Managing your VMware vSphere Homelab without vCenter

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Running standalone/free VMware vSphere ESXi Hypervisors without vCenter means you're missing out on some of the features- creating templates, cloning, moving VMs from host to host etc. There are ways to get vCenter licensing on your homelab - VMUG Advantage and the vExpert Scheme are a couple of good examples -however there are some workarounds you can do to imitate some of the functionality.

PowerShell[edit | edit source]

With Microsoft Windows 8 and Windows 10 comes great responsibility! in Microsoft PowerShell you can now power on your hosts via there IPMI/ILO interface (if you have IPMI connected hosts obviously!). with the commandlets you can:

  1. Get Information on the IPMI connected host (Get-PcsvDevice)
  2. Power On an IPMI connected host (Start-PcsvDevice)
  3. Power Off an IPMI connected host (Stop-PcsvDevice)

Links[edit | edit source]

ESXi Embedded Host Client[edit | edit source]

VMware Labs has created a web management interface for ESXi that installs directly on the ESXi server.

All you need to manage ESXi is a browser. No extras required (no Java, no Flash, even works from Safari on an iPad)!

https://labs.vmware.com/flings/esxi-embedded-host-client

Simply download the installation file from VMware, ssh into your ESXi host and install it. No reboot required.

When installed the server can be managed from https://servername/ui

PowerCLI[edit | edit source]

PowerCLI won't let you do anything you're not licensed for- just because the Move-VM cmdlet exists doesn't mean it will run and let you vMotion guests- but you can use PowerCLI to move or copy VMs, there's just a bit of thinking involved to put the script together. For example, to move a VM between independent ESXi hosts with no shared storage we could

  1. Shutdown the Source VM on the Source Host (see the Shutdown-VMGuest cmdlet)
  2. De-register the Source VM on the Source Host (see Remove-VM)
  3. Mount the Source Datastore as a PowerShell Drive (see Get-Datastore and New-PSDrive)
  4. Mount the Target Datastore as a PowerShell Drive
  5. Move the VM files (so all the config files, VMDK's etc) between the two Drives (see Copy-DatastoreItem)
  6. Register the (now Target) VM on the Target Host (see New-VM -VMFilePath)
  7. Power on the Target VM (see Start-VM)

All of these steps are available at the Free licensing level and higher.

Links[edit | edit source]

ESXi Shell[edit | edit source]

There's lots of functionality available through the ESXi Shell- remember, as with PowerCLI, you still don't have access to unlicensed features just because you're using the command line.


Links[edit | edit source]

VMware Converter[edit | edit source]

This free tool from VMware allows you to move Virtual Machines between different infrastructures so can be used, amongst other things, to cold-migrate between ESXi hosts.

Links[edit | edit source]

VMware Converter Product Page (including Download and Documentation)

Veeam Backup[edit | edit source]

Veeam Backup, right from the free offering, allows you to backup a VM and this backup can be restored to a different target host- in effect a cold-migration with an intermediate step.

Links[edit | edit source]

Veeam on Open Homelab

Someone else's vCenter[edit | edit source]

Creating an OVF/OVA template requires vCenter, but you can deploy them direct to an ESXi host. So if you have access to a VCenter somewhere outside your homelab (an employer perhaps) then you can use that to create the OVF files and then deploy them back at home.

File:Deploy-OVF-Template-Host.png
Deploy OVF Template