New-SCHardwareProfile

Creates a hardware profile in the VMM library.

Description

The New-SCHardwareProfile cmdlet creates a hardware profile for use in System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) that stores hardware configuration information. You can create a standalone hardware profile or customize a template or virtual machine to include hardware profile settings. New-SCHardwareProfile stores the new hardware profile object in the VMM library.

You can create a hardware profile based on defaults or an existing hardware profile, or, you can customize a hardware profile as you create it. If you specify no parameters except the Name parameter (which is required), VMM creates a default hardware profile object. 

Hardware profile settings that you can configure for a virtual machine include:

- Boot order settings in the BIOS that specify the device startup order
  for a virtual machine. 

  NOTE: The boot order setting is available only for virtual machines
  on a Hyper-V host or Citrix XenServer host.

- CPU settings for a virtual machine.

- Memory available on a virtual machine.

- A virtual floppy drive.

- Two virtual COM ports (COM1 and COM2). 

- A built-in virtual IDE device.

- One or more virtual SCSI adapters. 

- One or more virtual network adapters that you can attach to 
  a logical network. A virtual network adapter can be emulated 
  or synthetic.

- The priority assigned to a virtual machine for using the host's
  CPU resources relative to the use of the host's CPU by other
  virtual machines deployed on the same host. CPU priorities 
  are determined by the virtualization software.

- Whether a virtual machine created from this profile will 
  be highly available. A highly available virtual machine is a virtual 
  machine that can only be placed on a host that is part of a host 
  cluster.

For more information about New-SCHardwareProfile, type: "Get-Help New-SCHardwareProfile -online".

Parameters

Name

Required? true
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? 0 
Specifies the name of a VMM object.

BootOrder

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies the order of devices that a virtual machine on a Hyper-V host uses to start up. Valid values are: CD, IDEHardDrive, PXEBoot, Floppy.

Example format: -BootOrder PXEBoot,IDEHardDrive,CD,Floppy

CapabilityProfile

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies a capability profile object.

CPUCount

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies the number of CPUs on a virtual machine, on a hardware profile, or on a template. See the examples for a specific cmdlet to determine how that cmdlet uses this parameter.

TYPE OF HOST   NUMBER OF PROCESSORS
------------   --------------------
Hyper-V		Up to 4 CPUs per VM; varies by guest OS
VMware ESX	 Up to 4 CPUs per VM for any supported guest OS
   Exception: 1 CPU on a VM running Windows NT 4.0
Citrix XenServer Up to 8 CPUs per VM; varies by guest OS

CPUExpectedUtilizationPercent

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies the percent of CPU on the host that you expect this virtual machine to use. This value is used only when VMM determines a suitable host for the virtual machine.

CPULimitForMigration

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Limits, when set to $True, processor features for the specified virtual machine in order to enable migration to a physical computer that has a different version of the same processor as the source computer. VMM does not support migrating virtual machines between physical computers that have processors from different manufacturers.

CPULimitFunctionality

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Enables running an older operating system (such as Windows NT 4.0) on a virtual machine deployed on a Hyper-V host or on a VMware ESX host by providing limited CPU functionality for the virtual machine.

CPUMaximumPercent

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies the highest percentage of the total resources of a single CPU on the host that can be used by a specific virtual machine at any given time. 

Example: -CPUMaximumPercent 80 (to specify 80 per cent)

CPURelativeWeight

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies the amount of CPU resources on a host that this virtual machine can use relative to other virtual machines on the same host. A virtual machine with a higher setting is allocated more CPU resources than a virtual machine with a lower setting.

TYPE OF HOST	RANGE OF RELATIVE VALUES
------------	------------------------
Hyper-V		 1 to 10000
VMware ESX	2000 = High
	1500 = Above Normal
	1000 = Normal (default)
	 750 = Below Normal
	 500 = Low
	1 to 1000000 = Custom
	The VMware term for these values is "shares."
Citrix XenServer   1 to 65536, normal is 256

NOTE: See the examples for a specific cmdlet to determine how that cmdlet uses this parameter.

