What’s new in PowerCLI 5?

Shay Levy recently wrote an article in PowerShell Magazine that leveraged PowerShell to determine the differences in PowerShell 2 vs PowerShell 3. I took his script, made a few small modifications, and used it in the same way to determine the differences between PowerCLI 4.1 U1 and PowerCLI 5.0.

I also added the extra step of retrieving the cmdlet’s synopsis as retrieved from Get-Help. Unfortunately, there are a number of PowerCLI 5 cmdlets that don’t have a synopsis, and in those instances I chose to go with the descriptions. These aren’t formatted as nicely as the synopses are, but it still gives you the ability to see what each new cmdlet does at a glance. The results are for all modules that come with the PowerCLI 5 installer: VMware.Deploy.Automation, VMware.ImageBuilder, VMware.VimAutomation.Core, and VMware.VimAutomation.License.

First up, the code:

[code]
# run in v2, export all core cmdlets, name and parameters
Get-Command -Module *vmware* | Select-Object -Property Name,@{Name=’Parameters’;Expression={$_.Parameters.Keys}} | Export-Clixml .\v2.xml

# run in v3, export all core cmdlets, name and parameters
Get-Command -Module *vmware* | Select-Object -Property Name,@{Name=’Parameters’;Expression={$_.Parameters.Keys}} | Export-Clixml .\v3.xml

# run either in v2 or v3 console
$v2 = Import-CliXml .\v2.xml | Sort-Object -Property Name
$v3 = Import-CliXml .\v3.xml | Sort-Object -Property Name

Compare-Object $v2 $v3 -Property Name -IncludeEqual -PassThru | ForEach-Object {

$Command = $_

if($_.SideIndicator -eq ‘==’)
{
$Command = $_

$cv2 = $v2 | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq $Command.Name} | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Parameters
$cv3 = $v3 | Where-Object {$_.Name -eq $Command.Name} | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Parameters

$compare = Compare-Object $cv2 $cv3

if($compare)
{
try
{
$NewParameters = $compare | Where-Object {$_.SideIndicator -eq ‘=>’} | ForEach-Object {$_.InputObject + ‘ (+)’}
$RemovedParameters = $compare | Where-Object {$_.SideIndicator -eq ‘<=’} | ForEach-Object {$_.InputObject + ‘ (-)’}

"$($command.Name) (!)"
$NewParameters + $RemovedParameters | Sort-Object | ForEach-Object { "`t$_"}
"`n"
}
catch{}
}
}
elseif($_.SideIndicator -eq ‘=>’)
{
"$($Command.name) (+)"
if ( (Get-Help $Command.Name).Synopsis -eq "") { (Get-Help $Command.Name).Description} else {(Get-Help $Command.Name).Synopsis}
"`n"
}
else
{
"$($Command.name) (-)`n"
}
} | Out-File .\diff.txt
[/code]

And now, the results (plus some formatting to increase legibility):

Add-VMHost (!)
Server (+)

Connect-VIServer (!)
AllLinked (+)

Export-VApp (!)
Format (+)

Get-AlarmDefinition (!)
Id (+)

Get-Annotation (!)
Name (+)

Get-CDDrive (!)
Id (+)
Name (+)

Get-CustomAttribute (!)
Id (+)

Get-Datastore (!)
Id (+)

Get-EsxCli (!)
VMHost (+)

Get-FloppyDrive (!)
Id (+)
Name (+)

Get-Folder (!)
Type (+)

Get-HardDisk (!)
Id (+)
Name (+)

Get-NetworkAdapter (!)
Id (+)
Name (+)

Get-NicTeamingPolicy (!)
Server (+)

Get-PassthroughDevice (!)
Id (+)

Get-ScsiController (!)
Id (+)
Name (+)

Get-Snapshot (!)
Id (+)

Get-Stat (!)
Server (+)

Get-UsbDevice (!)
Id (+)
Name (+)

Get-VIPrivilege (!)
Id (+)

Get-VIRole (!)
Id (+)

Get-VirtualPortGroup (!)
Id (+)

Get-VirtualSwitch (!)
Id (+)

Get-VMGuestNetworkInterface (!)
Name (+)

Get-VMHostModule (!)
VMHost (+)

Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter (!)
Id (+)

Get-VMHostProfile (!)
Id (+)

Import-VApp (!)
Force (+)

Move-Inventory (!)
Server (+)

New-Cluster (!)
Server (+)

New-Datacenter (!)
Server (+)

