Learning PowerCLI E-Book

Robert van den Nieuwendijk

• Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 550

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2017

Beschreibung

VMware vSphere PowerCLI, a free extension to Microsoft Windows PowerShell, enables you to automate the management of a VMware vSphere or vCloud environment.
This book will show you how to automate your tasks and make your job easier. Starting with an introduction to the basics of PowerCLI, the book will teach you how to manage your vSphere and vCloud infrastructure from the command line. To help you manage a vSphere host overall, you will learn how to manage vSphere ESXi hosts, host profiles, host services, host firewall, and deploy and upgrade ESXi hosts using Image Builder and Auto Deploy. The next chapter will not only teach you how to create datastore and datastore clusters, but you’ll also work with profile-driven and policy-based storage to manage your storage. To create a disaster recovery solution and retrieve information from vRealize Operations, you will learn how to use Site Recovery Manager and vRealize Operations respectively. Towards the end, you’ll see how to use the REST APIs from PowerShell to manage NSX and vRealize Automation and create patch baselines, scan hosts against the baselines for missing patches, and re-mediate hosts.
By the end of the book, you will be capable of using the best tool to automate the management and configuration of VMware vSphere.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Learning PowerCLI Second Edition

Credits

About the Author

About the Reviewer

www.PacktPub.com

Why subscribe?

Customer Feedback

Preface

What this book covers

What you need for this book

Who this book is for

Conventions

Reader feedback

Customer support

Downloading the example code

Errata

Piracy

Questions

1. Introduction to PowerCLI

Downloading and installing PowerCLI

Requirements for using PowerCLI 6.5 Release 1

Downloading PowerCLI 6.5 Release 1

Installing PowerCLI

Participating in the VMware Customer Improvement Program

Modifying the PowerShell execution policy

Creating a PowerShell profile

Connecting and disconnecting servers

Connecting to a server

Connecting to multiple servers

Suppressing certificate warnings

Disconnecting from a server

Retrieving the PowerCLI configuration

Using the credential store

Retrieving a list of all of your virtual machines

Suppressing deprecated warnings

Using wildcard characters

Filtering objects

Using comparison operators

Using aliases

Retrieving a list of all of your hosts

Displaying the output in a grid view

Summary

2. Learning Basic PowerCLI Concepts

Using the Get-Command, Get-Help, and Get-Member cmdlets

Using Get-Command

Using Get-VICommand

Using Get-Help

Using Get-PowerCLIHelp

Using Get-PowerCLICommunity

Using Get-Member

Using providers and PSDrives

Using providers

Using PSDrives

Using the PowerCLI Inventory Provider

Using the PowerCLI Datastore Provider

Copying files between a datastore and your PC

Using arrays and hash tables

Creating calculated properties

Using raw API objects with ExtensionData or Get-View

Using the ExtensionData property

Using the Get-View cmdlet

Using managed object references

Using the Get-VIObjectByVIView cmdlet

Extending PowerCLI objects with the New-VIProperty cmdlet

Working with vSphere folders

Summary

3. Working with Objects in PowerShell

Using objects, properties, and methods

Using methods

Expanding variables and subexpressions in strings

When will a string be expanded?

Expanding a string when it is used

Using here-strings

Using the pipeline

Using the ByValue parameter binding

Using the ByPropertyName parameter binding

Using the PowerShell object cmdlets

Using the Select-Object cmdlet

Using the Where-Object cmdlet

Using the ForEach-Object cmdlet

Using the Sort-Object cmdlet

Using the Measure-Object cmdlet

Rounding a value

Using the Group-Object cmdlet

Using the Compare-Object cmdlet

Using the Tee-Object cmdlet

Creating your own objects

Using the New-Object cmdlet

Using a hash table to create an object

Creating objects using the Select-Object cmdlet

Creating objects using [pscustomobject]

Adding properties to an object with Add-Member

Using COM objects

Summary

4. Managing vSphere Hosts with PowerCLI

Adding hosts to a VMware vCenter Server

Creating a data center

Creating a cluster

Adding a host

Enabling and disabling maintenance mode

Working with host profiles

Creating a host profile

Attaching the host profile to a cluster or a host

Testing the host profile for compliance

Applying a host profile to a host or cluster

Using host profile answer files

Exporting a host profile

Importing a host profile

Working with host services

Retrieving information about host services

Starting a host service

Stopping a host service

Restarting a host service

Modifying the startup policy of a host service

Configuring the host firewall

Getting the host firewall default policy

Modifying the host firewall default policy

Getting the host firewall exceptions

Modifying a host firewall exception

Using vSphere Image Builder and Auto Deploy

Using Image Builder

Adding ESXi software depots to your PowerCLI session

Retrieving the ESXi software depots added to your PowerCLI session

Retrieving the image profiles in your PowerCLI session

Creating image profiles

Retrieving VIB objects from all of the connected depots

Adding VIBs to an image profile or updating existing VIBs

Exporting an image profile to an ISO or ZIP file

Configuring Auto Deploy

Creating deploy rules

Adding deploy rules to a ruleset

Retrieving deploy rulesets

Adding host profiles to a deploy ruleset

Using esxcli from PowerCLI

Removing hosts from a VMware vCenter Server

Summary

5. Managing Virtual Machines with PowerCLI

Creating virtual machines

Creating virtual machines from scratch

Creating virtual machines from templates

Cloning virtual machines

Registering virtual machines

Using OS customization specifications

Importing OVF or OVA packages

Retrieving the required properties

Assigning values to the required properties

Importing the vMA OVF file

Starting and stopping virtual machines

Starting virtual machines

Suspending virtual machines

Shutting down the virtual machine's guest operating systems

Stopping virtual machines

Modifying the settings of virtual machines

Using the VMware vSphere API to modify virtual machine settings

Adding devices to a virtual machine

Adding a hard disk

Adding a SCSI controller

Adding a network adapter

Adding a floppy drive

Adding a CD drive

Modifying devices added to a virtual machine

Modifying a hard disk

Moving a hard disk to another datastore

Modifying a SCSI controller

Modifying a network adapter

Modifying a floppy drive

Modifying a CD drive

Removing devices from a virtual machine

Removing a hard disk

Removing a network adapter

Removing a floppy drive

Removing a CD drive

Converting virtual machines into templates

Converting templates into virtual machines

Modifying the name of a template

Removing templates

Moving virtual machines to another folder, host, cluster, resource pool, or datastore

