Tips and Tricks Archives - Virtually Boring

Enable SSH Service on ESXi hosts using PowerShell

October 7, 2020September 13, 2016 by Daniel

I found myself wanting to enable the SSH service on my ESXi hosts. I could use Host Profiles to enable it but I decided to PowerShell script it! To enable SSH there are three parts to it:

You will need to start the SSH service and set it to Start and Stop with Host:

And you will need to suppress the SSH is enabled warning message:

This script does all of the above to an entire cluster. Let’s see it in action!

######################################################################
# Start SSH Service, change Startup Policy, and Suppress SSH Warning #
######################################################################

#Variables
$vCenter = "LABVC01.virtuallyboring.com"
$Cluster = "Nested ESXi Cluster"

### Start of Script
# Load VMware Cmdlet and connect to vCenter
Add-PSSnapin vmware.vimautomation.core
connect-viserver -server $vCenter

$VMHost = Get-Cluster -Name $Cluster | Get-VMhost

# Start SSH Server on a Cluster
ForEach ($VMhost in $Cluster){
Write-Host -ForegroundColor GREEN "Starting SSH Service on " -NoNewline
Write-Host -ForegroundColor YELLOW "$VMhost"
Get-VMHost | Get-VMHostService | ? {($_.Key -eq "TSM-ssh") -and ($_.Running -eq $False)} | Start-VMHostService
}

# Change Startup Policy
ForEach ($VMhost in $Cluster){
Write-Host -ForegroundColor GREEN "Setting Startup Policy on " -NoNewline
Write-Host -ForegroundColor YELLOW "$VMhost"
Get-VMHost | Get-VMHostService | where { $_.key -eq "TSM-SSH" } | Set-VMHostService -Policy "On" -Confirm:$false -ea 1
}

# Surpress SSH Warning
ForEach ($VMhost in $Cluster){
Write-Host -ForegroundColor GREEN "Setting UserVar to supress Shell warning on " -NoNewline
Write-Host -ForegroundColor YELLOW "$VMhost"
Get-VMhost | Get-AdvancedSetting | Where {$_.Name -eq "UserVars.SuppressShellWarning"} | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value "1" -Confirm:$false
}
### End of Script

######################################################################

# Start SSH Service, change Startup Policy, and Suppress SSH Warning #

######################################################################

#Variables

$vCenter = "LABVC01.virtuallyboring.com"

$Cluster = "Nested ESXi Cluster"

### Start of Script

# Load VMware Cmdlet and connect to vCenter

Add-PSSnapin vmware.vimautomation.core

connect-viserver -server $vCenter

$VMHost = Get-Cluster -Name $Cluster | Get-VMhost

# Start SSH Server on a Cluster

ForEach ($VMhost in $Cluster){

Write-Host -ForegroundColor GREEN "Starting SSH Service on " -NoNewline

Write-Host -ForegroundColor YELLOW "$VMhost"

Get-VMHost | Get-VMHostService | ? {($_.Key -eq "TSM-ssh") -and ($_.Running -eq $False)} | Start-VMHostService

}

# Change Startup Policy

ForEach ($VMhost in $Cluster){

Write-Host -ForegroundColor GREEN "Setting Startup Policy on " -NoNewline

Write-Host -ForegroundColor YELLOW "$VMhost"

Get-VMHost | Get-VMHostService | where { $_.key -eq "TSM-SSH" } | Set-VMHostService -Policy "On" -Confirm:$false -ea 1

}

# Surpress SSH Warning

ForEach ($VMhost in $Cluster){

Write-Host -ForegroundColor GREEN "Setting UserVar to supress Shell warning on " -NoNewline

Write-Host -ForegroundColor YELLOW "$VMhost"

Get-VMhost | Get-AdvancedSetting | Where {$_.Name -eq "UserVars.SuppressShellWarning"} | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value "1" -Confirm:$false

}

### End of Script

vSphere Thick Client End of Life – A Look at the HTML 5 Client Fling

June 10, 2016May 28, 2016 by Daniel

On May 18th VMware announced the end of the road for the C# vSphere Thick Client. The next version of vSphere the thick client will not be available. VMware has been building up to this moment and previously announced they wanted to move to a web based client to have maximum compatibility and mobility. The current versions of the vSphere thick client will remain supported (5.5, 6.0) until their end of life cycle. So what does the future look like for the vSphere Client? VMware will keep the existing Flash web client and introduce the HTML5 based vSphere Client. The Flash web client will remain so third party developers can migrate their plugins over to the long term HTML5 client.

The HTML 5 Web Client Fling is available to download and install. It gives a fantastic view of how VMware envisions the new HTML 5 client. There are quite a few limitations in the current form but VMware will have the kinks worked out before it becomes the primary client. Below is how to deploy the v1.6 HTML 5 Client Fling and link to a VCSA:

Full installation instructions can be found here

Deploying the OVA:

Once the OVA is downloaded from the Fling website, login to your vSphere Web Client, right click on the Data Center, then click Deploy OVF Template:

Operation Jumbo Frames – MTU 9000 for VMware Networking

April 23, 2016April 15, 2016 by Daniel

Wanted to make a quick post about enabling Jumbo Frames in my VMware environment! My switches (Cisco SG-200 & SG-500) support Jumbo Frames so I thought why not? It would surely help push more data through the network for faster for VSAN and vMotions. I’ll do some speed tests later to compare!

Hardware Requirements:

Before you start out on this quest ensure your physical switch support jumbo frames. When enabling it on my Cisco switches a switch reboot was required:

The next step is to ensure the NICs in your servers support jumbo frames. If they are server NICs then they should. My Dell T620/R520 both have Broadcom NetXtreme 5709 which in fact support Jumbo Frames.

