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Getting Started with Desired State Configuration Resources for VMware

Today, we are happy to announce a brand-new and open-sourced way to manage your vSphere environment. The Desired State Configuration (DSC) Resources for VMware allows partners, automation engineers, DevOps teams, and system administrators a new way to apply standard configuration management processes through PowerShell DSC and PowerCLI!

Let’s take a walk through how we can get started using these DSC resources and apply our first configuration!

Desired State Configuration Resources for VMware Overview

PowerShell DSC has been out for a while, since Windows Server 2012 R2 as a matter of fact. To summarize in a single sentence: PowerShell DSC can manage and monitor a system’s configuration based on what’s known as configuration files, which happen to be written as PowerShell code. This is all made possible thanks to the Local Configuration Manager (LCM). LCM is the “engine” running locally on each of the target nodes that takes the configuration file, interprets it, and applies all the configured parts. These parts include a system’s configuration, in what manner the configuration is refreshed, and how often it is refreshed, just to name a few.

The above is important because the DSC Resources for VMware operate a little differently than a standard DSC configuration. The DSC Resources for VMware make use of a proxy LCM host. This is because the LCM cannot run on the VCSA (both vCenter and PSC based appliances) nor can it run on ESXi hosts. An important note about this proxy LCM host, it has to be Windows PowerShell based. Furthermore, only PowerShell 5.1 and PowerCLI 10.1.1 or newer will be supported.

This first release of the DSC Resources for VMware will be able to manage a couple different areas for both vCenter and ESXi hosts. They are as follows:

vCenterStatistics
- Level
- PeriodLength
vCenterSettings
- EventMaxAge
- TaskMaxAge
- Logging Level
VMHostNtpSettings
- NTP Server
- NTPD Service Policy
VMHostDnsSettings
- HostName
- DomainName
- Address
VMHostSatpClaimRule
- RuleName
- Transport
- Description
VMHostTpsSettings
- ShareScanTime
- ShareForceSalting

Installation Overview

We now know what it is and what it can do, how about the installation? On the designated proxy LCM system, we will want to download the module from GitHub and make it available in one of our designated PSModulePath directories. The zip file is available through the following link: Desired State Configuration Resources for VMware

Here’s some code that can streamline the download and initialization process:

# Download the 1.0 release of the VMware.vSphereDSC module from GitHub
Try {
    Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'https://github.com/vmware/dscr-for-vmware/releases/download/v1.0/VMware.vSphereDSC.zip' -OutFile $env:userprofile\Downloads\VMware.vSphereDSC.zip
}
Catch [System.Net.WebException] {
    # On error, the SecurityProtocol for the local PowerShell session will be updated to access TLS 1.2 and the download will be attempted again.
    $secProtocol = [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol
    [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12
    Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'https://github.com/vmware/dscr-for-vmware/releases/download/v1.0/VMware.vSphereDSC.zip' -OutFile $env:userprofile\Downloads\VMware.vSphereDSC.zip
    # The SecurityProtocol will be then reverted back to the state it was at prior
    [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = $secProtocol
}

# Create a new VMware.vSphereDSC directory in the PowerShell Modules folder which is located in the Program Files directory
$dscDirectory = New-Item -Path “$env:ProgramFiles\WindowsPowerShell\Modules” -Name 'VMware.vSphereDSC' -Type Directory

# Expand the downloaded zip file containing the VMware.vSphereDSC module into the prior directory
Expand-Archive -Path $env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\VMware.vSphereDSC.zip -DestinationPath $dscDirectory

# Download the 1.0 release of the VMware.vSphereDSC module from GitHub

Try {

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'https://github.com/vmware/dscr-for-vmware/releases/download/v1.0/VMware.vSphereDSC.zip' -OutFile $env:userprofile\Downloads\VMware.vSphereDSC.zip

}

Catch [System.Net.WebException] {

# On error, the SecurityProtocol for the local PowerShell session will be updated to access TLS 1.2 and the download will be attempted again.

$secProtocol = [Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol

[Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = [Net.SecurityProtocolType]::Tls12

Invoke-WebRequest -Uri 'https://github.com/vmware/dscr-for-vmware/releases/download/v1.0/VMware.vSphereDSC.zip' -OutFile $env:userprofile\Downloads\VMware.vSphereDSC.zip

# The SecurityProtocol will be then reverted back to the state it was at prior

[Net.ServicePointManager]::SecurityProtocol = $secProtocol

}

# Create a new VMware.vSphereDSC directory in the PowerShell Modules folder which is located in the Program Files directory

$dscDirectory = New-Item -Path “$env:ProgramFiles\WindowsPowerShell\Modules” -Name 'VMware.vSphereDSC' -Type Directory

# Expand the downloaded zip file containing the VMware.vSphereDSC module into the prior directory

Expand-Archive -Path $env:USERPROFILE\Downloads\VMware.vSphereDSC.zip -DestinationPath $dscDirectory

After we have installed the module we should be able to list the newly acquired module and import it into our active PowerShell Session:

Import-Module -Name VMware.vSphereDSC

1	Import-Module -Name VMware.vSphereDSC

We can also verify the DSC resources we have available:

Get-DscResource -Module VMware.vSphereDSC

1	Get-DscResource -Module VMware.vSphereDSC

Next, we need to make sure the proxy LCM system can understand the DSC configuration files. This is done through the Windows Remote Management service. We can setup the WinRM service or verify that the WinRM service is setup with the following code:

winrm quickconfig

1	winrm quickconfig

In my environment, this system already had WinRM setup so I received the following message:

We should now be all set to start setting up DSC resources in our environment!

Managing an ESXi Host’s NTP

The DSC Resources for VMware repository has some pre-created configuration files which can be sourced to create the MOF file. The MOF file, which stands for Managed Object Format, is the output from a configuration file which has been compiled by the LCM. These configuration files are located in the repo at the following location: \Source\VMware.vSphereDSC\Configurations In my environment, I’ve created my own fork of the repository and cloned it to my local system where I’ll be referencing the files.

In our example, we’re going to setup DSC to manage an ESXi host’s NTP configuration. We can see some parameters and some settings by opening the VMHostNtpSettings_Config.ps1 file that’s located in the ESXiConfigs directory.

Input Type	Input Name	Input Description
Parameter	Name	Resource Name
	Server	Server Host Name
	User	ESXi host username
	Password	ESXi host password
Setting	NtpServer	NTP server/s the host will use
Setting	NtpServicePolicy	Status for the NTPD service

For my lab environment, I’m going to update the NtpServer values and accept the service policy setting of ‘automatic’. I’m also going to apply this configuration at the ESXi host level, so my host name and server name will match.

We can do this with the following commands:

# Use splatting to fill the parameter values
$ntpConfigInput = @{
    name = 'esx01.corp.local'
    server = 'esx01.corp.local'
    user = 'root'
    pass = 'VMware1!'
}

# Compile the MOF in the current directory
. VMHostNtpSettings_Config.ps1 @ntpConfigInput

# Use splatting to fill the parameter values

$ntpConfigInput = @{

name = 'esx01.corp.local'

server = 'esx01.corp.local'

user = 'root'

pass = 'VMware1!'

