VMware PowerCLI 101 - Part2 - Working with vCenter server

In my previous blog, we discussed how to install PowerCLI module and connect to a stand-alone ESXi host. Now let's start with connecting to the vCenter server.

Connect-VIServer <IP of vCenter server>

Get the list of data centers present under this vCenter server: Get-Datacenter

Get the list of clusters under a datacenter: Get-Datacenter DC01 | Get-Cluster

To verify the status of HA, DRS, and vSAN of a cluster:

(Get-Cluster Cluster01) | select Name,DrsEnabled,DrsAutomationLevel,HAEnabled,HAFailoverLevel,VsanEnabled

Get the list of ESXi hosts part of a specific cluster: 

Get-Datacenter DC01 | Get-Cluster Cluster01 | Get-VMHost

To get the list of VMs hosted on a specific ESXi host:

Get-Datacenter DC01 | Get-Cluster Cluster01 | Get-VMHost 192.168.105.11 | Get-VM

To get a list of powered on and powered off VMs:

(Get-Cluster Cluster01 | Get-VM).where{$PSItem.PowerState -eq "PoweredOn"}

(Get-Cluster Cluster01 | Get-VM).where{$PSItem.PowerState -eq "PoweredOff"}

An efficient way of doing it in a single go is given below:

$vmson, $vmsoff = (Get-Cluster Cluster01 | Get-VM).where({$PSItem.PowerState -eq "PoweredOn"}, 'split')

$vmson will have the list of VMs that are PoweredOn and $vmsoff will have the list of VMs that are PoweredOff.

Cluster level inventory:

Get-Cluster | Get-Inventory

Datastore details of a cluster:

Get-Cluster | Get-Datastore | select Name, FreeSpaceGB, CapacityGB, FileSystemVersion, State

Hope this was useful. Cheers! In the next post, we will talk about performing basic VM operations using PowerCLI.

VMware PowerCLI 101 - Part1 - Installing the module and working with stand-alone ESXi host

This blog post series is for all those who would like to kickstart and learn VMware PowerCLI from the very basic level. Let's start with installing the PowerCLI module.

First, verify whether VMware.PowerCLI module is already installed on your machine.

Get-Module VMware.PowerCLI -ListAvailable

In this case, as shown above, VMware.PowerCLI module is not installed. Now let's find the latest version of the module available from PowerShell gallery.

Find-Module VMware.PowerCLI

11.2.0.12780525 is the latest version that is available in PSGallery.

To install this module use: Install-Module VMware.PowerCLI

Installation of this module may take a couple of minutes as this is the very first time. Once successfully installed you can verify using: Get-Module VMware.PowerCLI -ListAvailable

To list all the available cmdlets: Get-Command -Module VMware*

Now, let's go ahead and connect to an ESXi host.

Connect-VIServer <IP of ESXi server>

Provide the necessary credentials and once connected successfully you will see the below.

To get basic details of the ESXi host: Get-VMHost <IP of ESXi server>

To get more information about a cmdlet you can make use of the PowerShell Help System.

You can find all the properties and methods available for an object using: Get-Member

Example: Get-VMHost 192.168.105.1 | Get-Member

To retrieve specific properties of an ESXi host object: 

$h1 = Get-VMHost 192.168.105.1

Model detail: $h1.Model

Processor type: $h1.ProcessorType

Another very useful property is "ExtensionData". Let's have a detailed look at this property.

This property provides you a lot of info regarding system runtime, hardware health status, etc.

System and hardware health status:

Memory and CPU health status:

Configuration status: $h1.ExtensionData.ConfigStatus

Configuration issues: $h1.ExtensionData.ConfigIssue

Few more useful details that are available under "ExtensionData" are given below.

There is a property called "RebootRequired" which actually shows whether there is any pending reboot for the system.

System uptime and resource utilization are available under "QuickStats" property.

Note:
"OverallCpuUsage" is in MHz, "OverallMemoryUsage" is in MB and "Uptime" is in Seconds.

List of all system capabilities: $h1.ExtensionData.Capability

BIOS version: $h1.ExtensionData.Hardware.BiosInfo

In the next article, we will discuss connecting to the vCenter server using PowerCLI and performing day-to-day operations. Hope this was useful. Cheers!

Related posts:

VMware PowerCLI 101 - Part2

VMware PowerCLI 101 - Part3

PowerShell quick start guide