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In this post you will see how powerful powershell is in combination with external applications like SCHTASKS.exe.

First you have to create a CSV file like this:

The following one-liner imports the CSV file and creates a task on every server which is saved in the CSV file:

# Create a scheduled task on all the servers in *.csv
import-csv ".\*.csv" | % { schtasks /create
/S $_.Name /SC DAILY /TN "Task_Name"
/TR "program_or_script" /ST time /RU account}

The next one-liner imports the CSV file and will modify a scheduled task on every server which is saved in the CSV file:

# Change a scheduled task on all the servers in *.csv
import-csv ".\*.csv" | % { schtasks /change
/TN "Task_Name" /S $_.Name
/TR "program_or_script" /ST 23:05 /RU System }

The last one-liner imports the CSV file and will delete a scheduled task on every server which is saved in the CSV file:

# Delete a scheduled task on all the servers in *.csv
import-csv ".\*.csv" | % { schtasks /delete
/tn "Task_Name" /f /s $_.Name }

More info about how to use SCHTASKS.exe can be found here: KB814596

Last week I posted a script to add Notes to a VM. After posting this script there was a little discussion on Twitter with @vmdoug, @gabvirtualworld if the Notes field is the right field to add this kind of information. So @vmdoug introduced me to the world of Custom Fields.

So I changed my CSV file and added the Field entry. This Field entry will be de name of your custom field. In my case I called it Description.

 
The following one-liner will fix this for you:

Import-Csv "D:\*.csv" | % { Get-VM $_.VMName |
Set-CustomField -Name $_.Field -Value $_.Note -Confirm:$false }

After running the script you will see the Description field with a new entry:

This one-liner will run very slow on a Large environment. So if you have large environment you should definitely check out LucD post on Alan Renouf’s Blog:  http://www.virtu-al.net

My colleague asked me to add some notes to the VM’s so he knows what this VM is doing. So this is a nice job for PowerCLI . In this post you will see how powerful PowerCLI /Powershell is.  With only one line of code (one-liner),  you are able to achieve this job.

First you have to create a CSV file with the following entry’s:

The second step is to run this one-liner. The one-liner will add the Notes:

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

When the one-liner is ready, you will find the Notes in the vSphere Client:

Note: This script will overwrite the existing Notes, so use it at your own risk!

Click on the picture below to get your copy of this e-book.

If you want to use Microsoft Excel in your Powershell scripts.

$Excel = New-Object -Com Excel.Application
$Excel.visible = $True
$Excel = $Excel.Workbooks.Add()

You can run into the following error:

The work around for this issue was changing the Regional Options back to United States International.

Microsft created a work around. More info can be found in in: KB320369

guillermooo has created a port to Powershell. Just copy the following code and you should be able to open Excel and create a new workbook.

I didn’t test this script block so let me know if it works

$ci = new-object system.globalization.cultureinfo "en-US"

$e = New-Object -COM "Excel.Application"
$e.Visible = $True
$e.UserControl= $True
$books = $e.Workbooks
$books.PSBase.GetType().InvokeMember( `
       "Add", `
       [system.reflection.bindingflags]::InvokeMethod, `
       $null, $books, $null, $ci)

Source: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/687891/exception-automating-excel-2007-with-powershell-when-calling-workbooks-add

The following script is part of another script but I wanted to show you some nice Powershell stuff in combination with Microsoft Excel.

This script will generate an Excel sheet with some VM information. It will color the cell red if the Powerstate equals to NotRunning.

$vCenter = Read-Host "Enter your vCenter servername"

Connect-VIServer $vCenter

$xlCSV = 6
$xlXLS = 56
$csvfile = "C:\beforeHWchange.csv"
$xlsfile = "C:\beforeHWchange.xls"

$Excel = New-Object -ComObject Excel.Application
$Excel.visible = $True
$Excel = $Excel.Workbooks.Add()

