PowerCLI

Windows PowerShell is Microsoft’s command line shell and scripting language. PowerShell is built on the Microsoft .NET Framework and helps in system administration. By providing full access to COM (Component Object Model) and WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation), PowerShell enables administrators to perform administrative tasks on both local and remote Windows systems.

Administrators can manage the computers in the enterprise and perform administrative tasks from the command line using built-in cmdlets, which are specialized .NET classes. Unlike most other command line interfaces, PowerShell commands have been standardized using a verb-noun naming convention known as a cmdlet. This convention provides a clear description of the cmdlet, and enables access to different Windows components like the registry, file system, services, processes, and others. There are sufficient cmdlets to support most administrative activities.

VMware View PowerCLI cmdlets are provided by a dll, which is installed as part of the VMware View Connection Server (Server\bin\PowershellServiceCmdlets.dll) under the VMware Connection Server installation). This dll, once registered with PowerShell, allows all VMware View PowerCLI cmdlets to be run on the VMware Connection Server.

 This technical paper covers the integration of VMware View with Windows PowerShell and PowerCLI.

In this demo from Train Signal's VMware vSphere PowerCLI course, Hal Rottenberg shows how to use PowerCLI to get a VM host that is in maintenance mode and move it to an existing cluster. He'll then go into detail about cluster settings and how to make changes to them using PowerCLI. You can use these and other High Availability tasks in your own environment to minimize downtime in case of a host or virtual machine outage.

VMware vSphere PowerCLI is a must-have tool for any administrator managing VMware vSphere in a Windows environment. Having to repeat vSphere administrative tasks can be time consuming and error-prone, but PowerCLI—created specifically for Windows environments—allows VMware administrators to automate tasks. Written to the latest PowerCLI, this handy guide shows you step by step how to use the PowerCLI cmdlets for daily administration procedures and frequently performed tasks for VMware vSphere. The reference is organized by vSphere tasks, providing a practical approach to accessing the information you need while you are on the job. Supported by real world examples and no-nonsense instruction, coverage includes installation, configuration, and management of a vSphere environment, management of the virtual machine life-cycle, security, and monitoring and reporting.

Paperback: 504 pages

Publisher: Sybex (April 12, 2011)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0470890797

ISBN-13: 978-0470890790

Amazon Comcol Sybex

With the latest release of PowerCLI (4.1.1)  VMware has introduced a real cool new commandlet.

Get-EsxTop exposes esxtop functionality. The default parameter set is CounterValues. The Counter parameter filters the specified statistics. To retrieve all available counters, use the CounterInfo parameter set. The properties of each counter are returned through the Fields property (an array) of the CounterInfo output object. You can also retrieve stats topologies using the TopogyInfo parameter set. This information contains either inventory data that does not change or a counter instance structure describing the relationship between different counter instances.

http://blogs.vmware.com/vipowershell/

This PowerPack extends PowerGUI with a set of folders, nodes, links and actions that allow you to manage HP Virtual Connect Modules used in the c class blade chassis. The powerpack utilises the ssh command line tool plink to administer the virtual connect remotely and securely. The thick client experience gives an administrator more power to customise day-to-day tasks when compared with the standard web interface. Using the methods demonstrated in this pack, an administrator can customise actions to suit their environment and ease the burden around supporting Vitrual Connect Domains.

http://www.powergui.org/entry.jspa?externalID=3047&categoryID=389

The vSphere PowerCLI Administration Guide provides information about using the VMware vSphere PowerCLI cmdlets set that ships with vSphere PowerCLI for managing, monitoring, automating, and handling life‐cycle operations for VMware vSphere components—virtual machines, datacenters, storage, networks, and so on.

It's is intended for anyone who needs to use vSphere PowerCLI. The information in the PDF is written for administrators who are familiar with virtual machine technology and Windows PowerShell.

There are two categories of users for vSphere PowerCLI: Basic administrators can use PowerShell commands included in vSphere PowerCLI to manage their VMware infrastructure from the command line and Advanced administrators can develop PowerShell scripts that may be reused by other administrators or integrated into other applications.

