There's a new PowerShell module out, and it is for handling your DRS rule- and group needs! "Hello, DRS rule/group export and import? It's me, the new DRSRule module!" The "why" and the "hows" about the module are further below in this post.
<vNugglets_note> I got to work with the PowerCLI master,
Luc Dekens, on this module -- what a treat! (Check out his post about the new module at
http://lucd.info/drsrule-drs-rules-and-groups-module) It was a great learning experience for me, not only on the PowerShell/PowerCLI tip, but also on topics like collaborative/concurrent development, GitHub features (organizations, releases, etc.), and more.
The cmdlets from the module are solid as one would expect: pipeline support, value by object or name, WhatIf support, and so on. As for using some of the cool features of PowerShell, the module includes things like advanced/custom type support (including enabling tab-completion of properties later in the pipeline; handy), XML-based external help as manufactured by
https://pscmdlethelpeditor.codeplex.com/, and leveraging other object storage formats so as to simplify handling/export/import of rich objects (via JSON) -- just a few of the great features/bonuses by Mr. Dekens.
</vNugglets_note>
Now, more about the module.
Why the DRSRule module?
The core PowerCLI PSSnapin from VMware allows for many of the DRS rule operations that one might want to perform. There have been questions over the years in the VMware Communities PowerCLI forum about how to export DRS rules and groups, and, on how to then import such items.
While there are several posts on the web about how to get/export such things, importing/recreating DRS rules/groups from such exported data has not received much focus. This was the spark for this DRSRule module: to allow for easy export/import of such rules/groups. As part of making a module to handle these actions, other cmdlets were born, like the Get-/New-/Remove-/Set-* cmdlet sets for DRS VM groups and VMHost groups, along with sets for DRS VM to VM rules and VM to VMHost rules.
How to use the DRSRule module?
The DRSRule module comes with an
about_DRSRule.
Once the module is installed, use that help topic to get a general introduction to the use of the DRSRule module:
Get-Help about_DRSRule
How to get the DRSRule module?
The source for this PowerShell module is hosted on
GitHub.com.
The repository is managed by the GitHub organization "
PowerCLIGoodies", and the repo itself is at
https://github.com/PowerCLIGoodies/DRSRule.
There are a few ways to get the module, and use it in your PowerShell session:
Automated
Via a script
Use a PowerShell script to perform the download and the extract.
The script is included in the repository as file DownloadLatest.ps1.
Via PsGet
If you have the PsGet module loaded in your PowerShell session, then installing this DRSRule module is as simple as updating PsGet and then installing DRSRule:
Update-Module -Verbose -Module PsGet
Install-Module DRSRule
Manual
Grab the .zip file of the latest release from the GitHub repository.
Extract the content to a suitable folder.
You can go for the Modules folder linked to the Windows account you are using. To find this path, run:
Join-Path ${env:\userprofile} "Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules"
Or, you can select any other folder you desire.
Either way you will end up with a folder named [PathToModule]\DRSRule, in which the PowerShell files for the DRSRule module reside.
Then, load the DRSRule module into your session:
If you selected one of the folders in $env:PSModulePath (your PSModule path), you can do this with
Import-Module DRSRule
If you picked another folder, you should use the full path to the folder that contains the module's files, like:
Import-Module [PathToModule]\DRSRule
Please also read the note below about using Unblock-File, since this module is not Authenticode signed
Note on Unblock-File
This section pertains to using the Manual method above to get the DRSRule module (downloading .zip file). Since there is no Authenticode certificate supplied for this module, and, assuming that one's PowerShell ExecutionPolicy is at least RemoteSigned, below is a quick/easy
way to unblock files. But, this should only be done when you
trust the code in the files that you are unblocking -- inspecting the
files is for your own good.
Get-ChildItem [PathToModule]\DRSRule | Unblock-File
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