vSphere Storage vMotion traffic

This post provides information on storage vMotion in VMware vSphere 4 with ESXi 4.0 U2 hosts. While using storage vMotion to move data between unconnected storage, I conducted some simple testing to identify the networks and ports used for vMotion.

I’ve never seen an explanation of how storage vMotion works, and while it seems kind of obvious in retrospect, I thought some people might find this interesting.


Summary

1. The scope of a storage vMotion operation is datacenter wide, not limited to clusters or which host can see which storage.
2. In the testing conducted, storage vMotion relies upon the management network to transfer the disk data between the two ESXi hosts
3. If this method was used to import a large number of VMs from foreign storage then the limitation would typically be the 1GB vmnic used for the management network.
4. To allow the migration between datastores not visible by a single host, the VM would also be migrated between hosts.

Scenario

Two hosts managed by single vCenter instance, vc01:

1. esx01 part of the CLUS1 cluster
2. esx02 not in a cluster
3. esx01, connected only to the iSCSI SAN 1
4. esx02, connected only to the iSCSI SAN 2

Management network on vmk0 using two GbE interfaces on both hosts. Vmk0 on the management network with load balancing based on the virtual port ID.

Test

The test conducted was using storage vmotion to move a virtual machine through VirtualCenter on vc01 from a datastore visible only to esx02 to a datastore visible only to esx01.

1. The source datastore was LUN02 (visible only to esx02) and the destination datastore was LUN01 (visible only to esx01).
2. vMotion was used to automatically migrate the VM from esx02 to esx01 (as the VM had moved storage)

Traffic and network usage observed

1. On esx02 unsupported console, vmk0 source 192.168.0.12.60504 (esx02), destination 192.168.0.11.902 (esx01).
2. Command: /bin/tcpdump-uw -I vmk0 -nn

esx02

1. MbRx 190Mb/sec on software iSCSI NIC – Reading the disk information from iSCSI SAN 2 for the VM
2. MbTx 136Mb/sec – Transmit the information across the management network to esx01.
3. Command: resxtop --server esx02 (‘n’ for network information)

esx01

1. MbRx 120Mb/sec – receiving the disk data from esx02 across the management network
2. MbTx 200Mb/sec on software iSCSI NIC – writing the data to the SAN across the iSCSI network
3. Command: resxtop --server esx01 (‘n’ for network information)

The following diagram shows the traffic flow of storage vMotion on an iSCSI network:

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Resizing a VM's Windows system OS with Set-HardDisk

With vSphere PowerCLI Update 1 there is now an automated method of increasing the system disk of a virtual machine. This essentially performs the same thing as I’ve been doing manually for a while now - the disk is resized and mounted to a ‘helper vm’ and diskpart extends the disk, the helper VM is then shutdown and the risk removed, and when the resized VM starts up the OS prompts for a final reboot after detecting the disk change.

Note that both the target and helper VM must be powered off, and credentials must be passed or the helpervm argument is ignored. The guest credentials are used on the Windows helper VM to authenticate using the VMtools mechanism to invoke a command inside a VM.

$guetsusername = "domain\username"
$guestpass = Read-Host "Guest password (administrator of the server)?" -assecurestring
$hostusername = "root"
$hostpass = Read-Host "Host Password (VI SDK access to the ESX host)?" -assecurestring
$hostcredential = new-object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential($hostusername, $hostpass)
$guestcredential = new-object System.Management.Automation.PSCredential($guetsusername, $guestpass)
$sizeGB = 30
$sizeKB = $sizeGB *1024*1024
$harddisk = Get-HardDisk -vm vm01
Set-HardDisk -HardDisk $harddisk[0] -capacityKB $sizeKB -hostcredential $hostcredential -guestcredential $guestcredential -helpervm $vm

An error occurred when trying to use domain credentials to pass to the vCenter SDK – host credentials are required, not credentials to vCenter (which seems odd).

