I have written various individual blog posts on PowerShell creation of all configurational task for Windows 365 Cloud PC under Microsoft Endpoint Portal (MEM).
Based on public demand, I want to create a consolidated post for all the scripts and configuration items that can get you started with Windows 365 Cloud PC using PowerShell: (Of course all the below features can also be configured using the UI, however below is the guidance strictly using PowerShell)
PowerShell links to my blog post
Following are the links to my blog post for each and individual task:
I promise you once you have done the hard work, you can get up and running in a few hours using all the above PowerShell scripts with Windows 365 Cloud PC.
GitHub Link
Here is the repo with all the scripts and more – askaresh/avdwin365mem (github.com). A big thanks to Andrew Taylor for collabrating and updating the Provisioning policy script with the SSO details that was release in late Nov 2022.
I hope you will find this helpful information for all things PowerShell w.r.t Windows 365 Cloud PC. I will update the post if I publish or update more information.
If you want to establish a network connection that allows communication between the Windows 365 Cloud PC and the existing Azure Virtual Network (ANC), then keep following this post. Today, I will demonstrate the Powershell method of creating the Azure Network Connection (ANC). Note that we need information from the Azure Portal to make sure you have all the necessary information handy or/or involve the necessary teams who can provide you with the information on Azure Networking.
Overview
Create the ANC first before creating the Win365 – Cloud Provisioning Policy (CPP)
If the ANC precreated then during the cloud provisioning of the Cloud PC desktops it will create them on the Azure VNET on your desired subnet
Make sure you have a working DNS configured on the VNET which can communicate with your on-premise network using express route or other Azure VNETs
Open necessary firewall ports based on your requirements on the NSG or Azure Firewall for the communication to your on-premise network using express route or other Azure VNETs
Permissions
Intune Administrator in Azure AD
Cloud PC Administrator
Global Administrator
If you decide to alter or change the ANC, you will have to reprovision the Cloud PC, and it’s a destructive activity. Make sure you architect it properly
You can delete your ANC however, you will have to update your cloud provisioning policy with the new ANC first, and then you can delete the existing ANC.
Connect to MS Graph API
Step 1 – Install the MS Graph Powershell Module
#Install Microsoft Graph Module
PS C:WINDOWSsystem32> Install-Module Microsoft.Graph
Step 2 – Connect to scopes and specify which API you want to authenticate. If you are only doing read-only operations, I suggest you connect to “CloudPC.Read.All” in our case, we are creating the ANC, so we need to change the scope to “CloudPC.ReadWrite.All”
#Read-only
PS C:WINDOWSsystem32> Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "CloudPC.Read.All"
Welcome To Microsoft Graph!
OR
#Read-Write
PS C:WINDOWSsystem32> Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "CloudPC.ReadWrite.All"
Welcome To Microsoft Graph!
Step 3 – Choose between v1.0 (Generally Available) and Beta API versions. Note for Windows 365 Cloud PC, the API calls are BETA.
We are logging into Azure to grab all the details regarding to Resource Group, Subscription ID/Name, VNET and Subnets
Connect to the Azure Portal using the necessary credentials
Select the Azure Subscription that holds all the networking information
A display name of the Azure Network Connection – ANC – (ANC-W365-Sub01)
What is the join type of the ANC of the golden image virtual machine (azureADJoin)
Resource Group ID of the existing resource group. You will have to enter the resource group name (W365-AVD-RG01), and it will get us the ID we need.
Name of the existing subnet within the vNET (W365Workload-Sub01), and it will get us the ID we need.
Name of the existing VNET used for the connection. You will have to enter the VNET name (W365-AVD-VNET01), and it will get us the ID we need.
Connection to the MS Graph API and ensure you have the necessary write permissions.
