INTRODUCTION

Automation, scripting and PowerCLI are words that most people working with VMware products know

pretty well and have used once or twice. Everyone also knows automation is a great tool to have

in your tool belt. The problem usually is that getting into automation and scripting appears daunting

to many people who feel like the learning curve is just too steep and they usually don't know where

to start. The good thing is you don't need to learn everything straight away to start working with

PowerShell and PowerCLI. Once you have the basics down and have your curiosity tickled,

you will learn what you need as you go... a lot faster than you thought you would!

This eBook doesn't contain absolutely everything about automation, but it serves as an ideal starting

point explaining what need to know to get started. Just like a mechanic’s starter kit, you can't build

a car engine with it but you can do the basics to call yourself a budding mechanic. This book contains

the first few steps of a long stairway paved with cmdlets, properties and methods and a little more

than that.

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SECOND EDITION UPDATE NOTES

PowerCLI: An Aspiring Automator’s Guide was first released in 2019 and received widespread acclaim

from the community. The aim of the original release was to deliver solid foundation skills for anyone

to get started with PowerCLI and PowerShell. In this second edition, a full revision of the original text

has been undertaken as well as updated app features and additional content on actions that go

a bit more in-depth compared to just how to use the standard built-in cmdlets.

Here is an overview of the additional content you can expect to find in this edition:

• What’s new in PowerCLI 12.2

• Working with vCenter HA (VCHA)

• Reporting on Raw Device Mapping (RDM)

• Backup vSphere host configuration

• Reporting on snapshots

• Getting datastore usage information

• Container based vCenter simulator (VCSIM)

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CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ...................................... .................................................................................. 3

SECOND EDITION UPDATE NOTES .............................................................................................. 4

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO POWERCLI ....................................................................... ......... 9

What is PowerCLI? .................................................................................................... 9

Why would you want to use it? ................................................................................... 10

What can you do with it? ........................................................................................... 11

PowerCLI 12.2 ......................................................................................................... 11

CHAPTER 2: INSTALLING POWERCLI ........................................................................................ 14

Requirements ......................................................................................................... 14

Before Installing ...................................................................................................... 14

Downloading and Installation .................................................................................... 14

Machine with Internet Access .................................................................................... 15

Machine with no Internet access ................................................................................ 15

Execution policy .............................................................................................................. 16

CHAPTER 3: GETTING STARTED WITH POWERCLI ...................................................................... 18

Configuring PowerCLI ............................................................................................... 18

Connecting to vCenter .............................................................................................. 20

Credential store....................................................................................................... 21

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 PowerCLI Objects .................................................................................................... 21

Object-By-Name selection (OBN) ............................................................................... 21

Data structure ......................................................................................................... 22

Object State ............................................................................................................ 23

Retrieving Basic Data on vSphere Objects .................................................................... 24

List All Powered-on Virtual Machines with their Folders in Cluster "Management" ........... 25

List Virtual Machines and the Hosts they are Running on .............................................. 25

Exploring PowerCLI Objects ............................................................................... ....... 26

Retrieve Advanced Data on vSphere Objects (ExtensionData) .......................................... 30

CHAPTER 4: WRITING SCRIPTS ................................................................................................ 33

Shorter is better ...................................................................................................... 33

No Hardcoded Values ............................................................................................... 33

Error Handling ........................................................................................................ 34

PSScriptAnalyzer ..................................................................................................... 34

Functions ............................................................................................................... 34

Why use Functions? ................................................................................................. 35

Functions Best Practices ........................................................................................... 36

CHAPTER 5: HOW TO USE SCHEDULED TASKS AND HTML REPORTS ........................................... 40

Task Scheduling ...................................................................................................... 40

Preparation............................................................................................................. 40

Installing the scripts ................................................................................................. 42

Create the scheduled task......................................................................................... 43

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 HTML reporting ............................................................................................................... 45

Producing the HTML report ....................................................................................... 46

Processing the report ............................................................................................... 46

CHAPTER 6: USE CASES ........................................................................................................... 49

Deploying virtual machines from a CSV file................................................................... 49

Requirements ......................................................................................................... 49

The Script Explained ............... ................................................................................. 50

Manage vSphere tags ............................................................................................... 54

Add a portgroup on a standard vSwitch on all hosts in a cluster ....................................... 57

Monitor VM CPU usage in near real time ....................................................................... 59

Retrieve stats .......................................................................................................... 59

Progress bar............................................................................................................ 62

Monitor multiple counters ....... ................................................................................. 63

Change the VSAN default rebuild delay ........................................................................ 64

vCenter High Availability (VCHA)................................................................................. 66

The properties and methods .............................................................................. ....... 67

Get vCenter HA status information ............................................................................. 68

Retrieve vCenter HA node information ....................................................................... 70

Going further .......................................................................................................... 71

Reporting on Raw Device Mapping disks ...................................................................... 73

Identifying VMs with an RDM disk .............................................................................. 74

Obtaining information about the RDMs on a VM .......................................................... 74

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 Backup vSphere Host Configuration ............................................................................ 76

Backing up a vSphere host configuration to file .................................................... ....... 76

Wrapping it into a scheduled task .............................................................................. 77

Restoring a vSphere host configuration ...................................................................... 79

Reporting on snapshots ............................................................................................ 79

Retrieving usage information of a datastore ................................................................. 82

CHAPTER 7: RUNNING ESXCLI COMMANDS IN POWERCLI .......................................................... 85

Browsing ESXCLI...................................................................................................... 85

Running commands ................................................................................................. 86

Help() ..................................................................................................................... 86

Invoke() .................................................................................................................. 87

CreateArgs() ............................................................................................................ 88

vCenter and ESXi API based simulator ......................................................................... 90

Docker engine ......................................................................................................... 91

Deploy the VCSIM container ............................................................................... ....... 92

Using PowerCLI with VCSIM....................................................................................... 93

CHAPTER 8: CONTINUING YOUR AUTOMATION JOURNEY .......................................................... 96

ABOUT XAVIER AVRILLIER ................................................................................................ ....... 98

ABOUT ALTARO ..................................................................................................................... 101

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
TO POWERCLI

Let's get to know PowerCLI a little better before we start getting our hands dirty in the command

prompt. If you are reading this, you probably already know what PowerCLI is about or have a vague

idea of it but if not, we’ll quickly get you up to speed. After a while working with PowerCLI, it becomes

second nature and you can't really imagine life without it anymore. You then forget that many IT folks

out there don't use PowerCLI or simply haven't heard of it. Thanks to VMware's drive to push

automation, the product's integration with all of their components grew bigger and better over

the years and it has become a critical part of their ecosystem.

WHAT IS POWERCLI?
As opposed to what some may think, PowerCLI is not a software but a command-line and scripting

tool built on Windows PowerShell for managing and automating vSphere environments. It used

to be distributed as an executable file to install on the workstation. An icon was generated that would

essentially launch PowerShell and load the PowerCLI snap-ins in the session. This behaviour changed

back in version 6.5.1 when the executable file was removed and replaced by a suite of PowerShell

modules to install from within the prompt since they were added to the PowerShell Gallery

(Microsoft's registered repository).

These modules provide the means to interact with the components of a VMware environment

and offer more than 600 cmdlets!

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WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO USE IT?
Apart from the fact that it has become an industry standard and is a welcome addition to anyone's

resume, there are many compelling reasons why one should learn PowerShell, and PowerCLI

by extension. Let’s focus on its three core benefits:

SAVE TIME ON REPETITIVE TASKS

Virtualization is generally associated with cool words like system architecture, design and

troubleshooting of complex environments. While this is definitely true, the operational side of it

is often forgotten because it is a lot less attractive and consists mostly of monotonous and time-

consuming tasks. Unfortunately, it has to be done and in a vast majority of cases the vSphere

administrator will wear both the project work hat and operational work hat. These repetitive

operations include boring tasks like datastore and snapshots monitoring, VM creation, host

implementation, you name it. All these little things that if not done could quickly ruin your day.

PowerCLI will allow you to automate most of them, be it in the command prompt or in a script that

can be run in a schedule task. People are often surprised when they see the time they could save

and use it to do more interesting things (like writing more scripts to automate even more!).

AVOID HUMAN ERROR

When something goes wrong, 9 times out of 10 it is due to human error. Obviously, you will never be

free from the possibility of a hardware component failing or a bug in a firmware, but these are events

you cannot prevent. What PowerCLI can help you with is consistency and avoiding silly mistake. What

if you detached the wrong LUN in the vSphere client because you read "b" instead of "d" and 15 VMs

go down… This wouldn't have happened if you gathered the Lon ID from a datastore object in PowerCLI.

For example, what if your colleague configured a standard port group with VLAN ID 148 instead of 1048

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and the VM isn't recovered in an HA event because of this? A simple script would ensure all

port-groups are created the same way from the start.

IMPROVE REPORTING AND ALERTING

Every company running a vSphere infrastructure should have a solid agent-based monitoring system

like Zabbix or Nagios and enable vCenter alerts at the very least. Complementary solutions like

vRealize Operations Manager can greatly improve your visibility of the environment, but as great

as they are, these come at a cost and may not allow reporting on the information you are after.

Once again, PowerCLI can increase your reporting and alerting capabilities to fill the gaps in your

monitoring. You will be able to create well formatted HTML reports served on a web page or sent

via email.

WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH IT?

In PowerCLI you can do just about anything you can do in the web client and more. You can generally

get the information you are after or change a configuration much quicker than in the vSphere client.

The most common example is automating the deployment of a large number of VMs which we will

talk about more extensively in the use cases.

POWERCLI 12.2
The latest version of PowerCLI (at the time of publication) is PowerCLI 12.2. This version brings

a number of new features as well as support for newly released products and new product versions:

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Added cmdlets for:

• ESXi host network management

• HCX management

• Namespace Management

• Trusted Host Services management

• VM Guest Disk management

• VMware Cloud on AWS management

• vSAN management

• DRaaS management

• vSphere Lifecycle Manager (vLCM)

• Workload Management clusters management

Updated support for:

• vSphere 7.0

• DRaaS

• VMware Horizon PowerCLI module now supported for macOS and Linux

• vRealize Operations 8.0

• License module for multiplatform use

• vROps module for multiplatform use

• Open-VMConsoleWindow for multiplatform use

• Move-VM to include opaque networks

• PowerShell versions

This version also includes a new VMware Cloud Services Management module that contains 11 new

cmdlets. By default, it will connect to the public “console.cloud.vmware.com” if no server is specified

in the “Connect-Vcs” cmdlet.

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If you are using scripts in production that were written with PowerCLI 11.x or earlier, as usual we

recommend that you always check that they work correctly with the new version before updating

PowerCLI on those systems. It is best to discover a compatibility problem interactively than

a few weeks down the line where you realize a script hasn’t been running properly.

You can find the procedure on how to update PowerCLI in the Downloading and Installation section

of this book.

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CHAPTER 2: INSTALLING POWERCLI

REQUIREMENTS
Before you begin, find all the requirements and interoperability information about PowerCLI

in the compatibility matrix for PowerCLI to make sure your configuration is supported. Head over

to VMware code, select your version of PowerCLI and open the associated compatibility matrix.

You will need .NET Framework 4.7.2 and above. Since version 11.2.0, PowerCLI is officially supported

on PowerShell version 4.0 and above as well as Windows 10 / Server 2012 R2 and above.

Note that PowerCLI is now also available on Linux and macOS thanks to PowerShell Core.

BEFORE INSTALLING
Prior to installing the latest version, you need to uninstall any version of PowerCLI older than 6.5 R1

from your system. You can uninstall it like any installed software in "Programs and Features".

