Creating a VM incl a vGPU profile on AHV with Powershell

6 min read

Kees Baggerman·Senior Technical Director at Nutanix – Former Citrix CTP – NVIDIA Enterprise Platform Advisor – 15+ years in EUC

All posts →

Hello old friend, here we are again. It’s been a while but I’m (hopefully) getting back on track with this blog. I’ve been dabbling around with this idea for a while and it got fastracked after I got a request from someone in the Nutanix Services Organisation on how they could add a vGPU profile to the ‘Create a VM on AHV’ with Powershell.

From that older blog, the following interfaces are available:

• REST API
• HTML5 GUI
• CLI – ACLI & NCLI
• Scripting interfaces (PowerShell)

The following definitions are from the Nutanix Bible as Steve Poitras already explained this:

As a reminder, when creating a VM via ACLI all you’d need is a few lines to create a VM, assign a nic to the VM on a specific network and do the same with a disk (create/assign). Now adding a GPU is another oneliner:

vm.create KBTestVM99 memory=2G num_vcpus=2 
vm.nic_create KBTestVM99 network=VDI-Lan  
vm.disk_create KBTestVM99 create_size=50G container=VDI
vm.gpu_assign KBTestVM99 gpu=Nvidia_GRID_M60-2Q 

Now, to do this with powershell it proved to be a little bit more challenging than I expected it to be as our native cmdlets didn’t seem to have a good way of doing this so I had to revert to good old REST APIs and Powershell so with some help from Michell and Dave here’s what I came up with:

# kees@nutanix.com
# @kbaggerman on Twitter
# https://blog.myvirtualvision.com
# Created on January 25, 2019
# With great help of Michell Grauwmans and Dave Brett

# Setting parameters for the connection
[CmdletBinding(SupportsShouldProcess = $False, ConfirmImpact = "None") ]
 
Param(
    # Nutanix cluster IP address
    [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
    [Alias('IP')] [string] $nxIP,   
    # Nutanix cluster username
    [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
    [Alias('User')] [string] $nxUser,
    # Nutanix cluster password
    [Parameter(Mandatory = $true)]
    [Alias('Password')] [string] $nxPassword
)
 
$nxPasswordSec = ConvertTo-SecureString $nxPassword -AsPlainText -Force

# Adding PS cmdlets
$loadedsnapins=(Get-PSSnapin -Registered | Select-Object name).name
if(!($loadedsnapins.Contains("NutanixCmdletsPSSnapin"))){
   Add-PSSnapin -Name NutanixCmdletsPSSnapin 
}

if ($null -eq (Get-PSSnapin -Name NutanixCmdletsPSSnapin -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue))
{
    write-log -message "Nutanix CMDlets are not loaded, aborting the script"
    break
}


Function write-log {
    <#
       .Synopsis
       Write logs for debugging purposes
       
       .Description
       This function writes logs based on the message including a time stamp for debugging purposes.
    #>
  param (
  $message,
  $sev = "INFO"
  )
  if ($sev -eq "INFO"){
    write-host "$(get-date -format "hh:mm:ss") | INFO | $message"
  } elseif ($sev -eq "WARN"){
    write-host "$(get-date -format "hh:mm:ss") | WARN | $message"
  } elseif ($sev -eq "ERROR"){
    write-host "$(get-date -format "hh:mm:ss") | ERROR | $message"
  } elseif ($sev -eq "CHAPTER"){
    write-host "`n`n### $message`n`n"
  }
} 
 
# Connecting to the Nutanix Cluster
$nxServerObj = Connect-NTNXCluster -Server $nxIP -UserName $nxUser -Password $nxPasswordSec -AcceptInvalidSSLCerts

if ($null -eq (get-ntnxclusterinfo))
{
    write-log -message "Cluster connection isn't available, abborting the script"
    break
}
 