CPUReserve

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies the minimum percentage of the resources of a single CPU on the host to allocate to a virtual machine. The percentage of CPU capacity that is available to the virtual machine is never less than this percentage.

CPUType

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies the type of CPU for a virtual machine. To retrieve a list of all CPU types that are available for use in virtual machines in a VMM environment, type: "Get-SCCPUType"

Description

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
States a description for the specified object.

DiskIops

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies the number of disk input/output operations per second (IOPS) on the host that can be used by a specific virtual machine. 

Example: -DiskIO 1500 (to specify 1500 IOPS).

DynamicMemoryBufferPercentage

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies the percentage of memory above a virtual machine’s current memory allocation which the host should try to reserve as a buffer. The default value is 20

Example format: -DynamicMemoryTargetBufferPercentage 20

DynamicMemoryEnabled

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Enables, when set to $True, dynamic memory for virtual machines. You can enable dynamic memory directly on a virtual machine, or on a template or hardware profile that will be used to create virtual machines. The default value is False.

REQUIRED: You can enable dynamic memory for a virtual machine only if that virtual machine is deployed on a host running Windows Server 2008 SP1 or later or if the virtual machine is stored in a library in a stopped state (hardware changes to a stored virtual machine can only be made if the virtual machine does not have snapshots). Enabling dynamic memory on a virtual machine stored in a library will limit placement of that machine to hosts running Windows Server 2008 SP1 or later.

Example format: -DynamicMemoryEnabled $True

DynamicMemoryMaximumMB

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies the maximum amount of memory that can be allocated to a virtual machine if dynamic memory is enabled. The default value is 65536.

REQUIRED: You can enable dynamic memory for a virtual machine only if that virtual machine is deployed on a host running Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 or later or if the virtual machine is stored in a library in a stopped state (hardware changes to a stored virtual machine can only be made if the virtual machine does not have snapshots). Enabling dynamic memory on a virtual machine stored in a library will limit placement of that machine to hosts running Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 or later.

Example format: -DynamicMemoryMaximumMB 1024

HardwareProfile

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? true (ByValue)
Position? named 
Specifies a hardware profile object.

HighlyAvailable

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies that a virtual machine will be placed on a Hyper-V host that is part of a host cluster. Configure this setting on a virtual machine, or on a template or hardware profile that will be used to create virtual machines.

JobGroup

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies an identifier for a series of commands that will run as a set just before the final command that includes the same job group identifier runs.

JobVariable

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies that job progress is tracked and stored in the variable named by this parameter.

MemoryMB

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies, in megabytes (MB), the amount of random access memory (RAM) on the host that is allocated to a virtual machine. The default value is 512 MB. For a virtual machine on which dynamic memory is enabled (on a host running Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 or later), use MemoryMB to specify the startup memory value. 

TYPE OF HOSTMAXIMUM HOST MEMORY ASSIGNABLE TO VM
------------------------------------------------
Hyper-V	 Up to 65536 MB RAM per virtual machine
VMware ESX Server 3.0.x Up to 16384 MB RAM per virtual machine
VMware ESX Server 3.5.x Up to 65532 MB RAM per virtual machine
Citrix XenServer   Up to 32265 MB RAM per VM

Example format: -MemoryMB 1024

MemoryWeight

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Indicates the priority in allocating memory to a virtual machine, relative to other virtual machines on the same host. A virtual machine with a higher setting is allocated more memory resources than a virtual machine with a lower setting.

For a host running Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 or later, 5000 = Normal, 10000 = High, 0 = Low, 1 to 10000 = Custom.

NOTE: See the examples for a specific cmdlet to determine how that cmdlet uses this parameter.

MonitorMaximumCount

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies the maximum number of monitors supported by a virtual video adapter.