}

# Compile the MOF in the current directory

. VMHostNtpSettings_Config.ps1 @ntpConfigInput

As part of the output, we should see the following MOF file having been created:

We can then test the MOF file against our host with the following command:

Test-DscConfiguration -ComputerName localhost -Path .\VMHostNtpSettings_Config\

1	Test-DscConfiguration -ComputerName localhost -Path .\VMHostNtpSettings_Config\

Added to the output, I have also included another PowerShell session which is polling the host for the current NTP server/s and service policy:

In the above example, notice the ‘InDesiredState’ property with a value of False.

Now, we’re ready to start applying our configuration. We do this with the following command:

Start-DscConfiguration -ComputerName localhost -Path .\VMHostNtpSettings_Config\ -Wait -Force

1	Start-DscConfiguration -ComputerName localhost -Path .\VMHostNtpSettings_Config\ -Wait -Force

After a few moments, we’re ready to check the current DSC configuration with the following command:

Get-DscConfiguration

1	Get-DscConfiguration

Again, I’ve added a second PowerShell session to show the current status of the host:

For reference, this is the code I’m running to show the current status of the host’s NTP configuration:

Get-VMHost -Name VMHostName | Sort Name | Select Name, @{N=“NTPServer“;E={$_ | Get-VMHostNtpServer}}, @{N=“NTPPolicy“;E={(Get-VMHostService -VMHost $_ | Where-Object {$_.key-eq “ntpd“}).Policy}}

1	Get-VMHost -Name VMHostName \| Sort Name \| Select Name, @{N=“NTPServer“;E={$_ \| Get-VMHostNtpServer}}, @{N=“NTPPolicy“;E={(Get-VMHostService -VMHost $_ \| Where-Object {$_.key-eq “ntpd“}).Policy}}

In some later blog posts, we’ll take a look at some of the other areas of this module including applying configurations to multiple hosts, applying vCenter settings, applying values to multiple hosts in a vCenter, and some ways to apply better security practices to both the credentials and the MOF.

Summary

PowerCLI is back with a brand-new feature, Desired State Configuration Resources for VMware! These resources allow PowerCLI to make use of PowerShell DSC to define the configuration of a desired node. The DSC Resources for VMware can define ESXi host settings such as NTP servers, DNS servers, and TPS share scan times. We can also define vCenter settings such as statistics level and logging level. As an additional benefit, these resources are also open-source and community contributions are absolutely welcome!

Check out the Desired State Configuration Resources for VMware on GitHub and let us know what you’re looking forward to using DSC on most in your vSphere environment!

Improving PowerCLI Support with Get-ErrorReport

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I am always surprised at the shock some people have when it comes to PowerCLI being supported by VMware! We highlighted this in a prior blog post: PowerCLI Support Breakdown However, in that blog post, there was one item that wasn’t covered which can really help streamline the process of receiving support. This item is a cmdlet by the name of Get-ErrorReport and it received a big update as part of PowerCLI 11.

Let’s walk through an example of creating a PowerCLI support bundle using Get-ErrorReport.

Receiving an Error

The first thing we need to do is receive an error! In this case, I’ll be using a known issue with the Move-VM cmdlet which occurs when attempting to move a VM into a vApp.

The error we received was:

Move-VM : 11/14/2018 1:12:31 PM Move-VM         A specified parameter was not correct:
PlacementSpec.relocateSpec.pool

1 2	Move-VM : 11/14/2018 1:12:31 PM Move-VM A specified parameter was not correct: PlacementSpec.relocateSpec.pool

This is a pretty straightforward issue where the Move-VM cmdlet is not operating in the way which was been documented. We can now open a support request!

PowerCLI Support Bundle

Normally, when you open a support request, the first ask is for a support bundle from either the vCenter, an ESXi host/s, or even all of the above. Since this is a PowerCLI issue, those standard support bundles may not help. Plus, some of the more advanced PowerCLI troubleshooting options are not easy, or not readily available, in most environments. One example of which would be to use a tool like Fiddler or Wireshark to sniff the network traffic in order to determine what API methods are being used under the covers and hopefully identify the issue.

Instead of going through the process of installing Fiddler or Wireshare, we can retrieve all the required information by making use of the Get-ErrorReport cmdlet!

The Get-ErrorReport cmdlet has a couple important parameters we’re going to be making use of:
Note: If you’ve used Get-ErrorReport before, these parameters have changed

Destination	Location of where the PowerCLI support bundle will be placed
IncludeServerLogs	Specify whether we want to pull logs from the connected server
ProblemDescription	Provide a description and/or support number
ProblemScript	Scriptblock which contains the cmdlet causing the error

Continuing with our Move-VM example, we can use the following code to create our support bundle:

$errorCode = {
  $appsvr = Get-VM -Name appsvr02
  $vapp = Get-VApp -Name DemovApp
  Move-VM -VM $appsvr -Destination $vapp
}
Get-ErrorReport -ProblemScript $errorCode -Destination .\Documents\ -ProblemDescription "Using Move-VM to place a VM into a vApp"

$errorCode = {

$appsvr = Get-VM -Name appsvr02

$vapp = Get-VApp -Name DemovApp

Move-VM -VM $appsvr -Destination $vapp

}

Get-ErrorReport -ProblemScript $errorCode -Destination .\Documents\ -ProblemDescription "Using Move-VM to place a VM into a vApp"

We can now take that output and upload it to our support request!

Support Bundle Examination

If you happen to be curious about what information is contained within the support bundle, like I was, we can unzip the bundle and read through the contents fairly easy. Note: this section is purely educational as the support engineer will handle the actual diagnosis.

The support bundle contains the following files:

PowerCLI-Main-Log.svclog
Powershell-Debug-Stream.txt
Powershell-Error-Stream.txt
Powershell-Info-Stream.txt
Powershell-Verbose-Stream.txt
Powershell-Warning-Stream.txt

The contents of those files should be fairly straight forward, with the exception of the first one. The PowerCLI-Main-Log.svclog is a collection of diagnostic traces. These traces contain all of the pertinent information about the cmdlets being used, how it is being interpreted by PowerShell, and then the underlying call to the vCenter. The svclog file can be opened with the Microsoft Service Stack Trace Viewer. This application is available as part of the Windows SDK, available here: Windows SDK Archive

The following screenshot is a look at the actual exception being returned by the API service:

We can see the server response was an internal server error, which has a status code of 500. We can then further read through the individual trace to see the properties and methods being used. We also have the option to look at the traces before and after the call happened to see each of the steps being performed as part of the code entered in our $errorCode scriptblock.

Summary

PowerCLI is supported by VMware and the Get-ErrorReport cmdlet was recently improved in PowerCLI 11. The upgrade helps to streamline the support experience by creating a PowerCLI support bundle which can be provided to VMware support. This support bundle includes all of the required environmental information that VMware support will need to start troubleshooting the issue being reported.

