PowerCLI Script to change the DRS Slider

• Ben Liebowitz
• September 10, 2015September 14, 2015
• 2
• 2838

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 decided to script it.

I made use of a script that @lucd22 posted (http://vmw.re/1EQCDkn) to change the DRS Migration Threshold (slider value).

Here is the script:
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# Set Variables
$clusName = CLUSTER_NAME
$vCenter = VCENTER_NAME

# Connect to your vCenter
Connect-VIServer $vCenter

# Change DRS Slider to Most Agressive
# Choose the value of the slider, 1 being most agressive, and 5 being most conservative
$rate = 1

write-host "Changing DRS Migration Threshold to most agressive"

$clus = Get-Cluster -Name $clusName | Get-View

$clusSpec = New-Object VMware.Vim.ClusterConfigSpecEx
$clusSpec.drsConfig = New-Object VMware.Vim.ClusterDrsConfigInfo
$clusSPec.drsConfig.vmotionRate = $rate
$clus.ReconfigureComputeResource_Task($clusSpec, $true)

# Run DRS to get new recommendations and apply them

write-host "Refreshing DRS Recommendations"
Get-DrsRecommendation -Cluster $clusName -Refresh

# Change DRS Slider back to normal

write-host "Changing DRS Migration Threshold back to Normal"

$rate = 2

$clus = Get-Cluster -Name $clusName | Get-View

$clusSpec = New-Object VMware.Vim.ClusterConfigSpecEx
$clusSpec.drsConfig = New-Object VMware.Vim.ClusterDrsConfigInfo
$clusSPec.drsConfig.vmotionRate = $rate
$clus.ReconfigureComputeResource_Task($clusSpec, $true)

– Ben Liebowitz
Twitter:  @ben_liebowitz