VMM (or VMWare-Manager) is a script which greatly simplifies managing VMware servers in a sane and scriptable way.
It performs most of the crucial functionality provided by vSphere without asking too many unnecessary questions.
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NAME
vmm - Manage VMware virtual machines
SYNOPSIS
vmm <command> [options]
Global syntax:
vmm <command> [-f] [-v+] [-w seconds] [@profile]
Command specific syntax:
vmm clone [-o pool] [-c count] [-a datastore...] [-l folder] <source vm> <new vm name>
vmm deploy [synonym of 'clone']
vmm df [-h] [datastore...]
vmm host [maintenance|restore|restart|shutdown|disconnect|reconnect] <hosts...>
vmm list [-d col1,col2... | perl string] [-t title] [vm|datastore|host|pool|template][s] [patterns...]
vmm migrate [-p low|normal|high] [-o pool] <vms...> <host>
vmm move [-o pool] <vms...> <datastore>
vmm setpool <low|normal|high> <cpu|mem|all> <pools...>
vmm show [vm|datastore|host|pool] [items...]
vmm snapshot [-t title] <vms...>
vmm state <on|off|suspend|reboot|shutdown|restart|standby> <vms...>
vmm version
COMMANDS
clone Clone a given VM or template to another VM name. If -c is
specified multiple copies are made. Each VM name will be
incremented in the usual Perlish way. e.g.: DB1, DB2, DB3 etc.
If -a is unspcified the datastore of the source VM is copied as
the new clones datastore. If -a is specified the data store will
be set during cloning. If -a contains a comma denoted list the
datastores will be alternated during cloning. e.g. -a 1,2 copies
to datastore 1 then 2 then starts again at 1. Patterns of
repeating datastores can be specified - e.g. '-a 1,2,3,2,1'.
deploy Synonym of 'clone'.
df Display disk usage information about datastores. If a list of
matches is provided, the data store list is filtered for those
items.
list Display a list of the given items matching a pattern.
Possible lists include (selection can be plural or singular):
vms (default if unspecified)
datastores
hosts
pools
If '-d' is specified without any containing '$' marks the string
is evaluated as a CSV with each line extracting the requisite
information that would be shown with the 'show' command. See the
EXAMPLES section for further information.
If '-d' is specified and contains a '$' it is evaluated as a
perl expression with $_ being set to the currently active item.
If '-t' is spcified the titles header for the table is set.
migrate Migrate a given list of VMs to another host.
move Move a given list of VMs to another datastore.
setpool Set the share level on the given resource pools.
show Show information about a given object. If no specific object
type is specified 'vm' is assumed. If no specific matching
pattern is specified all objects of that type are listed.
snapshot
Take a snapshot of the matching VM's. If '-t' is specified, it
is used as the title of the snapshot. Otherwise the current time
is used.
state Set the state of a list of VMs.
This can be any of the following choices:
on - Power up the specified VMs
off - Power down the specified VMs. This is a hard power state so data loss could occur.
suspend - Power the machine into standby mode. This is a hard power state which does not rely on VMware tools.
restart - Hard power cycle the VMs. Like 'off' this is a forced power state so data loss could occur.
shutdown - Try shutting down the machine via VMware tools.
standby - Try to put the machine into the soft standby state.
reboot - Try shutting down the machine via VMware tools.
version Display various version informaiton about the connected vServer
and local API. This command is the default if no actual command
is specified (i.e. just running 'vmm' with nothing else
specified).
OPTIONS
[@profile]
Used during: All operations
Default: First specified profile in config
Type: Profile name or URL
Specifies which profile to use when addressing the vServer. This
can be an entry within the config file or the URL (with optional
login details) e.g.
vmm version @cluster1
vmm version @cluster2
vmm version @https://cluster1.acme.edu
vmm version @https://username@cluster1.acme.edu
vmm version @https://username:password@cluster1.acme.edu
Examples 1 and two assume 'custer1' and 'customer2' have been
defined in the examples file (see EXAMPLES). The further
examples specify the connection information on the command line.
