Hi,

I'm trying to script the creation of instant clones according to this Blog

VMFork, InstantClone, Project Fargo Oh My! Part 1: Walkthrough | Cody Hosterman

Using ESX 6.7, vcenter 6.7, PowerCLI 11.0.0 and VMware.VimAutomation.Extensions 3.0.0.1

After connecting to vcenter and trying to Enable-InstantCloneVM:

$vm = get-vm Server2012Parent

$parentvm = Enable-InstantcloneVM -vm $vm -guestUser “administrator” -GuestPassword “password"

I'm receiving this error:

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Any ideas?

Chhers!

Hi,

I am unable to get the list of VMs where Tools is not running

get-vm | where{$_.'VM PowerState' -eq 'PoweredOn' -and $_.Guest.ToolsRunningStatus -eq "guestToolsNotRunning"}

please assist.

Looking for a way to remove protection from a deleted VM. When a VM is deleted out of vCenter, it goes into an invalid state In SRM.

I’m wondering if there is a way through PowerCLI to clean it up. I have a script to add protection using Meadowcroft’s module. I just don’t see a way with his cmdlets or the native SRM API to remove a VM from SRM if the actual VM is removed.

Thanks!

Hi all - I'm attempting to automate the upgrade of our ESXi hosts from 5.5.x and 6.0.x to 6.5.0 Update 1.  Almost every single host has come back "incompatible" after a scan against the HPE Custom ISO of ESXi 6.5.0 Update 1 due to "conflicting VIBs."  From what I can tell the workaround is to remove the VIBs, reboot, then rescan and retry the installation of 6.5.

What I can't figure out is how to access the name of the conflicting VIBs in an automated fashion; it doesn't seem to be exposed through any of the PowerCLI cmdlets.  Does anyone know if there's an API reference somewhere for Update Manager that may be able to get more info?

Any help is greatly appreciated!

PS C:\WINDOWS> $Compliance
Entity                         Baseline                            Status         
------                         --------                            ------         
esxi02                         ESXi 6.5 Update 1 - HPE Custom ISO  Incompatible   

Hello,

Due to datastore limitations I regularly turn on refresh for specific floating linked-clone pools and recompose.  My manager asked if I could automate that...  I, technically, have a computer programming background but haven't really touched programming in years (read: 20 years) so, I began looking into PowerCLI and options for completing the requested task.  I feel I'm slightly over my head as there doesn't appear to be many introduction guides for PowerCLI and getting a simple connection to one of our Connection Servers appears to work but once I try get-vm or any other very basic command, I get an error stating I'm not connected to any server.  Ultimately, I just want to automate the refresh of a couple desktop pools and set recompose for every other Friday.  Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Hello folks , I need some help I am stuck with an easy task! but I could not make it to work

I need to create a  new csv file that will contain only the VM names of those that failed to the telnet test

Note: for this test since the Telnet is success ( if ($cond -eq 'True')) I am using that , eventually I will move the code to accomplish this when the telnet fails  if ($cond -eq 'False').

So I have a script that reads the vms from a csv file

(so far I am testing with 2 vms ),

CSV source as follow (dr_adhoc.csv):

vmname

VM-DR-XXXYXZ01

VM-DR-XXXYXZ02

$vms = Import-CSV  H:....\dr_adhoc.csv

foreach ($vm in $vms){

      $vmn = $vm.vmname

write-host "--- DR Phase 3/3 : Validating the telnet  connection to  :---" -ForegroundColor Cyan

Test-NetConnection -ComputerName $vmn -Port $port | Select-Object TcpTestSucceeded

$cond=$?

      #write-host $cond

       if ($cond -eq 'True'){

       Get-VM -name $vmn | Select-Object name | Export-Csv "H:\Scripts\X\Y\Z\X\VM_list$(get-date -f MM-dd-yyyy).csv"  -NoTypeInformation

        }

Those were the results :

when I used Get-VM -name $vmn | Select-Object name |  Export-Csv "H:\Scripts\X\Y\Z\X\VM_list$(get-date -f MM-dd-yyyy).csv"  -NoTypeInformation

The csv file was created  however it only contain the last server and ' " '  and not both:

"Name"

