The folks over at the VMware knowledge base have a new ESX and ESXi 4.0 comparison that is similar to the ESX and ESXi 3.5 comparison.

ESX and ESXi 4.0 Comparison

ESX and ESXi 3.5 Comparison

Maintenance mode on ESX hosts is great. As long as DRS is set to automatic and VMotion is working, all of the VM’s will be evacuated from the host. However, I always seem to run into one VM that still has a CDROM drive connected to it. This causes the VMotion to stop until the CDROM drive is disconnected.

Since, this happened quite frequently, I decided to do maintenance mode through PowerShell to automate the process . The below script will:

• Search for any VM’s that have CDROM’s connected
• Disconnect the CDROM’s from said VM’s
• VMotion the VM’s to the remaining ESX hosts (there is no way that I know of to automatically VMotion the VM’s by just putting the host into maintenance mode using PowerShell)
• Put the target host into maintenance mode

A special thanks goes to Steve Beaver. His post “Working with Maintenance Mode in PowerShell” helped me figure out the automatic VMotion to the remaining hosts.

So, here it is:

# Name: esx-maintenance-prep.ps1
# Purpose: Disconnects all CDROM Drives on VM's from a chosen host. It will VMotion the
#          VM's on that host. Then, it will put the host into maintenance mode.
#
# Created: 09/11/2009
# Author: Harley Stagner
# Version: 1
#
# TODO:
#  -Wrap work into functions
#  -Use if statement to account for VM's that are powered off
###########################################################################

#Connect to your vCenter Server
Connect-VIServer

Write-Host "Choose your server from the list below:"

# Set up variables for the Host Selection
$colESX = Get-VMHost
$selectionNumber = 0

#HashTable
$colHostSelection = @{} 

#Array
$colSelection = @() 

# Create the menu choices for the hosts
$colESX | sort Name | ForEach-Object {

	$selectionNumber = $selectionNumber + 1

	$colHostSelection.Add("$selectionNumber", "$_")

	Write-Host "$selectionNumber - $_"
}

# Needed to match the option for the switch statement
$colHostSelection.Keys | ForEach-Object{
$colSelection += $_
}

# Have the VM Admin make the host selection
$VMHostSelection = Read-Host "Please choose an option between" $colSelection[0] "and" $colSelection[-1]
$VMHost = $colHostSelection[$VMHostSelection]

# Switch statement to get the appropriate host to put into maintenance mode.
switch ($colSelection[0]..$colSelection[-1]){

	{$_ -eq $VMHostSelection} {

# Disconnect the CDRom Drives from the VM's.
		Get-VMHost $VMHost | Get-VM | Get-CDDrive | Set-CDDrive -Connected $false -Confirm:$false

			ForEach ($ESX in $colESX){

				If ($ESX -cnotmatch $VMHost){

# vMotion the VM's to the other hosts in the cluster.
          			Get-VMHost -Name $VMHost | Get-VM | Move-VM -Destination (Get-VMHost $ESX)
    			}
			}

# Put the chosen host into Maintenance Mode.
	Get-VMHost -Name $VMHost | Set-VMHost -State Maintenance | ForEach-Object { "Entering maintenance mode on '" + $VMHost + "'"} ; continue
	}
}

Disconnect-VIServer -Confirm:$False

#END SCRIPT#

As you can see, I still have a couple items in my to do list for this script. However, it is very useable as it stands.

I know I may be late on this. However, I think it is cool enough to mention. I noticed that some VMware KB articles now have videos! This is an excellent resource and I hope that this trend continues in the future.

Just head over to the VMware Support Page to check out some of the videos on the right under “Top Support Videos.”

An example of one of these videos is in this article:

Committing Snapshots From Within the Service Console

Bravo VMware, Bravo! I’d love to see the videos continue.

Has anyone else seen the above vRanger Pro Error?

Here are a couple of links for VCP 4 study materials.

First, you can get all of the VMware PDFs in one convenient zip file here:

http://www.vmware.com/support/vsphere4/doc/vsp_esx40_vc40_book_bundle.zip

Second, I created some flash cards for some of the rote memory type stuff (maximums, etc.). They can be found here:

http://pool.cobocards.com/cardset/6535731/

If you want to use study mode on the flash cards, you will need to sign up for an account at cobocards. Happy Studying!

Just a quick note to let everyone know that I took my VCP 410 exam today and passed . I am now a VCP on VI:3 and vSphere 4…

The Release Candidate for SCVMM 2008 R2 is now available on Microsoft Connect. Now, both the next version of Hyper-V and the management infrastructure to go along with it are available. Use the link below to log in to Connect and download SCVMM 2008 R2.

SCVMM 2008 R2 RC: https://connect.microsoft.com/site/sitehome.aspx?SiteID=799

If you have any questions during your testing you can also head to the forums here:

SCVMM Forum on Technet: http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/virtualmachinemanager

I am just having a little fun with PowerShell tonight and my profile. Don’t use PowerShell profiles? You should. Here is the skinny to get you started.

Profiles are very very useful for efficiently getting some serious work done while in the Shell. But this post is about nothing of the sort. Once you know how to edit your profile by using the above link, you can do all sorts of cool stuff.

Now for your entertainment and amusement, see an RSS-powered quote of the day when you start up PowerShell! Just add this function to your PowerShell profile and save it:

function motd {

$rssUrl = "http://feeds.feedburner.com/brainyquote/QUOTEBR"
$blog = [xml][/xml](new-object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString($rssUrl)
$quote = $blog.rss.channel.item[0]
$quote.description
$quote.title

}

motd{}

Here it is in all of it’s glory!

Thanks goes out to Chrissy over at NetNerds for the inspiration.

Now that VMware officially supports Dynamic Power Management (DPM), I thought that I would share this older, but still awesome, video on what DPM can do for your carbon footprint and your wallet. This video was shown at VMworld in 2008, but the message is still valid today. Enjoy!

Looks like I’ll be pretty busy (although busy implies work and this, I consider awesome) putting the GA version of vSphere 4 through its paces over the next few weeks. In case anyone missed it, here are some links:

Download:

https://www.vmware.com/download/

60 Day Trial:

https://www.vmware.com/tryvmware/index.php?p=vsphere&lp=1

And of course, a little light reading to help upgrade or pass the VCP exam on vSphere 4 when it is released:

http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vs_pages/vsp_pubs_esxi40_i_vc40.html

While hundreds of thousands of people will be flocking to the theaters to see Terminator Salvation tonight, I will be scouring the new vSphere 4 Configuration Maximums Guide for flash card fodder.

Thursday nights don’t get any sweeter than this .