 

Scott Herold is happy to announce the release of the vEcoShell 1.2.6. It’s out of beta and officially has been deemed as a stable release. The list of features is quite limited, but the biggest change is multi session management which makes copying and pasting from the web and PS1 files possible. Under the hood every single script in the function library was re-written from scratch. Scott also has transferred the community homepage of The vEcoShell Initiative to Vizioncore’s vCommunity.



What's New with 1.2.6?

•Completely rewritten PowerPack to support VMware PowerCLU 4.0 Update 1 and its ability to manage connections to multiple $viServer objects.
•Ability to copy and paste code from "PowerShell Code" tab directly into standalone PS1 files (Will still need to Add-PSSnapin and Connect-VIServer for script to function).
•Ability to copy and paste code snippets from the internet and they will work without needing to add the $managedHost.connection code everywhere.

Download the latest version of vEcoShell and additional PowerPacks here.

Scott Herold about the GA: I am happy to announce that the 1.2.6 version of vEcoShell is now available on the Downloads Page. This update brings us into full compatibility with VMware PowerCLI 4.0 U1. In addition, we have decided to remove the product from beta and have provided our first stable release , which has been rigourously tested by the Vizioncore QC team. vEcoShell will remain Freeware, and continue to have a community support policy. The major difference in 1.2.6 is in how connections to multiple vCenter or ESX Servers are managed. In previous versions, vEcoShell maintained all session management and required custom code in nearly all of it's scripts to function properly. These scripts could not run externally to vEcoShell, so the PowerShell Code tab provided limited value. With the 1.2.6 release, vEcoShell now lets PowerCLI manage all connections. This means we were able to remove all custom code from our script library. Nearly every script that is in vEcoShell today can be run externally. Simply copy a code block from the "PowerShell Code"...

PowerShell Server has been rebranded as PowerShell SSH Server and has moved to a new home as a member of the 'PowerShell Inside' product line (www.powershellinside.com). In addition, the new PowerShell SSH Server is now completely FREE to use when run as a desktop application.

PowerShell Inside is a new and separate division of /n software focused exclusively in PowerShell technologies. PowerShell Inside products make technologies more customizable by enhancing them with PowerShell scripting. /n software has built these tools to provide an easy way to enhance and integrate applications without the complexity or expense of custom development. With PowerShell you get comprehensive access to the power of the .NET Framework in an easy to use interface that is tailor-made to help you get more work done, faster.

The following PowerShell Inside products are currently available:

• PowerShell ASP - Build dynamic Web content with PowerShell.
• PowerShell Panel - A PowerShell powered ASP.NET Panel control.
• PowerShell SSH Server - Access PowerShell remotely from SSH terminals.
• PowerShell Web Part - Extend SharePoint portals with dynamic content.
• PowerShell Data Provider - Databind to PowerShell, like you Databind to SQL.
• PowerShell Office Add-In - Automate Outlook with PowerShell scripting.
• PowerShell SSH Components - Components for PowerShell SSH Server Access.
• PowerShell BizTalk Adapter - Automate BizTalk and simplify orchestrations.
• PowerShell SSIS Task - Automate SQL Server and simplify SSIS Workflows.
• PowerShell Workflow Activity - Simplify WF Workflows with PowerShell.

Arnim van Lieshout over at van-lieshout.com has created a great blog post with all the steps involved in completing the setup of the PowerCLI/The VESI environment:

1.Installation of Windows PowerShell
2.Installation of VMware PowerCLI
3.Installation of The Virtualization EcoShell

On April 8th we had a very good DutchVMUG meeting, which was totally dedicated to using PowerCLI and The VESI (Virtualization EcoShell Initiative). Although setting up the environment is straightforward, I wanted to do a small write-up which leads you through the install process and includes all download links needed.

http://www.van-lieshout.com/2010/04/the-vesi-getting-it-up-and-running/

Pablo Roesch has just announced the winners of the Scriptomania contest, congratulations to everyone that participated!

