I have done some improvements on usability and features based on my needs.
To see a video of the version 3 click here. Click here to read more information about these scripts.
CHANGELOG
------ version 4
- Promiscuous Mode at the vSwitch level is now enabled automatically (this is needed if you have any ESX/ESXi in a VM).
- The vSwitch has now 1016 Ports by default as opposed to the standard number which is 56.
- The limitation of <15 characters for the common name for the Pods has been changed to <23 characters.
------ version 5
- Program detects if VMs in source vApp are not in the same host (this is a requirement).
- Ability to define the cluster as workspace.
- Affinity rules are created for every Pod if DRS is enabled in the cluster (it it exists), independently of whether you select one/multiple hosts or a cluster.
EXAMPLES:
You can define the hosts it will work on manually
.\NLclonePodsofVapp.ps1 -source_vapp SRM-Parent-Pod -cloneName SRM-Test -endN 1 -startN 1 -hosts_list ("10.10.10.20","10.10.10.30")
You can define the hosts it will work on using the cluster the vApp is in
.\NLclonePodsofVapp.ps1 -source_vapp SRM-Parent-Pod -cloneName SRM-Test -endN 2 -startN 2 -use_cluster $true
Or you can just use the host the vApp is in (no need to specify anything)
.\NLclonePodsofVapp.ps1 -source_vapp SRM-Parent-Pod -cloneName SRM-Test -endN 3 -startN 3
You can create N Pods in these two ways (same result)
.\NLclonePodsofVapp.ps1 -source_vapp View-Parent-Pod -cloneName View-Test -endN 8
.\NLclonePodsofVapp.ps1 -source_vapp View-Parent-Pod -cloneName View-Test 8
If later on you want more Pods with the same root name you have to specify the starting point. This creates Pod09, Pod10,..., Pod15
.\NLclonePodsofVapp.ps1 -source_vapp View-Parent-Pod -cloneName View-Test -endN 15 -startN 9
If start and end is the same number, only one Pod with that number is created
.\NLclonePodsofVapp.ps1 -source_vapp VSA-Parent-Pod -cloneName VSA-Test -endN 7 -startN 7
The affinity rules are created automatically whenever it is possible. You don't need to request it.
This means now that if DRS is enabled, you can create multiple Pods that at power on will be distributed across the hosts by DRS and the affinity rules will keep the VMs in each Pod in the same host.
As VMware vCenter Lab Manager will not see further major releases, users have no option but to move to vCloud Director. But as Mike clearly says, vCD is not designed to be a replacement for Lab Manager. For those who see vCD as 'too big for what I need' this scripted solution comes handy.
