Overview
One of the features of using Citrix's VSC with XenServer and NetApp storage is to take advantage of linked clones. The benefits of doing this are very rapid virtual desktop provisioning while consuming very little storage. When the process is run it doesn't have the ability to name the VM or join it to an Active Directory domain. Rather the machines are created with the typical Microsoft naming standard of some very long unusable name, even though the VM is labeled correctly in the XenCenter console. You could of course manually rename and join each machine to the domain, which is fine if you created just a few. But what if you just created 200? Wouldn't a nice PowerShell script help solve that problem for you? Of course it would, so I wrote one to help one of my customers do just that. Because I'm a nice guy who wants to give back to all those bloggers who have helped me by sharing their knowledge, here it is for you!
One of the major challenges in a script like this is finding the right machine to rename. Remember, as I noted above the machine is labeled in XenCenter correctly, but the actual name in the operating system is completely different. Because of this we need to use the IP address of the newly created VM in order to connect with PowerShell remotely to perform the rename and domain join process. In order to get that information from the VM we would need to know its real name, right? Not with the XenServer cmdlets for PowerShell. With this little toolset I can extract the IP address based on the VM label, not its actual name.
The script is designed to operate on PowerShell 3.0 in order to take advantage of improvements in remote management that doesn't require a lot of security changes and extra configuration to establish the remote session. In fact PowerShell 3.0 offers the capability of performing the VM rename and domain join in a single cmdlet with a single reboot, so it runs much faster than with PowerShell 2.0 that required two separate operations with two reboots to perform the same task.
Obviously the script requires the PowerShell cmdlets for XenServer. So you'll want to download that from here. Now because Citrix does a poor job of documenting the SDK, you'll need this article to help you register the Snapin with PowerShell.
Script Facts
In my script I use a temporary CSV file to build a list of VMs based off the user's input in the GUI. I then run a Foreach loop to process each VM from that CSV file. So make note, you'll either need to modify the script to use your own path or create a C:\TEST directory to store the CSV. The script also creates an import file named oddly enough, IMPORT.CSV in that same directory. The IMPORT.CSV file builds a list of the new VMs so that you may import them into a catalog in XenDesktop. Hey I tried to make this easy!
To run the script you must start PowerShell with elevated rights. In other words it must Run as Administrator from the management computer with the XenServer cmdlets installed and registered. This is a requirement to support the remote calls to the VM using PowerShell 3.0.
There are also a few places you'll need to edit the script to customize it for your environment. First, I create a dropdown menu of target OU aliases so the admin using the script doesn't have to remember a long distinguished name. So you will need to find the following section and update it to match your need:
[array]$OUs = "Windows 7 Admin OU - CORP Domain",
"Windows 7 OU - CORP Domain" <-NO COMMA HERE!!
Be sure to include the alias name in quotation marks "Alias" followed by a comma. The last line should not be followed by a comma as noted above.
Next you will need to locate this section to map the alias selected in the dropdown menu to the actual OU path. Update the items highlighted in red below to match your environmental need.
$OUPath = $Combobox.SelectedItem.ToString()
If ($OUPath -eq "Windows 7 Admin OU - CORP Domain"){
$OUPath = "OU=Win 7 Dedicated Admin,OU=Virtual Desktops,OU=Workstations,DC=CORP,DC=COM"
}
If ($OUPath -eq "Windows 7 OU - CORP Domain"){
$OUPath = "OU=Win 7 Dedicated,OU=Virtual Desktops,OU=Workstations,DC=CORP,DC=COM"
}
Last but not least, to build the import file you will need to know the connection string used by XenDesktop. To get that connection string you will need to perform an export from an existing catalog. Use this Citrix article as a reference if you aren't familiar with catalog export. Open the export file and use the data highlighted below:
To replace the value highlighted in red in the code snippet below:
### Build XD Catalog Import CSV ###
Write-Host "Building XenDesktop Import CSV"
$XDCsvHeader = "[VirtualMachinePath],[ADComputerAccount],[AssignedUsers]"
$XDConnectBase = "XDHyp:\connections\PVS Task Pool\"
Running the Script
That's it, you are not ready to kick the tires and give it a try. After launching the script a PowerShell-based GUI will open. Complete all of the fields and then click OK.
After clicking OK you will be prompted for the credentials of the local administrator for the VM. This is used to access the VM using PowerShell remoting.
Once you click OK the script takes off and does its thing. When the script has completed it will notify you that the IMPORT.CSV file is ready for import. That's it, enjoy!