1. @alanrenouf
2. @lamw
3. @avlieshout

We are happy to announce our Script-O-Mania contest Winners. Our judges were extremely excited about all the creative and useful scripts submitted into the community. The decisions were tough to make, some we even considered splitting the prize money but in the end we went with the following line up. Congratulations to all that won and participated. Also wanted to thank Scott L, Robert B, Jeff H. again for their efforts in participating as Judges.

Steve Jin -> Winners of the VMware Script-O-Mania Contest: Who, What, How and Why?

My former colleague and virtualization friend Harold Schoofs has send me a real cool PowerShell script for automating the reporting part of the vSphere VUM baseline compliancy. The Baseline-Compliancy.Ps1 PowerShell script can be used to check the compliancy of all ESX Hosts registered on a VMware vCenter server and match up to any baseline. It will generate 3 kinds of output Files:

1) One file with all hosts and their compliancy state
2) One file with all attached baselines found
3) One file for every attached baseline found with its content

You can get you copy of Harold’s script here: Baseline-Compliancy.ps1 If you have any questions or suggestions for improvements just send your Tweets to @Hharold.

There are a lot of automation tools available which are able to deploy and configure an ESX host but if you want to use PowerCLI for the finishing configuration part there was always a manual step involved. I’ve found a way to start a PowerShell script from the service console trough SSH. The only thing you have to do is install WinSSHD on one of your Windows servers, just execute the distributable that you downloaded from the Bitvise website and follow the process. As soon as the installer completes, you will have a working WinSSHD installation on your machine. No changes to the default configuration are necessary; you only need to start it. However, you might want restrict your users' access to those features that they actually need, which will improve security. If you are new to WinSSHD, it’s highly recommended that you first make sure that you can establish a working SSH connection before you change any settings on the server. If you cannot connect to WinSSHD using its default configuration, this is most likely due to a network or firewall problem that you will need to resolve before you are able to connect. In its default configuration, WinSSHD accepts connections on the well-known port number for SSH servers, 22.

I’ve recorded a Jing video (with audio) which demos the CPU-Ready PowerCLI script running on my vCenter server launched from one of my ESX host’s service console.

Continue reading "How to access PowerCLI trough SSH" »

vCenter Update Manager PowerCLI provides an easy-to-use Windows Powershell interface to VMware vCenter Update Manager and has numerous cmdlets and sample scripts. vCenter Update Manager PowerCLI now also has its own VMTN forum. To find additional resources and exchange ideas with other users, visit http://www.vmware.com/go/powercliupdate.

Automate patching and update of the vSphere environment with the vCenter Update Manager PowerCLI. Cmdlets are provided for your most-frequently performed operations such as downloading software updates, creating baselines, scanning and remediating virtual machines components or hosts. vCenter Update Manager PowerCLI is distributed as a Windows PowerShell snapin, and comes with documentation and samples.

While poking around in the service console, I’ve discovered another hidden pearl. It’s called vmware-vimdump. You’ll find it at /usr/lib/vmware/bin and you can execute it by typing ./vmware-vimdump. Before executing this command, configure your  SSH client e.g. Putty to log printable output to a file.
After a second or 10 you’ll see the following output, followed by every property you can think of:

=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~= PuTTY log 2010.01.07 21:41:38 =~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=~=

./vmware-vimdump
Connecting to : localhost at 443 as root over SOAP
Found 67 managed objects:
1. vim.AuthorizationManager::ha-authmgr
2. vim.ComputeResource::ha-compute-res
3. vim.Datacenter::ha-datacenter
4. vim.Datastore::192.168.178.80:/nfs/public
5. vim.Datastore::496b4b2d-eb377ae5-3a0e-00151798bd3c
6. vim.Datastore::49f35375-879d840a-4a6c-00151798bd3d
7. vim.Datastore::4a1aa279-c94107ae-790a-00151798bd3c
8. vim.DiagnosticManager::ha-diagnosticmgr Continue reading "Hidden tool: vmware-vimdump" »