Just Powershell it

VMware COM API

Thu, 16 Aug 2007 13:01:00 GMT

It has been a while since I last posted a new entry, but time has yet again not been my best friend.

The last months I've been busy with virtualizations and VMware VI3 in particulair. I wouldn't be me if I wouldn't try leveraging the power of Powershell with VMware. I'm still working on ways to use the VMware SDK with powershell and that means a whole challenge of really understanding C# and the VMware SDK to write cmdlets. Still nothing to post on this, but there are ways to use powershell to manage VMware infrastructures. This is done throught the VMware COM API.

As shown with earlier postings about Citrix it is easy to use COM objects in Powershell. This is the same for VMware.

I will not post an indepth description of how to do all the possible tasks, but it should be enough to get you going. The VMware scripting API is less powerfull than the SDK. Tasks like for instance migrating a VM or creating a VM are not possible through the SDK, but tasks like power operations, taking snapshot, deleting snapshots and so on are possible and that makes it exciting!

Before starting working with the API, first download and install the API at: http://www.vmware.com/download/sdk/api.html

For detailed information about the API download the manual from VMware at: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/Scripting_API_23.pdf

There are some perl and vbscript samples in the document and this can easily be translated in powershell.

Oke, now let's just connect to a VI3 host. Just type the following in the commandline.

ps/> $cp=new-object -com vmcom.vmconnectparams

ps/> $cp.hostname= "ESXhostname"

ps/> $cp.username= "root" #use a username with enough permissions on the ESX host.

ps/> $cp.password= "password"

ps/> $srv=new-object -com vmcom.vmserverctl

ps/> $srv.connect($cp)

now you are connected to the host. If you type $srv you'll get the vm's registered on the host. A better readable list is created by using:

ps/> $srv.RegisteredVmNames

You'll see that the listing actually shows the .vmx files on the host.

Of cource you can get the members of the object by using get-member

ps/> $srv|gm

To connect to a particulair VM do the following

option 1:

copy the complete name of a vmx file path from the previous listing and put it in a variable, lets say $vmname

Now type the following:

ps/> $vm=new-object -com vmcom.vmctl

ps/> $vm.connect($cp,$vmname)

If we than look at the members by using get-member we see what we can do with it.

Let say we want to see if the virtual machine has snapshots. You do the following:

ps/> $vm.HasSnapshot

If there is a snapshot, 1 is returned. Otherwise 0 is returned.

Option 2:

If you know the servername of the virtual machine (say server15) and you want to query it directly you can do the following:

ps/> $srv.RegisteredVmNames|where {$_ -like "*server15*"}|$vm.connect($cp,$_)

ps/> $vm.HasSnapshot

Of cource you must allready have created the $vm object as shown above. Same is for the example below.

Option 3:

If we want to know which VM's have snapshots we can do the following:

ps/> $srv.RegisteredVmNames| foreach {

>> $vm.connect($cp,$_)

>> if ($vm.HasSnapshot -gt 0)

>> {

>> $_

>> }

ps/>

As said before, this is not a complete description of the VMware API, but just a brief introduction. This should get you on the go and create some nice scripts to make you're life at least a little easier.

Oke, this is it for now, but I promise updates will follow soon.

Greetings

Dennis Verweij

http://dverweij.spaces.live.com

searching msdn within powershell

Wed, 17 Jan 2007 19:47:03 GMT

What if you're in Powershell and need to know how to use a specific namespace or class? Of course you can start internet explorer, go to msdn and do a search.

But why not do this from within powershell?

Function msdn {

param([string]$searchstring="")
$inet = New-Object -Com Internetexplorer.Application
$netsearch = "http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/forms?queryTerm="
$inet.Navigate($netsearch+$searchstring)
$inet.Visible=$TRUE
}

And now, we can just type:

PS:> msdn forms

The result will be a new internet explorer window with you're search results.

You can put this function in you're profile so you can use it all the time.

have fun

Grt

Dennis

A complete directory listing

Tue, 09 Jan 2007 09:14:52 GMT

Sometimes there are things I just want to try the hard way. Of course you can get a complete directory listing by using

get-childitem -recurse, but you can also do it differently. Same output, but much more fun to try and héy, you want to learn powershell or you don't. I do.

So the stuff below might seem useless effort, but you can use it for much more than just a directorylisting.

