Introduction ------------ This utility is a simple to use comand line tool to create VMs on an ESXi host from from a system running python and ssh. vCenter is not required. This tool is an easy way to automate building VM's from command line or from other testing or automation tools such as Bamboo, Puppet, Saltstack, or Chef. Usage ----- The only command line required paramater is the VM name (-n), all other command line arguments are optional. Defaults are stored in your home directory in ~/.esxi-vm.yml. You can edit this file directly, or you can use the tool to update the defaults by specifying --updateDefaults. Some basic sanity checks are done on the ESXi host before creating the VM. The Verbose (-v) option will give you a little more details in the creation process. If an invalid Disk Stores or Network Interface is specified, the available devices will be shown in the error message. The tool will not show the list of available ISO images, and Guest OS types. CPU, Memory, Virtual Disk sizes are based on ESXi 6.0 limitations. The Dry run (--dry) option will go through all the sanity checks, but will not create the VM. By default the Disk Store is set to "LeastUsed". This will use the Disk Store with the most free space (in bytes). By default the ISO is set to "None". Specify the full path to the ISO image. If you specify just the ISO image (no path), the system will attempt to find the ISO image on the DataStores. By default the Network set set to "None". A full or partial MAC address can be specified. A partial MAC address argument would be 3 Hex pairs which would then be prepended by VMware's OEM "00:50:56". By default the VM is powered on. If an ISO was specified, then it will boot the ISO image. Otherwise, the VM will attempt a PXE boot if a Network Interface was specified. You could customize the ISO image to specify the kickstart file, or PXE boot using COBBLER, Foreman, Razor, or your favorite provisioning tool. Requirements ------------ You must enable ssh access on your ESXi server. It's HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to use password-less authentication by copying your ssh public keys to the ESXi host, otherwise your ESXi root password could be stored in clear-text in your home directory. Python and paramiko is a software requirement. ``` yum -y install python-paramiko ``` Command Line Args ----------------- ``` ./esxi-vm-create -h usage: esxi-vm-create [-h] [-d] [-v] [-H HOST] [-U USER] [-P PASSWORD] [-n NAME] [-c CPU] [-m MEM] [-s SIZE] [-i ISO] [-N NET] [-S STORE] [-g GUESTOS] [-u] ESXi Create VM utility. optional arguments: -h, --help show this help message and exit -d, --dry Enable Dry Run mode (False) -v, --verbose Enable Verbose mode (False) -H HOST, --Host HOST ESXi Host (esxi) -U USER, --User USER ESXi Host username (root) -P PASSWORD, --Password PASSWORD ESXi Host password (*****) -n NAME, --name NAME VM name -c CPU, --cpu CPU Number of vCPUS (2) -m MEM, --mem MEM Memory in GB (4) -s SIZE, --size SIZE Size of virt disk (20) -i ISO, --iso ISO CDROM ISO Path | None (None) -N NET, --net NET Network Interface | None (None) -M MAC, --MAC MAC MAC address -S STORE, --store STORE vmfs Store | LeastUsed (DS_3TB_m) -g GUESTOS, --guestos GUESTOS Guest OS. (centos-64) -u, --updateDefaults Update Default VM settings stored in ~/.esxi-vm.yml ``` Examples -------- Running the script for the first time it's recommended to specify your defaults. (ESXi HOST, PASSWORD) ``` ./esxi-vm-create -H esxi -P MySecurePassword -u Saving new Defaults to ~/.esxi-vm.yml ``` Create a new VM named testvm01 using all defaults from ~/.esxi-vm.yml. ``` ./esxi-vm-create -n testvm01 Create VM Success ESXi Host: esxi VM NAME: testvm01 vCPU: 2 Memory: 4GB VM Disk: 20GB DS Store: DS_4TB Network: None ``` Change default number of vCPUs to 4, Memory to 8GB and vDisk size to 40GB. ``` ./esxi-vm-create -c 4 -m 8 -s 40 -u Saving new Defaults to ~/.esxi-vm.yml ``` Create a new VM named testvm02 using new defaults from ~/.esxi-vm.yml and specifying a Network interface. ``` ./esxi-vm-create -n testvm02 -N 192.168.1 Create VM Success ESXi Host: esxi VM NAME: testvm02 vCPU: 4 Memory: 8GB VM Disk: 40GB DS Store: DS_4TB Network: 192.168.1 ``` Available Network Interfaces and Available Disk Storage volumes will be listed if an invalid option is specified. ``` ./esxi-vm-create -n testvm03 -N BadNet -S BadDS ERROR: Disk Storage BadDS doesn't exist. Available Disk Stores: ['DS_SSD500s', 'DS_SSD500c', 'DS_SSD250', 'DS_4TB', 'DS_3TB_m'] LeastUsed Disk Store : DS_4TB ERROR: Virtual NIC BadNet doesn't exist. Available VM NICs: ['192.168.1', '192.168.0', 'VM Network test'] or 'None' ``` Create a new VM named testvm03 using a valid Network Interface, valid Disk Storage volume, enabled verbose and saving the settings as default. ``` ./esxi-vm-create -n testvm03 -N 192.168.1 -S DS_3TB_m -v -u Saving new Defaults to ~/.esxi-vm.yml Create testvm03.vmx file Create testvm03.vmdk file Register VM Power ON VM Create VM Success ESXi Host: esxi VM NAME: testvm03 vCPU: 4 Memory: 8GB VM Disk: 40GB Format: thin DS Store: DS_3TB_m Network: 192.168.1 Guest OS: centos-64 ``` License ------- Copyright (C) 2017 Jonathan Senkerik This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this program. If not, see . Support ------- Website : http://www.jintegrate.co github : http://github.com/josenk/