$Sheet = $Excel.Worksheets.Item(1)
$Sheet.Cells.Item(1,1) = "Status"
$Sheet.Cells.Item(1,2) = "VMName"
$Sheet.Cells.Item(1,3) = "VMHostname"
$Sheet.Cells.Item(1,4) = "IPAddress"
$Sheet.Cells.Item(1,5) = "MacAddress"
$Sheet.Cells.Item(1,6) = "TotalNics"
$Sheet.Cells.Item(1,7) = "vNicType"
$Sheet.Cells.Item(1,8) = "NetworkName"
$Sheet.Cells.Item(1,9) = "vNicConnected"
$Sheet.Cells.Item(1,10) = "ToolsVersion"
$Sheet.Cells.Item(1,11) = "ToolsStatus"
$Sheet.Cells.Item(1,12) = "ToolsRunningStatus"
$Sheet.Cells.Item(1,13) = "OS"
$Sheet.Cells.Item(1,14) = "ESXHost"

$intRow = 2

$WorkBook = $Sheet.UsedRange
$WorkBook.Interior.ColorIndex = 19
$WorkBook.Font.ColorIndex = 11
$WorkBook.Font.Bold = $True

#$vms = Get-Folder Lab | Get-VM
$vms = Get-VM

foreach($vm in $vms){

  $vmnic = Get-NetworkAdapter -VM $vm
  $vmview = get-VM $vm | Get-View

if($vm.Guest.State -eq "NotRunning"){
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 1) = [String]$vm.Guest.State
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 1).Interior.ColorIndex = 3
}
elseif($vm.Guest.State -eq "Unknown"){
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 1) = [String]$vm.Guest.State
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 1).Interior.ColorIndex = 48
}
else{
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 1) = [String]$vm.Guest.State
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 1).Interior.ColorIndex = 4
}

$Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 2) = $vmview.Name
$Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 3) = $vmview.Guest.HostName
$Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 4) = [String]$vm.Guest.IPAddress
$Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 5) = $vmnic.MacAddress
$Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 6) = $vmview.Guest.Net.Count
$Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 7) = [String]$vmnic.Type
$Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 8) = $vmnic.NetworkName
$Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 9) = $vmnic.ConnectionState.Connected

if($vmview.Config.Tools.ToolsVersion -eq "8193"){
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 10) = [String]$vmview.Config.Tools.ToolsVersion
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 10).Interior.ColorIndex = 4
}
else{
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 10) = [String]$vmview.Config.Tools.ToolsVersion
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 10).Interior.ColorIndex = 3
}

if($vmview.Guest.ToolsStatus -eq "toolsNotInstalled"){
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 11) = [String]$vmview.Guest.ToolsStatus
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 11).Interior.ColorIndex = 48

}
elseif($vmview.Guest.ToolsStatus -eq "toolsNotRunning"){
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 11) = [String]$vmview.Guest.ToolsStatus
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 11).Interior.ColorIndex = 3
}
elseif($vmview.Guest.ToolsStatus -eq "toolsOld"){
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 10) = [String]$vmview.Config.Tools.ToolsVersion
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 10).Interior.ColorIndex = 45
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 11) = [String]$vmview.Guest.ToolsStatus
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 11).Interior.ColorIndex = 45
}
else{
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 11) = [String]$vmview.Guest.ToolsStatus
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 11).Interior.ColorIndex = 4
}    

if($vmview.Guest.ToolsRunningStatus -eq "guestToolsRunning"){
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 12) = $vmview.Guest.ToolsRunningStatus
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 12).Interior.ColorIndex = 4
}
else{
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 12) = $vmview.Guest.ToolsRunningStatus
  $Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 12).Interior.ColorIndex = 3
}

$Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 13) = $vmview.Guest.GuestFamily
$Sheet.Cells.Item($intRow, 14) = $vm.Host.Name

$intRow = $intRow + 1}

$WorkBook.EntireColumn.AutoFit()

sleep 5

$Sheet.SaveAs($xlsfile,$xlXLS)
$Sheet.SaveAs($csvfile,$xlCSV) 

Disconnect-VIServer -Confirm:$false

The output will look like this:

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VMware is the king when it comes to virtualization. Windows PowerShell has gotten huge accolades as an extremely powerful tool for automation of IT tasks. These two technologies make a lot of sense together, and VMware is now making that happen with the release of their VI Toolkit for Windows.

In "Managing VMware Infrastructure with PowerShell", you will learn how to perform everything from simple ad-hoc reporting at the command-line ("are any of my virtual machines powered off?") to complex scripts to automate a massive deployment of hundreds of virtual machines. Simple, yet powerful; concise, yet robust; you will enjoy using this new language to solve your old problems using less code than you thought possible.

