Powershell for System Center Virtual Machine Manager and Hyper-V

Posted on December 1, 2010 by Thomas Maurer

Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2

This little HowTo shows you how can you get tasks on System Center Virtual Machine Manager done, by using Windows Powershell.

Load Powershell Snapin for Virtual Machine Manager:

Add-PSSnapin Microsoft.SystemCenter.VirtualMachineManager

Create Virtual Machine:

# Config
# ------------------------------------
# Job Config
$JobGroup = "0000001" # This is used to group command by a job
$SCMVVMServer = "SCVVMServer01" # Name of the SCVMM Server (could also be localhost)

# Network Config
$VirtualNetwork = "External" # Name of the Network you want the VM to connect
$VLanEnable = $true # eable VLANs
$VLANID = "1023" # VLAN ID

# VMM Config
$Domain = "Contoso"
$Owner = "Ownerusername" # Owner User
$Description = "This is a Server" # Choose a Description
$VMName = "server05" # Name of the VM
$VMHost = "hyperv02" # Name of the existing VM Host
$VMPath = "C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Hyper-V"

# Virtual Machine Config
$VMOperatingSystem = "64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard"
$CPU = "1.20 GHz Athlon MP" # CPU
$VMDiskSize = "40960" # Disk Size in MB
$CPUCount = "1"
$MemoryMB = "1024" # Memory Size in MB
$ExpectedCPUUtilization = "20"
$DiskIO = "0"
$CPUMax = "100"
$CPUReserve = "0"
$NetworkUtilization = "0"
$RelativeWeight = "100"
$HighlyAvailable = $false
$NumLock = $false
$BootOrder = "CD", "IdeHardDrive", "PxeBoot", "Floppy"
$LimitCPUFunctionality = $false
$LimitCPUForMigration = $false

# Setup Process
# ------------------------------------
Set-VirtualFloppyDrive -RunAsynchronously -VMMServer $SCVMMServer -NoMedia -JobGroup $JobGroup
Set-VirtualCOMPort -NoAttach -VMMServer $SCVMMServer -GuestPort 1 -JobGroup $JobGroup
Set-VirtualCOMPort -NoAttach -VMMServer $SCVMMServer -GuestPort 2 -JobGroup $JobGroup
New-VirtualNetworkAdapter -VMMServer $SCVMMServer -JobGroup $JobGroup -PhysicalAddressType Dynamic -VirtualNetwork $VirtualNetwork -VLanEnabled $VLanEnable -VLANID $VLANID -MACAddressesSpoofingEnabled $false
$CPUType = Get-CPUType -VMMServer $SCVMMServer | where {$_.Name -eq $CPU}
New-HardwareProfile -VMMServer $SCVMMServer -Owner ($Domain + "\" + $Owner) -CPUType $CPUType -Name ("Profile" + $JobGroup) -CPUCount $CPUCount -MemoryMB $MemoryMB -ExpectedCPUUtilization $ExpectedCPUUtilization -DiskIO $DiskIO -CPUMax $CPUMax -CPUReserve $CPUReserve -NetworkUtilization $NetworkUtilization -RelativeWeight $RelativeWeight -HighlyAvailable $HighlyAvailable -NumLock $XMLTask.Feature.NumLock -BootOrder $BootOrder -LimitCPUFunctionality $LimitCPUFunctionality -LimitCPUForMigration $LimitCPUForMigration -JobGroup $JobGroup
New-VirtualDiskDrive -VMMServer $SCVMMServer -IDE -Bus 0 -LUN 0 -JobGroup $JobGroup -Size $VMDiskSize -Dynamic -Filename ($VMName + "_disk_1")
$VMHost = Get-VMHost -VMMServer $SCVMMServer | where {$_.Name -eq $VMHost}
$HardwareProfile = Get-HardwareProfile -VMMServer $SCVMMServer | where {$_.Name -eq ("Profile" + $JobGroup)}
$OperatingSystem = Get-OperatingSystem -VMMServer $SCVMMServer | where {$_.Name -eq $VMOperatingSystem}

