PowerShell

Deploying Azure Virtual Network Gateway Basic: A How-To Guide

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If you’ve got an Azure subscription through Visual Studio Enterprise, you’ve basically been handed the perfect playground for testing and learning in the cloud. But once you start building resources inside a private Azure network, you quickly hit the next challenge: how do you securely connect it back to your home lab without exposing everything to the internet? In this post, I’m going to go through the process of how I deployed a Basic Azure Virtual Network Gateway and connected it to my Ubiquiti Dream Machine, creating a secure site-to-site VPN tunnel between my Azure VNet and my home network. I wanted to document what that process looked like for me and share it in case it helps someone else doing the same thing.

What is a Virtual Network Gateway?

TL;DR: A managed VPN concentrator and router for your Azure VNet!

An Azure Virtual Network Gateway is used when you need secure, private connectivity into an Azure Virtual Network without exposing resources to the public internet. It acts like a managed VPN router inside your VNet, enabling encrypted connections such as site-to-site VPNs (linking your on-premises network to Azure), point-to-site VPNs (allowing individual users to securely connect to Azure), or VNet-to-VNet connections (linking multiple Azure networks). It’s most valuable for hybrid cloud scenarios, remote administration, and keeping systems reachable over private IP addresses while maintaining strong network security and controlled access. Azure supports a few common VPN connection models, each designed for a specific access pattern:

  • Site-to-Site (S2S) VPN: Creates an always-on encrypted tunnel between an on-premises network (office/data center) and an Azure VNet, making it ideal for hybrid connectivity where entire networks need to communicate over private IPs.
  • Point-to-Site (P2S) VPN: Connects individual users/devices directly into an Azure VNet, which is perfect for remote admin access, developer labs, or secure access to private Azure resources without exposing them publicly.
  • VNet-to-VNet: Connects two Azure VNets using VPN tunnels, typically used when networks must remain isolated (different environments/regions/subscriptions) but still require secure private communication—though VNet peering is often simpler for Azure-to-Azure connectivity.

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Enable SSH Service on ESXi hosts using PowerShell

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I found myself wanting to enable the SSH service on my ESXi hosts. I could use Host Profiles to enable it but I decided to PowerShell script it! To enable SSH there are three parts to it:

You will need to start the SSH service and set it to Start and Stop with Host:

And you will need to suppress the SSH is enabled warning message:

esxi-hosts-ssh-warning

This script does all of the above to an entire cluster. Let’s see it in action!

######################################################################
# Start SSH Service, change Startup Policy, and Suppress SSH Warning #
######################################################################

#Variables
$vCenter = "LABVC01.virtuallyboring.com"
$Cluster = "Nested ESXi Cluster"

### Start of Script
# Load VMware Cmdlet and connect to vCenter
Add-PSSnapin vmware.vimautomation.core
connect-viserver -server $vCenter

$VMHost = Get-Cluster -Name $Cluster | Get-VMhost

# Start SSH Server on a Cluster
ForEach ($VMhost in $Cluster){
Write-Host -ForegroundColor GREEN "Starting SSH Service on " -NoNewline
Write-Host -ForegroundColor YELLOW "$VMhost"
Get-VMHost | Get-VMHostService | ? {($_.Key -eq "TSM-ssh") -and ($_.Running -eq $False)} | Start-VMHostService
}

# Change Startup Policy
ForEach ($VMhost in $Cluster){
Write-Host -ForegroundColor GREEN "Setting Startup Policy on " -NoNewline
Write-Host -ForegroundColor YELLOW "$VMhost"
Get-VMHost | Get-VMHostService | where { $_.key -eq "TSM-SSH" } | Set-VMHostService -Policy "On" -Confirm:$false -ea 1
}

# Surpress SSH Warning
ForEach ($VMhost in $Cluster){
Write-Host -ForegroundColor GREEN "Setting UserVar to supress Shell warning on " -NoNewline
Write-Host -ForegroundColor YELLOW "$VMhost"
Get-VMhost | Get-AdvancedSetting | Where {$_.Name -eq "UserVars.SuppressShellWarning"} | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value "1" -Confirm:$false
}
### End of Script

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How to Add ESXi Hosts to vCenter using PowerShell

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There are quite a few clicks needed to add a host to vCenter. If you are deploying multiple hosts to your environment you have many clicks ahead. You should script it! This PowerShell script will make adding multiple hosts to vCenter easy!

Let’s see it in action!

