The sample PowerCLI scripts to deploy Linux desktops read one input file that contains information about the desktop machines.

The input file is of type csv and contains the following information:

  • Desktop virtual machine name
  • Parent virtual machine name
  • Guest customization specification
  • Datastore where the cloned desktop machine resides
  • ESXi server that hosts the desktop machine
  • Parent virtual machine's snapshot that is used for cloning
  • Flag that indicates whether to delete the desktop virtual machine if it exists

The following example shows what the input file might contain.

VMName,Parentvm,CustomSpec,Datastore,Host,FromSnapshot,DeleteIfPresent
linux-001,Ubuntu1804x64,linuxagent,datastore1,10.117.44.172,snapshot1,TRUE
linux-002,Ubuntu1804x64,linuxagent,datastore1,10.117.44.172,snapshot1,TRUE
linux-003,Ubuntu1804x64,linuxagent,datastore1,10.117.44.172,snapshot1,TRUE
linux-004,Ubuntu1804x64,linuxagent,datastore1,10.117.44.172,snapshot1,TRUE
linux-005,Ubuntu1804x64,linuxagent,datastore1,10.117.44.172,snapshot1,TRUE

The sample scripts assume that the name of this input file is CloneVMs.csv and that the file is located in the same folder as the scripts.