We are using the beta API for Cloud PC
# Connect to the Azure Subcription
Connect-AzAccount
# Get existing context
$currentAzContext = Get-AzContext
# Your subscription. This command gets your current subscription
$subscriptionID = $currentAzContext.Subscription.Id
# Your subscription. This command gets your current subscription name
$subscriptionName = $currentAzContext.Subscription.Name
# ANC Display Name
$ancdname = "ANC-W365-Sub01"
# Join Ype for the Azure Network Connection
# Two types Azure AD and Hyrbird "azureADJoin" or "hybridAzureADJoin"
$ancjointype = "azureADJoin"
# Get your Win365 Resouce Group id for RG Name - W365-AVD-RG01
# Put your RG Name
$win365RGID = Get-AzResourceGroup -Name "W365-AVD-RG01" | Select-Object -ExpandProperty ResourceId
# Get your Azure VNET id used for Windows 365 Cloud PC
# Put your VNET Name
$win365VNETID = Get-AzVirtualNetwork -Name "W365-AVD-VNET01" | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Id
# Get your Subnet ID within the Azure VNET for Windows 365 Cloud PC
# Put your VNET Name
$win365VNET = Get-AzVirtualNetwork -Name "W365-AVD-VNET01"
# Enter your Subnet Name
$win365SubID = Get-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name "W365Workload-Sub01" -VirtualNetwork $win365VNET | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Id
# Connec to MS Graph for Cloud PC W365
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "CloudPC.ReadWrite.All"
# Select Beta Profile for Cloud PC APIs
Select-MgProfile -Name "beta"
We shall pass the above variable into the final ANC creation.
Create the Azure Network Connection
We are creating a Azure Network Connection that includes the following:
Display Name of the network – $ancdname
Azure Subscription ID – $subscriptionID
Azure Subscription Name – $subscriptionName
Type – There are two types we are selecting Azure AD join – azureADJoin
Resource Group ID – The resource group within Azure – $win365RGID
Virtual Network ID – The VNET within Azure – $win365VNETID
Subnet ID – The subnet for W365 within VNET – $win365SubID
# Create the ANC for Windows 365 with AAD join type
try
{
write-host "Create the ANC for Windows 365 with AAD join type"
$params = @{
displayName = "$ancdname"
subscriptionId = "$subscriptionID"
type = "$ancjointype"
subscriptionName = "$subscriptionName"
resourceGroupId = "$win365RGID"
virtualNetworkId = "$win365VNETID"
subnetId = "$win365SubID"
}
New-MgDeviceManagementVirtualEndpointOnPremisesConnection -BodyParameter $params -Debug
}
catch
{
Write-Host $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Yellow
}
# Import module Az and MS Graph
Import-Module Az.Accounts
Install-Module Microsoft.Graph
# Connect to the Azure Subcription
Connect-AzAccount
# Get existing context
$currentAzContext = Get-AzContext
# Your subscription. This command gets your current subscription
$subscriptionID = $currentAzContext.Subscription.Id
# Your subscription. This command gets your current subscription name
$subscriptionName = $currentAzContext.Subscription.Name
# ANC Display Name
$ancdname = "ANC-W365-Sub01"
# Join Ype for the Azure Network Connection
# Two types Azure AD and Hyrbird "azureADJoin" or "hybridAzureADJoin"
$ancjointype = "azureADJoin"
# Get your Win365 Resouce Group id for RG Name - W365-AVD-RG01
# Put your RG Name
$win365RGID = Get-AzResourceGroup -Name "W365-AVD-RG01" | Select-Object -ExpandProperty ResourceId
# Get your Azure VNET id used for Windows 365 Cloud PC
# Put your VNET Name
$win365VNETID = Get-AzVirtualNetwork -Name "W365-AVD-VNET01" | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Id
# Get your Subnet ID within the Azure VNET for Windows 365 Cloud PC
# Put your VNET Name
$win365VNET = Get-AzVirtualNetwork -Name "W365-AVD-VNET01"
# Enter your Subnet Name
$win365SubID = Get-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name "W365Workload-Sub01" -VirtualNetwork $win365VNET | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Id
# Connec to MS Graph for Cloud PC W365
Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "CloudPC.ReadWrite.All"
# Select Beta Profile for Cloud PC APIs
Select-MgProfile -Name "beta"
# Create the ANC for Windows 365 with AAD join type
try
{
write-host "Create the ANC for Windows 365 with AAD join type"
$params = @{
displayName = "$ancdname"
subscriptionId = "$subscriptionID"
type = "$ancjointype"
subscriptionName = "$subscriptionName"
resourceGroupId = "$win365RGID"
virtualNetworkId = "$win365VNETID"
subnetId = "$win365SubID"
}
New-MgDeviceManagementVirtualEndpointOnPremisesConnection -BodyParameter $params -Debug
}
catch
{
Write-Host $_.Exception.Message -ForegroundColor Yellow
}
I hope you will find this helpful information for creating Azure Network Connection using PowerShell. Please let me know if I have missed any steps or details, and I will be happy to update the post.
