VMware Infrastructure Toolkit (for Windows)
Release Notes

Released 25-July-2008

Build 103777 is version 1.0 of the VMware Infrastructure Toolkit (for Windows).

About the VMware Infrastructure Toolkit (for Windows)

VI Toolkit (for Windows) is a command-line and scripting tool built on Windows PowerShell, and provides more than 120 cmdlets for managing and automating your VMware Infrastructure.

Requirements

To use the VI Toolkit (for Windows) console, you need to have installed the following software:

• .NET 2.0 Service Pack 1
• Windows PowerShell 1.0

If Service Pack 1 for .NET 2.0 is not installed, some operations might take long to complete.

Supported Platforms

VI Toolkit (for Windows) 1.0 works on the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the following operating systems:

• Windows Vista
• Windows XP (Service Pack 2)
• Windows 2003 Server

VI Toolkit (for Windows) 1.0 supports the following VMware environments:

• VMware ESX Server 3.5
• VMware ESX Server 3i
• VMware VirtualCenter 2.5
• VMware ESX Server 3.0/VirtualCenter 2.0

Obtaining the Software

You can obtain the VI Toolkit (for Windows) 1.0 at:

http://www.vmware.com/go/powershell

Known Issues

The VI Toolkit (for Windows) 1.0 has the following known issues:

New-HardDisk

• The New-HardDisk cmdlet cannot create NonPersistent and Undoable disks.
• When New-HardDisk is run, the Split parameter can not be applied to the hard disk.
• Split hard disks can be created only from Flat disk type. However, when a Raw disk is created with New-HardDisk and the Split parameter is set, no error is generated.
• NonPersistent RawPhysical disks can not be created. However, when New-HardDisk is run with the RawPhysical and NonPersistent parameters, no error is generated and the created disk is from RawPhysical IndependendPersistent type.
• ThinProvisioned disks can be created only from Flat disk type. However, when a raw disk is created using New-HardDisk and the ThinProvisioned parameter is set, no error is generated.

Set-HardDisk

• Set-HardDisk cannot move the hard disk to the specified datastore.
• Set-HardDisk cannot set the type of a raw virtual disk to NonPersistent.
• When a single hard disk is modified using the Set-HardDisk cmdlet, the result is a collection of one item instead of a single object.

• Set-VMHostSNMP returns null for the ReadOnlyCommunities when invoked with an empty string or array for ReadOnlyCommunities.
• Set-VMHostSNMP fails to enable VMHostSNMP and to set the ReadOnlyCommunityString when called for the first time.
  Workaround: Run the command again.
• The default value of the Set-VMHostSNMP TargetPort parameter is a random number instead of the port number.
• Set-VMHostSNMP does not take in account the value of the TargetPort parameter.

New-VMHostNetworkAdapter cannot set the value of the MAC address on VirtualCenter 2.5 and ESX Server 3.5.

Updating an array of virtual NICs with Set-VMHostNetworkAdapter might not return an array containing all modified virtual NICs.

Set-OsCustomizationSpec

• Modifying the Domain, DomainUserName and DomainPassword parameters for a Windows OS customization specification using Set-OSCustomizationSpec results in an error.
• On a Windows OS customization specification, running Set-OsCustomizationSpec wrongly sets to null the FullName and DeleteAccounts properties .
• On a Linux OS customization specification, running Set-OsCustomizationSpec returns an error.
• Set-OsCustomizationSpec allows to change the OS customization specification from Linux to Windows and from Windows to Linux, without generating an error.

The OSCustomisationSpec parameter of the New-VM cmdlet can be applied only when the new virtual machine is deployed from a template.

Get-VM

During the process of creating a template from a virtual machine, Get-VM returns both the virtual machine and template objects.

Get-Log

Get-Log cannot create a bundle log for an ESX Server host on a VirtualCenter connection.
Workaround: Connect directly to the ESX Server host.

Get-Datastore

(Get-Datastore).FreeSpaceMB may not return the actual datastore free space after a virtual machine is powered on. A refresh should be made first.

Get-Event

When Get-Event is run for entities other than virtual machines, an incorrect result is returned.

New-Snapshot

When invoked with the Quiesced switch parameter on, New-Snapshot creates a snapshot with Quiesced parameter value false.

Update-Tools

Update-Tools might hang if the mouse, VGA, and network drivers are not signed. A standard Windows dialog appears and needs a manual interaction.

Get-CDDrive

Get-CDDrive does not work on snapshots.

Get-FloppyDrive

Get-FloppyDrive does not work on snapshots.

Inventory Provider

The output of the dir command, run while the Inventory Provider is running, might be difficult to read.

Debugging

When working without administrator privileges, the user is not able to see debug messages in the VI Toolkit logs.
Workaround: Work as an administrator on the local machine where the VI Toolkit is installed.

Working on 64-bit Platforms

Operations with ESX or VirtualCenter take long to complete when working on 64-bit platforms.
Workaround: This is a .NET 2.0 issue and it is fixed in Service Pack 1. Install Service Pack 1 for .NET 2.0.

Resolved Issues

The following issues have been resolved in VI Toolkit (for Windows) 1.0:

• A new cmdlet Disconnect-VIServer for closing VMware Infrastructure connections is available.
• Update-Tools, Mount-Tools, and Dismount-Tools now return an error message when they are invoked without the VM or Guest parameters.
• New-Datastore creates new datastores as expected when adding NFS, CIFS, VMFS, and local storages.
• Users can specify a datastore when Move-VM is run between hosts.
• Set-VmHostNetwork cmdlet now works against an ESX Server 3i visor.

Installing the VI Toolkit (for Windows)

VMware provides a single installer for the VI Toolkit (for Windows).

To install the VI Toolkit (for Windows)

• Download and install PowerShell 1.0 from the Microsoft PowerShell 1.0 download page .
• Launch the VI Toolkit (for Windows) installer by double-clicking the executable file you downloaded from http://www.vmware.com/go/powershell .
• Follow the instructions of the wizard.
• To install the toolkit in location other than the default, click Change in the Destination Folder page and select a different directory.
• In the Ready to Install the Program page choose whether to create a desktop shortcut.
• Click Install to proceed with the installation.
• Click Finish to complete the installation process.

To find a more detailed description of the VI Toolkit (for Windows) installation process and prerequisites, see the Installation Guide.

Last updated 14-Jul-2008 10:30 am