DOWNLOADING AND INSTALLATION

The installation procedure will be slightly different with regards to whether the machine you are

installing it on has internet access or not. Let’s cover both scenarios.

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MACHINE WITH INTERNET ACCESS

INSTALLING

The installation procedure has been simplified since the modules have been added to the PowerShell

Gallery with version 6.5.1 and is now straightforward.

• Open a PowerShell prompt and install the modules using:

Install-Module VMware.PowerCLI -Scope CurrentUser

The modules will be automatically downloaded and stored in the correct folder.

Note that you can use the -Scope parameter to make the PowerCLI modules

available to AllUsers.

UPDATING

Although it will work, it is recommended to avoid using the Update-Module cmdlet to update

PowerCLI as it will not remove any files rendered obsolete by the new version. Therefore,

• Uninstall the existing version using:

Get-module VMware.* -listAvailable | Uninstall-Module -Force

• Next, install the new version by following the install procedure outlined previously

MACHINE WITH NO INTERNET ACCESS

INSTALLING

If your system does not have Internet access you will need to download PowerCLI as a zip file from the

VMware website and copy the modules into your modules folder. Unlike many of the VMware products,

you don't need to be logged in to download PowerCLI.

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• Head over to VMware code and select the latest version of PowerCLI

• Download the zip file

• Transfer the file to your offline machine and copy all the folders present in the zip to your

PowerShell Modules folder. Again, choose the location accordingly to make it available

to everyone or to yourself only:

Current User %USERPROFILE%\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Modules

All Users C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules

UPDATING

To update PowerCLI, delete the existing PowerCLI module folders and follow the procedure

outlined above.

EXECUTION POLICY
Execution policies are a security mechanism that determines if files can be loaded in PowerShell

such as config files, modules, scripts… You can find your current execution policy by running:

Get-ExecutionPolicy

You may need to change the default execution policy to be able run scripts you wrote. Unless a GPO

changed the default setting, you won't need to if you are on a Windows Server OS. However, it is required

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for Windows client OS (i.e. Windows 10) as the default is set to Restricted, you will then need to change

it to RemoteSigned with:

Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

Some highly secured environments may require that all the scripts (even those written in-house) are

digitally signed by the enterprise PKI. This means the execution policy must be set to AllSigned if not

already done via GPO. In which case you will have to digitally sign your scripts prior to running them.

Note: Any change in the script means a new signature is required.

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CHAPTER 3: GETTING STARTED
WITH POWERCLI

CONFIGURING POWERCLI
Apart from the execution policy mentioned previously, there is no configuration required before

using PowerCLI. However, it is worth talking about a few recommended settings that could be useful.

You can use the Set-PowerCLIConfiguration cmdlet to amend the configuration of PowerCLI.

Once again, a "-scope" parameter will allow you to modify the settings for the session, current user

or all users. The Session scope has the highest priority, and the All Users scope has the lowest of the three.

Note: Any setting configured with the Session scope will not be persisted after

closing the current prompt.

Other parameters allow you to configure settings such as whether or not to use the system proxy,

display warnings about deprecated elements, increase the timeout of commands (which defaults

at 5 minutes), etc. You can find all the parameters using:

Get-help Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -parameters *

Let’s take a look at two of the most common parameters you’ll use here.

-DefaultVIServerMode

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This parameter is sometimes overlooked, but it is very important if your environment contains more

than one vCenter server. This parameter defines whether you can connect to more than one

vCenter at a time. It is important because a mistake can quickly occur if you have forgotten that you

have two active vCenter sessions in your PowerShell prompt, for example. You typically won’t have

problems with Get commands where you’re just retrieving information, but you REALLY need to start

paying attention once you start working with Set, Remove…etc…etc in this situation.

Restrict to one vCenter Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -DefaultVIServerMode Single

Allow multiple vCenter Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -DefaultVIServerMode Multiple

-InvalidCertificateAction

This parameter defines the behaviour of the Connect-VIServer with regards to the vCenter certificate.

This parameter does not apply to you if the installed vCenter certificate is signed by a trusted root CA.

If the certificate isn’t valid (expired, self-signed, not trusted, etc.) the default setting is to display a warning

when you establish the connection. You can change this behaviour with the following parameter:

Prompt before continuing.

Possible choices are Deny, Accept for once, Set-PowerCLIConfiguration –
Accept permanently, Accept for all users. InvalidCertificateAction Prompt

No connection established Set-PowerCLIConfiguration –

InvalidCertificateAction Fail

Connection established regardless of the Set-PowerCLIConfiguration –

certificate status InvalidCertificateAction Ignore

(Default value) Connection is established Set-PowerCLIConfiguration –

but a warning is displayed InvalidCertificateAction Warn

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CONNECTING TO VCENTER
You can connect to a ESXi host or a vCenter server with the Connect-VIServer cmdlet. You can do it

a few different ways thanks to the various parameters it offers. You can connect with a Session ID,

a credential object, a user password/combination, credential store, etc.

The most common way to connect is to specify the IP or FQDN of the server and use the current

PowerShell session user if it has permissions on the vCenter server:

Connect-VIServer vcsa.test.local

You can retrieve the list of the connected vCenter servers by displaying the content of the global

variable $Global:DefaultVIServers, which populates after a successful connection (a tiny caveat

here: this is a variable). This means that if a network interruption occurs, for instance, and the session

is no longer connected, the variable will remain populated, and in which case you will need to reconnect,

causing the variable to be overwritten with the new active session. This object contains information

about the server and the session such as the session ID, user, version and build… If it cannot connect

with the current user, a credential popup appears to let you enter a different user/password combination.

You can also add the credential parameter, so you don’t have to wait for the current user to fail

the connection:

Connect-VIServer vcsa.test.local –Credential (Get-Credential)

I would also like to point out a nifty little parameter of this cmdlet that displays a list of the recently

connected vCenter servers. You don’t see this one too often, but it can be very useful if you manage

a bunch of different servers. You can then select the one you want to connect to with its number

Connect-VIServer -menu

20
CREDENTIAL STORE
By default, when connecting to a vCenter server, PowerCLI will check what is referred to as the

Credential Store. Similar to the Windows Credentials Manager, the Credential Store saves sets

of host credentials you have at your disposal. There are 2 main benefits to using the Credential Store:

1. Credentials are encrypted and stored securely (never put credentials in your scripts!)

2. Connect faster to a server by not having to enter credentials

Use the Credential Store if your domain user has no access permissions to vCenter.

To use the credential store, you will need to save credentials into it, as shown below

New-VICredentialStoreItem -Host 192.168.0.16 -User "John" -Password

"Don'tL00kAtM3!"

Once it is stored you can just connect to the vCenter with the usual command:

Connect-VIServer srv-vcenter.domain.pri

POWERCLI OBJECTS
Just like with traditional PowerShell, you will be constantly working with PowerShell objects. Any object

acquired with a PowerCLI cmdlet will be assigned the specific type associated with their nature

(virtual machine, datastore, GuestID…). You’ll discover more of them as you go deeper into PowerCLI.

OBJECT-BY-NAME SELECTION (OBN)

PowerCLI includes a mechanism called OBN selection that allows you to refer to an object by its name

instead of passing the actual object through the pipeline or as a parameter. It simplifies and makes

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it easier to write scripts and commands in the prompt. OBN selection also supports wildcards

and multiple arguments as shown here:

• Traditional Selection

Move-VM -VM (Get-VM -name "srv-vm-1","srv-vm-2") -Destination (Get-

VMHost -Name "ESX-Host-1")

• OBN Selection

Move-VM -VM "srv-vm-1","srv-vm-2" -Destination "ESX-Host-1"

DATA STRUCTURE

Data structure is not something you have to worry about when initially working with PowerCLI.

However, it is important to be aware of the object types to understand what is going on behind

the scenes. For that reason, we won't go too deep into the theory and summarize instead for

the sake of brevity.

There are four category types for objects in PowerCLI, and each serves a different purpose:

1. Managed Object Types - Make managing objects possible. They can contain both properties

and methods, meaning they can hold values (VM name, Data objects) or run an action (Start VM).

A managed object is identified by an ID called "Managed Object Reference", generally referred

to as MoRef which is a data object (see below).

2. Data Object Types - As the name suggests, they hold data about the object. They can contain

the MoRef (which allows you to get a managed object) or other data objects (mac address,

vmx file path, etc.).

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3. Enumerated Object Type - Data Objects that can only store values or objects from a pre-defined

set and nothing else. They are usually reserved for runtime statuses such as the power state

of a virtual machine that can only be "powered on", "powered off" or "suspended".

4. Fault Types - Provides information about errors. It also contains a data object (property)

with the MoRef of the respective managed object.

OBJECT STATE

Generally in PowerShell, it is very common to store objects in variables rather than running the cmdlet

every time to retrieve it. It saves time as a variable name is usually shorter to enter than a cmdlet,

and there is no processing time because it is already stored locally. When doing so, you are storing its

state at this point in time. Meaning that if a property were to change on the server-side object, it would

not be reflected on the object in the variable. You would then need to run the cmdlet again to

"update" the content of the variable.

EXAMPLE WITH VMOTION

1. Retrieve a VM object in a variable:

PS C:\> $VM = Get-VM "test-vm"

2. Display the host it is currently running on:

PS C:\> $VM | select vmhost

VMHost
------
ESX-Host-1

3. Migrate the VM to another host:

PS C:\> $VM | Move-VM -Destination " ESX-Host-2"

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4. Run the second command again:

(As you can see it is still showing the host it was previously running on)

PS C:\> $VM | select vmhost

VMHost
------
ESX-Host-1

5. Update the variable and display the host value once again:

(The variable now reflects the actual value of the server side object)

PS C:\> $VM = Get-VM "test-vm"

PS C:\> $VM | select vmhost

VMHost
------
ESX-Host-2

You can see how this could cause confusion on systems managed by several administrators,

with reporting scripts showing outdated data about the environment, for example.

Note: This is true for all kind of objects, not only virtual machines.

RETRIEVING BASIC DATA ON VSPHERE OBJECTS

As we get into this next section, a quick tip for beginners when starting off with PowerCLI -especially

if you are fairly new to PowerShell as well. If you don’t have a test lab to practice with, I recommend

being on the safe side and sticking with Get commands for a little while. Build your confidence and

get comfortable with how it works before moving on to cmdlets that change the state of objects like

Set or Remove. A mistake could have consequences on operations.

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This chapter only includes basic PowerCLI cmdlets to give you an idea of what you can do. I will also take

the opportunity of using these simple commands to show you a few concepts applied to the prompt.

To get a complete list of the PowerCLI cmdlets, type the following command (I recommend to use

Out-GridView for better readability):

Get-Command -Module VMware* | Out-GridView

LIST ALL POWERED-ON VIRTUAL MACHINES WITH THEIR FOLDERS

IN CLUSTER "MANAGEMENT"

The best place to start in PowerCLI is to list the VMs in the environment. This cmdlet is probably one

of the most commonly used. It includes a lot of information about your servers. Similarly with traditional

PowerShell commands, you can use the pipe " | " to narrow down the results to only what you are after,

for example:

Get-Cluster "Management" | Get-VM | Where PowerState -eq "PoweredOn"

| Select Name,Folder

In this example we list the cluster named "Management", then we list the VMs registered in this cluster,

then we filter only the ones that have the property "Powerstate" (Enumerated object) set to "PoweredOn".

Virtual machines include lots of useful properties in their "base" object (extended properties excluded -

more on that later).

LIST VIRTUAL MACHINES AND THE HOSTS THEY ARE RUNNING ON

Another simple cmdlet that you’ll find useful display more about PowerCLI objects in context this time.