Do you want to deploy an Azure Virtual Desktop – Host pools quickly and want a starting point for a golden image? Look no further in this blog post. I will show you how to create a golden image using PowerShell in no more than 10 min.
I will break down the code block into smaller chunks first to explain the critical bits, and in the end, I will post the entire code block that can be run all at once. In this way, explaining block by block becomes easier than pasting one single block.
Pre-requisites
Following are the pre-requisites before you begin
PowerShell 5.1 and above
Azure Subscription
Permissions within the Auzre Subscription for Azure Compute
Assumption
You have an existing Resource Group (RG)
You have an existing Azure Virtual Network (VNET)
You have an existing workload subnet within the VNET
Identify the VM Size you will be using for the golden image
We are going to use the Windows 11 22H2 Mutli-session – win11-22h2-avd within this script
Variable Region
Delcare all the variable within this section. Lets take a look at what we are declaring within the script:
Existing Resource Group within the Azure Subscription (AZ104-RG)
A location where you are deploying this virtual machine (Australia East)
Name of the golden image virtual machine (VM03)
NIC Interface name for the virtual machine (VM03-nic)
RG of the VNET (In my case they are same AZ104-RG, they can be seperate too and hence a independent variable)
Name of the existing subnet within the vNET (AZ104-VDI-Workload-L1)
Name of the existing VNET (AZ104-RG-vnet)
Mapping of the exisitng VNET
Mapping of the existing subnet
T-shirt size of the golden image we are deploying (Standard_D2s_v3)
Gallery details of the image
Published – MicrosoftWindowsDesktop
Offer – windows-11
SKU – win11-22h2-avd
version – Offcourse latest
Get credentials – A local admin account is created on the golden image (A input box to capture the uisername and password)
# Existing Resource Group to deploy the VM
$rgName = "AZ104-RG"
# Geo Location to deploy the VM
$location = "Australia East"
# Image template name
$vmName = "VM03"
# Networking Interfance Name for the VM
$nicName = "$vmName-nic"
# Resource Group for VNET
$vnetrgName = "AZ104-RG"
# Existing Subnet Name
$Existsubnetname = "AZ104-VDI-Workload-L1"
# Existing VNET Name
$Existvnetname = "AZ104-RG-vnet"
# Existing VNET where we are deploying this Virtual Machine
$vnet = Get-AzVirtualNetwork -Name $Existvnetname -ResourceGroupName $vnetrgName
# Existing Subnet within the VNET for the this virtual machine
$subnet = Get-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name $Existsubnetname -VirtualNetwork $vnet
# T-shirt size of the VM
$vmSize = "Standard_D2s_v3"
# Gallery Publisher of the Image - Microsoft
$publisher = "MicrosoftWindowsDesktop"
# Version of Windows 10/11
$offer = "windows-11"
# The SKY ending with avd are the multi-session
$sku = "win11-22h2-avd"
# Choosing the latest version
$version = "latest"
# Setting up the Local Admin on the VM
$cred = Get-Credential `
-Message "Enter a username and password for the virtual machine."