It's easy to get a directory listing one level down, or two, or three, or whatever. Just as long as you know how many subs there are. So what if you don't know how many levels down a directorystructure goes or if you just don't care. Then you can do the following:

PS>>Function dirlist {ls $_.FullName|Foreach {$_;if ($_.Mode -like "d*"){dirlist}}};Get-Item * |Foreach {$_;if
($_.Mode -like "d*"){dirlist}}

If you do the above you'll get the info, but in an pretty unreadable format, so just format the output:

PS>>Function dirlist {ls $_.FullName|Foreach {$_;if ($_.Mode -like "d*"){dirlist}}};Get-Item * |Foreach {$_;if
($_.Mode -like "d*"){dirlist}} |ft name,fullname

And you can sort on what and how you want

PS>>Function dirlist {ls $_.FullName|Foreach {$_;if ($_.Mode -like "d*"){dirlist}}};Get-Item * |Foreach {$_;if
($_.Mode -like "d*"){dirlist}} |Sort-Object -descending creationtime|ft name,creationtime

Or just export to a csv so that later, you can do whatever you want. Sort it, filter, choose output format, etc, etc.

PS>>Function dirlist {ls $_.FullName|Foreach {$_;if ($_.Mode -like "d*"){dirlist}}};Get-Item * |Foreach {$_;if
($_.Mode -like "d*"){dirlist} | Export-csv dirlist.csv

**update**

As Vinicius Canto mentioned in the reactions, there is a better way to determine if a childitem is a container (directory) or not. This is done by checking the NoteProperty "$_.PSIsContainer", instead of what I used: "if ($_.Mode -like "d*")" or using the -band operator as Vinicius used on his blog at http://viniciuscanto.blogspot.com/2007/01/dir-ad-no-powershell-onde-ele-foi-parar.html"

The NoteProperty "PSIsContainer" works faster than doing a compaire. It simply results in a $True of $False

This results in:

PS>>Function dirlist {ls $_.FullName|Foreach {$_;if ($_.PSIsContainer){dirlist}}};Get-Item * |Foreach {$_;if
($_.PSIsContainer){dirlist} | Export-csv dirlist.csv

Thanks Vinicius. And Jeffrey Snover who gave the initial hint.

Grt

Dennis

Changing the incorrect homedir path of all users

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 08:02:17 GMT

This powershell script is to correct the users homedrive path in Active Directory.

The following steps are done by the script:

- First it looks up the users with an incorrect homedrive annotation

- For those users it changes the, in this case, servername to an alias

- save the info an continue with the next one.

# Powershell script

# Citrix Export published applications

# D. Verweij

###

# Connect to the AD

$root = [adsi]'LDAP://OU=users,OU=application,OU=services,DC=face,DC=foo,DC=nl'

# Configure the searcher

$searcher = new-object directoryservices.directorysearcher
$searcher.searchroot = $root
$searcher.filter = "(objectclass=user)"

# Loop up accounts with an incorrect homedrive
$searcher.findall()|where {$_.properties.item("homedirectory") -like "*servername*"}|foreach {
   $userrt="LDAP://"+$_.properties.item("distinguishedName")
   $userads = [adsi]$userrt
   $userhome=$userads.homedirectory
   $userads.put("homedirectory",$userhome.psbase.value.replace("servername","serveralias"))
   $userads.setinfo()
}

Grt

Dennis

Import Citrix published applications

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 07:33:23 GMT

After exporting the published application setting in an earlier post, here is the script I used to import the applications in the new farm.

# Powershell script

# Citrix Export published applications

# D. Verweij

###

# First the known steps to connect to the mfcom and initialize the object

$c_farm = new-object -com metaframecom.metaframefarm
$c_farm.initialize(1)

