VMware: Deploy multiple VM’s from template with PowerCLI

Last week I was working on a new project, they asked me to install 5 new fileservers based on Windows 2008R2, I installed a new VM and converted it to a template, next I configured a template in “Customization Specifications Manager” with the following details:

Customization template:

Registration information: name company

Computer name: Use the virtual machine name (important)

Product key: Didn’t need it because I’ve configured KMS

Password: Company default local administrator password, selected: Automatically login as the Administrator: 2

Timezone: GMT+0100 (Amsterdam)

Runonce: none

Network: Typical settings

Workgroup or Domain: selected to auto join the domain with domain administrator credentials + domain name (important)

Operation System Options: Selected: Generate New Security ID (SID)

VM template settings:

Hard disk: 40 GB with only OS configured with company standard policy

VMware tools: Latest, this must be installed for Specification Template and NIC

Network: VMXNET3 (needed VMware Tools for driver)

Script: (saved as: FileserverDeploy.ps1)

-vmhost = Target host;

-Name = Name of new VM;

-Template: From wich template you want to deploy the new VM;

-Datastore: Target datastore to place the new VM;

-OSCustomizationspec = Wich “prep” template you want to deploy the new VM;

?

1 2 3 4 5

New-vm -vmhost esx04.vmpros.local -Name FS-SVR01 -Template WIN2008R2_Template -Datastore datastore2 -OSCustomizationspec WIN2008R2_Template New-vm -vmhost esx04.vmpros.local -Name FS-SVR02 -Template WIN2008R2_Template -Datastore datastore2 -OSCustomizationspec WIN2008R2_Template New-vm -vmhost esx04.vmpros.local -Name FS-SVR03 -Template WIN2008R2_Template -Datastore datastore2 -OSCustomizationspec WIN2008R2_Template New-vm -vmhost esx04.vmpros.local -Name FS-SVR04 -Template WIN2008R2_Template -Datastore datastore2 -OSCustomizationspec WIN2008R2_Template New-vm -vmhost esx04.vmpros.local -Name FS-SVR05 -Template WIN2008R2_Template -Datastore datastore2 -OSCustomizationspec WIN2008R2_Template

PowerCLI:

Running the script:

Final result:

The 5 fileservers deployed from template and joined the domain.. great!