The next time you need to open a support ticket on PowerCLI, make sure to use Get-ErrorReport and let us know your feedback!

Updating PowerCLI Local OS Support

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VMware PowerCLI has gone through quite a few changes over the past couple years. This includes what operating systems (OS) PowerCLI can run on! The most significant update was the addition of MacOS and Ubuntu. However, as the PowerCLI team continually evaluates which OSes we should support, there are also times where OSes need to be removed. With that said, in a future release, PowerCLI will be deprecating local OS support for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.

It is important to note that this update will not impact whether or not PowerCLI can operate on those deprecated OSes. We are simply removing them from our testing process.

With that said, in a future release of PowerCLI, the local OS support will be updated to be the following:

OS Type	Version (64-Bit)
Server	Windows Server 2016
Server	Windows Server 2012 R2
Workstation	Windows 10
Workstation	Ubuntu 16.04
Workstation	MacOS 10.12

If you’re interested in more information about the PowerCLI testing process, I would highly recommend checking out the following VMworld session recording: Development at VMware: A Look at How PowerCLI Has Evolved Over the Years

New Release: PowerCLI 11.0.0

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PowerCLI has been moving at quite the rapid pace over the last 2 years. In 2018, we’ve been releasing roughly every other month to make sure we get the latest features, performance improvements, and updates available as quickly as possible. Well, it’s been two months and we’re not going to break this trend. Today, we are releasing PowerCLI 11.0.0!

PowerCLI 11.0.0 comes with the following updates:

Added a new Security module
Added new cmdlets for Host Profiles
Added a new cmdlet to interact with NSX-T in VMware Cloud on AWS
Support for vSphere 6.7 Update 1
Support for NSX-T 2.3
Support for Horizon View 7.6
Support for vCloud Director 9.5
Multiplatform support for the Cloud module
Updated the Get-ErrorReport cmdlet
Removed the PCloud module
Removed the HA module

Let’s take a more in-depth look at some of these updates.

New Security Module

There has been a tremendous amount of improvements around security for vSphere lately. The new VMware.VimAutomation.Security module ensures you have the ability to automate these new features.

The Security module includes the following cmdlets:

Get-SecurityInfo
Get-VTpm
Get-VTpmCertificate
Get-VTpmCSR
New-VTpm
Remove-VTpm
Set-VTpm
Unlock-VM

Also, thanks to the Security module (with a little help from the Storage module), several other cmdlets are receiving enhancements as well:
New-VM has added the following parameters:

KmsCluster
StoragePolicy
SkipHardDisks
StoragePolicy
ReplicationGroup
StoragePolicyTarget

Set-VM has added the following parameters:

DisableEncryption
KmsCluster
SkipHardDisks
StoragePolicy

Set-VMHost has added the following parameter:

KmsCluster

Set-HardDisk has added the following parameters:

DisableEncryption
KmsCluster
StoragePolicy

New-HardDisk has added the following parameters:

KmsCluster
StoragePolicy

Host Profile Updates

There have been a lot of requests coming in for updates to the set of cmdlets available to manage Host Profiles. The VMware.VimAutomation.Core module has some updates you’ll want to check out!

The following cmdlets have been added to help manage Host Profiles:

Get-VMHostProfileUserConfiguration
Set-VMHostProfileUserConfiguration
Get-VMHostProfileStorageDeviceConfiguration
Set-VMHostProfileStorageDeviceConfiguration
Get-VMHostProfileImageCacheConfiguration
Set-VMHostProfileImageCacheConfiguration
Get-VMHostProfileVmPortGroupConfiguration
Set-VMHostProfileVmPortGroupConfiguration

Storage Module Updates

The VMware.VimAutomation.Storage module has grown by leaps and bounds in the last couple releases. This release adds two new cmdlets and quite a few updates to existing cmdlets. Some of the improvements include an update to support predefined time ranges when using Get-VsanStat. Get-VsanDisk has some additional properties which are returned, such as: capacity, used percentage, and reserved percentage. Also receiving an update is the Get/Import/Export-SpbmStoragePolicy cmdlets, as they now support storage policy components.

The following cmdlets have been added to help automate vSAN:

Get-VsanObject
Get-VsanComponent

More details on these updates for vSAN can be found on the Virtual Blocks blog, by Jase McCarty: More vSAN Cmdlets in PowerCLI 11!

vCloud Director Updates

This update is another direct result from feedback. There has been an impressive amount of people requesting updates to the VMware.VimAutomation.Cloud module. With this release, we are updating the module to support vCloud Director 9.5. There are also a couple of new cmdlets being added.

The following cmdlets have been added to help automate vCloud Director networking:

Get-EdgeGateway
New-OrgVdcNetwork
Remove-OrgVdcNetwork
Set-OrgVdcNetwork

Other Improvements and Updates

There are also a handful of updates which are all due to community feedback! There has been an update to the output when using New-VM combined with the ‘Confirm’ parameter so that the output matches that of the created VM. An update to Get-View has been added to help resolve a Vim error being received when the ‘Property’ parameter was specified. Another fix was when Get-VM would result in an error of ‘Value cannot be null’. The last big issue, there has been an update to the way Get-NetworkAdapter outputs a NSX-T logical network backed portgroup.

Summary

PowerCLI 11.0.0 has been released and there are a ton of fantastic new additions. Over 20 new cmdlets have been added to help automate vCloud Director networking, virtual TPM settings, Host Profile configurations, and VMware Cloud on AWS networking. More than 10 cmdlets have been enhanced to add newly released features. Plus, a handful of updates to improve the overall quality and reliability.

For more information on changes made in VMware PowerCLI 11.0.0, including improvements, security enhancements, and deprecated features, see the VMware PowerCLI Change Log. For more information on specific product features, see the VMware PowerCLI 11.0.0 User’s Guide. For more information on specific cmdlets, see the VMware PowerCLI 11.0.0 Cmdlet Reference.

Remember, updating your PowerCLI modules is now as easy as ‘Update-Module VMware.PowerCLI’.

Let us know in the comments what you’re most excited about!

PowerCLI at VMworld EMEA 2018

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The schedule builder is live, so that means VMworld EMEA is almost here! Earlier this year, at VMworld US, we had an amazing amount of PowerCLI and automation-based sessions and we’re bringing a bunch of them to Barcelona! There are more sessions than last year, a re-vamped PowerCLI Hands-On-Lab including an expert-led Hands-On Lab, a solid set of community sessions, and the return of the fantastic Hackathon event. If you haven’t already registered, the time is quickly ticking away!

Make sure to add the following sessions to your schedule and catch up with the PowerCLI team and the amazing PowerCLI community members!

Sessions

Session: DEV3504BE – Development at VMware: A Look at How PowerCLI Has Evolved Over the Years
Date: Tuesday, Nov 6, 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Speakers: Kamen Nikolov & Kyle Ruddy
Kamen and Kyle will give attendees a behind the scenes look into the PowerCLI development process and the many ways PowerCLI has evolved over the last 10+ years.