Set-HardDisk -HardDisk $harddisk[0] -capacityKB 31457280 -hostcredential $hostcredential -guestcredential $guestcredential -helpervm helpervm
Set-HardDisk : 4/02/2010 1:25:04 PM    Set-HardDisk    919835D1-AD13-41DF-ABDE-D630E96FE722    While performing operation 'Connect to host service 'https://esx01/sdk' at port 902' the following error occured: 'Insufficient permissions in host operating system'
At line:1 char:13
+ Set-HardDisk  <<<< -HardDisk $harddisk[0] -capacityKB 31457280 -hostcredential $hostcredential -guestcredential $guestcredential -helpervm helpervm

Another error occurred when trying to resize a VM, the script used failed.  Note that I tried this manually and it also failed (must have been something particular to that VM).  It was interesting to see that from this it looks like the cmdlet uses the invoke-vmscript to run a remote script through the VMtools interface that calls the diskpart commands.
Set-HardDisk : 4/02/2010 11:22:11 AM    Set-HardDisk    919835D1-AD13-41DF-ABDE-D630E96FE722    Execution of the  script in guest OS on VM 'helpervm' failed: '
Microsoft DiskPart version 5.2.3790.3959
Copyright (C) 1999-2001 Microsoft Corporation.
On computer: HELPERVM
Disk 1 is now the selected disk.
Volume 2 is the selected volume.
The volume you have selected may not be extended.
Please select another volume and try again.
'
At line:1 char:13
+ Set-HardDisk  <<<< -HardDisk $harddisk[0] -capacityKB 31457280 -hostcredential $hostcredential -guestcredential $guestcredential -helpervm $vm

Wayne's World of IT (WWoIT), Copyright 2010 Wayne Martin. 

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Keeping Citrix sessions alive with sendkeys

I use the following script as a way of keeping my Citrix session alive to thwart security guys and their over-aggressive timeouts.

Normally I don't like to use sendkeys, but this seemed like the perfect way to trick ica into thinking keys were being pressed...

PowerShell and VBScript versions below.

#
# Find the wfica.exe process and poke keystrokes at it, preventing a Citrix session from timing out
# Be careful what you have open and what keystrokes you poke

[System.Object[]]$processes = get-process | where {$_.ProcessName -eq "wfica32.exe"}
if ($processes.count -ge 1) { $process = $processes[0] }

if ($process -is [System.Diagnostics.Process])
{
  $processes | format-list -property *

  for (;;)
  {
    [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("'Microsoft.VisualBasic")

    [Microsoft.VisualBasic.Interaction]::AppActivate($process.Id)
    start-sleep -seconds 1

    [void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("'System.Windows.Forms")
    [System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("1")
    start-sleep -seconds 240
  }

}

Set objWshShell = CreateObject("Wscript.Shell")

strProcessName = "wfica32.exe"

intProcessID = 0
Call FindProcessID(strProcessName, intProcessID)

if (intProcessID > 0) Then
 wscript.echo "Found process ID: " & intProcessID

 Do 
  objWshShell.AppActivate(intProcessID)
  WScript.Sleep 1000
  objWshShell.SendKeys "1"
  WScript.Sleep 240000
 Loop

End If


Function FindProcessID(ByRef strProcessName, ByRef intProcessID)

 strQuery = "Select * from Win32_Process Where Name = '" & strProcessName & "'" ' WQL query string looking for the specified process

 Set objNameSpace = GetObject("winmgmts://./root/cimv2")    ' The cimv2 namespace of the local machine

 FindProcessID = vbFalse
 Set objProcessSet = objNameSpace.ExecQuery(strQuery)     ' Execute the query
 For Each objProcess in objProcessSet      ' For each process in the set, ordered by oldest to newest
  intProcessID = objProcess.ProcessID
  WScript.Echo "Found process, ID: " & intProcessID
  WScript.Echo objProcess.Name & ", " & intProcessID & ", " & objProcess.CreationDate & ", " & objProcess.CommandLine & ", " & objProcess.Priority & ", " & objProcess.WorkingSetSize & ", " & objProcess.PageFileUsage
  FindProcessID = vbTrue
 Next

 Set objNameSpace = Nothing : Set objProcessSet = Nothing : Set objProcess = Nothing
End Function

Wayne's World of IT (WWoIT), Copyright 2010 Wayne Martin. 

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More useful command-lines

This is the third edition of useful command lines, adding another 95 commands that I've found useful. Note that many of the command-line calls may require Microsoft utilities (such as dsquery, wmic, dnscmd).

Most of the commands are for the windows-based command interpreter, with a few PowerShell and ESX service console commands creeping in. They range from diagnostics, troubleshooting and simply automating recurring tasks.

Each command-line can be copied and pasted at the command prompt, if you use a batch file you'll need to reference variables with double-percent (%%).

