A few weeks ago I wrote a blog about scripting Citrix PVS. In this blog I will show the most popular commands for Citrix XenServer so that you can use them in your Automation Workflow. Because as always; AUTOMATE EVERYTHING! Citrix XenServer is Linux based so in the command line you can use Linux commands like ls-l or mount. But it also has its own command lines starting with XE. This blog will include those command lines and the PowerShell commands. To get PowerShell working with Citrix XenServer you need to download and install the XenServer SDK from here under the Development Components section

To install the PowerShell SDK you need to copy the PowerShell Module folder from the zip to $env:windir\system32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\Modules To enable the module use the following command: Import-Module XenServerPSModule

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Jump to command:

• Connect to XenServer
• New VM
• Delete VM
• Change VM Specs
• Add Disk to VM
• Change VM Discription
• Export VM
• Create Snapshot
• Delete Snapshot
• Start VM
• Stop VM
• Reboot VM
• Get VM List
• Get Template List
• Get Snapshot List

Connect to XenServer

PowerShell:

$Xenhost = "YourXenHost" 
$Username = "YourUsername"
$Password = "YourPassword"

  Try {
        $Session = Connect-XenServer -Url https://$Xenhost -UserName $username -Password $password -NoWarnCertificates -SetDefaultSession
    } Catch [XenAPI.Failure] {
        [string]$PoolMaster = $_.Exception.ErrorDescription[1]  
        Write-Host -ForegroundColor Red "$($Pools.$Pool) is slave, Master was identified as $PoolMaster, trying to connect"
        $Pools.Pool = $PoolMaster
        $Session = Connect-XenServer -url "http://$PoolMaster" -UserName $username -Password $password -NoWarnCertificates -SetDefaultSession
    }

Command line

Open a SSH connection with Putty or use the console tab in XenCenter.

Back to jump list.

New VM

PowerShell:

$VMname = "VMNAME"
$vCPU = 4
$RAMinGB = 4
$RAMinBytes = $RAMinGB*1073741824

New-XenVM -NameLabel $VMname -VCPUsAtStartup $vCPU -MemoryStaticMin $RAMinBytes -MemoryStaticMax $RAMinBytes -HVMBootPolicy "BIOS Order" -UserVersion 1 -HVMShadowMultiplier 1

From Windows 2016 64Bit Template:

PowerShell:

$VMname = "VMNAME"
$StorageRepositoryName = "Local Storage"

Invoke-XenVM -Name "Windows Server 2016 (64-bit)" -XenAction Clone -NewName $VMname 
$newvmspecs = Get-XenVM -name $VMname
$sr = Get-XenSR -Name $StorageRepositoryName
$other_config = $newvmspecs.other_config
$other_config["disks"] = $other_config["disks"].Replace('sr=""', 'sr="{0}"' -f $sr.uuid)

Set-XenVM -Name $VMname -OtherConfig $other_config

Invoke-XenVM -Name $VMname -XenAction Provision

Command Line:

xe vm-install template=Windows\ Server\ 2016\ \(64-bit\) new-name-label=NEWVM

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Delete VM

PowerShell:

$VMname = “VMNAME”

Remove-XenVM -Name $VMName

Command Line:

Xe vm-list name-label=VMNAME Copy VMUUID xe vm-destroy uuid=VMUUID

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Change VM Specs

PowerShell:

Enlarge RAM en vCPU

$VMname = "VMNAME" 
$vCPU = 4 
$RAMinGB = 4

$RAMinBytes = $RAMinGB*1073741824

Set-XenVM -Name $VMName -VCPUsMax $vCPU -VCPUsAtStartup $vCPU -Memory $RAMinBytes

Dicrease vCPU and RAM

$VMname = "VMNAME"
$vCPU = 2
$RAMinGB = 2

$RAMinBytes = $RAMinGB*1073741824 

Set-XenVM -Name $VMName -VCPUsAtStartup $vCPU -Memory $RAMinBytes 

Set-XenVM -Name $VMname -VCPUsMax $vCPU

Command Line

Change RAM

Xe vm-list name-label=VMNAME Copy VMUUID xe vm-memory-limits-set uuid=VMUUID static-min=2GiB static-max=2GiB dynamic-min=2GiB dynamic-max=2GiB

