Book Image

Learning PowerCLI - Second Edition

By : Robert van den Nieuwendijk
Book Image

Learning PowerCLI - Second Edition

By: Robert van den Nieuwendijk

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.

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Table of Contents (22 chapters)
Learning PowerCLI Second Edition
Learning PowerCLI Second Edition
Credits
Credits
About the Author
About the Author
About the Reviewer
About the Reviewer
www.PacktPub.com
www.PacktPub.com
Customer Feedback
Customer Feedback
Preface
Preface
Free Chapter
1
Introduction to PowerCLI
Introduction to PowerCLI
Downloading and installing PowerCLI
Participating in the VMware Customer Improvement Program
Modifying the PowerShell execution policy
Creating a PowerShell profile
Connecting and disconnecting servers
Using the credential store
Retrieving a list of all of your virtual machines
Retrieving a list of all of your hosts
Summary
2
Learning Basic PowerCLI Concepts
Learning Basic PowerCLI Concepts
Using the Get-Command, Get-Help, and Get-Member cmdlets
Using providers and PSDrives
Using arrays and hash tables
Creating calculated properties
Using raw API objects with ExtensionData or Get-View
Extending PowerCLI objects with the New-VIProperty cmdlet
Working with vSphere folders
Summary
3
Working with Objects in PowerShell
Working with Objects in PowerShell
Using objects, properties, and methods
Expanding variables and subexpressions in strings
Using here-strings
Using the pipeline
Using the PowerShell object cmdlets
Creating your own objects
Using COM objects
Summary
4
Managing vSphere Hosts with PowerCLI
Managing vSphere Hosts with PowerCLI
Adding hosts to a VMware vCenter Server
Enabling and disabling maintenance mode
Working with host profiles
Working with host services
Configuring the host firewall
Using vSphere Image Builder and Auto Deploy
Using esxcli from PowerCLI
Removing hosts from a VMware vCenter Server
Summary
5
Managing Virtual Machines with PowerCLI
Managing Virtual Machines with PowerCLI
Creating virtual machines
Registering virtual machines
Using OS customization specifications
Importing OVF or OVA packages
Starting and stopping virtual machines
Modifying the settings of virtual machines
Converting virtual machines into templates
Moving virtual machines to another folder, host, cluster, resource pool, or datastore
Updating VMware Tools
Upgrading virtual machine compatibility
Using snapshots
Running commands in the guest OS
Configuring Fault Tolerance
Opening the console of virtual machines
Removing virtual machines
Using tags
Summary
6
Managing Virtual Networks with PowerCLI
Managing Virtual Networks with PowerCLI
Using vSphere Standard Switches
Using host network adapters
Using standard port groups
Using vSphere Distributed Switches
Using distributed virtual port groups
Configuring host networking
Configuring the network of virtual machines
Summary
7
Managing Storage
Managing Storage
Rescanning for new storage devices
Creating datastores
Retrieving datastores
Setting the multipathing policy
Configuring vmhba paths to an SCSI device
Working with Raw Device Mappings
Configuring storage I/O control
Configuring Storage DRS
Upgrading datastores to VMFS-5
Removing datastores
Using VMware vSAN
Using vSphere storage policy-based management
Summary
8
Managing High Availability and Clustering
Managing High Availability and Clustering
Creating vSphere HA and DRS clusters
Retrieving clusters
Modifying the cluster settings
Moving hosts to clusters
Moving clusters
Using DRS rules
Using DRS recommendations
Using resource pools
Using Distributed Power Management
Removing clusters
Summary
9
Managing vCenter Server
Managing vCenter Server
Working with roles and permissions
Managing licenses
Configuring alarms
Retrieving events
Summary
10
Patching ESXi Hosts and Upgrading Virtual Machines
Patching ESXi Hosts and Upgrading Virtual Machines
Downloading new patches into the Update Manager repository
Retrieving patches in the Update Manager repository
Using baselines and baseline groups
Testing inventory objects for compliance with baselines
Retrieving baseline compliance data
Initializing staging of patches
Remediating inventory objects
Summary
11
Managing VMware vCloud Director and vCloud Air
Managing VMware vCloud Director and vCloud Air
Connecting to vCloud Air servers and vCloud Director servers
Retrieving organizations
Retrieving organization virtual datacenters
Retrieving organization networks
Retrieving vCloud users
Using vCloud virtual appliances
Managing vCloud virtual machines
Using the vCloud Director API with Get-CIView
Disconnecting from vCloud Director servers
Summary
12
Using Site Recovery Manager
Using Site Recovery Manager
Installing SRM
Connecting to SRM servers
Downloading and installing the Meadowcroft.SRM module
Pairing SRM sites
Retrieving the SRM user info
Managing protection groups
Protecting virtual machines
Retrieving protected virtual machines
Unprotecting virtual machines
Managing recovery plans
Disconnecting from SRM servers
Summary
13
Using vRealize Operations Manager
Using vRealize Operations Manager
Connecting to vRealize Operations Manager servers
Retrieving vRealize Operations Manager resource objects
Using alerts
Retrieving recommendations
Retrieving statistic keys
Retrieving statistical data
Retrieving local user accounts
Using the vRealize Operations Manager API
Disconnecting from vRealize Operations Manager servers
Summary
14
Using REST API to manage NSX and vRealize Automation
Using REST API to manage NSX and vRealize Automation
Connecting to REST API servers
Managing NSX logical switches
Managing NSX logical (distributed) routers
Managing NSX Edge services gateways
Connecting to vRA servers
Managing vRA tenants
Retrieving vRA business groups
Managing vRA reservations
Managing vRA machines and applications
Summary
15
Reporting with PowerCLI
Reporting with PowerCLI
Retrieving log files
Creating log bundles
Performance reporting
Exporting reports to CSV files
Generating HTML reports
Sending reports by e-mail
Reporting the health of your vSphere environment with vCheck
Summary