# Create VM
# ------------------------------------
New-VM -VMMServer $SCVMMServer -Name $VMName -Description $Description -Owner ($Domain + "\" + $Owner) -VMHost $VMHost -Path $VMPath -HardwareProfile $HardwareProfile -JobGroup $JobGroup -RunAsynchronously -OperatingSystem $OperatingSystem -RunAsSystem -StartAction NeverAutoTurnOnVM -StopAction SaveVM

Delete (Remove) Virtual Machine:

# Config
# ------------------------------------
$VMName = "server05" # Name of the VM

# Setup Process
# ------------------------------------
$SelectedVM = Get-VM -Name $VMName

# Remove/Delete VM
# ------------------------------------
Remove-VM -VM $SelectedVM

Suspend Virtual Machine:

# Config
# ------------------------------------
$VMName = "server05" # Name of the VM

# Setup Process
# ------------------------------------
$SelectedVM = Get-VM -Name $VMName

# Suspend VM
# ------------------------------------
Suspend-VM -VM $SelectedVM

Resume Virtual Machine:

# Config
# ------------------------------------
$VMName = "server05" # Name of the VM

# Setup Process
# ------------------------------------
$SelectedVM = Get-VM -Name $VMName

# Resume VM
# ------------------------------------
Resume-VM -VM $SelectedVM

Stop Virtual Machine / Turn off Virtual Machine:

# Config
# ------------------------------------
$VMName = "server05" # Name of the VM

# Setup Process
# ------------------------------------
$SelectedVM = Get-VM -Name $VMName

# Stop / Turn off VM
# ------------------------------------
Stop-VM -VM $SelectedVM

Start Virtual Machine:

# Config
# ------------------------------------
$VMName = "server05" # Name of the VM

# Setup Process
# ------------------------------------
$SelectedVM = Get-VM -Name $VMName

# Start VM
# ------------------------------------
Start-VM -VM $SelectedVM

This is a reference how you can do some thing with Powershell in the Virtual Machine Manager. You can do a lot more, like error handling, creating virtual machines from a xml config file etc…

How to add a Windows Server 2008 R2 Core as Secondary Domain Controller (replica)

Posted on November 2, 2010 by Thomas Maurer

This is a small How to which shows you how you can add a Windows Server 2008 R2 Core as a Secondary Domain Controller or Replica.

First configure the Core Server, Name, Domain, IP Adresse and more. You can use the command sconfig to run the Server Configuration Utility.
Now you can go back to the Command Promt.
Now you have to possibilities to install a Domain Controller. First you run dcpromo with a unattend file you have created and copied on the server, or you run dcpromo with some parameters. I decided to run dcpromo with the necessary parameters because I just need a simple replica.
Now you can run the command on the Command Promt
Dcpromo /unattend /replicaOrnewDomain:replica /replicaDomainDNSName:corp.pepsi.local /ConfirmGC:yes /username:corp’administrator /Password:* /safeModeAdminPassword:PepsiPassword
After that the Server will run the installer and reboot.
A replication connection was created

If you need more Information about Active Directory Creation on a Windows Server 2008 Core Server you can checkout the Microsoft KB947034.

Powershell: Count Sharepoint Sites on Sharepoint Server 2010

Posted on July 29, 2010 by Thomas Maurer

This is a very small line of code to count Sharepoint 2010 Site Collections with Powershell.

(Get-SPSite -Limit all).Count

By the way, we at Genotec AG are offering a Hosted Sharepoint 2010 solution based on Powershell automation.

Powershell: Working with XML part 2

Posted on July 28, 2010 by Thomas Maurer

After my first post (Powershell: Parsing XML part 1) about working with XML and Powershell, I have create this second post which describes how to create a XML file, Add content to the XML file, remove content from the XML file and save the XML objects as a file.

While I was writing a script which communicates with a webserver, I realized that I need some error handling if the server can not anwser a request from my script. For example if the webserver is down or has to much load.