Join-Domain:XD.PS1
function
Show-MessageBox ($title, $msg) {
Show-MessageBox ($title, $msg) {
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms") |
Out-Null
[Windows.Forms.MessageBox]::Show($msg, $title,
[Windows.Forms.MessageBoxButtons]::OK,
[System.Windows.Forms.MessageBoxIcon]::Information,
[System.Windows.Forms.MessageBoxDefaultButton]::Button1,
[System.Windows.Forms.MessageBoxOptions]::DefaultDesktopOnly) |
Out-Null
}
[void]
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
[void]
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Drawing")
[System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("System.Drawing")
## Create and build the form from the function ##
$Form
=
New-Object
system.Windows.Forms.Form
=
New-Object
system.Windows.Forms.Form
$Form.Text =
"VSC Rename & Domain Join"
"VSC Rename & Domain Join"
$Icon
=
[system.drawing.icon]::ExtractAssociatedIcon($PSHOME
+
"\powershell.exe")
=
[system.drawing.icon]::ExtractAssociatedIcon($PSHOME
+
"\powershell.exe")
$Form.Icon = $Icon
$Form.AutoScroll = $True
$Form.AutoSize = $True
$Form.AutoSizeMode =
"GrowAndShrink"
# or GrowOnly
"GrowAndShrink"
# or GrowOnly
$Form.MinimizeBox = $False
$Form.MaximizeBox = $False
$Form.WindowState =
"Normal"
# Maximized, Minimized, Normal
"Normal"
# Maximized, Minimized, Normal
$Form.SizeGripStyle =
"Hide"
# Auto, Hide, Show
"Hide"
# Auto, Hide, Show
$Form.ShowInTaskbar = $False
$Form.Opacity =
1.0
# 1.0 is fully opaque; 0.0 is invisible
1.0
# 1.0 is fully opaque; 0.0 is invisible
$Form.StartPosition =
"CenterScreen"
# CenterScreen, Manual, WindowsDefaultLocation, WindowsDefaultBounds, CenterParent
"CenterScreen"
# CenterScreen, Manual, WindowsDefaultLocation, WindowsDefaultBounds, CenterParent
$Font
=
New-Object
System.Drawing.Font("Times New Roman",12,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold) # Font styles are: Regular, Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikeout
=
New-Object
System.Drawing.Font("Times New Roman",12,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Bold) # Font styles are: Regular, Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikeout
$Form.Font = $Font
$Label
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.Label
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.Label
$Label.Text =
"Enter base Computer Name (i.e., PCX-IT-):"
"Enter base Computer Name (i.e., PCX-IT-):"
$Label.AutoSize = $True
$Form.Controls.Add($Label)
$Textbox
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$Textbox.Location =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,50)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,50)
$Textbox.Size =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(260,300)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(260,300)
$Form.Controls.Add($Textbox)
$Label2
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.Label
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.Label
$Label2.Text =
"Enter base Computer Number(i.e., 100):"
"Enter base Computer Number(i.e., 100):"
$label2.Location =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,100)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,100)
$Label2.AutoSize = $True
$Form.Controls.Add($Label2)
$Textbox2
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$Textbox2.Location =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,150)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,150)
$Textbox2.Size =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(40,60)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(40,60)
$Form.Controls.Add($Textbox2)
$Label3
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.Label
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.Label
$Label3.Text =
"Enter number of computers created (i.e., 100):"
"Enter number of computers created (i.e., 100):"
$label3.Location =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,200)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,200)
$Label3.AutoSize = $True
$Form.Controls.Add($Label3)
$Textbox3
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$Textbox3.Location =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,250)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,250)
$Textbox3.Size =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(40,60)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(40,60)
$Form.Controls.Add($Textbox3)
$Label4
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.Label
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.Label
$Label4.Text =
"Enter Domain Name (i.e., contoso.com):"