As mentioned previously, virtual machine objects contain many interesting properties, including

the host they are running on. In PowerCLI, hosts are referred to as VMHost.

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 PS C:\> $VM | select name,vmhost

Name VMHost
---- ------
Test-vm ESX-Host-2

The interesting thing with the VMHost property is that, even though the name of the host is displayed,

it actually contains a VMHost object. Meaning you can obtain information about the host by working

with the VMHost property - no need to retrieve the object with the Get-VMHost cmdlet.

In other words, the following two commands return the same result. In the first command, we retrieve

the VMHost using the cmdlet on the VM object In the second, we display the VMHost property of

the VM object.

$VM | Get-VMHost

$VM.VMHost

Of course, this is not only true for VMHost but for most object types like clusters, resource pools,

virtual switches, etc.

Note: When using variables you can’t use $Host as it is already a PowerShell automatic

variable. Use $VMHost instead.

EXPLORING POWERCLI OBJECTS

Now that we touched base on a few basic cmdlets, it is time to start poking around in the PowerCLI

objects so you can be able to find what you are after by yourself. There are essentially two ways

of discovering PowerCLI object properties. You can either look it up in the online documentation

or explore the object itself from within the prompt.

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1. VMware cmdlets reference guide

VMware provides a reference guide listing all the cmdlets and properties in PowerCLI. It’s very useful

as it consolidates all the information about cmdlets, parameters and object types. For instance,

if you want to find information about vSphere portgroups.

• Expand the “All Types” tab and find the “VirtualPortGroup” link. It is sorted alphabetically

so pretty convenient.

• After clicking the VirtualPortGroup link, you’ll get information about the type.

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• Here we learn that:

1) The Virtual Port Group Object be returned as a property of these PowerCLI objects

(on which you can click for more information).

2) It can be specified as a parameter of these cmdlets.

3) This type of object is returned by the Get-VirtualPortGroup and New-VirtualPortGroup

cmdlets. If you click on the cmdlet link you will be redirected to its documentation page.

4) It shows the properties contained by the type of objects.

2. PowerShell Prompt

Now if you don’t want to get out of your PowerShell prompt (and be a real automator), you can find

the same information with some detective work.

• Start by looking for the cmdlet that will help you find the information using Get-Command.

Then filter the cmdlets matching Get*portgroup* (case insensitive) that are provided

by the VMware modules.

PS C:\> Get-Command -Name Get*portgroup* -Module vmware.*

CommandType Name Ve
----------- ---- --
Cmdlet Get-VDPortgroup 12.1.0....
Cmdlet Get-VDPortgroupOverridePolicy 12.1.0....
Cmdlet Get-VirtualPortGroup 12.1.0....
Cmdlet Get-VMHostProfileVmPortGroupConfiguration 12.1.0....

As you can see, several cmdlets match the filter, but a quick Get-Help on each of them will tell you

that Get-VirtualPortGroup is the one you are after.

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• Next, run the command on a portgroup and explore the object using Get-Member.

The output will list the properties and methods of the object. You will see basic information

on them such as object type for properties, object type returned by a method, arguments

required or not by a method (more on that later).

$PortGroup = Get-VirtualPortGroup -Name "Management Network" -VMHost

ESX-Host-1

$PortGroup | Get-Member

The benefit of using the prompt over the online documentation is that you get to display the value

of the properties. This is useful for objects whose property names are not obviously clear at first glance.

As you may already know, just like with traditional PowerShell, only a selection of properties is displayed

when running a cmdlet like Get-VM. This behavior is dictated by special XML files in PowerCLI.

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In order to display all the properties of an object, append the “ | select * “ to the cmdlet or variable.

Below, you can see the values of the properties shown in the Get-Member output. Of course, you will

not see the methods as these are actions.

Note: Remember that select as shown above is the shortened version of Select-Object.

This screenshot also depicts the warning messages about object deprecation. You can turn these

messages off using:

Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -DisplayDeprecationWarnings $false

RETRIEVE ADVANCED DATA ON VSPHERE OBJECTS

(EXTENSIONDATA)
As demonstrated previously, the output obtained when running a PowerCLI cmdlet such as Get-VM

contains a nicely formatted set of properties that most people will be interested in about a VM,

and you get more properties when you pipe it in “| select *”. But that’s not all - as you may have

realized not everything is available at first glance. Those cmdlets only return a fraction of the data

available for a VM.

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It’s already a pretty good chunk of properties but there is a wealth of additional information in

the ExtensionData property which is different from the others (highlighted in yellow). That property

offers a convenient way of interacting with the underlying API and returns a lot more methods

and properties. In Use Cases we will stick to properties, but we will experiment with more later.

Note: The Get-View cmdlet returns the same results as the ExtensionData property,

but we won't get into the details of it as it is a more advanced topic.

31
To access this “hidden” information, display the content of the ExtensionData property on a VM object.

The properties that make up the list contain categories in which you will find other sub-categories etc.

Using this process, you have access to information such as hardware devices, file types locations,

guest related information retrieved by VMware tools, and more! Some might require a little more

digging than other to find, but it is easy enough to browse through the properties.

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CHAPTER 4: WRITING SCRIPTS

Now that we introduced PowerCLI and started using it, let's take a small break to talk about script

quality. When writing scripts, regardless of the language used, it is important to ensure that it is clean,

efficient, flexible and as short as possible. Should you fail to do so, you will make it harder for others

and your future self to understand your scripts and ensure consistency. I will cover a few topics here

that may not apply to everyone but are considered best practices. You will find your own style

of scripting and figure out what works best for you as you gain more experience in this area but

it’s important to consider the following aspects.

SHORTER IS BETTER
One thing that makes a script enjoyable to read is its optimization. Try to avoid repeating the same

operation several times. For instance, you can usually make it shorter and more optimized by using

a loop that specifies said operation only once. Start by writing the script so it does everything you

want it to do, and then go through the code and look for opportunities to optimize it, hence making

it cleaner. It might take a bit more time when writing the code but you’ll be thankful you did it. Trust me!

NO HARDCODED VALUES
This one has been repeated many times already, but it’s very important. Scripts should always avoid

hard-coded values. It makes them difficult to maintain. It is sure to break any time something is changed

in the environment, and no one will remember there is this one script that uses the old value.

Now sometimes you may need to specify values inside a script for whatever reason, and if you

have to do it, there are ways the minimize its impact.

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• Define all the variables at the top of your script. The rest of the script should only use variables

to avoid the treasure hunt when something breaks.

• If you write a library of scripts/functions spread across several files, it might be a good idea

to consolidate all your statically defined variables into a csv or xml file that is imported

at the start of every script. That way when you change a value, you will change it globally.

• Populate variables dynamically as much as possible through the use of vSphere tags, naming

conventions, etc. The point is to design your script so it survives changes in the environment.

ERROR HANDLING
This part is maybe the least fun of script writing but it is a necessary evil. Including error-handling

in your functions will make them a lot safer to use and easier to debug. This can be achieved in a number

of ways but the “Try, Catch, Finally” triad is probably the most convenient one. This method is used

in the first of the use cases in this document.

PSSCRIPTANALYZER
If you really want to make sure your scripts follow Microsoft’s guidelines, you can use PSScriptAnalyzer

to check the quality of your code. I usually don't go that far but it is there if you need it.

FUNCTIONS
One way of making your script leaner and cleaner is through the use of functions. Similar to a subroutine

or a procedure in other programming languages, a function is a bit of code that can take parameters

(arguments) and return some results. Writing a function may seem daunting at first, but you’ll soon

get used to it. Some people think it’s a complicated programmer technique when it’s actually very

easy and satisfying to do.

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To illustrate my point, here is a function:

Function Hello {
Param ($WhoAreYou)
Write-host “Hello $WhoAreYou”
}

This is obviously a silly example as it serves no purpose but the reality is not too far from it

to get started with functions.

WHY USE FUNCTIONS?

Functions are incredibly useful in a variety of cases:

HELP REDUCE DUPLICATE CODE (REMEMBER, SHORTER IS BETTER)

If the same section of an operation is repeated several times throughout a script, these can be made

into a function that is called in one line instead of writing all the operations again. Should a change

need to be made to this section, amending the content of the function will update it everywhere

in the script, hence reducing the risk of forgetting one of them during a script update.

DECOMPOSING COMPLEX MONOLITHIC SCRIPTS INTO SMALLER CHUNKS

By placing each main activity inside a function that is parameterized and tested, the execution script

becomes an orchestration script that calls the functions one after the other, making it shorter and

easier to debug.

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SAVING TIME

PowerShell and PowerCLI offer a wide selection of cmdlets but some operations might not be covered

by them or you might want to have the possibility to make something quicker and easier to do.

For instance, you could have a function that decommissions a datastore properly by un-mounting

it and detaching the LUN on all the hosts. By putting them into your own PowerShell module,

you can have your own functions available in the prompt! The possibilities are endless!

FUNCTIONS BEST PRACTICES

There is a lot to say about functions, in fact they could be the topic of a book all by themselves!

For that reason, we will only skim the surface of what you can and should do with them. For more

information, there is a plethora of great content online that talks about them in greater detail.

Below are a few guidelines to write clean functions and help others, as well as your future-self,

understand your work.

USE PARAMETERS, AND USE THEM WELL

For cleaner functions, always use the param() block and put the parameter segment below the title,

not on the same line. Doing so will allow you to add attributes to your parameters. Attributes are

a great way to lock down your function to ensure it is used properly. In this manner, functions can

even do some error handling for you.

Example of how the param() block should be used:

Function Convert-DSToCanonical {
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory = $True,ValueFromPipeline=$True)]
[VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.DatastoreManagement.DatastoreImpl[]]
$Datastore
)

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USE PARAMETER ATTRIBUTES

Attributes apply conditions to parameters to ensure they is used the way they're intended.

Lots of attributes are available that deal with a variety of needs. Among them, you can lock a parameter

to a specific type, make it mandatory or not, allow only a certain set of values, allow one or multiple

values, set a default value, validate a parameter with a bit of code, give it parameter aliases, prevent

sets of parameters to be used together, and much more! Find an extensive list on Microsoft Docs.

Example of a few parameter attributes:

[CmdletBinding(DefaultParameterSetName=1)]
param(
[Parameter(Mandatory=$true,ValueFromPipeline =
$True,position=0)]
[string]
$Destination,

[parameter(position=1)]
[ValidateRange(1,65535)]
[int]
$Port,

[parameter(parametersetname=2)]
[Alias('t')]
[switch]
$Continuous,

[parameter(parametersetname=1)]
[Alias('n')]
[int]
$Count = 4

USE THE PROPER NOMENCLATURE

It is always best to try and stick to Microsoft's guidelines to make your functions as intuitive as possible.

Follow the verb-noun nomenclature and use approved verbs (Get-Verb). That way your scripts will

have a more “PowerShell feel” to them. For instance, use Get-VMHost instead of Retrieve-VMHost.

Try to use common variable names like $VMHost instead of $ESX.

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CODE INDENTATION

Using indentation greatly helps in understanding the structure of the code and increases clarity.

Any script that is not correctly indented will require extra effort to make sense of what it does

and makes troubleshooting more difficult. And please, avoid mile-long one-liners. Don’t be that guy.

COMMENT YOUR CODE

Here is another one that has been repeated since well before PowerShell existed. Include as many

comments as possible to help others, or your future self, understand your code. Note that you

can even create a help page for your functions.

Example of a help block for a custom made function.

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RETURN OBJECTS

If your function is going to return something after execution, make it PowerShell object and not strings.

