View source for Useful One-Liners (PowerCLI)

== Virtual Centre ==
=== Get vCentre software version ===
Get vCentre software version etc
<source lang="powershell"> (Get-View ServiceInstance).Content.About </source>

=== Get all permissions for a user ===
Get all permissions for a particular user
<source lang="powershell"> Get-VIPermission -Principal "DOMAIN\user" | Select @{Name="Folder"; Expression={ (Get-Folder -Id $_.EntityId).Name}}, Role </source> 

== Virtual Machine ==
=== Get list of VM's ===
Get list of VM's
<source lang="powershell"> Get-VM </source> 

==== Sort by Name ==== 
Get list of VM's, sorted by name
<source lang="powershell"> Get-VM | Sort -Property Name </source>

==== Within a Folder ====
Get VM within a specific folder (for when you've VM's with identical names if different folders)
<source lang="powershell"> Get-VM -Name MyVM -Location (Get-Folder -Name "MyFolder") </source>

=== Get VM guest Info ===
Get VM guest OS info (IP address, etc)
<source lang="powershell"> Get-VMGuest -VM (Get-VM -Name MyVM) </source> 

=== Get VM's UUID ===
Get VM's UUID
<source lang="powershell"> Get-VM MyVM | %{(Get-View $_.Id).config.uuid} </source>  

=== Storage vMotion ===
Storage vMotion (SvMotion) a VM to a different datastore
<source lang="powershell"> Get-VM MyVM | Move-VM -datastore (Get-datastore "DestinationDatastore") </source>  

=== Gracefully Shutdown a VM ===
Sends OS shutdown command via VM Tools
<source lang="powershell"> Shutdown-VMGuest -VM (Get-VM -name "vserver1") </source>  

=== Get VM Power On/Off Events ===
Get Power On/Off times and events for VM
<source lang="powershell"> get-VM MyVM | Get-VIEvent | Where {$_.fullFormattedMessage -like "*Power*"} </source>

=== Get Snapshot info for a VM ===
Get Snapshot size, date created, and other info for a VM
<source lang="powershell"> Get-VM MyVM | Get-Snapshot | Select-Object -Property Name, Description, Created, SizeMB | Format-List * </source>

=== Move VMs to New PortGroup Network ===
The following will reconfigure all VM in the specified folder to move from network A to network B
<source lang="powershell"> Get-VM -Location (Get-Folder "InThisFolder") | Get-NetworkAdapter | Where {$_.NetworkName -eq "Network A"} | Set-NetworkAdapter -NetworkName "Network B" -Confirm:$false </source>
Borrowed in part from http://www.virtu-al.net/2009/10/19/powercli-mass-vm-portgroup-change/

== ESX Host ==
=== Get ESX software version etc ===
Get ESX software version (inc build no)
<source lang="powershell"> get-vmhost -name MyESX* | %{(Get-View $_.ID).Config.Product} </source>

=== Get VLANs ===
Get VLANs configured on ESX
<source lang="powershell"> Get-VMHost MyESX* | Get-VirtualPortGroup | Sort VLanId | Select VLanId, Name </source>

=== Get Disk VML ID's ===
Get ESX disk VML ID's (SAN ID are a part of the VML - useful for identifying LUN's with SAN team). See [[ESX#SAN_LUN_ID|ESX SAN LUN ID]]
<source lang="powershell"> Get-ScsiLun -VMHost MyESX* -LunType disk </source> 

=== Get SCSI paths ===
Get ESX SCSI paths info
<source lang="powershell"> Get-ScsiLun -VMHost MyESX* -LunType disk | Get-ScsiLunPath </source>  

=== Get Fibre Channel HBA info ===
Get ESX Fibre Channel HBA info
<source lang="powershell"> Get-VMHostHba -VMHost MyESX* | Where {$_.Type -eq "FibreChannel"} | Format-List * </source>  

=== Get HA Cluster Primaries ===
Display ESX hosts that are HA Primaries
<source lang="powershell"> Get-Cluster | Get-HAPrimaryVMHost | Select Name </source> 