Updating VMware Tools

Using the Update-Tools cmdlet

Enabling the Check and upgrade VMware Tools before each power on checkbox

Upgrading virtual machine compatibility

Using snapshots

Creating snapshots

Retrieving snapshots

Reverting to a snapshot

Modifying snapshots

Removing snapshots

Running commands in the guest OS

Configuring Fault Tolerance

Turning Fault Tolerance on

Turning Fault Tolerance off

Opening the console of virtual machines

Removing virtual machines

Using tags

Managing tag categories

Creating tag categories

Retrieving tag categories

Modifying tag categories

Removing tag categories

Managing tags

Creating tags

Retrieving tags

Modifying tags

Removing tags

Managing tag assignments

Creating tag assignments

Retrieving tag assignments

Retrieving virtual machines by tag

Removing tag assignments

Converting custom attributes and annotations to tags

Creating tag categories from custom attributes

Creating tags from annotations

Summary

6. Managing Virtual Networks with PowerCLI

Using vSphere Standard Switches

Creating vSphere Standard Switches

Configuring vSphere Standard Switches

Adding network adapters to a switch

Removing vSphere Standard Switches

Using host network adapters

Creating host network adapters

Retrieving host network adapters

Configuring host network adapters

Configuring network speed and duplex setting

Configuring the management network

Configuring vMotion

Removing host network adapters

Configuring NIC teaming

Using standard port groups

Creating standard port groups

Configuring standard port groups

Removing standard port groups

Using vSphere Distributed Switches

Creating vSphere Distributed Switches

Creating a new vSphere Distributed Switch from scratch

Cloning a vSphere Distributed Switch

Creating a vSphere Distributed Switch from an export

Retrieving vSphere Distributed Switches

Configuring vSphere Distributed Switches

Rolling back the configuration of a vSphere Distributed Switch

Importing the configuration of a vSphere Distributed Switch from a backup

Upgrading a vSphere Distributed Switch

Adding hosts to vSphere Distributed Switches

Retrieving hosts connected to vSphere Distributed Switches

Adding host physical network adapters to a vSphere Distributed Switch

Removing host physical network adapters from a vSphere Distributed Switch

Removing hosts from a vSphere Distributed Switch

Exporting the configuration of vSphere Distributed Switches

Removing vSphere Distributed Switches

Using distributed virtual port groups

Creating distributed virtual port groups

Creating distributed virtual port groups from a reference group

Creating distributed virtual port groups from an export

Retrieving distributed virtual port groups

Modifying distributed virtual port groups

Renaming a distributed virtual port group

Rolling back the configuration of a distributed virtual port group

Restoring the configuration of a distributed virtual port group

Configuring network I/O control

Enabling network I/O control

Retrieving the network I/O control enabled status

Disabling network I/O control

Exporting the configuration of distributed virtual port groups

Migrating a host network adapter from a standard port group to a distributed port group

Removing distributed virtual port groups

Configuring host networking

Configuring the network of virtual machines

Setting the IP address

Setting the DNS server addresses

Retrieving the network configurations

Summary

7. Managing Storage

Rescanning for new storage devices

Creating datastores

Creating NFS datastores

Getting SCSI LUNs

Creating VMFS datastores

Creating software iSCSI VMFS datastores

Retrieving datastores

Setting the multipathing policy

Configuring vmhba paths to an SCSI device

Retrieving vmhba paths to an SCSI device

Modifying vmhba paths to an SCSI device

Working with Raw Device Mappings

Configuring storage I/O control

Retrieving Storage I/O Control settings

Configuring Storage DRS

Creating a datastore cluster

Retrieving datastore clusters

Modifying datastore clusters

Adding datastores to a datastore cluster

Retrieving the datastores in a datastore cluster

Removing datastores from a datastore cluster

Removing datastore clusters

Upgrading datastores to VMFS-5

Removing datastores

Using VMware vSAN

Configuring VMware vSAN networking

Enabling VMware vSAN on vSphere clusters

Retrieving the devices available for VMware vSAN

Creating VMware vSAN disk groups

Retrieving VMware vSAN disk groups

Adding a host SCSI disk to a VMware vSAN disk group

Retrieving the host disks that belong to a VMware vSAN disk group

Removing disks from a VMware vSAN disk group

Removing VMware vSAN disk groups

Using vSphere storage policy-based management

Retrieving storage capabilities

Using tags to define storage capabilities

Creating SPBM rules

Creating SPBM rule sets

Creating SPBM storage policies

Retrieving SPBM storage policies

Modifying SPBM storage policies

Retrieving SPBM compatible storage

Using SPBM to create virtual machines

Retrieving SPBM-related configuration data of clusters, virtual machines, and hard disks

Associating storage policies with virtual machines and hard disks and enabling SPBM on clusters

