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Manipulating VMware vSphere using PowerCLI

March 8, 2019August 9, 2019 by Samuel Mitchell, posted in VMware, windows, Windows server

I enjoying using powershell so I started to explore the possibility of using it for manipulating vSphere. Low and behold, welcome to PowerCLI with similar syntax as powershell or it can be called powershell in vSphere.

Firstly, before the vCenter server can be manage, a connection is required. To do so, this command can be executed. It can also be used to connect to a single ESXi Host.

Connect-VIServer [vCenterServer or ESXiHost] -Credential(Get-Credential)

I prefer to use the Get-Credential cmdlet because it will prompt me with a windows dialog box requesting the username and password (It is a very useful cmdlet).

Once connected, to get the List of Cluster , VM or Host the following respective commands can be used:

Get-Cluster

Get-VM

Get-VMHost

To get specific details the name of the object can be added to the cmdlet. The pipe (|) can also be used to get details from specific area.

Example to retrieve all the Virtual machines within Cluster A

Get-Cluster ClusterA | Get-VM

To Get all VMs on ESXi Host A

Get-VMHost ESXiA | Get-VM

Putting an ESXi Host A in Maintenance mode

Set-VMHost ESXiA -State Maintenance

Shutting down the ESXi Host A

Stop-VMHost ESXiA-Force

Startup Virtual machine VM1 and VM2

Start-VM VM1,VM2

Exit Maintenance Mode for ESXi Host A

Set-VMHost ESXiA -State Connected

To get more cmdlet from the VMware PowerCLI, use the get-command [*keyword*] to list all commands with the keyword.

I will update this list as time progress.

Veeam Replication Job Trouble Ticket # 1

January 28, 2019January 30, 2019 by Samuel Mitchell, posted in Microsoft, VMware, Windows server

There was an email notification received from the Veeam B&R server stating that one of the VM replication job had failed with the following error:

Error: Failed to open VDDK disk [[Datastore_Name] VM_replica/VM2-000001.vmdk] ( is read-only mode – [false] ) Logon attempt with parameters [VC/ESX: [vCSA_Name];Port: 443;Login: [domain\account_name];VMX Spec: [moref=vm-40195];Snapshot mor: [snapshot-112166];Transports: [nbd];Read Only: [false]] failed because of the following errors: Failed to open disk for write. Failed to download disk. Reconnectable protocol device was closed. Failed to upload disk. Age

The first thing done was to log into the Veeam backup server and open the Veeam Backup & Replication console.

Under the Home, navigate to the Replicas, search for the VM. Then highlight it and right click and open the properties. It will show all the replica jobs which are snapshots on the replica VM in vSphere.

Home-Replicas

Search for VM

Select Properties

view Replica Job/snapshots

The two last replica job shows that they were incomplete. This sometimes indicate that there was a problem with the snapshot that was created. Logon to the vSphere web client and check the snapshot manager for the replica VM (the default naming convention is “VMName_replica“). Open the option Snapshots–>Manage Snapshots and you will expand the snapshots until you reach the last two set before “You are here”.

vsphere_snapshot

In the image, you will notice that the snapshot names “Veeam Replica Working Snapshot” which indicate that the snapshot was not completed. To eliminate the job continue failing is to delete all the snapshots with the title “Veeam Replica Working snapshot” and rerun the job from veeam so it can recreate the snapshot. If these snapshot are allowed to remain, the Veeam replica job will continue to fail.

I hope this help to resolve some of the veeam replication job failures.