Deploy and Configure WSUS on Server 2012 R2

February 25, 2016February 23, 2016 by Daniel

Windows Server Update Service [WSUS] is a server role that serves as a repository for Microsoft product updates on your network. Instead of every computer on your network downloading updates directly from Microsoft you can deploy a WSUS server so the updates are downloaded once and distributed to your environment from the WSUS server.

In this post I will be deploying WSUS Server 2012 R2 in a domain environment, using the Windows Internal Database (WID), and using Group Policy to have my computers connect to WSUS instead of Microsoft Updates.

Single WSUS Server

Deploying the VMware I/O Analyzer Fling

February 18, 2016September 24, 2015 by Daniel

VMware I/O Analyzer is a virtual appliance designed to provide storage performance in a virtual environment. It is offered as a SUSE appliance that provides a web GUI to interact with.

I deployed I/O Analyzer in my vSphere 6.0 environment to see the performance of VSAN 6 compared to my Synology NAS. With this post you should be able to deploy I/O Analyzer in its simplest form and perform performance testing on your storage.

Add Virtual Machines (.VMX) to Inventory using PowerShell

October 7, 2020July 13, 2015 by Daniel

There are quite a few clicks to add a virtual machine from a datastore to inventory. If you were to consolidate an environment and had to add multiple virtual machines this would be quite a manual task. Easier solution? Script it! The below script makes scanning a datastore and registering all virtual machines with vCenter a breeze.

You must have VMware PowerCLI installed in order to have the cmdlets required for PowerShell to run the script.

Add VMX (Virtual Machines) to Inventory from a Datastore:

#####################################################################
# Load VMware Plugins and vCenter Connect #
#####################################################################

Add-PSSnapin vmware.vimautomation.core

connect-viserver -server ENTER VCENTER FQDN HERE
#####################################################################
# Add .VMX (Virtual Machines) to Inventory from Datastore #
#####################################################################

# Variables: Update these to the match the environment
$Cluster = &quot;ENTER CLUSTER NAME HERE&quot;
$Datastore = &quot;ENTER DATASTORE NAME HERE&quot;
$VMFolder = &quot;ENTER FOLDER NAME HERE&quot;
$ESXHost = Get-Cluster $Cluster | Get-VMHost | select -First 1

foreach($Datastore in $Datastore) {
# Searches for .VMX Files in datastore variable
$ds = Get-Datastore -Name $Datastore | %{Get-View $_.Id}
$SearchSpec = New-Object VMware.Vim.HostDatastoreBrowserSearchSpec
$SearchSpec.matchpattern = &quot;*.vmx&quot;
$dsBrowser = Get-View $ds.browser
$DatastorePath = &quot;[&quot; + $ds.Summary.Name + &quot;]&quot;

# Find all .VMX file paths in Datastore variable and filters out .snapshot
$SearchResult = $dsBrowser.SearchDatastoreSubFolders($DatastorePath, $SearchSpec) | where {$_.FolderPath -notmatch &quot;.snapshot&quot;} | %{$_.FolderPath + ($_.File | select Path).Path}

# Register all .VMX files with vCenter
foreach($VMXFile in $SearchResult) {
New-VM -VMFilePath $VMXFile -VMHost $ESXHost -Location $VMFolder -RunAsync
}
}

#####################################################################

# Load VMware Plugins and vCenter Connect #

#####################################################################

Add-PSSnapin vmware.vimautomation.core

connect-viserver -server ENTER VCENTER FQDN HERE

#####################################################################

# Add .VMX (Virtual Machines) to Inventory from Datastore #

#####################################################################

# Variables: Update these to the match the environment

$Cluster = "ENTER CLUSTER NAME HERE"

$Datastore = "ENTER DATASTORE NAME HERE"

$VMFolder = "ENTER FOLDER NAME HERE"

$ESXHost = Get-Cluster $Cluster | Get-VMHost | select -First 1

foreach($Datastore in $Datastore) {

# Searches for .VMX Files in datastore variable

$ds = Get-Datastore -Name $Datastore | %{Get-View $_.Id}

$SearchSpec = New-Object VMware.Vim.HostDatastoreBrowserSearchSpec

$SearchSpec.matchpattern = "*.vmx"

$dsBrowser = Get-View $ds.browser

$DatastorePath = "[" + $ds.Summary.Name + "]"

# Find all .VMX file paths in Datastore variable and filters out .snapshot

$SearchResult = $dsBrowser.SearchDatastoreSubFolders($DatastorePath, $SearchSpec) | where {$_.FolderPath -notmatch ".snapshot"} | %{$_.FolderPath + ($_.File | select Path).Path}

# Register all .VMX files with vCenter

foreach($VMXFile in $SearchResult) {

New-VM -VMFilePath $VMXFile -VMHost $ESXHost -Location $VMFolder -RunAsync

}

Let’s see it in action!

Tips and Tricks

Enable SSH Service on ESXi hosts using PowerShell

vSphere Thick Client End of Life – A Look at the HTML 5 Client Fling

Deploying the OVA:

Operation Jumbo Frames – MTU 9000 for VMware Networking

Hardware Requirements:

Deploy and Configure WSUS on Server 2012 R2

Deploying the VMware I/O Analyzer Fling

Add Virtual Machines (.VMX) to Inventory using PowerShell

VMUG Advantage Subscription – VMware License Keys for your Lab

Disable ‘SSH for the host has been enabled’ message in vSphere 5

Citrix PVS – Use VMware Workstation to Upgrade VMTools

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