Infrastructure as code

HPE OneView PowerShell is well-suited for infrastructure-as-code (IaC) workflows. Every resource can be created, modified, and removed through cmdlets, making it straightforward to express your desired infrastructure state as a script.

Template-driven server provisioning

Server profile templates are the cornerstone of IaC in OneView. A template encodes the entire desired state of a server: connections, firmware baseline, boot order, local storage, and BIOS settings. Servers are then provisioned by stamping profiles from the template.

Defining a server profile template

# Get the hardware type and enclosure group
$SY480Gen10SHT = Get-OVServerHardwareType -Name "SY 480 Gen10 1" -ErrorAction Stop
$EG            = Get-OVEnclosureGroup -Name "DCS Synergy Default EG" -ErrorAction Stop
$Baseline      = Get-OVBaseline -FileName "SPP_2017_10_20171215_for_HPE_Synergy_Z7550-96455.iso" -ErrorAction Stop

# Define network connections
$con1 = Get-OVNetwork -Name "Management Network (VLAN1)" -ErrorAction Stop |
    New-OVServerProfileConnection -ConnectionID 1 -Name "Mgmt Connection 1" -Bootable -Priority Primary
$con2 = Get-OVNetwork -Name "Management Network (VLAN1)" -ErrorAction Stop |
    New-OVServerProfileConnection -ConnectionID 2 -Name "Mgmt Connection 2"
$con3 = Get-OVNetworkSet -Name "Prod NetSet" -ErrorAction Stop |
    New-OVServerProfileConnection -ConnectionID 3 -Name "VM Traffic Connection 3"
$con4 = Get-OVNetworkSet -Name "Prod NetSet" -ErrorAction Stop |
    New-OVServerProfileConnection -ConnectionID 4 -Name "VM Traffic Connection 4"
$con5 = Get-OVNetwork -Name "Prod Fabric A" -ErrorAction Stop |
    New-OVServerProfileConnection -ConnectionID 5 -Name "Prod Fabric A Connection 5"
$con6 = Get-OVNetwork -Name "Prod Fabric B" -ErrorAction Stop |
    New-OVServerProfileConnection -ConnectionID 6 -Name "Prod Fabric B Connection 6"

# Define local storage
$LogicalDisk       = New-OVServerProfileLogicalDisk -Name "Disk 1" -RAID RAID1
$StorageController = New-OVServerProfileLogicalDiskController -ControllerID Embedded -Mode RAID -Initialize -LogicalDisk $LogicalDisk

# Create the template
$params = @{
    Name               = "Hypervisor Cluster Node Template v1"
    Description        = "Corp standard hypervisor cluster node, version 1.0"
    ServerHardwareType = $SY480Gen10SHT
    EnclosureGroup     = $EG
    Connections        = $con1, $con2, $con3, $con4, $con5, $con6
    Firmware           = $true
    Baseline           = $Baseline
    FirmwareMode       = "FirmwareAndSoftware"
    BootMode           = "UEFIOptimized"
    PxeBootPolicy      = "IPv4"
    ManageBoot         = $true
    BootOrder          = "HardDisk"
    LocalStorage       = $true
    StorageController  = $StorageController
    HideUnusedFlexnics = $true
}

New-OVServerProfileTemplate @params | Wait-OVTaskComplete

Provisioning servers from the template

$SY480Gen10SHT = Get-OVServerHardwareType -Name "SY 480 Gen10 1" -ErrorAction Stop
$SPT           = Get-OVServerProfileTemplate -Name "Hypervisor Cluster Node Template v1" -ErrorAction Stop

# Find eligible servers: at least 4 cores and 512 GB RAM
$Servers = Get-OVServer -InputObject $SY480Gen10SHT -NoProfile -ErrorAction Stop |
    Where-Object { ($_.processorCount * $_.processorCoreCount) -ge 4 -and
                   $_.memoryMb -ge (512 * 1024) } |
    Select-Object -First 4

# Power off before assigning profiles
$Servers | Stop-OVServer -Confirm:$false

# Create profiles asynchronously, one per server
1..($Servers.Count) | ForEach-Object {

    New-OVServerProfile `
        -Name "Hyp-Clus-0$_" `
        -Assignment Server `
        -Server $Servers[($_ - 1)] `
        -ServerProfileTemplate $SPT `
        -Async

}

# Wait for all profile creation tasks to finish
Get-OVTask -State Running | Wait-OVTaskComplete

Idempotent operations — check before create

Idempotent scripts produce the same result whether run once or many times. The pattern is: check whether the resource exists, create it only if it does not.

