VMware PowerCLI commands

The VMware PowerCLI PowerShell interface provided for managing vSphere systems is a fantastic tool that should be useful for all VMware admins.

I've gathered these commands while implementing and managing ESXi 4.0 clusters, use with caution on any production system.

This is an extension of a previous post:
VMware vSphere PowerCLI commands

Join a cluster by moving an ESX host from one location to the cluster
Move-Inventory -Item (Get-VMHost -Name esxHost) -Destination (Get-Cluster -Name clusterName)

Get the VMware.Vim.ClusterComputeResource MO from the PowerCLI cluster object
$clusterview = get-view $cluster.Id

Reconfigure a host for VMware HA (high availability)
$vmhost = get-vmhost -name esxHost; $hostMO = Get-View -ID $vmhost.ID; $hostMO.ReconfigureHostForDAS()

Find migration events for the last day
$events = Get-VIEvent -Start (Get-Date).AddDays(-1) | where {$_.fullFormattedMessage -match "Migrating.*"}

Find events other than CPU Alarms or user login/logout for the last day
$events = Get-VIEvent -Start (Get-Date).AddDays(-1) | where {$_.fullFormattedMessage -notmatch "Alarm.*CPU.*|User.*logged.*"}

Find events for degraded MPIO path redundancy 
$events = Get-VIEvent -Start (Get-Date).AddDays(-1) | where {$_.fullFormattedMessage -match "Path redundancy to storage.*degraded"}

Report the date, host and description for MPIO path redundancy errors
foreach ($event in $events) {write-output ($event.createdTime.ToString() + "," + $event.host.get_name() + "," + $event.fullFormattedMessage)}

List a table of VI events with only the date and message
$events | format-table -wrap -autosize -property createdTime,fullFormattedMessage

List the physical networks adapters and the current link speed (ESX 4.0)
$hostSystem = get-view -ViewType HostSystem; $hostConfigManager = $hostSystem.get_ConfigManager(); $hostNetworkSystem = $hostConfigManager.get_NetworkSystem(); $netSystem = Get-View $hostNetworkSystem; $netSystem.NetworkConfig.pnic; foreach ($pnic in  $netSystem.NetworkConfig.pnic) {Write-Output ($pnic.Device + "," + $pnic.spec.linkspeed.SpeedMB)}

List the vSwitches and the uplinks currently attached
$hostSystem = get-view -ViewType HostSystem; $hostConfigManager = $hostSystem.get_ConfigManager(); $hostNetworkSystem = $hostConfigManager.get_NetworkSystem(); $netSystem = Get-View $hostNetworkSystem; foreach ($vswitch in  $netSystem.NetworkConfig.vSwitch) {Write-Output ($vSwitch.Name + "," + $vswitch.spec.policy.NicTeaming.NicOrder.ActiveNic)}

Remove snapshots from a group of machines
$VMs = Get-VM -Location (get-folder -name "vmFolder"); foreach ($vm in $vms) {remove-snapshot -snapshot (Get-Snapshot -vm $vm) -confirm:$false}

Take snapshots of a group of machines
$VMs = Get-VM -Location (get-folder -name "vmFolder"); foreach ($vm in $VMs) {New-Snapshot -Name "snapshot 01" -description "Snapshot description" -vm $vm -Quiesce:$false}

Find VM name, description and primary disk datastore
$VMs = get-vm; foreach ($vm in $VMs) {write-output ($vm.Name + ",""" + $vm.Description + """," + $vm.harddisks[0].FileName.Replace(" ", ",")) | out-file -append -filepath c:\temp\VM_Datastores.txt}

Bring a host out of maintenance most
Set-VMHost -VMHost esxHost -State Connected

Generate diagnostic support bundles for all hosts
get-log -vmhost (get-vmhost) -bundle -destinationpath c:\temp\bundles

Find the network adapter type for each VM
$vms = get-vm ; foreach ($vm in $vms) {write-host $vm.Name "-"  $vm.networkadapters[0].type}

Find physical NICs and whether they're set to autonegotiate or hardcoded
foreach ($pnic in $hostNetwork.pnic) {if($pnic.linkSpeed -eq $null) {$ls = "Auto"} else {$ls= $pnic.linkSpeed.speedMB.toString() + ":" + $pnic.linkSpeed.duplex} ;write-output ($pnic.Device + "," + $ls)}

Find host sytem build information
$hostSystems = get-view -ViewType HostSystem; foreach ($hostSystem in $hostSystems) {Write-Output ($hostSystem.Name + "," + $hostSystem.config.product.Fullname)}

Find VMs and whether the VMtools is configured to synchronising time 
$vmSet = Get-VM ; foreach ($vm in $vmSet) { $view = get-view $vm.ID ;$config = $view.config; $tools = $config.tools; Write-Output ($vm.Name + "," + $tools.SyncTimeWithHost) }

Revert to a snapshot
set-vm -vm vmName -snapshot (get-snapshot -vm vmName) -confirm:$false

Remove a virtual machine from inventory and delete from disk
remove-vm -DeleteFromDisk:$true -RunAsync:$true -vm vmName

Shutdown one or more Virtual Machine guests
shutdown-vmguest -vm $vms -confirm:$false

Start one or more Virtual Machine guests
start-vm -vm $vms -confirm:$false

Forcefully power off one or more Virtual Machines
stop-vm $vms -confirm:$false

Get a virtual switch from the specified ESX host
get-virtualswitch -name vSwitch1 -vmhost esxHost

Create a new port group on the specified vSwitch
New-VirtualPortGroup -Name "pgName" -VirtualSwitch $vs

Find ESX memory balloon averages for the last five days
get-stat -entity $hosts -start (Get-Date).AddDays(-5) -finish (Get-Date) -stat mem.vmmemctl.average

Export a list of VMs
$vms | select-object -prop Name | out-file -filepath c:\temp\vms.txt

Export a list of VM guest hostnames 
$vms = get-vm; foreach ($vm in $vms) { write-output $vm.guest.get_HostName()}

Wayne's World of IT (WWoIT), Copyright 2009 Wayne Martin.