PowerState Question

[BostonTechGuy]

Morning, (for those in the US )

Question on PowerState.  I am trying to shutdown and delete a number of VMs.  Script is simple, but I want to have a catch if the VM is running, turn off the power.  I cant get it to work.  I have checked a number of sites, pretty sure my code is correct.  I went ahead and created a simple "Is the server up" script and that is in fact whats failing. My shutdown commands and delete commands are working fine on their own, only when paired with a PowerState does it fail.

Here is the simple script:

Foreach ($vm in $list)

{

    IF ($vm.PowerState -eq "PoweredOn")

    {

        Write-Output $vm "IS ON"

    }

    ELSE

    {

        Write-Output $vm "IS OFF"

    }

}

The simple script fails every time. All servers return "IS OFF".  The servers I am deleting are Linux boxes.. does VMTools have to be installed for PowerState to return a correct value??

Thanks,

Boston Tech Guy

[LucD]

What does this return ?

Get-VM | Select Name,PowerState

Are the PowerState values correct ?

Stupid question, but how did you populate the $list variable ?

$list = Get-VM

[BostonTechGuy]

Get the list from GET-Content

$list = (Get-Content "C:\scripts\lists.txt")

Lists.txt just has server names

Server1

Server2

Server3

For shutting down, works fine.  For Deleting, again works fine.

As for the  Get-VM script... interesting result (edit for security)

Here is the full script I wrote to get the value

Connect-VIServer "myvcenter"

$VM = (Get-VM -Name "myvm" | Select Name,Powerstate)

Write-Output $VM

Disconnect-VIServer -Confirm:$false

RESULT:

Name	Port  User
----	----  ----
myvcenter	### Domain\Boston Tech Guy

Name

: myvm

PowerState : PoweredOn

So that script gave the correct result....

[BostonTechGuy]

Also my original script that is failing, its on both Windows and Linux VMs.  I just tested it just to be sure.

[BostonTechGuy]

Hang on a second.. now all my servers are coming back all POWERSTATE = ON.  I just ran through a number of servers that are off and on.. they all came back ON..

Now I am totally confused of what is going on.

Testing Script:

Connect-VIServer "myvc"

$list = (Get-Content "C:\Scripts\lists.txt")

Foreach ($vm in $lists)

{

    $Power = (Get-VM -Name $vm | Select Powerstate)

    IF ($Power = "PoweredOn")

    {

        Write-Output $vm "IS ON"

    }

    ELSE

    {

        Write-Output $vm "IS OFF"

    }

}   

Disconnect-VIServer -Confirm:$false

Further testing, I kept it simple.  Went back to the GET PowerState value script on a server that is off.  I got PoweredOFF as a result.  GOOD!  Seems when I place the PowerState Scripts into an IF Statement, the whole things stops working

[LucD · Accepted solution]

The problem in your first version of the script was that you were looping through the names of the VMs.

So that $vm variable had a [string] value, the name of the VM.

And a [string] doesn't have a PowerState property, so that explains why all the VMs went through to the Else part of you If statement.

In the 2nd script, you $vm variable actually holds a VirtualMachine object, since you did a Get-VM.

[BostonTechGuy]

Ok.. will be completely honest, I am not following (still learning though).  You saying my logic and variable placement is the problem..

Soooooo..

If I do this:

Connect-VIServer "myvcenter"

$vm = "vm that is on"

$Power = (Get-VM -Name $vm | Select Name,Powerstate)

IF ($Power.PowerState -eq "PoweredOn")

    {

        Stop-VM -VM $vm -Confirm:$false

    }

    ELSE

    {

        Write-Output $vm "IS OFF"

    }

Disconnect-VIServer -Confirm:$false

It should work.... TESTING...  AND IT DOES!

Now if I place it into a loop:

Connect-VIServer "myvcenter"

$list = (Get-Content "C:\Scripts\list.txt")

Foreach ($vm in $list)

{

$Power = (Get-VM -Name $vm | Select Name,Powerstate)

IF ($Power.PowerState -eq "PoweredOn")

    {

        Stop-VM -VM $vm -Confirm:$false

    }

    ELSE

    {

        Write-Output $vm "IS OFF"

    }

}

Disconnect-VIServer -Confirm:$false

Test with servers all on - SUCCESS

Test with servers all off - SUCCESS

Test with servers some on/some off - SUCCESS

OK!

LucD thank you for the help.

Now to place it into my larger Deletion Script.

Thanks!

[BostonTechGuy]

OH I GET IT!

When you said:

The problem in your first version of the script was that you were looping through the names of the VMs.

So that $vm variable had a [string] value, the name of the VM.

And a [string] doesn't have a PowerState property, so that explains why all the VMs went through to the Else part of you If statement.

You mean that my first script $VM = Server1,  Server1 didnt mean anything but a word.. $VM is a word at that point, not a VM Server!! $vm.powerstate wouldnt mean anything at that time in the script.

Once I assigned value of GET-VM then Powerstate was usable.

Thanks!