Saturday, March 27. 2010
PowerCLI Baseline-Compliancy Check
1) One file with all hosts and their compliancy state
2) One file with all attached baselines found
3) One file for every attached baseline found with its content
You can get you copy of Harold’s script here: Baseline-Compliancy.ps1 If you have any questions or suggestions for improvements just send your Tweets to @Hharold.
Monday, March 22. 2010
How to access PowerCLI trough SSH
There are a lot of automation tools available which are able to deploy and configure an ESX host but if you want to use PowerCLI for the finishing configuration part there was always a manual step involved. I’ve found a way to start a PowerShell script from the service console trough SSH. The only thing you have to do is install WinSSHD on one of your Windows servers, just execute the distributable that you downloaded from the Bitvise website and follow the process. As soon as the installer completes, you will have a working WinSSHD installation on your machine. No changes to the default configuration are necessary; you only need to start it. However, you might want restrict your users' access to those features that they actually need, which will improve security. If you are new to WinSSHD, it’s highly recommended that you first make sure that you can establish a working SSH connection before you change any settings on the server. If you cannot connect to WinSSHD using its default configuration, this is most likely due to a network or firewall problem that you will need to resolve before you are able to connect. In its default configuration, WinSSHD accepts connections on the well-known port number for SSH servers, 22.
I’ve recorded a Jing video (with audio) which demos the CPU-Ready PowerCLI script running on my vCenter server launched from one of my ESX host’s service console.
Thursday, March 4. 2010
New dedicated VMTN community forum for Update Manager PowerCLI
vCenter Update Manager PowerCLI provides an easy-to-use Windows Powershell interface to VMware vCenter Update Manager and has numerous cmdlets and sample scripts. vCenter Update Manager PowerCLI now also has its own VMTN forum. To find additional resources and exchange ideas with other users, visit http://www.vmware.com/go/powercliupdate.
Automate patching and update of the vSphere environment with the vCenter Update Manager PowerCLI. Cmdlets are provided for your most-frequently performed operations such as downloading software updates, creating baselines, scanning and remediating virtual machines components or hosts. vCenter Update Manager PowerCLI is distributed as a Windows PowerShell snapin, and comes with documentation and samples.