Returning object will allow you to use them for other purposes. And in the same spirit as the nomenclature,

use common names for the property names of the objects returned (like VMHost). That way, you can

make use of the PipelineByPropertyName capability of PowerShell.

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CHAPTER 5: HOW TO USE SCHEDULED
TASKS AND HTML REPORTS

I grouped these two sections together because they often work hand in hand. I usually write a script

that produces a report in HTML format and then store it on a web server or send it via email.

That script is run by a scheduled task so I have an updated version available.

TASK SCHEDULING
We have all been creating scheduled tasks for a long time now and everyone should be familiar with it.

Here we are covering a nifty convenient way to execute PowerShell scripts in scheduled tasks. Those scheduled

tasks can be used for many things like a simple snapshots listing, an advanced VM inventory or a more

complicated SRM cleaning script, for instance.

PREPARATION

DEFINE WHERE THE SCRIPTS WILL BE RUNNING

• It needs to be a Windows machine that has at least access to vCenter Server on port 443

• Install the PowerCLI modules at the local machine level or user profile level of the service

account used to run the scripts

CREATE A SERVICE ACCOUNT FOR THE SCHEDULED TASK

• A domain user on the AD is better but local users also work. We’ll name it svc-task-ps in this example

• Open the Local Security Policy console by typing secpol in windows search

• Expand Local Policies > User Rights Assignment

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• Locate "Log on as a batch job" and open its properties

• Add the user or group you created previously

• Launch a PowerShell session as this user and set the execution policy if necessary

(c.f. Installing PowerCLI)

CREATE A FOLDER TO STORE THE SCRIPTS AND APPLY PERMISSIONS

• Create the folder anywhere on the server that makes sense to you (C:\Scripts for instance)

• Apply write permission on this folder to svc-task-ps

APPLY VSPHERE PERMISSIONS

• Log in the vSphere web client and select the vCenter object

• Apply permissions to svc-task-ps. Try and restrict them to the bare minimum. For instance,

if the scripts are only doing reports, you can give the user "Read-Only" access permission

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TEST USER

• Open a PowerShell session as svc-task-ps on the machine that will run the scheduled tasks

• Ensure you can connect to vCenter:

Connect-VIServer vcsa.test.local

• Make sure you can perform some of the command you will need in your scripts

INSTALLING THE SCRIPTS

The idea here is to make scheduling scripts as flexible and easy as possible. To achieve this, we have

a batch file that runs a PowerShell script of the same name in the same folder and prints its execution

in a log file. It is convenient because whenever you need to schedule a new script, just copy this batch

file in the new folder, rename it like the ps1 file and you're done!

STORE THE POWERSHELL SCRIPT IN THE DEFINED LOCATION: C:\Scripts\ListVMs.ps1

This test script stores a list of the VMs in a csv file:

C:\Scripts\ListVMs.ps1

$VCENTER = "vcsa.test.local"
$CSVFile = C:\Scripts\VMList.csv
Connect-VIServer $VCENTER
Get-VM | Export-Csv $CSVFile

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STORE THE BATCH FILE IN THE SAME LOCATION: C:\Scripts\ListVMs.bat

This script does the following:

1. Changes directory to the location of the script (%~dp0)

2. Creates a variable with the date of today as yyyymmdd

3. Executes a ps1 file with the same name as this bat file (%~n0) in PowerShell and sends

the output to a log dated file (>> %~dp0\%~n0-%runDate%.log)

C:\Scripts\ListVMs.bat

CD %~dp0

SET runDate=%DATE:~6,4%_%DATE:~3,2%_%DATE:~0,2%

C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe /c powershell.exe -noninteractive -

noprofile -file %~dp0\%~n0.ps1 >> %~dp0\%~n0-%runDate%.log

CREATE THE SCHEDULED TASK

• Open the task scheduler and create a new task

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• Select the task user we created earlier and check "Run whether user is logged on or not"

• Configure the Trigger tab as you want. You can leave it empty for this test as we can run

the task manually

• In the Action tab leave the default settings and select the batch file

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• Leave the rest of the tabs to their default settings unless specifically needed. Click OK

in the General tab to confirm and run the task to make sure that it works

HTML REPORTING
Reporting is an important part of managing and automating an environment. Not only does it give

you a wider view, it also takes jobs off your hands by scheduling it. You won't forget small tasks and

you can use your time on more interesting or important concerns. While most of the vSphere

monitoring can be done through vROps (vRealize Operations Manager), many companies

don't have the budget for it or simply want quick and dirty email reports.

PowerShell offers a convenient way to convert objects into HTML code with a single cmdlet

"ConvertTo-HTML". Once again, we will take the example of a VM inventory that we store as an HTML

file on a web server or send via email.

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PRODUCING THE HTML REPORT

Let's start from the beginning, first we need to retrieve our VM inventory, then convert it to HTML,

then process it for email, web server or both.

• Retrieve the list that should make up the report

Connect-VIServer vcsa.test.local

$VMList = Get-VM | where powerstate -eq poweredon | select

name,vmhost,PowerState,memoryGB,numcpu,guest,version

• Convert the list to HTML

TIP: Add style to your HTML to create borders in your reports. Write your CSS in a $Style

variable that you pass in the -Head parameter of the ConvertTo-Html cmdlet. For instance, you

could use this to add a background color to the front row according to the status of an object.

$Style = "<style>table, th, td {border: 1px solid;}</style>"

$Html = $VMList | ConvertTo-HTML -Head $Style

There are many other interesting parameters in ConvertTo-Html. Have a look at its documentation

if you want to explore this further.

PROCESSING THE REPORT

EMAIL REPORT

• I suggest you populate a set of variables with the information relative to your email environment.

That way you can re-use it for your next script and only change some values.

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 $Email = @{
Subject = "List VMs"
From = "$Env:[email protected]"
To = [email protected]
SmtpServer = srv-smtp.test.local
Body = $Html
BodyAsHtml = $True
}

Note 1: Here we create an object containing the parameters of our Send-MailMessage

cmdlet. This is called Splatting and gives flexibility when adding/removing parameters

in a clean fashion.

Note 2: The From field is dynamically populated with the name of the server as address prefix.

• All that's left to do now is to send the email

Send-MailMessage @Email

WEB SERVER

If you want to have the report available at any time in your web browser, all you need to do is to export

it to the web server's www folder with the .html extension. Note that in order to achieve this, the user

running the task must have write permissions to the www folder. Also, I suggest you add the date and

time of the execution in the web page to know at which point in time this information was retrieved.

• Add the date at the top of the report

$Style = "<style>table, th, td {border: 1px solid;}</style>"

$Html = $VMList | ConvertTo-HTML -Head $Style -PreContent

"<h1>$(get-date)</h1>"

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• Export the Html file

$File = "\\srv-web\www\ListVMs.html"

$Html | Out-File $File -Force

Not the most beautiful report as you can see but it gets the job done. Once you have a framework

down for nicer reports, you can start experiencing with more advanced scripts and maybe build

an index page with links to the reports, a great exercise.

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CHAPTER 6: USE CASES

While a large number of administrative tasks can be achieved using the built-in vCenter alerts

and the web client, others can only be done through the use of the API (which PowerCLI leverages).

On top of that, some actions may take a painfully long time when performed manually in the vSphere

client, when they could be completed in a matter of seconds with PowerCLI.

In this section, we will look at how you can improve your daily admin operations and make the RUN

process a little more streamlined.

DEPLOYING VIRTUAL MACHINES FROM A CSV FILE

This use case is probably one of the most frequently requested by companies when it comes to automation.

Deploying virtual machines is a day-to-day task, but it can take a lot of time and IT departments are

understandably eager to automate this process. Here we are going to show you how to deploy several

virtual machines based on the details stored in a CSV file. Keep in mind that this is merely an example -

you can go much, much further with automation in PowerCLI.

REQUIREMENTS

These requirements are only true for the purpose of this script because I wanted to keep it as simple

as possible. You can make them irrelevant with a few changes to the code.

• At least one Windows template

• At least one OS customization specifications file

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• A DRS enabled cluster not set to manual

• A CSV file including the details of the VMs to deploy. The file should include the following columns:

◦ VMName

◦ Template

◦ IP

◦ Mask

◦ Gateway

◦ Dns

◦ Cluster

◦ Datastore

◦ Portgroup

Here is an example of the content of a valid CSV file:

VMName,template,IP,mask,gateway,dns,cluster,datastore,portgroup
test-vm-1,W2016Template,10.1.1.5,255.255.255.0,10.1.1.254,10.1.1.1,
Cluster_test,vsandatastore,Test-PG
test-vm-2,W2016Template,10.1.1.6,255.255.255.0,10.1.1.254,10.1.1.1,
Cluster_test,vsandatastore,Test-PG

THE SCRIPT EXPLAINED

The script below does exactly what we just mentioned. I used comments (in green) to define sections

ranging from A to H that will be explained independently so you can refer to the script.

Note that this script is sequential, meaning it does things one by one. You can make this kind of scripts

run faster by using jobs running concurrently but this is out of the scope here.

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######################## SECTION A
# Make errors to be terminating. Otherwise some won't be caught.
$ErrorActionPreference = "Stop"
Try {
# Specify the location of the CSV file.
$CSVFile = "C:\Users\test-user\Desktop\DeployVM.csv"
$CSVVm = Import-Csv $CSVFile
foreach ($CSVRow in $CSVVm) {

######################## SECTION B
# Verifying that the input is correct and that the VM name is
not already in use.
$VmTemplate = Get-Template $CSVRow.Template
$VmPortgroup = Get-VirtualPortGroup -Name $CSVRow.Portgroup
$VmDatastore = Get-Datastore $CSVRow.datastore
$VmCluster = Get-Cluster $CSVRow.Cluster | where
DrsAutomationLevel -ne "manual"
if (Get-VM $CSVRow.VMName -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) {Throw
"A virtual machine with name $($CSVRow.VMName) already exists"}

######################## SECTION C
# Cloning existing custom specs to a temporary one
$CustomSpec = New-OSCustomizationSpec -OSCustomizationSpec Test-
win -Name (New-Guid | select -ExpandProperty guid) -Type
NonPersistent

######################## SECTION D
# Configuring the network settings in the custom specs
$CustomSpec | Get-OSCustomizationNicMapping | Set-
OSCustomizationNicMapping -IpMode UseStaticIP -IpAddress $CSVRow.IP
-SubnetMask $CSVRow.mask -DefaultGateway $CSVRow.gateway -Dns
$CSVRow.dns

######################## SECTION E
# Deploying the VM
$NewVM = New-VM -Template $VmTemplate -OSCustomizationSpec
$CustomSpec -ResourcePool $VmCluster -Datastore $VmDatastore -Name
$CSVRow.VMName

######################## SECTION F
# Connecting the correct portgroup
$NewVM | Get-NetworkAdapter | Set-NetworkAdapter -StartConnected
$true -Confirm:$false -NetworkName $CSVRow.portgroup

######################## SECTION G
# Starting the VM
$NewVM | Start-VM
}

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 } CATCH {

######################## SECTION H
Write-Error $_.Exception -ErrorAction stop
}

SECTION A

As part of the error handling to implement, we want the script to stop should any error occur. In order

to achieve this ,we use the TRY, CATCH blocks that offer a convenient and clean solution. However,

non-terminating errors are not caught by the CATCH block and the cmdlets we use here generate some

for input check purposes. The $ErrorActionPreference variable is a preference variable that determines

how PowerShell responds to a non-terminating error. In this section we set the variable to “Stop”

to ensure that these errors are caught.

Then we use the Import-CSV cmdlet to import the content of the CSV file as a collection of PowerShell

objects that we store in the $CSVVm variable.