Exporting SPBM storage policies

Importing SPBM storage policies

Removing SPBM storage policies

Summary

8. Managing High Availability and Clustering

Creating vSphere HA and DRS clusters

Retrieving clusters

Retrieving the HA master or primary hosts

Retrieving cluster configuration issues

Modifying the cluster settings

Configuring enhanced vMotion compatibility (EVC) mode

Disabling HA

Disabling or enabling host monitoring

Enabling VM and application monitoring

Configuring the heartbeat datastore selection policy

Moving hosts to clusters

Moving clusters

Using DRS rules

Creating VM-VM DRS rules

Creating VM-host DRS rules

Creating virtual machines DRS groups

Creating hosts DRS groups

Retrieving DRS groups

Modifying DRS groups

Adding virtual machines to a DRS group

Removing virtual machines from a DRS group

Removing DRS groups

Creating Virtual Machines to Hosts DRS rules

Retrieving DRS Rules

Modifying DRS rules

Removing DRS rules

Using DRS recommendations

Using resource pools

Creating resource pools

Retrieving resource pools

Modifying resource pools

Moving resource pools

Configuring resource allocation between virtual machines

Removing resource pools

Using Distributed Power Management

Enabling DPM

Configuring hosts for DPM

Testing hosts for DPM

Putting hosts into standby mode

Starting hosts

Retrieving the DPM configuration of a cluster

Disabling DPM

Removing clusters

Summary

9. Managing vCenter Server

Working with roles and permissions

Retrieving privileges

Using roles

Creating roles

Retrieving roles

Modifying roles

Removing roles

Using permissions

Creating permissions

Retrieving permissions

Modifying permissions

Removing permissions

Managing licenses

Adding license keys to the license inventory

Retrieving license keys from the license inventory

Removing license keys from the license inventory

Assigning licenses to hosts

Retrieving assigned licenses

Using the LicenseDataManager

Associating license keys with host containers

Applying the associated license key to all hosts

Retrieving license key associations

Retrieving all of the license key associations to the host containers in your environment

Retrieving the license keys associated with a specific host container

Retrieving the effective license key of a host container

Modifying license key associations

Removing license key associations

Configuring alarms

Retrieving alarm definitions

Modifying alarm definitions

Creating alarm actions

Configuring the vCenter Server mail server and sender settings

Retrieving alarm actions

Removing alarm actions

Creating alarm action triggers

Retrieving alarm action triggers

Removing alarm action triggers

Retrieving events

Summary

10. Patching ESXi Hosts and Upgrading Virtual Machines

Downloading new patches into the Update Manager repository

Retrieving patches in the Update Manager repository

Using baselines and baseline groups

Retrieving baselines

Retrieving patch baselines

Creating patch baselines

Modifying patch baselines

Attaching baselines to inventory objects

Detaching baselines from inventory objects

Removing baselines

Testing inventory objects for compliance with baselines

Retrieving baseline compliance data

Initializing staging of patches

Remediating inventory objects

Upgrading or patching ESXi hosts

Upgrading virtual machine hardware

Summary

11. Managing VMware vCloud Director and vCloud Air

Connecting to vCloud Air servers and vCloud Director servers

Retrieving organizations

Retrieving organization virtual datacenters

Retrieving organization networks

Retrieving vCloud users

Using vCloud virtual appliances

Retrieving vApp templates

Creating vCloud vApps

Retrieving vCloud vApps

Starting vCloud vApps

Stopping vCloud vApps

Managing vCloud virtual machines

Creating vCloud virtual machines

Retrieving vCloud virtual machines

Starting vCloud virtual machines

Stopping vCloud virtual machines

Using the vCloud Director API with Get-CIView

Removing vCloud virtual machines

Removing vCloud virtual appliances

Creating snapshots

Retrieving snapshots

Reverting to snapshots

Removing snapshots

Disconnecting from vCloud Director servers

Summary

12. Using Site Recovery Manager

Installing SRM

Connecting to SRM servers

Downloading and installing the Meadowcroft.SRM module

Pairing SRM sites

Retrieving the name of the local vCenter Server

Retrieving the remote vCenter Server

Retrieving the SRM user info

Managing protection groups

Creating protection groups

Retrieving protection groups

Protecting virtual machines

Retrieving protected virtual machines

Unprotecting virtual machines

Managing recovery plans

Retrieving recovery plans

Running recovery plans

Retrieving the historical results of recovery plans

Disconnecting from SRM servers

Summary

13. Using vRealize Operations Manager

Connecting to vRealize Operations Manager servers

Retrieving vRealize Operations Manager resource objects

Using alerts

Retrieving alert definitions

Retrieving alert types

Retrieving alert subtypes

Modifying alerts

Retrieving recommendations

Retrieving statistic keys

Retrieving statistical data

Retrieving local user accounts

Using the vRealize Operations Manager API

Getting the user roles

Creating users

Removing users

Retrieving solutions

Retrieving traversalSpecs

Creating reports

Retrieving reports

Disconnecting from vRealize Operations Manager servers

Summary

14. Using REST API to manage NSX and vRealize Automation

Connecting to REST API servers

Managing NSX logical switches

Creating NSX logical switches

Retrieving NSX logical switches

Removing NSX logical switches

Managing NSX logical (distributed) routers

Creating NSX logical (distributed) routers

Retrieving NSX logical (distributed) routers

Removing NSX logical (distributed) routers

Managing NSX Edge services gateways

Retrieving NSX Edge services gateways

Removing NSX Edge services gateways

Connecting to vRA servers

Managing vRA tenants

Creating vRA tenants

Retrieving vRA tenants

Removing vRA tenants

Retrieving vRA business groups

Managing vRA reservations

Creating vRA reservations

Retrieving vRA reservations

Managing vRA machines and applications

Retrieving entitled catalog items

Retrieving a template request for an entitled catalog item

Creating vRA machines

Viewing details of a machine request

Retrieving provisioned resources

Summary

15. Reporting with PowerCLI

Retrieving log files

Creating log bundles

Performance reporting

Retrieving the statistical intervals

Retrieving performance statistics

Retrieving metric IDs

Exporting reports to CSV files

Generating HTML reports

Sending reports by e-mail

Reporting the health of your vSphere environment with vCheck

Summary

Learning PowerCLI Second Edition

Learning PowerCLI Second Edition

Copyright © 2017 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, nor Packt Publishing, and its dealers and distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: February 2014

Second edition: February 2017

Production reference: 1200217

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

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B3 2PB, UK.

