Deploy Multiple VM's with PowerCLI and a vCenter Custom Spec.

This blog post assumes you have a working vCenter server with at least one host, datastore, network etc...requirements are listed below: 

What is required: 

• Admin access to a running vCenter environment, preferably a lab!
• Powershell v5 and PowerCLI 6.5.
• A premade template, EG Windows Server 2016.
• A vCenter custom spec for the configuration of guest operating systems.

Details of my lab are below. I am fortunate to have access to real servers where I work but a computer with enough disk space and maybe 16gb of ram will suffice. You may not be able to run as much simultaneously.

My Lab:

Dell PowerEdge server 128GB RAM

VMware Workstation Pro 12

3 Virtual Machines located inside VMware Workstation. 

2 ESXi Servers, 1 Active Directory domain controller.

My vCenter server appliance (VCSA.contoso.com) is running on one of my virtual ESXi servers.

The Environment:
Active Directory and DNS: 10.1.1.1
DHCP provided by VMware workstation network manager.
vCenter Server Appliance 10.1.1.10
ESXi Host 1 - 10.1.1.11
ESXi Host 2 - 10.1.1.12


The Custom Spec:

The VM custom spec has several customisations including adding to my domain, a product key for windows and also network settings. Make use of custom specs for deployment automation.

The script:

You can also replace the array with a text file or CSV file that contains the names of your virtual machines. If you want to deploy one machine at a time, remove the -RunAsync parameter from the bottom of the script.

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# Imports the PowerCLI module and logs into vCenter server. Import-Module VMware.VimAutomation.Core Connect-VIServer YOUR_VCENTER_SERVER_NAME # Text/CSV file with Names or an Array with names. $vms = "MYVM01","MYVM03","MYVM04" # Edit these Variables for your own environment. $VMHost = "10.1.1.11" $VMName = $vm $Template = "THIS_IS_YOUR_TEMPLATE_NAME" $Datastore = "A_DATASTORE_NAME" $Location = "A VM FOLDER" $VMSpec = "CUSTOM SPEC NAME" $VMNotes = Get-date $Notes = $VMNotes # For every VM in the array above, it will run this script to deploy them. foreach ($vm in $vms) { New-VM -Name $vm ` -Template $Template ` -VMHost $VMHost ` -Datastore $Datastore ` -Location $Location ` -Notes $VMNotes ` -OSCustomizationSpec $VMSpec ` -RunAsync }