"VM-DR-XXXYXZ02"

when I used Get-VM -name $vmn |select name >> H:\Scripts\X\Y\Z\X\VM_list$(get-date -f MM-dd-yyyy).csv

it is the most closest solution ,  however ...  as you can see it has more than the vm names  I had colored  on red the ones that I don't need to see

also it has blank lines

Name                                                                                                                                                        

----                                                                                                                                                        

VM-DR-XXXYXZ01                                                                                                                                         

Name                                                                                                                                                        

----                                                                                                                                                        

VM-DR-XXXYXZ02                                                                                                                                            

Basically I would like to have a handy list of those vms that were not allowing the tcp connections , in that way I can re use that list to re run another script to resolve that tcp connection.  :  )

Thank you so much for the help!

Hi Luc,

could you suggest on following.

1:i need to enable rdp on one of the windows vcenter .

is there any powershell command

also for somereasons not able to connect to console of that vm from webclient .

I've found a VM in my Datacenter with 254 redo logs. I've turned it off but running the condolidate disk task results in an error that a file is in use:

"An error occurred while consolidating disks: msg.snapshot.error-DISKLOCKED."

Before I raise a call with VMware...

• This is part of a group of machines that are regularly cloned by a dev team - is a way of checking that something hasnt gone awry and that all the disks/files actually belong to this VM? I tried a script on here from LucD but it seems to not work as expected any more: Find out which VMs have mounted a certain VMDK
• Is there a way to find out which file is locked in this folder on the datastore?

I want to formalise the ownership of an ESXi host once placed into Maintenance Mode as we have a sprawling global team who manage multiple global vCenters and ESXi clusters.

I currently have:

1. A loop that identifies all hosts across multiple vCenters that have been placed in Maintenance Mode.

2. A command that queries the hostd log of an ESXi host for a line that confirms the host was successfully placed into Maintenance Mode.

3. If an entry in the ESXi host's hostd log isn't found (The ESXi logs persistence problem), then I'd like to give the User a default value of "Unknown", or an empty string.

I'm looking for any assistance possible to either combine the 2 together to output a table along the lines of the following columns:

| vCenter Name| Datcenter Name | Cluster Name | ESXi Host Name | ConnectionState | User Who Placed Host in MM |

1. Code: The Loop that identifies all hosts in Maintenance Mode

Connect-viserver -Server (Get-Content C:\Scripts\vCList.txt) > $null

$report = Foreach($vc in $global:DefaultVIServers){

foreach($dc in Get-Datacenter -Server $vc){

Get-Cluster -Location $dc -Server $vc |

Get-VMHost | Where {$_.ConnectionState -like "Maintenance"} |

        Select @{N='VC';E={$vc.Name}},

            @{N='Datacenter';E={$dc.Name}},

            @{N='Cluster';E={$_.Name}},

            @{N='ConnectionState';E={$_.ConnectionState}}

}

}

$report | Export-Csv C:\Scripts\List-Hosts-in-MM.csv

2. Code: The Hostd log query identifying the user who placed the host in MM

(Get-Log -VMHost (Get-VMHost) hostd).Entries | Where {$_ -like "*enterMaintenanceMode* Status success*"}

Sample Output of above command:

2018-11-07T14:53:59.066Z info hostd[ACGBGH20] [Originator@1236 sub=Vimsvc.TaskManager opID=B26B8B63-00000012-f1-b7-1e63 user=vpxuser:MyDOM\UserA] Task Completed : haTask-ha-host-vim.HostSystem.enterMaintenanceMode-83345579 Status success

Hello!

I'm trying to create a script that will create alarms in our vCenter environment. We are on VC 6.5 and I am using the latest version of powercli. I grabbed a script posted by LucD (thanks for that!), but I am continuing to get an error the error shown below. I'm not too familiar with creating alarms with powercli, but it seems like there is something simple that I'm missing here. The alarm does get created, but I'd like to resolve whatever is triggering the error. Any help would be much appreciated -- thanks!

----------------------------------- Error message that displays ----------------------------------------

Get-View : Cannot validate argument on parameter 'Id'. The argument is null, empty, or an element of the argument collection contains a null value. Supply a collection that does not contain any null values and then try the command again.

