Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Efi ciency Automation allows for the completion of repeat tasks with less effort. A phone
call or colleague has never distracted a script or workl ow, causing it to miss a step or com-
plete its work in a timely manner.
Accuracy Automation allows for the consistent repetition of tasks. Coni guration changes,
reports, and process workl ows can be automated with high coni dence that errors will not
be made.
Capacity Automation allows for the increased productivity of an administrator. Tasks that
would take hours manually can be completed in minutes or seconds with automation.
The benei ts of automation are applicable in any environment, especially virtual ones. The
increased needs and expectations of businesses mean we must i nd ways to extend our capabili-
ties and ensure that we deliver consistently. As you are about to see, VMware has invested heav-
ily in tools to automate vSphere environments that are ideal for administrators with a variety of
needs and backgrounds.
vSphere Automation Options
VMware has made signii cant improvements in the automation capabilities and options it offers.
This advancement means that VMware vSphere administrators have multiple options to choose
from to accomplish their automation goals regardless of their skill level or requirements. In this
section, we will briel y outline the different vSphere automation tools and the existing experi-
ence that best aligns with them.
Other Automation and Orchestration Products
h is chapter will not cover in any detail non-VMware tools that are available to automate vSphere
environments. h ese tools take advantage of the same VMware vSphere APIs that the VMware
automation tools leverage.
The vSphere automation tools discussed in this chapter are PowerCLI, vSphere Management
Assistant (vMA), vCenter Orchestrator (vCO), and the vSphere Software Development Kit (SDK)
for Perl (Figure 14.1). These tools are covered based on common usage in the virtualization indus-
try and relative learning curve. Our intent is to demonstrate how even those with little or no auto-
mation experience can start leveraging these tools to automate tasks in their environment.
Figure 14.1
vSphere automation
choices
￿ PowerShell
￿ MS-DOS
￿ VB Script
￿ JavaScript
￿ Workflow
products
￿ Linux (shell)
￿ Bash
￿ Perl
￿ Linux (shell)
￿ PowerShell
VMware vSphere 5.5
 
Search WWH ::




Custom Search