VMware VAMI PowerCLi module

May 11, 2017June 11, 2017 ~ ps1code

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At the beginning of this year famous VMware guru William Lam wrote excellent series of articles “Exploring new VCSA VAMI API w/PowerCLI”. Together with that he released his VAMI PowerCLi module.

Excellent technology (thanks to VMware), good job (thanks to William) and great start point for community members like me.

I have released my version of VAMI (Virtual Appliance Management Interface) PowerCLi module.

01.VAMI_Get-Command

There were two reasons for the module writing: overall module improvements and new functions.

Overall module improvements

All functions support simultaneous connections to multiple vSphere Automation SDK servers within the same PowerCLi session. All returned objects contain Server property.

Connect-CisServer VCSA, PSC1, PSC2
Get-VAMISummary

Some functions have been converted to advanced functions to support -Verbose and -Confirm parameters.

Start-VAMIService -Name vsphere-client –Verbose
Remove-VAMIUser lamw -Verbose -Confirm:$false

All functions return objects only (no more Write-Host). This allows to format or export an output from any function.

Get-VAMIStorageUsed | Format-Table –AutoSize
Get-VAMIHealth | Export-Csv -NoTypeInformation .\Health.csv

Pipeline supported for paired functions.

Get-VAMIService vsphere-client | Stop-VAMIService

The Get-Help with -Online parameter navigates to appropriate article in the http://www.virtuallyghetto.com.

Get-Help Get-VAMITime -Online

Some minor changes in Param () sections. For example, Get-VAMIService now can accept multiple services in the -Name parameter.

Get-VAMIService rbd,vsphere-client

Added some properties to returned objects in some functions. For example, Usage% property in the Get-VAMIStorageUsed and Description in the Get-VAMIService (like you see in the Web Client).

Get-VAMIStorageUsed | Get-Member
Get-VAMIService | Get-Member -MemberType NoteProperty

New functions

The Restart-VAMIService function. Well, it was simple , but if we have Get-VAMIService/Start-VAMIService/Stop-VAMIService – why could not we have Restart-VAMIService? Now we have.

Get-VAMIService rbd,vsphere-client | Restart-VAMIService

The Get-VAMIPerformance (CPU and Memory in VAMI UI). I will consider this function in more detail.

Get-VAMIPerformance

02.VAMI_CPU-Memory

Connect-CisServer VCSA
Get-VAMIPerformance

By default, the function returns CPU and Memory metrics for the last day and takes the samples every two hours.

03.VAMI_Get-VAMIPerformance_Default

This can be controlled by -Period and -Interval parameters. The parameters are positional and Intellisense is supported as well.

Get-VAMIPerformance –Period Week –Interval DAY1
Get-VAMIPerformance Day HOURS6

04.VAMI_Get-VAMIPerformance_Period-Interval

Sometimes you will get zero metrics. There two reasons for this: either appliance was powered off awhile or a period, specified by -Period parameter overlaps with a period before the appliance was deployed. The -ExcludeZero switch will filter these metrics out from the report.

Get-VAMIPerformance –Period Quarter -ExcludeZero

05.VAMI_Get-VAMIPerformance_ExcludeZero

And finally you can export a long period (three month) frequent report (get samples every five minutes) and analyze it in Excel later.

Get-VAMIPerformance Quarter MINUTES5 –ExcludeZero | Export-Csv –notype .\Perf.csv

If you are familiar with the Excel, there is no problem to build some graphs.

06.VAMI_Excel

Your manager will like it Emoj .

31 thoughts on “VMware VAMI PowerCLi module”

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Almero says:

August 25, 2017 at 09:01

Hi there , It that link to Github still valid ? get 404 from here and from William’s site .
This looks VERY Promising , cant wait to dive in

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1. ps1code says:
  
  August 25, 2017 at 10:47
  
  Still valid, of course.
  https://github.com/rgel/PowerCLi/tree/master/VAMI
  
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  1. Almero says:
    
    August 25, 2017 at 10:55
    
    Thank you Sir . Do you perhaps know if there is any way to get-VAMIEvents ? I am specifically trying to put something in place for VCHA6.5 . We need to know / trap / monitor the availability and possible failover events . All I could find in this stack is I could use system uptime from your awesome Get-VAMIsummary CMDlet.
    
