As a CIO at Sonar and the Automation Practice Lead at Xtravirt, I have always been fascinated by the potential of automation to streamline and optimize IT operations. One tool that has particularly caught my attention is Terraform, an open-source tool from HashiCorp that allows you to define and manage infrastructure as code.

In this blog post, I would like to share two videos that demonstrate the use of Terraform to manipulate vSphere infrastructure. The first video shows how to use Terraform to provision a new virtual machine (VM) in vSphere, while the second video demonstrates how to use Terraform to update the configuration of an existing VM.

Before we dive into the videos, let me provide some background information on Terraform and vSphere. Terraform is an infrastructure as code tool that allows you to define your infrastructure using a human-readable configuration file. This configuration file describes the desired state of your infrastructure, and Terraform ensures that the actual state of your infrastructure matches the desired state.

vSphere, on the other hand, is a virtualization platform from VMware that allows you to create, manage, and deploy virtual machines (VMs) in a data center environment. vSphere provides a robust set of features for managing VMs, including support for multiple operating systems, network virtualization, and high availability.

Now, let’s take a look at the first video, which shows how to use Terraform to provision a new VM in vSphere. In this video, we will create a new VM with a specific configuration, including the operating system, network settings, and storage options. We will also demonstrate how to attach an existing VM to a new VM, creating a nested virtualization environment.

The second video demonstrates how to use Terraform to update the configuration of an existing VM in vSphere. In this video, we will show how to update the number of CPU cores and memory allocated to a running VM, as well as how to update the network settings and storage options.

Both videos are designed to be easy to follow, even for those with limited experience with Terraform or vSphere. However, I want to emphasize that these videos are just basic examples of what is possible with Terraform and vSphere. With more advanced configuration and scripting, you can achieve even more sophisticated automation tasks.

In conclusion, Terraform provides a powerful and flexible way to manage your vSphere infrastructure, allowing you to define and maintain your desired state of infrastructure using a human-readable configuration file. By mastering Terraform and vSphere, you can automate a wide range of IT tasks, from provisioning new VMs to updating existing configurations. So, grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the videos!