Finding odd or even from a string inside the Notes field.

[newtj021]

In our environment we are looking for a way to make sure certain VMs are on the correct storage node.  I've got working code now but like all things I would like to make it that much better.

For the most part we want our odd number VMs to stay on our "A-Side" storage and our even number VMs to stay on the "B-Side" storage.  A VM is odd or even by the number assigned to it from within the Notes Field.

E.G. Notes for would look like this for a EVEN VM.  "Prod - Entitlements - Ticketing TC #02"

This is the line I'm looking to clean up.

$VMs = get-datacenter <DataCenter> | Get-DatastoreCluster | where {$_.Name.Contains('-A-Side')} | Get-VM | where {$_.Notes.Contains('#2 ') -or $_.Notes.Contains('#4') -or $_.Notes.Contains('#6') -or $_.Notes.Contains('#8') -or $_.Notes.Contains('#10') -or $_.Notes.Contains('#12') -or $_.Notes.Contains('#14') -or $_.Notes.Contains('#16') -or $_.Notes.Contains('#18') -or $_.Notes.Contains('#20') -or $_.Notes.Contains('#22') -or $_.Notes.Contains('#24') -or $_.Notes.Contains('#26') -or $_.Notes.Contains('#04') -or $_.Notes.Contains('#06') -or $_.Notes.Contains('#08')} | select Name, Notes

Yes it's WAAAAY too long, however it DOES get the job done.  I also have to have a space after "#2 " to make sure it doesn't grab #20 VMs etc.

Now I know you can use % 2 -eq 0 to find odd or even but I'm not sure how to make powershell look at the notes field, pull out the #XX and then check to see if that's odd or even.

Ideas?

[LucD · Accepted solution]

Try with a RegEx expression and the modulo function.

Something like this

$VMs = get-datacenter <DataCenter> | 
    Get-DatastoreCluster | 
    where {$_.Name.Contains('-A-Side')} | 
    Get-VM | 
    where {([regex]::Match($_.Notes,"#(\d*)").Groups[1].Value % 2) -eq 0) |
    Select Name, Notes

[newtj021]

You continue to scare me!  That worked great, just have one SMALL problem.   We have a some VMs that do NOT have a #?? in the notes, this line of code if picking them up when it should leave them alone.  Ideas?

[newtj021]

So not sure if this is the best way but it seems to work well in our setup.

$VMs = get-datacenter <DataCenter> |

Get-DatastoreCluster |

where {$_.Name.Contains('-A-Side')} |

Get-VM |

where {$_.Notes.Contains(" #") -and ([regex]::Match($_.Notes, "#(\d*)").Groups[1].Value % 2) -eq 0 } |

select Name, Notes

Thanks again for the help!

[LucD]

How do these lines without the # look ?

Something like "Prod - Entitlements - Ticketing TC 02" ?

Hope I didn't scare you too much, don't want you to have PowerCLI nightmares :smileygrin:

[newtj021]

If I do not have the check for # we pull VMs that we "don't care" which storage system they're on.

Name                                                                                   Notes                                                                               

----                                                                                   -----                                                                               

<vm name>                                                                          Prod - Shared - FPT3 - Batch Server                                                 

<vm name>                                                                          Prod - Shared - Production Windows Admin Node (Scripts)...                          

<vm name>                                                                          Prod - xPass - FWi mgmt only/non-HA                                           

<vm name>                                                                          Prod - Message Center - CMR Drools

etc...

Just adding the   ... $_.Notes.Contains(" #") -and....   Helps remove these VMs which is perfect.

No nightmares just ridiculously jealous of your powershell / powercli skills.