See the Series page for more info on the VCP5 Blueprint with PowerCLI series and for links to it’s other parts. Please note that I do not think there is any PowerCLI on the VCP 5 test (except maybe for Auto deploy), this is simply an exercise at looking at how to accomplish these tasks using PowerCLI.
Deploy an ESXi host using Auto Deploy
There has been a lot written on Auto Deploy and I would recommend the following posts for info on this feature.
- How to run ESXi stateless with vSphere Auto Deploy at Gabe’s Virtual World
- Auto Deploy Cheat Sheet at Yellow Bricks
- Understanding vSphere Auto Deploy VMware KB Article
Configure NTP on an ESXi Host
Add an NTP server to a single host
Add-VmHostNtpServer -NTPServer <NTP Server IP> -VMhost <ESXi Server>
remove an NTP server from a single host
remove-VmHostNtpServer -NTPServer <NTP Server IP> -VMhost <ESXi Server>
Add a NTP server to all hosts in a Cluster
get-cluster | get-vmhost | Add-VmHostNtpServer -NTPServer <NTP Server IP>
Or for all hosts in a datacenter
get-datacenter | get-vmhost | Add-VmHostNtpServer -NTPServer <NTP Server IP>
Start NTP on a single host
Get-VMHostService -VMhost <ESXi Server> | where {$_.key -eq "ntpd"} | Start-VMHostService
Start NTP on all hosts in a cluster
get-cluster | get-vmhost | Get-VMHostService | where {$_.key -eq "ntpd"} | Start-VMHostService
Configure NTP to start automatically on a single host
Get-VMHostService -VMhost <ESXi Server> | where {$_.key -eq "ntpd"} | Set-VMHostService -Policy automatic
On all hosts in a cluster
get-cluster | get-vmhost | Get-VMHostService | where {$_.key -eq "ntpd"} | Set-VMHostService -Policy automatic
Configure DNS and Routing on an ESXi Host
Add DNS server, domain name and serach domain to an ESXi server
$vmHostNetworkInfo = Get-VmHostNetwork -VMHost <ESXi Server> Set-VmHostNetwork -Network $vmHostNetworkInfo -DNSAddress <DNS Server IPs> -DomainName <domain name> -SearchDomain <Search domains>
Where <DNS Server IPs> and <Search domains> can be comma separated lists of IPs/Domains
And to do the same thing for all hosts in a cluster
$vmHostNetworkInfo = get-cluster | get-vmhost | Get-VmHostNetwork Set-VmHostNetwork -Network $vmHostNetworkInfo -DNSAddress <DNS Server IPs> -DomainName <domain name> -SearchDomain <Search domains>
Setting/Changing the default gateway for an ESXi hos
$vmHostNetworkInfo = Get-VmHostNetwork -VMHost <ESXi Server> Set-VmHostNetwork -Network $vmHostNetworkInfo -VMKernelGateway <Gateway IP>
VMHostNetworkInfo includes both a VMKernelGateway & ConsoleGateway property, but only the VMKernelGateway is used since ESXi does not have a service console.
You can view the DNS and routing settings via the command below, I find list formatting is useful for this info.
Get-VMHostNetwork -vmhost <ESXi Server> | fl
Enable/Configure/Disable Hyperthreading
Checking to see if Hyperthreading is enabled
get-vmhost <ESXi Server> | Select-object HyperthreadingActive
Disable Hyperthreading on a single host
## host upon which to act
$strMyHostName = "myhost.domain.com"
## get the View object for the HostCpuSchedulerSystem
$viewHostCPUSchedulerSystem = Get-View (Get-View -ViewType HostSystem -Property ConfigManager.CpuScheduler -Filter @{"Name" = $strMyHostName}).ConfigManager.CpuScheduler
## disable hyperthreading
$viewHostCPUSchedulerSystem.DisableHyperThreading()
There doesn’t seem to a single cmdlet that can be used to configure hyperthreading so I grabbed the script above by mattboren in this VMware Communities thread. As mentioned in the thread this change only takes effect “next time the CPU scheduler starts”, which I assume means it requires a reboot.
Enable/Size/Disable memory compression cache
Memory compression is an advanced setting which can be manipulated via the Set-VMHostAdvancedConfiguration cmdlet.
Memory compression is enabled by default, so to disable it on a single ESX server.
Set-VMHostAdvancedConfiguration -VMhost <ESXi Server> -Name Mem.MemZipEnable -Value 0
Change the value to a 1 to enable compression.
To see the all the memory compression settings.
Get-VMHostAdvancedConfiguration -VMhost <ESXi Server> -Name *zip*
License an ESXi host
The only cmdlet specifically related to licensing is the Get-LicenseDataManager cmdlet, which is used with automatic or bulk licensing (see below). For licensing a single host you will need to use the get-view cmdlet to interface withe the vSphere API.
The following script can be used to assign a license to a specific ESXi host.
$servInst = Get-View ServiceInstance $licMgr = Get-View $servInst.Content.licenseManager $licAssignMgr = Get-View $licMgr.licenseAssignmentManager $hostSys = get-vmhost <ESXi server> | get-view $Uuid = $hostSys.Config.Host.Value $DisplayName = $hostsys.Summary.Config.product.name $LicKey = "XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX" $licAssignMgr.UpdateAssignedLicense($Uuid, $LicKey,$DisplayName)
You can use the code below to find out what vSphere license has been assigned.
$servInst = Get-View ServiceInstance $licMgr = Get-View $servInst.Content.licenseManager $licAssignMgr = Get-View $licMgr.licenseAssignmentManager $hostSys = get-vmhost <ESXi server> | get-view $Uuid = $hostSys.Config.Host.Value $licAssignMgr.QueryAssignedLicenses($Uuid).getvalue(0).AssignedLicense
There are some good posts out there on manipulating licensing with PowerCLI and if you are interested I would suggest you check these out. Most refer to vSphere 4, but apply equally to vSphere 5.
- vSphere licensing via PowerCLI by Damian Karlson
- Basic VSphere License Key Install via PowerCLI Script VMware Communities Thread
- Assign a vCenter license bu LucD
Another option is to use automatic or bulk licensing. With this method you associate a license to a container, such as a data center, cluster or folder, and then each host that is placed into that container is assigned the associated license. You use the Get-LicenseDataManager cmdlet for this method and it’s ideal for deployments using Auto Deploy. See Set Up Bulk Licensing from the vSphere documentation for more info.
Extra Credit
Surprisingly some of the initial tasks that you would do in a new VMware deployment are not specifically called out in the VCP5 Blueprint. Tasks such as creating a data center, adding ESXi hosts to vCenter, etc. So I’ve documented these tasks here.
Creating a Datacenter
Add a new datacenter to vCenter’s root.
New-Datacenter -Location Datacenters -Name <DC Name>
The location Datacenters is the root folder for vCenter.
Adding a ESXi host to vCenter
Add-VMHost -Name <ESXi Server Name or IP> -Location <Location> -User <Username> -Password <Password> -Force
<Location> can be a Datacenter, folder or cluster (possibly others?). The -Force option is needed if the ESXi server’s certificate is self-signed.
Infrastructure Adventures 
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