VM Creator

Description

This script can be used to bulk create and customize virtual machines in vSphere utilizing the Fog and RbVmomi libraries. The CSV format contains the following attributes

• hostname
• ipaddress
• NIC tag (the network label, currently unused)
• Memory (in GB)
• vCPU count

Memory configuration

This script converts the number in the CSV into MB by the forumla of ( 1024 * memory ) and reconfigures the VM post cloning with the value specified.

vCPU configuration

There is no formula, this script takes the value and reconfigures the VM post cloning with the value specified.

Network configuration

• NIC Tag, Future will be to reconfigure the primary NIC to use a specific network label. Currently unused but is needed for CSV format.
• IP Address, The format is x.x.x.x, so for example 192.168.1.12
• Name server, The format follows the same format as IP Address.
• Domain, The domain the VM will be configured, an example would be example.com
• Gateway, The gateway is not configurable and is assumed based off the IP Address for the VM. So if the VM is 192.168.1.12 the script assumes the gateway is 192.168.1.1
• Subnet mask, The subnet mask is not configurable and is assumed to be 255.255.255.0

Parameters

• "--folder PATH", The folder path where the Virtual Machine clone will reside.
• "--datastore DATASTORE", The datastore where the Virtual Machine clone will reside.
• "--cluster CLUSTER", The compute cluster the Virtual Machine clone will utilize.
• "--datacenter DATACENTER", The datacenter the virtual machine will be located.
• "--resourcepool RESOURCEPOOL", The resource pool the virtual machine will be located.
• "--nameserver IPADDRESS", The IP address of the nameserver the virtual machine clone will use.
• "--domain DOMAIN", The DNS domain the virtual machine will use.
• "--file FILENAME", The CSV file to load to create virtual machines.
• "--template_path TEMPLATEPATH", The path to the template that will be used for virtual machine cloning.
• "--template TEMPLATE", The virtual machine or template to use for the cloning.

Example command execution

./vmcreator.rb --datacenter DATACENTER01 --folder "Web/Production" --datastore Production --cluster CLUSTER01 --resourcepool Webservers --filename servers.csv --nameserver 192.168.1.2 --domain example.com --template-path "VM Templates" --template "Webserver Template"

Example CSV

webserver01,192.168.1.10,Web,4,2
webserver02,192.168.1.11,Web,4,2
webserver03,192.168.1.12,Web,4,2
appserver01,192.168.2.10,App,16,4
appserver02,192.168.2.11,App,16,4
appserver03,192.168.2.12,App,16,4
appserver04,192.168.2.13,App,16,4
appserver05,192.168.2.14,App,16,4
appserver06,192.168.2.15,App,16,4