Session: VIN1992BE – A Deep(er) Dive with PowerCLI 10
Date: Thursday, Nov 8, 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Speakers: Luc Dekens & Kyle Ruddy
Luc and Kyle will take a look at the more advanced use-cases when using PowerCLI to automate actions in your environment. From proper object handling to diagnosing speed issues to debugging and more, this session is going to be a deep dive into the “what’s possible” with PowerCLI.

Session: HCI2522BE – Getting Started with vSAN Automation
Date: Thursday, Nov 8, 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Speakers: Alan Renouf & William Lam
Alan and William show attendess how to get started automating all the aspects of vSAN with tools such as PowerCLI and the vSAN management SDKs.

Session: NET1642BE – NSX-PowerOps: Day2 Ops, NSX Health, Security, and Automated Documentation
Date: Thursday, Nov 8, 12:00 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Speakers: Hammad Alam & Puneet Chawla
Hammad and Puneet will discuss a community-built tool, NSX-PowerOps, which uses tools like PowerCLI and PowerNSX to create documentation of your environment.

Session: VIN2527BE – Top 10 Automation Requests and How You Can Save Time
Date: Tuesday, Nov 6, 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Speakers: Alan Renouf & William Lam
Alan and William walk through the top ten automation requests and how to complete them in a variety of languages, including PowerCLI.

VMware {code} Power Sessions

Session: CODE5609E – It’s Magic! Automating VMware Cloud on AWS
Date: Wednesday, Nov 7, 1:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Adam Osterholt
Adam discusses how to start interacting with the VMware Cloud on AWS APIs with PowerCLI to automate your scalable, highly resilient, infrastructure in the cloud.

Session: CODE5606E – Building a Front-End for PowerCLI Scripts
Date: Wednesday, Nov 7, 2:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Speaker: Lino Telera
Lino will show how one could interact with their PowerCLI scripts using middleware and frontend frameworks.

Session: CODE5629E – vSphere Integration and Automation: Choose Your Tool
Date: Wednesday, Nov 7, 3:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Speaker: Ivaylo Ivanov
Ivaylo will walk attendees through a comparison of the numerous ways users can choose to automate their vSphere environments.

vBrownBag Sessions

Session: VMTN5507E – Dev 4 the Ops Team
Date: Wednesday, Nov 7, 2:30 p.m. – 2:45 p.m.
Speaker: Chris Bradshaw
Chris will walk through the importance of having some form of coding experience and some easy ways to start, using none other than PowerCLI.

Hands on Labs

Lab: SPL-1911-05-SDC_E – VMware vSphere Automation – PowerCLI
Date: Anytime the HOL area is open and available
Get hands-on with VMware PowerCLI. Gain familiarity with the tool, and then dive deeper into the functionality available with real world examples. Both new and experienced users are sure to learn something new about automating their environments.

Session: ELW-1911-05-SDC_E – Expert-Led Workshop – VMware vSphere Automation – PowerCLI
Date: Tuesday, Nov 6, 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Speaker: Howard Shoobe
Howard will show attendees how to get hands-on with VMware PowerCLI. You will gain familiarity with the tool, and then dive deeper into the functionality available with real world examples.

Hackathon

And last, but certainly not least, the VMware {code} Hackathon! If you’ve never been or haven’t heard of it, this is a fantastic event to get involved with other community members to do some coding in a cool location! There’s no requirement to even know how to code.

Session: CODEHACK – VMware {code} Hackathon
Date: Monday, Aug 27, 6:30 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.
Join VMware {code} for the third annual hackathon!

Summary

If you’re looking for PowerCLI content, VMworld EMEA is the place to be! With 5 sessions, 4 community sessions, multiple meet the experts, and several hands-on activities, there’s something for everyone regardless of skill level. Make sure you’re registered for VMworld and get these sessions added to your schedule today!

Discovering VMs with Specific VMware Tools Versions

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A recent knowledge base (KB) article was released regarding an issue impacting a specific version of VMware Tools. The KB in question is 57796, which describes the possibility of a guest level network connectivity issues or even a purple diagnostic screen (PSOD).

Before getting to the discovery process, I want to cover some of the specifics for this KB. I do this because we’re going to need to be aware of these as we build out our one-liners and the subsequent reporting script.

The issue in the KB may be found when combined with the following:

VMware Tools version 10.3.0
ESXi 6.5 Hosts
VM Hardware 13
Windows Server 2012 or newer -OR- Windows 8 or newer

Now that we know what we’re looking for, lets cover some methods we’ll be using to make this easier.

Properties, Hash Tables, and More

Since we’re going to be focused on VMs, we’ll be making use of the Get-VM cmdlet. However, the information we need isn’t available as part of the cmdlet’s default response. We’ll need to choose specific VM properties to display.

Discovering those properties can be done in a couple different ways. If we just want to find out what properties are available and how they’re defined, we can use the Get-Member cmdlet. If we want to find out the values for all of those properties, we can use the Format-Table cmdlet. Both of these cmdlets can be used in the same way, by using the Get-VM cmdlet and passing the output to the desired cmdlet with a pipeline.

Example Code:

In this case we’re going to be referencing the ‘Name’ property and an additional property which is available as part of the listed ‘Guest’ property, which is actually defined as an object. The property we’re looking for in the Guest object is named ‘ToolsVersion’.

We can output these specific properties using the Select-Object cmdlet. In order to properly display the ‘ToolsVersion’ property, we’ll be using a hash table to create a calculated property. The hash table is created with an ampersand and curly brackets. We can establish the calculated property with ‘name’ and ‘expression’ values.

Listing VMs and their VM Tools Versions

First things first, let’s figure out how to display our VMs’ names and their VM Tools version using the Select-Object cmdlet and a calculated property for the Tools Version.

Example Code:

Get-VM | Select-Object -Property Name,@{Name='ToolsVersion';Expression={$_.Guest.ToolsVersion}}

1	Get-VM \| Select-Object -Property Name,@{Name='ToolsVersion';Expression={$_.Guest.ToolsVersion}}

Listing VM Specific Information from the KB

In the example above, we can see there’s one particular VM which may be impacted by the KB. So, the next step is to obtain the rest of the information about each of the VMs.

We’ve already obtained the VM’s name and VMware Tools version properties. Now we need to figure out the ESXi host version, VM Hardware version, and what OS is in use.

The ESXi host version can be found using the VMHost property. This property returns the full ESXi host object. Since we’re working with the full object, we can return the ‘Version’ property by way of the calculated property method we used previously.

The VM Hardware version can be found by referencing the ‘HardwareVersion’ property.

The last property we’re interested in is the OS type. This too is available as a sub-property to ‘Guest’. There’s a couple to choose from, but for this example we’ll start with the ‘GuestFamily’ property.