See the previous two posts for more command-line operations:
http://waynes-world-it.blogspot.com/2008/09/useful-command-lines.html
http://waynes-world-it.blogspot.com/2009/09/more-useful-command-lines.html

Given an IP and mask, return the subet the IP belongs to
for /f "tokens=1-8 delims=.- " %i in ('echo 192.168.5.200 255.255.255.0') do set /a Octet1="%i & %m" >nul & set /a Octet2="%j & %n" >nul & set /a Octet3="%k & %o" >nul & set /a Octet4="%l & %p" >nul & Echo %i.%j.%k.%l,!Octet1!.!Octet2!.!Octet3!.!Octet4!,%m.%n.%o.%p

Disable the internal speaker beep
sc config beep start= demand & net stop beep

List the Volume Shadow Copy Sets
vssadmin list shadows

List the volume Shadow Copy storage associations and sizes
vssadmin list shadowstorage

Create an FSRM storage report to check duplicate files
Storrept Reports Add /Report:DuplicateFiles /Task:FSRM-DuplicateFiles /Scope:"E:\Data" /Name:"Duplicate Files" /Format:CSV /MailTo:user@somewhere.com

Create a scheduled task prior to creating a 2003 FSRM report 
schtasks /create /sc MONTHLY /D 1 /tn FSRM-DuplicateFiles /tr "storrept reports generate /scheduled /task:FSRM-DuplicateFiles" /st 19:00:00 /ru system

Find the number of mailboxes on the specified msExchHomeServerName
dsquery * -filter "(&(objectClass=User)(objectCategory=Person)(mailnickname=*)(msExchHomeServerName=*servername*))" -limit 0 | find /i /c "cn"

Join text copied from the command-line to a single line when pasting
Hold down the shift key when copying the text

Query the current control set, last known good and failed hives 
reg query HKLM\system\select

Make persistent changes to service control dependencies
sc \\%server% config snmp depend= EventLog/

Assign a drive letter to a recently created partition/volume
diskpart assign letter=e

Convert a group from type distribution to type security
dsmod group %groupDN% -secgrp Yes  

Query for global security or distribution groups
dsquery * -filter "(&(groupType:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=2))"

Query for global security groups
dsquery * -filter "(&(groupType:1.2.840.113556.1.4.803:=-2147483646))"

Given a list of group DNs, find if those groups are a member of other groups 
for /f "tokens=*" %i in (groups.txt) do @for /f "tokens=*" %m in ('"dsget group -memberof %i | find /i "cn" & if errorlevel 1 Echo Not a member of any groups"') do @echo %i,%m

Find the domain controller GUID of the specified DC 
dsquery * "CN=dcname,OU=Domain Controllers,DC=domainRoot" -scope base -attr objectguid

Find the domain GUID 
dsquery * "domainRoot" -scope base -attr objectGUID

Display the local WLBS Microsoft Network Load Balancing configuration
nlb display

Perform an LDAP ping against rootDSE to get the DC NETLOGON_SAM_LOGON_RESPONSE
adfind -rootDSE -f "(&(DnsDomain=domainFQDN)(Host=%computer%)(User=%computer%$)(DomainGuid=\30\FA\03\19\36\4F\47\1D\35\8F\C4\96\72\74\69\B3)(NtVer=\06\00\00\00))"  netLogon

Find the master browser for the subnet from NetBIOS browser
browstat getmaster \Device\NetBT_Tcpip_{3393FDD1-0D42-4DA4-8E53-36D9E00195F5} NETBIOS_DOMAIN_NAME

List the databases on an MSSQL 2005 server
sqlcmd -S %server% -d master -W -s "," -Q "SELECT NAME FROM sysdatabases Order By Name"

List the Service Control Manager security descriptor
sc sdshow SCMANAGER

Update the Service Control Manager SD on 2003 to allow non-admin access
sc sdset SCMANAGER D:(A;;CCLCRPRC;;;AU)(A;;CCLCRPRC;;;IU)(A;;CCLCRPRC;;;SU)(A;;CCLCRPWPRC;;;SY)(A;;KA;;;BA)S:(AU;FA;KA;;;WD)(AU;OIIOFA;GA;;;WD)

Update the DACL for a service to allow a user to query and interrogate the svc
subinacl /service \\%server%\SysmonLog /grant=domain\user=QSI

Find DFS roots from Active Directory
dsquery * "CN=Dfs-Configuration,CN=System,domainRoot" -filter "(objectClass=fTDfs)"

List the DFS trust domain SPC cache
dfsutil /spcinfo

Find the SQL Server version
sqlcmd -S %server% -d master -W -s "," -Q "SELECT  SERVERPROPERTY('productversion'), SERVERPROPERTY ('productlevel'), SERVERPROPERTY ('edition')"

Find the SQL Server 2000 affinity mask 
sqlcmd -S %server% -d master -W -s "," -Q "select c.value from master..sysconfigures c, master..spt_values v, master..syscurconfigs r where v.type = 'C' and v.number = c.config and v.number >= 0 and v.number = r.config and v.name ='affinity mask'"

Find the SQL Server 2005 affinity mask
sqlcmd -S %server% -d master -W -s "," -Q "SELECT Name, Value, Minimum, Maximum, Value_in_use, is_dynamic, is_advanced from SYS.Configurations Where Name = 'affinity mask'"

Find SQL Server 2005 configuration options
sqlcmd -S %server% -d master -W -s "," -Q "SELECT Name, Value, Minimum, Maximum, Value_in_use, is_dynamic, is_advanced from SYS.Configurations Order By Name"

Find SQL Server 2000 license information, Mode 0x0 per-seat, 0x2 per-proc
reg query "\\%server%\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server\80\MSSQLLicenseInfo\MSSQL8.00

Find SQL Server 2000/2005 instances
reg query "\\%server%\hklm\software\microsoft\Microsoft SQL Server" /v InstalledInstances

Set environment variables for YYYYMMDD and YYYYMMDDHHMMSS
for /f "tokens=1-8 delims=/:. " %i in ('echo %date% %time%') do Set DateTime=%l%k%j&Set DateTimeLong=%l%k%j%m%n%o

Microsoft iSCSI, list sessions
iscsicli SessionList

Microsoft iSCSI, Report iSCSI and MPIO version information
iscsicli VersionInfo

Show disk usage by username (Windows Resource Kit)
diskuse c:\

Check whether external or forest trusts have SID filter qurantining enabled
nltest /domain_trusts /v

From a list of computers, run a command if the machine responds to a ping
for /f %i in (computers.txt) do @ping -n 1 %i >nul & if errorlevel 0 if not errorlevel 1 echo %i

Extract performance counters from a perfmon binary file and save as csv 
relog.exe -f csv Perfmon.blg -o perfmon.csv

Make a bootable CD using the specified boot sector file and source files
oscdimg /m /n /h -bc:\temp\bootsector.bin "c:\temp\source" install.iso

Find the Exchange storage groups known to AD
dsquery * "CN=Configuration,domainRoot" -filter "(&(objectClass=msExchStorageGroup))" -attr name msExchESEParamCircularLog msExchESEParamEventSource msExchESEParamLogFilePath msExchESEParamLogFileSize msExchESEParamSystemPath msExchESEParamZeroDatabaseDuringBackup msExchRecovery msExchESEParamEnableOnlineDefrag msExchESEParamEnableIndexChecking msExchESEParamBaseName msExchESEParamCommitDefault msExchESEParamDbExtensionSize msExchESEParamPageTempDBMin msExchESEParamPageFragment msExchESEParamCheckpointDepthMax

Check if an executable is large address aware (confirms support)
dumpbin /headers sqlservr.exe

Find all file/registry/thread/event details for a remote machine
psexec \\%server% -c handle.exe -a > c:\temp\handle.txt

Dump configuration with netsh that can be used to import
netsh interface ip dump > IPConfig.txt

Reapply settings saved with netsh export
netsh -f IPConfig.txt

List the SCSI devices for a group of machines
for /f %i in (computers.txt) do @for /f "tokens=1,2,*" %m in ('"devcon -m:\\%i listclass SCSIAdapter | find /i "VEN""') do @echo %i,%o

Adjust the priority of a process given its PID 
setprio /P %PID% /L 2

Find the paged and non-paged pool memory allocations
poolmon

Create a local tag file for paged and non-paged pool memory allocations
poolmon /c

Add a trigger to an existing scheduled task
jt.exe /sac "\\%server%\c$\windows\Tasks\taskname.job" /ctj StartTime=15:10 StartDate=02/02/2010 type=DAILY typearguments=1

Find AdminSDHolder / SDPROP groups in the directory
dsquery * -filter "(&(objectClass=Group)(objectCategory=Group)(adminCount=1))"   