Specifying the password from the command line is exceptionally
silly and should be avoided.
If username and/or password is omitted (such as in examples 3
and 4 above) they will be prompted for when vmm is run.
-c
Used during: migrate
Default: 1
Type: Number
Specifies how many VMs should be created during a clone
operation. The name of the target VM is incremented in the usual
Perlish way. e.g.
DBS1, DBS2, DBS3... DBS10 DB00, DB01, DB02... DB99 DBAA, DBAB,
DBAC... DBZZ
--display [col1,col2...]
-d [col1,col2...]
Used during: list
Default: Name
Type:
Command seperated list of columns to display in tabular
output when using the 'list' command. See also: -s to
specify the seperation character to use between the columns.
Specify a data store for operations that require it.
--datastore [datastore]
--ds [datastore]
-a [datastore]
Used during: migrate
Default: Same as source VM
Type: Datastore name
Specify a data store for operations that require it.
--force
-f
Used during: All operations
Default: off
Type: Switch
Force continue if an error occurs. Normaly if an error occurs
vmm will stop processing any operations specified on the command
line. If this flag is enabled vmm will continue operation as if
no error occured.
--human
-h
Used during: df
Default: off
Type: Switch
Display the numbers of the 'df' command in a human readable
format.
--dryrun
-n
Used during: All operations
Default: off
Type: Switch
Dry run mode. When enabled vmm will continue as normal but no
actual call to the VMware VServer is made.
--folder
-l
Used during: clone
Default: Source VM / templates folder
Type: String
Specifies the folder that the cloned machine should be moved
into. If unspecified the source VM's folder is used instead.
--pool [pool]
-o [pool]
Used during: clone, migrate, move
Default: Same as the source VM
Type: Pool name
Specifies the alternate pool name to use when migrating or
cloning machines. If unspecified the source VM's pool is used
instead.
--priority [priority]
-p [priority]
Used during: migrate
Default: low
Type: Choice of: low, normal, high
Specifies the priority when migrating VMs.
--seperator [character]
-s [character]
Used during: list
Default: \t (tab)
Type: String
Specifies the string to display between columns when outputing a
list.
--title [title]
-t [title]
Used during: list, snapshot
Default: The Unix EPOC (for VMs)
Type: String
The title of the snapshot to create or the title row of the list
table.
-v
--verbose
Used during: All operations
Default: 0
Type: Accumulating switch
Be more verbose when outputting information to STDERR. Specify
multiple times to increase verbosity.
-w [seconds]
-wait [seconds]
Used during: clone, host, migrate, setpool, state
Default: 0
Type: Number of seconds
Force a wait for the specified number of seconds between
operations.
DESCRIPTION
A command line tool for the manipulation of VMware Virtual Machines
(VM).
EXAMPLES
vmm clone VM01 VM02
Clone VM01 to VM02. Since neither the datasource (-d) or pool (-o)
is specified these details are copied from VM01.
vmm clone DB00 DB01 -c 30
Clone DB01 to DB02 creating 30 copies. This will actually make the
machines DB01 to DB30. Since neither the datasource (-d) or pool
(-o) is specified these details are copied from VM01.
vmm clone DB00 DB01 -c 30 -d SAN1,SAN2 -o Active
Same as the above example but spread the datastores across SAN1 and
SAN2 and move the machine to the 'Active' pool.
vmm deploy Template-DBServer DB05 -l Databases
Deploys the template Template-DBServer into DB05, moving the
destination into the Databases folder.
vmm clone Template-DBServer DB05 -l Databases
This is exactly the same as above. A clone and deploy operations
will automatically figure out if the source is a template and act
accordingly.
vmm df *2
Display a datastore usage sheet (similar to the Unix 'df' command)
for all datastores ending in '2'.
vmm host maintenance Moe Homer
Put the hosts 'Moe' and 'Homer' into maintenance mode (use 'restore'
to recover from this).
vmm list vms
List all VMs.
vmm list vms -d name,host,ip
List all VMs - showing their name, currently allocated host and IP
address.
vmm migrate DBS* Carl
Migrate all virtual machines matching 'DBS*' to the 'Carl' host.