Add more vCPU’s

Xe vm-list name-label=VMNAME Copy VMUUID xe vm-param-set uuid=VMUUID VCPUs-max=4 VCPUs-at-startup=4

Remove vCPU’s

Xe vm-list name-label=VMNAME Copy VMUUID xe vm-param-set uuid=VMUUID VCPUs-at-startup=2 xe vm-param-set uuid=VMUUID VCPUs-max=2

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Add Disk to VM

PowerShell:

$VMName = "VMNAME"
$DiskName = "Disk02"
$DiskinGB = 20
$StorageRepositoryName = "Local Storage"

$DiskinBytes = $DiskinGB*1073741824
$VM = Get-XenVM -Name $VMname
$sr = Get-XenSR -Name $StorageRepositoryName

New-XenVDI -NameLabel $DiskName -VirtualSize $DiskinBytes -SR $sr -Type user

$VDI = Get-XenVDI -Name $DiskName

New-XenVBD -VM $VM.opaque_ref -VDI $VDI.opaque_ref -Type Disk -mode RW -Userdevice 2

Command Line

xe vm-list name-label=VMNAME Copy VMUUID xe sr-list name-label=”Local storage” Copy Storage UUID xe vdi-create sr-uuid=STORAGEUUID name-label=Disk01 type=user virtual-size=20GiB Output is DISKUUI xe vbd-create vm-uuid=VMUUID device=1  vdi-uuid=DISKUUID bootable=false mode=RW type=Disk

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Change VM Description

PowerShell:

Set-XenVM -Name "VMNAME" -NameDescription "DISCRIPTION"

Command line:

Xe vm-list name-label=VMNAME Copy VMUUID xe vm-param-set uuid=VMUUID name-description=”DISCRIPTION”

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Export VM

PowerShell:

$XenHost = "YourXenServer"
$VMname = "VMName"
$ExportPath = “C:\Temp” 

$VM = Get-XenVM -Name $VMname

Export-XenVm -Uuid $VM.uuid -XenHost $XenHost -path "$Exportpath\Export.xva"

Command Line:

Mkdir /mnt/Export mount -t cifs //server/share -o username=UserName,password=myPassword /mnt/export xe vm-export vm=VMNAME filename=/mnt/export/Export.xva

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Create Snapshot

PowerShell:

$VMname = "VMName"
$Snapshotname = “SNAPSHOTNAME” 

$VM = Get-XenVM -Name $VMname

Invoke-XenVM -Uuid $VM.uuid -XenAction Snapshot -NewName $Snapshotname

Command Line:

xe vm-snapshot vm=VMName new-name-label=SNAPSHOTNAME

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Delete Snapshot

PowerShell

$Snapshotname = "SNAPSHOTNAME"

Remove-XenVM -Name $Snapshotname

Command Line:

xe snapshot-list name-label=SNAPSHOTNAME Copy Snapshot UUID xe vm-destroy uuid=SNAPSHOTUUID

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Start VM

PowerShell:

Invoke-XenVM -Name VMName -XenAction Start

Command Line:

xe vm-start vm=VMName

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Stop VM

PowerShell:

Invoke-XenVM -Name VMName -XenAction Shutdown

Command Line:

xe vm-shutdown  vm=VMName

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Reboot VM

PowerShell:

Invoke-XenVM -Name VMName -XenAction CleanReboot

Command Line:

xe vm-reboot  vm=VMName

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Get VM List

PowerShell:

Get-XenVM | Where {$_.is_a_template -eq $False -and $_.is_a_snapshot -eq $False -and $_.domid -ne 0} | select name_label 

Command Line:

xe vm-list

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Get Template List

PowerShell:

Get-XenVM |  Where {$_.is_a_template -eq $True -and $_.domid -ne 0}  | select name_label 

Command Line:

xe template-list

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Get Snapshot List

PowerShell:

Get-XenVM |  Where {$_.is_a_snapshot -eq $True -and $_.domid -ne 0}  | select name_label 

Command Line:

xe snapshot-list

Back to jump list.

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I hope this was informative. For questions or comments you can always give a reaction in the comment section or contact me: