This is an overview page with small PowerCLI scripts and or commands.

If only I knew then what I know now! When working on Script: PowerCLI: Create CSV with VMInfo I spent some serious time on finding what properties and values are available on certain objects. Today I finally figured it out, simply use “Select *”:

[vSphere PowerCLI] C:\> Get-NetworkAdapter -vm testvm01 | select *
 
 
MacAddress       : 00:50:56:89:2e:18
WakeOnLanEnabled : True
NetworkName      : SFT0-VLAN2
Type             : Flexible
ParentId         : VirtualMachine-vm-117451
Parent           : testvm01
Uid              : /VIServer=@localhost:443/VirtualMachine=VirtualMachine-vm-11
                   7451/NetworkAdapter=4000/
ConnectionState  : Connected:True
ExtensionData    : VMware.Vim.VirtualPCNet32
Id               : VirtualMachine-vm-117451/4000
Name             : Network adapter 1

Get-VM | Get-VMResourceConfiguration | where {$_.CPUReservationMhz -ne '0'}

And setting the CPU reservation to 0:

Get-VM | Get-VMResourceConfiguration | where {$_.CPUReservationMhz -ne '0'} | Set-VMResourceConfiguration -CPUReservationMhz 0

Get-VM | Get-VMResourceConfiguration | where {$_.CPULimitMhz -ne '-1'}

And setting the CPU limit to unlimited:

Get-VM | Get-VMResourceConfiguration | where {$_.CPULimitMhz -ne '-1'} | Set-VMResourceConfiguration -CPULimitMhz $null

Get-VM | Get-VMResourceConfiguration | where {$_.MemReservationMB -ne '0'}

And setting the memory reservation to 0:

Get-VM | Get-VMResourceConfiguration | where {$_.MemReservationMB -ne '0'} | Set-VMResourceConfiguration -MemReservationMB 0

Note that if you change the memory reservation, and there is not enough free space in the datastore the next time the VM is powered on the operation will fail. To prevent this you can see all this information with this command:

ForEach ($vm in (Get-VM | Get-VMResourceConfiguration | where {$_.MemReservationMB -ne '0'} | ForEach {$_.VM})){Get-VM $vm | Select Name,PowerState,@{N="Reservation";E={Get-VMResourceConfiguration -VM $_ | ForEach {$_.MemReservationMB}}},@{N="Datastore";E={Get-Datastore -VM $_}},@{N="Datastore Free Space";E={Get-Datastore -VM $_ | ForEach {$_.FreeSpaceMB}}}}

This is a small script to automatically remove the reservation if the datastore has enough free space:

ForEach ($vm in (Get-VM | Get-VMResourceConfiguration | where {$_.MemReservationMB -ne '0'} | ForEach {$_.VM})){
  # $name = (Get-VM $vm | ForEach {$_.Name})
  $powerstate = (Get-VM $vm | ForEach {$_.PowerState})
  [int]$reservation = (Get-VMResourceConfiguration -VM $vm | ForEach {$_.MemReservationMB})
  $datastore = (Get-Datastore -VM $vm )
  [int]$dsfreespace = $datastore.FreeSpaceMB
  [int]$numberofds = (Get-Datastore -VM $vm |Measure-object).Count
  write-host "VM = $vm `n`t PowerState = $powerstate `n`t Memory Reservation = $reservation `n`t DataStore VM = $datastore `n`t Free Space on datastore = $dsfreespace `n`t Number of Datastores is $numberofds"
  if ((($dsfreespace - $reservation) -gt "0") -and ($numberofds -eq "1")){
     Write-Host "Now removing the memory reservation $reservation for VM $vm" -ForegroundColor Green
     Get-VMResourceConfiguration -VM $vm | Set-VMResourceConfiguration -MemReservationMB 0
  }
  else {
     Write-Host "Memory reservation ($reservation) cannot be removed because there is not enough free space on the datastore, or because the VM has multiple datastores." -ForegroundColor Red
  }
}

Note: if you just want to view the VMs for which the change cannot be done automatically comment the other Write-Host lines out.

