In our previous post, we have talked about converting sysprep image and create new virtual hard disk. We will continue to talk about an additional three cmdlet when creating virtual machine. The next step is create virtual machine configuration file with the converted sysprep image.
Example:-
| VM Name | Start Up Memory | VHD Path | Virtual Switch Name |
| Donut | 1 GB | C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\Donut\ | vSwitch-Production |
| Eclair | 2 GB | C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\Eclair\ | vSwitch-Production |
| Froyo | 4 GB | C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\Froyo\ | vSwitch-Production |
| Gingerbread | 2 GB | C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\Gingerbread\ | vSwitch-Production |
| HoneyComb | 2 GB | C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\HoneyComb\ | vSwitch-Backup |
| Ice Cream | 2 GB | C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\IceCream\ | vSwitch-Production |
The virtual machine configuration and virtual hard disk are stored in Cluster Shared Volume. Some VMs are using vSwitch-Production virtual switch and 1 VM is using vSwitch-Backup. The VM boot up with the amount of memory that defined in start up memory.
Cmdlet:-
1. Cmdlet 3:- New-VM –> to create new VM Configuration with the setting as listed above
| VM 1:- Donut new-vm –name Donut -MemoryStartupBytes 1GB -VHDPath C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\Donut\DonutDisk1.vhdx -SwitchName vSwitch-Production VM 2:- Eclair new-vm –name Eclair -MemoryStartupBytes 2GB -VHDPath C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\Eclair\EclairDisk1.vhdx -SwitchName vSwitch-Production VM 3:- Froyo new-vm -name Froyo -MemoryStartupBytes 4GB -VHDPath C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\Froyo\FroyoDisk1.vhdx -SwitchName vSwitch-Production VM 4: Gingerbread new-vm Gingerbread -MemoryStartupBytes 2GB -VHDPath C:\Clusterstorage\Volume1\Gingerbread\GingerbreadDisk1.vhdx -SwitchName vSwitch-Production VM 5:- HoneyComb new-vm HoneyComb -MemoryStartupBytes 2GB -VHDPath C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\HoneyComb\HoneyCombDisk1.vhdx -SwitchName vSwitch-Production VM 6:- Ice Cream new-vm IceCream -MemoryStartupBytes 2GB -VHDPath C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\IceCream\IceCreamDisk1.vhdx -SwitchName vSwitch-Production |
2. Cmdlet 4:- Set-VM –> to configure a virtual machine with an additional settings.
Once VM Configuration has created , let add an additional setting into our example
| VM name | Virtual Processor | Minimum Memory | Maximum Memory | Automatic Start Action |
| Donut | 2 | 512 MB | 2 GB | Nothing |
| Eclair | 2 | 1 GB | 6 GB | Nothing |
| Froyo | 2 | Static Memory | Nothing | |
| Gingerbread | 2 | 1 GB | 6 GB | Nothing |
| HoneyComb | 4 | 1 GB | 6 GB | Nothing |
| Ice Cream | 4 | 1 GB | 4 GB | Nothing |
| VM 1:- Donut set-vm Donut -ProcessorCount 2 -DynamicMemory -MemoryMinimumBytes 512MB -MemoryMaximumBytes 2GB -AutomaticStartAction Nothing VM 2:- Eclair set-vm Eclair -ProcessorCount 2 -DynamicMemory -MemoryMinimumBytes 1GB -MemoryMaximumBytes 6GB -AutomaticStartAction Nothing VM 3:- Froyo set-vm Froyo -ProcessorCount 2 -StaticMemory -AutomaticStartAction Nothing VM 4: Gingerbread set-vm Gingerbread -ProcessorCount 2 -DynamicMemory -MemoryMinimumBytes 1GB -MemoryMaximumBytes 6GB -AutomaticStartAction Nothing VM 5:- HoneyComb set-vm HoneyComb -ProcessorCount 4 -DynamicMemory -MemoryMinimumBytes 1GB -MemoryMaximumBytes 6GB -AutomaticStartAction Nothing VM 6:- Ice Cream set-vm IceCream -ProcessorCount 4 -DynamicMemory -MemoryMinimumBytes 1GB -MemoryMaximumBytes 4GB -AutomaticStartAction Nothing |
HoneyComb and Ice Cream VM are configure to use 4 vcpu whereby the rest is set to use 2 vcpu. 2 vcpu is the supported virtual processor that we can configure for Windows Server 2003 VM. (please refer to previous post) Meanwhile, only Froyo VM is using static memory whereby the rest are using Dynamic memory features.
3. Cmdlet Add-VMHardDiskDrive – allow to add an additional hard disk to the VM
| VM 2:- Eclair Add-VMHardDiskDrive Eclair -ControllerType SCSI -ControllerNumber 0 -ControllerLocation 0 -Path C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\Eclair\EclairDisk2.vhdx VM 3:- Froyo Add-VMHardDiskDrive Froyo -ControllerType SCSI -ControllerNumber 0 -ControllerLocation 0 -Path C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\Froyo\FroyoDisk2.vhdx VM 4: Gingerbread Add-VMHardDiskDrive Gingerbread -ControllerType SCSI -ControllerNumber 0 -ControllerLocation 0 -Path C:\ClusterStorage\Volume1\Gingerbread\GingerbreadDisk2.vhdx |
VM Éclair , Froyo and Ginderbread required an additional virtual hard disk and assigned to SCSI Controller (please refer to previous post to this requirement)
In this Part 2, you have learned to create new virtual machine, configure a virtual machine and add new disk to the VM. Three cmdlet to remember:- New-VM, Set-VM and Add-VMHardDiskDrive. Stay Tuned for Part 3 for an additional cmdlet.
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