Execution block
Execution code block within this section. Lets take a look at what we are we executing within the script:
First its creating the network interface for the virtual machine (VM03)
Next, under the variable $VM all virtual machine configurations
Tshirt size of the virtual machine
Credentials for the local admin (username/password)
The network interface assignment along with the delete option (Note delete option is essential or/else during deletion of VM it will not delete the network interface)
The gallery image, sku, offer from the Microsoft Market Place gallery
The os disk assignment along with the delete option (Note delete option is essential or/else during deletion of VM it will not delete the disk)
The configuration around “Trusted Platform” and enabling of TPM and Secure Boot
The final command to create the virtual machine with all the above configurations
# Create New network interface for the virtual machine
$NIC = New-AzNetworkInterface -Name $nicName -ResourceGroupName $vnetrgName -Location $location -Subnet $subnet
# Creation of the new virtual machine with delete option for Disk/NIC together
$vm = New-AzVMConfig -VMName $vmName -VMSize $vmSize
$vm = Set-AzVMOperatingSystem `
-VM $vm -Windows `
-ComputerName $vmName `
-Credential $cred `
-ProvisionVMAgent `
-EnableAutoUpdate
# Delete option for NIC
$vm = Add-AzVMNetworkInterface -VM $vm `
-Id $NIC.Id `
-DeleteOption "Delete"
$vm = Set-AzVMSourceImage -VM $vm `
-PublisherName $publisher `
-Offer $offer `
-Skus $sku `
-Version $version
# Delete option for Disk
$vm = Set-AzVMOSDisk -VM $vm `
-StorageAccountType "StandardSSD_LRS" `
-CreateOption "FromImage" `
-DeleteOption "Delete"
# The sauce around enabling the Trusted Platform
$vm = Set-AzVmSecurityProfile -VM $vm `
-SecurityType "TrustedLaunch"
# The sauce around enabling TPM and Secure Boot
$vm = Set-AzVmUefi -VM $vm `
-EnableVtpm $true `
-EnableSecureBoot $true
New-AzVM -ResourceGroupName $rgName -Location $location -VM $vm
# Step 1: Import module
#Import-Module Az.Accounts
# Connect to the Azure Subcription
#Connect-AzAccount
# Get existing context
$currentAzContext = Get-AzContext
# Your subscription. This command gets your current subscription
$subscriptionID=$currentAzContext.Subscription.Id
# Command to get the Multi-session Image in Gallery
# Details from this command will help in filling out variables below on Gallery Image
# Get-AzVMImageSku -Location australiaeast -PublisherName MicrosoftWindowsDesktop -Offer windows-11
# Existing Resource Group to deploy the VM
$rgName = "AZ104-RG"
# Geo Location to deploy the VM
$location = "Australia East"
# Image template name
$vmName = "VM03"
# Networking Interfance Name for the VM
$nicName = "$vmName-nic"
# Resource Group for VNET
$vnetrgName = "AZ104-RG"
# Existing Subnet Name
$Existsubnetname = "AZ104-VDI-Workload-L1"
# Existing VNET Name
$Existvnetname = "AZ104-RG-vnet"
# Existing VNET where we are deploying this Virtual Machine
$vnet = Get-AzVirtualNetwork -Name $Existvnetname -ResourceGroupName $vnetrgName
# Existing Subnet within the VNET for the this virtual machine
$subnet = Get-AzVirtualNetworkSubnetConfig -Name $Existsubnetname -VirtualNetwork $vnet
# T-shirt size of the VM
$vmSize = "Standard_D2s_v3"
# Gallery Publisher of the Image - Microsoft
$publisher = "MicrosoftWindowsDesktop"
# Version of Windows 10/11
$offer = "windows-11"
# The SKY ending with avd are the multi-session
$sku = "win11-22h2-avd"
# Choosing the latest version
$version = "latest"
# Setting up the Local Admin on the VM
$cred = Get-Credential `
-Message "Enter a username and password for the virtual machine."
