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  • Book Overview & Buying Learning PowerCLI
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Learning PowerCLI

Learning PowerCLI - Second Edition

By : Robert van den Nieuwendijk
5 (1)
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Learning PowerCLI

Learning PowerCLI

5 (1)
By: Robert van den Nieuwendijk
Buy this Book

Overview of this book

VMware vSphere PowerCLI, a free extension to Microsoft Windows PowerShell, enables you to automate the management of a VMware vSphere or vCloud environment. This book will show you how to automate your tasks and make your job easier. Starting with an introduction to the basics of PowerCLI, the book will teach you how to manage your vSphere and vCloud infrastructure from the command line. To help you manage a vSphere host overall, you will learn how to manage vSphere ESXi hosts, host profiles, host services, host firewall, and deploy and upgrade ESXi hosts using Image Builder and Auto Deploy. The next chapter will not only teach you how to create datastore and datastore clusters, but you’ll also work with profile-driven and policy-based storage to manage your storage. To create a disaster recovery solution and retrieve information from vRealize Operations, you will learn how to use Site Recovery Manager and vRealize Operations respectively. Towards the end, you’ll see how to use the REST APIs from PowerShell to manage NSX and vRealize Automation and create patch baselines, scan hosts against the baselines for missing patches, and re-mediate hosts. By the end of the book, you will be capable of using the best tool to automate the management and configuration of VMware vSphere.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
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Preface
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Preface
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What this book covers
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What you need for this book
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Who this book is for
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Conventions
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Reader feedback
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Customer support
Lock Free Chapter
1
1. Introduction to PowerCLI
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1. Introduction to PowerCLI
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Downloading and installing PowerCLI
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Participating in the VMware Customer Improvement Program
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Modifying the PowerShell execution policy
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Creating a PowerShell profile
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Connecting and disconnecting servers
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Using the credential store
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Retrieving a list of all of your virtual machines
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Retrieving a list of all of your hosts
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Summary
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2. Learning Basic PowerCLI Concepts
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2. Learning Basic PowerCLI Concepts
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Using the Get-Command, Get-Help, and Get-Member cmdlets
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Using providers and PSDrives
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Using arrays and hash tables
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Creating calculated properties
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Using raw API objects with ExtensionData or Get-View
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Extending PowerCLI objects with the New-VIProperty cmdlet
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Working with vSphere folders
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Summary
3
3. Working with Objects in PowerShell
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3. Working with Objects in PowerShell
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Using objects, properties, and methods
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Expanding variables and subexpressions in strings
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Using here-strings
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Using the pipeline
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Using the PowerShell object cmdlets
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Creating your own objects
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Using COM objects
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Summary
4
4. Managing vSphere Hosts with PowerCLI
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4. Managing vSphere Hosts with PowerCLI
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Adding hosts to a VMware vCenter Server
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Enabling and disabling maintenance mode
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Working with host profiles
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Working with host services
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Configuring the host firewall
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Using vSphere Image Builder and Auto Deploy
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Using esxcli from PowerCLI
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Removing hosts from a VMware vCenter Server
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Summary
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5. Managing Virtual Machines with PowerCLI
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5. Managing Virtual Machines with PowerCLI
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Creating virtual machines
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Registering virtual machines
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Using OS customization specifications
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Importing OVF or OVA packages
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Starting and stopping virtual machines
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Modifying the settings of virtual machines
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Converting virtual machines into templates
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Moving virtual machines to another folder, host, cluster, resource pool, or datastore
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Updating VMware Tools
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Upgrading virtual machine compatibility
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Using snapshots
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Running commands in the guest OS
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Configuring Fault Tolerance
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Opening the console of virtual machines
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Removing virtual machines
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Using tags
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Summary
6
6. Managing Virtual Networks with PowerCLI
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6. Managing Virtual Networks with PowerCLI
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Using vSphere Standard Switches
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Using host network adapters
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Using standard port groups
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Using vSphere Distributed Switches
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Using distributed virtual port groups
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Configuring host networking
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Configuring the network of virtual machines
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Summary
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7. Managing Storage
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7. Managing Storage
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Rescanning for new storage devices
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Creating datastores
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Retrieving datastores
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Setting the multipathing policy
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Configuring vmhba paths to an SCSI device
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Working with Raw Device Mappings
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Configuring storage I/O control
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Configuring Storage DRS