New-Datastore (!)
FileSystemVersion (+)Local (-) Cifs (-) Username (-) Password (-)

New-Folder (!)
Server (+)

New-HardDisk (!)
AdvancedOption (+)

New-Template (!)
Datastore (+)
DiskStorageFormat (+)
Template (+)
TemplateFilePath (+)
VMHost (+)

New-VirtualPortGroup (!)
Server (+)

New-VM (!)
AdvancedOption (+)

New-VMHostProfile (!)
CompatibilityMode (+)

Remove-Inventory (!)
Server (+)

Remove-VIProperty (!)
VIProperty (+)

Remove-VirtualSwitch (!)
Server (+)

Remove-VMHostAccount (!)
Server (+)

Set-Datastore (!)
CongestionThresholdMillisecond (+)
StorageIOControlEnabled (+)

Set-DrsRule (!)
Server (+)

Set-HardDisk (!)
ResizeGuestPartition (+)
Server (+)

Set-NetworkAdapter (!)
Server (+)

Set-PowerCLIConfiguration (!)
DisplayDeprecationWarnings (+)

Set-VIPermission (!)
Server (+)

Set-VirtualSwitch (!)
Server (+)

Set-VMResourceConfiguration (!)
DiskLimitIOPerSecond (+)

Add-DeployRule (+)
Adds one or more rules to the rule set.

Add-EsxSoftwareDepot (+)
Adds an ESX software depot or offline depot ZIP file to the current PowerCLI session. Use this cmdlet right after you start Image Builder by adding the Image Builder snap-in. The cmdlet imports metadata from the specified depots. You can then create new image profiles and generate ISOs from the image profiles and VIBs in the depots. The metadata from the depots is kept in memory until the PowerCLI session ends. When you run the cmdlet, Image Builder downloads and parses the metadata from the depot and analyzes the VIBs for dependencies.

The depot will be added to the list of depots maintained in the implicit session variable $DefaultSoftwareDepots that stores all software depots (similar to $DefaultVIServers).

If the software depot was previously added, metadata from the depot will be downloaded again.

Add-EsxSoftwarePackage (+)
Adds new VIBs to an image profile or updates existing VIBs in an image profile. For each package, if it is newer or older than an existing package in the profile, the existing package will be replaced. Image Builder performs all image profile validation tests on the modified image profile.

The output of this cmdlet may be piped into any other cmdlet taking image profiles as input.

Note that the image profile object that is passed in will have its VibList modified. Please see the New-EsxImageProfile cmdlet for details about persistence of image profiles.

Modification is not possible if the ReadOnly property of an ImageProfile is true.

Apply-ESXImageProfile (+)
Associates the specified image profile with the specified ESXi system.

Compare-EsxImageProfile (+)
Returns an ImageProfileDiff object that specifies whether two profiles have the same VIB list and acceptance level. If two  profiles are different, the ImageProfileDiff object specifies the differences.

Copy-DeployRule (+)
Clones an existing rule.

Export-EsxImageProfile (+)
Exports an Image Profile object as either an ESXi ISO image that can be booted up and used as an ESXi installer, or an offline depot ZIP file that contains metadata plus the VIB packages. In both cases, downloads the VIB binaries and validates the VIB signatures.

You can perform the following tasks with the offline depot ZIP file:

*Import the ZIP into VMware Update Manager for patch remediation
*Download the ZIP to an ESXi host and used with esxcli for installation
*Re-import the ZIP into ImageBuilder itself using Add-EsxSoftwareDepot

You can specify either  -ExportToIso or -ExportToBundle but not both.

Get-DatastoreCluster (+)
Retrieves datastore clusters.

Get-DeployRule (+)
Gets a DeployRule object.

Get-DeployRuleSet (+)
Gets the current working rule set or the current active rule set.

Get-EsxImageProfile (+)
Lists the image profiles from software depots as well as image profiles created by the user. The output is in table form by default. Pass the image profile in the -ImageProfile parameter to the New-EsxImageProfile, Export-EsxImageProfile, Set-EsxImageProfile, Add-EsxSoftwarePackage, Remove-EsxSoftwarePackage, and Compare-EsxImageProfile cmdlets in one of these ways:

*Use the name of the image profile
*Pipe the output of this cmdlet into the cmdlets See each cmdlet’s examples for details.

