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 or Network are set to "None".

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. Use COBBLER, Foreman, Razor, or your favorite provisioning tools.

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)
          -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 http://www.gnu.org/licenses/.

Support

Website : http://www.jintegrate.co

github : http://github.com/josenk/