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Upgrading datastores to VMFS-5
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Removing datastores
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Using VMware vSAN
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Using vSphere storage policy-based management
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Summary
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8. Managing High Availability and Clustering
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8. Managing High Availability and Clustering
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Creating vSphere HA and DRS clusters
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Retrieving clusters
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Modifying the cluster settings
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Moving hosts to clusters
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Moving clusters
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Using DRS rules
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Using DRS recommendations
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Using resource pools
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Using Distributed Power Management
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Removing clusters
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Summary
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9. Managing vCenter Server
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9. Managing vCenter Server
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Working with roles and permissions
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Managing licenses
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Configuring alarms
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Retrieving events
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Summary
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10. Patching ESXi Hosts and Upgrading Virtual Machines
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10. Patching ESXi Hosts and Upgrading Virtual Machines
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Downloading new patches into the Update Manager repository
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Retrieving patches in the Update Manager repository
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Using baselines and baseline groups
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Testing inventory objects for compliance with baselines
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Retrieving baseline compliance data
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Initializing staging of patches
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Remediating inventory objects
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Summary
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11. Managing VMware vCloud Director and vCloud Air
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11. Managing VMware vCloud Director and vCloud Air
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Connecting to vCloud Air servers and vCloud Director servers
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Retrieving organizations
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Retrieving organization virtual datacenters
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Retrieving organization networks
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Retrieving vCloud users
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Using vCloud virtual appliances
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Managing vCloud virtual machines
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Using the vCloud Director API with Get-CIView
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Disconnecting from vCloud Director servers
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Summary
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12. Using Site Recovery Manager
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12. Using Site Recovery Manager
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Installing SRM
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Connecting to SRM servers
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Downloading and installing the Meadowcroft.SRM module
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Pairing SRM sites
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Retrieving the SRM user info
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Managing protection groups
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Protecting virtual machines
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Retrieving protected virtual machines
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Unprotecting virtual machines
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Managing recovery plans
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Disconnecting from SRM servers
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Summary
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13. Using vRealize Operations Manager
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13. Using vRealize Operations Manager
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Connecting to vRealize Operations Manager servers
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Retrieving vRealize Operations Manager resource objects
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Using alerts
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Retrieving recommendations
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Retrieving statistic keys
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Retrieving statistical data
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Retrieving local user accounts
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Using the vRealize Operations Manager API
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Disconnecting from vRealize Operations Manager servers
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Summary
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14. Using REST API to manage NSX and vRealize Automation
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14. Using REST API to manage NSX and vRealize Automation
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Connecting to REST API servers
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Managing NSX logical switches
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Managing NSX logical (distributed) routers
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Managing NSX Edge services gateways
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Connecting to vRA servers
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Managing vRA tenants
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Retrieving vRA business groups
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Managing vRA reservations
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Managing vRA machines and applications
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Summary
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15. Reporting with PowerCLI
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15. Reporting with PowerCLI
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Retrieving log files
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Creating log bundles
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Performance reporting
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Exporting reports to CSV files
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Generating HTML reports
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Sending reports by e-mail
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Reporting the health of your vSphere environment with vCheck
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Summary

Testing inventory objects for compliance with baselines

If you want to know whether your inventory objects are up to date or have missing patches, you can use the Test-Compliance cmdlet to test inventory objects for compliance with baselines attached to them. The syntax of the Test-Compliance cmdlet is as follows:

Test-Compliance [-Server <VIServer[]>] [-Entity] <InventoryItem[]>
    [[-UpdateType] <UpdateType[]>] [-RunAsync] [-WhatIf] [-Confirm] 
    [<CommonParameters>]

The -Entity parameter is required. You can use the -UpdateType parameter to specify the type of the patches and upgrades you want to scan. The valid values are: HostPatch, HostUpgrade, HostThirdParty, VmPatch, VmHardwareUpgrade, VmToolsUpgrade, and VaUpgrade. The VmPatch value is deprecated and will be removed in a following release of PowerCLI.

In the first example, we will scan all the hosts in the New York data center for missing patches:

PowerCLI C:\> Test-Compliance -UpdateType HostPatch...
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Learning PowerCLI
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