=== Recent Storage Errors ===
Display recent ESX storage errors
<source lang="powershell"> Get-VIEvent -Entity (Get-VMHost MyESX*) -Type error | Where {$_.FullFormattedMessage -like "*storage*"} | Select CreatedTime, FullFormattedMessage </source>

== ESXi Logs ==
=== Get Log ===
Generate diagnostic bundle
<source lang="powershell"> Get-Log -VMHost (Get-VMHost "MyESX*") -Bundle -DestinationPath C:\Users\name </source> 

==== VPXA ====
Get vpxa log
<source lang="powershell"> Get-Log vpxa -VMHost (Get-VMHost "MyESX*") | Select -ExpandProperty Entries </source> 

==== Messages ====
Get messages log
<source lang="powershell"> Get-Log messages -VMHost (Get-VMHost "MyESX*") | Select -ExpandProperty Entries </source> 

==== HostD ====
Get hostd log from line 1000
<source lang="powershell"> Get-Log hostd -VMHost (Get-VMHost "MyESX*") -StartLineNum 1000 -NumLines 100 | Select -ExpandProperty Entries </source> 

==== Filtered HostD ====
Get hostd log entries that include <code>FindMe</code>
<source lang="powershell"> Get-Log hostd -VMHost (Get-VMHost "MyESX*") | Select -Expand Entries | Select-String FindMe </source> 

==== Grid View ====
Dump hostd log into GridView
<source lang="powershell"> Get-Log hostd -VMHost (Get-VMHost "MyESX*") | Select -Expand Entries | Out-GridView </source> 

== Storage ==
=== Get VMDKs ===
Get the virtual HD (VMDK) details for a particular VM
<source lang="powershell"> Get-VM -Name "MyVM" | Get-HardDisk | Format-List </source>

Get the VMDK details for a particular VM (as seen from within guest OS)
<source lang="powershell"> (Get-VM -name "MyVM" | Get-VMGuest).Disks </source>

Get the VMDK details for all VM’s in a folder (sorted by VMDK path)
<source lang="powershell"> Get-VM -Location (Get-Folder -Name "MyFolder") | Get-HardDisk | sort-object -Property Filename </source> 

=== Create PowerShell drive ===
Create a PowerShell drive for the ''MyDatastore'' datastore
<source lang="powershell"> New-PSDrive -Name DS -PSProvider ViMdatastore -Root '\' -location (Get-Datastore MyDatastore) </source>  

=== Upload file to datastore ===
Upload file to datastore (a PowerShell drive needs to be create 1st - see above)
<source lang="powershell"> Copy-DatastoreItem C:\Temp\FileToUpload.vmdk -Destination DS:\VMFolder\ </source> 

=== List VM RDMs ===
List VM Raw Device Mapping (RDM) disks
<source lang="powershell"> Get-VM | Get-HardDisk -DiskType "RawPhysical","RawVirtual" | Select Parent,Name,CapacityKB,Filename,ScsiCanonicalName,DeviceName </source>

=== List LUN Multipathing ===
List all disk multipathing
<source lang="powershell"> Get-VMHost | Get-ScsiLun | Select VMHost,Vendor,Model,LunType,CapacityMB,RuntimeName,MultipathPolicy,CanonicalName | Export-Csv lunpath.csv </source>

=== Set LUN Multipathing ===
Set all SCSI disks to use round robin multipathing
<source lang="powershell"> Get-VMHost | Get-ScsiLun -LunType disk |  Set-ScsiLun -MultipathPolicy "roundrobin" </source>
The above came from Troy Clavell's post to be found at http://communities.vmware.com/thread/339480

Note that you should also set the IOPS per path to 1 (default is 1000), there is some debate as to whether you should do this or not, HP recommend it for their SAN's, though some worry about the overhead on the ESX caused by switching paths for every IO.  The choice is yours, though for further reading and how to do it...
* http://h20195.www2.hp.com/V2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=4AA1-2185ENW&cc=us&lc=en - HP's best practice
* http://www.yellow-bricks.com/2010/03/30/whats-the-point-of-setting-iops1/ 

[[Category:PowerCLI]]
[[Category:Virtual Centre]]
[[Category:Virtual Machine]]
[[Category:ESX]]