Query for all objects that are protected (that are members of the groups above)
dsquery * -filter "(adminCount=1)"

Count how many user accounts are protected by the SDPROP process
dsquery * -filter "(&(objectClass=User)(objectCategory=Person)(adminCount=1))" | find /i /c "CN="

Find disk and partition relationships
wmic path Win32_LogicalDiskToPartition

LDAP string to search for mail-enabled user and contact objects
"(&(|((objectClass=Contact)(objectClass=User)))(objectCategory=Person)(mailnickname=*))"

Find SCPs (Service Connection Points) for objects other than print queues
dsquery * -filter "&((objectClass=ConnectionPoint)(!(objectClass=PrintQueue)))"  -limit 0

List VSS Shadowstorage associations
wmic /node:%server% path win32_shadowstorage

List VSS Max storage for disabled volumes
reg query HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VSS\Volumes\Associations\{00b810fd-8ab6-11de-9d34-806e6f6e6963}\{00b810fd-8ab6-11de-9d34-806e6f6e6963}\MaxDiffSpace

Force a STOP error and generate a memory dump (Stop 0x2E) after enabling
Right Ctrl+ScrollLock+ScrollLock

Enable the option to generate a STOP error on demand
reg add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\i8042prt\Parameters /v CrashOnCtrlScroll /t reg_dword /d 0x1

Logoff a remote terminal sessions session (after using query.exe)
logoff rdp-tcp#42 /v /server:%server%

List the DLL function exports of the specified DLL
dumpbin c:\temp\dllname.dll /exports

Terminate a disconnected terminal services session
rwinsta 0 /server:%server%

Find memory information from a list of machines
for /f %i in (computers.txt) do for /f "tokens=1-5" %m in ('"wmic /node:%i path Win32_PerfFormattedData_PerfOS_Memory get PoolNonpagedBytes,PoolPagedBytes,PoolPagedResidentBytes,FreeSystemPageTableEntries,AvailableMBytes | find /i /v "bytes""') do echo %i,%m,%n,%o,%p,%q

Set the percentage at which the paged pool working set is trimmed
reg add "\\%server%\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" /v PoolUsageMaximum /t reg_dword /d 60

Calculate a replication summary for the domain
repadmin /replsum /bysrc /bydest /sort:delta

Check a 2008 R2 schema forest prep has run successfully (rvevision=5)
dsquery * "CN=ActiveDirectoryUpdate,CN=ForestUpdates,CN=Configuration,domainRoot" -attr * -scope base

Check a 2008 R2 schema domain prep has run successfully (revision=5)
dsquery * "CN=ActiveDirectoryUpdate,CN=DomainUpdates,CN=System,domainRoot" -attr * -scope base

Find the infrastructure role holder for the DNS domain application partition
dsquery * "CN=Infrastructure,DC=DomainDNSZones,domainRoot" -attr fSMORoleOwner   

Find the application partitions from the forest root configuration NC
dsquery * "CN=Partitions,CN=Configuration,domainRoot" -filter "(&(objectClass=crossRef)(msDS-SDReferenceDomain=*))" -attr ncName dnsRoot

Monitor the page faults of an application (hard and soft)
pfmon.exe c:\temp\application.exe

Monitor the page faults of a process (hard and soft)
psmon /p %PID%

Reset the SystemPages memory management for available PTE's to server 2003 def.
reg add "\\%server%\HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management" /v SystemPages /t reg_dword /d 0x0x

Find Exchange mailbox limits for user accounts
csvde -f limits.csv -l samaccountname,cn,mDBStorageQuota,mDBOverQuotaLimit,mDBUseDefaults,mDBOverHardQuotaLimit,homeMDB -r "(&(objectClass=User)(objectCategory=Person)(mailnickname=*))"

Find computer accounts not server, XP or Vista
dsquery * domainroot -filter "(&(objectCategory=Computer)(objectClass=Computer)(&(!(operatingSystem=*prof*)(!(operatingSystem=*server*)(!(operatingSystem=*vista*))))))" -limit 0 -attr CN operatingSystem operatingSystemVersion

Find SPNs from the directory
dsquery * -filter "(servicePrincipalName=*)" -attr cn servicePrincipalName -limit 0

Query a list of groups and determine the group type (global/local/universal)
dsquery group -name *groupfilter* | dsget group -scope -secgrp -dn