Finally, we start a foreach{} block that loops through every record of the CSV file (shown above).

SECTION B

This section serves two purposes. It retrieves vSphere inventory objects for later use and breaks

the execution if the object cannot be found. That way we can ensure that the user didn’t make a typo

in an object name or chose a VM name already in use. Because it is located inside the TRY{} block,

any error that occurs will be caught by the CATCH{} block (more on that in section H).

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SECTION C

Here we are essentially cloning an existing customization specifications file into a temporary one.

The type NonPersistent means that the cloned custom specs are only available in the current PowerCLI

session; it doesn’t appear in the UI and is destroyed when the session is closed. Because it is

temporary, we give it a random name using the New-Guid cmdlet.

SECTION D

We now need to configure the cloned custom specs using the input from the CSV file. In order to do so,

we have to use yet another type of object with the Get/Set-OSCustomizationNicMapping cmdlet.

We then use the input of the CSV file to set the properties.

SECTION E

The ground work is done so we can now deploy the VM with the cloned custom specs, template and

resources configured in the CSV (datastore and cluster). The prompt will stay on hold for the duration

of the deployment with a progress bar before moving on to the next step. Once the VM is created

the inventory object of the new VM is stored in the $NewVM variable.

SECTION F

By default, the VM created sits on the same network portgroup as the template it originates from.

Any hardware changes (CPU, Memory, disk, etc.) should be done here, including the portgroup that

was part of the CSV input.

SECTION G

The VM is now here and configured and it is time to power it on. Once the VM boots up, it will start

the guest customization following the cloned custom specs we created earlier. So be patient as it

usually takes several minutes to complete.

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After vCenter initiated the VM power on, the script moves on to processing the next line in the CSV file

and goes back to Section B.

SECTION H

If any error occurs within the TRY{} block, it is intercepted and processed in the Catch{} block.

Here the $_ variable contains the error encountered which Exception property contains the description

of the problem. Ending up here means the script will display the error and stop its execution.

There are different schools of thought as to how error handling should be performed. Some prefer

to break the current loop and move on to the next record to process, others like me prefer to stop

everything so I can do my debugging and check my inputs. No right or wrong answer here, a good

old “It depends” as usual.

Note: If you’d like to see another PowerCLI Deployment Sample, we have a great article

with a free script on the Altaro DOJO.

MANAGE VSPHERE TAGS

It wasn’t easy selecting which use case to cover and which to leave aside as so much can be done in

PowerCLI. However, I couldn’t leave out vSphere tags because they offer so much versatility and can

greatly simplify automation. They are similar to attributes, like metadata you apply to vSphere objects

in the inventory, allowing you to create organizational groups that would otherwise not exist

(Company department, site locality for metroclusters, role, etc.).

Tags that are related to each other are assigned to a category that can only contain one type of object

tags (virtual machine, host, datastore, etc.). Categories have a cardinality property that defines

whether more than one tag in the category can be applied to an object.

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CREATE A TAG CATEGORY

The Entity types you can use for a tag category are the following: All (default), Cluster, Datacenter,

Datastore, DatastoreCluster, DistributedPortGroup, DistributedSwitch, Folder, ResourcePool, VApp,

VirtualPortGroup, VirtualMachine, VM, VMHost.

When setting the Cardinality, "Single" means that only a single tag from this category can be assigned

to a specific object at a time as opposed to "Multiple".

You can also use the Get-TagCategory cmdlet to list them:

PS C:\> New-TagCategory -Name "Test-Servers" -Cardinality Multiple -

EntityType VirtualMachine

Name Cardinality Description

---- ----------- -----------
Test-Servers Multiple

CREATE TAGS

Create as many tags as required and assign them to the category. You can also use the Get-Tag cmdlet

to list them.

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PS C:\> New-Tag -Name Test-Server-DB -Category Test-Servers -Description "Database
test servers"
Name Category Description
---- -------- -----------
Test-Server-DB Test-Servers Database test servers

PS C:\> New-Tag -Name Test-Server-Web -Category Test-Servers -Description "Web test

servers"

Name Category Description

---- -------- -----------
Test-Server-Web Test-Servers Web test servers

ASSIGN THE TAGS TO VMS

Now tag the VMs. As you can see below the VM object can be fed from the pipe to the cmdlet.

PS C:\> New-TagAssignment -Tag Test-Server-DB -Entity (get-vm srv-test-db)

Tag Entity
--- ------
Test-Servers/Test-Server-DB srv-test-db

PS C:\> Get-VM srv-test-web | New-TagAssignment -Tag Test-Server-Web

Tag Entity
--- ------
Test-Servers/Test-Server-Web srv-test-web

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RETRIEVE VSPHERE OBJECTS BASED ON THEIR TAG.

It is now possible to retrieve vSphere inventory based on the tags assigned to them.

The -Tag parameter is available on all vSphere object types that can be tagged:

PS C:\> Get-VM -Tag Test-Server-DB

Name PowerState Num CPUs MemoryGB

---- ---------- -------- --------
srv-test-db PoweredOn 2 4.000

ADD A PORTGROUP ON A STANDARD VSWITCH ON ALL HOSTS

IN A CLUSTER
Virtual portgroups in vSphere can be implemented on distributed vSwitches or standard vSwitches.

The former lets you create a portgroup quickly on all hosts that are part of the vSwitch. However,

standard switches are often used due to license restriction or simply personal preferences. With that

in mind, adding portgroups to standard vSwitches on a number of hosts can get slightly frustrating

and time consuming.

This can be done a lot faster using PowerCLI instead of the web client.

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• Retrieve the vSwitches on which you want to create the portgroup of all host in the cluster:

PS C:\> Get-Cluster Cluster_Test | Get-VMHost | Get-VirtualSwitch -Name vSwitch2

Name NumPorts Mtu Notes

---- -------- --- -----
vSwitch2 9216 1500
vSwitch2 9216 1500
vSwitch2 9216 1500

• Create the portgroup with the right vLAN ID:

I stored the vSwitches in a variable to make the command shorter and easier to read.

PS C:\> $vSwitches | New-VirtualPortGroup -Name "Test-PG" -VLanId 900

Name Key VLanId PortBinding NumPorts
---- --- ------ ----------- --------
Test-PG key-vim.host.PortGroup-Test-PG 900
Test-PG key-vim.host.PortGroup-Test-PG 900
Test-PG key-vim.host.PortGroup-Test-PG 900

Note: That the -VirtualSwitch parameter does not accept multiple objects. So, you cannot

specify an array of values using the named parameter. However, you can use it in the pipeline

as it means each record is processed one after the other. You can find in the help page

of the cmdlet which object accepts multiple values if there is "[ ]" next to its type.

help New-VirtualPortGroup -Parameter *

58
MONITOR VM CPU USAGE IN NEAR REAL TIME
In this use case, we are going to play a little bit with the progress bar capabilities of PowerShell

and discover the PowerCLI cmdlet to get performance data. We want to monitor the CPU usage

of a VM in near-real time, which is every 20 seconds in vCenter. First, we will learn how to retrieve

the correct stats about a VM, and then we will see how to present it graphically.

Some resource usage values like CPU can be retrieved quicker in the

ExtensionData.Summary.QuickStats property. However, here I will demonstrate the use of the Get-Stat

cmdlet that includes a lot more information.

RETRIEVE STATS

PowerCLI includes the Get-Stat cmdlet that returns statistical information available on a vCenter

server. The Get-StatType cmdlet allows you to list all the available counters on an entity.

In our example we want the CPU usage counter.

• Store a VM object in a variable for our tests:

$VM = Get-VM test-vm

• List the counters that can be retrieved and find the one you need (in this case it is the first one):

Get-StatType -Entity $VM

cpu.usage.average
cpu.usagemhz.average
cpu.ready.summation
mem.usage.average
mem.swapinRate.average
mem.swapoutRate.average
mem.vmmemctl.average
mem.consumed.average
mem.overhead.average
disk.usage.average
disk.maxTotalLatency.latest
net.usage.average

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 sys.uptime.latest
disk.used.latest
disk.provisioned.latest
disk.unshared.latest

By default, vCenter stores a limited number of counters as the interval increases to save space in the database.

The latest 5 minutes period contains the real-time counters with an interval of 20 seconds.

If you add the -RealTime switch to the command below you will get a lot more available counters,

just like you would in the performance tab of the vSphere Web Client.

REAL-TIME

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LAST DAY

• Retrieve the real-time performance data of the VM with this counter:

Get-Stat -Entity $VM -Cpu -Stat cpu.usage.average -Realtime

A large number of records is returned with an occurrence every 20 seconds. We notice that there

are MHz per core (instance number), MHz global (no instance number) and percent global.

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• Filter only the last record in percent:

get-stat -Entity $VM -Cpu -Stat cpu.usage.average -Realtime

-MaxSamples 1 | where unit -eq "%"

PROGRESS BAR

It may look like a gadget to some, but the Write-Progress feature of PowerShell is pretty neat to build

visual depiction of information inside the prompt. The progress bar is usually used to track installation

or script steps, but you can trick it into displaying any kind of values you want formatted as a bar,

provided you can make it a percentage. For our particular case, in order to make it act like a real-time

monitoring, the command will have to run inside a loop.

• Make a loop that runs every 20 seconds (interval for real-time counters)

while ($true) {
sleep 20
}

• Retrieve the latest CPU usage counter

while ($true) {

$counter = get-stat -Entity $VM -Cpu -Stat cpu.usage.average -

Realtime -MaxSamples 1 | where unit -eq "%"

sleep 20
}

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• Create the progress bar using the values obtained previously

while ($true) {

$counter = get-stat -Entity $VM -Stat cpu.usage.average -

Realtime -MaxSamples 1 | where unit -eq "%"

Write-Progress -Activity $VM.name -status "$($counter.metricId)

: $($counter.value)%" -PercentComplete $counter.value

sleep 20
}

• Run the code and enjoy the view. It only refreshes every 20 seconds but it's the best you can do

MONITOR MULTIPLE COUNTERS

We can also add other counters to the progress bar stacked under the VM name. We need to make

a few changes to the code. And to make things more interesting we will make a function out of it.

Progress bars can have an ID and a parent ID. You can stack multiple progress bars under another one

by specifying a Parent ID. In the example below we added the memory usage that we stacked with

CPU usage under the name of the VM.

Below is the modified code with added comments. Notice the ID and ParentID parameters.

Function Invoke-VMMonitor {

param(
[parameter(position=0,Mandatory=$True)]
[VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.types.V1.Inventory.VirtualMachine]
$VM
)

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 while ($true) {
# Retrieve CPU stat
$counterCPU = get-stat -Entity $VM -Stat cpu.usage.average -
Realtime -MaxSamples 1 | where unit -eq "%"
# Retrieve memory stat
$counterMEM = get-stat -Entity $VM -Stat mem.usage.average -
Realtime -MaxSamples 1 | where unit -eq "%"

# Create VM progress bar

Write-Progress -Activity "Test-vm" -Id 1
# Create CPU usage bar
Write-Progress -Activity $counterCPU.metricId -status
"$($counterCPU.value)%" -PercentComplete $counterCPU.value -ParentId
1 -id 2
# Create Memory usage bar
Write-Progress -Activity $counterMEM.metricId -status
"$($counterMEM.value)%" -PercentComplete $counterMEM.value -ParentId
1 -id 3

# Wait interval
sleep 20
}
}

Because it is a function, it is now much easier to run.

