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.
Get help using --help option. The defaults will be displayed in the help output.
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 most the defaults by specifying --updateDefaults.
One of the first settings to set and save as defaults is the --Host (-H), --User (-U) and --Password (-P).
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 (-d) option will go through 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 filename (no path), the system will attempt to find the ISO image on your 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.
To help with automated provisioning, the script will output the full MAC address and exit code 0 on success. You can specify --summary to get a more detailed summary of the VM that was created.
You must enable ssh access on your ESXi server. Google 'how to enable ssh access on esxi' for instructions. The VMware VIX API tools are not required.
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 python-paramiko
./esxi-vm-create --help
usage: esxi-vm-create [-h] [-d] [-H HOST] [-U USER] [-P PASSWORD] [-n NAME]
[-c CPU] [-m MEM] [-v HDISK] [-i ISO] [-N NET] [-M MAC]
[-S STORE] [-g GUESTOS] [-o VMXOPTS] [-V] [--summary]
[-u]
ESXi Create VM utility.
optional arguments:
-h, --help show this help message and exit
-d, --dry Enable Dry Run mode (False)
-H HOST, --Host HOST ESXi Host/IP (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)
-v HDISK, --vdisk HDISK
Size of virt hdisk (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 (LeastUsed)
-g GUESTOS, --guestos GUESTOS
Guest OS. (centos-64)
-o VMXOPTS, --options VMXOPTS
Comma list of VMX Options.
-V, --verbose Enable Verbose mode (False)
--summary Display Summary (False)
-u, --updateDefaults Update Default VM settings stored in ~/.esxi-vm.yml
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 --summary
Create VM Success:
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 and partial MAC.
./esxi-vm-create -n testvm02 -N 192.168.1 -M 01:02:03
00:50:56:01:02:03
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, summary and verbose enabled. Save as default.
./esxi-vm-create -n testvm03 -N 192.168.1 -S DS_3TB_m --summary --verbose --updateDefaults
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
MAC: 00:0c:29:32:63:92
00:0c:29:32:63:92
Create a new VM named testvm04 specifying an ISO file to boot.
./esxi-vm-create -n testvm04 --summary --iso CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1611.iso
FoundISOPath: /vmfs/volumes/5430094d-5a4fa180-4962-0017a45127e2/ISO/CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1611.iso
Create testvm04.vmx file
Create testvm04.vmdk file
Register VM
Power ON VM
Create VM Success:
ESXi Host: esxi
VM NAME: testvm04
vCPU: 4
Memory: 8GB
VM Disk: 40GB
Format: thin
DS Store: DS_3TB_m
Network: 192.168.1
ISO: /vmfs/volumes/5430094d-5a4fa180-4962-0017a45127e2/ISO/CentOS-7-x86_64-Minimal-1611.iso
Guest OS: centos-64
MAC: 00:0c:29:ea:a0:42
00:0c:29:ea:a0:42
Merge/Add extra VMX options, saved as default.
./esxi-vm-create -o 'floppy0.present = "TRUE",svga.autodetect = "TRUE",svga.present = "TRUE"' -u
Saving new Defaults to ~/.esxi-vm.yml
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/.
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