Create VM Activity

  • Article

Applies To: System Center 2012 - Orchestrator, System Center 2012 R2 Orchestrator, System Center 2012 SP1 - Orchestrator

The Create VM activity is added to a runbook to create a new virtual machine. The runbook can be used to create virtual machines on demand based on self-service provisioning processes.

The following tables list the required and optional properties and published data for this activity.

The activity publishes all of the data from the required and optional properties into published data. Additional published data is generated based on the class that you select when you define the activity.

Create VM Activity Required Properties

Element Description Valid Values Look up

Datastore Path

The name of the data store used by the virtual machine.

String

Yes

Folder Path

The path to the folder containing the virtual machine.

String

Yes

Guest Operating System

The name of the guest operating system installed on this virtual machine.

String

Yes

Host System Path

The path to the host system of the virtual machine.

String

Yes

Memory (MB)

The amount of memory, in megabytes, assigned to the virtual machine.

Integer

No

Nic (1-4)

The name of the virtual network. You must enter a value for Nic1, but can leave Nics 2-4 blank if there are no additional networks.

String

No

Number Processors

The number of processors assigned to the virtual machine.

Integer

No

Power on after creation

Indicates whether to turn on the virtual machine after it is created.

Boolean

Yes

Resource Pool Path

The path to the resource pool used by the virtual machine.

String

Yes

Virtual Disk Size(GB)

The size of the virtual hard disk assigned to this virtual machine.

Integer

No

Virtual Machine Name

The name of the virtual machine as it will appear in the vSphere user interface.

String

No

Create VM Activity Optional Properties

Element Description Valid Values Look up

Relative ISO Image Path

The path of the CD ISO image containing the operating system installed on the virtual machine. This path is relative to the provided datastore path.

String

No

Create VM Activity Published Data

Name Description Value Type

Datastore Path

The path of the data store

String

Folder Path

The path to the folder on the host computer where the virtual machine is stored.

String

Guest Operating System

The name of the guest operating system installed on the virtual machine.

String

Host System Path

The path of the host system.

String

Memory(MB)

The amount of memory, in megabytes assigned to the virtual machine.

Integer

NIC 1

The first virtual network adapter assigned to the virtual machine.

String

NIC 2

The second virtual network adapter assigned to the virtual machine.

String

NIC 3

The third virtual network adapter assigned to the virtual machine.

String

NIC 4

The fourth virtual network adapter assigned to the virtual machine.

String

Power on after creation

Indicates whether to turn on the virtual machine after it is created.

Boolean

Relative ISO Image Path

The path of the CD ISO image containing the operating system installed on the virtual machine.

String

Resource Pool Path

The path to the resource pool used by the virtual machine.

String

Virtual Disk Size (GB)

The size of the virtual hard disk assigned to this virtual machine.

Integer

Virtual Machine Name

The name of the virtual machine as it appears in the vSphere user interface.

String

Configuring the Create VM Activity

The following procedure describes the steps required to configure a Create VM activity.

To configure the Create VM Activity

  1. From the Activities pane, drag a Create VM activity to the active runbook.

  2. Double-click the Create VM activity icon. The Properties dialog box opens.

  3. Configure the settings in the Properties tab as follows:

    1. In the Configuration section, click the ellipsis button (...), and then select the VMware vSphere server connection that you want to use for this activity. Click OK.

    2. In the Properties section, enter a value for each of the required properties and the applicable optional properties. If the property is Lookup-enabled, you can click the ellipsis (…) button next to the text box to browse for a value.

      You can also use published data to automatically populate the value of the property from the data output by a previous activity in the workflow.

  4. Click Finish.