Use PowerCLI and Nimble's RESTful API's to auto-create Initiator Groups for all ESXi hosts in vCenter

[paul_sabin]

We just purchased our first set of Nimble arrays (AF9000 and CS700) and have begun configuring them. I will be using the REST API's for most of the configurations and thought I would post my progress here. My first Powershell script for the arrays scans the vCenter server for all ESXi hosts and ensures that the relevant Initiator Groups exist on the Nimble array. If it does not exist, the script will create the Initiator Group and populate it with the initiators found on the host. Note, this particular script does not remove any non-existent hosts or WWPN's. You can run the script multiple times without issue, if the IG's and the WWPN's already exist, the script will move onto the next host to check without attempting any changes. I will probably add a couple of whatif statements to allow for dry runs, but it is the end of the day so I thought I'd post as is.

@justpaul

The latest copies can always be found on the github repo GitHub - justpowershell/nimblestorage_powershell

<#

   .SYNOPSIS

    Add-NSInitiators.ps1

   .DESCRIPTION

    The script scans your vCenter ESXi hosts and compares determines if the WWPN's exist in similar named Nimble Initiator groups.

    If the IG or the WWPN does not exist, the script will create them using Nimble's RESTful API.

   .EXAMPLE

    Example-

    Example- Add-NSInitiators.ps1

   .NOTES

    Name            : Add-NSInitiators.ps1

    Author          : Paul Sabin @justpaul

    Lastedit        : 05/18/2016

   .INPUTS

    vCenter name and credentials

    Nimble storage name and credentials

   .LINK

    https://github.com/justpowershell/nimblestorage_powershell/blob/master/Add-NSInitiators.ps1

#>

$nimblearray = read-host "Enter Nimble array DNS name"

$nimblecred = Get-Credential -Message "Enter credentials for Nimble Array" -UserName "admin"

$vcenter = read-host "Enter vCenter server name"

$vcentercred = Get-Credential -Message "Enter credentials for vCenter server"

[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::ServerCertificateValidationCallback = {$true}

function get-vmhba {

    param ($esx)

    Write-Verbose "Host: $esx"

    $hbas = Get-VMHostHba -VMHost $esx -Type FibreChannel

    $results = @()

    foreach ($hba in $hbas){

        $result = "" | select Device,Model,WWPN

        $result.Device = $hba.Device

        $result.Model = $hba.model

        $result.WWPN = "{0:x}" -f $hba.PortWorldWideName

        $results += $result

    }

    return $results

}

function get-nimbletoken {

    param ([string]$array=$nimblearray,[string]$user=$nimbleusername,[string]$password=$nimblepassword)

    $data = @{

        username = $nimblecred.UserName

     password = $nimblecred.GetNetworkCredential().password

    }

    $body = convertto-json (@{ data = $data })

    $uri = "https://" + $array + ":5392/v1/tokens"

    $token = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $uri -Method Post -Body $body

    $token = $token.data.session_token

    return $token

}

function get-nimbleinitiatorgroups {

    param (

        [string]$array=$nimblearray,

        [string]$token=$(get-nimbletoken)

    )

    $uri = "https://" + $array + ":5392/v1/initiator_groups/detail"

    $header = @{ "X-Auth-Token" = $token }

    $igs = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $uri -Method Get -Headers $header

    $igs = $igs.data

    return $igs

}

function format-wwpn {

    param([string]$wwpn)

    ForEach ($position in 14,12,10,8,6,4,2) {$wwpn = $wwpn.Insert($position,":")}

    return $wwpn

}

function update-nimbleigs {

    Write-Verbose "update-nimbleigs"

    $global:igs = get-nimbleinitiatorgroups

    $global:ignames = @($igs.name)

}

function new-nimbleinitiatorgroup {

    [CmdletBinding()]

    param (

        [string]$array=$nimblearray,

        [string]$token=$(get-nimbletoken),

        [string]$igname,

        [string]$description=""

    )

    Write-Verbose "new-nimbleinitiatorgroup $array $token $igname $description"

