vCenter Server and ESX/ESXi hosts determine the level of access for the user by reading the permissions that are assigned to the user. The combination of user name, password, and permissions authorizes the user to perform activities on vSphere server objects.
PowerCLI 4.0 U1 introduced a full set of cmdlets for managing vSphere permissions:
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Name
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Description
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Retrieves the permissions defined on the specified inventory objects
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Creates new permissions on the specified inventory objects for the provided users and groups in the role.
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Modifies the properties of the specified permissions.
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Removes the specified permissions.
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Retrieve the privilege groups and items for the provided servers.
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Retrieves all roles defined on the provided servers.
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Creates a new role on the specified servers and applies the provided privileges.
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Modifies the privileges of the provided roles.
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Removes the specified roles.
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By using these cmdlets, you can fully automate the setup of vSphere permissions.
The example below shows a sample scenario how to create a custom role and set permissions to a user.
First, you can get the privileges of the read-only role. A role is a predefined set of privileges. Privileges define basic individual rights required to perform actions and read properties.
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<span style="background-color: #e6e6e6;">$readOnlyPrivileges = Get-VIPrivilege -Role readonly </span> |
To create a new role with custom privileges, use New-VIRole.
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<span style="background-color: #e6e6e6;">$myRole = New-VIRole -Privilege $readOnlyPrivileges -Name MyRole </span> |
You can check the list of roles on the server including newly created role:
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<span style="background-color: #e6e6e6;">Get-VIRole</span> |
If you want to add more privileges to the newly created role just use the Set-VIRole cmdlet:
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<span style="background-color: #e6e6e6;">$powerOnPrivileges = Get-VIPrivilege -Name "Power On" </span><br /><span style="background-color: #e6e6e6;">$myRole = Set-VIRole –Role $myRole –AddPrivilege $powerOnPrivileges</span> |
The privileges on the updated role can be examined by using Get-VIPrivilege with the Role parameter:
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<span style="background-color: #e6e6e6;">Get-VIPrivilege -Role $myRole</span> |
We already have a custom created role, so we can grant a permission to a user. We’ll apply permissions to a vSphere root object and propagate them across the hierarchy:
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<span style="background-color: #e6e6e6;">$rootFolder = Get-Folder -NoRecursion</span><br /><span style="background-color: #e6e6e6;">$myPermission = New-VIPermission -Entity $rootFolder -Principal "myuser" -Role readonly -Propagate:$true</span> |
Note that the Principal parameter supports local users and groups as well as domain users/groups if the vSphere server is joined in AD.
As you noticed, we’ve granted a read-only permission, so we need to update Role of the newly created permission with our custom role:
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<span style="color: #111111; background-color: #e6e6e6;">$myPermission = Set-VIPermission -Permission $myPermission -Role $myRoleRemove permission</span> |
These are the simple steps how to create a new role and grant permissions to a user.
If you want to remove permission, you can just use the Remove-VIPermission cmdlet
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<span style="background-color: #e6e6e6;">Remove-VIPermission $myPermission</span> |
and Remove-VIRole to remove your custom role:
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<span style="background-color: #e6e6e6;">Remove-VIRole MyRole</span> |
This is good stuff. Thanks very much.
I’m trying to add a permission while connected to an ESXi host with an Entity of “domain\group”. It says it can’t find the VIAccount by that name. I can do this using the vSphere client, but was hoping to script it since I have to apply it to multiple hosts.
Thanks,
Doug
Oops. I should have added that the ESXi host is a member of that AD domain.
I’m not sure what happened to my first post, to which the ‘oops’ was a correction. So here goes again.
I can add a permission for a “domain\group” using the vSphere client. When I try the New-VIPermission and use “domain\group” as the -Principal it says it can’t find the VIAccount by that name. Since I have multiple ESXi hosts to update I was hoping to get the script to work.
Thanks,
Doug
Same here. I would hear too the solution for Doug’s problem.
