Install and Configure vSphere PowerCLI

March 5, 2013 Objective 8 Perform Scripting and Automation, PowerCLI No comments

What is vSphere PowerCLI?

vSphere PowerCLI provides easy-to-use C# and PowerShell interface to VMware vSphere APIs. It ships with a number of cmdlets that you can use to perform various administration tasks on VMware vSphere components

Installation Pre-Requisites

.NET 2.0 SP1
Windows PowerShell 1.0/2.0/3.0

Supported Operating Systems
VMware vSphere PowerCLI 5.0 is supported on the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the following Windows operating systems:

Windows 7
Windows Server 2008
Windows Vista
Windows XP Service Pack 2
Windows 2003 Server Service Pack 2

Supported VMware Environments

vSphere PowerCLI 5.0 is compatible with the following VMware environments:

VMware ESXi 5.0
vCenter Server 5.0
VMware ESX 4.1/vCenter Server 4.1
VMware ESXi 4.1
VMware ESX 4.0 Update 2/vCenter Server 4.0 Update 2
VMware ESX 4.0 Update 1/vCenter Server 4.0 Update 1
VMware ESX 4.0i Update 1
VMware ESX 3.5 Update 5
VMware ESXi 3.5 Update 5
VMware VirtualCenter 2.5 Update 6
VMware ESX 3.0.3 Update 1

Identify Cmdlet Concepts

PowerShell cmdlets use a consistent verb-noun structure, where the verb specifies the action and the noun specifies the object to operate on. PowerShell cmdlets follow consistent naming patterns, which makes it easy to figure out how to construct a command if you know the object you want to work with.
All command categories take parameters and arguments. A parameter starts with a hyphen and is used to control the behavior of the command. An argument is a data value consumed by the command.

PowerCLI Components

To use these snap-ins, you must add them using the add-pssnapin cmdlet.

Example

add-pssnapin vmware.vimautomation.core

Installing

Download PowerCLI from the VMware website
Click the exe and install
You may get a message such as below

And this message – Click Continue

Click Next

Click Next

Click Next

Keep the default selection

Click Install

Configuring PowerCLI

Set the properties for Remote Signing

For security reasons, Windows PowerShell supports an execution policy feature. It determines whether scripts are allowed to run and whether they must be digitally signed. By default, the execution policy is set to Restricted, which is the most secure policy. If you want to run scripts or load configuration files, you can change the execution policy by using the Set-ExecutionPolicy cmdlet. For more information about the execution policy and script digital signing in Windows PowerShell, run Get-Help About_Signing.

Right click on the PowerCLI icon and selecy Run as Administrator
Type Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

Slow Startup

I experienced a really slow start-up from PowerCLI. It had something to do with internet access and checking the certificates. I disabled this by doing the below

Open the Control Panel → Go To Internet Options → Go to the Advanced tab → Go to the Security Section
Un-check the “Check for publisher’s certificate revocation” check-box