Example format: -MonitorMaximumCount 3

MonitorMaximumResolution

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies, as a string, the value that represents the maximum possible monitor resolution of a virtual video adapter. Valid values are: "1024x768", "1280x1024", "1600x1200", "1920x1200". Default value: "1280x1024"

Example format: -MonitorResolutionMaximum "1600x1200"

NetworkUtilizationMbps

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies, in megabits per second (Mbps), the amount of bandwidth on the host's network that can be used by a specific virtual machine. 

Example format: -NetworkUtilization 10

NumLock

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Enables the BIOS value for NumLock on a virtual machine (or on a template or hardware profile that is used to create virtual machines) on a Hyper-V host. This parameter does not apply to virtual machines on VMware ESX hosts, or on Citrix XenServer hosts.

Owner

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies the owner of a VMM object in the form of a valid domain user account.

Example format: -Owner "Contoso\ReneeLo"
Example format: -Owner "ReneeLo@Contoso"

PROTipID

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies the ID of the PRO tip that triggered this action. This allows for auditing of PRO tips.

RunAsynchronously

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Indicates that the job runs asynchronously so that control returns to the command shell immediately.

UserRole

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Specifies a user role object.

VirtualVideoAdapterEnabled

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? false
Position? named 
Enables, when set to $True, the Microsoft Synthetic 3D Virtual Video Adapter for virtual machines. You can enable the Virtual Video Adapter directly on a virtual machine, or on a template or hardware profile that will be used to create virtual machines.

REQUIRED: You can enable the Microsoft Synthetic 3D Virtual Video Adapter for a virtual machine only if that virtual machine is deployed on a host running Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (with the Remote Desktop Services role and Remote Desktop Virtual Graphics role service installed) or later or if the virtual machine is stored in a library in a stopped state (hardware changes to a stored virtual machine can only be made if the virtual machine does not have snapshots). Enabling the Microsoft Synthetic 3D Virtual Video Adapter on a virtual machine stored in a library will limit placement of that machine to hosts running Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 (with the Remote Desktop Services role and Remote Desktop Virtual Graphics role service installed) or later.

Example format: -VirtualVideoAdapterEnabled $TRUE

VMMServer

Required? false
Accept Pipeline Input? true (ByValue)
Position? named 
Specifies a VMM server object.

Examples

1: Create a default hardware profile. 
PS C:\> New-SCHardwareProfile -Name "NewHWProfile01"

This command creates a default hardware profile named NewHWProfile01.
2: Create a hardware profile that sets boot order, CPU, and memory. 
PS C:\> New-SCHardwareProfile -Name "NewHWProfile02" -BootOrder PXEBoot,CD,Floppy,IDEHardDrive -MemoryMB 1024 -CPUCount 4

This command creates a new hardware profile, names it "NewHWProfile02", sets "PXEBoot" as the first entry in the BIOS boot order, specifies 1024 MB of memory, and specifies that a virtual machine created by using this hardware profile will have four processors.
3: Clone and then modify an existing hardware profile. 
PS C:\> $HWProfile = Get-SCHardwareProfile | where { $_.Name -eq "NewHWProfile01" }
PS C:\> New-SCHardwareProfile -Name "NewHWProfile03" -HardwareProfile $HWProfile -RelativeWeight 100

The first command gets the hardware profile object named NewHWProfile01 and stores the object in the $HWProfile variable.

