Project Onyx.
It's not a sci-fi movie, but an easy way to translate actions you do in VI client into PowerShell Code with project Onyx. Still in alpha, but it's still pretty impressive. What is it? It's basically a script recorder for vSphere Client. Onyx converts mouse clicks into PowerCLI scripts.
What it does? It translates the actions you do in the VI client into PowerShell.
Project Onyx is It's a part of VMware Labs, where you can find other cool products under developpement. I think VMware Labs does need some spotlight, because there are some really cool tools over there.
First you start Onyx, and then connect your VI client to vCenter on the port 1545.
The code Onyx generates makes heavy use of direct API calls rather than PowerCLI cmdlets. So even if you use Onyx to power on a VM, instead of using the Start-VM cmdlet it will use the API’s PoweronMultiVM_Task. To put it another way Onyx is best for automating things that can’t be automated using native PowerCLI cmdlets.
You will need to edit scripts that Onyx produces in order to turn them into reusable code. The code Onyx produces today includes a lot of parameters that are very specific to the object you select and have to be refactored or removed.
News and links:
- VMware LABS
- https://vmware.com/go/onyx
- Carter Shanklin's blog
- Arne Fokkema's blog
- Download Onyx
- Getting Stoned with Project Onyx PEX VIDEO
- Project Onyx PEX Presentation and MP3
- PowerCLI Blog
- Project Onyx Resources / FAQs