Invoke-VMMonitor (Get-VM test-vm)

CHANGE THE VSAN DEFAULT REBUILD DELAY

VMware VSAN virtualizes storage across multiple hosts using their local disks. Virtual machines are made

of objects that are stripped or mirrored across multiple hosts to achieve redundancy. When a host goes

down for planned maintenance or following a failure, the VMs that have objects stored on this host

become non-compliant and a 60 minutes countdown is triggered. If the countdown reaches 0,

a rebuild of these objects is initiated to restore the compliance with their storage policies.

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These rebuilds can put a lot of stress on the disks, reducing their life expectancy and adding CPU

overhead during the processing. To avoid such an event occurring during a planned maintenance,

it is usually a good idea to increase the duration of the countdown. In the next example, we are going

to demonstrate how to do this using PowerCLI to make it quicker and easier than with the UI.

This setting is configured through an advanced setting called VSAN.ClomRepairDelay.

• To change an advanced setting, we need to retrieve the AdvancedSettings object of the host

to modify one of its properties:

$adv = Get-VMHost ESX-Host-1 | Get-AdvancedSetting -Name "VSAN.ClomRepairDelay"

Name Value Type Description
---- ----- ---- -----------
VSAN.ClomRepairDelay 60 VMHost

• Then we can modify the setting by using the Set command. Some operations like this one

require a confirmation in order to proceed. You can bypass this interaction by adding

"-Confirm=$false" to the command.

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 Set-AdvancedSetting -Value 180 -AdvancedSetting $adv
Perform operation?
Modifying advanced setting 'VSAN.ClomRepairDelay'.
[Y] Yes [A] Yes to All [N] No [L] No to All [S] Suspend [?] Help (default
is "Y"): y
Name Value Type Description
---- ----- ---- -----------
VSAN.ClomRepairDelay 180 VMHost

Note that in VSAN 6.7U1 it is possible to change this setting within the VSAN configuration pane in the

advanced options. It is specified that you should wait for at least 180 seconds before proceeding with

any maintenance task however after changing this setting.

VCENTER HIGH AVAILABILITY (VCHA)

In version 6.5, VMware included a neat new feature that enables the ability to configure high availability

(VCHA) at the vCenter level. Much like your average firewall clusters, there is an active node and a passive

node as well as a witness, that communicates over a private network.

In order to set up VCHA you have to clone the vCenter appliance to the passive and witness nodes

while in VCHA configuration mode. The postgres database is then replicated to the passive node while

the witness acts as a tie breaker and doesn’t hold any data.

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 Note: With VCHA, it is possible to size down the witness VM to 1 CPU and 1GB of RAM

most of time.

Note that in this section, we won’t describe how to set up VCHA with PowerCLI. It is possible but it’s

something you will probably only do a few times now and then so there is little value in automating it.

Therefore, it’s preferable to retain more control by doing it manually and focusing your automation

efforts on more repetitive tasks that will actually save you time.

VCHA clusters must always be destroyed before performing certain operations such as replacing

certificates. If you use this feature in production, always check the relevant documentation before

performing an operation on vCenter to see if it is compatible with VCHA.

You may sometimes need to get information about your VCHA cluster, for example, to find out which

node is the current active one or to check its status. Unfortunately, PowerCLI offers no cmdlets out

of the box to interact with VCHA. Thankfully, the required methods are exposed on the vCenter object

which we can leverage to build our own cmdlets. Let’s find out how.

THE PROPERTIES AND METHODS

We already worked a little bit with properties and methods in this book, especially when using

the Get-Esxcli cmdlet. As a quick reminder:

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• Object - The current entity on which we are working (VM, VMHost, vCenter, etc.).

In a simple analogy it could be a car for instance.

• Property - A single value of a certain type or a collection of objects. In our analogy, the color

of the car could be a property of value “red” for instance. It could also contain a property

“engine” which will sport a collection of objects with the components that make up the engine.

• Method - The actions that can be executed on an object. For our car, a method could be

“start engine” on the object “car”.

In the VCHA case, because there are no built-in cmdlets, we will have to use properties and methods

to build them ourselves.

The methods and properties in relation to vCenter HA are exposed in the following property

on a vCenter object: $DefaultVIServer.ExtensionData.content.FailoverClusterManager

GET VCENTER HA STATUS INFORMATION

This function will display the status of the vCenter HA cluster. It contains the health state as well

as messages regarding the status of each component.

THE SCRIPT

Function Get-VCHAState {

param(
[VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.VIServerImpl]
$DefaultVIServer = $DefaultVIServer
)

# Ensures that the vCenter is an appliance and not a Windows

install.
if ($DefaultVIServer.ExtensionData.Content.about.OsType -ne "linux-
x64") {
Write-Warning "VCHA is not available on Windows based vCenter"
Break
}

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 # Obtain the VCHA object that contains the methods and properties.
$failoview = get-view
$defaultviserver.ExtensionData.content.FailoverClusterManager

# Ensure that VCHA is configured. If not a warning displays the

result and breaks the function.
if ((get-view
$defaultviserver.ExtensionData.content.FailoverClusterConfigurator).g
etVchaConfig().state -eq "notConfigured") {
Write-Warning "VCHA is not configured"
Break
}

# Get the runtime info in a variable to work with it.

$RuntimeInfo = $failoview.GetVchaClusterHealth().runtimeinfo

# Prepare the powershell object to display.

$Output = @{
vCenter = $defaultviserver.name
VCHAstate = $RuntimeInfo.Clusterstate
}

# Fill in the object with each message detected.

foreach ($Message in
$failoview.GetVchaClusterHealth().HealthMessages.Message) {
$i++
$Output.Add("Message$($i)",$Message)
}

# Display the object.

[pscustomobject]$Output
}

USAGE

The use of this script is as simple as it gets, just run “Get-VCHAState” and you will get an output.

If you don’t specify the parameter, the current vCenter to which you are connected will be used.

You can specify it in the parameters if you are connected to multiple instances.

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In the screenshot above you can see that the VCHA cluster for “vCenter11” is healthy and that

everything is fine (in sync). This is a simple output straight from the “GetVchaClusterHealth().

runtimeinfo.nodeinfo” method. However, if your environment is made up of multiple vCenter instances,

it could be interesting to include this in whatever reporting framework you are using to keep track of them.

RETRIEVE VCENTER HA NODE INFORMATION

As mentioned previously, a vCenter HA cluster is made of 3 nodes; active, passive and witness.

While the witness node will always remain on the same virtual machine, the VMs that assume

the active and passive role can switch. The means the vCenter VM that once was the passive node

may be the active one today, so don’t just assume VC02 is the passive node if you want to do

something on it, you want to double check that information.

You can verify which one is active in the vSphere client, though as usual, why not do it instantly

in PowerCLI and skip the browsing through the UI. You can with this script.

THE SCRIPT

Function Get-VCHANodes {

param(
[VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.VIServerImpl]
$DefaultVIServer = $DefaultVIServer
)

# Ensures that the vCenter is an appliance and not a Windows

install.
if ($DefaultVIServer.ExtensionData.Content.about.OsType -ne "linux-
x64") {
Write-Warning "VCHA is not available on Windows based vCenter"
Break
}

# Obtain the VCHA object that contains the methods and properties.
$failoview = get-view

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 $defaultviserver.ExtensionData.content.FailoverClusterManager

# Ensure that VCHA is configured. If not a warning displays the

result and breaks the function.
if ((get-view
$defaultviserver.ExtensionData.content.FailoverClusterConfigurator).g
etVchaConfig().state -eq "notConfigured") {
Write-Warning "VCHA is not configured"
Break
}

# Executes the method to display the runtime info on the VCHA nodes.
$failoview.GetVchaClusterHealth().runtimeinfo.nodeinfo
}

USAGE

The use of this function is similar to the previous one. Execute “Get-VCHANodes” without a parameter

to retrieve information about the VCHA cluster of the currently connected vCenter or specify one

in “-DefaultVIServer”.

The output will show you the role associated with the IP address on the private network used

for vCenter HA. From here you can easily find which VM is active and which one is passive.

GOING FURTHER

As stated before, the PowerCLI exposes the VCHA API on “$DefaultVIServer.ExtensionData.content.

FailoverClusterManager” so this is where you would start if you wanted to do more with it.

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Once you run the Get-View cmdlet on this object and store the output in a variable you will be able

to see what’s inside and what you can do with it. As usual, unless you only work with “Get” cmdlets,

it is recommended that you practice in a lab environment if possible and never experiment in production.

The following are the most important methods available here:

• getClusterMode – Displays the current mode of the VCHA cluster. "enabled", "disabled"

or "maintenance"

• GetVchaClusterHealth – Displays the last known health of the VCHA cluster

• initiateFailover - Commences a failover from the active node to the passive node.

The cluster mode must be in the "enabled" mode and all cluster members must be present.

Requires Boolean arguments:

○ $True: Failover initiated after the active node flushes its state to passive, no data loss

○ $False: Failover initiated immediately, may result in data loss

• setClusterMode: Enables changes to the VCHA cluster mode. String argument:

○ Enabled: State replication enabled, automatic failover if the active node fails

○ Disabled: State replication and automatic failover is disabled

○ Maintenance: Automatic failover is disabled while state replication continues

You can also get more methods using “$defaultviserver.ExtensionData.Content.

FailoverClusterConfigurator” in which you will find the ones associated with the administration

of VCHA (configure, create nodes, destroy, deploy, etc.). As mentioned previously, you might have

a use case for automation here but it’s usually more sensible to perform the initial config and main

administration tasks of the cluster manually in the vSphere client.

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REPORTING ON RAW DEVICE MAPPING DISKS
As opposed to traditional virtual disks where the data is stored in a vmdk file, some scenarios require

the use of RDM disks (Raw Device Mapping). In this case, there is no -flat.vmdk file that contains

the volume’s data, instead it acts as a mapping file that redirects the SCSI commands directly

to the Logical Unit Number (LUN) storage volume.

A common use case is Microsoft Failover clusters. Because there are multiple Windows server nodes

in a failover cluster, the volumes must be locked by only one of them, which would not work with

a traditional virtual disk as VMFS (Virtual Machine File System) would intercept the SCSI locking

command and discard it as it has its own locking mechanism.

It’s a rather long introduction to get to the point that RDMs are a special breed of disks which can be

tricky to keep track of. In this section we will explain how to quickly get information on the raw disks

in the environment. This will prove useful when assembling an inventory or performing any kind

of migration as they should be treated differently than regular thin/thick disks.

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IDENTIFYING VMS WITH AN RDM DISK

In order to identify the VMs that have an RDM mounted, we can use the “Get-HardDisk” cmdlet with

the disktype parameter to display the parent object (VM). We also use the “-Unique” switch to avoid

getting the same VMs for those that have more than one RDM multiple times.

get-vm | Get-HardDisk -DiskType RawPhysical,RawVirtual | select -

ExpandProperty parent -Unique

OBTAINING INFORMATION ABOUT THE RDMS ON A VM

Finding information about LUNs and RDMs in the vSphere client is cumbersome and takes many

clicks to get what you need. Using PowerCLI, you can achieve the same result, and indeed even more,

in a lot less time. We are going to build a function that display details about the RDM disk and the SCSI

controller it is connected to. Now we are basing this function on VM objects but you could choose

to set the parameter on disk objects, LUNs, or whatever else. You can customize the function to fit

your environment.