# Idempotent network creation
function Ensure-OVNetwork {
    param(
        [string]$Name,
        [int]$VlanId,
        [string]$Purpose = "General"
    )

    $Existing = Get-OVNetwork -Name $Name -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

    if ($null -eq $Existing) {

        Write-Host "Creating network '$Name' (VLAN $VlanId)..."
        New-OVNetwork -Name $Name -Type Ethernet -vlanId $VlanId -smartlink $true -Purpose $Purpose

    } else {

        Write-Host "Network '$Name' already exists, skipping."

    }
}

Ensure-OVNetwork -Name "Production VLAN 100" -VlanId 100
Ensure-OVNetwork -Name "Production VLAN 200" -VlanId 200

# Idempotent server profile template creation
$TemplateName = "Hypervisor Cluster Node Template v1"
$SPT = Get-OVServerProfileTemplate -Name $TemplateName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

if ($null -eq $SPT) {

    Write-Host "Creating server profile template '$TemplateName'..."
    New-OVServerProfileTemplate @params | Wait-OVTaskComplete

} else {

    Write-Host "Template '$TemplateName' already exists."

}

Use -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue (not -ErrorAction Stop) on Get-OV* cmdlets in idempotency checks. -ErrorAction Stop converts the “not found” condition into a terminating error.

Error handling patterns

HPE OneView cmdlets throw typed .NET exceptions. Use Try / Catch blocks and match on the specific exception type for precise handling.

Basic try/catch

Try {

    $Task = Add-OVStorageSystem @params | Wait-OVTaskComplete

}

Catch [HPEOneView.Appliance.AuthSessionException] {

    Write-Error "Authentication failed. Re-run Connect-OVMgmt."
    Throw

}

Catch [HPEOneView.ResourceNotFoundException] {

    Write-Error "A required resource was not found: $_"
    Throw

}

Catch {

    # Re-throw all unexpected errors so the caller sees them
    $PSCmdlet.ThrowTerminatingError($_)

}

Propagating errors from scripts

When writing a script that will be called by another script or pipeline, use $PSCmdlet.ThrowTerminatingError($_) in the catch block. This preserves the original error record including stack trace, unlike a bare Throw.

Catch {

    $PSCmdlet.ThrowTerminatingError($_)

}

Handling the initial password change

Try {

    Connect-OVMgmt -Hostname $Appliance -UserName "Administrator" -Password "admin"

}

Catch [HPEOneView.Appliance.PasswordChangeRequired] {

    Set-OVInitialPassword -OldPassword "admin" -NewPassword $NewPassword -Appliance $Appliance

}

CI/CD pipeline integration

OneView PowerShell scripts run without modification in standard CI/CD runners. The key considerations are credential handling and non-interactive execution.

Non-interactive credential handling

Store credentials as pipeline secrets and construct a PSCredential at runtime:

# Credentials injected as environment variables by the CI runner
$SecurePass = ConvertTo-SecureString $env:ONEVIEW_PASSWORD -AsPlainText -Force
$Credential = [System.Management.Automation.PSCredential]::new($env:ONEVIEW_USERNAME, $SecurePass)

$ApplianceConnection = Connect-OVMgmt -Hostname $env:ONEVIEW_HOST -Credential $Credential

Example pipeline script structure

#Requires -Module HPEOneView.1000

[CmdletBinding()]
param (
    [String]$ApplianceHost  = $env:ONEVIEW_HOST,
    [String]$Username       = $env:ONEVIEW_USERNAME,
    [String]$Password       = $env:ONEVIEW_PASSWORD,
    [String]$TemplateName   = "Hypervisor Cluster Node Template v1",
    [Int]$ServerCount       = 4
)

# --- Connect ---
$SecurePass = ConvertTo-SecureString $Password -AsPlainText -Force
$Credential = [System.Management.Automation.PSCredential]::new($Username, $SecurePass)

Try {

    $Session = Connect-OVMgmt -Hostname $ApplianceHost -Credential $Credential

}

Catch {

    Write-Error "Failed to connect to $ApplianceHost"
    Exit 1

}

Try {

    $SPT = Get-OVServerProfileTemplate -Name $TemplateName -ErrorAction Stop

    # Provision servers
    $Servers = Get-OVServer -NoProfile | Select-Object -First $ServerCount
    $Servers | Stop-OVServer -Confirm:$false

    1..($Servers.Count) | ForEach-Object {

        New-OVServerProfile `
            -Name "CI-Node-$_" `
            -Assignment Server `
            -Server $Servers[($_ - 1)] `
            -ServerProfileTemplate $SPT `
            -Async

    }

    Get-OVTask -State Running | Wait-OVTaskComplete

}

Catch {

    $PSCmdlet.ThrowTerminatingError($_)

}

Finally {

    Disconnect-OVMgmt

}

The Finally block ensures Disconnect-OVMgmt is called even if the script fails partway through, preventing orphaned sessions on the appliance.

