{"id":3101,"date":"2018-04-25T19:53:04","date_gmt":"2018-04-25T23:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thebackroomtech.com\/?p=3101"},"modified":"2020-01-06T14:06:59","modified_gmt":"2020-01-06T19:06:59","slug":"vmware-powercli-create-port-groups-script","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thebackroomtech.com\/vmware-powercli-create-port-groups-script\/","title":{"rendered":"VMware PowerCLI – Create Port Groups Script"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hello and welcome to all VMware admins. For the few of us who have an enterprise scale VMware environment with hundreds of VLANs and servers, setting up a new VLAN on all our ESXi hosts can be a daunting task.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I came up with this script that will make our life easier and will add the new VLAN\/Network\/PortGroup to all ESXi hosts that are part of a specific cluster.<\/p>\n

 Add-PSSnapin VMware.VimAutomation.Core\r\n #Variables\r\n $viserver = \"vcenter.lab.local\"\r\n $cluster = \"Production\"\r\n $vSwitch = \"vSwitch0\"\r\n $PGName = \"VMXNET-VLAN-200\"\r\n $PGVLANID = \"200\"\r\n\r\n Connect-VIserver $viserver -User \"user\" -Password \"password\"\r\n $vmhosts = Get-Cluster $cluster | Get-VMhost\r\n\r\n ForEach ($vmhost in $vmhosts)\r\n {\r\n Get-VirtualSwitch -VMhost $vmhost -Name $vSwitch | New-VirtualPortGroup -Name $PGName -VlanId $PGVLANID\r\n }\r\n<\/pre>\n
\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n
Before we run this script and enjoy work being done for us for a change, let\u2019s dissect it and see what every line does.<\/p>\n
Add-PSSnapin VMware.VimAutomation.Core<\/strong> \u2013 adds the PowerCLI SnapIn to the PowerShell session so we can take advantage of all the CLI commands.<\/p>\n
$viserver = “vcenter.local”<\/strong> \u2013 specifies the vCenter server we want to connect to
\n$cluster = “Production”<\/strong> \u2013 specifies the cluster that all the ESXi hosts are a part of
\n$vSwitch = “vSwitch0”<\/strong> \u2013 specifies the vSwitch we want to add the new VLANs (Networks\/PortGroups) to
\n$PGName = “VMXNET-VLAN-200”<\/strong> \u2013 here we specify the name of the new VLAN\/Network\/PortGroup
\n$PGVLANID = “200”<\/strong> \u2013 and here is where we put in the VLAN ID (most important component)<\/p>\n
Now that all our variables are in place, let\u2019s start creating the new Port Groups.<\/p>\n
Connect-VIserver $viserver -User “lab.local\\admin” -Password “1234567”<\/strong> \u2013 On this line we connect to the vCenter server and we supply the username and password so that we won\u2019t get any prompts.<\/p>\n
$vmhosts = Get-Cluster $cluster | Get-VMhost<\/strong> \u2013 Here we are getting all the cluster resources and, more specifically, retrieving all the ESXis and outputting them as an array to a variable called $vmhosts<\/strong>.<\/p>\n
Now that we have all our info retrieved, it\u2019s time to actually create the Port Groups:<\/p>\n
ForEach ($vmhost in $vmhosts)\r\n {\r\n      Get-VirtualSwitch -VMhost $vmhost -Name $vSwitch | New-VirtualPortGroup -Name $PGName -VlanId $PGVLANID\r\n }<\/pre>\n
Here we go into a ForEach<\/strong> loop. For each element in the $vmhosts array, we run the New-VirtualPortGroup<\/strong> command with the variables we declared in the first section.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s it! Simple isn\u2019t it? Thanks for taking the time to read this tutorial, and hope it helps everybody out there have a more productive day!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hello and welcome to all VMware admins. For the few of us who have an enterprise scale VMware environment with hundreds of VLANs and servers, setting up a new VLAN […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3102,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"updated_on":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3101","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-virtualization"},"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t