THE SCRIPT

Function Get-VMRdm {

Param(
[parameter(position=0,ValueFromPipeline=$True,ValueFromPipelineByPro
pertyname=$True,Mandatory=$True)]
$VM
)

Process {

# Process VMs one by one.

foreach ($V in $VM){

# Gather list of RDM disks on current VM.

$Disks = $v | Get-HardDisk -DiskType RawPhysical,RawVirtual

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 # Process RDM one by one.
foreach ($disk in $Disks) {

# Identifying the controller.

$Controller = $V.extensiondata.config.hardware.device |
Where Key -eq $Disk.ExtensionData.ControllerKey
$DiskBus =
"$($Controller.BusNumber):$($Disk.ExtensionData.UnitNumber)"

# Display the details as a Powershell object.

[pscustomobject]@{

VM = $V.name
Name = $Disk.name
CapacityGB = $Disk.capacitygb
Naa = $Disk.scsicanonicalname
Node = "$DiskBus"
File = $Disk.filename
Persistence = $Disk.Persistence
DiskType = $Disk.disktype
CompatibilityMode =
$Disk.ExtensionData.Backing.CompatibilityMode
DiskMode = $Disk.ExtensionData.Backing.DiskMode
Sharing = $Disk.ExtensionData.Backing.Sharing
Controller = $Controller.deviceinfo.summary
ControllerSharedBus = $Controller.SharedBus
}
}
}
}
}

USAGE

This function will display information about the RDM disks connected to the VMs specified

in parameter. You can run it against multiple VMs and remember to use the pipe “ | “.

In the example below you will see that the VM “Test” has one RDM disk connected. You get to find

the NAA (Network Addressing Authority) of its LUN, which type of controller it is, as well as the controller

and node ID. These details are particularly useful when working with storage admins to extend,

decommission or migrate volumes used as raw disks.

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Again, if you have a PowerCLI based reporting framework in place in your environment, you may

be interested in adding this to your inventory to get a holistic view of all your RDMs.

BACKUP VSPHERE HOST CONFIGURATION

One thing that many admins aren’t aware of is that you can back up the configuration of your vSphere

hosts. This won’t apply to everyone as some prefer to ensure configuration compliance with the use

of Host Profiles but others who have standard licenses for instance may get some peace of mind

knowing their host configurations are backed up.

If you are in the latter category, VMware thought about you with the “Get/Set-VMHostFirmware”

cmdlets. Although this may appear a bit confusing at first with the Firmware keyword, this will enable

you export a backup of your ESXi host configuration to a file.

BACKING UP A VSPHERE HOST CONFIGURATION TO FILE

In the example below we trigger a backup of a host and store the file in the current folder. That’s actually

all there is to it - it’s a very simple process! The file is created and named after the host in .tgz format.

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THE CMDLET

PS> Get-VMHostFirmware -VMHost 192.168.10.11 -BackupConfiguration -

DestinationPath ./

Host Data
---- ----
192.168.10.11 C:\Users\xavier\configBundle-192.168.10.11.tgz

WRAPPING IT INTO A SCHEDULED TASK

In order to automate the process, we can now wrap this cmdlet into a scheduled task that will keep

the last x files tidy in a backup location. Now there are plenty of ways to go about doing this so we

are merely suggesting the following one.

The script is formatted as a function so it can be executed against several vCenter servers.

However, it could be turned into a regular script if you only have one vCenter for instance.

To use it you will need to specify a destination where to put the backup files (-BackupLocation),

the number of files to keep (-FileRotation) and the name or IP of the vCenter server.

Note: No credentials are specified in this script, which means the user that will run it

(scheduled task) needs to have the correct permissions in vCenter

THE SCRIPT

Function Backup-ESXiConfig {

param (

[ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
[string]
$BackupLocation,

[ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
[int]

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 $FileRotation,

[ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]
[string]
$vCenterServer
)

Connect-VIServer -Server $vCenterServer

TRY {

# Processing of each host one by one.

ForEach ($VMHost in (Get-VMHost)) {

# Full path to the backup folder.

$ESXiBackupPath = "$BackupLocation\$($VMHost.name)"

# Create a folder named after the current host if

doesn't exist.
IF (!(Test-path $ESXiBackupPath)) {MKDIR
$ESXiBackupPath}

# Remove the oldest backup files.

WHILE ((Get-ChildItem $ESXiBackupPath).count -gt
$FileRotation) {

Get-ChildItem $ESXiBackupPath | Sort-Object

lastwritetime | select -First 1 | Remove-Item -Force -Confirm:$false
}

# Take the backup of host config to destination folder.

Get-VMHostFirmware -VMHost $_.name -BackupConfiguration -
DestinationPath $ESXiBackupPath

# Rename the backup file to include the date of backup.

Get-ChildItem $ESXiBackupPath | Sort-Object
lastwritetime | select -Last 1 | Rename-Item -NewName "$(get-date -
Format yyyy-MM-dd)_$($_.name).tgz"
}

} CATCH {

Write-Error $_.Exception -ErrorAction Continue

} Finally {Disconnect-VIServer -Confirm:$false}
}

Note that there is a “Catch” component that will display the exception. This can be useful for

troubleshooting purposes if you redirect the output of the script execution to a log file.

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RESTORING A VSPHERE HOST CONFIGURATION

Restoring the host’s configuration is just as easy as backing it up. Once the basic configuration of the

host is completed (IP address, etc.) and it is placed in maintenance mode, you can restore a backed-up

configuration with the “Set-VMHostFirmware” cmdlet.

Note: The build number and UUID of the host must match the ones of the host on backup file.

However, you can force to ignore a UUID mismatch with the “-Force” switch. Once again ensure that

the host is in maintenance mode.

Set-VMHostFirmware -VMHost ESXi01 -Restore -SourcePath

c:\bundleToRestore.tgz -HostUser root -HostPassword P@ssw0rd

REPORTING ON SNAPSHOTS
Ever since VMware offered this feature - which was a long time ago - snapshots have been infamous

for causing confusion among administrators who are not well versed on virtualization. Now you

probably heard a colleague or a contractor stating with a certain sense of passion that “Snapshots

are not backups and shouldn’t be kept for too long!” Well, they are right. If you are serious about

protecting your data, always use a proper backup solution such Altaro VM Backup to back up your

virtual machines.

A snapshot records a frozen state of a VM at a certain point in time, which it can be reverted to if desired.

This could be useful in a number of scenarios for example a botched software update or simply testing

some obscure software or configuration that you don’t want persisting in the guest system. The problem

with snapshots is that they will grow in size if you don’t remove them quickly. In which case it can cause

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performance issue and create even more problems when deleting it if the datastore doesn’t have

enough free space. You don’t want to leave snapshots laying around your environment which

is the main reason they are not substitutes for backup.

In this section, you’ll learn how to report on the snapshot situation and make recommendations based

on the age and size of the snapshots. We recommend against removing the snapshots automatically

in the script as it is always best to deal with them manually.

You can report on snapshots in a HTML report like we have previously described in this book.

Here we will send a table in HTML format in an email when certain thresholds are reached.

THE SCRIPT

# Configure according to your environment.

$vcenter = "vcsa.lab.priv"
$From = "[email protected]"
$To = "[email protected]"
$SmtpServer = "smtp.lab.priv"

# Change values according to your preferences.

$WarningSizeMB = 1024
$CriticalSizeMB = 5120
$WarningDays = 7
$CriticalDays = 15

# Prepare an array to store the snapshot records.

$Table = @()

Connect-VIServer -Server $vcenter

# Process snapshots one by one.

foreach ($snap in (Get-VM | Get-Snapshot)) {

# Apply status "warning" or "critical" according to the age or

size of the snapshot.
if ($snap.created -lt (get-date).AddDays(-$CriticalDays) -or
$snap.sizeMB -gt $CriticalSizeMB) {$status = "critical"}
elseif ($snap.created -lt (get-date).AddDays(-$WarningDays) -or
$snap.sizeMB -gt $WarningSizeMB) {$status = "warning"}

# If the status variable is populated, the snapshot record is

added to the array.

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 if ($status) {
$Table += $Snap | Select
@{l="Status";e={$status}},@{l="vCenter";e={$defaultVIServer.name}},V
M,Created,@{l="SizeMB";e={[math]::round($_.SizeMB,0)}},Name,Descript
ion,Quiesced,IsCurrent
Clear-Variable status
}
}

if ($Table) {

# Add borders to the table.

$Style = "<style>table, th, td {border: 1px solid;}</style>"

# Convert the array into HTML with the date.

$HtmlBody = $Table | ConvertTo-HTML -Head $Style -PreContent
"<h1>$(get-date)</h1>"

# Send the HTML table by email.

Send-MailMessage -Subject "VM snapshots to check" -BodyAsHtml
$HtmlBody -From $From -to $To -SmtpServer $SmtpServer
}

Once the script is running and monitoring the snapshots, every time a snapshot is discovered to be too

old or too large, an email will be sent with the list.

Note: You can change the thresholds in the script. The ones already in place are rather

conservative in terms of space. Once again, the user that runs the script (scheduled task)

needs to have permissions on the vCenter server.

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RETRIEVING USAGE INFORMATION OF A DATASTORE
Monitoring VMFS datastores is the foundation of the vSphere admin’s job. Ensuring that there is enough

space to work with and that the overprovisioning ratio isn’t getting out of hand is paramount

to an environment that leverages thin disks - which is most of them. While thin provisioning

is very useful to optimizing the use of your storage, it is important to keep an eye on it as all your

thin provisioned VMs would end up in IO failure situation if the datastore were to fill up at 100%.

Here is a useful script that provides a little bit extra information than you would otherwise get which

will help you make reasoned decisions with regards to VM placements should you not use datastore

clusters. It provides a quick and clear overview of the provisioning of the datastore with a percentage,

whether it is expandable or not and how many VMs are running on it.

THE SCRIPT

Function Get-VMFSDatastore {
param(

[parameter(position=0,ValueFromPipeline=$True,ValueFromPipelineByPro
pertyname=$True)]

[VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Types.V1.DatastoreManagement.VmfsDatast
ore[]]
$Datastore = (Get-Datastore | where type -eq VMFS)
)
Process{
ForEach ($DS in $Datastore) {
if ($ds.type -eq "VMFS") {

# Check if the datastore is expandable.

if ($ds.Accessible) {
$hostId = [string]($ds.ExtensionData.Host | where
{$_.mountinfo.Accessible -and $_.mountinfo.Mounted} | select -
ExpandProperty key -First 1)
$DsHostDsView = get-view $hostId -Property
ConfigManager.DatastoreSystem
$DsHostDsView = get-view
$DsHostDsView.ConfigManager.DatastoreSystem
$Expandable =
$DsHostDsView.QueryVmfsDatastoreExpandOptions($ds.id)

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 if ($Expandable.count -eq 0) {$Expandable = $false}
else {
$LunSize =
($Expandable.info.VmfsExtent.end.block -
$Expandable.info.VmfsExtent.start.block) *
$Expandable.info.VmfsExtent.start.blocksize / 1GB
$FreeSpaceOnLun = [math]::round($LunSize -
$ds.CapacityGB,2)
$Expandable = "+$($FreeSpaceOnLun)GB"
}
} else {$Expandable = $false}

# Process capacity and provisioning data.

$CapacityGB =
[Math]::Round(($ds.extensiondata.summary.capacity / 1GB),2)
$FreeGB =
[Math]::Round(($ds.extensiondata.summary.FreeSpace / 1GB),2)
$UsedGB =
[Math]::Round((($ds.extensiondata.summary.capacity / 1GB) -
($ds.extensiondata.summary.FreeSpace / 1GB)),2)
$ProvisionedGB =
[Math]::Round((($ds.extensiondata.summary.capacity / 1GB) -
($ds.extensiondata.summary.FreeSpace / 1GB) +
($ds.extensiondata.summary.Uncommitted / 1GB)),2)
$ProvisionedPercent = [Math]::Round($ProvisionedGB /
$CapacityGB * 100,1)
[pscustomobject]@{
Name = $ds.name
Accessible = $ds.Accessible
CapacityGB = $CapacityGB
FreeSpaceGB = $FreeGB
FreeSpace = "$([math]::round($FreeGB /
$CapacityGB * 100,1))%"
UsedSpaceGB = $UsedGB
ProvisionedGB = $ProvisionedGB
Provisioned = "$ProvisionedPercent%"
NbRunningVMs = ($ds | Get-VM | where powerstate -eq
Poweredon).count
Expandable = $Expandable
Lun =
$ds.ExtensionData.info.vmfs.Extent.diskname
}
} else {"$($Datastore.name) is not a VMFS datastore"}
}
}
}

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USAGE

If you don’t specify a datastore in the $Datastore parameter, all the datastores will be processed.

