You should backup your VDS Configs with PowerCLI

So, another vExpert that I follow on twitter (@h0bbel) recently had an issue in his home lab where he cut power to his lab, and his vDS lost all the portgroup names.  Seeing this post made me think, “I should probably backup MY vDS configs too, as my backups were pretty old! Here are some PowerCLI commands that I found…

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PowerCLI Script to list VMs not specifically set to Thick Eager Zeroed

First, I’ll start with a little back story. We recently deployed an EMC XTremIO All-Flash storage appliance.   The recommendation we got from EMC, for the best deduplication ratios, was to use the Thick-Eager Zeroed disk format.  No matter how many times I tell my coworkers to make sure to use this format when deploying VMs to the xTremIO LUNs, once…

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PowerCLI Script to change the DRS Slider

So, I have a cluster of hosts that makes up our QA Environment.  As with most QA environments, it’s tight on resources and very over-subscribed.  On a regular basis, I have to move our DRS Slider to be more aggressive, RUN DRS to refresh recommendations, and then move the slider back.  This allows DRS to rebalance the cluster.  Today, I…

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PowerCLI Script to migrate VMs from one vCenter to another

Hey everyone, this is another guest post from Ben Liebowitz, Matt’s brother. Before I get into the script, I’ll give you some background…  We are working on migrating VMs off of our vSphere 4.1 environment to our new vSphere 5.5 environment.  The 4.1 environment is using the Nexus 1000v Virtual Switch while the 5.5 environment is using a vDS switch.…

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Deploying a VM with PowerCLI in a Semi-Complex Environment

The following is a guest blog post by my brother Ben Liebowitz.  I guess virtualization runs in the family!  Follow him on Twitter at @ben_liebowitz. ———————————————————————— Last year, while working at a previous employer, I wanted to make it easier for less-experienced team members to deploy VMs, while making sure little to no mistakes are made.  I decided to go…

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