ISBN 978-1-78646-801-7

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Credits

Author

Robert van den Nieuwendijk

Copy Editors

Safis Editing

Dipti Mankame

Reviewer

Kim Bottu

Project Coordinator

Shweta H. Birwatkar 

Commissioning Editor

Vijin Boricha

Proofreader

Safis Editing

Acquisition Editor

Prachi Bisht 

Indexer

Pratik Shirodkar

Content Development Editor

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Graphics

Kirk D'Penha

Technical Editor

Gaurav Suri

Production Coordinator

Shantanu N. Zagade

About the Author

Robert van den Nieuwendijk is an IT veteran from the Netherlands with over thirty years of experience in Information Technology. He holds a bachelor degree in software engineering. After working a few years as a programmer of air traffic control and vessel traffic management systems, he started his own company Van den Nieuwendijk Informatica in 1988. Since then he has worked as a freelance systems administrator of OpenVMS, Windows Server, Linux, and VMware vSphere systems, for Dutch governmental organizations and cloud providers. During winter he is also a ski and snowboard instructor at an indoor ski school.

With his background as a programmer, he always tries to make his job easier by writing programs or scripts to perform repeating tasks. In the past, he used the C programming language, OpenVMS DCL, Visual Basic Script and KiXtart to do this. Now, he uses Microsoft PowerShell and VMware PowerCLI for all of his scripting work.

Robert is a frequent contributor and moderator at the VMware VMTN Communities. Since 2012 VMware awarded him the vExpert title for his significant contributions to the community and a willingness to share his expertise with others.

He has a blog at http://rvdnieuwendijk.com where he writes mainly about VMware PowerCLI, Microsoft PowerShell, and VMware vSphere.

If you want to get in touch with Robert, then you can find him on Twitter. His username is @rvdnieuwendijk.

Robert is also the author of Learning PowerCLI, Packt Publishing.

I would like to thank my wife Ali for supporting me writing this second book.

I also want to thank the people at Packt Publishing for giving me the opportunity to update the Learning PowerCLI book and write this second edition.

About the Reviewer

Kim Bottu is the virtualization engineer in the EMEA region for an international Biglaw firm, where he focuses on virtual datacenter operations, optimization, and design.

In his current role, he takes care of the consolidated virtual datacenters in Asia and Europe, and he is the SME for the EMEA Litigation virtual datacenters.

He holds the following certifications and honors: VCA-NV, VCP5-DCV, VCP6-DCV, VCAP5-DCD, VCAP6-DCV Design, and TOGAF 9 certified. He has also been named vExpert 2016 and vExpert 2017.

Kim currently lives in Belgium and is a proud dad of a daughter named Zoey. In his spare time you might find him playing with his daughter, reading books, or riding his mountain bike.

Kim can be reached at www.vMusketeers.com .

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Preface

VMware PowerCLI is a command-line automation and scripting tool that provides a Microsoft PowerShell interface to the VMware vSphere and vCloud products. Learning PowerCLI shows you how to install and use PowerCLI to automate the management of your VMware vSphere environment. With lots of examples, this book will teach you how to manage vSphere from the command line and how to create advanced PowerCLI scripts.

What this book covers

Chapter 1 , Introduction to PowerCLI, gets you started using PowerCLI. First, you will see how to download and install PowerCLI. Then, you will learn to connect to and disconnect from the vCenter and ESXi servers and retrieve a list of all of your hosts and virtual machines.

Chapter 2 , Learning Basic PowerCLI Concepts, introduces the Get-Help, Get-Command, and Get-Member cmdlets. It explains the difference between PowerShell Providers and PSdrives. You will see how you can use the raw vSphere API objects from PowerCLI and how to use the New-VIProperty cmdlet to extend a PowerCLI object.

Chapter 3 , Working with Objects in PowerShell, concentrates on objects, properties, and methods. This chapter shows how you can use the pipeline to use the output of one command as the input of another command. You will learn how to use the PowerShell object cmdlets and how to create PowerShell objects.

Chapter 4 , Managing vSphere Hosts with PowerCLI, covers the management of the vSphere ESXi servers. You will see how to add hosts to the vCenter server and how to remove them. You will work with host profiles, host services, Image Builder, and Auto Deploy, as well as with the esxcli command and the vSphere CLI commands from PowerCLI.

Chapter 5 , Managing Virtual Machines with PowerCLI, examines the lifecycle of virtual machines-from creating to removing them. Creating templates, updating VMware Tools and upgrading virtual hardware, running commands in the guest OS, and configuring fault tolerance are some of the topics discussed in this chapter.

Chapter 6 , Managing Virtual Networks with PowerCLI, walks you through vSphere Standard Switches and vSphere Distributed Switches, port groups, and network adapters. It shows you how to configure host networking and how to configure the network of a virtual machine.

Chapter 7 , Managing Storage, explores creating and removing datastores and datastore clusters, working with Raw Device Mapping, configuring software iSCSI initiators, Storage I/O Control, and Storage DRS.

Chapter 8 , Managing High Availability and Clustering, covers HA and DRS clusters, DRS rules and DRS groups, resource pools, and Distributed Power Management.