# Create New network interface for the virtual machine
$NIC = New-AzNetworkInterface -Name $nicName -ResourceGroupName $vnetrgName -Location $location -Subnet $subnet
# Creation of the new virtual machine with delete option for Disk/NIC together
$vm = New-AzVMConfig -VMName $vmName -VMSize $vmSize
$vm = Set-AzVMOperatingSystem `
-VM $vm -Windows `
-ComputerName $vmName `
-Credential $cred `
-ProvisionVMAgent `
-EnableAutoUpdate
# Delete option for NIC
$vm = Add-AzVMNetworkInterface -VM $vm `
-Id $NIC.Id `
-DeleteOption "Delete"
$vm = Set-AzVMSourceImage -VM $vm `
-PublisherName $publisher `
-Offer $offer `
-Skus $sku `
-Version $version
# Delete option for Disk
$vm = Set-AzVMOSDisk -VM $vm `
-StorageAccountType "StandardSSD_LRS" `
-CreateOption "FromImage" `
-DeleteOption "Delete"
# The sauce around enabling the Trusted Platform
$vm = Set-AzVmSecurityProfile -VM $vm `
-SecurityType "TrustedLaunch"
# The sauce around enabling TPM and Secure Boot
$vm = Set-AzVmUefi -VM $vm `
-EnableVtpm $true `
-EnableSecureBoot $true
New-AzVM -ResourceGroupName $rgName -Location $location -VM $vm
Note – It will give you a pop-up box for entering the username and password for the local account, and in under 10 mins you will see your virtual machine within the Azure portal
Next Steps on Golden Image
Now that the virtual machine is ready following are the next steps involved:
Using Azure Bastion console and installing all the required applications
Generalize and sysprep and shutdown the image
Capture the image to the Azure Compute Galleries
Deploy within the Azure Virtual Desktop
I hope you will find this helpful information for deploying a golden image within Azure – Virtual Machine to deploy the Azure Virtual Desktop – Host Pools. If you want to see a Powershell version of the host pool activities, leave me a comment below or on my socials. Please let me know if I have missed any steps or details, and I will be happy to update the post.
In my previous post, I had demonstrated the new reports (in-preview) Windows 365 Cloud PC – New Reports – Connection quality & Low Utilization. Today, I will showcase how to generate the report of “Cloud PCs with low utilization” using PowerShell and MS Graph API with beta modules on Windows 365 Cloud PC.
Connect to MS Graph API
Step 1 – Install the MS Graph Powershell Module
#Install Microsoft Graph Module
PS C:WINDOWSsystem32> Install-Module Microsoft.Graph
Step 2 – Connect to scopes and specify which API you want to authenticate. If you are only doing read-only operations, I suggest you connect to “CloudPC.Read.All” in our case, we are creating the policy, so we need to change the scope to “CloudPC.ReadWrite.All”
#Read-only
PS C:WINDOWSsystem32> Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "CloudPC.Read.All"
Welcome To Microsoft Graph!
OR
#Read-Write
PS C:WINDOWSsystem32> Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "CloudPC.ReadWrite.All"
Welcome To Microsoft Graph!
Step 3 – Choose between v1.0 (Generally Available) and Beta API versions. Note for Windows 365 Cloud PC, the API calls are BETA.
Note – You will have to enter the OutFile path where you want to save the report in my example C:\Temp\abc.csv
The actual report in the Intune Portal looks like the following – The same result is now available within the Value section of the CSV (Note – The formatting of the output is terrible, some excel work will be required to format the data properly)
I hope you will find this helpful information for generating low utilization report for Cloud PC using PowerShell. Please let me know if I have missed any steps or details, and I will be happy to update the post.