Example Code:

Get-VM | Select-Object -Property Name,@{Name='ToolsVersion';Expression={$_.Guest.ToolsVersion}},@{Name=’VMHostVersion’;Expression={$_.VMHost.Version}},HardwareVersion,@{Name=’GuestFamily’;Expression={$_.Guest.GuestFamily}}

1	Get-VM \| Select-Object -Property Name,@{Name='ToolsVersion';Expression={$_.Guest.ToolsVersion}},@{Name=’VMHostVersion’;Expression={$_.VMHost.Version}},HardwareVersion,@{Name=’GuestFamily’;Expression={$_.Guest.GuestFamily}}

Listing Only Applicable VMs

For our last example, let’s take this process a step further and display only the susceptible VMs.

We’ll do this with the Where-Object cmdlet. We’ll use this cmdlet, in combination with a script block, to validate that each of those properties match those items listed in the KB.

We’ll be validating the following properties:

ToolsVersion	10.3.0
VMHostVersion	6.5.0
HardwareVersion	vmx-13
GuestFamily	windowsGuest

Example Code:

$vms = Get-VM
$kbVMs = $vms | Where-Object {$_.Guest.ToolsVersion -eq ’10.3.0’ -and $_.VMHost.Version -eq ‘6.5.0’ -and $_.HardwareVersion -eq ‘vmx-13’ -and $_.Guest.GuestFamily -eq ‘windowsGuest’}
$kbVMs

$vms = Get-VM

$kbVMs = $vms | Where-Object {$_.Guest.ToolsVersion -eq ’10.3.0’ -and $_.VMHost.Version -eq ‘6.5.0’ -and $_.HardwareVersion -eq ‘vmx-13’ -and $_.Guest.GuestFamily -eq ‘windowsGuest’}

$kbVMs

Summary

Knowledge Base article 57796 details a specific issue which has the potential to impact environments. We can use PowerCLI to easily poll our environment to obtain, and even isolate, the specific VMs which may be impacted.

Let us know in the comments how you’re building on what’s available here to create reports and even remediations!

Introducing Code Capture

8 Replies

I am extremely excited to announce a new feature that’s been added to the vSphere HTML5 Web Client Fling. This new feature is called Code Capture. While the name might not sound familiar, hopefully you’re already acquainted with its predecessor – Onyx, which is currently the most requested feature on the PowerCLI Feature Requests site!

Code Capture gives you the ability to take actions you’ve completed in the vSphere Client and outputs usable code. Once you have the vSphere HTML5 Web Client Fling installed, it’s just as simple as hitting the red ‘record’ button on the top menu, performing your activities, then hitting the red ‘stop’ button. At this point, you’ll be taken to the Code Capture section where you can browse your code and even copy or download the code as well!

Before jumping to download the fling, we should discuss what a VMware Fling really is. Flings are projects that are built by our engineers and made available for general consumption. These flings are distributed under the Technical Preview License and, therefore, are recommended to not be run on production environments. This also means there is no ability to open a VMware support request. However, you can open a bug against the fling itself using the ‘Bugs‘ tab. Also, I would like to point out the ‘Comments‘ tab where you can submit feedback. We would greatly appreciate any and all feedback you have!

Now, let’s checkout Code Capture!

Code Capture in Action

Now let’s take a more in-depth look.

Code Capture Output

In the example above, we can see that we are shutting down a system by the name of ‘app01’. Once we click on the ‘stop’ button, it shows us the PowerCLI.NET code. This is important because, at first glance, the output may not be quite as you expect.

For example, you may have expected to see a command like Shutdown-VMGuest -Name app01 Instead, we saw low-level PowerCLI calls. Walking through the code, it created a VirtualMachine object, which referenced the app01 VM by MoRef, followed by the usage of a method named ‘ShutdownGuest’ that is called directly against the VM object. More information about this specific method: ShutdownGuest()

Code Output:

#----------------- Start of code capture -----------------

<#
.SYNOPSIS
Gets VI server connection by a given server uuid.

.DESCRIPTION
Gets VI server connection by a given server instance uuid from the default connected VI servers collection.
#>
function Get-VcConnection([string]$VcInstanceUuid) {
    $DefaultVIServers | Where-Object {$_.InstanceUuid -eq $vcInstanceUuid}
}

#---------------ParentVApp---------------
$_this = Get-View -Id 'VirtualMachine-vm-626' -Server (Get-VcConnection -VcInstanceUuid '87b30cb3-72b0-46f1-afb2-556824647b85')
$_this.ParentVApp

#---------------ShutdownGuest---------------
$_this = Get-View -Id 'VirtualMachine-vm-626' -Server (Get-VcConnection -VcInstanceUuid '87b30cb3-72b0-46f1-afb2-556824647b85')
$_this.ShutdownGuest()

#----------------- End of code capture -----------------

#----------------- Start of code capture -----------------

.SYNOPSIS

Gets VI server connection by a given server uuid.

.DESCRIPTION

Gets VI server connection by a given server instance uuid from the default connected VI servers collection.

function Get-VcConnection([string]$VcInstanceUuid) {

$DefaultVIServers | Where-Object {$_.InstanceUuid -eq $vcInstanceUuid}

}

#---------------ParentVApp---------------

$_this = Get-View -Id 'VirtualMachine-vm-626' -Server (Get-VcConnection -VcInstanceUuid '87b30cb3-72b0-46f1-afb2-556824647b85')

$_this.ParentVApp

#---------------ShutdownGuest---------------

$_this = Get-View -Id 'VirtualMachine-vm-626' -Server (Get-VcConnection -VcInstanceUuid '87b30cb3-72b0-46f1-afb2-556824647b85')

$_this.ShutdownGuest()

#----------------- End of code capture -----------------

It’s worth noting, at this point in time, all of the returned code is going to be in this manner. There are on-going investigations to add the translation from this code into high-level PowerCLI cmdlets. If this type of conversion is important to you, please add a comment to the following PowerCLI Feature Request: Onyx support for HTML5 and REST APIs

Using the Output

If I were to power on the app01 VM, I could then use the code in a PowerShell session (where I’m already connected to the vCenter Server) to shutdown the app01 system. To make this easier, Code Capture includes a ‘Copy’ button which easily copies the entirety of the code to our clipboard. We can now paste this into our PowerShell session to accomplish the task!

Example:

Another option to extract the code from our browser is with the ‘Download’ button. Clicking ‘Download’ will, depending on your browser configuration, save a file named ‘power-cli-script.ps1’ to your Downloads folder. We can then call that file just like any script from our PowerShell session to accomplish the action.

Example:

Summary

The next generation of Onyx is here and it’s called Code Capture, which is only available in the vSphere HTML5 Web Client Fling! Using the start and stop button on the main menu bar, Code Capture allows you to take your actions in the vSphere Client and output them to PowerCLI code. The code output can also easily be copied and/or downloaded from your browser session using the dedicated buttons in the Code Capture area.

Get started by heading over to the vSphere HTML5 Web Client Fling page and downloading the latest version today!

