Automating virtual machine builds in My Home Lab (2023)

Automating virtual machine builds in My HomeLab

Content Library Templates

For the past several years I have had unfortunate circumstances where power issues or something else caused hardware failures resulting in some sort of corrupted data in my home lab. I swore to myself that the next time this happened, I would create a script that would help me redeploy and configure my installation, specifically my Horizon environment.

Well, I found that moment again when I lost two drives on my three node vSAN NUCs. It's not vSAN's fault that I bought cheap spinning disks or waited too long to change the first disk that failed. But I've always treated my NUCs as disposable environments that I can move up and down at any time. My main Dell T710 hosts my vCenter, one of my domain controllers (plus DNS), my main Win10 jumpbox, and a small Ubuntu host to play with other stuff. My NUCs are really where I built vROps, vRLI, and my VDI environments.

My first step was to create a new content library for the NUCs and create three VM templates for the needs of 1) Windows 10, 2) Server 2019 Standard, and 3) Windows 2019 Datacenter. After installing the ISOs and creating the necessary patches, I did a Google search to learn how to use Powershell to remotely update these VMs so I could automate this on a monthly basis. The following script is what I found.https://4sysops.com/archives/powershell-remoting-over-https-with-a-self-signed-ssl-certificate/as Microsoft prefers remote hosts and clients to be in the same domain. In my case, I follow best practices and keep my models outside of the domain so I don't have to deal with trust issues later. You must first create this self-signed certificate and Windows Remote Management Services to use HTTPS as the transport mechanism. The commented lines are for the PowerShell host where you need to import the newly created self-signed certificates into the certificate store.

# https://4sysops.com/archives/powershell-remoting-over-https-with-a-self-signed-ssl-certificate/# Unten auf Remote-/Template-VMs$Cert = New-SelfSignedCertificate -CertstoreLocation Cert: \LocalMachine \My -DnsName $env:COMPUTERNAMEmkdir c:\tempExport-Certificate -Cert $Cert -FilePath C:\temp\$env:COMPUTERNAMEEnable-PSRemoting -SkipNetworkProfileCheck -Forcedir wsman:\localhost\listenerGet-ChildItem WSMan:\Localhost\ oyente | Onde -Chaves de propriedade -eq "Transporte=HTTP" | Remove-Item -RecurseRemove-Item -Pfad WSMan:\Localhost\Listener\Listener* -RecurseNew-Item -Pfad WSMan:\LocalHost\Listener -Transport HTTPS -Dirección * -CertificateThumbPrint $Cert.Thumbprint –ForceNew-NetFirewallRule -DisplayName "Windows Administración remota (HTTPS-In)" -Nombre "Administración remota de Windows (HTTPS-In)" -Perfil Cualquiera -LocalPort 5986 -Protocol TCPSet-Item WSMan:\localhost\Service\EnableCompatibilityHttpsListener -Value trueSet-NetConnectionProfile -NetworkCategory PrivateDisable-NetFirewallRule - DisplayName "Gerenciamento remoto de Windows (HTTP-In)"# Abaixo no Powershell de Gerenciamento de Cliente/Host# Import-Certificate -Filepath "S:\certs\DESKTOP-KPQJPMS" -CertStoreLocation "Cert:\LocalMachine\Root"# Import -Certificate - Filepath "S:\certs\WIN-1DBMFPA2ND2" -CertStoreLocation "Cert:\LocalMachine\Root"# Import-Certificate -Filepath "S:\certs\WIN-93OI9TU9IFP" -CertStoreLocation "Cert:\LocalMachine\Root"

I have now created the Windows Task Scheduler on my PowerShell host which I will use later with the invoke command to trigger the Windows update startup task to check, update and reboot. I then exported this task so I don't have to manually set it up again, and I can use the above part of the script to automatically create the import for me (that's the first commented out line). Then I create my variables for the three virtual machines that we will use as templates in the content library, which we will actually delete each month and load the new virtual machines. However, by setting the same name each time, I can create other scripts, e.g. B. Automate the deployment of my Horizon Connection Servers. I always add how I create my credential (.cred) files, but comment them out so I can easily repeat these tasks when I'm done rebuilding my PowerShell host.