Get-VM | Get-VMResourceConfiguration | where {$_.MemLimitMB -ne '-1'}

And setting the memory limit to unlimited:

Get-VM | Get-VMResourceConfiguration | where {$_.MemLimitMB -ne '-1'} | Set-VMResourceConfiguration -MemLimitMB $null

$startdir = "D:\sjoerd"
$csvfile = "$startdir\memlimits.csv"
 
$myCol = @()
 
foreach ($VM in (Get-VM | Get-VMResourceConfiguration | where {$_.MemLimitMB -ne '-1'})){
 
$vmview = Get-VM $VM | Get-View
 
$VMInfo = "" |select-Object VMName,CPUReservation,CPULimit,CPUShares,NumCPU,MEMSize,MEMReservation,MEMLimit,MEMShares
$VMInfo.VMName = $vmview.Name
$VMInfo.CPUReservation = $vmview.Config.CpuAllocation.Reservation
If ($vmview.Config.CpuAllocation.Limit-eq "-1"){$VMInfo.CPULimit = "Unlimited"}
Else{$VMInfo.CPULimit = $vmview.Config.CpuAllocation.Limit}
$VMInfo.CPUShares = $vmview.Config.CpuAllocation.Shares.Shares
$VMInfo.NumCPU = $VM.NumCPU
$VMInfo.MEMSize = $vmview.Config.Hardware.MemoryMB
$VMInfo.MEMReservation = $vmview.Config.MemoryAllocation.Reservation
If ($vmview.Config.MemoryAllocation.Limit-eq "-1"){$VMInfo.MEMLimit = "Unlimited"}
Else{$VMInfo.MEMLimit = $vmview.Config.MemoryAllocation.Limit}
 
$myCol += $VMInfo
}
 
$myCol |Export-csv -NoTypeInformation $csvfile

get-vm |% { get-view $_.id } | select Name, @{ Name=";ToolsVersion";; Expression={$_.config.tools.toolsVersion}}

get-vmhost | where-object { $_.version -eq "4.1.0" } | select name,version

Get-Cluster "Acceptance" | Get-VM | Select Name, @{N="Datastore";E={Get-Datastore -vm $_}}, UsedSpaceGB, ProvisionedSpaceGB  | sort Name | Export-Csv F:\Scripts\Output\datastores-acceptance.csv

ForEach ($cluster in get-cluster){get-cluster "$cluster" | Get-VMHost | select -first 1 | get-datastore | where {$_.name -like "?_*"} | Select Name,FreeSpaceMB,CapacityMB,@{N="Number of VMs";E={@($_ | Get-VM).Count}},@{N="VMs";E={@($_ | Get-VM | ForEach-Object {$_.Name})}},@{N="VM Size";E={@($_ | Get-VM | ForEach-Object {$_.UsedSpaceGB})}} | Export-Csv D:\sjoerd\datastore-$cluster-overview.csv}

Get-Cluster "Acceptance" | Get-VMHost | where {$_.State -eq "Connected"} | Select Name, @{N="TotalPaths";E={($_ | Get-ScsiLun | Get-ScsiLunPath | Measure-Object).Count}}

ForEach ($esxhost in (Get-Cluster "Acceptance" | Get-VMHost)) {Get-VmHostStorage $esxhost -RescanAllHba}

ForEach ($esxhost in (Get-Cluster "Acceptance" | Get-VMHost)) {D:\tools\plink -ssh $esxhost -l root -pw <fillinpw> /opt/ontap/santools/config_mpath --primary --loadbalance --policy fixed}

get-cluster "acceptance" | get-vm | where {$_.name -match "prd"} | measure-object

ForEach ($vmhost in (Get-Datacenter "The Netherlands" | Get-Vmhost | Sort)){ $deadpaths = Get-ScsiLun -vmhost $vmhost | Get-ScsiLunPath | where {$_.State -eq "Dead"} | Select ScsiLun,State; Write-Host $vmhost $deadpaths}

Get-ScsiLun -vmhost esx01 -luntype disk | select runtimename | sort runtimename

Get-NaLun | get-nalunmap | select Path,LunId | Sort LunId

This will get you all Volumes from a NetApp Filer that start with a capital R and an underscore, separated by a comma, and copied to the clipboard. I needed this to get all volumes that are part of replication:

import-module D:\sjoerd\dataontap
connect-nacontroller filer01 -credential (Get-credential)
(Get-NaVol | where {$_.name -like "R_*"} | select name -expandproperty Name) -join ',' | clip

If you need to submit credentials for connecting to something you can do this to get a prompt for entering the credentials in stead of having to put them on the commandline:

Connect-NaController filer01 -Credential (Get-Credential)

Get-Datastore | where {$_.datacenter -match "The Netherlands"} | Select Name, @{N="Number of VMs";E={@($_ | Get-VM).Count}} | Sort "Number of VMs"

Get-Cluster "Acceptance" | Get-VM | Get-View | Where {$_.Config.Version -ne "vmx-09"} | Select Name | Sort Name

Note: This command will overwrite the existing descriptions, so make sure you do not overwrite anything important.

