API

The vSphere API is not just for programmers

The topic of the VMworld 2009 session which Luc Dekens and I gave recently was how to take PowerCLI to the next level. I’ll explain that premise for a bit in this post for those who may not have been able to make it to the session (or the show, for that matter).

PowerCLI has a lot of functionality built in. As of this writing, there are 165 cmdlets that let you do a wide range of tasks such as starting virtual machines or creating virtual switches. Cmdlets are great because they are high-level, task-based, and their usage is mostly consistent across all domains, whether you are talking about virtualization or managing your mail servers.

Here’s a PowerShell command which will display all of the various types of objects which you can manipulate with PowerCLI. Continued »