"Enter Domain Name (i.e., contoso.com):"
$label4.Location =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,300)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,300)
$Label4.AutoSize = $True
$Form.Controls.Add($Label4)
$Textbox4
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$Textbox4.Location =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,350)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,350)
$Textbox4.Size =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(260,300)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(260,300)
$Textbox4.Text =
"na.erac.com"
"na.erac.com"
$Form.Controls.Add($Textbox4)
$Label5
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.Label
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.Label
$Label5.Text =
"Select the target OU:"
"Select the target OU:"
$label5.Location =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,400)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,400)
$Label5.AutoSize = $True
$Form.Controls.Add($Label5)
[array]$OUs =
"Windows 7 Admin OU - CORP Domain",
"Windows 7 OU - CORP Domain"
$Combobox
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.ComboBox
$Combobox.Location =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,450)
$Combobox.Size =
New-object
System.Drawing.Size (500,300)
Foreach ($Item
in
$OUs){
$Combobox.Items.Add($Item)
}
$Form.Controls.Add($Combobox)
$Label6
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.Label
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.Label
$Label6.Text =
"Enter XenServer Host or Pool Master:"
"Enter XenServer Host or Pool Master:"
$label6.Location =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,500)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,500)
$Label6.AutoSize = $True
$Form.Controls.Add($Label6)
$Textbox6
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$Textbox6.Location =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,550)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,550)
$Textbox6.Size =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(260,300)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(260,300)
$Form.Controls.Add($Textbox6)
$Label7
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.Label
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.Label
$Label7.Text =
"Enter XenServer Username:"
"Enter XenServer Username:"
$label7.Location =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,600)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,600)
$Label7.AutoSize = $True
$Form.Controls.Add($Label7)
$Textbox7
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$Textbox7.Location =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,650)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,650)
$Textbox7.Size =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(260,300)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(260,300)
$Form.Controls.Add($Textbox7)
$Label8
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.Label
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.Label
$Label8.Text =
"Enter XenServer Password:"
"Enter XenServer Password:"
$label8.Location =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,700)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,700)
$Label8.AutoSize = $True
$Form.Controls.Add($Label8)
$Textbox8
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.TextBox
$Textbox8.Location =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,750)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(10,750)
$Textbox8.Size =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(260,300)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(260,300)
$Textbox8.PasswordChar =
'*'
$Form.Controls.Add($Textbox8)
$OKButton
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.Button
=
New-Object
System.Windows.Forms.Button
$OKButton.Location =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(100,800)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(100,800)
$OKButton.Size =
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(90,60)
New-Object
System.Drawing.Size(90,60)
$Font1
=
New-Object
System.Drawing.Font("Times New Roman",10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular) # Font styles are: Regular, Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikeout
=
New-Object
System.Drawing.Font("Times New Roman",10,[System.Drawing.FontStyle]::Regular) # Font styles are: Regular, Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikeout
$OKButton.Font = $Font1
$OKButton.Text =