You can use the pipe “ | “ with this function. Because there are more than 4 fields, the output

is displayed as a list. You can get a table by using “| format-table” at the end of the command.

Get-Datastore dastastore1 | Get-VMFSDatastore

As you can see, we get a lot more information here as we now know the provisioning ratio,

how many VMs are running on it, if there is unused capacity on the Lun (expandable), etc.

Here is an example of the function with the “out-gridview” display format (alias ogv) with no given

parameter meaning we process all the VMFS datastores.

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CHAPTER 7: RUNNING ESXCLI
COMMANDS IN POWERCLI

ESXCLI is a command line tool embedded in ESXi that allows administrators to performs various

administrative tasks and manage many aspects of the host with a fairly easy-to-use syntax. ESXCLI

commands are particularly useful when troubleshooting situations where traditional means are not

available, for instance. These can be run when logged in the interactive shell (DCUI), in SSH sessions,

with vCLI, and as we’re about to discover, in PowerCLI!

Even though PowerCLI offers more than 600 cmdlets, there is still a large number of tasks that can

only be performed with ESXCLI. To fill that gap, VMware provided the powerful Get-EsxCLI cmdlet that

allows you to run ESXCLI commands from within PowerCLI. It can be a very useful cmdlet when used

in conjunction with functions or automated scripts.

It used to be a bit convoluted to use in previous versions as it worked with positional arguments.

This means that you had to specify every single argument in the right order, including NULL where no value

was required. The -V2 switch was introduced in PowerCLI 6.3R1 and makes Get-EsxCLI a lot easier to use.

BROWSING ESXCLI
To start using ESXCLI, run the cmdlet with the -V2 switch, a vSphere host as parameter and store

it in a variable that we will name $EsxCLI. Then display the content of the variable. As you can see,

it is similar to what the esxcli command would output in an SSH session.

$EsxCLI = Get-EsxCli -VMHost ESX-Host-1 -V2

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You can then browse through the $EsxCLI variable just like you would with esxcli.

Except each sub category is a property.

RUNNING COMMANDS
While browsing through the ESXCLI categories is fairly straightforward, running commands differs

slightly. Everything is done through the use of methods that we will describe below.

HELP()

This first one is pretty self-explanatory. You can run this method against any ESXCLI object in PowerCLI

just like you would in ESXCLI. Take the VIB subcategory, for example, and let's compare it with

traditional ESXCLI.

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POWERCLI

$EsxCLI.software.vib.help()

SSH

esxcli software vib --help

INVOKE()

This method runs the ESXCLI command against the vSphere host. It is comparable to pressing "Enter"

in the SSH prompt. Commands that don't require arguments can be run by simply typing ".Invoke()"

at the end of the command. For instance, to display the installed vib packages:

Note: I added "| Format-Table" to compare it with esxcli in SSH, so you will see that the output

is very similar.

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POWERCLI

$EsxCLI.software.vib.list.Invoke() | Format-Table

SSH

esxcli software vib list

CREATEARGS()

This method is to be used when you need to invoke an ESXCLI command with arguments. This is where

the introduction of the -V2 switch changes things. It is now really easy to create an argument object

and populate each of its properties before passing it to the Invoke() method. For this example,

we are displaying information about an uplink.

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POWERCLI

• Create the argument object and display its content

As you can see, only one argument is available to specify the name of the uplink (nicname):

PS C:\> $Arguments = $EsxCLI.network.nic.get.CreateArgs()

PS C:\> $Arguments

Name Value
---- -----
nicname Unset, ([string])

• Populate the arguments object with the uplink name to inspect

PS C:\> $Arguments.nicname = "vmnic0"

PS C:\> $Arguments

Name Value
---- -----
nicname vmnic0

• Invoke the command with the arguments object

$EsxCLI.network.nic.get.Invoke($Arguments)

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SSH

esxcli network nic get -n vmnic0

VCENTER AND ESXI API BASED SIMULATOR

One of the biggest hurdles in learning virtualization scripting is the need for resources. You will quickly

realize that even the 16GB of memory in your laptop isn’t as plentiful as you thought when you bought

it. Sure, it’s easy enough to a start workstation and spin up a vSphere host but once you add a vCenter

appliance it already starts getting toasty. If you want to add more hosts and VMs you better not be too

demanding with the vSphere client responsiveness.

vCenter simulator (VCSIM) is a useful tool that has been around for a while now that enables practice

without the need for a full-scale environment. It was actually first introduced in the vCenter Server

Appliance way back in version 5.1! It was aimed at simulating changes in a vSphere environment.

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That way you can simulate a large number of VMs and hosts which you couldn’t do in a normal lab

due to a lack of resources. Someone going by the alias Nimmis wrapped VCSIM inside a container

and released it on Docker hub.

I’ve decided to cover this container in this book because it is incredibly handy and can get you started

with PowerCLI even if you have a 10-year-old netbook with 4GB of memory as all you need is a basic

Linux distro to run a docker host. We will quickly show you how to get a docker host running and deploy

the VCSIM container on it.

DOCKER ENGINE

• Download and install a linux distribution of your choice (supported by Docker).

In this example, we are using Debian 10 without a graphical interface

• First you need to update your package index

sudo apt-get update

• Then install the following dependencies

sudo apt-get install \

apt-transport-https \
ca-certificates \
curl \
gnupg-agent \
software-properties-common

• Add Docker’s GPG key. This is optional but then you don’t have to worry about the validation

of the signatures

curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/debian/gpg | sudo apt-

key add -

• Now we need to install the Docker repository. Note that we set it to stable but you could choose

test or nightly

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 sudo add-apt-repository \
"deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/debian \
$(lsb_release -cs) \
stable"

• Update the package index once again

sudo apt-get update

• Install the Docker Engine

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io

Once this is done the docker engine should be ready to run some containers.

DEPLOY THE VCSIM CONTAINER

The great thing about containers is that they are very quick and easy to spin up.

As you will see with the vCenter simulator.

• Run the following command to deploy the VCSIM container and it will execute in “vCenter mode”:

sudo docker run -d -p 443:443 nimmis/VCSIM

You should get an output such as the following. You will see that the container information

is automatically downloaded from the repository and stored locally on your docker host.

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When the operation is completed you can check that the container is running by running the following

command.

Note: A random name is attributed to containers in the output (loving_cray in my case).

You will need it to start the container when you reboot the machine.

sudo docker container ps

Now you cannot connect to the vSphere web client as there isn’t one running but you can connect to it

using the API - PowerCLI for instance.

USING POWERCLI WITH VCSIM

Connecting to the simulator is similar to connecting to any other VI instance by using the “Connect-

VIServer” cmdlet. Username: u / Password: p

Connect-VIServer @IPvCenter -user u -password p

Now that you are connected you can start playing with the simulated environment.

Below is a short overview of the environment.

GET-VMHOST

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GET-VM

CLONING A VM

You will find that many commands don’t work as not everything can be simulated in the container.

You can find the list of supported methods if you open a web browser to https://@IPvCenter/about.
When working with VCSIM, you may find oddities here and there compared to a real environment.

Meaning if a script of yours fails, it is not necessarily a problem with the script itself, it could very well

be that VCSIM that doesn’t support the particular action you are performing. This is the drawback

of the virtual environment. You will need to double check that what you are doing is actually supposed

to work with the simulator if you encounter problems.

For instance, the “New-VM” cmdlet’s output is a string instead of a VM object which you cannot pipe

into another cmdlet like “Start-VM”.

VCSIM:

VCENTER:

Now don’t take that as a deal breaker as the tool is still incredibly useful, just keep it in mind when

working with VCSIM.

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CHAPTER 8: CONTINUING YOUR
AUTOMATION JOURNEY

VMware went to great lengths in providing the community with a convenient way of interacting

with its products using PowerShell with PowerCLI.

In these times of increasing cloud adoption and automation, learning advanced scripting has

never been more relevant. PowerCLI is an incredible tool that everyone should have in their toolbox.

It unlocks many doors you didn’t even know existed before you started using it.

In this book, we barely scratched the surface of what PowerCLI can do. We explained several core

concepts and demonstrated several use cases ranging from beginner to medium/advanced usage.

While PowerCLI was indeed the main focus, most concepts also apply directly or indirectly

to traditional PowerShell and to most well written third-party modules.

After reading this book, the first thing you should do is think about use-cases for PowerCLI that would

be useful in your environment. Spend some time experimenting with new scripts and always keep

trying to improve them. A good way to progress quickly in PowerShell, in general, is to avoid relying

on pre-existing scripts. Instead, take the time to try to write it yourself. The investment will soon pay

off as you will learn much faster and will be invaluable when you really need it. If you get stuck somewhere,

there is nothing wrong with having a peek at a script you found online to see how he/she did it or ask

on the VMTN forums, that’s also how you learn.

Once you get comfortable with PowerCLI and end up writing that one awesome script that changed

your vSphere admin life, make sure to share it with the community!

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I’ve written a number of articles for the Altaro DOJO on vSphere automation. Be sure to have a browse

at those articles and subscribe to the newsletter to be informed when my next article is published!

Thanks for reading!

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ABOUT AUTHOR

Xavier started his IT career in the early 2010's and evolved from a Windows SysAdmin to virtualization

specialist. He now works as a freelancer specializing in VMware technologies for a large customer.

Xavier is also a 4 time VMware vExpert and holds VMware VCP certifications. He grew a passion for

scripting and automation ever since he started using PowerCLI which offers a fine balance between

technicity and creativity.

Xavier also always tries to give back to the online community as much as possible on his blog and the

VMware forums by sharing his knowledge and various scripts; as PowerShell says "Help and Get-Help”.

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The virtual machine (VM) Backup
and Replication solution built for
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ABOUT ALTARO

Altaro proudly forms part of the Hornetsecurity Group.

Founded in 2009, Altaro has grown rapidly over the years. We develop robust backup solutions to

address the core data protection need of businesses and organizations worldwide , as well as the IT

resellers, VARs, consultants and managed service providers who serve them.

Out aim is to exceed your data protection needs with reliable, affordable backup solutions backed by

an outstanding, personal 24/7 Support team that’s determined to help you succeed in protecting your

environment.

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PUBLISHED BY ALTARO SOFTWARE
http://www.altaro.com

Copyright © 2020 by Altaro Software

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means

without the prior written permission of the publisher or authors.

WARNING AND DISCLAIMER

Every effort has been made to make this book as complete and as accurate as possible, but no warranty

or fitness is implied. The information provided is on an “as is” basis. The authors and the publisher

shall have neither liability nor responsibility to any person or entity with respect to any loss or damages

arising from the information contained in this book.

FEEDBACK INFORMATION
We’d like to hear from you! If you have any comments about how we could improve the quality

of this book, please don’t hesitate to contact us by visiting www.altaro.com or sending an email

to our Customer Service representative Sam Perry: [email protected]

102