Thanks,
Andras
I think it’s expecting user, not a group. If you check the permissions with Get-VIPermission -Entity $YourVIServer, the 4th column is the ‘IsGroup’, which might required to make difference from the two object. Therefore the New-VIPermission cmdlet should have a “-IsGroup” boolean parameter to set this permission – but it hasn’t.
BTW here’s an alternative method to add a domain group locally to a domain joined ESXi. You must be connected directly and only to the ESXi host not to a vCenter.
###
$Role = “ReadOnly”
$groupName = “ContosoDomain\VMwareADGroup”
$currhost = Get-VMHost | % {Get-View $_.Id}
$authmgr = Get-View $currhost.Client.ServiceContent.AuthorizationManager
$perm = New-Object VMware.VIM.Permission
$perm.Principal = $groupName
$perm.group = $true
$perm.propagate = $true
$perm.RoleId = ($authmgr.RoleList | where {$_.Name -eq $Role}).RoleId
$authmgr.SetEntityPermissions($currhost.parent,$perm)
###
You can check the available role names with this:
###
$currhost = Get-VMHost | % {Get-View $_.Id}
(Get-View $currhost.Client.ServiceContent.AuthorizationManager).RoleList | Select Name
###
Hope this helps for someone.
Sadly the code above will not work like it should be. If you check the authorization.xml in the host’s /etc/vmware/hostd folder, you can see that the root user has an Administrator role (ID is -1) for the entity ha-root-folder. The code creates three other registration, but none of them for ha-root-folder. Without it, you will be able to log in locally with your domain account, but unable to create or even see local users, or modify any permission. =(
how would I update a role? I have a Jr Admin role that I need to turn on Virtual machine > configuration > add or remove device
I forget I have 92 vcenters I need to do this on
You need to use (Get-View Datacenter-ha-datacenter).Parent instead. So….
$authmgr = Get-View AuthorizationManager-ha-authmgr
$perm = New-Object VMware.VIM.Permission
$perm.group = $true
$perm.propagate = $true
$perm.Principal = “YOURDOMAIN\GSG-PCVMHosts-EnterpriseAdmins”
$perm.RoleId = ($authmgr.RoleList | where {$_.Name -eq “Admin”}).RoleId
$authmgr.SetEntityPermissions((Get-View Datacenter-ha-datacenter).Parent,$perm)
And for creating a new role and giving it permissions using a VM Host that already has the role:
Connect-VIServer $CurrentVMHost
$HelpdeskRole = Get-VIRole -Name “Helpdesk Admins”
Disconnect-VIServer $CurrentVMHost -Confirm:$false | Out-Null
Connect-VIServer $NewVMHost -User root -Password “*********” -WarningAction SilentlyContinue | Out-Null
Write-Verbose -Message “Creating ‘Helpdesk Admins’ Custom Security Group on [$NewVMHostName]” -Verbose
New-VIRole $HelpdeskRole | Out-Null
Write-Verbose -Message “Configuring Permissions on ‘Helpdesk Admins’ Custom Security Group on [$NewVMHostName]” -Verbose
Set-VIRole –Role (Get-VIRole -Name “Helpdesk Admins”) -AddPrivilege (Get-VIPrivilege -Id $HelpdeskRole.PrivilegeList) | Out-Null
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Hi, is there a way to take all accesses in an environment that have role-a and move them to role-b. i now have 3 roles that are identical and need to consolidate them to one.
thanks
Looking for help with a script that can add an AD group and permissions to vcenter, the datacenter and separate clusters in an environment. we have multiple vcenters in geo-locations that are all exactly the same. vcenter1 / datacenter1 / cluster1 , cluster2, cluster3, cluster4
AD_DNS_group get’s assigned VNF_Role to vcenter / datacenter / cluster2 – so that’s all they see and cluster1, cluster3, cluster4 get assigned no access
AD_FileServer_group get’s assigned VNF_Role to vcenter / datacenter / cluster1 – so that’s all they see and cluster2, cluster3, cluster4 get assigned no access
I can’t find anything with that type of granularity
Thanks for any hlpe