New Release: PowerCLI 10.2.0

11 Replies

It’s new release day! Even though we’re counting down the days to VMworld, we still have a fresh version for you with PowerCLI 10.2.0!

Speaking of counting, this marks the 4th release of PowerCLI this year. I remember when getting 2 updates in a single year was a major event, much less four! A big shout-out to the PowerCLI engineering team for all the work that’s been done to make this process faster and easier. If you’d like to know more details, VMworld session DEV3504BU will take an in-depth look at the PowerCLI development process. It’s a session I’m super excited for!

On to the updates!

PowerCLI 10.2.0 Updates

PowerCLI 10.2.0 comes with the following updates:

Support for NSX-T 2.2
Deprecation of the PCloud module, so look for this module to be removed in the future
Update to Get-VIEvent to resolve the issue when receiving: Error in deserializing body of reply message for operation ‘RetrieveProperties’

For more information on changes made in VMware PowerCLI 10.2.0, including improvements, security enhancements, and deprecated features, see the VMware PowerCLI Change Log. For more information on specific product features, see the VMware PowerCLI 10.2.0 User’s Guide. For more information on specific cmdlets, see the VMware PowerCLI 10.2.0 Cmdlet Reference.

Remember, updating your PowerCLI modules is now as easy as ‘Update-Module VMware.PowerCLI’.

PowerCLI at VMworld US 2018

1 Reply

It’s August and that means VMworld is right around the corner! Last year, we had an unprecedented amount of PowerCLI and automation-based sessions and that trend has continued this year! There are more sessions, a re-vamped PowerCLI Hands-On-Lab, not one but two expert-led PowerCLI Hands-On Lab time slots, a Hackathon training session, and there are more vBrownBag & VMware {code} Power sessions than I can count! If you haven’t already registered, the time is quickly ticking away!

Make sure to add the following sessions to your schedule and catch up with the PowerCLI team and the amazing PowerCLI community members!

Sessions

Session: DEV3504BU – Development at VMware: A Look at How PowerCLI Has Evolved Over the Years
Date: Monday, Aug 27, 4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Speakers: Kamen Nikolov & Kyle Ruddy
Kamen and Kyle will give attendees a behind the scenes look into the PowerCLI development process and the many ways PowerCLI has evolved over the last 10+ years.

Session: VIN2661BU – Start Automating All The Things with PowerCLI
Date: Tuesday, Aug 28, 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Speakers: Seth Crosby & Kyle Ruddy
Seth and Kyle will help attendees get more comfortable with using automation tools like PowerShell and PowerCLI. This session will feature an introductory overview, followed by several examples which attendees can start using in their environments immediately!

Session: VIN1709BU – Mac and Linux Users, Don’t Despair: PowerCLI Is There!
Date: Tuesday, Aug 28, 3:30 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Speakers: Luc Dekens & Alan Renouf
Luc and Alan will discuss how PowerShell and PowerCLI have gone multi-platform, what impact that has on your environment and your existing code, plus some keys to success.

Session: HCI2522BU – Getting Started with vSAN Automation
Date: Tuesday, Aug 28, 5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Speakers: Alan Renouf & William Lam
Alan and William show attendess how to get started automating all the aspects of vSAN with tools such as PowerCLI and the vSAN management SDKs.

Session: VIN1992BU – A Deep(er) Dive with PowerCLI 10
Date: Wednesday, Aug 29, 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m.
Speakers: Luc Dekens & Kyle Ruddy
Luc and Kyle will take a look at the more advanced use-cases when using PowerCLI to automate actions in your environment. From proper object handling to diagnosing speed issues to debugging and more, this session is going to be a deep dive into the “what’s possible” with PowerCLI.

Session: NET1528BU – PowerNSX: Bringing the Power of PowerCLI to VMware NSX Data Center
Date: Wednesday, Aug 29, 8:30 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Speakers: Nicholas Bradford & Anthony Burke
Nick and Anthony will show attendees what PowerNSX is and how to use it to help automate anything from ad hoc queries to complete NSX data center logical topologies.

Session: HCI2061BU – Forget Click, Click, Click: Manage vSAN at Scale with PowerCLI
Date: Wednesday, Aug 29, 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Speakers: Jase McCarty & Kyle Ruddy
Jase and Kyle will take an in-depth look at the ways vSAN can be managed with PowerCLI to easily achieve consistency and repeatability at scale.

Session: DEV2828BU – Automating IT Ops with Dispatch Serverless Framework
Date: Wednesday, Aug 29, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Speakers: Alan Renouf & Berndt Jung
Alan and Berndt show off the power of serverless with Dispatch. Attendees will see how to setup and configure Dispatch, plus how to control event triggers with familiar tools, like PowerCLI, and existing scripts.

Session: NET1642BU – NSX-PowerOps: Day2 Ops, NSX Health, Security, and Automated Documentation
Date: Wednesday, Aug 29, 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Speakers: Hammad Alam & Puneet Chawla
Hammad and Puneet will discuss a community-built tool, NSX-PowerOps, which uses tools like PowerCLI and PowerNSX to create documentation of your environment.

Session: VIN3327BU – Documenting Your Virtual Infrastructure with PowerShell and PowerCLI
Date: Wednesday, Aug 29, 2:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Speakers: Tim Carman & Matthew Allford
Tim and Matthew take the burden of documentation and applies it to an open-sourced project which helps to document environments using nothing but PowerCLI.

VMware {code} Power Sessions

Session: CODE5560U – Closer look at vSphere programming and CLI interfaces
Date: Tuesday, Aug 28, 12:30 p.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Speaker: Vikas Shitole
Vikas will show off the wide variety of APIs, CLIs, and SDKs available for use with vSphere and how to get started with each one.

Session: CODE5547U – Deep dive into the Horizon View APIs & PowerShell module
Date: Tuesday, Aug 28, 1:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
Speaker: Wouter Kursten
Wouter shows off some of the fantastic new cmdlets that have been created and added to the Horizon View Helper module which can be used to enable PowerCLI based automation of Horizon View.

Session: CODE5549U – A better way to see PowerCLI data
Date: Tuesday, Aug 28, 1:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Jake Blecha
Jake will show how to wrangle all the object data PowerCLI can return to get access to what you’re looking for in the format you want.

Session: CODE5540U – PowerCLI Lint
Date: Tuesday, Aug 28, 2:15 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Speaker: Justin Sider
Justin will apply the concept of Linting and unity testing to PowerCLI code and introduce some tools to help make the process easier so you can write better and re-usable code.

Session: CODE5622U – It’s Magic! Automating VMware Cloud on AWS
Date: TBD
Speaker: Ryan Kelly
Ryan discusses how to start interacting with the VMware Cloud on AWS APIs with PowerCLI to automate your scalable, highly resilient, infrastructure in the cloud.

vBrownBag Sessions

Session: VMTN5513U – vDeploy – PowerCLI only method to fully deploy a VM
Date: Monday, Aug 27, 1:00 p.m. – 1:15 p.m.
Speaker: Russell Hamker
Russell will walk you through vDeploy, covering what it is, how to use it, and what it supports so you can automate the deployment of a Windows VM to any environment.