You need to create a simple csv file which looks like this:

VMName,Description
server01,Domain Controller
server02,Database Server

The second step is to run this command:

Import-Csv "D:\sjoerd\description.csv" | % { Set-VM $_.VMName -Description $_.Description -Confirm:$false}

That’s all!

Save the code on your management workstation in a simple textfile, and change the extention to ”.ps1”. Now you can run them from powershell like any executable.

$myCol = @()
foreach($clus in (Get-Cluster)){
 foreach($rp in (Get-ResourcePool -Location $clus | Get-View | Where-Object `
  {$_.Name -ne "Resources" -and `
   $_.Summary.QuickStats.BalloonedMemory -ne "0"})){
   $Details = "" | Select-Object Cluster, ResourcePool, `
   SwappedMemory ,BalloonedMemory
 
    $Details.Cluster = $clus.Name
    $Details.ResourcePool = $rp.Name
    $Details.SwappedMemory = $rp.Summary.QuickStats.SwappedMemory
    $Details.BalloonedMemory = $rp.Summary.QuickStats.BalloonedMemory
 
    $myCol += $Details
  }
}
$myCol

$myCol = @()
foreach($vm in (Get-View -ViewType VirtualMachine | Where-Object `
  {$_.Summary.QuickStats.BalloonedMemory -ne "0"})){
   $Details = "" | Select-Object VM, `
   SwappedMemory ,BalloonedMemory
 
    $Details.VM = $vm.Name
    $Details.SwappedMemory = $vm.Summary.QuickStats.SwappedMemory
    $Details.BalloonedMemory = $vm.Summary.QuickStats.BalloonedMemory
 
    $myCol += $Details
  }
$myCol

(get-vm) | %{
  $vm = $_
  echo $vm.name----
  $vm.Guest.Nics | %{
    $vminfo = $_
    echo $vminfo.NetworkName $vminfo.IPAddress $vminfo.MacAddress
    echo ";`n";
  }
}

$LastBootProp = @{
  Name = 'LastBootTime'
    Expression = {
      ( Get-Date ) - ( New-TimeSpan -Seconds $_.Summary.QuickStats.UptimeSeconds )
	}
}
 
Get-View -ViewType VirtualMachine -Property Name, Summary.QuickStats.UptimeSeconds | Select Name, $LastBootProp

This little snippet will set the memory reservations for a VM from a csv file. This is useful if you want to rollback a change and you remembered to make a csv file with VM information. You can use the list to make a separate vms.txt file as input as well as a vmsinput.txt file with reservation settings:

vms.txt:

WINXP-TESTVM2
WINXP-TESTVM3
WINXP-TESTVM4

vmsinput.txt:

VMName,MEMReservation
WINXP-TESTVM2,128
WINXP-TESTVM3,256
WINXP-TESTVM4,128

$sourcevms = "C:\Users\sjoerd\Desktop\powercli scripts\vms.txt"
$sourcememory = "C:\Users\sjoerd\Desktop\powercli scripts\vmsinput.txt"
 
$list = Get-Content $sourcevms | Foreach-Object {Get-VM $_ } 
 
foreach($item in $list){
                $vm = $item.Name
		# The line below gives all information in @= format. This is not directly usable. 				
		$memres = import-csv $sourcememory | where-object {$_.vmname -eq "$vm"} 
		# With this you get only the value of the property in the variable.
		$memresvm = $memres.MEMReservation
		Get-VM $vm | Get-VMResourceConfiguration | where {$_.MemReservationMB -eq '0'} | Set-VMResourceConfiguration -MemReservationMB $memresvm
		}

This snippet queries the windows host machine for the uptime.

$vms = get-vm | where { ($_.PowerState -eq "PoweredOn") } | get-view | where { ($_.Guest.GuestFamily -eq "windowsGuest") } 
 
foreach ($vm in $vms) {
   $vmname = $vm.name
   $hostname = $vm.Guest.HostName
   write-host "Starting with $vmname with hostname $hostname"
   Get-WmiObject -computer $hostname
   $objUptime = (Get-WmiObject -computer $hostname -class Win32_PerfFormattedData_PerfOS_System).SystemUpTime
   write-host "$vmname heeft $objUptime as uptime"
}

http://ict-freak.nl/2009/12/18/powercli-find-resourcepool-or-vms-with-memory-ballooningswap-usage/
http://philthevirtualizer.com/category/vmware/powercli/