Get-EsxSoftwareChannel (+)
Get-EsxSoftwareChannel [[-SoftwareDepot] <SoftwareDepot[]>] [-Verbose] [-Debug] [-ErrorAction <ActionPreference>] [-WarningAction <ActionPreference>] [-ErrorVariable <String>] [-WarningVariable <String>] [-OutVariable <String>] [-OutBuffer <Int32>]

Get-EsxSoftwarePackage (+)
Returns a list of SoftwarePackage (VIB) objects from all the connected depots, filtered by one or more options. The output is in table form by default. You can pass VIB package names and versions to the New-EsxImageProfile, Set-EsxImageProfile, Add-EsxSoftwarePackage, and Remove-EsxSoftwarePackage cmdlets via the -SoftwarePackage parameter.

The output of this cmdlet can also be piped into Add-EsxSoftwarePackage and Remove-EsxSoftwarePackage.  See the examples under those cmdlets.

Get-LicenseDataManager (+)
Returns the vSphere LicenseDataManager objects for the specified vSphere servers.

Get-VIAccount (+)
Retrieves the accounts from the ESX or vCenter Server.

Get-VIProperty (+)
Retrieves extended object properties.

Get-VMHostAttributes (+)
Gets the identifying attributes of a host.

Get-VMHostAuthentication (+)
Retrieves authentication information for the specified hosts.

Get-VMHostImageProfile (+)
Gets the image profile associated with the specified ESXi host.

Get-VMHostMatchingRules (+)
Retrieves the list of rules in the rule set that match a specified host.

Get-VMHostProfileRequiredInput (+)
Performs a check whether the available information is sufficient to apply a host profile.

Move-VApp (+)
Moves the specified virtual appliances to a new location.

New-DeployRule (+)
Creates a new rule.

New-EsxImageProfile (+)
Creates an image profile on the client machine, either by cloning or from scratch. Image Bulder performs the complete set of image profile validation tests on the new image profile and displays all errors found during validation. You pass the new image profile into the  Set-EsxImageProfile, Export-EsxImageProfile, Add-EsxSoftwarePackage, and Remove-EsxSoftwarePackage cmdlets in the -ImageProfile parameter as follows:

*Use the image profile name, as specified in the -Name parameter.
*Pipe the output of New-EsxImageProfile to the commandlet.

The resulting image profile will be preserved for the current session only. To preserve an image profile across sessions, use the Export-EsxImageProfile cmdlet. The created image profile does not have to be assigned to a variable; it is preserved in memory automatically and will be listed with the Get-EsxImageProfile cmdlet.

Specify either -NewProfile or  -CloneProfile, but not both.

If you want to edit an image profile published in a depot, you must clone the image profile before you edit it. When you clone an image profile, specify a Name parameter for the clone.

Remove-DeployRule (+)
Removes a rule from the working rule set.

Remove-EsxSoftwareDepot (+)
Disconnects the current PowerCLI session from the specified software depots. Updates the $DefaultSoftwareDepots session variable. The depots and their VIBs and image profiles will no longer be available.

If you do not specify the -SoftwareDepot parameter, PowerCLI prompts for an answer. You can type in the URL of the depot you wish to disconnect from.

Remove-EsxSoftwarePackage (+)
Removes existing packages from an image profile. The output of this cmdlet is an image profile object that you can pipe into any other cmdlet taking image profiles as input.

You cannot modify an image profile if its ReadOnly property is true.

ImageBuilder runs the modified image profile  through all image profile validation tests. The modified image profile must have at least a boot kernel so that it can boot. You cannot remove a package if another package depends on it.

Repair-DeployImageCache (+)
Repairs the image cache. Use this cmdlet only when working with VMware Technical Support.

Repair-DeployRuleSetCompliance (+)
Remediate any non-compliant associations discovered by Test-DeployRuleSetCompliance

Set-DeployRule (+)
Updates an existing rule.

Set-DeployRuleSet (+)
Sets the list of rules in the working rule set.

Set-EsxImageProfile (+)
Set-EsxImageProfile is used to modify a user-created image profile. The cmdlet returns the modified ImageProfile object, which can be piped into any other cmdlet taking image profiles as input. For details on persistence, see New-EsxImageProfile.

If the ReadOnly property of the image profile is true, you cannot modify the image profile.

Image Builder performs all image profile validation tests on the modified image profile.

The Name and Vendor of the modified image profile must be unique. If you attempt to change the Name and Vendor, and the new Name and Vendor are the same as an existing Name and Vendor, an error result.

Set-VMHostAuthentication (+)
Modifies the host authentication information.

Switch-ActiveDeployRuleSet (+)
Activates a rule set.

Test-DeployRuleSetCompliance (+)
Checks whether hosts are compliant with rules.