Getting Started with the VI Toolkit

I have become a big fan of the Virtual Infrastructure (VI) Toolkit over the last month and it has really helped me learn PowerShell which I knew I would have to learn sooner or later but kept putting off.

I would now like to spread the word and help out those of you wondering what the hype is all about by telling you how to get started.

Do I need to install the VI toolkit on the VI server ?

No, Definitely not, this can be installed on your workstation and can be used to hook into the Virtual Infrastructure, nothing additional will need to be loaded onto the VI server.

What you will need

Download the following and install them in order:

  • .Net framework 2.0 (if not already installed)

This is a Next, Next jobbie until completed.

This is also a Next, Next jobbie until completed.

Just to make a change this is a Next Next

That gets the basics but what you also may want to install is the following:

Once these have all been installed you are nearly ready.

From your desktop start the VI toolkit via the newly created shortcut or choose it from the Start Menu if you prefer, once started type the following and press enter:

Set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned

You are now all set to start with PowerShell and the VI toolkit, lets do a simple task just to get you started…

From within the Powershell window now open connect to your Virtual Infrastructure server by using the following command or as you are now using powershell they are know as cmdlets.

Connect-VIServer YourServername

Obviously replace YourServerName with you VI Server.  Once connected you will be able to start issuing commands to the session to retrieve information, try the following simple cmdlet and press enter:

Get-VM

You will now see a list of all Virtual Machines.

And so it begins, this is just a simple cmdlet which will get you hooked from the start, issue the following command to list the other VI Toolkit cmdlets:

Get-VICommand

This should list enough for you to get started, now you can explore PowerShell and the VI Toolkit, for quick examples of what can be done take a look at the VMware examples here:

Managing VMware with PowerShell FAQ

Now there will be no looking back, welcome to the Jedi !

4 thoughts on “Getting Started with the VI Toolkit

  1. Pingback: PowerCLI – Where do I start ?! « Virtu-Al

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