# Then we import the csv file and for each we do..

import-csv c:\citrix\Citrix_apps.csv | foreach{

$c_app=$c_farm.addapplication($_.apptype)
$w_app = $c_app.winappobject
$c_app.Appname = $_.appname
$c_app.description = $_.description
$w_app.defaultencryption = $_.defaultencryption
$w_app.defaultinitprog = $_.defaultinitprog
$w_app.defaultworkdir = $_.defaultworkdir
$w_app.browsername = $_.browsername
$w_app.enableapp = $_.enableapp
$w_app.hidefrompnenum = $_.hidefrompnenum
$w_app.hidefrombrowserenum = $_.hidefrombrowserenum
$w_app.defaultwindowcolor = $_.defaultwindowcolor
$w_app.defaultwindowtype = $_.defaultwindowtype
$w_app.defaultsoundtype = $_.defaultsoundtype
$w_app.desktopintegrate = $_.desktopintegrate
$w_app.mfattributes = $_.mfattributes
$w_app.publishingflags = $_.publishingflags
$w_app.PNAttributes = $_.PNAttributes
$w_app.AllowMultiInstancePerUser = $_.AllowMultiInstancePerUser
$w_app.StartMenuFolder = $_.StartMenuFolder
$w_app.PlaceUnderProgramsFolder = $_.PlaceUnderProgramsFolder
$w_app.WaitOnPrinterCreation = $_.WaitOnPrinterCreation
$w_app.defaultwindowwidth = $_.defaultwindowwidth
$w_app.defaultwindowheight = $_.defaultwindowheight
$w_app.defaultwindowscale = $_.defaultwindowscale
$w_app.parentfolderDN = $_.parentfolderDN
$w_app.pnfolder = $_.pnfolder
$c_app.savedata()
}

Of course there are much more settings to specify and the above are just the one I needed. To see the complete list, just use the "get-member" :

$farm = new-object -com metaframecom.metaframefarm

$farm.initialize(1)

$farm.applications|get-member

note! for some additional settings you need the winappobject properties (some properties in the script above are winappobject properties). The members of winappobject are shown the same way, but you will first have to choose an application:

For instance:

$sampleapp = $farm.applications|where {$_.appname -like "sampleapp"} # appname is the displayname of the published app

$sampleapp.winappobject|get-member

**update**

If you haven't already, you should take a look at the post on http://blogs.msdn.co/powershell where Jeffrey Snover did some tuning on my script. I haven't had the time to test it yet, but I will and you should too. It's great.

The post can be found here:

http://blogs.msdn.com/powershell/archive/2006/12/29/use-copy-property-to-make-it-easier-to-write-read-and-review-scripts.aspx

Have fun!

Grt

Dennis

Technorati

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 06:32:57 GMT

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Export Citrix published applications

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 14:26:05 GMT

During a migration of our Citrix farm to Presentation Server 4.0, I needed to export the published applications from the old Metaframe farm.

I wanted the export to be a csv file with all the properties to recreate the applications in the new farm.

So, for this I made the following script.

# Powershell script

# Citrix Export published applications

# D. Verweij

###

# First the known steps to connect to the mfcom and initialize the object

$c_farm = new-object –com metaframecom.metaframefarm

$c_farm.initialize(1)

# Now we read the properties of the published applications

$c_farm.applications|select-object

@{e={$_.appname};n='appname'},

@{e={$_.groups|foreach {$_.groupname}};n='groupname'},

@{e={$_.users|foreach{$_.username}};n='username'},

@{e={$_.distinguishedname};n='distinguishedname'},

@{e={$_.description};n='description'},

@{e={$_.apptype};n='apptype'},

@{e={$_.browsername};n='browsername'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.enableapp};n='enableapp'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.hidefrompnenum};n='hidefrompnenum'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.hidefrombrowserenum};n='hidefrombrowserenum'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.defaultencryption};n='defaultencryption'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.defaultinitprog};n='defaultinitprog'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.defaultworkdir};n='defaultworkdir'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.defaultwindowwidth};n='defaultwindowwidth'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.defaultwindowheight};n='defaultwindowheight'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.defaultwindowcolor};n='defaultwindowcolor'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.defaultwindowtype};n='defaultwindowtype'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.defaultsoundtype};n='defaultsoundtype'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.defaultwindowscale};n='defaultwindowscale'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.desktopintegrate};n='desktopintegrate'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.mfattributes};n='mfattributes'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.publishingflags};n='publishingflags'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.PNAttributes};n='PNAttributes'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.PNFolder};n='PNFolder'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.parentfolderDN};n='parentfolderDN'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.AllowMultiInstancePerUser};n='AllowMultiInstancePerUser'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.StartMenuFolder};n='StartMenuFolder'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.PlaceUnderProgramsFolder};n='PlaceUnderProgramsFolder'},

@{e={$_.winappobject.WaitOnPrinterCreation};n='WaitOnPrinterCreation'}|

# The last step is to pipe this to the export-csv cmdlet

export-csv c:\citrix\Citrix_apps.csv

Later on I'll go on with importing these apps.

