Automating vCenter Tasks: Adding and Renaming Datastores with PowerShell

Managing a vCenter environment with multiple Datacenters and Clusters can quickly become a complex and time-consuming task, especially when dealing with repetitive operations like adding or renaming Datastores. Inconsistent naming conventions, manual errors, and scalability challenges often complicate matters further. Automation offers a powerful solution. By leveraging PowerShell scripts tailored for vCenter, you can simplify routine tasks, enforce consistency, and significantly reduce the risk of human error. In this post,

Recover an accidentally deleted VMFS Datastore (vSphere version 8)

Accidentally deleting a datastore in a VMware ESXi environment can feel like a catastrophic event, especially when the datastore is shared across multiple hosts. In this article, we’ll discuss the step-by-step process of recovering a deleted datastore, specifically when it was removed from one ESXi host and subsequently disappeared from all associated hosts. The goal is to help you understand the available recovery options and ensure data is restored with

Mastering VMware Snapshots with PowerShell/PowerCLI

In the world of virtualization, managing resources efficiently is super important. If you’re an administrator dealing with virtual environments, using the right tools is a must. That’s where PowerShell comes in—a really helpful tool that can make managing VMware snapshots easier, so things run smoothly and problems get solved fast. Simplifying Virtual Management with PowerShell Imagine a world where things happen quickly and accurately. That’s exactly what PowerShell does. With

vCenter 7 [FAILED] – Failed to start file system check

I am having a VMWare Lab running on VMWare Workstation. The Lab is having 2 ESXi instances and vCenter is running on top of one of the ESXi. Datastore is iSCSI connected to a Windows Server 2019 running also on VMWare Workstation. Recently vCenter has been experiencing some issues with the Datastore and was refusing to initiate with the following error – [FAILED] Failed to start File System Check on

Use ChatGPT as VMWare Administrator – ask for solutions or ask to generate PowerCLI Scripts

As a VMware administrator, your primary responsibility is to ensure the smooth and efficient functioning of your virtual environment. From managing virtual machines and storage to ensuring uptime and performance, your role requires you to have a deep understanding of virtualization technology and the ability to manage complex infrastructures. While this can be a challenging task, there are tools and resources available to make your job easier. One such tool

Upgrade VMware ESXi from 7.0.3 to 8.0 – Incompatible

Upgrading your VMware ESXi host can be an exciting time for your organization, especially when you are upgrading from version 7.0.3 to the latest version 8.0. With new features, bug fixes, and performance improvements, the process can bring significant benefits to your virtual environment. However, the upgrade process can also bring unforeseen issues. In this blog post, we will explore some of the common issues that can arise during an

Fix Migration option for a VM is greyed out

This morning I had to do an ESXi software upgrade within 1h service window. The ESXi Host was configured in a Cluster (3 Hosts) with vMotion active, but no DRS. I was able to move all the VMs running on the host to other hosts, except one. This VM was having an USB Dongle connected to it and stuck to the ESXi Host. The plan was to shut it down

Upgrade VMWare vSphere from version 6.7 to 8

Today I’ve decided to upgrade my VMWare LAB from version 6.7 to version 8. Even it is a straightforward process, I would like to share it, maybe it can help someone in some way. If you are having only a customer account at VMWare, you have to register first to be able to evaluate vSphere8. So looks my evaluations board on VMWare portal. After registering, you will be able to

Reset or Configure HPE iLO directly from ESXi Host

Have you ever upgraded the ESXi software on HPE Servers and after reboot iLO did not come up anymore? Well, this is what happened to me after installation of ESXi software patches on a couple of HPE servers. Even the ESXi patches were installed successfully and the ESXi hypervisor started correctly, the iLO interface couldn’t be reached anymore. All the installation was done remotely, so there was no physical access

How to add a USB Disk as VMFS Datastore in ESXi 6.7

After some time using VMWare Workstation as a playground for my VM home lab environment, and after learning and testing with VM ESXi Hosts, I decided that is time to move to a hardware lab. So I achieved, for the start, 2 servers for the ESXi hosts, and because there is no HDD on the servers, I have installed the ESXi software on an USB Stick. For the storage I