2 thoughts on “About”

• 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

  Reply

  • 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

    Reply

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