#####################################################################
# Load VMware Plugins and connect to vCenter
#####################################################################

Add-PSSnapin vmware.vimautomation.core
## Enter your vCenter here
connect-viserver -server LABVC01.virtuallyboring.com

########################################################################
# Add Multiple Hosts to vCenter
########################################################################

# Variables
## You can use comma separated names or change to pull from a text file. Your pick.
$ESXiHosts = "ESXi01.virtuallyboring.com" , "ESXi02.virtuallyboring.com" , "ESXi03.virtuallyboring.com"
## Enter the name of a Data Center or Host Cluster
$ESXiLocation = "Nested ESXi Cluster"

# Start Script
$credentials = Get-Credential -UserName root -Message "Enter the ESXi root password"

Foreach ($ESXiHosts in $ESXiHosts) {
Add-VMHost -Name $ESXiHosts -Location $ESXiLocation -User $credentials.UserName -Password $credentials.GetNetworkCredential().Password -RunAsync -force
Write-Host -ForegroundColor GREEN "Adding ESXi host $ESXiHosts to vCenter"
}
# End Script

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Add Virtual Machine Templates (.VMTX) to Inventory using PowerShell

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Here is a script that will scan a datastore for VM templates (.VMTX) and add them to inventory. This is a modified version of the Add Virtual Machines (.VMX) to Inventory script.

You must have VMware PowerCLI installed in order to have the cmdlets required for PowerShell to run the script.

Add VMTX (Virtual Machine Templates) to Inventory from a Datastore:

#####################################################################
# Load VMware Plugins and vCenter Connect #
#####################################################################

Add-PSSnapin vmware.vimautomation.core

connect-viserver -server ENTER VCENTER FQDN HERE
#####################################################################
# Add .VMTX (VM Templates) to Inventory from Datastore #
#####################################################################

# Variables: Update these to the match the environment
$Cluster = "ENTER CLUSTER NAME HERE"
$Datastore = "ENTER DATASTORE NAME HERE"
$VMFolder = "ENTER FOLDER NAME HERE"
$ESXHost = Get-Cluster $Cluster | Get-VMHost | select -First 1

foreach($Datastore in get-datastore $Datastore)
{
# Collect .vmtx paths of registered VMs on the datastore
$registered = @{}
Get-Template -Datastore $Datastore | ForEach-Object -Process {
$registered.Add($_.Name+'.vmtx',$true)
}

# Set up Search for .VMTX Files in Datastore(s)
$null = New-PSDrive -Name TgtDS -Location $Datastore -PSProvider VimDatastore -Root '\'
$unregistered = @(Get-ChildItem -Path TgtDS: -Recurse | `
Where-Object -FilterScript {
$_.FolderPath -notmatch '.snapshot' -and $_.Name -like '*.vmtx' -and !$registered.ContainsKey($_.Name)
}
)
Remove-PSDrive -Name TgtDS

#Register all .vmtx Files as VMs on the datastore
foreach($vmtxFile in $unregistered)
{
New-Template -Name $vmtxFile.Name -TemplateFilePath $vmtxFile.DatastoreFullPath -VMHost $ESXHost -Location $VMFolder -RunAsync
}
}

Let’s see it in action!

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Add Virtual Machines (.VMX) to Inventory using PowerShell

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There are quite a few clicks to add a virtual machine from a datastore to inventory. If you were to consolidate an environment and had to add multiple virtual machines this would be quite a manual task. Easier solution? Script it! The below script makes scanning a datastore and registering all virtual machines with vCenter a breeze.

You must have VMware PowerCLI installed in order to have the cmdlets required for PowerShell to run the script.

Add VMX (Virtual Machines) to Inventory from a Datastore:

#####################################################################
# Load VMware Plugins and vCenter Connect #
#####################################################################

Add-PSSnapin vmware.vimautomation.core

connect-viserver -server ENTER VCENTER FQDN HERE
#####################################################################
# Add .VMX (Virtual Machines) to Inventory from Datastore #
#####################################################################

# Variables: Update these to the match the environment
$Cluster = "ENTER CLUSTER NAME HERE"
$Datastore = "ENTER DATASTORE NAME HERE"
$VMFolder = "ENTER FOLDER NAME HERE"
$ESXHost = Get-Cluster $Cluster | Get-VMHost | select -First 1

foreach($Datastore in $Datastore) {
# Searches for .VMX Files in datastore variable
$ds = Get-Datastore -Name $Datastore | %{Get-View $_.Id}
$SearchSpec = New-Object VMware.Vim.HostDatastoreBrowserSearchSpec
$SearchSpec.matchpattern = "*.vmx"
$dsBrowser = Get-View $ds.browser
$DatastorePath = "[" + $ds.Summary.Name + "]"

# Find all .VMX file paths in Datastore variable and filters out .snapshot
$SearchResult = $dsBrowser.SearchDatastoreSubFolders($DatastorePath, $SearchSpec) | where {$_.FolderPath -notmatch ".snapshot"} | %{$_.FolderPath + ($_.File | select Path).Path}

# Register all .VMX files with vCenter
foreach($VMXFile in $SearchResult) {
New-VM -VMFilePath $VMXFile -VMHost $ESXHost -Location $VMFolder -RunAsync
}
}

Let’s see it in action!

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