Script Extracts and Examples (PowerCLI)

Before being able to use any the following script you need to install...

• Windows PowerShell
• VI Toolkit

The following website is a good resource for general PowerShell help

• http://powershell.com/cs/

Getting Started

On the first run you need to allow the Toolkit to run properly by running...

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

Connect to the Virtual Centre using the following command using your normal username and password (same as you'd use to log into the VI Client). You will need access to the servers on TCP 443.

Connect-VIServer -Server uklonvcp1 -User <user> -Password <pass>

Be aware that PowerShell commands generally return objects, rather than text, and that the textual representation of the return object is often abbreviated for simplicity. To see the entire return for a command, pipe the result into Format-List. To complicate matters further, some return objects contain further objects, see examples below

[vSphere PowerCLI] E:\> get-vm -name "winstg"

Name                 PowerState Num CPUs Memory (MB)
----                 ---------- -------- -----------
winstg               PoweredOn  1        756


[vSphere PowerCLI] E:\> get-vm -name "winstg" | Format-List *

PowerState          : PoweredOn
Description         :
Guest               : VMware.VimAutomation.Client20.VMGuestImpl
NumCpu              : 1
MemoryMB            : 756
CDDrives            : {CD/DVD Drive 1}
FloppyDrives        : {Floppy Drive 1}
HardDisks           : {Hard Disk 1}
NetworkAdapters     : {Network Adapter 1}
Host                : uklonesxt1.datastream.com
HostId              : HostSystem-host-301
HARestartPriority   : ClusterRestartPriority
HAIsolationResponse : AsSpecifiedByCluster
DrsAutomationLevel  : AsSpecifiedByCluster
CustomFields        : {}
Id                  : VirtualMachine-vm-25136
Name                : winstg


[vSphere PowerCLI] E:\> get-vm -name "ukt1ewapilp1" | Format-List *

PowerState          : PoweredOff
Description         :
Guest               : VMware.VimAutomation.Client20.VMGuestImpl
NumCpu              : 2
MemoryMB            : 2048
CDDrives            : {CD/DVD Drive 1}
FloppyDrives        : {Floppy Drive 1}
HardDisks           : {Hard Disk 1}
NetworkAdapters     : {Network Adapter 1, Network Adapter 2, Network Adapter 3}
Host                : uklonesxtml1.datastream.com
HostId              : HostSystem-host-662
HARestartPriority   : ClusterRestartPriority
HAIsolationResponse : AsSpecifiedByCluster
DrsAutomationLevel  : AsSpecifiedByCluster
CustomFields        : {}
Id                  : VirtualMachine-vm-697
Name                : ukt1ewapilp1


[vSphere PowerCLI] E:\> get-vm -name "ukt1ewapilp1" | ForEach-Object {$_.NetworkAdapters}

MacAddress       : 00:50:56:89:40:59
WakeOnLanEnabled : True
NetworkName      : PubLBFE2_52.128
Type             : Flexible
ConnectionState  : VMware.VimAutomation.Client20.ConnectInfoImpl
Id               : VirtualMachine-vm-697/4000
Name             : Network Adapter 1

MacAddress       : 00:50:56:89:55:40
WakeOnLanEnabled : True
NetworkName      : PubLBBE1_52.192
Type             : Flexible
ConnectionState  : VMware.VimAutomation.Client20.ConnectInfoImpl
Id               : VirtualMachine-vm-697/4001
Name             : Network Adapter 2

MacAddress       : 00:50:56:89:56:da
WakeOnLanEnabled : True
NetworkName      : PubHostBE2_49.192
Type             : Flexible
ConnectionState  : VMware.VimAutomation.Client20.ConnectInfoImpl
Id               : VirtualMachine-vm-697/4002
Name             : Network Adapter 3

Useful CommandLets etc

Virtual Machine

Command	Description
get-vm	Get list of VM's
get-vm | sort -property Name	Get list of VM's, sorted by name
get-vmguest -VM (get-vm -name "winstg")	Get VM guest info (IP address, OS)

ESX Host

Command	Description
%{(Get-View $_.ID).Config.Product}	Get ESX software version (inc build no)

VM Datastores

List of Virtual Machines, and their datastores (with usage)

$datastoreExp = @{N="Datastore"; E={ ($_ | get-datastore | select-object -first 1).Name }}
$diskSizeExp = @{N="Total Disk"; E={ ($_ | get-harddisk | measure-object -property CapacityKB -sum).Sum }}
get-vm | select Name, $datastoreExp, $diskSizeExp | sort -property Datastore,"Total Disk"