Session: VMTN5522U – Automating Troubleshooting with vSphere Operations Manager
Date: Monday, Aug 27, 1:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Thom Greene
Thom will show how to leverage the vRealize Operations PowerCLI module to automate your troubleshooting workflows.

Session: VMTN5535U – Strategies to starting with PowerCLI
Date: Monday, Aug 27, 5:00 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.
Speaker: Seth Crosby
Seth will take you through a handful of valuable strategies for helping you overcome what is holding you back from managing your VMware infrastructure like a pro, with PowerCLI.

Session: VMTN5605U – Getting Started with GitHub for PowerCLI Users
Date: Tuesday, Aug 28, 5:15 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Speaker: Justin Sider
Justin will walk through a few different typical scenarios that system administrator experience and how GitHub can solve those issues. From public to private to internal repositories, attendees will gain an understanding how what each are, how to use the, and even some tips on securing them.

Session: VMTN5597U – Powershell, it’s not just for Windows anymore
Date: Wednesday, Aug 29, 10:45 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
Speaker: Chris Nakagaki
Chris will demonstrate how to easily get up and running with PowerShell Core and PowerCLI on a Mac or Linux system, and where it could possibly go from here.

Session: VMTN5614U – Gentle Shutdown of a 2-node Starwind HCI Cluster using PowerCLI
Date: Thursday, Aug 30, 1:30 p.m. – 1:45 p.m.
Speaker: Matt Langguth
Matt will walk you through an issue with StarWind HCI clusters and how PowerCLI can come to the rescue and overcome the issue.

Meet the Experts

Session: Automate Your VMware Cloud on AWS Environment with Paul Gifford
Date: MTE5097U – Sunday, Aug 26, 3:15 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Come meet with Paul to discuss the automation of VMware Cloud on AWS with tools like PowerCLI.

Session: vSphere Automation and VMware Cloud on AWS with William Lam
Date: MTE5013U – Tuesday, Aug 28, 1:15 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Come meet with William to discuss vSphere and VMware Cloud on AWS based automation.

Session: PowerCLI with Kyle Ruddy
Date 1: MTE5063U – Wednesday, Aug 29, 3:15 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Date 2: MTE5007U – Thursday, Aug 30, 10:45 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
Come meet with Kyle to discuss any thoughts, ideas, issues, or anything that comes to mind regarding PowerCLI.

Hands on Labs

Lab: SPL-1911-05-SDC_U – VMware vSphere Automation – PowerCLI
Date: Anytime the HOL area is open and available
Get hands-on with VMware PowerCLI. Gain familiarity with the tool, and then dive deeper into the functionality available with real world examples. Both new and experienced users are sure to learn something new about automating their environments.

Session: ELW-1911-05-SDC_U – Expert-Led Workshop – VMware vSphere Automation – PowerCLI
Date 1: Monday, Aug 27, 2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Date 2: Tuesday, Aug 28, 12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Speaker: Howard Shoobe
Howard will show attendees how to get hands-on with VMware PowerCLI. You will gain familiarity with the tool, and then dive deeper into the functionality available with real world examples.

Hackathon

And last, but certainly not least, the VMware {code} Hackathon! If you’ve never been or haven’t heard of it, this is a fantastic event to get involved with other community members to do some coding! There’s no requirement to know how to code whatsoever. In fact, there are some trainings running before the Hackathon to help you get orientated.

Session: CODEHACK – VMware {code} Hackathon
Date: Monday, Aug 27, 6:30 p.m. – 11:30 p.m.
Join VMware {code} for the third annual hackathon!

Session: HACK6013U – PowerShell Primer: Prepping for Hackathon Success!
Date: Monday, Aug 27, 6:30 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Speaker: Kyle Ruddy
Kyle will cover a number of scenarios to help attendees get up to speed so they can use PowerShell to succeed in their Hackathon quest.

Summary

If you’re looking for PowerCLI content, VMworld is the place to be this year! With 10 sessions, over 10 community sessions, multiple meet the experts, and several hands-on activities, there’s something for everyone regardless of skill level. Make sure you’re registered for VMworld and get these sessions added to your schedule today!

Automating File-Based Backups of vCenter Server Appliance

14 Replies

Did you know the vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) has file-based backup options?

This ability was actually released in vSphere 6.5. However, there was one feature in particular that was missing: a scheduler. I’m happy to say that as part of vSphere 6.7, the VCSA received a backup scheduler!

Recently, my teammate, Emad Younis released a couple cool walkthroughs to the vSphere Central site to manage file-based backup and restore actions. Under the covers, both of these actions are served up by vSphere’s RESTful APIs and therefore PowerCLI can also be used to automate these actions! One other benefit of using the API, you don’t have to hand out the root credentials. Users with the ‘SystemConfiguration.Administrators’ permission are able to perform all of the following tasks through the API and PowerCLI!

To perform a file-based backup with PowerCLI, we’ll need to make use of the CIS module. Since the CIS module is a low-level module, let’s see a couple examples of this in action.

Create a File-Based Backup

Let’s first start with the process to perform a backup.

First step, log in to the CIS Service for the VCSA:

Connect-CisServer -Server vcsa01.corp.local

1	Connect-CisServer -Server vcsa01.corp.local

Next, we need to find the appropriate service to perform a backup:

Get-CisService -Name *backup*

1	Get-CisService -Name backup

Based on the output, we will want the ‘com.vmware.appliance.recovery.backup.job’ service. We will store that into a variable so we can easily interact with that specific service. To see the method we are going to use, take that variable and pipe it to ‘Get-Member’.

$backupJobSvc = Get-CisService -Name com.vmware.appliance.recovery.backup.job
$backupJobSvc | Get-Member

1 2	$backupJobSvc = Get-CisService -Name com.vmware.appliance.recovery.backup.job $backupJobSvc \| Get-Member

As part of the respose, we’ll see two important items. First, the ‘create’ method which we’ll use to actually create the backup job. Second, the ‘Help’ property. We can use ‘Help’ to help us form the input for the backup job with the following command:

$backupJobSvc.Help.create.piece

1	$backupJobSvc.Help.create.piece

We can now fill in each of the parameters with information for our environment. There are a couple caveats here. First, the ‘parts’ parameter is expecting an input of an array type. Second, each of the password parameters require a special type in order to be accepted.

$backupSpec.parts = @("common")
$backupSpec.location_type = "FTP"
$backupSpec.location = "ftp01.corp.local"
$backupSpec.location_user = "backup"
[VMware.VimAutomation.Cis.Core.Types.V1.Secret]$backupSpec.location_password = "VMware1!"
$backupSpec.comment = "PowerCLI Backup Job"

$backupSpec.parts = @("common")

$backupSpec.location_type = "FTP"

$backupSpec.location = "ftp01.corp.local"

$backupSpec.location_user = "backup"

[VMware.VimAutomation.Cis.Core.Types.V1.Secret]$backupSpec.location_password = "VMware1!"