vmm migrate DBS* Lenny -w 60 -o Active -p high
Migrate all virtual machines matching 'DBS*' with high priority to
the 'Active' pool on the 'Lenny' host waiting 60 seconds between
machine.
vmm move DB00 DB01 SAN2 @cluster2
Move VMs DB00 and DB01 to the SAN2 datastore within profile
'cluster2'.
vmm show host Lisa
Show information on host 'Lisa'.
vmm snapshot DB04 DB05 -t 'Todays backup'
Take a snapshot of VMs 'DB04' and 'DB05' using the title 'Todays
backup'
vmm state on DB00 DB01 -w 30
Turn DB00 and DB01 on waiting 30 seconds between machines.
vmm state on DB00 DB01 -w 30 -f
Turn DB* VMs on. -f ensures that even if any of the machines fail to
turn on for any reason the remaining machines will still be sent the
'on' command.
FILES
/etc/vmmrc
VMM config file for all users.
.vmmrc VMM config file for the local user.
CONFIG
The /etc/vmmrc and .vmmrc files will be processed to determine VMM's
configuration, the latter file taking precedence.
The layout of the config file spcifies which profiles to use.
[GLOBAL]
rewrite host = s/^(.+?)\./\1/
verbose = 2
profile = Cluster1
dryrun = 0
human = 1
force = 0
seperator = \t
http_proxy = http://myproxy.example.com:8080
https_proxy = http://myproxy.example.com:8080
[Cluster1]
url = https://cluster1.acme.edu
username = admin
password = password
[Cluster2]
url = https://cluster2.acme.edu
username = administrator
password = changeme
[GLOBAL]
The meta global section. Any option specified here will be
automatically carried into each profiles config.
In the main example Cluster1 will have a 'verbose' option of 2.
Cluster2 will have a 'verbose' option of 1 since it overrides
the global setting.
[profile]
The name (case-insensitive) of the profile to define.
url The connection URL of the vServer system within the profile
username and password
The authentication information when connecting to the vServer.
dryrun Specify a default dry run value. See -n for further information.
force If an error is encounted during a multiple VM operation the
default behaviour is to stop execution. If this setting is set
to '1' this behaviour will be overridden and operations will
continue even if an error is encounted.
http_proxy
https_proxy
Forceably set the HTTP(s)_PROXY environment variable to the
provided value before connecting. This is included to assist
basic login shells where these variables are not imported
correctly.
human Always output numbers in a human readable format rather than the
raw form.
priority
Specify a default priority when using any command that is '-p'
compatible.
profile Specify the default profile to use if none is explicitally set.
If not specified the first found profile in the config file is
used.
rewrite host
Specify a substitution regular expression to use when correcting
host names. The value given in the above example will remove any
trailing DNS name correcting 'host1.a.very.long.dns.com' to
'host1'.
seperator
Specify the seperator character used when outputting tabular
data with the 'list' command.
verbose Specify a default verbosity level. See -v for further
information.
INSTALLATION
VMM requires a few external modules before it can work correctly. Follow
the following stages to get everything working.
* Install the VMware Perl SDK from
http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/viperltoolkit/
* Install all the required CPAN modules
cpan Config::IniFiles Getopt::Long Number::Bytes::Human Term::ReadKey Text::Glob
* Setup the config file. See either the CONFIG section above or use the
sample file from /usr/share/doc/vmm
* Run VMM with a simple command to make sure everything is setup right.
vmm version
* Enjoy
BUGS
Quite probably.
Please report to https://github.com/hash-bang/VMM when found.
AUTHOR
Matt Carter <m@ttcarter.com>
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- Allow pattern ranges e.g. DB{10..20} DB{10,12,15}
- Post action triggers - run this script with set options on certain events. e.g. postclone=vittl-linux-init $host $password
Future commands
- Template, Untemplate
- Delete
- Bios (Sets the 'bios on next boot' flag)
- AttachCD (Sets an ISO to the VM's CD-ROM drive)
- ToolsUpgrade (Upgrade VMware tools)