"OK"
"OK"
$OKButton.Add_Click({$x=$TextBox.Text;$Form.Close()})
$Form.Controls.Add($OKButton)
$Form.ShowDialog()
###Build Computer Name Varibles ###
$BaseCompName
=
$Textbox.Text
=
$Textbox.Text
$BaseCompNum
=
$Textbox2.Text
=
$Textbox2.Text
[String]$ComputerName =
[string]$BaseCompName +
[string]$BaseCompNum
[string]$BaseCompName +
[string]$BaseCompNum
$NumComputers
=
$Textbox3.Text
=
$Textbox3.Text
[Decimal]$b =
[Decimal]$BaseCompNum +
[Decimal]$NumComputers
[Decimal]$BaseCompNum +
[Decimal]$NumComputers
### Varibles to join PC to domain ###
$Credential
=
Get-Credential
-Message
"Enter Domain Account"
-UserName
"CORP\USER"
=
Get-Credential
-Message
"Enter Domain Account"
-UserName
"CORP\USER"
$Domain
=
$Textbox4.Text
=
$Textbox4.Text
### XenServer Varibles ###
$XenHost
=
$Textbox6.Text
=
$Textbox6.Text
$XenUser
=
$Textbox7.Text
=
$Textbox7.Text
$XenPwd
=
$Textbox8.Text
=
$Textbox8.Text
### Translate OU selection to actual OU distinguishedName ###
$OUPath
=
$Combobox.SelectedItem.ToString()
=
$Combobox.SelectedItem.ToString()
If ($OUPath
-eq
"Windows 7 Admin OU - NA Domain"){
$OUPath
=
"OU=Win 7 Dedicated Admin,OU=Virtual Desktops,OU=Workstations,DC=CORP,DC=COM"
}
If ($OUPath
-eq
"Windows 7 OU - NA Domain"){
$OUPath
=
"OU=Win 7 Dedicated,OU=Virtual Desktops,OU=Workstations,DC=CORP,DC=COM"
}
### Check for Comps.CSV, if it exists remove it! ###
$CSV
=
Test-Path
C:\Test\Comps.CSV
=
Test-Path
C:\Test\Comps.CSV
if ($CSV
-eq
"True") {
-eq
"True") {
Remove-Item
C:\Test\Comps.CSV
C:\Test\Comps.CSV
}
$Column
=
"Name,IP"
=
"Name,IP"
Add-Content
C:\Test\Comps.CSV
$Column
C:\Test\Comps.CSV
$Column
#Import-Module "C:\Program Files\Microsoft System Center 2012\Virtual Machine Manager\bin\psModules\virtualmachinemanager\virtualmachinemanager"
Add-PSSnapin
XenServerPSSnapIn
XenServerPSSnapIn
Connect-XenServer
-Server
$XenHost
-UserName
$XenUser
-Password
$XenPwd
-Server
$XenHost
-UserName
$XenUser
-Password
$XenPwd
### Loop through each computer name and get its IP address. Add the name and IP to the CSV ###
Do {$vm
=
Get-XenServer:VM
-Server
$XenHost
-NameFilter
$ComputerName
=
Get-XenServer:VM
-Server
$XenHost
-NameFilter
$ComputerName
;$arr
=
Get-XenServer:VM_guest_metrics.Networks
-VMGuestMetrics
$vm.guest_metrics
=
Get-XenServer:VM_guest_metrics.Networks
-VMGuestMetrics
$vm.guest_metrics
;$IP
=
$arr["0/ip"]
=
$arr["0/ip"]
;$AddComp
=
$ComputerName
+
","
+
$IP
=
$ComputerName
+
","
+
$IP
;Add-Content
C:\Test\Comps.CSV
$AddComp
C:\Test\Comps.CSV
$AddComp
;[Decimal]$NewCompNum =
[Decimal]$BaseCompNum +
1
[Decimal]$BaseCompNum +
1
;[String]$BaseCompNum =
[String]$NewCompNum
[String]$NewCompNum
;$ComputerName
=
$BaseCompName
+
$BaseCompNum
=
$BaseCompName
+
$BaseCompNum
}
Until ($NewCompNum
-eq
$b)
-eq
$b)
### read from CSV and list comps ####
$VMComps
=
Import-CSV
C:\Test\Comps.CSV
=
Import-CSV
C:\Test\Comps.CSV
$LocalCred
=
Get-Credential
-Message
"Enter the Local Admin Account"
-UserName
"ADMINISTRATOR"
=
Get-Credential
-Message
"Enter the Local Admin Account"
-UserName
"ADMINISTRATOR"
### Rename/restart each VM ###
Foreach ($VMComp
in
$VMComps) {
in
$VMComps) {
Rename-Computer
-ComputerName
$VMComp.IP -NewName $VMComp.Name -Force
-LocalCredential $LocalCred
Add-Computer
-ComputerName
$VMComp.Name -Credential $Credential
-DomainName
$Domain
-OUPath
$OUPath
-LocalCredential
$LocalCred
-Restart
-Options
JoinWithNewName
}
### Build XD Catalog Import CSV ###
Write-Host
"Building XenDesktop Import CSV"
"Building XenDesktop Import CSV"
$XDCsvHeader
=
"[VirtualMachinePath],[ADComputerAccount],[AssignedUsers]"
=
"[VirtualMachinePath],[ADComputerAccount],[AssignedUsers]"
$XDConnectBase
=
"XDHyp:\connections\PVS Task Pool\"
=
"XDHyp:\connections\PVS Task Pool\"
$XDCSV
=
Test-Path
C:\Test\Import.CSV
=
Test-Path
C:\Test\Import.CSV
if ($XDCSV
-eq
"True") {
-eq
"True") {
Remove-Item
C:\Test\Import.CSV
C:\Test\Import.CSV
}
Add-Content
C:\Test\Import.CSV
$XDCsvHeader
C:\Test\Import.CSV
$XDCsvHeader
Foreach($VMComp
in
$VMComps){
in
$VMComps){
$XDCsvLine
=
$XDConnectBase
+
$VMComp
+
".vm,NA\"
+
$VMComp
+
"$"
Add-Content
C:\Test\Import.CSV
$XDCsvLine
}
Write-Host
"XenDesktop Import CSV Complete."
"XenDesktop Import CSV Complete."
Write-Host
"The file, IMPORT.CSV, is located on C:\TEST\"
"The file, IMPORT.CSV, is located on C:\TEST\"
### Remove host affinity so it'll failover properly! ###
Foreach ($VMComp
in
$VMComps){
in
$VMComps){
Set-XenServer:VM.Affinity
-VM
$VMComp
-Server
$NULL
}
####### Done! #####
Write-Host
"Completed"
"Completed"
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