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jnewtonSCM
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Error using Get-VIEvent cmdlet - Server 2016 / PS 5.1 / PowerCLI 6.5

Hi,

On a Windows 2016 server running PowerShell 5.1, I get the following error when calling Get-VIEvent:

get-vievent : 8/23/2017 5:15:07 PM Get-VIEvent Error in deserializing body of reply message for operation 'RetrieveProperties'.

At line:1 char:1

+ get-vievent

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-VIEvent], VimException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Core_BaseCmdlet_UnknownError,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.GetEvent

It works fine on a server running Windows 2012 r2 and PowerShell 5.

Thanks,

Joel

24 Replies
jnewtonSCM
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

I should modify this - this also fails for me on Server 2012 r2 / PS 5 / PowerCLI 6.5

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LucD
Leadership
Leadership

Works for me.

Against which vCenter version are you running this?


Blog: lucd.info  Twitter: @LucD22  Co-author PowerCLI Reference

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jnewtonSCM
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

vCenter Server 6.5 Update 1.

Thanks.

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LucD
Leadership
Leadership

Never saw that one before, and I can't reproduce.

Did you have a closer look at the exception?

Do the following after the error

$error[0] | Format-Custom -Depth 3

Perhaps that might give some more clues.

Btw, accessing Events through the Web Client works without an issue?


Blog: lucd.info  Twitter: @LucD22  Co-author PowerCLI Reference

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jnewtonSCM
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Thanks, LucD. Unfortunately, executing '$error[0] | Format-Custom -Depth 3' shows the exact same error message as I originally posted - no change.

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LucD
Leadership
Leadership

Bummer!
I suggest you open a SR, this looks like a "feature" :smileygrin:


Blog: lucd.info  Twitter: @LucD22  Co-author PowerCLI Reference

Zsoldier
Expert
Expert

I'm seeing similar issue from Windows 10 (Powershell 5) w/ vCenter 6.5U1 as well.

Chris Nakagaki (中垣浩一)
Blog: https://tech.zsoldier.com
Twitter: @zsoldier
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LucD
Leadership
Leadership

Not sure if there is a connection, but I experienced the same at some point.

A restart of my VCSA seems to have fixed it at that time.

But still looks like a "feature" to me.


Blog: lucd.info  Twitter: @LucD22  Co-author PowerCLI Reference

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Zsoldier
Expert
Expert

After some more testing, it seems very specific to PowerCLI 6.5.  I was able to reproduce issue on a Windows 7 box running Powershell 5.1 w/ PowerCLI 6.5.x (MSI or PSGallery version).  The issue does not show itself when I was running powerCLI 6.0R3 MSI install.

kmruddyVMW

Chris Nakagaki (中垣浩一)
Blog: https://tech.zsoldier.com
Twitter: @zsoldier
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LucD
Leadership
Leadership

I'm not 100% sure it is PowerCLI related, my Get-VIEventPlus function, which uses the API method, had the problem as well.


Blog: lucd.info  Twitter: @LucD22  Co-author PowerCLI Reference

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Zsoldier
Expert
Expert

I have a similar function to your get-vieventplus that errors out in the same way.  I was thinking it might be a powershell version problem, but I tested from powershell 4.0-5.1 w/ PowerCLI 6.0R3 w/o any issues.  The minute I installed 6.5 (either via MSI or PSGallery) those serialization errors began to appear.

Chris Nakagaki (中垣浩一)
Blog: https://tech.zsoldier.com
Twitter: @zsoldier
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LucD
Leadership
Leadership

It could of course be something in the vSphere framework that comes with PowerCLI.

Testing the API in the framework of another language could potentially confirm that.

Or perhaps calling the method via the MOB is already sufficient proof?


Blog: lucd.info  Twitter: @LucD22  Co-author PowerCLI Reference

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Zsoldier
Expert
Expert

I definitely feel like it's something in PowerCLI 6.5, but it's very inconsistent.  Like if I grabbed events for a vm object, it would return fine.  If I grabbed all my $vmhosts and did a get-vievent, 1 or more may error out w/ deserialization errors.  when I try to hit individually, some will work some won't.

The one consistent thing is that 6.0R3 doesn't exhibit these issues at all.

(I've been using a Fusion Windows 7 VM and keep snapping back to 6.0R3)

Chris Nakagaki (中垣浩一)
Blog: https://tech.zsoldier.com
Twitter: @zsoldier
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jarviswmark
Contributor
Contributor

Hi All,

Did anyone get to the bottom of this?

I am getting this message too...

It is intermittent and time dependent, from the testing I have done using start and end dates/times and or maxsamples looks like there is an event type that could affect it.

Are any of you running something like Zerto or similar?

I have opened an SR but have been pushed towards "VMware Knowledge Base " SDK Support, but as this is a base command issue I don't see it falling there.

If there is an update I will update this ticket.

Cheers

Mark

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LucD
Leadership
Leadership

No, no Zert in my environment, and I get the intermittent error as well.

The SR for PowerCLI should be handled, see PowerCLI Support Breakdown


Blog: lucd.info  Twitter: @LucD22  Co-author PowerCLI Reference

jarviswmark
Contributor
Contributor

LucD Thank you for the reply..

I will refer that back to VMware support..

I have tested and found you can do a maxsamples 100 one minutes the next it fails, but you can run it consistently with start / end times so for that seems to indicate that the issue is a type of event. The reason I asked re Zerto is that zerto also puts events in the event log and VMware have not confirmed back to me that they can reproduce this or not so I was wondering if it was something outside of their eco system.

Thanks again

Kind regards

Mark

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Zsoldier
Expert
Expert

No Zerto or any 3rd parties in my environment either.

Chris Nakagaki (中垣浩一)
Blog: https://tech.zsoldier.com
Twitter: @zsoldier
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andreaspa
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

I'm seeing this as well, but my error is this:

PS C:\Users\anpa> get-view -ViewType VirtualMachine

get-view : 2017-11-22 09:08:24  Get-View                Error in deserializing body of reply message for operation 'RetrieveProperties'.

At line:1 char:1

+ get-view -ViewType VirtualMachine

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-View], VimException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Core_BaseCmdlet_UnknownError,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.DotNetInterop.GetVIView

Running against vCenter 6.0 U3 on my Windows 10 machine.

PS C:\Users\anpa> Get-PSVersion

Major  Minor  Build  Revision

-----  -----  -----  --------

5      1      15063  726

PS C:\Users\anpa> get-module | Select Name,Version

Name                            Version

----                            -------

Microsoft.PowerShell.Management 3.1.0.0

Microsoft.PowerShell.Utility    3.1.0.0

PSReadline                      1.2

VMware.VimAutomation.Cis.Core   6.5.1.5374323

VMware.VimAutomation.Common     6.5.1.5335010

VMware.VimAutomation.Core       6.5.1.5374329

VMware.VimAutomation.Sdk        1.0.0.5334677

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zarty
Contributor
Contributor

Did you get to the bottom of this?  Same issue here.

PowerCLI Get-View error - deserializing body of reply message...

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