Modifying the PowerShell execution policy

If this is the first time that you are using Microsoft PowerShell on the computer on which you installed PowerCLI, you have to change the execution policy to be able to start PowerCLI.

The Microsoft PowerShell execution policies define when you can run scripts or load configuration files. The possible values for the execution policy are Restricted, AllSigned, RemoteSigned, Unrestricted, Bypass, and Undefined.

Policy

Description

Restricted

This is the default execution policy. It allows you to run commands at the Command Prompt, but disables the execution of scripts. It will also disable the start of PowerCLI.

AllSigned

With the AllSigned execution policy, scripts can run, but they must be signed by a trusted publisher. If you run a script by a publisher that is not trusted yet, you will see a prompt asking whether you trust the publisher of the script.

RemoteSigned

The RemoteSigned execution policy allows you to run scripts that you have written on the local computer. Any script downloaded from the Internet must be signed by a trusted publisher or must be unblocked.

Unrestricted

When the execution policy is set to Unrestricted, unsigned scripts can run. If you run a script that has been downloaded from the Internet, you will get a security warning saying that this script can potentially harm your computer and asking whether you want to run this script.

Bypass

The Bypass execution policy blocks nothing and displays no warnings or prompts. This execution policy is designed for configurations in which a Microsoft PowerShell script is built into a larger application that has its own security model.

Undefined

The Undefined execution policy removes the execution policy from the current scope. If the execution policy in all scopes is Undefined, the effective execution policy is Restricted, which is the default execution policy. The Undefined execution policy will not remove an execution policy that is set in a Group Policy scope.

You can check the current execution policy setting with the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-ExecutionPolicy

Get-ExecutionPolicy is a Microsoft PowerShell commandlet (cmdlet). Cmdlets are commands built into PowerShell or PowerCLI. They follow a verb-noun naming convention. The get cmdlets retrieve information about the item that is specified as the noun part of the cmdlet.

Set the execution policy to RemoteSigned to be able to start PowerCLI and run scripts written on the local computer with the Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned command.

Note

You have to run the Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned command from a PowerShell or PowerCLI session that you started using the Run as Administrator option, or you will get the following error message:

Set-ExecutionPolicy : Access to the registry key 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PowerShell\1\ShellIds\Microsoft.PowerShell' is denied.

If you are using both the 32-bit and the 64-bit versions of PowerCLI, you have to run this command in both versions.

In the following screenshot of the PowerCLI console, you will see the output of the Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned command if you run this command in a PowerCLI session started with Run as Administrator.

You can get more information about execution policies by typing the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-Help about_Execution_Policies

To get more information about signing your scripts, type the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-Help about_signing

Note

If you get an error message saying Get-Help could not find about_Execution_Policies in a help file, you have to run the Update-Help cmdlet in a PowerShell, or PowerCLI session started with Run as Administrator first. The Update-Help cmdlet downloads the newest help files for Microsoft PowerShell modules and installs them on your computer. Because Microsoft updates the Microsoft PowerShell help files on a regular basis, it is recommended to run the Update-Help cmdlet on a regular basis also.

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