There are numerous posts that talk about creating the Windows 365 Cloud PC – User Settings. In this blog post, I will demonstrate how to create user settings using PowerShell and MS Graph API with beta modules on Windows 365 Cloud PC.
Connect to MS Graph API
Step 1 – Install the MS Graph Powershell Module
#Install Microsoft Graph Module
PS C:WINDOWSsystem32> Install-Module Microsoft.Graph
Step 2 – Connect to scopes and specify which API you want to authenticate. If you are only doing read-only operations, I suggest you connect to “CloudPC.Read.All” in our case, we are creating the policy, so we need to change the scope to “CloudPC.ReadWrite.All”
#Read-only
PS C:WINDOWSsystem32> Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "CloudPC.Read.All"
Welcome To Microsoft Graph!
OR
#Read-Write
PS C:WINDOWSsystem32> Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "CloudPC.ReadWrite.All"
Welcome To Microsoft Graph!
Permissions for MS Graph API
Step 3 – Choose between v1.0 (Generally Available) and Beta API versions. Note for Windows 365 Cloud PC, the API calls are BETA.
Now that we have the User Settings created, it’s time to assign it to an AAD group. We need to follow the following procedure
AAD Group (Copy – Object ID)
I have an existing AAD (Azure Active Directory) group called “Win365-Users” and I plan to use this group for assignment to this User Settings. The important step here is to make a note of the “Object ID” of the AAD group you are planning to assign. Please make sure you copy this ID.
User Settings (Copy ID)
Copy the ID of the previously created User Settings. We need to copy this ID for the assignment. Use the command – Get-MgDeviceManagementVirtualEndpointUserSetting | FT. Note if multiple CPC user settings, select the relevant ID.
I hope you will find this helpful information for creating/assigning the user settings using PowerShell. Please let me know if I have missed any steps or details, and I will be happy to update the post.
A safety feature within MEM Portal – Windows 365 Cloud PC – Provisioning Policies that within the UI when you try to delete the policy, it will be grey out. The only way to delete the policy is to remove the Assignment Group (AAD Group assigned to the policy) and then delete the provisioning policy within UI. The motive of this blog series is PowerShell actions, and we will perform the two actions using that method.
Provisioning Policy (Copy ID)
We need the Windows 365 Provisioning Policy – ID to perform the AAD (Azure Active Directory) group un-assignment and delete operation. We need to copy this ID. Simply use the commandlet – Get-MgDeviceManagementVirtualEndpointProvisioningPolicy. Note if multiple CPC policy, select the ID that is relevant for deletion.
I hope you will find this helpful information for the un-assignment & deletion of the CloudPC provisioning policy using PowerShell. Please let me know if I have missed any steps or details, and I will be happy to update the post.
If you haven’t looked at my previous blog on PowerShell – Create Windows 365 Cloud PC Provisioning Policy, please check that out first. After creating the Cloud PC provisioning policy, the next step is to assign the Azure AD Group, which has the end-users and Windows 365 license assigned.
AAD Group (Copy – Object ID)
I have an AAD (Azure Active Directory) group called “Win365-Users” and assigned the Windows 365 Cloud PC Enterprise license. The important step here is to make a note of the “Object ID” of the AAD group you are planning to assign. Please make sure you copy this ID.
AAD Group
Provisioning Policy (Copy ID)
In the previous blog, when we created the Cloud PC provisioning policy, Azure will assign an ID. We need to copy this ID for the assignment. Simply use the commandlet – Get-MgDeviceManagementVirtualEndpointProvisioningPolicy. Note if multiple CPC policy, select the ID that is relevant.
I hope you will find this helpful information for the assignment of the AAD group to a CloudPC provisioning policy using PowerShell. Please let me know if I have missed any steps or details, and I will be happy to update the post.
There are a significant amount of posts that talk about creating the Windows 365 Cloud PC Provisioning Policy. In this blog post, I will demonstrate how to create the provisioning policy using PowerShell and MS Graph API with beta modules on Windows 365 Cloud PC.