## VM Creation
# Setting Variables
$Name = "KBTestVM99"
$NumVcpus = "2"
$MemoryMB = "2048"
$VMname = $name
$GPUName = "GRID M60-2Q"
$debug = 2

# Creating the VM

write-log -message "Creating $Name with $NumVcpus vCPUs and $MemoryMB MB RAM and a $GPUName profile"

Try
{
new-ntnxvirtualmachine -Name $Name -NumVcpus $NumVcpus -MemoryMB $MemoryMB | out-null
Start-Sleep -s 5
}
Catch 
{
write-log -message "Could not create the VM"
}

## Network Settings
# Get the VmID of the VM
$vminfo = Get-NTNXVM | Where-Object {$_.vmName -eq $Name}
$vmId = ($vminfo.vmid.split(":"))[2]

write-log -message "Grabbing the UUID ($vmID) from $Name"

# Set NIC for VM on default vlan (Get-NTNXNetwork -> NetworkUuid)
Try
{
$nic = New-NTNXObject -Name VMNicSpecDTO
$nic.networkUuid = "669f10d4-0c38-4a87-8660-5affa43956a1"
$vlan = Get-NTNXNetwork

# Adding a Nic
Add-NTNXVMNic -Vmid $vmId -SpecList $nic

write-log -message "Adding a NIC in vlan $($vlan.name) to $Name"
}
Catch
{
write-log -message "Failed to add a NIC in vlan $($vlan.name) to $Name"
}

## Disk Creation
Try
{
# Setting the SCSI disk of 50GB on Containner ID 1025 (get-ntnxcontainer -> ContainerId)
$diskCreateSpec = New-NTNXObject -Name VmDiskSpecCreateDTO
$diskcreatespec.containerid = 1265
$diskcreatespec.sizeMb = 51200

# Creating the Disk
$vmDisk =  New-NTNXObject –Name VMDiskDTO
$vmDisk.vmDiskCreate = $diskCreateSpec

# Adding the Disk to the VM
Add-NTNXVMDisk -Vmid $vmId -Disks $vmDisk

write-log -message "Adding a disk to $Name"
}
Catch
{
write-log -message "Failed to add a disk to $Name"
}




Function Get-Hosts {
    <#
       .Synopsis
       This function will collect the hosts within the specified cluster.
       
       .Description
       This function will collect the hosts within the specified cluster using REST API call based on Invoke-RestMethod
    #>
  Param (
    [string] $debug
  )

  $credPair = "$($nxUser):$($nxPassword)"
  $encodedCredentials = [System.Convert]::ToBase64String([System.Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetBytes($credPair))
  $headers = @{ Authorization = "Basic $encodedCredentials" }
  $URL = "https://$($nxIP):9440/api/nutanix/v3/hosts/list"
  $Payload= @{
    kind="host"
    offset=0
    length=999
  } 

  $JSON = $Payload | convertto-json
  try{
    $task = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $URL -method "post" -body $JSON -ContentType 'application/json' -headers $headers;
  } catch {
    Start-Sleep 10
    write-log -message "Going once"

    $task = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $URL -method "post" -body $JSON -ContentType 'application/json' -headers $headers;
  }
  write-log -message "We found $($task.entities.count) hosts in this cluster."

  Return $task
} 

Function Get-VMs {
    <#
       .Synopsis
       This function will collect the VMs within the specified cluster.
       
       .Description
       This function will collect the VMs within the specified cluster using REST API call based on Invoke-RestMethod
    #>
  Param (
    [string] $debug
  )

  $credPair = "$($nxUser):$($nxPassword)"
  $encodedCredentials = [System.Convert]::ToBase64String([System.Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetBytes($credPair))
  $headers = @{ Authorization = "Basic $encodedCredentials" }

  write-log -message "Executing VM List Query"

  $URL = "https://$($nxIP):9440/api/nutanix/v3/vms/list"
  $Payload= @{
    kind="vm"
    offset=0
    length=999
  } 

  $JSON = $Payload | convertto-json
  try{
    $task = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $URL -method "post" -body $JSON -ContentType 'application/json' -headers $headers;
  } catch {
    Start-Sleep 10
    write-log -message "Going once"

    $task = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $URL -method "post" -body $JSON -ContentType 'application/json' -headers $headers;
  }
  write-log -message "We found $($task.entities.count) items."

