor onto a USB stick and booting from that to make sure there were no hardware issues.  I used remote management to attach the iso to the host and plugged in a USB key to install vSphere 7 onto.  If you don’t have remote management the same can be achieved by creating...

1

Windows 2008 End of Support – VM report

So hopefully everyone has already long dealt with the upcoming end of support date for Windows 2008 as detailed by MS here right? Paying for extended support might be an option at this late stage but good to know exactly what you are dealing with. I have used the following powercli code to query all vCenters for a report on 2008/2008r2 VMs to identify any stragglers or virtual servers that app owners have been too busy to update or mitigate. Change the variables to suit your environment and comment out the filter (highlighted lines below) if you want to use...

0

Documentation – vSphere Clusters

I have put this function together for the purpose of documenting cluster settings.  Used it a fair bit to gather information on environments that I have come accross that have not been well documented.  In can be used as is but I’m fiddling around with it to produce some further information so likely to be updated in the near future. Hopefully of some use – connect to vCenter from POWERCLI and run the function. get-clusterdetails  

0

Documentation – ESXi Host vMotion IPs

I’ve recently had to audit and document several vSphere environments.  Multiple hosts had been configured manually and there were some mistakes in the IP settings.  I put together this POWERCLI function to report back on these settings and will now use it for documentation moving forward.  Hopefully of some use to others too. Connect to a host or vCenter and give it a go.  

0

Managing ESXi Hosts with AD Credentials

As part of a security hardening exercise or indeed just because, it may be desirable to change the root account of your ESXi hosts to a complex password, bung it in a safe and let you admins connect via their AD credentials. To start with, join your ESXi hosts to your AD domain.  I have pre-created computer objects in my test environment. I have also created an ESX Admins AD security group which by default allows its members admin access to an ESXi host once it has been joined to the domain. To join the domain run the following powercli...

0

Documentation – ESXi Host Hardware and Build Details

I don’t know many people that enjoy writing documentation but it is a nessesary evil and can give you the opportunity to be creative with how you produce it. Often I will need to document a point in time install for ESXi hosts so have put together the below PowerCLI function to obtain some hardware and build information back.  Running Get-HostDetails after connecting to a host or vCenter There are loads of good examples available but this works well for me. Output as below

0