Grt

Dennis

Move computer objects in Active Directory

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 10:40:07 GMT

For our test enviroment we use a seperate OU in Active Directory to test WSUS updates and patches. Servers are put in this OU when patches have to be tested on curtain servers. To automate this, I of course, created a powershell script to do just this.

The following had to be realized:

- Create a script that moves the server to the test OU

- The script had to be launched as an Altiris job with the abbility to run it on several server at the same time

- For every server the original OU must be remembered to, with the next job, move it back

- Another job (script) has to put the computer in the original OU after the updates are finished

- One problem..the Altiris server runs in a different domain and there's no trust between the two domains

So I had to move the server to the test OU and had to remember the original OU to move it back and this for an unlimited number of servers at the same time.

Since the job must run from Altiris, dragged to a server, servergroup or scheduled on several servers, the server name must be given as a parameter.

The Altiris job does the following things:

- copy the script to the specified server in the %systemroot%\Temp directory

- start the script as in a scheduled task :

%systemroot%\system32\WindowsPowershell\v1.0\powershell.exe %systemroot%\Temp\scriptname %computername%

The following script is to move the server.

# Powershell script

# WSUS Moving computer object to the Test OU

# D. Verweij

###

# First read the given parameter in the variable $servnm

param([string]$servnm="none")

# Specify the name of the logfile to save the original OU in. This file is saved on the machine you move and run the script
$ServFL = "C:\Altiris\logfiles\$servnm"

# Specify the target OU
$patchOU="LDAP://OU=WSUSTest,OU=Services,DC=Dennis,DC=Verweij,DC=nl"

# Connect to the root of the domain
$ad1=[adsi]''

# Setup the search criteria
$ad1search = new-object directoryservices.directorysearcher
$ad1search.searchroot = $ad1
$ad1search.filter="(objectclass=computer)"
$serv2=$ad1search.findall()|where {$_.properties.item("cn") -like $servnm}
# Save the distinguishedname of the original OU in the logfile. You need the distinguished name to move it back

$serv2.properties.item("distinguishedname") > $ServFL
$servDN=$serv2.properties.item("distinguishedname")
# Connect to the computerobject

$serv=[adsi]"LDAP://$servDN"

# And move it
$serv.psbase.MoveTo($patchOU)

To move it back the Altiris job is pretty much the same except for the script name

The script to put it back:

# Powershell script

# WSUS Moving computer object to the original OU

# D. Verweij

###

# First read the given parameter in the variable $servnm

param([string]$servnm="none")

# Specify the Test OU
$patchOU="LDAP://OU=WSUSTest,OU=Services,DC=Dennis,DC=Verweij,DC=nl"

# Specify the name of the logfile the original OU is saved in
$ServFL = "C:\Altiris\logfiles\$servnm"

# Check if the logfile exists

if(test-path $ServFL)
{
# Read the logfile and get rid of the computername

gc $ServFL|%{$servDN = $_.ToUpper().replace("CN=$servnm,","")}

# Connect to the computerobject
$serv = [adsi]"LDAP://CN=$servnm,$patchOU"

# And move it back were it came from
$serv.psbase.MoveTo("LDAP://$servDN")
}

# Finally delete the logfile
del $ServFL

Hope you can do something with it!

Grt

Dennis

deleting files created 48 hours ago

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 09:15:06 GMT

In adition to an earlier post, there was another thing I had to do with created reports by users.

Namely: Deleting reports created more than 48 hours ago.

In a curtain application users were able to create reports and save them temporaraly in there homedir for further use. To avoid there report directories from growing to big I made a powershell script wich we scheduled to run every 24 hours that removes reports with a creationtime of more than 48 hours ago. This would result in reports beeing available for at least 48 hours with a maximum age of 71 hours and 59 seconds.

# Powershell script

# Deleting reports with creationtime more than 48 hours ago

# D. Verweij

ls \\fileserver\homedir$\app | foreach{
if (test-path \\fileserver\homedir$\app\$_\reports ){
$user = $_
$RepDir = $_.getdirectories()|where-object {$_ -like "*reports*"}
$RepDir.getfiles()|foreach{
$contrtime = get-date
$timediff = $contrtime - $_.lastwritetime
if ($timediff.totalhours -gt 48){
$name = \\fileserver\homedir$\app\$user\reports\ + $_.name
del $name}
}}}

Grt

Dennis

Windows PowerShell: TFM™ ... Yes! it's out.