I created a little retry part (Powershell: Simple retry logic) which retries several times. But if the Server is down for several hours or days your script hangs in a retry loop. Obviously this cant be the solution. After a little bit of thinking a decided to write the data, which I was trying to send, down in a XML file. And the next time the script runs it reads the XML file and tries to send the data again.

Thats the story behind my idea for saving data in a XML file.

Creating a XML object

[XML]$FruitList = "<Box>
<Fruit>
<Name>Banana</Name>
<Color>yellow</Color>
</Fruit>
</Box>"

Save a XML object as a XML file

$FruitList.Save("./myfruitlist.xml")

XML:

<Box>
	<Fruit>
		<Name>Banana</Name>
		<Color>yellow</Color>
	</Fruit>
</Box>

Open a saved XML file

[xml]$FruitList = Get-Content ./myfruitlist.xml

Add data to XML object and save it in a XML file

# Copy Object from Banana
[Object]$CopyFruit = FruitList.Box.Fruit | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "Banana"}
$NewFruit = $CopyFruit.Clone()
# Add Fruit to new Object
$NewFruit.Name = "Apple"
$NewFruit.Color = "green"
# Add Fruit to XML Object
$FruitList.Box.AppendChild($NewFruit)
#Save to XML object ot XML file
$FruitList.Save("./myfruitlist.xml")

XML:

<Box>
	<Fruit>
		<Name>Banana</Name>
		<Color>yellow</Color>
	</Fruit>
	<Fruit>
		<Name>Apple</Name>
		<Color>green</Color>
	</Fruit>
</Box>

Change data from XML Object and save it as XML file

# Change Apple Color
$FruitList.Box.Fruit | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "Apple"} | ForEach-Object { $_.Color = "red" }
#Save to XML object ot XML file
$FruitList.Save("./myfruitlist.xml")

XML:

<Box>
	<Fruit>
		<Name>Banana</Name>
		<Color>yellow</Color>
	</Fruit>
	<Fruit>
		<Name>Apple</Name>
		<Color>red</Color>
	</Fruit>
</Box>

Remove data from XML Object and save it as XML file

# Remove Banana from Object
$RemoveFruit = $FruitList.Box.Fruit | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq "Banana"}
$FruitList.Box.RemoveChild($RemoveFruit)
#Save to XML object ot XML file
$FruitList.Save("./myfruitlist.xml")

XML:

<Box>
	<Fruit>
		<Name>Apple</Name>
		<Color>green</Color>
	</Fruit>
</Box>

HP iLO3: What’s new

Posted on July 25, 2010 by Thomas Maurer

With the new G7 Serverline, HP released also iLO 3 (HP Integrated Lights-Out). With new and important features:

800% faster remote console: best-in-class remote management performance
360% faster Virtual Media: higher performance remote deployment and updates
Improved Windows Integrated Remote Console: .NET framework, so you can scale your remote console to fit your screen and even stretch across multiple monitors
Linux Integrated Remote Console: Linux IRC incorporates remote console, virtual media, and virtual power, so you can handle these tasks with one applet
AES Encryption in hardware: industrial-strength security with no performance penalty
Enhanced IPMI LAN Support: simple server control in scale-out environments
iLO Advanced is already included with the purchase of HP Insight Control for Complete lifecycle management for your ProLiant server and can also be purchased stand alone.

Howto: Update SCVMM 2008 to SCVMM 2008 R2

Posted on July 21, 2010 by Thomas Maurer

Update from Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 to Micorsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 is pretty simple. Yesterday I updated the SCVMM on our environment.

Copy the SCVMM 2008 R2 on the Server
Start the Setup.exe
Install VMM Server, the installer check that this is an update of an existing installation
After updating the VMM Server you have to install the new VMM Administrator Console and the new Self-Service Portal if needed.
The installer of the VMM Administrator Console and the VMM Self-Service Portal will first uninstall the old version and then install the new version.
After installing the SCVMM 2008 R2 you have to check for Windows Updates
After a rebooting the SCVMM Server you have to push the new Agent Update to the Virtual Host Servers
Now you are done