Connect to MS Graph API
Step 1 – Install the MS Graph Powershell Module
#Install Microsoft Graph Module
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Install-Module Microsoft.Graph
Step 2 – Connect to scopes and specify which API you wish to authenticate to. If you are only doing read-only operations, I suggest you connect to “CloudPC.Read.All” in our case, we are creating the policy, so we need to change the scope to “CloudPC.ReadWrite.All”
#Read-only
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "CloudPC.Read.All"
Welcome To Microsoft Graph!
OR
#Read-Write
PS C:\WINDOWS\system32> Connect-MgGraph -Scopes "CloudPC.ReadWrite.All"
Welcome To Microsoft Graph!
Permissions for MS Graph API
Step 3 – Choose between v1.0 (Generally Available) and Beta API versions. Note for Windows 365 Cloud PC the API calls are BETA.
If you are doing on-premise network integration (Azure Network Connection) , then the following additional property and value is required. In my lab, I am leveraging the Microsoft Managed Network, so this is not required.
I hope you will find this helpful information for creating a provisioning policy using PowerShell. Please let me know if I have missed any steps or details, and I will be happy to update the post.
You have a large VMware App Volumes environment and have backed up your writable volumes using the capabilities provided in the App Volumes Manager. (You are doing the right thing!)
AV Manager – WV Backup Config
We decided to perform an audit on the backup of the writable volumes within the App Volumes Manager 2.18.10 and the VSAN Datastore. You can export all the writable volumes to a CSV using the API. My script here will provide you with a complete outlook for conducting your analysis. Now exclude your group entitlements from the list, leaving you with the total number of writable volumes within your environment. Ideally, you are after the same number of writable volumes on the VSAN datastore. (Of course, if everything is going well in the backup world!)
In my case, we observed more than 300+ missing writable volumes between the exported CSV and the VSAN datastore. Let the investigations begin – within the production.log, we could see the backup was happening, but the challenge of a large environment is impossible to track all the backup occurring just by looking at the logs. Feature request to VMW – A dedicated backup log showcases the entire environment’s status. We eventually ended up with a GSS case after few months of back and forth and the logs exchange, we finally got a working solution. This closed the mystery of the missing backup of the writable volumes.
Solution
Go the the SQL database of the App Volumes Manager. Select the DB and New Query.
AV Database – Microsoft SQL
Enter the following query and hit execute. Now this will change the default writable volumes batch size(writables_backup_batch_size) from 5 to 25. Note the value of the batch size was tweaked multiple times, we first went with 10, which drastically reduced the missing backup. However, a few were still missing and not getting backup. The final number for our environment was 25 got all the writable volumes backup.
Disclaimer – This tweak was required for a large App Volumes environment. Please consult with VMware Support before making any changes to your setup or Database. If it works for me doesn’t mean it will work for you. The value can differ based on the size of the enivronment.
I hope you will find this helpful information on your VMware App Volumes backup strategy. Please let me know if you have observed any issues like these, and would like to share your story?
Often within the VMware App Volumes Manager (AVM), Writable Volumes will show up as Status – Orphaned. Let’s take a look at the following topics:
What is Orphaned Writable Volumes?
Script to delete them from the App Volumes Managers
What is Orphaned Writable Volumes?
App Volumes Manager is integrated with Microsoft Active Directory (AD), and it’s in continuous synchronization. Whenever an end-user account gets disabled into the AD during the next sync activity of App Volumes Manager, it will mark the writable volumes with Writable Status = Orphaned.
Now in the ideal world, these accounts have been disabled and should be okay to delete? Maybe, if you don’t have the obligation of data retention, then you are ready to delete them. If you need to retain them, keep them as-is for compliance purposes.