If you are a system administrator responsible for managing a VMware Virtual Infrastructure (version 2.0 or above), or a standalone ESX Server (version 3.0 or above), then you need this book. Aimed at scripters of every level, the book starts off with a PowerShell primer and continues well into the internals of virtualization on the VMware platform.

Table of Contents

• Introduction – Why You Need This Book

1. Windows PowerShell Crash Course
2. Getting Started
3. Scripting with Virtual Infrastructure
4. Inventory and Reporting
5. Deployment and Configuration
6. Maintenance and Operations
7. Troubleshooting and Problem Resolution
8. Managing VMWare with PowerGUI

I was experimenting with the VUM Powershell library. I ran the Get-Baseline cmdlet and then the following error occurred:

After some digging around at goolge and vmware.com. I found that  the VUM library doesn’t work with the new version of the VI Toolkit. VMware is aware of the problem according to the post from Carter on VMTN and the Release notes:

Carter Shanklin posted this information on VMTN:

Hi everyone,

There is an incompatibility between VI Toolkit 1.5 and the VUM cmdlets. For now if you need to use the VUM cmdlets you will need to do so on a system that has VITK 1.0 installed.
This incompatibility will be resolved by a minor update to VI Toolkit that will be shipped when the next version of VUM ships. The next version of VUM will have cmdlets that support that version as well as the current version.

We’ve updated the release notes to note the incompatibility. Sorry for the inconvenience.

From the release notes:

VI Toolkit (for Windows) 1.5 is not compatible with VMware Update Manager – PowerShell Library 1.0.

windowstoolkit15-200901-releasenotes.html

To fix this “problem” I removed the VI Toolkit v 1.5 and installed the VI Toolkit v 1 again. After the rollback, the VUM library is working again .

I hope that VMware will fix this soon.

The following script enables PXE boot for al the VM’s in a particular folder. After running this script, the VM’s are set to boot only from PXE, so all other options are disabled. The original part of the script is created by LucD and posted on de VMTN forums. See the source for more information.

enable-pxeboot-vm.ps1

$VC = Connect-VIServer (Read-Host "Enter vCenter server") 

$folder = (Read-Host "Enter folder name") 

$spec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec
$spec.extraConfig += New-Object VMware.Vim.OptionValue
$spec.extraConfig[0].key = "bios.bootDeviceClasses"
$spec.extraConfig[0].value = "allow:net"

    $vms = Get-Folder -Name $folder | Get-VM
        foreach ($vm in $vms){
            (get-view ($vm).ID).ReconfigVM_Task($spec)}

Disconnect-VIServer -Confirm:$False

The script in action:

If you want to return to the default settings, you can run the next script:

disable-pxeboot-vm.ps1

$VC = Connect-VIServer (Read-Host "Enter vCenter server") 

$folder = (Read-Host "Enter folder name") 

$spec = New-Object VMware.Vim.VirtualMachineConfigSpec
$spec.extraConfig += New-Object VMware.Vim.OptionValue
$spec.extraConfig[0].key = "bios.bootDeviceClasses"
$spec.extraConfig[0].value = "allow:hd,cd,fd"

    $vms = Get-Folder -Name $folder | Get-VM
        foreach ($vm in $vms){
            (get-view ($vm).ID).ReconfigVM_Task($spec)}

Disconnect-VIServer -Confirm:$False

Source: LucD @ http://communities.vmware.com/thread/196651

Keith Hill has released a free E-Book about Powershell.

Introduction
I am a big fan of the “Effective” series of programming books from Effective COM to Effective XML. Without trying to be too presumptuous, I wanted to capture some of the tidbits I have picked up over the last couple of years using Windows PowerShell interactively and writing production build and test scripts. These items were written for PowerShell 1.0. Where appropriate I have added PowerShell 2.0 Update sections to discuss how the item is affected by the upcoming 2.0 release. As a final note, a number of the PowerShell code snippets shown use functionality from the PowerShell Community Extensions which can be downloaded from http://www.codeplex.com/PowerShellCX.

Grab your copy here: http://keithhill.spaces.live.com/blog/