OsCustomizationSpec and OSCustomizationNicMapping are they a good way to configure new VM's from Template

[Transplant]

I am building a script to build VM's auto magicly when as I import the relevent information from a csv file.I have the newest version of PowerCli, I am trying to build Sever 2012 r2 servers from a template.  I have tried serveral OsCustomizationSpec (OCS)'s in hopes of getting something to work, but I have had no luck so far.  In VCenter, it shows it applying the OCS, but it doesn't apear to have any impact on the server.  I have turned off UAC since last time I tried it so maybe that will make a difference.  I am running ESXi 5.1 Update2, just to try to give all the info neccessary.  Idealy, I would like it to sysprep, set the IP's, change the computer name and join the server to the domain.  That's all!!! lol  I have the book "VMware vSphere PowerCLI Reffernece, Automating vSphere Administration, I walked through it step by step.  This newest version of PowerCli doesn't seem to have the x86 limitation that earlier versions of PowerCli did.  I have tried so many different things, I am not sure what to put up as a place to start.

# Save the credential object with permission to join the domain.
$DomainCredentials = Get-Credential 'domain\testername'
# Clone our Spec adding the domain information.
$Spec = Get-OSCustomizationSpec 'Windows Server 2012 R2'
$Spec += Get-OSCustomizationNicMapping -Spec $Spec
#$Spec | select *

# Get our VM
# Change network settings
Get-VM BigServername | Get-NetworkAdapter | Set-NetworkAdapter -NetworkName nic-172.16.25-VLAN225 -Connected:$true `
-Confirm:$false | out-null
# Shut down guest to make change.
Shutdown-VMGuest -VM $VM -Confirm:$false | out-null
# Wait while guest shuts down
While ($vm.ExtensionData.Runtime.PowerState -ne ‘poweredOff’)
{
Start-Sleep -Seconds 1
$vm.ExtensionData.UpdateViewData(‘Runtime.PowerState’)
}
# Apply customization Spec to apply new network settings
Get-VM ‘BigServername’|
Set-VM -OSCustomizationSpec 'Windows Server 2012 R2' -Confirm:$false|
Start-VM

I can rebuild the template, or anything else we need to to make this work.

OR - is this just not the best way to configure VM's?  If not, what about sysprep?

[LucD]

I'm not sure what you are trying to do with these lines ?

$Spec = Get-OSCustomizationSpec 'Windows Server 2012 R2'

$Spec += Get-OSCustomizationNicMapping -Spec $Spec

Are you trying to set the NIC configuration here ?

Chris has a nice post on this, see Dynamic VM Provisioning using PowerCLI and vSphere Customization Specifications

Did you get any error messages ?

Anything in the customisation (see folder C:\Windows\Temp/vmware-imc) and/or sysprep logs (see KB2001932) ?

For me PowerCLI 5.8 R1 does install a 32-bit and a 64-bit shortcut.

[Transplant]

I want to do this one piece at a time to verfy that I have all the pieces and that there are no glaring issue with the choices that I make.

Following the article that you sent, I created this new OSC:

New-OSCustomizationSpec -FullName sTesta -OrgName CompanyName -OSType Windows -ChangeSid -Type Persistent -Name PowerCliOnly -AdminPassword password123 -TimeZone 'Eastern (U.S. and Canada)' -NamingScheme vm -Description "For use with PowerCli only" -Workgroup workgroup -Confirm:$false

Name                  : PowerCliOnly

Type                  : Persistent

ServerId              : /VIServer=Dom\me@vcenter.dom.com:443/

Server                : vcenter.dom.com

LastUpdate            : 9/23/2014 5:53:54 PM

DomainAdminUsername   :

DomainUsername        :

Description           : For use with PowerCli only

AutoLogonCount        :

ChangeSid             : True

DeleteAccounts        : False

DnsServer             :

DnsSuffix             :

Domain                :

FullName              : sTesta

GuiRunOnce            :

NamingPrefix          :

NamingScheme          : Vm

OrgName               : CompanyName

OSType                : Windows

ProductKey            :

TimeZone              : Eastern (U.S. and Canada)

Workgroup             : workgroup

LicenseMode           : NotSpecified

LicenseMaxConnections :

EncryptionKey         : {48, -126, 3, 108...}

ExtensionData         : VMware.Vim.CustomizationSpecItem

Id                    : PowerCliOnly

Uid                   : /VIServer=dom\me@vcenter.dom.com:443/OSCustomizationSpec=PowerCliOnly/

Client                : VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.VimClient

AdminPassword         : THere is one

DomainAdminPassword   :

DomainPassword        :

I don't know if it is relevent, but our server have a modified Administrator name, so we have to have the custome name to authenticate.

[Transplant]

As I continue to think this through, I won't have a problem parameterizing this once I can get it to work, so I am going to use fixed setting this time until I can actualy see it make adjustment on the server and then I will worry about getting it to fulfill my needs.