    $data = "" | select name,description,access_protocol

    $data.name = $igname

    $data.access_protocol = "fc"

    $data.description = $description

    $body = convertto-json (@{ data = $data })

    Write-Verbose $body

    $header = @{ "X-Auth-Token" = $token }

    $uri = "https://" + $array + ":5392/v1/initiator_groups"

    $result = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $uri -Method Post -Body $body -Header $header

    update-nimbleigs

    return $result.data

}

function add-nimbleinitiator{

    [CmdletBinding()]

    param (

        [string]$array=$nimblearray,

        [string]$token=$(get-nimbletoken),

        [string]$igname=$igname,

        [string]$vmhostname=$vmhostname

    )

    Write-Verbose "add-nimbleinitiator $array $token $igname $vmhostname"

    $ig = $igs | where {$_.name -eq $igname}

    $igid = $ig.id

    if (!($ig.id)){

        Write-Error "Could not determine initiator group ID"

        Return

    }

    $igfcinitiators = @($ig.fc_initiators)

    $vmhbas = get-vmhba -esx $vmhostname

    $results = @()

    foreach ($vmhba in $vmhbas){

        if ($igfcinitiators.wwpn -notcontains $(format-wwpn $vmhba.WWPN)){

            $data = "" | select initiator_group_id,access_protocol,wwpn

            $data.initiator_group_id= $igid

            $data.access_protocol = "fc"

            # $data.alias = ("$($vmhostname.split(".")[0])-$($vmhba.Device)").ToUpper()

            $data.wwpn = format-wwpn $vmhba.WWPN

            $body = convertto-json (@{ data = $data })

            Write-Verbose $body

            $header = @{ "X-Auth-Token" = $token }

            $uri = "https://" + $array + ":5392/v1/initiators"

            $results += Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $uri -Method Post -Body $body -Header $header

            update-nimbleigs

        }

    }

    return $results.data

}

if (!(connect-viserver $vcenter -Credential $vcentercred)){

    Write-Host "There was an error connecting to the vCenter server `"$vcenter`""

    Exit 99

}

if (!(get-nimbletoken)){

    Write-Host "There was an error connecting to the Nimble array`"$nimblearray`""

    Exit 99

}

update-nimbleigs

$vmclusters = @(Get-Cluster | sort Name)

Foreach ($vmcluster in $vmclusters){

    $clustername = $vmcluster.Name

    write-host $clustername -ForegroundColor "Green"

    $igclustername = $("IG-$($clustername)").ToUpper()

    if ($ignames -notcontains $igclustername){

        new-nimbleinitiatorgroup -igname $igclustername

    }

    $vmhosts = @($vmcluster | Get-VMHost | sort Name)

    foreach ($vmhost in $vmhosts){

        $vmhostname = $vmhost.Name

        Write-Host "* $vmhostname"

        add-nimbleinitiator -igname $igclustername -vmhostname $vmhostname

        $ighostname = $("IG-$($vmhostname.split(".")[0])").ToUpper()

        if ($ignames -notcontains $ighostname){

            new-nimbleinitiatorgroup -igname $ighostname

        }

        add-nimbleinitiator -igname $ighostname -vmhostname $vmhostname

    }

}

[sio67549]

The vcenter plugin does this for you with a few clicks

[chris24]

Very nice thank you for sharing!

Have been meaning to put something together to copy the igroups from one array (CS) and applying them to another a new array (AF).

[jcates98]

Great stuff, Paul, thanks for sharing with the community! 

Since you're using PowerShell, you may be interested in using the Nimble PowerShell Toolkit, information available HERE. Of course, it's perfectly cool to continue calling REST directly, but this might save you some time in creating the Nimble-specific functions.

[paul_sabin]

I heard about the PowerShell Toolkit, but I think I read a post on Connect about features available in the REST API that weren't baked into the PowerShell plugin, yet. Those limitations may have been overcome since that post, but I like working with REST. It is great to have options though. Thanks for the reply, Julian Cates