Using `$ConnectedSessions` for multi-appliance scripts

The global $ConnectedSessions variable holds all active connections. Use it to iterate over appliances or to target a specific one.

$Appliances = @("hpov1.example.com", "hpov2.example.com", "hpov3.example.com")
$Credential = Get-Credential -Username Administrator -Message "Password"

# Connect to all appliances
ForEach ($Appliance in $Appliances) {

    Connect-OVMgmt -Hostname $Appliance -Credential $Credential

}

# Run a report across all appliances
ForEach ($Session in $Global:ConnectedSessions) {

    Write-Host "--- $($Session.Name) ---"
    Get-OVServer -ApplianceConnection $Session | Select-Object name, powerState, status

}

# Check whether a session to a specific appliance already exists before connecting
if (-not ($Global:ConnectedSessions | Where-Object Name -EQ "hpov2.example.com")) {

    Connect-OVMgmt -Hostname "hpov2.example.com" -Credential $Credential

}

Generating scripts with `ConvertTo-OVPowerShellScript`

ConvertTo-OVPowerShellScript takes an existing OneView resource object and generates the PowerShell code that would recreate it. This is invaluable for bootstrapping IaC scripts from a manually configured environment.

# Generate a script for an existing server profile template
$SPT = Get-OVServerProfileTemplate -Name "Hypervisor Cluster Node Template v1" -ErrorAction Stop
$SPT | ConvertTo-OVPowerShellScript

Exporting to a file

# Export all server profile templates to a single script file
Get-OVServerProfileTemplate | ConvertTo-OVPowerShellScript -Export "C:\Scripts\templates.ps1"

# Append multiple resources to the same file
Get-OVNetwork     | ConvertTo-OVPowerShellScript -Export "C:\Scripts\environment.ps1"
Get-OVNetworkSet  | ConvertTo-OVPowerShellScript -Export "C:\Scripts\environment.ps1" -Append
Get-OVStoragePool | ConvertTo-OVPowerShellScript -Export "C:\Scripts\environment.ps1" -Append

Use ConvertTo-OVPowerShellScript to capture your current environment as code before making changes. This gives you a known-good baseline you can restore from if needed.

Supported resource types

ConvertTo-OVPowerShellScript supports a wide range of resource types including:

Server profile templates and server profiles
Ethernet networks, FC networks, and network sets
Logical interconnect groups and uplink sets
Enclosure groups
Storage systems, storage pools, and volume templates
Users and LDAP directory configurations

Get Started

Core Concepts

Guides

Sample Scripts

Template-driven server provisioning

Defining a server profile template

Provisioning servers from the template

Idempotent operations — check before create

Error handling patterns

Basic try/catch

Propagating errors from scripts

Handling the initial password change

CI/CD pipeline integration

Non-interactive credential handling

Example pipeline script structure

Using `$ConnectedSessions` for multi-appliance scripts

Generating scripts with `ConvertTo-OVPowerShellScript`

Exporting to a file

Supported resource types

Get Started

Core Concepts

Guides

Sample Scripts

Documentation Index

​Template-driven server provisioning

​Defining a server profile template

​Provisioning servers from the template

​Idempotent operations — check before create

​Error handling patterns

​Basic try/catch

​Propagating errors from scripts

​Handling the initial password change

​CI/CD pipeline integration

​Non-interactive credential handling

​Example pipeline script structure

​Using $ConnectedSessions for multi-appliance scripts

​Generating scripts with ConvertTo-OVPowerShellScript

​Exporting to a file

​Supported resource types

Template-driven server provisioning

Defining a server profile template

Provisioning servers from the template

Idempotent operations — check before create

Error handling patterns

Basic try/catch

Propagating errors from scripts

Handling the initial password change

CI/CD pipeline integration

Non-interactive credential handling

Example pipeline script structure

Using `$ConnectedSessions` for multi-appliance scripts

Generating scripts with `ConvertTo-OVPowerShellScript`

Exporting to a file

Supported resource types