# This script requires a configuration of the Task Scheduler instance to download and install Windows patches. This is due to the current security policy that you cannot download anything during a remote session. So create this for each new master image, which can be done # once, export to a file share, and run this command so it's the same on each VM. Scripts\Download Windows Updates.xml" /tn "Windows Download and Install Updates" /ru "Administrator" /rp "yourpassword"# # For Windows 10, make sure Windows Remote Management Windows is running as a service and is configured to start automatically master VM image In my case my home lab NUCs are slow disks so # the default 5 minutes was not long enough and would throw an error, but the task would complete in vCenter # Set-PowerCLIConfiguration - WebOperationTimeoutSeconds - 1 and restart the PowerShell window " # VM-Name$Server2019STD = "Server2019-STD" # Content Library Item Name$Server2019STDVM = "Server2019-Standard" # VM-Name$Win10GI = "Win10-Gold -Image" # Content Library Item Name$Win10GIVM = "Win10 -IC -Parent" # VM Name$contentlibrary = "NUC-ContentLibrary"$cluster = "vSAN-Cluster"$vmhost = "jw-esx-01 .iamware.net"$vmfolder = "Template -Master s"# I leave these processes in mine Scripts so that I can create the credentials file on the new PS host if necessary, but leave the lines commented out except for the required import line Export-Clixml -path S:\scripts\ localcred.cred$localcred = Import-Clixml -path S : \scripts\localcred.cred# Store vCenter credentials - only needs to be run once to create the .cred file.# $credential = Get-Credential # Can be a service account or a domain user # $credential | Export-Clixml -path S:\scripts\jw-vcenter.cred# Import file cred$credential = import-clixml -path S:\scripts\jw-vcenter.cred#endregion#region Let's get started!# Connect to vCenter credsWrite - Host saved "Connecting to $vc"connect-viserver -Server $vc -Credential $credential# Get a list of virtual machines based on folders in vCenter$vmservers=get-vm -location(Get-Folder -Name Template -Masters)$ server virtual machine | select Name | export-csv s:\scripts\templates-masters.csv -NoTypeInformation$servers = import-csv s:\scripts\templates-masters.csv | Select -ExpandProperty nameWrite-Host "Starting $servers at $vc"Start-VM -VM $serversfunction Start-Sleep($seconds) { $doneDT = (Get-Date).AddSeconds($seconds) while($doneDT -gt ( Get-Date)) { $secondsLeft = $doneDT.Subtract((Get-Date)).TotalSeconds $percent = ($seconds - $secondsLeft) / $seconds * 100 Write-Progress -Activity "Sleep..." -Status " Powering on the virtual machines..." -SecondsRemaining $secondsLeft -PercentComplete $percent [System.Threading.Thread]::Sleep(500) } Write-Progress -Activity "Waiting..." -Status "Allow the VM to start operating system.. " - SecondsRemaining 0 -Completed}# Suspend for 5 minutes to give the operating system time to adjust. Start-Sleep 300Get-VM -Location (Get-Folder -Name Template-Masters) | Choose Name, @{N="IP Address";E={@($_.guest.IPAddress[0])}} | Format-Table -HideTableHeaders# IPs for the master images used for templates: You may want to reserve the IP and MAC so they don't change in the future. $IP1 = (Get-VM -Name $Server2019DCVM | Choose @{N= " IP ";E={@($_.guest.IPAddress[0])}} | Format-Table -HideTableHeaders | Out-String) . Trim()$HostName1 = (Get-VM -Name $Server2019DCVM | Select @ { N ='FQDN';E={$_.ExtensionData.Guest.IPStack[0].DnsConfig.HostName}} | Format-Table - HideTableHeaders | Out-String).Trim()$IP2 = (Get-VM - Name $Win10GIVM | Select @{N="IP";E={@($_.guest.IPAddress[0])}} | Format - Table -HideTableHeaders | Out-String).Trim()$HostName2 = (Get - VM -Name $Win10GIVM | Select @{N='FQDN';E={$_.ExtensionData.Guest.IPStack[0].DnsConfig . HostName}} | Format-Table -HideTableHeaders | Out-String).Trim( ) $IP3 = (Get-VM -Name $Server2019STDVM | Select @{N="IP";E={@($_.guest.IPAddress [0])}} | Format-Table -HideTableHeaders | Out-String) Trim ()$HostName3 = (Get-VM -Name $Server2019STDVM | Select @{N='FQDN';E={$_.ExtensionData .Guest .IPStack[0].DnsConfig.HostName}} |Format Table -HideTableHeaders|Out-String).Trim()Add-HostFileEntry -hostname $Hostname1 -ipaddress $I P1Add-HostFileEntry -hostname $Hostname2 -ipaddress $IP2Add-HostFileEntry -hostname $Hostname3 -ipaddress $IP3#endregion Est Or is it just the beginning. .invoke-command -ComputerName $Hostname1 -scriptblock {get-windowsupdate} -UseSSL -Credential $localcredinvoke-command -ComputerName $Hostname2 -scriptblock {get -windowsupdate} -UseSSL -Credential $localcredinvoke-command -ComputerName $Hostname3 -scriptblock {get -windowsupdate} -UseSSL -Credential $localcred#region