Keeping that in mind, I made the New-OsCustomizationNicMapping (OSCNM):

New-OSCustomizationNicMapping -OSCustomizationSpec PowerCliOnly -IpMode UseStaticIP -IpAddress 10.10.10.10 -SubnetMask 255.255.255.0 -DefaultGateway 10.10.10.1 -Dns 10.10.10.100 -Confirm:$false

I hope that is everything we need to get something to apply to the server.

[LucD]

Those look correct. Did they work ?

[Transplant]

Nope.  Here are the commands that I ran to set it:

$oscSpec = Get-OSCustomizationSpec -Name PowerCliONly

$vm = Get-VM -Name vmtest2

Set-VM -VM $vm -OSCustomizationSpec $oscSpec -Confirm:$false

$vm | Start-VM

$vm | Restart-VM -Confirm:$false

Get-VMGuest -VM $vm | select *

Open-VMConsoleWindow -VM $vm

OSFullName       : Microsoft Windows Server 2012 (64-bit)

IPAddress        : {169.254.213.253}

State            : Running

Disks            : {Capacity:64055406592, FreeSpace:53338750976, Path:C:\}

HostName         : WIN-P9xxxxxR9RT

Nics             : {Network adapter 1:proper vport group}

ScreenDimensions : {Width=1024, Height=768}

VmId             : VirtualMachine-vm-107862

VM               : vmtest2

VmUid            : /VIServer=dom\me@vcenter.dom.com:443/VirtualMachine=VirtualMachine-vm-107862/

VmName           : atl01test2

Uid              : /VIServer=dom\me@vcenter.dom.com:443/VirtualMachine=VirtualMachine-vm-107862/VMGuest=/

GuestId          : windows8Server64Guest

ToolsVersion     : 9.0.11

ExtensionData    : VMware.Vim.GuestInfo

Client           : VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.VimClient

GuestFamily      : windowsGuest

I really thought I had figured out the problem, when I noticed that the vmware tools were out of date, but I updated them and reran it and it did nothing.  Also under the OCS I have -NamingScheme vm, is that right?

What am I missing?

[Transplant]

I did not actualy build the template that I am using, so I just built a new template that I did almost nothing too except disable UAC.  I created a new vm with the template and created a new OSCS for the server and applied it and again... nothing.  I am not sure what the issue is, is there a way to verify if it is authenticating proplerly?

[LucD]

Are there any clues in the log files on the new VM (I mentioned the directory in my earlier answer) ?

[Transplant]

Not sure if this is what you mean?

Any thing in these?

   Directory: C:\Windows\Temp\vmware-SYSTEM

Mode                LastWriteTime     Length Name                                                                                            
----                -------------     ------ ----                                                                                            
-a---         9/14/2014   2:27 PM       4869 vmware-usbarb-25400.log                                                                         
-a---         9/23/2014   2:40 PM       5369 vmware-usbarb-2752.log

[Transplant · Accepted solution]

Good news, but first, I would really like to know where the log files are on which server for the OsCustomization process.

I decided to reverse engineer this and create a OSCS from within vCeneter and once I got that to work, I kept creating new OSCS via PowerCli until I could get that to work, creating a new VM.  Once I got that to work, I tryied to apply that to a cloned vm, with no settings. I got that to work too.  I tried to go back to my original image, but I couldn't get that to work.  Something isn't right with that image.  It tuns out that the problem was realted to permissions on the local guest.

New-OSCustomizationSpec -OrgName Company -OSType Windows -ChangeSid -Server 'vcenter.dom.com' -Name PowerCliOnly4 -FullName Administrator -Type Persistent -AdminPassword !password123 -TimeZone 'Eastern (U.S. and Canada)' -AutoLogonCount 3 -Domain dom -DomainUsername dadmin -DomainPassword !password123 -NamingScheme vm -Description "PowerCli Use only" -Confirm:$false

Get-OSCustomizationNicMapping -OSCustomizationSpec PowerCliOnly4 | Set-OSCustomizationNicMapping -Position 1 -IpMode UseStaticIP -IpAddress 10.10.10.98 -SubnetMask 255.255.255.0 -DefaultGateway 10.10.10.1 -Dns "10.10.10.10","10.10.10.11" -Confirm:$false

This seems to be very picky.  Because the Domain is one of the parameters, you can't put it in the DomainUsername, no dom\dadmin. The part that I would really like to know how to over come is what if your vm has a different local administrator account than Administrator.  It turns out that  -FullName is not the account that it tires to log on localy with. When I created the OSCS from vCenter, I put "me" in the Name and Organization information and that is what was populated in the FullName property:

