Question on output

[judsonm]

OK So this is literally my first attempt at working with power shell so forgive the messy code and drafting at the moment.

My question is bascially.... Why does the Get-HardDisk -vm vm Command show different output .....basically a really detailed disk infomation when run with the connect-VIServer command and a less detailed more compact list when run without the connect-viserver command in the script

# Setup Environment

Connect-VIServer vcfhesc

clear-variable -name ConfirmDisk

clear-variable -name SERVERNAME

# $SERVERNAME =

# Start Script

$SERVERNAME = Read-Host "Type the Server Name that you would like to add the Drive to"

Get-HardDisk -VM $SERVERNAME

$ConfirmDisk = Read-Host "Confirm The current disks? A new drive will be added! (y/n)"

If ($ConfirmDisk -eq "y") {

New-HardDisk -CapacityGB 300 -VM $SERVERNAME

Get-HardDisk -VM $SERVERNAME

}

I need to make sure the script connects to the vcenter but when i do the get-disk -vm vm output shows this (which is way to much information):

StorageFormat   : Thin

Persistence     : Persistent

DiskType        : Flat

Filename        : [Local0751] CM_PR1_0751/CM_PR1_0751.vmdk

CapacityKB      : 104857600

CapacityGB      : 100

ParentId        : VirtualMachine-vm-135900

Parent          : CM_PR1_0751

Uid             : /VIServer=admin\judsonm@vcfhesc:443/VirtualMachine=VirtualMachine-vm-135900/HardDisk=2000/

ConnectionState :

ExtensionData   : VMware.Vim.VirtualDisk

Id              : VirtualMachine-vm-135900/2000

Name            : Hard disk 1

Client          : VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.VimClient

StorageFormat   : Thick

Persistence     : Persistent

DiskType        : Flat

Filename        : [Local0751] CM_PR1_0751/CM_PR1_0751_1.vmdk

CapacityKB      : 262144000

CapacityGB      : 250

ParentId        : VirtualMachine-vm-135900

Parent          : CM_PR1_0751

Uid             : /VIServer=admin\judsonm@vcfhesc:443/VirtualMachine=VirtualMachine-vm-135900/HardDisk=2001/

ConnectionState :

ExtensionData   : VMware.Vim.VirtualDisk

Id              : VirtualMachine-vm-135900/2001

Name            : Hard disk 2

Client          : VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.VimClient

If I comment out or remove the connect-VIserver command at the beginning of the script then then output of the get-harddisk -vm vm command changes to the less detailed list which is what i want.

# Setup Environment

# Connect-VIServer vcfhesc

clear-variable -name ConfirmDisk

clear-variable -name SERVERNAME

# $SERVERNAME =

# Start Script

$SERVERNAME = Read-Host "Type the Server Name that you would like to add the Drive to"

Get-HardDisk -VM $SERVERNAME

$ConfirmDisk = Read-Host "Confirm The current disks? A new drive will be added! (y/n)"

If ($ConfirmDisk -eq "y") {

New-HardDisk -CapacityGB 300 -VM $SERVERNAME

Get-HardDisk -VM $SERVERNAME

}

CapacityGB      Persistence                                                    Filename

----------      -----------                                                    --------

100.000         Persistent                     [Local0751] CM_PR1_0751/CM_PR1_0751.vmdk

250.000         Persistent                   [Local0751] CM_PR1_0751/CM_PR1_0751_1.vmdk

This output is what i want displayed not all the detailed information that is shown above

[LucD]

That is due to the way PowerShell handles output.

At the end of the script, the PowerShell output formatter looks at the objects in the pipeline.

It determines the type of object, and then looks up which format to use for that type.

The definitions how specific types shall be output are defined in XML files (for PowerCLI objects these XML files are located in the PowerCLI installation folder).

What happens in your case, and what explains the difference in formatting is the following.

The Connect-VIServer cmdlet places a VIServer object in the pipeline, the Get-Harddisk cmdlet places one or more HardDisk objects in the pipeline.

At the end of the script, the output formatter sees the VIServer object first, and looks up the type in the XML table.

The next objects that it sees are the HardDisk objects, but it doesn't look up that type anymore, so you get the full output.

To avoid that the VIServer object influences that formatting of the output at the end of the script, you can just throw away that object (provided you don't need it further in the script).

That can be done via an Out-Null cmdlet.

In short that could look like this

Connect-VIServer vcfhesc | Out-Null

Get-HardDisk -VM $SERVERNAME

Now you will again get the short display of the HardDisk objects

[judsonm]

Thank you Very Much!

I was able to add the | out-null to the end of the cmdlet then the get-hardisk cmdlet gave the short output.