 Return $task
} 

Function Get-DetailVM {
    <#
       .Synopsis
       This function will collect the speficics of the VM we've specified using the Get-VMs function as input.
       
       .Description
       This function will collect the speficics of the VM we've specified using the Get-VMs function as input using REST API call based on Invoke-RestMethod
    #>
  Param (
    [string] $uuid,
    [string] $debug
  )

  
  $credPair = "$($nxUser):$($nxPassword)"
  $encodedCredentials = [System.Convert]::ToBase64String([System.Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetBytes($credPair))
  $headers = @{ Authorization = "Basic $encodedCredentials" }

  write-log -message "Getting VM Detail for $Name"

  $URL = "https://$($nxIP):9440/api/nutanix/v3/vms/$($uuid)"
  try {
    $task = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $URL -method "get" -headers $headers;
  } catch {
    Start-Sleep 10
    $task = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $URL -method "get" -headers $headers;

    write-log -message "Going once"
  }  
   Return $task
} 


Function Update-VM {
    <#
       .Synopsis
       This function is used to update the VM according to the specification in the script, the focus here is adding a GPU as other components are added via the native Powershell Commandlets.
       
       .Description
       This function will update the speficics of the VM we've specified using the parameters defined at the start of this script as input using REST API call based on Invoke-RestMethod
    #>
  Param (
    [string] $uuid,
    [object] $VMObject,
    [string] $debug
  )

  
  $credPair = "$($nxUser):$($nxPassword)"
  $encodedCredentials = [System.Convert]::ToBase64String([System.Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetBytes($credPair))
  $headers = @{ Authorization = "Basic $encodedCredentials" }
  $json = $VMObject | convertto-json -depth 50

  $URL = "https://$($nxIP):9440/api/nutanix/v3/vms/$($uuid)"
  if ($debug -ge 2){
    $json #| out-file c:\temp\VM.json
  }

  try {
    $task = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $URL -method "put" -body $JSON -ContentType 'application/json' -headers $headers;
  } catch {
    Start-Sleep 10
    $task = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $URL -method "put" -body $JSON -ContentType 'application/json' -headers $headers;

    write-log -message "Going once"
  }  
   Return $task
} 

Function Get-DetailHosts {
    <#
       .Synopsis
       This function will collect the speficics of the Host we've specified using the Get-Hosts function as input.
       
       .Description
       This function will collect the speficics of the VM we've specified using the Get-Hosts function as input using REST API call based on Invoke-RestMethod
    #>
  Param (
    [string] $uuid,
    [string] $debug
  )


  
  $credPair = "$($nxUser):$($nxPassword)"
  $encodedCredentials = [System.Convert]::ToBase64String([System.Text.Encoding]::ASCII.GetBytes($credPair))
  $headers = @{ Authorization = "Basic $encodedCredentials" }
  $URL = "https://$($nxIP):9440/api/nutanix/v3/hosts/$($uuid)"
  try {
    $task = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $URL -method "get" -headers $headers;
  } catch {
    Start-Sleep 10
    $task = Invoke-RestMethod -Uri $URL -method "get" -headers $headers;

    write-log -message "Going once"
  }  
   Return $task
} 



#### GPU Device IDs list #######
#### Select the GPU from $GPU_List

$GPU_List = $null
$hosts = Get-Hosts -ClusterPC_IP $nxIP -nxPassword $nxPassword -clusername $nxUser -debug $debug
Foreach ($Hypervisor in $hosts.entities){
  $detail = Get-DetailHosts -ClusterPC_IP $nxIP -nxPassword $nxPassword -clusername $nxUser -debug $debug -uuid $Hypervisor.metadata.uuid
  [array]$GPU_List += $detail.status.resources.gpu_list
}

