An introduction to PowerCLI for folks who already have familiarity with PowerShell. I touch on fundamentals of PowerCLI cmdlets and some little known gems. This presentation was presented to the RTP PowerShell Users Group on 2/19/2014.

1. PowerCLI for the
PowerShell Inclined
Josh Atwell
vtesseract.com
#vBrownBag Podcast
@Josh_Atwell
#RTPSUG / @RTPSUG

2. @josh_atwell - @rtpsug

3. Get-Agenda
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What is PowerCLI
Getting Started
Managing vSphere Environment
Get-View and .ExtensionData
Managing Update Manager (VUM)
Project Onyx
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4. What is PowerCLI
www.vmware.com/go/powercli
Windows PowerShell for VMware
Virtual Infrastructure and
components
PowerCLI Admin Guide
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5. PowerCLI Capabilities
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6. First Commands
Get-PowerCLIConfiguration
Set-PowerCLIConfiguration –DefaultVIServerMode „multiple‟
Get-PowerCLIVersion
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7. Connecting
Connect-VIServer
$cred = Get-Credential
Connect-VIserver –Credential $cred
Multiple Ways to Connect
Connect-VIserver –AllLinked
Connect-Viserver –Menu
$DefaultVIServer
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8. Get-View
• Returns the vSphere .Net view
objects
• Filters!
• Methods
• Check out vNugglets.com
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9. Get-View Filters
$filter = @{“Name” = “VMName”}
Get-View –ViewType “VirtualMachine” –Filter
$filter
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10. Get-View and Methods
Test-vMotion
$si = Get-View ServiceInstance -Server $global:DefaultVIServer
$VmProvCheck = get-view $si.Content.VmProvisioningChecker
$result = $VmProvCheck.CheckMigrate( $vmMoRef, $hsMoRef, $pool,
$null, $null )
VM MoRefID
Host MoRefID
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Resource Pool
MoRefID

11. .ExtensionData
Let‟s say you need a VM and what
host and MoRef that VM is on
$vm.Vmhost
$vm.ExtensionData.MoRef.Value
$vm.ExtensionData.ResourcePool.Value
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12. Browse Datastores - Hard
Use of PSDrives for browsing datastores
$datastore = Get-Datastore “Name”
$psdrivename = $datastore.name
New-PSDrive -Name $psdrivename -PSProvider
VimDatastore -Root / -Location $datastore
Get-Childitem ($psdrivename + “:/”)
Remove-PSdrive -name $psdrivename Confirm:$false
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13. Browse Datastores - Easy
• vi = Inventory of current VIServer
• vis = Inventory of All connected VIServers
• cd vi:
• dir (alias for Get-ChildItem)
– will give you what is in that root directory
• dir –recurse
– gives all objects including subfolders
P. 28 of PowerCLI Admin Guide
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14. Browse Folders - Easy
• vmstore:
• vmstores:
• cd vmstore:
• dir (get-childitem)
• dir –recurse | Select
Name, ItemType
P. 28 of PowerCLI Admin Guide
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15. Wider Management
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VMware Update Manager
vCloud Director
View
AutoDeploy
Distributed Virtual Switch
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16. Update Manager (VUM)
NOTE: VUM Snap-in is version
specific. V5 snap-in does not
manage vSphere 4 Update Manager
• Locate Commands Quickly
– Get-VICommand *patch*
– Get-VICommand *baseline*
– Get-VICommand –PSSnapin
VMware.VumAutomation
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17. Project Onyx
Now supporting vSphere 5.5!!
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18. PowerCLI Community
Get-PowerCLICommunity
http://www.vbrownbag.com/
http://www.virtu-al.net/
http://www.lucd.info/
http://geekafterfive.com/
http://vnugglets.com/ (Get-View)
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19. Published Resources
VMware vSphere PowerCLI Reference
Alan Renouf, Luc Dekens, Glenn Sizemore,
Jonathan Medd, Arnim van Lieshout
Managing VMware Infrastructure
with Windows PowerShell
Hal Rottenberg
VMware vSphere
PowerCLI
Hal Rottenberg
PluralSight
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20. Published Resources
Mastering vSphere 5.5
Scott Lowe, Nick Marshall, Forbes Guthrie, Matt
Liebowitz, Josh Atwell
Learning PowerCLI
Robert van den Nieuwendijk
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