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Exploring new VCSA VAMI API w/PowerCLI: Part 1

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One of the most most exciting developments in vSphere 6.5 with respect to Automation is the introduction of several new REST APIs included in the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA). In addition to covering some of the existing capabilities like vSphere Content Library and Tagging, customers will now have access to a new basic Virtual Machine management API that has been greatly simplified compared to the traditional vSphere SOAP API and access to the VCSA's Virtual Appliance Management Interface API, also known to most as the VAMI.

I am particular excited about the VAMI REST API as this is where customers will be able to manage the entire full lifecycle of their VCSA/PSC which will eventually include all Day 2 operations as well as Install, Upgrade, Migrate and Recovery capabilities. This initial release of the VAMI REST API covers most of the functionality found in the current VAMI UI by going to https://[VCSA]:5480 after your VCSA or PSC has been deployed.

Not having spent a whole lot of time with the new VAMI REST API, I figured a good way for me to learn more about the APIs was to consume it and what better way than using PowerCLI? With PowerCLI 6.5 R1 (Windows version) release, there is a new Connect-CisServer and Get-CisService cmdlet that provides you access to these new REST APIs including the VAMI APIs. As I explore the new VAMI APIs, I plan to create a new VAMI PowerCLI Module that contains functions exerising some of the new APIs that you see today in the VAMI UI.

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How to install PowerCLI Core on Debian Linux?

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PowerCLI Core has been tried on two Linux distributions: VMware's Photon OS and Ubuntu 14.04, however that is not to say it would not work on other distros. In fact, .Net Core (which PowerCLI Core consumes) supports a variety of Linux distributions which can be found here. I recently needed to run PowerCLI Core on a Debian 8 system which required a few minor tweaks to get working. I figure I might as well document the steps in case this might help others wanting to use PowerCLI Core which now includes PowerNSX on a Debian system.

Step 1 - Append the following repo source to /etc/apt/sources.list configuration file:

deb http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian sid main

Step 2 - Run the following command to update the repo

apt-get update

Step 3 - Download .deb package for latest Powershell release and run the following command which will generate list of required dependencies:

wget https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/releases/download/v6.0.0-alpha.14/powershell_6.0.0-alpha.14-1ubuntu1.16.04.1_amd64.deb
dpkg -i powershell_6.0.0-alpha.14-1ubuntu1.16.04.1_amd64.deb

Step 4 - Run the following command to install powershell along with its dependencies:

apt-get -f install

Step 5 - The next series of commands will download and setup PowerCLI Core:

mkdir -p /powershell
wget https://download3.vmware.com/software/vmw-tools/powerclicore/PowerCLI_Core.zip -O /powershell/PowerCLI.ViCore.zip
apt-get -y install unzip
unzip /powershell/PowerCLI.ViCore.zip -d /powershell
mkdir -p /root/.config/powershell/
mkdir -p ~/.local/share/powershell/Modules
unzip /powershell/PowerCLI.ViCore.zip -d ~/.local/share/powershell/Modules
unzip /powershell/PowerCLI.Vds.zip -d ~/.local/share/powershell/Modules
mv /powershell/Start-PowerCLI.ps1 /root/.config/powershell/Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1

Step 6 (Optional) - Install PowerNSX module:

wget https://github.com/vmware/powernsx/archive/master.zip -O /powershell/master.zip
unzip /powershell/master.zip -d /powershell/
mkdir ~/.local/share/powershell/Modules/PowerNSX
cp /powershell/powernsx-master/PowerNSX.ps*1 ~/.local/share/powershell/Modules/PowerNSX/

If everything installed successfully, you should be able to now launch PowerCLI Core by simply typing "powershell"

'System.Management.Automation.ConfigPropertyAccessor' exception when launching PowerCLI Core in Linux firstboot script

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Happy New Years everyone!

I just got back into the swing of things after taking some much needed time off over the holiday break. While catching up on my email, I also re-visited one of my pet projects I had been working on right before the break. I needed to launch a specific PowerCLI script upon firstboot from a Linux system, specifically PhotonOS leveraging PowerCLICore. My first few attempts had failed and in troubleshooting the issue further, I found the following cryptic error message in the system logs:

The shell cannot be started. A failure occurred during initialization:
The type initializer for 'System.Management.Automation.ConfigPropertyAccessor' threw an exception.

After a bit of Googling, I found the following Github PR which seems to indicate that the HOME environmental variable may not properly configured or readable by Powershell. The quick fix was to simply define the HOME directory within the shell script that starts up the PowerCLI script.

Below is a snippet of what I needed to add to /etc/rc.d/rc.local to automatically run my PowerCLI script:

export HOME=/root

/usr/bin/powershell -File /root/MyPowerCLI-Script.ps1

The following command was also useful in troubleshooting and verifying that my PowerCLI script had properly executed since there was no output in my script log:

journalctl --no-pager | grep rc.local