However Now I decided to add a cmdlet to get the size of the data store and verify the current disk on a particular VM but when I use the out-null it prints the detailed data again so when I add out-null to the end to get the smaller get-harddisk output it complete removes the Datastore information from the script output.

# Setup Environment

$ErrorActionPreference = "stop"

Connect-VIServer vcfhesc | Out-Null

# Start Script

$SERVERNAME = Read-Host "Type the Server Name that you would like to add the Drive to"

Get-VM -Name $SERVERNAME | Get-Datastore

Get-HardDisk -VM $SERVERNAME

This is what I get:

Type the Server Name that you would like to add the Drive to: CM_pr1_2031

Name                               FreeSpaceGB      CapacityGB

----                               -----------      ----------

Local2031                            1,379.818       3,723.750

StorageFormat   : Thin

Persistence     : Persistent

DiskType        : Flat

Filename        : [Local2031] CM_PR1_2031/CM_PR1_2031.vmdk

CapacityKB      : 104857600

CapacityGB      : 100

ParentId        : VirtualMachine-vm-135903

Parent          : CM_PR1_2031

Uid             : /VIServer=admin\judsonm@vcfhesc:443/VirtualMachine=VirtualMachine-vm-135903/HardDisk=2000/

ConnectionState :

ExtensionData   : VMware.Vim.VirtualDisk

Id              : VirtualMachine-vm-135903/2000

Name            : Hard disk 1

Client          : VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.VimClient

StorageFormat   : Thick

Persistence     : Persistent

DiskType        : Flat

Filename        : [Local2031] CM_PR1_2031/CM_PR1_2031_1.vmdk

CapacityKB      : 262144000

CapacityGB      : 250

ParentId        : VirtualMachine-vm-135903

Parent          : CM_PR1_2031

Uid             : /VIServer=admin\judsonm@vcfhesc:443/VirtualMachine=VirtualMachine-vm-135903/HardDisk=2001/

ConnectionState :

ExtensionData   : VMware.Vim.VirtualDisk

Id              : VirtualMachine-vm-135903/2001

Name            : Hard disk 2

Client          : VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.VimClient

# Setup Environment

$ErrorActionPreference = "stop"

Connect-VIServer vcfhesc | Out-Null

# Start Script

$SERVERNAME = Read-Host "Type the Server Name that you would like to add the Drive to"

Get-VM -Name $SERVERNAME | Get-Datastore | out-null

Get-HardDisk -VM $SERVERNAME

This is what I get with out-null added to the end of the cmdlet to check the datastore size.

Type the Server Name that you would like to add the Drive to: CM_pr1_2031

CapacityGB      Persistence                                                    Filename

----------      -----------                                                    --------

100.000         Persistent                     [Local2031] CM_PR1_2031/CM_PR1_2031.vmdk

250.000         Persistent                   [Local2031] CM_PR1_2031/CM_PR1_2031_1.vmdk

What can I do to get the summary output of both the datastore storage and the harddisks

I essentially want it to look like this:

Name                               FreeSpaceGB      CapacityGB

----                               -----------      ----------

Local2031                            1,379.818       3,723.750

CapacityGB      Persistence                                                    Filename

----------      -----------                                                    --------

100.000         Persistent                     [Local2031] CM_PR1_2031/CM_PR1_2031.vmdk

250.000         Persistent                   [Local2031] CM_PR1_2031/CM_PR1_2031_1.vmdk

[judsonm]

Disregard!

I figured out a way. I was able to add out-host | out-null to the end of the datastore cmdlet and it worked out. There may be a better way to do this, but for now I found a way.

# Setup Environment

$ErrorActionPreference = "stop"

Connect-VIServer vcfhesc | Out-Null

# Start Script

$SERVERNAME = Read-Host "Type the Server Name that you would like to add the Drive to"

Get-VM -Name $SERVERNAME | Get-Datastore | out-host | out-null

Get-HardDisk -VM $SERVERNAME

Now the script output is:

Type the Server Name that you would like to add the Drive to: CM_pr1_2031

Name                               FreeSpaceGB      CapacityGB

----                               -----------      ----------

Local2031                            1,379.817       3,723.750

CapacityGB      Persistence                                                    Filename

----------      -----------                                                    --------

100.000         Persistent                     [Local2031] CM_PR1_2031/CM_PR1_2031.vmdk

250.000         Persistent                   [Local2031] CM_PR1_2031/CM_PR1_2031_1.vmdk

[LucD]

As a matter of fact, the following should be sufficient

Get-VM -Name $SERVERNAME | Get-Datastore | out-host

What happens is that you force the output formatter to act on the objects in the pipeline at that point in time, instead of doing that at the end of the script.