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  2. ps1code says:
    
    August 27, 2017 at 11:24
    The VAMI API does not allow events fetching, you can use PowerCLi Get-VIEvent cmdlet instead.
    1. Get all existing event types:
    
    Get-VIEvent |select @{N='EventType'; E={$_.GetType().Name}} -Unique |sort EventType
    
    2. Get events of desired type:
    
    Get-VIEvent |? {$_.GetType().Name -eq 'TaskEvent'} Get-VIEvent |? {'VmPoweredOnEvent', 'VmPoweredOffEvent' -contains $_.GetType().Name} Get-VIEvent |? {$_.GetType().Name -like 'vm*'}
    
    3. Returned object is [VimApi.Event] data type. You may select only properties you are interested in (| select createdTime, fullFormattedMessage)
    
    Get-VIEvent |? {$_.GetType().Name -eq 'TaskEvent'} | select createdTime, fullFormattedMessage
    
    4. Consider using -MaxSamples, -Start and -Finish parameters:
    
    Get-VIEvent -MaxSamples 10000 -Start "20/08/2017" -Finish "27/08/2017" |? {$_.GetType().Name -eq 'TaskEvent'} | select createdTime, fullFormattedMessage
    
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Almero says:

August 28, 2017 at 07:43

Thank you very much , did not think get-ViEvent will work here .
Great information !

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1. ps1code says:
  
  August 28, 2017 at 08:57
  
  You’re welcome. You’ll only need to determine event type, related to HA failover.
  
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Sunny Bhatnagar says:

October 24, 2017 at 09:32

I am having difficulties running it… please help… The output is empty.

PowerCLI C:\Users\subhatnagar\Desktop> Get-Command -Module VAMI

CommandType Name ———– Function Get-VAMIAccess Function Get-VAMIBackupSize Function Get-VAMIDisks Function Get-VAMIHealth Function Get-VAMINetwork Function Get-VAMIPerformance Function Get-VAMIService Function Get-VAMIStatsList Function Get-VAMIStorageUsed Function Get-VAMISummary Function Get-VAMITime Function Get-VAMIUser Function New-VAMIUser Function Remove-VAMIUser Function Restart-VAMIService Function Start-VAMIDiskResize Function Start-VAMIService Function Stop-VAMIService Version Source
—- ——- ——
1.0.0.0 VAMI
1.0.0.0 VAMI
1.0.0.0 VAMI
1.0.0.0 VAMI
1.0.0.0 VAMI
1.0.0.0 VAMI
1.0.0.0 VAMI
1.0.0.0 VAMI
1.0.0.0 VAMI
1.0.0.0 VAMI
1.0.0.0 VAMI
1.0.0.0 VAMI
1.0.0.0 VAMI
1.0.0.0 VAMI
1.0.0.0 VAMI
1.0.0.0 VAMI
1.0.0.0 VAMI
1.0.0.0 VAMI

PowerCLI C:\Users\subhatnagar\Desktop> Get-VAMISummary
PowerCLI C:\Users\subhatnagar\Desktop>

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1. ps1code says:
  
  October 24, 2017 at 09:47
  You are not connected to your VC.
  Use Connect-CisServer $VC to connect first.
```
Connect-CisServer VC1, VC2
Get-VAMISummary
```
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  1. Sunny Bhatnagar says:
    
    October 24, 2017 at 10:23
    
    now I am connected to them… here it is…
    
    PowerCLI C:\Users\subhatnagar\Desktop> $global:DefaultCisServers
    
    Name User Port
    —- —- —-
    server1 subhatnagar@xvz.COM 443
    server2 subhatnagar@xyz.COM 443
    
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  2. ps1code says:
    
    October 24, 2017 at 10:34
    
    And still have no output from any cmdlet ?
    
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  3. Sunny Bhatnagar says:
    
    October 24, 2017 at 10:35
    
    Yeah 😦
    
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  4. ps1code says:
    
    October 24, 2017 at 10:40
    
    Try to restart one of your VC if it is possible, this might help.
    
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  5. Sunny Bhatnagar says:
    
    October 24, 2017 at 10:43
    
    I tried it on multiple vCenters and its the same. No output at all.
    
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  6. ps1code says:
    
    October 24, 2017 at 11:16
    Disconnect from all your VC and check you are disconnected:
    
    Disconnect-CisServer -Server * -Force -Confirm:$false $global:DefaultCisServers
    
    Try to execute this code against a VC that you just have restarted:
    
    Connect-CisServer $VC (Get-CisService -Name 'com.vmware.appliance.system.version' -Server $VC).get()
    
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Sunny Bhatnagar says:

October 24, 2017 at 10:51

I tried breaking the module..

