vmware cmdlet to access a vm and set an ssh credential

[divesh_7]

Hi all,

I have been looking into doing some automation work and the first step for this to work is i need to be able to make sure ssh config are added onto a vm through vmware powershell (or cli interface)

I was wondering if we have a set cmdlet command that would allow me to set the ssh username and password on a linux vm?

Your help would be very much appreciated.

Regards,

Divesh.

[jpsider]

I'm not aware of a specific command.

you can use 'invoke-vmscript' to run a command(or script) on a vm.

[divesh_7]

Hi jpsider,

Yeah after looking on the VMware site, it appears there isn't a cmdlet that would allow you to do that.

I think a script would be required to achieve that.

Does anyone have a script that allows you to access a Linux vm through powershell and configure it with either ssh or telnet. The idea is as soon as I have configured the vm with ssh/telnet, I would use an automated tool to log into the vm using ssh/telnet and do certain checks, perform certain actions (including AD integrate the vm) and then delete the temporary ssh/telnet credential that I originally created through powershell.

Any advice/pointers/help would be much appreciated.

Regards,

D

[jpsider]

Not sure what flavor of Linux, but this will get you close, you'll need to create you own script and copy it to the Vm's like this

Copy-VMGuestFile -Source "C:\temp\enablSSH.sh" -Destination "/LocalDropbox/enableSSH.sh" -LocalToGuest -vm $vmname -GuestUser $VMUN -GuestPassword $VMPW

Then execute like

Invoke-VMScript -ScriptText "/bin/bash /LocalDropbox/enableSSH.sh" -VM $vmname -GuestUser $VMUN -GuestPassword $VMPW -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

[divesh_7]

Hi jpspider,

I have created a script and followed the procedure you mentioned. However, I am getting the following error message:

Any idea why it is complaining that the script exist? It should be existing for me to run it isn't it?

Also can I assume you do not need to make the script executable before using the invoke-VMscript cmdlet?

Thanks.

Regards,

D

[jpsider]

hmmm, that is the output of the script you ran. It is not saying that the script itself exists.

Can you post your script you created to enable ssh?

[divesh_7]

Hi jpsider,

Issue is now fixed and it's all working as expected now.

This was not really the output of the script; I was getting the message because I called my script "adduser.sh" and since this is already a known Linux function, it was complaining. I changed the name and it worked!

Thanks a lot for your input, much appreciated! :smileyhappy:

[jpsider]

-scripttype BASH

May have helped.  Sorry!