Script Extracts and Examples (PowerCLI)
Getting Started
Before being able to use any the following script you need to install...
On the first run you need to allow the Toolkit to run properly by running (you need to run this command as an administrator, so if you're using Windows 7, for example, you'll need to start the Powershell console as an administrator, regardless of whether you're currently logged in as an admin)...
Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
Connect to the Virtual Centre (or ESX) server 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 <server> -User <user> -Password <pass>
Once connected you can do real work with the PowerCLI, to see what's available, login to https://server/mob. This is effectively where you end up once you've completed the Connect-VIServer
command.
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 CmdLets 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) |
Get-VM "winstg" | %{(Get-View $_.Id).config.uuid}
|
Get VM's UUID |
Shutdown-VMGuest -VM (get-vm -name "winstg")
|
Sends OS shutdown command via VM Tools |
ESX Host
Command | Description |
---|---|
get-vmhost -name uklonesxt1* | %{(Get-View $_.ID).Config.Product}
|
Get ESX software version (inc build no) |
Get-ScsiLun -VMHost uklonesxt1* -LunType disk
|
Get ESX disk VML ID's (SAN ID are a part of the VML - useful for identifying LUN's with SAN team) |
Get-ScsiLun -VMHost uklonesxt1* -LunType disk | Get-ScsiLunPath
|
Get ESX SCSI paths info |
Performance Stats
The full wealth of performance metrics that are collated by virtual centre are available via the PowerCLI. This can be very useful for creating custom reports, feeding data into other tools etc.
Script Extracts
VM's with Datastores List
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"
VM's with Host and Cluster List
$vms = Get-VM | sort -property Name foreach ($vm in $vms) { $vm | Get-Cluster | Select-Object @{Name="VM"; Expression={$vm.name}},@{Name="Current Host"; Expression={$vm.host}},Name }
VM's Inventory CSV
$start = Get-Date # Create table for output # Name DC OS UUID IP Cluster ESX's $table = New-Object system.Data.DataTable "Results" $col1 = New-Object system.Data.DataColumn Name,([string]) $col2 = New-Object system.Data.DataColumn DC,([string]) $col3 = New-Object system.Data.DataColumn OS,([string]) $col4 = New-Object system.Data.DataColumn UUID,([string]) $col5 = New-Object system.Data.DataColumn MgmtIP,([string]) $col6 = New-Object system.Data.DataColumn Cluster,([string]) #$col7 = New-Object system.Data.DataColumn ESXs,([string]) $table.columns.add($col1) $table.columns.add($col2) $table.columns.add($col3) $table.columns.add($col4) $table.columns.add($col5) $table.columns.add($col6) #$table.columns.add($col7) $duration = (New-TimeSpan $start (Get-Date)).TotalSeconds "Created table after $duration secs" # Get VMs object $vms = Get-VM | Sort -property Name $duration = (New-TimeSpan $start (Get-Date)).TotalSeconds "Got object list of VM's after $duration secs" foreach ($vm in $vms) { $row = $table.NewRow() $row.Name = (Get-VM -Name $vm).Name $row.DC = (Get-Datacenter -VM $vm).Name $row.OS = (Get-VMGuest -VM $vm).OSFullName $row.UUID = %{(Get-View $vm.Id).config.uuid} $row.MgmtIP = [string]::join(" ", ((Get-VMGuest -VM $vm).IPAddress)) # Need to join potential list of IP's $row.Cluster = (Get-Cluster -VM $vm).Name $table.Rows.Add($row) "Added row for $vm" } $duration = (New-TimeSpan $start (Get-Date)).TotalSeconds "Populated table after $duration secs" $table | Format-Table $table | Export-Csv -path result.csv