VMware Communities: Message List - Connecting to hosts recently used using a menu interface.

Re: Connecting to hosts recently use using a menu interface.

sanmad — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:27:08 GMT

This one works on both 2.0 and 2.5 clients
Thanks

Connecting to hosts recently used using a menu interface.

c_shanklin — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:30:52 GMT

If you have a lot of hosts that you connect to it can be frustrating to remember them all. Since I have this problem I wrote this function to help deal with it. If you use the VI Client, connections are stored in the registry. This function reads these entries and presents you with a menu where you can select the host you want to connect to. Hopefully the forum doesn't mangle the code too much. I copied this into my Initialize-VIToolkitEnvironment.ps1 file so I get it automatically on startup.

function Connect-Recent {
	$local:ErrorActionPreference = "SilentlyContinue"
	$recent = (Get-Itemproperty "hkcu:\software\vmware\VMware Infrastructure Client\Preferences").RecentConnections
	if ($recent -eq $null) {
		$recent = (Get-Itemproperty "hkcu:\software\vmware\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Preferences").RecentConnections
	}
	if ($recent -eq $null) {
		write-host -fore red "No recent hosts defined."
		return
	}

	$recents = $recent.split(",")

	write-host -fore yellow "Your recently visited hosts are:"
	$max = 10
	if ($recents.length -lt $max) {
		$max = $recents.length
	}
	for ($i = 1; $i -lt $max+1; $i++) {
		write-host -n "["
		write-host -n -f yellow "$i"
		write-host "]", $recents[$i-1]
	}

	$selection = 0
	while ($selection -gt $max -or $selection -lt 1) {
		$selection = [int](read-host "Select a host to connect to")
	}
	write-host -fore yellow "Connecting to", $recents[$selection-1]
	connect-viserver $recents[$selection-1]
	$global:defaultVIServer = $defaultVIServer
}

Here's what it looks like in action:

PS C:\> connect-recent
[1] 10.16.83.242
[2] 10.21.10.80
[3] 10.16.83.241
[4] 192.168.217.130
[5] 192.168.217.135
[6] pmstaff-esx1.eng.vmware.com
[7] 10.17.25.73
[8] 192.168.217.131
[9] 192.168.217.129
[10] 10.16.83.240
Select a host: 1
Connecting to 10.16.83.242
There were one or more problems with the server certificate:
 
* The certificate's CN name does not match the passed value.

Re: Connecting to hosts recently use using a menu interface.

c_shanklin — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:11:40 GMT

Can you try the latest version I posted (I edited the first message)? I think it will support both 2.5 and 2.0 clients.

Re: Connecting to hosts recently use using a menu interface.

c_shanklin — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 20:44:42 GMT

Edited: See the first message, there were too many versions floating around.

Re: Connecting to hosts recently use using a menu interface.

sanmad — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 18:07:07 GMT

I have Version 2.0.1 build 32042.on one of the machines I use and this one has the key hkcu:\software\vmware\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Preferences.

Re: Connecting to hosts recently use using a menu interface.

c_shanklin — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:52:03 GMT

sanmad wrote:the registry key is hkcu:\software\vmware\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Preferences

That's strange, I have both. What client version do you run?

Re: Connecting to hosts recently use using a menu interface.

sanmad — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:47:10 GMT

the registry key is hkcu:\software\vmware\Virtual Infrastructure Client\Preferences

Re: Connecting to hosts recently use using a menu interface.

c_shanklin — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:46:24 GMT

The original code was broken in a few ways, so I've updated the original post.

Re: Connecting to hosts recently use using a menu interface.

mcorry — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 13:43:54 GMT

The line:

while ($selection -gt $recent.length+1 -or $selection -lt 1) {

Should be

while ($selection -gt $recents.length+1 -or $selection -lt 1) {

Otherwise it will only select the first host.

Re: Connecting to hosts recently use using a menu interface.

halr9000 — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 19:49:01 GMT

Hey, that is sweet. I may have to set an upper bound on it for me, it pulled up 33 hosts.

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