Let's update the first master image... Write-Host "Connecting to $Server2019DCVM and running Task Scheduler to download and install the latest updates." Invoke-Command -ComputerName $ Hostname1 -ScriptBlock {schtasks /Query /TN "Download and Install Windows Updates" Install-Module -Name PSWindowsUpdat e -Confirm:$false -ForceGet-WindowsUpdateStart-Sched uledTa sk -TaskName Function "Download and Install Windows Updates" Start-Sleep($seconds) { $doneDT = (Get-Date).AddSeconds($seconds) while($doneDT - gt (Get-Date)) { $secondsLeft = $ doneDT.Subtract((Get- Date)).TotalSeconds $percent = ($seconds - $seconds remaining) / $seconds * 100 Write-Progress -Activity "Sleep..." -Status "Waiting for Windows update installation..." -SecondsRemaining $seconds remaining -PercentComplete $percent [System.Threading.Thread]::Sleep(500) } Write-Progress -Activity "Sleep..." -Status "Applying new patches and updates..." -SecondsRemaining 0 -Completed }Start- Sleep 600} -UseSSL -Credential $localcred#endregion#region Here is the second master image... Write-Host "Connect to $Win10GIVM and run the task scheduler to download and install the latest updates". Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Hostname2 -ScriptBlock {Start-Sleep -Seconds 5schtasks /Query /TN "Download and install Windows updates" Install-Module -Name PSWindowsUpdat e -Confirm:$false -ForceGet-WindowsUpdateStart-Schedul edTask -TaskName Download and install Windows Updates feature Start-Sleep($seconds) { $doneDT = (Get-Date).AddSeconds($seconds) while($doneDT -gt ( Get-Date)) { $secondsLeft = $doneDT.Subtract ((Get-Date)).TotalSeconds $percent = ($seconds - $secondsLeft) / $seconds * 100 Write-Progress -Activity " Sleeping.." -Status " Waiting for Windows updates to install..." -SecondsRemaining $secondsLeft -PercentComplete $percent [System.Threading.Thread]::Sleep(500) } Write-Progress -Activity "Sleep..." -Status "New Applying patches and updates..." -SecondsRemaining 0 -Completed }Start- Sleep 600} -UseSSL -Credential $localcred#endregion#region Last master imageWrite-Host "Connect to $Server2019STDVM and run the Task Scheduler to download and install the latest updates." Invoke-Command -ComputerName $Hostname3 -ScriptBlock {Start-Sleep -seconds 5schtasks /Query /TN "Current Updates Download and install Windows Updates"Install-Module -Name PSWindowsUpdate -Confirm:$false -ForceGet-WindowsUpdateStart-ScheduledTask -TaskName Function "Download and install Windows updates" Start-Sleep($seconds) { $doneDT = (Get-Date) . AddSeconds($seconds) while($done DT -gt(Get-Date)) { $secondsremaining = $done DT. Subtract((Get-Date)).TotalSeconds $percent = ($seconds - $seconds remaining) / $seconds * 100 Write progress -Activity "Sleeping..." -State "Waiting for Windows updates to be installed. .." -SecondsRemaining $ secondLeft -PercentComplete $percent [System.Threading.Thread]::Sleep(500) } Write-Progress -Activity "Sleep..." -Status "Applying new patches and updates..." -SecondsRemaining 0 -Completed}Start-Sleep 600 } -UseSSL -Credential $localcred#endregion#region Now restart the virtual machines. Sleep 600#endregion#region Now shut down the VMs..# Shutdown VMsWrite-Host "Shutdown $servers on $vc.."Shutdown-VMGuest -VM $servers -Confirm:$falsefunction Start-Sleep($seconds) { $ doneDT = (Get-Date).A ddSeconds($seconds) while($doneDT -gt (Get-Date)) { $secondsLeft = $doneDT.Subtract((Get-Date)).TotalSeconds $percent = ($seconds - $seconds remaining ) / $seconds * 100 Write -Progress -Activity "Sleep..." -State "The operating system is shutting down..." -SecondsRemaining $seconds remaining -PercentComplete $percent [System.Threading.Thread]::Sleep (500) } Write -Progress -Activity "Sleep. ." -Status "Waiting for virtual machines to complete the shutdown process safely..." -SecondsRemaining 0 -Completed}Start-Sleep 300 # Allow enough time for the operating system to shut down safely.#endregion#region Now update the content catalog # You must first have Remove Original VM Templates as there is no update function for VMs -ContentLibraryItem -ContentLibrary $ContentLibrary -Name $Server2019DC -VM $Server2019DCV M -Location $vmhost -VMTemplate -InventoryLocation $ vmfolderNew-ContentLibraryItem -ContentLibrary $ContentLibrary -Name $ Servidor2019STD -VM $Servidor2019STDVM -VMTemplate -Ubicación $vmhost $mfolder-Ubicación ContentLibraryItem -ContentLibrary $ContentLibrary -Nombre $Win10GIVM -Win10GIVM -Win10GIVM VMTemplate -Ubicación $vmhost -InventoryLocation $vmfolder#endregion

Think about the futureTAM YouTube LabSeries in which I will review these scripts. I can take a screenshot and speed up the video to demonstrate how well it works.