Chapter 9 , Managing vCenter Server, shows you how to work with privileges, work with roles and permissions, manage licenses, configure alarm definitions, alarm action triggers, and retrieve events.

Chapter 10 , Patching ESXi Hosts and Upgrading Virtual Machines, focusses on using VMware vSphere Update Manager to download patches, creating baselines and baseline groups, testing virtual machines and hosts for compliance, staging patches, and remediating inventory objects.

Chapter 11 , Managing VMware vCloud Director and vCloud Air, covers connecting to vCloud servers, retrieving organizations, virtual datacenters, organization networks, and users, using vCloud virtual machines and appliances, and using snapshots.

Chapter 12 , Using Site Recovery Manager, explores the Meadowcroft.SRM module to manage SRM protection groups, protecting virtual machines and running recovery plans to migrate or fail-over virtual machines from the protected site to the recovery site.

Chapter 13 , Using vRealize Operations Manager, shows you to use alerts, retrieve recommendations, statistical data, solutions, and traversalSpecs, manage local user accounts and user roles and create and retrieve reports.

Chapter 14 , Using REST API to Manage NSX and vRealize Automation, walks you through REST APIs with examples from VMware NSX and vRealize Automation using basic authentication and bearer tokens, XML, and JSON.

Chapter 15 , Reporting with PowerCLI, concentrates on retrieving log files and log bundles, performance reporting, exporting reports to CSV files, generating HTML reports, sending reports by e-mail, and reporting the health of your vSphere environment with the vCheck script.

What you need for this book

To run the example PowerCLI scripts given in this book, you need the following software:

VMware PowerCLIMicrosoft PowerShellVMware vCenter ServerVMware ESXiVMware vSphere Update ManagerVMware vCloud DirectorVMware Site Recovery ManagerVMware vSphere ReplicationVMware vRealize Operations ManagerVMware NSXVMware vRealize Automation

If you don't have specific software installed, you can use the VMware Hands-on Labs at https://labs.hol.vmware.com/ to test the scripts.

The scripts in this book are tested using VMware PowerCLI 6.5 Release 1, VMware vCenter Server 6.5, and VMware ESXi 6.5. Microsoft PowerShell and VMware PowerCLI are free. You can download a free 60-day evaluation of VMware vCenter Server and VMware ESXi from the VMware website. It is not possible to modify the settings on the free VMware vSphere Hypervisor using PowerCLI.

Who this book is for

This book is written for VMware vSphere administrators who want to automate their vSphere environment using PowerCLI. It is assumed that you have at least a basic knowledge of VMware vSphere. If you are not a vSphere administrator, but you are interested in learning more about PowerCLI, then this book will also give you some basic knowledge of vSphere.

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Chapter 1. Introduction to PowerCLI

Have you ever had to create 200 virtual machines in a short period of time, change a setting on all of your hosts, or make an advanced report for your boss to show how full the hard disks of your virtual machines are? If you have, you know that performing these tasks using the vSphere web client will take a lot of time. This is where automation can make your job easier. VMware PowerCLI is a powerful tool that can perform these tasks and much more. And the best thing is that it is free!

VMware PowerCLI is a command-line interface (CLI) distributed as a collection of Microsoft PowerShell modules and snap-ins. Microsoft PowerShell is Microsoft's command shell and scripting language, designed with the systems administrator in mind. Microsoft PowerShell is available on every Microsoft Windows server or workstation since Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows 7. VMware PowerCLI is an extension to Microsoft PowerShell. This means that all of the features of PowerShell can be used in PowerCLI. You can use PowerCLI to automate your vSphere hosts, virtual machines, virtual networks, storage, clusters, vCenter Servers, and more.

In this chapter, you will learn:

Downloading and installing PowerCLIParticipating in the VMware Customer Improvement ProgramModifying the PowerShell execution policyCreating a PowerShell profileConnecting and disconnecting serversUsing the credential storeRetrieving a list of all of your virtual machinesRetrieving a list of all of your hosts

Downloading and installing PowerCLI

In this section, you will learn how to download and install PowerCLI 6.5 Release 1. First, we will list the requirements for PowerCLI 6.5 Release 1. After downloading PowerCLI from the VMware website, we will install PowerCLI on your system.

Requirements for using PowerCLI 6.5 Release 1

You can install VMware PowerCLI 6.5 Release 1, the version used for writing this book, on the following 64-bit operating systems:

Windows Server 2012 R2Windows Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1Windows 10Windows 8.1Windows 7 Service Pack 1

VMware PowerCLI 6.5 Release 1 is compatible with the following PowerShell versions:

Microsoft PowerShell 3.0Microsoft PowerShell 4.0Microsoft PowerShell 5.0Microsoft PowerShell 5.1

If you want to work with VMware PowerCLI 6.5 Release 1, make sure that the following software is present on your system:

Microsoft PowerShell 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, or 5.1NET Framework 4.5, 4.5.x, 4.6, or 4.6.x

Downloading PowerCLI 6.5 Release 1

Before you can install PowerCLI, you have to download the PowerCLI installer from the VMware website. You will need a My VMware account to do this.

Perform the following steps to download PowerCLI:

Visit http://www.vmware.com/go/powercli . On this page, you will find a Resources section.Click on the Download button to download PowerCLI.You have to log in with a My VMware account. If you don't have a My VMware account, you can register for free.After you log in, you will be taken to the VMware PowerCLI download page. Click on the Download Now button to start downloading PowerCLI.

