Powercli

VMware Powercli

VMware PowerCLI Docs

Connect to environment

• Connect-VIServer -Server vcenter01 -User admin -Password pass

or

• Connect-VIServer -Server vcenter01

See https://blogs.vmware.com/PowerCLI/2013/03/back-to-basics-connecting-to-vcenter-or-a-vsphere-host.html

Disconnect from all servers:

• Disconnect-Viserver -Server *

Create VMs

Get Guest ID from all VMs currently in the vSphere:

(get-vm | get-vmguest).GuestID | sort | unique

Get guest ID from template to set when using New-VM:

Get-Template -Name "name_of_your_template"
$template.ExtensionData.Config.GuestId

VM Management

Disk Management

Add new Hard disk:

New-HardDisk -VM <name of vm> -CapacityGB 100

See: https://developer.vmware.com/docs/powercli/latest/vmware.vimautomation.core/commands/new-harddisk/#CreateNew

Get Snapshots

Get all snapshots in vSphere environment with the following command:

Get-Snapshot * | Select-Object -Property VM, Name, SizeGB, Children | Sort-Object -Property sizeGB -Descending | ft -AutoSize

Get VM information

Get vm creation date:

 (get-vm -name "<vm name>").ExtensionData.config.createdate