Perform a NetBIOS name lookup
nblookup %NETBIOS_NAME%

Extract DNS scavenging events from the DNS eventlog
wmic /node:"%server%" path Win32_NTLogEvent WHERE "SourceName='DNS' AND LogFile='DNS Server' AND EventCode=2501"

Dump GPO information on priority and inherited links for an OU
cscript DumpSOMInfo.wsf "OUName" /ShowInheritedLinks

Copy a GPO 
cscript copygpo.wsf "Default Domain Policy" "Test Domain Policy" domain.com domain.com %SourceDC% %TargetDC%

Backup a number of GPOs from a control file input
for /f "tokens=*" %i in (gpos.txt) do cscript backupgpo.wsf "%i" c:\temp\gpo

Create a number of blank GPOs from a control file input         
for /f "tokens=*" %i in (c:\temp\gpo.txt) do cscript CreateGPO.wsf "%i" /domain:domain.com

Add GPO permissions for a number of GPOs
for /f "tokens=*" %i in (c:\temp\gpo.txt) do cscript SetGPOPermissions.wsf "%i" domain\user /permission:fulledit

List the available features for a 2008 R2 online installation 
dism /online /get-features

Allow remote desktop connections on a 2008 R2 server (requires reboot)
reg add "HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server" /v fDenyTSConnections /t reg_dword /d 0x0

Allow remote desktop connections on a 2008 R2 server core  (requires reboot)
cscript C:\Windows\System32\Scregedit.wsf /ar 0

Set the boot timeout for a 2008 server
bcdedit /timeout 5

Modify startup and recovery settings prevent automatic restart on 2008 server 
reg add HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl /v "AutoReboot" /t reg_dword /d 0x0

Modify the performance options to adjust for best performance
reg add HKU\.default\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects /v VisualFXSetting /t reg_dword /d 0x2

Disable hibernation on 2008 server
powercfg -hibernate off

Change the default user profile to adjust performance options for best perf
reg load c:\users\Default\ntuser.dat & reg add HKLM\a\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\VisualEffects /v VisualFXSetting /t reg_dword /d 0x2 & reg unload hkml\a

Enable boot logging on 2008 server
bcdedit /set {default} bootlog yes  

Disable Windows Error Reporting on 2008 server
serverWerOptin /disable

Adjust windows server 2008 event log sizes to 128MB
wevtutil sl Security /ms:135266304

Install Windows Server 2008 R2 optional components (features and roles)
cmd /c start /w ocsetup RSAT-NIS;SNMP;WMISnmpProvider;WindowsServerBackup;WindowsServerBackupCommandlet;NetFx3;MicrosoftWindowsPowerShellISE /quiet /norestart /log:c:\temp\install.log

Check Microsoft iSCSI initiator MaxRequestHoldTime 
reg query "\\%server%\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Class\{4D36E97B-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}\0002\Parameters" /v MaxRequestHoldTime

Wayne's World of IT (WWoIT), Copyright 2010 Wayne Martin. 

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PowerCLI: Copy-VMGuestFile

In VMware PowerCLI Update 1, a new cmdlet has been added to copy files to/from guest OS’s using the VMTools. Under normal circumstances this wouldn’t be all that useful, but if a machine is not accessible on the network – either a DMZ or a test-lab environment for example – there is now a method to easily copy files to and from the guest machines.

For example:

copy-vmguestfile -source c:\windows\system32\imageres.dll -destination c:\temp\ -vm vm01 -guesttolocal -hostuser root -hostpassword * -guestuser administrator -guestpassword *

Note that you need to specify the passwords, or not specify credentials at all for a prompt, or you can use a pscredential object.

Unfortunately wildcards are currently unsupported, but it would be easy to loop through local files within PowerShell to upload based on wildcards.

I ran this with the measure-command cmdlet to see how fast it was – about 0.5MB/sec– not too quick, but a lot better than nothing.

measure-command -expression {copy-vmguestfile -source c:\windows\system32\imageres.dll -destination c:\temp\ -vm vm01 -guesttolocal -hostuser root -hostpassword * -guestuser administrator -guestpassword *}

Seconds : 26
Milliseconds : 539
Ticks : 265390633
TotalDays : 0.000307165084490741
TotalHours : 0.00737196202777778
TotalMinutes : 0.442317721666667
TotalSeconds : 26.5390633
TotalMilliseconds : 26539.0633

Wayne's World of IT (WWoIT), Copyright 2010 Wayne Martin. 

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