Installing PowerCLI

Perform the following steps to install PowerCLI:

Run the PowerCLI installer that you just downloaded.Click Yes in the User Account Control window to accept the Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device? option.If the PowerShell execution policy on your computer is not set to RemoteSigned, you will get a warning that tells you It is recommended that you set the execution policy to "RemoteSigned" in order to be able to execute scripts. After the installation of PowerCLI, I will show you how to set the execution policy. Click on Continue to continue to the installation of PowerCLI.Click on Next > in the Welcome to the InstallShield Wizard for VMware PowerCLI window.Select I accept the terms in the license agreement and click on Next >.If you are not using vCloud Air, VMware vCloud Director, vSphere Update Manager, vRealize Operations Manager, or Horizon View, you can click on the little arrow to the left of a feature and select This feature will not be available. I recommend installing all of the features, to be able to run the scripts in all of the chapters in this book. If you want, you can change the installation directory by clicking on Change.... Click on Next >.Click on Install to begin the installation.Click on Finish to exit the installation wizard.

After installing PowerCLI, you will have a VMware PowerCLI icon on your desktop. If you installed PowerCLI on a 64-bit computer, you will also have a VMware PowerCLI (32-Bit) icon. Some PowerCLI commands only work in the 32-bit version of PowerCLI. So keep both versions.

Participating in the VMware Customer Improvement Program

When you start PowerCLI for the first time, you will get the following screen:

You are asked to participate in the VMware Customer Improvement Program (CEIP). Type J to participate in the CEIP or type L to leave.

If you didn't get the text from the preceding screenshot, you may get the following error message:

. : File C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\vSphere PowerCLI\Scripts\Initialize-PowerCLIEnvironment.ps1 cannot be loaded because running scripts is disabled on this system. For more information, see about_Execution_Policies at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=135170.

Then, read the following section,  Modifying the PowerShell execution policy, to solve this problem.

Modifying the PowerShell execution policy

If this is the first time that you are using Microsoft PowerShell on the computer on which you installed PowerCLI, you have to change the execution policy to be able to start PowerCLI.

The Microsoft PowerShell execution policies define when you can run scripts or load configuration files. The possible values for the execution policy are Restricted, AllSigned, RemoteSigned, Unrestricted, Bypass, and Undefined.

Policy

Description

Restricted

This is the default execution policy. It allows you to run commands at the Command Prompt, but disables the execution of scripts. It will also disable the start of PowerCLI.

AllSigned

With the AllSigned execution policy, scripts can run, but they must be signed by a trusted publisher. If you run a script by a publisher that is not trusted yet, you will see a prompt asking whether you trust the publisher of the script.

RemoteSigned

The RemoteSigned execution policy allows you to run scripts that you have written on the local computer. Any script downloaded from the Internet must be signed by a trusted publisher or must be unblocked.

Unrestricted

When the execution policy is set to Unrestricted, unsigned scripts can run. If you run a script that has been downloaded from the Internet, you will get a security warning saying that this script can potentially harm your computer and asking whether you want to run this script.

Bypass

The Bypass execution policy blocks nothing and displays no warnings or prompts. This execution policy is designed for configurations in which a Microsoft PowerShell script is built into a larger application that has its own security model.

Undefined

The Undefined execution policy removes the execution policy from the current scope. If the execution policy in all scopes is Undefined, the effective execution policy is Restricted, which is the default execution policy. The Undefined execution policy will not remove an execution policy that is set in a Group Policy scope.

You can check the current execution policy setting with the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-ExecutionPolicy

Get-ExecutionPolicy is a Microsoft PowerShell commandlet (cmdlet). Cmdlets are commands built into PowerShell or PowerCLI. They follow a verb-noun naming convention. The get cmdlets retrieve information about the item that is specified as the noun part of the cmdlet.

Set the execution policy to RemoteSigned to be able to start PowerCLI and run scripts written on the local computer with the Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned command.

Note

You have to run the Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned command from a PowerShell or PowerCLI session that you started using the Run as Administrator option, or you will get the following error message:

Set-ExecutionPolicy : Access to the registry key 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\1\ShellIds\Microsoft.PowerShell' is denied.

If you are using both the 32-bit and the 64-bit versions of PowerCLI, you have to run this command in both versions.

In the following screenshot of the PowerCLI console, you will see the output of the Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned command if you run this command in a PowerCLI session started with Run as Administrator.

You can get more information about execution policies by typing the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-Help about_Execution_Policies

To get more information about signing your scripts, type the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-Help about_signing

Note

If you get an error message saying Get-Help could not find about_Execution_Policies in a help file, you have to run the Update-Help cmdlet in a PowerShell, or PowerCLI session started with Run as Administrator first. The Update-Help cmdlet downloads the newest help files for Microsoft PowerShell modules and installs them on your computer. Because Microsoft updates the Microsoft PowerShell help files on a regular basis, it is recommended to run the Update-Help cmdlet on a regular basis also.

Creating a PowerShell profile

If you want certain PowerCLI commands to be executed every time you start a PowerCLI session, you can put these commands in a PowerShell profile. The commands in a PowerShell profile will be executed every time you start a new PowerCLI session. There are six PowerShell profiles, two specific for the PowerShell console, two specific for the PowerShell Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE), and two used by both the PowerShell console and the PowerShell ISE. The PowerShell console and the PowerShell ISE have their own profiles for:

All users, current hostCurrent user, current host

The two profiles used by both the PowerShell console and the PowerShell ISE are:

All users, all hostsCurrent user, all hosts

You can retrieve the locations for the different profiles of the PowerShell console by executing the following command in the PowerShell console. In this command, the $PROFILE variable is a standard PowerShell variable that returns an object containing the locations of the PowerShell profiles. This object is piped to the Format-List -Force command to display all of the properties of the $PROFILE object in a list:

PowerCLI C:\> $PROFILE | Format-List -Force AllUsersAllHosts : C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\p rofile.ps1AllUsersCurrentHost : C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\M icrosoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1CurrentUserAllHosts : C:\Users\robert\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\ profile.ps1CurrentUserCurrentHost : C:\Users\robert\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\ Microsoft.PowerShell_profile.ps1Length : 76

Note

Downloading the example code

Detailed steps to download the code bundle are mentioned in the Preface of this book. Please have a look.