Name                  : PowerCliOnlyM
Type                  : Persistent
ServerId              : /VIServer=dom\dadmin@vcenter.dom.com:443/
Server                : vcenter.dom.com
LastUpdate            : 9/24/2014 1:33:19 PM
DomainAdminUsername   : dadmin  NO dom/dadmin here!!!
DomainUsername        : dadmin
Description           : PowerCli use only, made manualy in vCenter.
AutoLogonCount        : 3
ChangeSid             : True
DeleteAccounts        : False
DnsServer             :
DnsSuffix             :
Domain                : vsi
FullName              : Me
GuiRunOnce            :
NamingPrefix          :
NamingScheme          : Vm
OrgName               : CompanyTU
OSType                : Windows
ProductKey            :
TimeZone              : Eastern (U.S. and Canada)
Workgroup             :
LicenseMode           : NotSpecified
LicenseMaxConnections :
EncryptionKey         : {48, -126, 3, 108...}
ExtensionData         : VMware.Vim.CustomizationSpecItem
Id                    : PowerCliOnlyM
Uid                   : /VIServer=vsi\diverso@atl01osi378.ads.vsi.com:443/OSCustomizationSpec=PowerCliOnlyM/
Client                : VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.VimClient
AdminPassword         : w
DomainAdminPassword   : N
DomainPassword        : N

Dns                   : {10.10.10.10, 10.10.10.11}
Wins                  :
SpecId                : PowerCliOnlyM
Spec                  : PowerCliOnlyM
SpecType              : Persistent
NetworkAdapterMac     :
Position              : 1
IPMode                : UseStaticIP
IPAddress             : 10.10.10.98
SubnetMask            : 255.255.255.0
DefaultGateway        : 10.10.10.1
AlternateGateway      :
VCApplicationArgument :
Id                    : /VIServer=dom\dadmin@vcenter.dom.com:443/OSCustomizationNicMapping=OSCustomizationNicMappingImpl-PowerCliOnlyM-Persistent-1/
Uid                   : /VIServer=dom\dadmin@vcenter.dom.com:443/OSCustomizationNicMapping=OSCustomizationNicMappingImpl-PowerCliOnlyM-Persistent-1/
ExtensionData         : VMware.Vim.CustomizationAdapterMapping
Client                : VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.VimClient
Version               : 1

I think it is good to know that the VM reboot 4 or 5 time as it goes through this process.  It breaks is you try and do anything to the VM that interupt the process.  I am sure I will think of more questions in a second.

Also, it seemd there were some problems with putting quotes, single or double around the password, but I did not double check this again, I just know that once I took them off, it started to work.  I did run into other issues while testing like, I was using a single IP, so If I did not turn off on test VM, then the next one would not work because of the network conflct, maybe I should not admit that...lol

[Transplant]

It was drivin me crazy that I could not user Get-Credential, so I did some further testing and it turns out that you can't user the domain name in the pop up box.  Here is what worked:

$credOSC = Get-Credential -Credential dadmin

New-OSCustomizationSpec -OrgName TransUnion -OSType Windows -ChangeSid -Server 'vCenter.dom.com' -Name PowerCliOnly5 -FullName Administrator -Type Persistent -AdminPassword !password123 -TimeZone 'Eastern (U.S. and Canada)' -AutoLogonCount 3 -Domain vsi -DomainCredentials $credOSC -NamingScheme vm -Description "PowerCli Use only" -Confirm:$false

Get-OSCustomizationNicMapping -OSCustomizationSpec PowerCliOnly5 | Set-OSCustomizationNicMapping -Position 1 -IpMode UseStaticIP -IpAddress 10.10.10.98 -SubnetMask 255.255.255.0 -DefaultGateway 10.10.10.1 -Dns "10.10.10.10","10.10.10.11" -Confirm:$false

notice, you can't use ---- $credOSC = Get-Credential -Credential dom\dadmin

[JVidanez]

I have it sorted in this way:

( this is part of a longer script)

# Reading VMs to deploy and if they are windows asking to load credentials per Domain

Foreach ($VM in $newVMs) {

    $Error.Clear()

    If ($VM.OSType -eq "Windows") {

        If ( !$credentials.ContainsKey($VM.domain)) {

              $new_cred = Get-Credential

              $credentials.Add($VM.domain,$new_cred)

        }

    }

}

If ($VM.OSType -eq "Windows") {

            $credential = $credentials.Get_Item($VM.domain)

            $fullname = $credential.UserName.Split('\')[1]

            $orgname = $credential.UserName.Split('\')[0]

            $tempSpec = New-OSCustomizationSpec -Name temp$vmName -NamingScheme fixed `

            -NamingPrefix $VM.Name -Domain $VM.domain -FullName $fullname -OrgName $orgname `

            -DomainCredentials $credential -TimeZone 085 -ChangeSid -OSType Windows

            $tempSpec | Get-OSCustomizationNicMapping | Set-OSCustomizationNicMapping `

           -IpMode UseStaticIP -IpAddress $VM.IPAddress -SubnetMask $VM.SubnetMask `

           -Dns $VM.pDNS,$VM.sDNS -DefaultGateway $VM.Gateway | Out-Null

I give this available at GITHUB

Vidanez/DeployVMs · GitHub