We’re continuing the video series on learning PowerCLI tips and tricks. Previously, we’ve focused on an introduction, creating reports, and handling the VM lifecycle. We will now be focusing on the host configuration process.
This is one of those processes that admins may not do on an everyday basis, but is a huge time saver once automated. However, the individual commands can be run at any time and not just during the configuration process. Using the New-VirtualSwitch cmdlet as an example, it can be reused on multiple hosts to not just provide a time savings during creation but also provide consistency as the commands are ran on each host. Then, once through the individual steps, the video also takes it a step further and finishes up with a way to tie everything in to a script for an automated workflow.
This video shows how to perform the following tasks easily:
- Adding a Host to vCenter
- Putting a Host in Maintenance Mode
- Assigning a license key to a Host
- Configuring a Host’s NTP server
- Creating a Virtual Switch on a Host
- Creating a Port Group on a Host
- Enabling vMotion on a Host’s Port Group
- Creating both VMFS and NFS based datastores on a Host
- Activating a Host
- Tying all these actions together into a single script
The entire process takes less than 5 minutes, and the script completes in less than 1 minute!
Watch the Video
Other videos available in the series are available below. If you haven’t seen them yet, I highly recommend them. They are all quick, easy to learn and easy to reproduce in your own environment.
It’s been a while since a new PowerCLI related course has been released by VMware Education, but they heard the requests and have released a new 5-day course! The course is titled “Data Center Automation with vRealize Orchestrator and vSphere PowerCLI” and will take experienced vSphere administrators down the path of automating their day to day tasks. 