The code bundle for the book is also hosted on GitHub at:  https://github.com/rosbook/effective_robotics_programming_with_ros . We also have other code bundles from our rich catalog of books and videos available at https://github.com/PacktPublishing/ . Check them out!

As you can see in the output of the preceding command, the $PROFILE object has four properties AllUsersAllHosts, AllUsersCurrentHost, CurrentUserAllHosts, and CurrentUserCurrentHost that contain the locations of the different profiles.

To list the locations of the PowerShell profiles of the PowerShell ISE, you have to execute the preceding command in the PowerShell ISE. This gives the following output:

PS C:\> $PROFILE | Format-List -Force AllUsersAllHosts : C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\p rofile.ps1AllUsersCurrentHost : C:\Windows\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\M icrosoft.PowerShellISE_profile.ps1CurrentUserAllHosts : C:\Users\robert\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\ profile.ps1CurrentUserCurrentHost : C:\Users\robert\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\ Microsoft.PowerShellISE_profile.ps1Length : 79

Note

You can start the PowerShell ISE from a Command Prompt by running powershell_ise.exe. You can start the PowerShell ISE from within a PowerShell console with the alias ise.

The default value for the $PROFILE variable is the value of the $PROFILE.CurrentUserCurrentHost property. So you can use $PROFILE instead of $PROFILE.CurrentUserCurrentHost.

You can determine if a specific profile exists by using the Test-Path cmdlet. The following command will test if the profile specified by $PROFILE exists:

PowerCLI C:\> Test-Path -Path $PROFILEFalse

If a profile does not exist, as in the preceding example, you can create the profile using the New-Item cmdlet. If the directories in the path do not exist, by using the -Force parameter the New-Item cmdlet will create the directories. The following command will create the current user/current host profile and will also create the missing directories in the path:

PowerCLI C:\> New-Item -Path $PROFILE -ItemType file -Force Directory: C:\Users\robert\Documents\WindowsPowerShell Mode LastWriteTime Length Name---- ------------------ ------ -----a-- 1/7/2017 2:01 PM 0 Microsoft.PowerShell_pro file.ps1

After creating the PowerShell profile, you can edit the profile using the PowerShell ISE with the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> ise $PROFILE

If you put the commands from the preceding section, Modifying the PowerShell execution policy, the new colors of the messages will be used in all of your PowerCLI sessions.

Using the credential store

If you are logged in to your computer with a domain account, you can use your Windows session credentials to connect to a vCenter or ESXi server. If you are not logged in to your computer with a domain account or your domain account has no rights in vSphere, you have to supply account information every time you connect to a vCenter or ESXi server.

To prevent yourself from having to do this, you can store credentials in the credential store. These stored credentials will be used as default if you connect to a server that is stored in the credential store. You can use the -SaveCredentials parameter of the Connect-VIServer cmdlet to indicate that you want to save the specified credentials in the local credential store, as follows:

PowerCLI C:\> Connect-VIServer -Server 192.168.0.132 -User admin -Password pass -SaveCredentials

You can also create a new entry in the credential store with the New-VICredentialStoreItem cmdlet:

PowerCLI C:\> New-VICredentialStoreItem -Host 192.168.0.132 -User Admin -Password pass

You can not only store credentials for vCenter Servers but also for ESXi servers, using the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> New-VICredentialStoreItem -Host ESX1 -User root -Password VMware1!

To get a listing of all of your stored credentials, type the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-VICredentialStoreItem

And to remove a stored credential you can use the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Remove-VICredentialStoreItem -Host ESX1 -User root

The stored credentials are stored in a file on your computer. The default credential store file location is: %APPDATA%\VMware\credstore\vicredentials.xml. But it is also possible to create other credential store files. You can see the contents of the default credential store file with the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-Content -Path $env:APPDATA\VMware\credstore \vicredentials.xml

The passwords stored in a credential store file are encrypted. But you can easily retrieve the stored passwords with the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-VICredentialStoreItem |>> Select-Object -Property Host,User,Password

Note

The passwords in the stored credentials are encrypted. Only the user who created the item can decrypt the password.

Retrieving a list of all of your virtual machines

Now that we know how to connect to a server, let's do something useful with PowerCLI. Most of the people who begin using PowerCLI create reports, so create a list of all of your virtual machines as your first report. You have to use the Get-VM cmdlet to retrieve a list of your virtual machines. The syntax of the Get-VM cmdlet is as follows. The first parameter set is the default:

Get-VM [[-Name] <String[]>] [-Server <VIServer[]>] [-Datastore <StorageResource[]>] [-Location <VIContainer[]>] [-Tag <Tag[]>] [-NoRecursion] [<CommonParameters>]

The second parameter set is for retrieving virtual machines connected to specific virtual switches:

Get-VM [[-Name] <String[]>] [-Server <VIServer[]>] [-VirtualSwitch <VirtualSwitchBase[]>] [-Tag <Tag[]>] [<CommonParameters>]

The third parameter set is for retrieving virtual machines by ID:

Get-VM [-Server <VIServer[]>] -Id <String[]> [<CommonParameters>]

The -Id parameter is required. The fourth parameter set is for retrieving virtual machines by related object:

Get-VM -RelatedObject <VmRelatedObjectBase[]> [<CommonParameters>]

The -RelatedObject parameter is required. You can use these four parameter sets to filter the virtual machines based on name, server, datastore, location, distributed switch, ID, or related object.