$backupSpec.comment = "PowerCLI Backup Job"

Finally, having input all of our information, we can create the backup job!

$backupJob = $backupJobSvc.create($backupSpec)

1	$backupJob = $backupJobSvc.create($backupSpec)

We can combine this into a nice script as follows:

# Login to the CIS Service of the desired VCSA
Connect-CisServer -Server vcsa01.corp.local

# Store the Backup Job Service into a variable
$backupJobSvc = Get-CisService -Name com.vmware.appliance.recovery.backup.job

# Create a specification based on the Help response
$backupSpec = $backupJobSvc.Help.create.piece.CreateExample()

# Fill in each input parameter, as needed
$backupSpec.parts = @("common")
$backupSpec.location_type = "FTP"
$backupSpec.location = "ftp01.corp.local"
$backupSpec.location_user = "backup"
[VMware.VimAutomation.Cis.Core.Types.V1.Secret]$backupSpec.location_password = "VMware1!"
$backupSpec.comment = "PowerCLI Backup Job"

# Create the backup job 
$backupJobSvc.create($backupSpec)

# Login to the CIS Service of the desired VCSA

Connect-CisServer -Server vcsa01.corp.local

# Store the Backup Job Service into a variable

$backupJobSvc = Get-CisService -Name com.vmware.appliance.recovery.backup.job

# Create a specification based on the Help response

$backupSpec = $backupJobSvc.Help.create.piece.CreateExample()

# Fill in each input parameter, as needed

$backupSpec.parts = @("common")

$backupSpec.location_type = "FTP"

$backupSpec.location = "ftp01.corp.local"

$backupSpec.location_user = "backup"

[VMware.VimAutomation.Cis.Core.Types.V1.Secret]$backupSpec.location_password = "VMware1!"

$backupSpec.comment = "PowerCLI Backup Job"

# Create the backup job

$backupJobSvc.create($backupSpec)

Create a Scheduled File-Based Backup

Let’s now take a look at creating a scheduled backup job with PowerCLI.

Following a similar process to the last task, we will want to use one of the services we found previously called: com.vmware.appliance.recovery.backup.schedules

This time, we see two inputs are required. First, the schedule ID. Second, the specification which is similar to the prior example. The ‘Help’ property will be quite useful to create both specifications.

Much like the prior example, this one too has some caveats. The Schedule ID input can be a string of your choosing. For reference, performing this process in the UI creates a default ID of ‘default’. The scheduling recurrence configuration can be done in many ways through the ‘days’ property. If a daily backup is desired, there’s no need for any input and it can be left ‘unset’. If a specific day/s are desired, the input has to be of an array type.

Here’s a script which can be used to create a scheduled file-based backup:

# Store the Backup Job Service into a variable
$backupSchedSvc = Get-CisService -Name com.vmware.appliance.recovery.backup.schedules

# Create a Schedule ID specification based on the Help response
$schedSpec = $backupSchedSvc.Help.create.schedule.Create()
$schedSpec = 'weekly'

# Create a specification based on the Help response
$backupSchedSpec = $backupSchedSvc.Help.create.spec.Create()
$backupSchedSpec.parts = @("common")
$backupSchedSpec.location = "ftp://ftp01.corp.local"
$backupSchedSpec.location_user = "backup"
[VMware.VimAutomation.Cis.Core.Types.V1.Secret]$backupSchedSpec.location_password = "VMware1!"
$backupSchedSpec.enable = $true
$recurSpec = $backupSchedSvc.Help.create.spec.recurrence_info.Create()
$recurSpec.days = @("Sunday")
$recurSpec.minute = '59'
$recurSpec.hour = '23'
$backupSchedSpec.recurrence_info = $recurSpec
$retentSpec = $backupschedsvc.help.create.spec.retention_info.Create()
$retentSpec.max_count = '5'
$backupSchedSpec.retention_info = $retentSpec

# Create the backup job 
$backupSchedSvc.create($schedSpec, $backupSchedSpec)

# Store the Backup Job Service into a variable

$backupSchedSvc = Get-CisService -Name com.vmware.appliance.recovery.backup.schedules

# Create a Schedule ID specification based on the Help response

$schedSpec = $backupSchedSvc.Help.create.schedule.Create()

$schedSpec = 'weekly'

# Create a specification based on the Help response

$backupSchedSpec = $backupSchedSvc.Help.create.spec.Create()

$backupSchedSpec.parts = @("common")

$backupSchedSpec.location = "ftp://ftp01.corp.local"

$backupSchedSpec.location_user = "backup"

[VMware.VimAutomation.Cis.Core.Types.V1.Secret]$backupSchedSpec.location_password = "VMware1!"

$backupSchedSpec.enable = $true

$recurSpec = $backupSchedSvc.Help.create.spec.recurrence_info.Create()

$recurSpec.days = @("Sunday")

$recurSpec.minute = '59'

$recurSpec.hour = '23'

$backupSchedSpec.recurrence_info = $recurSpec

$retentSpec = $backupschedsvc.help.create.spec.retention_info.Create()

$retentSpec.max_count = '5'

$backupSchedSpec.retention_info = $retentSpec

# Create the backup job

$backupSchedSvc.create($schedSpec, $backupSchedSpec)

Afterwards, if you log into the VCSA Appliance Management Interface (VAMI), your backup schedule should look much like the following:

Summary

The ability to create file-based backups of your vCenter Server is a function that is only available to the VCSA. This function is made possible by a set of RESTful APIs which PowerCLI can also consume, with the additional benefit of not being reliant on the root account! This blog post walked through examples of creating a file-based backup job and creating a scheduled file-based backup job.

More information about VCSA file-based backup can be found on the vSphere Central site: vCenter Server Appliance 6.7 File-Based Backup

Let us know in the comments how you’re automating your VCSA backups!

PowerCLI is the best tool for automating management and configuration of VMware vSphere

Desired State Configuration Resources for VMware Overview

Installation Overview

Managing an ESXi Host’s NTP

Summary

Receiving an Error

PowerCLI Support Bundle

Support Bundle Examination

Summary

New Security Module

Host Profile Updates

Storage Module Updates

vCloud Director Updates

Other Improvements and Updates

Summary

Sessions

VMware {code} Power Sessions

vBrownBag Sessions

Hands on Labs

Hackathon

Summary

Properties, Hash Tables, and More

Listing VMs and their VM Tools Versions

Listing VM Specific Information from the KB

Listing Only Applicable VMs

Summary

Code Capture in Action

Code Capture Output

Using the Output

Summary

PowerCLI 10.2.0 Updates

Sessions

VMware {code} Power Sessions

vBrownBag Sessions

Meet the Experts

Hands on Labs

Hackathon

Summary

Create a File-Based Backup

Create a Scheduled File-Based Backup

Summary