“””

Function Get-VAMISummary
{
$ErrorActionPreference = ‘Stop’
foreach ($Server in ($global:DefaultCisServers | ? { $_.IsConnected }))
{
Try
{
$SystemVersionAPI = Get-CisService -Name ‘com.vmware.appliance.system.version’ -Server $Server
$results = $SystemVersionAPI.get() | select product, ‘type’, version, build, install_time

$SystemUptimeAPI = Get-CisService -Name ‘com.vmware.appliance.system.uptime’ -Server $Server
$ts = [timespan]::FromSeconds($SystemUptimeAPI.get().ToString())
$uptime = $ts.ToString(“dd\ \D\a\y\s\,\ hh\:mm\:ss”)

$SummaryResult = [pscustomobject] @{
Server = $Server.Name
Product = $results.product
Type = $results.type
Version = $results.version
Build = $results.build
InstallDate = ([datetime]($results.install_time -replace ‘[a-zA-Z]’, ‘ ‘)).ToLocalTime().ToString()
Uptime = $uptime
}
$SummaryResult
}
Catch { }
}

} #EndFunction Get-VAMISummary

“””
Saved the above function to Get-VAMISummary.ps1 and saved it as ps1.

PowerCLI C:\Users\subhatnagar\Desktop> import-module .\Get-VAMISummary.ps1
PowerCLI C:\Users\subhatnagar\Desktop> Get-VAMISummary

And still nothing… And if I break it then I see this error..

PowerCLI C:\Users\subhatnagar\Desktop> $SystemVersionAPI = Get-CisService -Name ‘com.vmware.appliance.system.version’ -Server $Server
PowerCLI C:\Users\subhatnagar\Desktop> $results = $SystemVersionAPI.get() | select product, ‘type’, version, build, install_time
A server error occurred: ‘com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.unauthorized’: Unable to authorize user (Server error id: ‘vapi.security.authorization.invalid’). Check $Error[0].Exception.ServerError for
more details.
At line:1 char:1
+ $results = $SystemVersionAPI.get() | select product, ‘type’, version, …
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : OperationStopped: (:) [], CisServerException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : VMware.VimAutomation.Cis.Core.Types.V1.CisServerException

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Sunny Bhatnagar says:

October 24, 2017 at 11:32

Here is output….

PowerCLI C:\> (Get-CisService -Name ‘com.vmware.appliance.system.version’ -Server $VC).get()
A server error occurred: ‘com.vmware.vapi.std.errors.unauthorized’: Unable to authorize user (Server error id: ‘vapi.security.authorization.invalid’). Check $Error[0].Exception.ServerError for more details.
At line:1 char:1
+ (Get-CisService -Name ‘com.vmware.appliance.system.version’ -Server $ …
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : OperationStopped: (:) [], CisServerException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : VMware.VimAutomation.Cis.Core.Types.V1.CisServerException

PowerCLI C:\>

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1. ps1code says:
  
  October 24, 2017 at 11:43
  
  If you have embedded PSC, probably you have not enough permissions on this VC or there is some network related issue
  
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2. ps1code says:
  
  October 24, 2017 at 12:18
  
  Forgot to ask you, what is your PowerCLi version?
  
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  1. Sunny Bhatnagar says:
    
    October 24, 2017 at 12:33
    
    PowerCLI version is 6.5 Release 1 build 4624819.
    We have an external PSC on all our 6.5 appliances.
    I am able to run all PowerCLI commands after using Connect-viserver but these functions are not working. 😦
    
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  2. ps1code says:
    
    October 24, 2017 at 12:40
    
    The Connect-VIServer is differ from Connect-CisServer cmdlet and there is no releations between them.
    Did you try to connect to the PSC with Connect-CisServer?
    
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  3. ps1code says:
    
    October 24, 2017 at 13:23
    1. Sorry, but you have VAMI API’s related issue and it is not related to my module at all.
    
    The following command’s failure proves this statement:
    
    Connect-CisServer $VC (Get-CisService -Name 'com.vmware.appliance.system.version' -Server $VC).get()
    
    2. Your environment (Windows version of PowerCLi 6.5 R1, VCSA 6.5 and vSphere 6.5) fit to all requirements and MUST be fully supported by VMware.
    
    3. I think you may open SR on this issue in the GSS.
    
    I will be grateful if you keep me updated.
    Good luck!
    
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Gregory Pearl says:

April 4, 2018 at 03:12

Couple Questions:
1. Are you planning on updating the vamiversion to account for the new version of VCSA – I run the command get-vamisummary and nothing is displayed. I believe that is because I have a version not accounted for in switch section of code.
2. Not sure if this is related to the version that I have but when I run Get-VAMIStorageUsed the results are zero.

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1. ps1code says:
  
  April 8, 2018 at 09:21
  The switch section of the Get-VAMISummary function is intended to build two backup expiration related properties: BackupExpireDate and DaysToExpire and I try to keep them updated ASAP (please see the function versions 1.2 and 1.3).
```
Get-Help Get-VAMISummary -Full
```
  No output from any function of the VAMI module can point to the API related issue, already discussed with one of my readers Sunny Bhatnagar in above comments.
  
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