The VMware Code Hackathon is a special event that runs alongside VMware Explore. Since 2016, I’ve been fortunate to participate in both the main event and hackathon most years. Despite my efforts to bring team members along, I found myself solo again in 2023.

Team PowerCLI @ Hackathon 2023

2023’s dominant theme was AI, with numerous teams focusing on AI-related projects. Some participants even brought specialized hardware equipped with powerful GPUs to support their work.

Our team, aptly named “PowerCLI,” consisted of four members:

• Myself
• A walk-in participant from Germany
• A member who had to leave early
• Alexey Koznov

Interestingly, I was the only one with PowerCLI experience, which led me to mentor the others while Alexey focused on the project presentation.

The project

Objective

Create a PowerCLI module to enable tagging of vSAN Witness traffic for VMKernel Ports.

Background

With the release of vSphere 8.0, VMware introduced UI-based tagging for VMkernel vSAN Witness traffic—a feature previously limited to ESXi host command line (esxcli/localcli).

Project Scope

1. Investigate the API used in vSphere 8.0+
2. Develop a function using get-esxcli cmdlet for pre-8.0 hosts
3. Combine findings into a functional PowerShell module

Implementation

We successfully completed the project within the event’s time constraints. The module code is available on GitHub:

https://github.com/virtualFrog/HackathonPowerCLI/blob/main/PowerCLIHackthon.psm1

The module exports the set-vsanwitnesstag command, which requires:

• VMkernel name for tagging
• Piped ESXi host object

Results

While we didn’t win first place, our team secured third position and received a special prize: a Luc Dekens PowerCLI Lego minifigure.

Conclusion

Though our goal of incorporating this functionality into the PowerCLI collection remains unrealized, the development process was incredibly rewarding. The hackathon continues to be a valuable experience, and I highly recommend it to anyone attending VMware Explore in Barcelona.