At line:7 char:24

+ $alarms = Get-View -Id ($alarmMgr.GetAlarm($si.Content.RootFolder))

+                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (:) [Get-View], ParameterBindingValidationException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentValidationError,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.DotNetInterop.GetVIView

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------------------------------------------- Script ---------------------------------------------------------

$si = Get-View serviceInstance

$alarmMgr = Get-View -Id $si.Content.AlarmManager

$alarms = Get-View -Id ($alarmMgr.GetAlarm($si.Content.RootFolder))

$ha = $alarms | where{$_.Info.Name -match "Host hardware"}

$spec = New-Object VMware.Vim.AlarmSpec

$spec.Name = 'TestHW2'

$spec.Description = 'Test HW alarm'

$expr1 = New-Object VMware.Vim.EventAlarmExpression

$expr1.EventType = 'EventEx'

$expr1.EventTypeId = 'com.vmware.vc.cim.CIMGroupHealthStateChanged'

$expr1.ObjectType = 'HostSystem'

$expr1.Status = 'red'

$exprComp1 = New-Object VMware.Vim.EventAlarmExpressionComparison

$exprComp1.AttributeName = 'group'

$exprComp1.Operator = 'equals'

$exprComp1.Value = 'SystemBoard'

$exprComp2 = New-Object VMware.Vim.EventAlarmExpressionComparison

$exprComp2.AttributeName = 'newstate'

$exprComp2.Operator = 'equals'

$exprComp2.Value = 'red'

$expr1.Comparisons = $exprComp1,$exprComp2

$spec.Expression = $expr1

$alarmMgr.CreateAlarm($si.Content.RootFolder,$spec)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Get-TagAssignment Rest API gives the following error:

get-tagassignment : 1/31/2019 9:26:53 AM Get-TagAssignment com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.internal_server_error

{'messages': [com.vmware.vapi.std.localizable_message {'id': vapi.bindings.method.impl.unexpected, 'default_message':

Provider method implementation threw unexpected exception: Read timed out, 'args': [Read timed out]}], 'data':}

At line:1 char:1

+ get-tagassignment -category windows

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-TagAssignment], CisException

+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.Service.Tagging.Cis.TaggingServiceCisImpl.GetTagAssi

gnment.Error,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.Tagging.GetTagAssignment

On an ELM VCSA 6.5 U2c - 9451637

Hi,

I am trying to write a PowerCli script to move a VM to a chosen folder/resource pool. I found "move-vm" is working fine against a old vCenter 6.0 instance, but doesn't work with new 6.7 VCSA for resource pool.

My code is like :

C:\>$rp=get-resourcepool "a-unique-resource-pool" -location "my-cluster"

C:\>$folder=get-Folder "a-unique-folder"

C:\>$vm=get-vm "one-vm-name"

C:\>move-vm -vm $vm -InventoryLocation $folder

### all work as expected.

C:\>move-vm -vm $vm -destination $rp

The above code works fine for vCenter 6.0, but failed on VCSA 6.7 with following error:

move-vm : 1/30/2019 5:08:43 PM  Move-VM         Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

At line:1 char:1

+ move-vm -vm $vm -destination $rp

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Move-VM], VimException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Core_BaseCmdlet_UnknownError,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.MoveVM

I have tried to download the "PowerCLI 6.5 Release 1" from vmware website or directly install VMware.PowerCLI by "install-module VMware.PowerCLI", both have same problem.

"Get-InstalledModule" shows:

6.7.0.1... VMware.DeployAutomation             PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains PowerCLI Auto Deploy cmdlets.

6.7.0.1... VMware.ImageBuilder                 PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains PowerCLI ImageBuilder cmdlets.

11.1.0.... VMware.PowerCLI                     PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains VMware.PowerCLI

6.7.0.1... VMware.Vim                          PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains PowerCLI Vim.

11.0.0.... VMware.VimAutomation.Cis.Core       PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains PowerCLI Cloud Infrastructure Suite cmdlets.

11.0.0.... VMware.VimAutomation.Cloud          PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains PowerCLI Cloud cmdlets.

11.0.0.... VMware.VimAutomation.Common         PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains functionality required by multiple PowerCLI modules.

11.0.0.... VMware.VimAutomation.Core           PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains Windows PowerShell cmdlets for managing vSphere.

7.6.0.1... VMware.VimAutomation.HorizonView    PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains Connect/Disconnect cmdlets for View API service.

