PowerShell-scripts

Scripts to automate administrative tasks (Author: Christopher Frantz)

Most of those were developed to manage courses infrastructure at the Otago Polytechnic.

This file provides and overview over the folder structure and the contained scripts.

CsvOutlookDistListConverter

Scripts related to the generation of Outlook distribution lists from CSV files and vice versa.

CsvToOutlookDistList.ps1

• Reads from CSV file including first name, last name and e-mail and creates Outlook distribution list. ** Note: This script needs to be run with the user whose Outlook mail box you wish to access.

OutlookDistListToCsv.ps1

• Reads from Outlook distribution list and generates CSV. ** Note: This script needs to be run with the user whose Outlook mail box you wish to access.

PowerCLI

Scripts to automate routine tasks for vSphere and vCloud.

All the following scripts rely on PowerCLI (version 6.0), which needs to be installed on the client machine. Ensure to include the features 'vSphere PowerCLI' and 'vCloud Air/vCD PowerCLI' (additional features are optional) during installation.

In PowerShell you will need to enable the execution of scripts (Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned).

ManageVApps

TemplateGlobals.ps1

• Contains all global variables for vSphere servers, organisation and VCD.

ConnectToVSphere.ps1

• Change username in script to administrative username.
• Run this script (as regular user) to connect to vSphere before running ManageVAppsForDistListMembers.ps1. ** If you require proxy configuration, uncomment the line Set-PowerCLIConfiguration .... Note that this will require you to run the script as administrator.

ManageVAppsForDistListMembers.ps1

• Start Outlook (for distribution list reading).

• Start PowerShell in same security context as Outlook (e.g. both as administrator). If both applications run in different security contexts you will see a COM exception (CO_E_SERVER_EXEC_FAILURE).

• Check variables in script and adapt to your need. Most relevant ones:

  • $distListName Outlook distribution list name for which vApps should be instantiated. (User identifiers are extracted from the e-mail addresses in the distribution list.)

  • $vAppTemplate vApp template to use for instantiation.

  • $vAppPrefix Prefix for each vApp name

  • $vAppSuffix Suffix for any vApp

  • $permission Permission assigned to user (based on user identifier extracted from e-mail address)

• Check remaining variables.

• Run script.

ManageVirtualNetworks

SetPromiscuousModeOnVSphere.ps1

• Change username in script to administrative user.
• Change server ($server) to match target server.
• Modify network name pattern ($networkNameToModify) to match name of virtual networks for which promiscuous mode and forged transmits should be activated.
• Run script.

RetrieveIpAddresses

GetIpAddresses.ps1

• Follow instructions in script.