# Write $GPU_List, pick a GPU and create an object
#### GPU Device IDs list #######

$GPU = $gpu_list | Where-Object {$_.name -eq $GPUName} | Select-Object -first 1

$VMs = Get-VMs -ClusterPC_IP $nxIP -nxPassword $nxPassword -clusername $nxUser -debug $debug
$MyVM = $VMs.entities | Where-Object {$_.spec.name -match $VMname}
$myvmdetail = Get-DetailVM -ClusterPC_IP $nxIP -nxPassword $nxPassword -clusername $nxUser -debug $debug -uuid $MyVM.metadata.uuid

if (!$myvm.count -and $myvm){
  write-log -message "We found 1 item."
} else {
  write-log -message "We found $($MyVM.count) items."
}

write-log -message "The Full GPU list is available: $($GPU_list.count) items"
write-log -message "Collecting vGPU profiles and Device IDs"

### Modifying set data to the GPU profile 

$GPU_Set = @"
{
 "gpu_list":  [
                  {
                      "vendor":  "$($gpu.Vendor)",
                      "mode":  "$($gpu.mode)",
                      "device_id":  $($gpu.device_id)
                  }
              ]
}
"@

$newVMObject = $MyVMdetail
$newVMObject.psobject.members.remove("Status")
$newVMObject.spec.resources.gpu_list = ($GPU_Set | convertfrom-json).gpu_list


Try
{
Update-VM -ClusterPC_IP $nxIP -nxPassword $nxPassword -clusername $nxUser -debug $debug -uuid $MyVM.metadata.uuid -VMObject $newVMObject | out-null
write-log -message "Assigning $GPUName to $Name"
}
Catch
{
write-log -message "Failed to assing $GPUName to $Name"
}

Disconnect-NTNXCluster *

write-log -message "Disconnecting from the cluster"

Hopefully this helped you guys as I’m off to my next challenge (Thanks Dave) to write this into a C# application.

The following two tabs change content below.

• Bio
• Latest Posts

Kees Baggerman

Kees Baggerman is Senior Technical Director — Performance & Solutions Engineering R&D at Nutanix, where he leads a global team responsible for defining how enterprise applications are delivered on the Nutanix platform. A former Citrix Technology Professional and NVIDIA Enterprise Platform Advisor, he has spent 15+ years driving EUC strategy and technical direction across architecture, product, and customer success. He has been writing here since 2011 — sharing what he learns at the intersection of platform engineering and enterprise IT.

Latest posts by Kees Baggerman (see all)

• When the Orchard Ships Production Software: AI-Augmented Development in the Real World - May 17, 2026
• Nutanix Documentation Script v5.0: Visual Reports, Brand Templates, and Seven Embedded Diagrams - May 15, 2026
• Nutanix AHV and Citrix MCS: Adding a persistent disk via Powershell – v2 - November 19, 2019
• Recovering a Protection Domain snapshot to a VM - September 13, 2019
• Checking power settings on VMs using powershell - September 11, 2019

Kees Baggerman

Senior Technical Director at Nutanix - Former Citrix CTP - NVIDIA Enterprise Platform Advisor - 15+ years in EUC

Kees Baggerman is Senior Technical Director — Performance & Solutions Engineering R&D at Nutanix, where he leads a global team responsible for defining how enterprise applications are delivered on the Nutanix platform. A former Citrix Technology Professional and NVIDIA Enterprise Platform Advisor, he has spent 15+ years driving EUC strategy and technical direction across architecture, product, and customer success. He has been writing here since 2011 — sharing what he learns at the intersection of platform engineering and enterprise IT.

X / Twitter LinkedIn GitHub Email