Get-Snapshot

[E4F]

is it possible to findout who created a snapshot and when it was created for each shapshot?

Thanks

E4F

[a_p_]

Maybe http://communities.vmware.com/thread/216723 can help.

André

[tiagomartinez]

the powercli cmd-let "Get-VM | Get-Snapshot | Select Created, VM" will show you when the VM snapshot was created. But I don't know how could you find who take it.

[E4F]

I used

function Get-SnapshotTree{
     param($tree, $target)
    
     $found = $null
     foreach($elem in $tree){
          if($elem.Snapshot.Value -eq $target.Value){
               $found = $elem
               continue
          }
     }
     if($found -eq $null -and $elem.ChildSnapshotList -ne $null){
          $found = Get-SnapshotTree $elem.ChildSnapshotList $target
     }
    
     return $found
}

function Get-SnapshotExtra ($snap){
     #$daysBack = 5               # How many days back from now
     $guestName = $snap.VM     # The name of the guest
   

     $tasknumber = 999          # Windowsize of the Task collector
    
     #$serviceInstance = get-view ServiceInstance
     $taskMgr = Get-View TaskManager
    
     # Create hash table. Each entry is a create snapshot task
     $report = @{}
    
     $filter = New-Object VMware.Vim.TaskFilterSpec
     $filter.Time = New-Object VMware.Vim.TaskFilterSpecByTime
     $filter.Time.beginTime = (($snap.Created).AddSeconds(-5))
     $filter.Time.timeType = "startedTime"
    
     $collectionImpl = Get-View ($taskMgr.CreateCollectorForTasks($filter))
    
     $dummy = $collectionImpl.RewindCollector
     $collection = $collectionImpl.ReadNextTasks($tasknumber)
     while($collection -ne $null){
          $collection | where {$_.DescriptionId -eq "VirtualMachine.createSnapshot" -and $_.State -eq "success" -and $_.EntityName -eq $guestName} | %{
               $row = New-Object PsObject
               $row | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name User -Value $_.Reason.UserName
               $vm = Get-View $_.Entity
               $snapshot = Get-SnapshotTree $vm.Snapshot.RootSnapshotList $_.Result
               $key = $_.EntityName + "&" + ($snapshot.CreateTime.ToString())
               $report[$key] = $row
          }
          $collection = $collectionImpl.ReadNextTasks($tasknumber)
     }
     $collectionImpl.DestroyCollector()
    
     # Get the guest's snapshots and add the user
     $snapshotsExtra = $snap | % {
          $key = $_.vm.Name + "&" + ($_.Created.ToString())
          if($report.ContainsKey($key)){
               $_ | Add-Member -MemberType NoteProperty -Name Creator -Value $report[$key].User
          }
          $_
     }
     $snapshotsExtra
}

$Snapshots = Get-VM | Get-Snapshot | Where {$_.Created -lt ((Get-Date).AddDays(-14))}

$mySnaps = @()
foreach ($snap in $Snapshots){
     $SnapshotInfo = Get-SnapshotExtra $snap
     $mySnaps += $SnapshotInfo
}

$mySnaps | Select VM, Name, Creator, Description

and I get the following error

You cannot call a method on a null-valued expression.
At D:\Scripts\List_Snapshots.ps1:46 char:75
+                $key = $_.EntityName + "&" + ($snapshot.CreateTime.ToString <<<< ())
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (ToString:String) [], RuntimeException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvokeMethodOnNull

You cannot call a method on a null-valued expression.
At D:\Scripts\List_Snapshots.ps1:46 char:75
+                $key = $_.EntityName + "&" + ($snapshot.CreateTime.ToString <<<< ())
    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidOperation: (ToString:String) [], RuntimeException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvokeMethodOnNull

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

I didn't write powershell scripts yet, however I could think of something like replacing:

$key = $_.EntityName + "&" + ($snapshot.CreateTime.ToString())

with

if ($snapshot.CreateTime -eq $null) {

     $key = $_.EntityName + "&" + "unknown"

} else {

     $key = $_.EntityName + "&" + ($snapshot.CreateTime.ToString())

}

André

[E4F]

That cleared the error.