10.0.0.... VMware.VimAutomation.License        PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains PowerCLI cmdlets for managing VMware product licenses.

11.0.0.... VMware.VimAutomation.Nsxt           PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains PowerCLI NSXT cmdlets.

11.0.0.... VMware.VimAutomation.Sdk            PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains PowerCLI Sdk.

11.0.0.... VMware.VimAutomation.Security       PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains PowerCLI security management cmdlets.

11.1.0.... VMware.VimAutomation.Srm            PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains PowerCLI SRM cmdlets.

11.1.0.... VMware.VimAutomation.Storage        PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains PowerCLI storage management cmdlets.

1.3.0.0    VMware.VimAutomation.StorageUtility PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains utility scripts for storage.

11.0.0.... VMware.VimAutomation.Vds            PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains PowerCLI VDS cmdlets.

11.0.0.... VMware.VimAutomation.Vmc            PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains PowerCLI VMC cmdlets.

10.0.0.... VMware.VimAutomation.vROps          PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains PowerCLI vROps cmdlets.

6.5.1.7... VMware.VumAutomation                PSGallery            This Windows PowerShell module contains PowerCLI VUM cmdlets.

The latest document I can find is https://code.vmware.com/doc/preview?id=6330#/doc/Move-VM.html

Anybody know how I can use PowerCli to move a VM to a resourcepool against VCSA 6.7?

Thanks,

Jack

Hi All,

We are pointing the ESXi logs to remote Syslog Server. We have around 85+ Servers.

Is there any alternate way to execute below commands in PowerCLI without using plink.

ESXi Version : 6.7

vim-cmd proxysvc/remove_service "/ui" "httpsWithRedirect"

vim-cmd proxysvc/remove_service "/mob" "httpsWithRedirect"

vim-cmd proxysvc/remove_service "/" "httpsWithRedirect"

esxcli system syslog config set --loghost='tcp://FQDN:1514'

esxcli network firewall ruleset set --ruleset-id=syslog --enabled=true

esxcli system syslog reload

I am trying to un-registered a specific set of vms in a Org in vCloud. The approach which I am following is below.

1.get vms in vapp for a org and poweroff

2.Do consolidation from vcloud

3.get the vcenter name for the vcloud vms

4.get the task (PromoteDisks_Task) or even like consolidation is completed for the vm

5.Once the consolidation is completed Get-AdvancedSetting -Name cloud.uuid and remove that paramater

6.change the mac address from manual to automatic

7.remove the vm from inventory

8.while registering the vm rename it to new name mentioned in $newvmname and add that vm to new resource pool mentioned in $newrsp (The new resourcepool is in same cluster)

9.Get the datastore of the vm and get the datastorecluster where that vm datastore resides and get the highest free space datastore in that cluster and do storage vm motion.( This is to change the vmfolder and vmdk file names to new display name in vcenter.

Here from the 4 step I am failing can someone help with the script.

Ex:

From a set of vms if a single vm consolidation is completed then its should proceed with next stepts 5 to 9

Its not complete script.Is it possible rebuild from start based on above steps.

$newrsp='Resp01'
$civm=Get-CIVApp 'NCompass_W2008_64Bit_Certification_NCA' -Org SEP02 |Get-CIVM
$civm |?{$_.status -eq 'PoweredOn'} |Stop-CIVM -RunAsync -Confirm:$false
$civm |ForEach-Object -Process {$_.ExtensionData.Consolidate_Task()}
(Get-View -RelatedObject $civm.extensionData)
$civm.ExtensionData.Consolidate_Task()
$vcvm= (Get-View -RelatedObject $civm.extensionData)
$tasks = @(Get-Task | where{$_.Name -eq 'PromoteDisks_Task' -and (Get-View -Id $_.ObjectId).name -eq $vcvm.Name -and 'Running','Queued' -contains $_.State})    while ($tasks.Count -ne 0){        sleep 5        $tasks = @(Get-Task | where{$_.Name -eq 'PromoteDisks_Task' -and (Get-View -Id $_.ObjectId).name -eq $vcvm.Name -and 'Running','Queued' -contains $_.State})    }
Get-VM $vcvm.Name |Get-AdvancedSetting -Name cloud.uuid |Set-AdvancedSetting ''
$dsName = $vcvm.ExtensionData.Config.Files.VmPathName.Split(']').TrimStart('[')[0]
$vmxPath = $vcvm.ExtensionData.Config.Files.VmPathName.Split(']')[1].TrimStart(' ')
$vmxName = $vmxPath.Split('/')[-1]
$vmxFolder = [string]::Join('/', ($vmxPath.Split('/')[-99..-2]))
$newvmname= @()
for($i=1; $i -le 110; $i++){
$newvmname+=New-VM -Name "$('LIBFORTPERFTEST0')$($i)" -VMFilePath $vmxPath -ResourcePool $newrsp
} 

