If you’ve ever tried searching for a script or a module before, you know it’s not the easiest thing to accomplish. This sentiment has been coming up more and more as of late. There’s a ton of amazing PowerCLI scripts and modules, PowerActions scripts, DSC resources, and so forth contributed by the community and openly available.

The VMware PowerCLI Community Repository is a central location where anyone can contribute their own resources. The repository features a Principles of Operations document to help guide contributors along the process of using, creating, and updating resources which are contained within the repository.

This community repository will also feature several community members as board members. As part of the board, they will be asked to help maintain the repository with tasks such as testing and providing feedback on all submitted resources, communicating with other board members in order to approve pull requests, and continuing to be good community advocates of PowerCLI and the community repository.

I’d like to thank and welcome the following board members:
Josh Atwell (Community Member)
Luc Dekens (Community Member)
Jonathan Medd (Community Member)
Alan Renouf (VMware)
Kyle Ruddy (VMware)
Rynardt Spies (Community Member)

Now that we have the announcements out of the way, let’s take a look at how to dig in and get started.

Getting Started

Accessing the Repository

Downloading the Repository for Local Access
If you happen to be new to GitHub and want to access the contents of the repository, one of the easiest ways to that is to just download a copy of it directly from GitHub to your local system:

1. Load the following GitHub repository page: VMware PowerCLI Community Repository
2. Click on the green “Clone or Download” button and then click “Download ZIP”
3. Once downloaded, extract the zip file to the location of your choosing
4. At this point, you now have a local copy of the repository

Creating Your Own GitHub Based Access Point
Another one of the easiest ways to access the repository contents is to “fork” it, which places a copy of the repository within your account:

1. Login (or signup) to GitHub
2. Load the following GitHub repository page: VMware PowerCLI Community Repository
3. Click on the Fork button, which will create a copy of the repository and place it in the GitHub based location of your choosing.

Adding Resources

GitHub – Copy/Paste Option
If you happen to want to contribute a script or other resource and are new to GitHub, you have the ability to copy and paste your resource directly to the repository:

1. Within the community repository, browse to the appropriate section (example: Scripts)
2. Select the “Create new file” button
3. On the new page, enter a file name, enter the resource’s information
4. Within the “Commit new file” area, enter the title and description, then select “Create a new branch for this commit…” and enter a sensical branch name
5. Click “Propose new file”
6. On the “Open a pull request” page, click “Create pull request”

GitHub – Upload Files Option
Similarly to the copy and paste option above, you can also upload your resource directly to the repository as well:

1. Within the community repository, browse to the appropriate section (example: Modules)
2. Select the “Upload files” button
3. On the new page, drag or choose the files to add
4. Within the “Commit changes” area, enter the title and description, then select “Create a new branch for this commit…” and enter a sensical branch name
5. Click “Propose new file”
6. On the “Open a pull request” page, click “Create pull request”

GitHub Desktop Client

There are numerous other ways to interact with the community repository other than just the GitHub web interface. The GitHub Desktop is a great way to setup and streamline your interaction with any GitHub Repository. More information is available at GitHub’s Desktop Client Getting Started page.

Conclusion

The goal of the VMware PowerCLI Community Repository is to bring the great PowerCLI resources from the community into a central location that’s easy to find, search, use, and contribute to regardless of the user’s technical skill level.

If there’s any questions, comments, or feedback, join us in the VMware Code Slack team’s PowerCLI channel: https://code.vmware.com/slack/