Learning PowerCLI - Second Edition

Robert van den Nieuwendijk

• Publisher: Packt Publishing
• Year: 2017
• ISBN:
  9781786468017
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Computer Science
• Subtopic: Virtualisation
• Index: Computer Science

Learn to leverage the power of PowerCLI to automate your VMware vSphere environment with ease

About This Book

• This is first book on the market that will enlighten you on the latest version of PowerCLI and how to implement it
• Effectively manage virtual machines, networks, and reports with the latest features of PowerCLI
• A comprehensive and practical book on automating VMware vSphere

Who This Book Is For

This book is ideal for you if you want to learn how to automate your VMware vSphere or vCloud infrastructure by getting the most out of PowerCLI. It's assumed that you have some experience in administrating a vSphere or vCloud environment. Knowledge of Microsoft's Windows PowerShell is not a prerequisite.

What You Will Learn

• Explore PowerShell and PowerCLI cmdlets and their output objects
• See how to manage virtual machines and work with virtual networks
• Manage vCloud Director from PowerCLI
• Use Site Recovery Manager from PowerCLI to create a disaster recovery solution
• Manage NSX and vRealize Automation using REST API with PowerCLI
• Create and configure vSphere HA and DRS clusters
• Use vSphere Update Manager with PowerCLI to create patch baselines and scan hosts
• Explore reporting techniques to retrieve log files

In Detail

VMware vSphere PowerCLI, a free extension to Microsoft Windows PowerShell, enables you to automate the management of a VMware vSphere or vCloud environment.

This book will show you how to automate your tasks and make your job easier. Starting with an introduction to the basics of PowerCLI, the book will teach you how to manage your vSphere and vCloud infrastructure from the command line. To help you manage a vSphere host overall, you will learn how to manage vSphere ESXi hosts, host profiles, host services, host firewall, and deploy and upgrade ESXi hosts using Image Builder and Auto Deploy. The next chapter will not only teach you how to create datastore and datastore clusters, but you'll also work with profile-driven and policy-based storage to manage your storage. To create a disaster recovery solution and retrieve information from vRealize Operations, you will learn how to use Site Recovery Manager and vRealize Operations respectively. Towards the end, you'll see how to use the REST APIs from PowerShell to manage NSX and vRealize Automation and create patch baselines, scan hosts against the baselines for missing patches, and re-mediate hosts.

By the end of the book, you will be capable of using the best tool to automate the management and configuration of VMware vSphere.

Style and approach

This comprehensive book will teach system administrators everything about PowerCLI 6 and how to utilize it to automate VMware vSphere.

Learning PowerCLI Second Edition

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Learning PowerCLI Second Edition

Copyright © 2017 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: February 2014

Second edition: February 2017

Production reference: 1200217

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

Livery Place

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Birmingham

B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78646-801-7

www.packtpub.com

Credits

Author Robert van den Nieuwendijk	Copy Editors Safis Editing Dipti Mankame
Reviewer Kim Bottu	Project Coordinator Shweta H. Birwatkar
Commissioning Editor Vijin Boricha	Proofreader Safis Editing
Acquisition Editor Prachi Bisht	Indexer Pratik Shirodkar
Content Development Editor Abhishek Jadhav	Graphics Kirk D'Penha
Technical Editor Gaurav Suri	Production Coordinator Shantanu N. Zagade

About the Author

Robert van den Nieuwendijk is an IT veteran from the Netherlands with over thirty years of experience in Information Technology. He holds a bachelor degree in software engineering. After working a few years as a programmer of air traffic control and vessel traffic management systems, he started his own company Van den Nieuwendijk Informatica in 1988. Since then he has worked as a freelance systems administrator of OpenVMS, Windows Server, Linux, and VMware vSphere systems, for Dutch governmental organizations and cloud providers. During winter he is also a ski and snowboard instructor at an indoor ski school.

With his background as a programmer, he always tries to make his job easier by writing programs or scripts to perform repeating tasks. In the past, he used the C programming language, OpenVMS DCL, Visual Basic Script and KiXtart to do this. Now, he uses Microsoft PowerShell and VMware PowerCLI for all of his scripting work.

Robert is a frequent contributor and moderator at the VMware VMTN Communities. Since 2012 VMware awarded him the vExpert title for his significant contributions to the community and a willingness to share his expertise with others.

He has a blog at http://rvdnieuwendijk.com where he writes mainly about VMware PowerCLI, Microsoft PowerShell, and VMware vSphere.

If you want to get in touch with Robert, then you can find him on Twitter. His username is @rvdnieuwendijk.

Robert is also the author of Learning PowerCLI, Packt Publishing.

I would like to thank my wife Ali for supporting me writing this second book.

I also want to thank the people at Packt Publishing for giving me the opportunity to update the Learning PowerCLI book and write this second edition.

About the Reviewer

Kim Bottu is the virtualization engineer in the EMEA region for an international Biglaw firm, where he focuses on virtual datacenter operations, optimization, and design.

In his current role, he takes care of the consolidated virtual datacenters in Asia and Europe, and he is the SME for the EMEA Litigation virtual datacenters.

He holds the following certifications and honors: VCA-NV, VCP5-DCV, VCP6-DCV, VCAP5-DCD, VCAP6-DCV Design, and TOGAF 9 certified. He has also been named vExpert 2016 and vExpert 2017.

Kim currently lives in Belgium and is a proud dad of a daughter named Zoey. In his spare time you might find him playing with his daughter, reading books, or riding his mountain bike.

Kim can be reached at www.vMusketeers.com .

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