VMware is leveraging Microsoft's PowerShell to give its virtual infrastructure administrators the ability to easily script repetitive management tasks. Today, VMware announced the much anticipated general availability of the VMware Infrastructure (VI) Toolkit.Over the years, VMware has done a lot to help its virtualization consumers in the area of scripting and programming. And now, they have added a new addition to their scripting portfolio to help enhance the automation of virtual datacenters. The new scripting toolkit is offered free of charge — a price you can hardly complain about. If you haven’t heard about it by now, it’s a command-line and scripting tool that is built on Microsoft’s PowerShell scripting language. Providing more than 120 commandlets, the toolkit offers virtual administrators an easy-to-use scripting interface to automate repetitive administrative tasks such as cloning, starting or stopping virtual machines, or moving virtual machines between hosts to name but a few. The key here is the products ease of use. Administrators no longer have to be developers or hardcore programmers just to automate routine tasks in their virtual environment. With the toolkit, administrators can easily script their way into managing hundreds of hosts or virtual machines as if there were only a few. “With more than 120,000 customers using our products, and 46 percent of our enterprise customers deploying VMware Infrastructure 3 as the preferred platform in the datacenter, the ability to automate standard management tasks is becoming increasingly important,” said Raghu Raghuram, vice president of products and solutions at VMware. “Now anyone using Microsoft PowerShell can automate these tasks. For example, a customer managing multiple virtual machines can write a few lines of PowerShell commands to eliminate hours of work. In environments with hundreds or thousands of virtual machines, this can save a tremendous amount of time.”VMware is also trying to build up a community around the new scripting package. They are encouraging IT administrators to share their management scripts with their peers. To help promote the concept of “sharing”, the company has created a new contest aptly called the VMware Infrastructure Toolkit PowerShell Scripting Contest. Here, the company has formed a panel of judges to determine a winner of the “best script” that fits the following criteria: Time saved, demonstrate how your script solves a real problem and reduces administration effort and time Usefulness of script – how broadly applicable is your script to other VI administrators? Simplicity, elegance of scriptThe first place winner will receive airfare, hotel and admission to VMworld 2008 Las Vegas or a $5,000 cash prize. Second place can select a Macbook Air with VMware Fusion or opt for $2,500. And third place can take home an Xbox 360 Elite or $500.The contest has already started, and it ends August 30th, 2008. Winners will be announced on September 7, 2008. Get your thinking caps on, and go download your free copy of the VI Toolkit to get started. Software Development