Create your first report with the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-VM

This will create a list of all of your virtual machines. You will see the name, power state, the number of CPU's, and the amount of memory in GB for each virtual machine, as shown in the following command-line output:

Name PowerState NumCPUs MemoryGB---- ---------- -------- --------Dc1 PoweredOn 2 4.000VM1 PoweredOn 1 0.250DNS1 PoweredOn 2 8.000

The Name, PowerState, NumCPU, and MemoryGB properties are the properties that you will see by default if you use the Get-VM cmdlet. However, the virtual machine object in PowerCLI has a lot of other properties that are not shown by default. You can see them all by piping the output of the Get-VM cmdlet to the Format-List cmdlet using the pipe character |. The Format-List cmdlet displays object properties and their values in a list format, as shown in the following command-line output:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-VM -Name DC1 | Format-List -Property * Name : DC1PowerState : PoweredOffNotes :Guest : DC1:NumCPU : 1CoresPerSocket : 1MemoryMB : 4096MemoryGB : 4VMHostId : HostSystem-host-10VMHost : 192.168.0.133VApp :FolderId : Folder-group-v9Folder : Discovered virtual machineResourcePoolId : ResourcePool-resgroup-8ResourcePool : ResourcesHARestartPriority : ClusterRestartPriorityHAIsolationResponse : AsSpecifiedByClusterDrsAutomationLevel : AsSpecifiedByClusterVMSwapfilePolicy : InheritVMResourceConfiguration : CpuShares:Normal/1000 MemShares:Normal/40960Version : v13PersistentId : 50399fa1-6d65-a26f-1fd2-b635d0e8610fGuestId : windows9Server64GuestUsedSpaceGB : 30.000001807697117328643798828ProvisionedSpaceGB : 34.175447797402739524841308594DatastoreIdList : {Datastore-datastore-11}ExtensionData : VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineCustomFields : {}Id : VirtualMachine-vm-46Uid : /VIServer=vsphere.local\administrator@192. 168.0.132:443/VirtualMachine=VirtualMachin e-vm-46/Client : VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.VimCli Ent

You can select specific properties with the Select-Object cmdlet. Say you want to make a report that shows the Name, Notes, VMHost, and Guest properties for all your virtual machines. You can do that with the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-VM | Select-Object -Property Name,Notes,VMHost,Guest

The output of the preceding command is as follows:

Name Notes VMHost Guest---- ----- ------ -----DC1 192.168.0.133 DC1:VM1 192.168.0.134 VM1:DNS1 DNS Server 192.168.0.134 DNS1:

In PowerShell, parameters can be positional. This means that you can omit the parameter name if you put the parameter values in the right order. In the preceding example, the -Property parameter of the Select-Object cmdlet can be omitted. So the preceding command can also be written as:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-VM | Select-Object Name,Notes,VMHost,Guest

In the examples in this book, I will always use the parameter names.

Suppressing deprecated warnings

You will probably have also seen the following warning messages:

WARNING: The 'Description' property of VirtualMachine type is deprecated. Use the 'Notes' property instead.WARNING: The 'HardDisks' property of VirtualMachine type is deprecated. Use 'Get-HardDisk' cmdlet instead.WARNING: The 'NetworkAdapters' property of VirtualMachine type is deprecated. Use 'Get-NetworkAdapter' cmdlet instead.WARNING: The 'UsbDevices' property of VirtualMachine type is deprecated. Use 'Get-UsbDevice' cmdlet instead.WARNING: The 'CDDrives' property of VirtualMachine type is deprecated. Use 'Get-CDDrive' cmdlet instead.WARNING: The 'FloppyDrives' property of VirtualMachine type is deprecated. Use 'Get-FloppyDrive' cmdlet instead.WARNING: The 'Host' property of VirtualMachine type is deprecated. Use the 'VMHost' property instead.WARNING: The 'HostId' property of VirtualMachine type is deprecated. Use the 'VMHostId' property instead.WARNING: PowerCLI scripts should not use the 'Client' property. The property will be removed in a future release.

These warning messages show the properties that should not be used in your scripts because they are deprecated and might be removed in a future PowerCLI release. Personally, I like these warnings because they remind me of the properties that I should not use anymore. But if you don't like these warnings, you can stop them from appearing with the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -DisplayDeprecationWarnings $false -Scope User

Using wildcard characters

You can also use wildcard characters to select specific virtual machines. To display only the virtual machines that have names that start with an A or a, type the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-VM -Name A*

Parameter values are not case sensitive. The asterisk (*) is a wildcard character that matches zero or more characters, starting at the specified position. Another wildcard character is the question mark (?), which matches any character at the specified position. To get all virtual machines with a three-letter name that ends with e, use the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-VM -Name ??e

You can also specify some specific characters, as shown in the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-VM -Name [bc]*

The preceding command displays all of the virtual machines that have names starting with b or c. You can also specify a range of characters, as shown in the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-VM -Name *[0-4]

The preceding command lists all of the virtual machines that have names ending with 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4.

Filtering objects

If you want to filter properties that don't have their own Get-VM parameter, you can pipe the output of the Get-VM cmdlet to the Where-Object cmdlet. Using the Where-Object cmdlet, you can set the filter on any property. Let's display a list of all of your virtual machines that have more than one virtual CPU using the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-VM | Where-Object {$_.NumCPU -gt 1}

In this example, the Where-Object cmdlet has a PowerShell scriptblock as a parameter. A scriptblock is a PowerShell script surrounded by braces. In this scriptblock, you see $_. When using commands in the pipeline, $_ represents the current object. In the preceding example, $_