2 thoughts on “About”

1. Hello Ben,
   I came across your interesting deploying-vms-via-powercli-csv-file blog post.

   I am a novice when it comes to creating scripts and rely on using scripts provided by experts like yourself and at the moment I am trying to automate my Citrix Lab environment builds. I know how to do it using MDT but this requires a server VM but I was looking at the powerful Invoke-Script PowerCLI command.

   Using your script I am having an issue with discovering my single datastore. I get the following output and errors because it is not able to find the datastore and subseqently the vlan label from the CSV file because I have a standard switch configuration. I have a single ESXi 6.7 host cluster configured with a vCenter server and using a Standard Switch.

   I have posted the output below of the error messages. Will be very grateful if you could please help me out with how to modify the script to query the datastore

   Thanks,
   Mayur

   PS C:\Scripts> C:\Scripts\AutoDeploy.ps1
   Select which vCenter to connect to:
   .
   1. vCenter1
   2. vCenter2
   3. vCenter3
   4. vCenter4
   Select a vCenter Server. Enter Number.: 1
   .
   You Picked: vc01.lab.local
   .

   Name Port User
   —- —- —-
   vc01.lab.local 443 LAB\VI-Admin
   .
   Select an OS to deploy:
   .
   1. Windows Server 2016 Standard
   2. Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard
   3. Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard
   Select Operatingg System. Enter Number.: 1
   .
   You Picked: Win2016
   .
   .
   Choose a Cluster to deploy VMs into:
   (it may take a few seconds to build the list)
   .
   1: Local
   Enter the number for the cluster to deploy to.: 1
   .
   You have selected Local.
   .
   .
   Choose a Datastore Cluster to deploy to:
   .
   Enter a number ( 1 – 0 ): 1
   Cannot index into a null array.
   At C:\Scripts\AutoDeploy.ps1:97 char:5
   + $SDatastore = $Datastores[$DSIndex – 1].Name
   + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   + CategoryInfo : InvalidOperation: (:) [], RuntimeException
   + FullyQualifiedErrorId : NullArray

   You have selected
   Select which folder to store the VM…
   1: Datacenters
   2: datastore
   3: Discovered virtual machine
   4: host
   5: network
   6: vm
   Select a Folder. Enter a number ( 1 – 6 ): 3
   .
   You Picked folder: \ Discovered virtual machine
   .
   New-VM : Cannot validate argument on parameter ‘Datastore’. The argument is null or empty. Provide an
   argument that is not null or empty, and then try the command again.
   At C:\Scripts\AutoDeploy.ps1:127 char:71
   + … me -VMHost $vmhost -Template $Template -Datastore $SDatastore -DiskSt …
   + ~~~~~~~~~~~
   + CategoryInfo : InvalidData: (:) [New-VM], ParameterBindingValidationException
   + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentValidationError,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Comma
   nds.NewVM

   New-NetworkAdapter : Cannot validate argument on parameter ‘DistributedSwitch’. The argument is null.
   Provide a valid value for the argument, and then try running the command again.
   At C:\Scripts\AutoDeploy.ps1:132 char:53
   + New-Networkadapter -vm $Name -DistributedSwitch $vdswitch -Portgr …
   + ~~~~~~~~~
   + CategoryInfo : InvalidData: (:) [New-NetworkAdapter], ParameterBindingValidationException
   + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentValidationError,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Comma
   nds.VirtualDevice.NewNetworkAdapter

   Set-VM : 19/12/2018 14:05:54 Set-VM Could not find VirtualMachine with name ‘DC02’.
   At C:\Scripts\AutoDeploy.ps1:140 char:5
   + Set-VM $Name -OSCustomizationSpec $SSpec -Confirm:$False
   + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   + CategoryInfo : ObjectNotFound: (DC02:String) [Set-VM], VimException
   + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Core_ObnSelector_SelectObjectByNameCore_ObjectNotFound,VMware.VimAutomatio
   n.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.SetVM

   Set-VM : 19/12/2018 14:05:54 Set-VM Value cannot be found for the mandatory parameter VM
   At C:\Scripts\AutoDeploy.ps1:140 char:5
   + Set-VM $Name -OSCustomizationSpec $SSpec -Confirm:$False
   + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
   + CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Set-VM], VimException
   + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Core_BaseCmdlet_UnknownError,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.
   SetVM

   1. I’m not sure why your comment came in under the ABOUT page and not on the post itself, but try using this code for the datastore section instead. It’ll detect the datastores and list them.

      # DATASTORE

      write-Host “Please select a datastore from the list below.”
      write-host “*** Please try to keep approx 10% free after deployment when choosing. ***”
      $Datastores = Get-VMHost $SVMHost | Get-Datastore | Select Name,FreeSpaceGB,CapacityGB | Sort-Object CapacityGB
      $y = 1
      $Datastores | %{Write-Host $y”:” $_.Name”`t`tCapacity (GB):” $_.CapacityGB”`t`tFree Space (GB):” $_.FreeSpaceGB; $y++}
      $DSIndex = Read-Host “Enter a number ( 1 -” $Datastores.count “)”
      $SDatastore = $Datastores[$DSIndex – 1].Name
      Write-Host “You have selected” $SDatastore

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