I found the following article which helps but its not exactly what I am looking for. Script to export Alarms from VCenter to analyze. I am looking to export all alarms and definitions to csv, not just the alarms with just actions set. 

From the screen shot above, if possible I am looking to export the Name\Description\Trigger Events.

Any help is much appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris

Is it possible to use PowerCLI New-VM to create a VM from a template that resides in another vCenter? I have 2 VCSAs, the template lives in VCSA-1 and I'm attempting to deploy the VM to VCSA-2. 2. When using the Web Client, i can deploy VM's from that template to either VCSA, but i'm having problems doing this via PowerCLI. I want to avoid having redundant templates in both locations.

We are moving physical hardware from one datacenter to another. I have a list of affected vlans from the source datacenter. One of my goals is to see if there is a VLAN conflict (ie: does the source VLAN id exist at the destination datacenter and is used for a different Portgroup/subnet?).

1. What are the affected VMs along with various information regarding the VMs?

2. Am I better off simply using RVTools - vPort tab information and Excel formulas?

My SIDC_vlans_list.txt is simple (SIDC = datacenter). No header in file, just a list of vlans.File attached.

I was helped with a  similar request and I modified the code to do similar

$vlanTab = @{}

Get-VM -PipelineVariable vm | Get-VirtualPortGroup |

   ForEach-Object -Process {

   $vlanTab.Add($_.VLanID, $vm)

}

Get-Content -Path .\SIDC_vlans_list.txt |

   ForEach-Object -Process {

   $vm = $vlanTab[$_]

   $_ | Select @{N = 'VM'; E = {$vm.Name}},

   @{N = 'IP'; E = {$vm.Guest.IPAddress[0]}},

   @{N = 'Id'; E = {$vm.Id}},

   @{N = 'Cluster'; E = {(Get-Cluster -VM $vm).Name}},

   @{N = 'vlan'; E = {$_}},

   @{N = 'vCenter'; E = {([uri]$vm.ExtensionData.Client.ServiceUrl).Host}}

}

I want to add the datastore(s), vmhost, and power state the VM is using along with one IP per column if the VM has multiple IPs (without the fe80::250:56f* Sample IP - 64.59.191.230|2001:4e8:0:4019::53:17|fe80::250:56ff:feb8:596| - I don't want the bolded that shows for nearly every IP.)

When I connected to one vcenter and ran the code I got the following:

I feel like I'm so close, yet so far away. Ideally, I want to be connected to all my vcenters to run this ( connect-viserver (get-content <name>.txt) ).

Thank you in advance.

Hi All

I've tried several ways to assign IP address to multiple servers from Excel (IP address, Gateway, Subnet, DNS1, DNS2) spread sheet and non of them worked.

Used the Set-networkadpater and it seems like its not valid anymore.

Is there an easy way to do this?

Thanks

I stole some code from LucD from 2012 which took a Folder object, and added a second parameter to accept a VM object and then get its folder.

Much as PowerCLI cmdlets do, I would like my function to also accept a string or wildcard for the -VM parameter, on which I'd simply do a get-VM to retrieve the VM object.

What is the laziest way to accomplish this? Can I add a 3rd mutually exclusive parameter set for a [String] param with the same name as -VM ?

Hi All,

I'm planning to take a snapshot for around 400 VM's before VMware tools & VM version upgrade. Can we pull the report for Datastore free space with respect to each VM to data store before taking a snapshot?   Before taking snapshot want to see Datastore having sufficient space.  VM's name will be in C:\Temp\vmliste.txt

E.g. VM1 ---> Data store 1  Free space 15 %   GB - 8

        VM2  --> Datastore 2  Free space 12 %     GB - 6

Thanks

vmk