The second command creates a hardware profile called NewHWProfile03 based on NewHWProfile01, but modifies the value for relative weight. All other settings in NewHWProfile03 are identical to those in NewHWProfile01.
4: Create a hardware profile that contains a network adapter, a SCSI adapter, and a DVD drive. 
PS C:\> $JobGroupId = [Guid]::NewGuid().ToString()
PS C:\> New-SCVirtualNetworkAdapter -JobGroup $JobGroupID -PhysicalAddressType Dynamic -VirtualNetwork "Internal Network" 
PS C:\> New-SCVirtualSCSIAdapter -JobGroup $JobGroupID -AdapterID 6 -Shared $False
PS C:\> New-SCVirtualDVDDrive -JobGroup $JobGroupID -Bus 1 -LUN 0
PS C:\> New-SCHardwareProfile -Name "NewHWProfile04" -Owner "Contoso\Katarina" -Description "Temporary Hardware Config used to create a VM/Template" -MemoryMB 512 -JobGroup $JobGroupID

The first command generates a globally unique identifier (GUID) and stores the GUID string in variable $JobGroupID. The job group ID functions as an identifier that groups subsequent commands that include this identifier into a single job group.

The second command creates a virtual network adapter but uses the JobGroup parameter to specify that the network adapter is not created until just before the New-SCHardwareProfile cmdlet in the last command runs. This command sets the physical (MAC) address type to dynamic and specifies that the new virtual network adapter will connect to a virtual network called "Internal Network."

The third command creates a virtual SCSI adapter but uses the JobGroup parameter to specify that the SCSI adapter is not created until just before the New-SCHardwareProfile cmdlet in the last command runs. This command sets the adapter ID to 6, and it sets the Shared parameter to $False so that the adapter will not be shared (as it would have had to be if you wanted to use the adapter in guest clustering).

The fourth command creates a virtual DVD drive but uses the JobGroup parameter to specify that the DVD drive is not created until just before the New-SCHardwareProfile cmdlet in the last command runs. Specifying Bus 1 and LUN 0 attaches the virtual DVD drive to Secondary Channel (0) on the IDE bus.

The last command creates a hardware profile named NewHWProfile04, sets the owner to Contoso\Katarina, specifies a description, and specifies that the amount of memory on the host that a virtual machine created by using this hardware profile will use is 512 MB. Before the New-SCHardwareProfile cmdlet creates the hardware profile, the JobGroup parameter in this final command executes all of the preceding cmdlets that specify the same JobGroup GUID. When New-SCVirtualNetworkAdapter, New-SCVirtualSCSIAdapter, and New-SCVirtualDVDDrive run, the resulting objects that are created are automatically associated with the new hardware profile.
5: Create a hardware profile and add it to a new virtual machine template. 
PS C:\> $HWProfile = New-SCHardwareProfile -Name "NewHWProfile05" -CPUCount 4 -MemoryMB 64000 -CPUMax 100 -Owner "Contoso\Katarina" -HighlyAvailable $True 
PS C:\> $VHD = Get-SCVirtualHardDisk | where { $_.Name -eq “VHD01.vhd”  -and $_.LibraryServer.Name -eq "LibServer01.Contoso.com” }
PS C:\> $OS = Get-SCOperatingSystem | where {$_.Name -eq "64-bit edition of Windows Server 2008 R2 Datacenter"}
PS C:\> New-SCVMTemplate -Name "LargeVMTemplate" -HardwareProfile $HWProfile -OperatingSystem $OS -VirtualHardDisk $VHD -NoCustomization

The first command creates a new hardware profile, names it "NewHWProfile05", specifies that it contains four processors and that the highest percentage of the total resources of a single CPU on a host that can be used by a virtual machine is 100 percent, assigns 64 GB of RAM and an owner, sets the HighlyAvailable flag $True, and then stores the new hardware profile object in the $HWProfile variable. The HighlyAvailable flag specifies that a virtual machine created by using this hardware profile, either directly or through a template, will be placed on a host that is a node of a host cluster.

The second command gets the virtual hard disk object nameed VHD01 from the library and stores the object in the $VHD variable.

The third command gets an operating system object by name and stores the object in the $OS variable.

The last command creates a new virtual machine template, names it "LargeVMTemplate", and specifies that it use the operating system, hardware profile, and virtual hard disk retrieved or created in the preceding commands, without any customization to the operating system.

See Also