Thu, 28 Dec 2006 07:14:44 GMT

I've been eagerly waiting for this book from sapien and can't wait to get my hands on it.

some samples of the book can be found here:

http://www.sapienpress.com/powershell.asp

happy reading and learning

Grt

Dennis

the beauty of simple things: listing directory content

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 15:12:18 GMT

So, why not posting the simple things in this blog.

Once I had to list the content of a directory in the homedir of all 2500+ users. Not all users had this directory and I didn't know who did or didn't. Of course I could have done a search with explorer, but why not do it with powershell. It would only take one simple line and then I would have all the information I needed and in the end I could do with it whatever I wanted. You can format the outcome, export it to a txt, csv of whatever you want. Not that I wanted to, if just needed the info, but......I could have....

By using "test-path" I would't get any errors if directories don't exist or if there files in de search root.

#--

ls|% {if (test-path ./$_/reports){ls ./$_/reports}}

#--

So, oke, you actually want to do something with this info. For instance, you want a nice formatted csv file with two columns "homedir" (=username) and "report". Do the following.

#--

ls|% {if (test-path ./$_/rapporten){$dirname=$_.name;ls ./$dirname/reports}}|select @{e={$dirname};n="homedir"},@{e={$_.name};n="report"}|export-csv $env:systemroot\temp\reports.csv

#--

This may look like a lot of typing, but believe me, after a while, you'll type it in the command line as if it is you're native language. Just type what you're thinking and it will all fall in place :

I want a directorylisting = ls

With the output I want to .. = |

For every childitem it want.. = % {

If the directory exists If want to do the following = if (test-path ......){

remember the directory you search = $dirname=$_.name

and list the content of the report directory in this directory = ls ./$dirname/reports

End the "if" = }

End the "foreach"= }

With the output I want to .. = |

and from this output only select the homedirectory and the name of the report in the report directory and name these "homedir" and "report" = select @{e={$dirname};n="homedir"},@{e={$_.name};n="report"}

With the output I want to .. = |

export this data to a csv file in systemroot\temp and name it reports.csv = export-csv $env:systemroot\temp\reports.csv

So it's really simple. Just play arround and have fun.

grt

Dennis

Citrix connection

Wed, 27 Dec 2006 13:44:28 GMT

For the one that doesn't know: Yes, you can do all the crazy stuff in citrix from the wonderfull world of the commandline as you can in the cmc....and more.

A lot of stuff about the com, named MFCOM is written in the pdf "scripting metaframe". (http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX106885) This document is namely for doing stuff with vbscript, but with al little trail and error and a bit of smart thinking you can use this document to begin powershelling the citrix world.

I'll just post some simple scripts to begin with and I hope this wil trigger you to try things yourself and ofcourse.....share it !

Let's do an automated enable and disable of a number of published applications.

First we close them

#--

#first we have to connect to the farm. We do this with new-object and specify that it's a -com object. You don't have to specify the farm name, because it connects to the farm you're in by default.

$citrixfarm = new-object -com metaframecom.metaframefarm

#Then, the farm has to be initialized.
$citrixfarm.initialize(1)

#To close multiple published apps, we need al list of applications. I've put those in a text file. Note that you have to specify the distinguishedname of the application. So, for instance: Applications/Windows/Notepad
gc "c:\scripts\citrixapps\citrixapps.txt" |foreach

{
$disting=$_

   #To see the progress in the commandline I've put in the echo below
   echo "Busy closing --> "+$disting
   $citrixapps = $citrixfarm.applications|where {$_.DistinguishedName -like $disting}
   $citrixapps.enableapp = 0
   $citrixapps.savedata()
}

#--

And....that's all to close them down. Now we'll open them in pretty much the same way. Actually the only difference is putting "enableapp" to "1"

#--

$citrixfarm = new-object -com metaframecom.metaframefarm
$citrixfarm.initialize(1)
gc c:\scripts\citrixapps\citrixapps.txt |foreach

{
   $disting=$_
   "Busy opening --> "+$disting
   $citrixapps = $citrixfarm.applications|where {$_.DistinguishedName -like $disting}
   $citrixapps.enableapp = 1
   $citrixapps.savedata()
}

#--

try and enjoy

Dennis

Blog list: Powershell links

Fri, 29 Dec 2006 08:34:48 GMT

Powershell links