Script to delete them for App Volumes Manager
Before we talk about the script, the deletion is very straightforward within the App Volumes Manager. Select the volumes with Status = Orphaned and select the Delete button. However, when you have to do the same against multiple POD, which becomes challenging, and as always, if it’s not automated, there is the scope of human error.
Pre-requisites
You need the App Volumes Manager URL
You need the username and password of the App Volumes Manager
You need to enter y/Y to proceed further with the deletion
The script was tested on PowerShell V5.x with App Volumes Manager version 2.18.10 (The logic will be the same however, the API call for App Volumes 4.x will be different)
###########################################################################
# Get List of Wrtiable Volumes from AppVolumes Manager for Status=Orphaned
# Delete the Orphaned Wrtiable Volumes
# You need username and password for the App Volumes Manager
# Author - Aresh Sarkari (Twitter - @askaresh)
# Version - V5.0
###########################################################################
#App Volumes Manager Name or IP Address
$AVManager = "https://avm001.askaresh.local"
# Run at the start of each script to import the credentials
$RESTAPIUser = "domain\username"
$RESTAPIPassword = "enteryourpassword"
#Ignore cert errors
add-type @"
using System.Net;
using System.Security.Cryptography.X509Certificates;
public class TrustAllCertsPolicy : ICertificatePolicy {
public bool CheckValidationResult(
ServicePoint srvPoint, X509Certificate certificate,
WebRequest request, int certificateProblem) {
return true;
}
}
"@
[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::CertificatePolicy = New-Object TrustAllCertsPolicy
[System.Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [System.Net.SecurityProtocolType]'Ssl3,Tls,Tls11,Tls12'
#Login AV Manager Body
$body = @{
username = “$RESTAPIUser"
password = “$RESTAPIPassword”
}
#Login API call to the AV Manager
Invoke-RestMethod -SessionVariable DaLogin -Method Post -Uri "$AVManager/cv_api/sessions” -Body $body
#Get the list of Writbale Volumes from the AV Manager
$output = Invoke-RestMethod -WebSession $DaLogin -Method Get -Uri "$AVManager/cv_api/writables" -ContentType "application/json"
#Selecting the WV with status Orphaned into a variable
$WVouput = $output.datastores.writable_volumes | Select-Object id, owner_name, owner_upn, title, status | Where-Object {[string]$_.status -match "Orphaned"}
#Output on the console (Validate carefully before proceeding ahead)
$WVouput | Format-Table | Out-String | % {Write-Host $_}
#Confirmation logic to proceed with the deletion
$confirmation = Read-Host -Prompt "Are you Sure You Want To Proceed with the deletion:"
if ($confirmation -match "[yY]" ) {
# proceed
# The WV Deletion API call only looks for IDs. We are filtering the ids only
$WVOutputIDs = $WVouput.id
#Looping to delete each Writable Volumes via its ID
foreach ($WVOutputIDss in $WVOutputIDs) {
# Writable Volumes deletion Parameters body
$jsonbody = @{
bg = "0"
volumes = "$WVOutputIDss"
} | ConvertTo-Json
#API call to delete the Wrtiable Volumes
#We are using Invoke-webrequest for getting the Content of the deletion (Success) in oneline
$WVdeletecall = Invoke-WebRequest -WebSession $DaLogin -Method Post -Uri "$AVManager/cv_api/volumes/delete_writable" -Body $jsonbody -ContentType "application/json"
}
#Dig into the exception to get the Response details.
Write-Host $WVdeletecall.StatusCode
Write-Host $WVdeletecall.StatusDescription
Write-Host $WVdeletecall.Content
}
When you run the script, it will identify all the end-users with Status = Orphaned. If you like, you can copy and paste the output in an editior (Notepad++) to verify the output.
Once you press y/Y it will go ahead and delete the Orphaned writable volumes.
I hope you will find this script useful to bulk delete orphaned Writable Volumes in App Volumes Manager. A small request if you further enhance the script or make it more creative, I hope you can share it back with me?
Recent Comments