powercli-snippet Archives - vConsultants blog

Start or stop ESXi services using PowerCLI

by Harold Preyers | Mar 3, 2017 | PowerCLI, VMware, vSphere

Start the ssh service on all hosts:

Get-VMHost | Foreach {
	Start-VMHostService -HostService ($_ | Get-VMHostService | Where {$_.Key -eq "TSM-SSH"})
}

Get-VMHost | Foreach {

Start-VMHostService -HostService ($_ | Get-VMHostService | Where {$_.Key -eq "TSM-SSH"})

}

Thanks to Alan Renouf at virtu-al.net, where I found this snippet: https://www.virtu-al.net/2010/11/23/enabling-esx-ssh-via-powercli/

If you want to start the ssh service on a single host, change ESXiHostName to your ESXi FQDN:

Get-VMHost -Name ESXiHostName | Foreach {
	Start-VMHostService -HostService ($_ | Get-VMHostService | Where {$_.Key -eq "TSM-SSH"})
}

Get-VMHost -Name ESXiHostName | Foreach {

Start-VMHostService -HostService ($_ | Get-VMHostService | Where {$_.Key -eq "TSM-SSH"})

}

If you want to stop the ssh service on all hosts:

Get-VMHost | Foreach {
	Stop-VMHostService -HostService ($_ | Get-VMHostService | Where {$_.Key -eq "TSM-SSH"})
}

Get-VMHost | Foreach {

Stop-VMHostService -HostService ($_ | Get-VMHostService | Where {$_.Key -eq "TSM-SSH"})

}

If you have multiple cluster in vCenter, are connected to multiple vCenters, be sure to launch the command only to the necessary hosts:

Get-Cluster -Name ClusterName will filter to the specified Cluster
Get-VMHost -Name ESXiHostName will filter to the specified ESXi
Get-VMHost -Server vCenterServerName will filter to the specified vCenter server

Get-Cluster -Name ClusterName | Get-VMHost -Name ESXiHostName -Server vCenterServerName | Foreach {
   Stop-VMHostService -HostService ($_ | Get-VMHostService | Where { $_.Key -eq "TSM-SSH"} )
}

Get-Cluster -Name ClusterName | Get-VMHost -Name ESXiHostName -Server vCenterServerName | Foreach {

Stop-VMHostService -HostService ($_ | Get-VMHostService | Where { $_.Key -eq "TSM-SSH"} )

}

These are other services I frequently use:

DCUI (Direct Console UI)
lwsmd (Active Directory Service)
ntpd (NTP Daemon)
sfcbd-watchdog (CIM Server)
snmpd (SNMP Server)
TSM (ESXi Shell)
TSM-SSH (SSH)
vmsyslogd (Syslog Server)
vmware-fdm (vSphere High Availability Agent)
vpxa (VMware vCenter Agent)
xorg (X.Org Server)

There are other services available but I have never used them in this context (yet):

lbtd (Load-Based Teaming Daemon)
pcscd (PC/SC Smart Card Daemon)
vprobed (VProbe Daemon)

Change the startup policy for a service:

Automatic: Start automatically if any ports are open, and stop when all ports are closed
On: Start and stop with host
Off: Start and stop manually

Get-VMHost | Foreach {
	Set-VMHostService -HostService ($_ | Get-VMHostService | Where {$_.key -eq "TSM-SSH"}) -policy On
}

Get-VMHost | Foreach {

Set-VMHostService -HostService ($_ | Get-VMHostService | Where {$_.key -eq "TSM-SSH"}) -policy On

}

PowerCLI goodies

by Harold Preyers | Apr 12, 2016 | PowerCLI, VMware

These are powercli goodies I use on a regular base. I have collected them here to find them easily. Some I wrote myself, some are copied from other sites. If I didn’t reference the source, I don’t know anymore where I found it.

Change portgroup on a lot of vm’s

Testing with one vm

get-vm my_vm_name&nbsp;| Get-NetworkAdapter |where {$_.networkname -eq "current_network_label"} | set-networkadapter -portgroup "new_network_label" -confirm:$false

1	get-vm my_vm_name \| Get-NetworkAdapter \|where {$_.networkname -eq "current_network_label"} \| set-networkadapter -portgroup "new_network_label" -confirm:$false

Reconfigure all vm’s with the string “vdi” in the name

get-vm *vdi*&nbsp;| Get-NetworkAdapter |where {$_.networkname -eq "current_network_label"} | set-networkadapter -portgroup "new_network_label" -confirm:$false

1	get-vm vdi \| Get-NetworkAdapter \|where {$_.networkname -eq "current_network_label"} \| set-networkadapter -portgroup "new_network_label" -confirm:$false

Find all vm’s with more than 8 CPUs

(get-view -viewtype virtualmachine).summary.config | where {$_.numcpu -gt 8}

1	(get-view -viewtype virtualmachine).summary.config \| where {$_.numcpu -gt 8}

Reload Syslog via esxcli

While executing the NetApp MetroCluster testplan, the syslog service stops logging to the presented syslog datastore. To restart the logging reload the syslog service on all impacted hosts. The following command will reload the syslog service on all hosts in the connected vCenters. Check the $global:defaultviservers to know which vCenters are connected.

$server_list&nbsp;= Get-VMhost

Foreach ($srv in $server_list)
{
   $esxcli = Get-EsxCli -VMhost $srv
   $esxcli.system.syslog.reload()
}

$server_list = Get-VMhost