Search for ISOs across all datastores, excluding those 'Inactive'

[Skagnola]

Hello!

I am running into an issue when searching for ISOs. When a datastore is marked as 'Inactive', instead of the script continuing, it is halting on the inaccessible datastore.

dir vmstores:\ -Recurse -include *.iso | Select Name,FolderPath

dir : Datastore 'vmrepo1-rep1' is not accessible. No connected and accessible host is attached to this datastore.

At C:\locateisos.ps1:2 char:1

+ dir vmstores:\ -Recurse -include *.iso | Select Name,FolderPath

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

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-ChildItem], InaccessibleDatastore

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Types.V1.ErrorHandling.InaccessibleDatastore,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand

Is there a way to pass an exclude arg if the datastore is marked 'Inactive'?

[LucD]

Did you already try adding the parameter -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue to the dir command?

[Skagnola]

Hey, Luc

Did not; have just tried the following

dir vmstores:\ -Recurse -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue -include *.iso  | Select Name,FolderPath

but it is still failing.

Edited the order of the dir command

[LucD]

What do you get back when you do the following on one of these inaccessible datastores?

Get-Datastore -Name <inaccessible-datastore-name> | Select *

[Skagnola]

You read my mind! Was just about to reply with

When using Get-Datastore 'datastorename' | Select *, there is a field 'State' that shows 'Unavailable', presumably what shows up as 'Inactive' in the vSphere GUI.

I wonder if there is a way to pipe that in the search.

$Datastores = Get-Datastore | Select Name,State

if ($Datastores.State -like "Available")

Not sure what to do with it, though.

[LucD]

Then try like this.

We add the name of the faulty datastore on the Exclude parameter

$badDS = Get-Datastore | where{$_.State -ne 'Available'} | %{"$($_.Name)"}

Get-ChildItem -Path vmstores: -Include *.iso -Exclude $badDS -Recurse

[Skagnola]

Hmm still no joy.

$badDS = Get-Datastore | where{$_.State -eq 'Unavailable'} | %{"$($_.Name)"}

Get-ChildItem -Path vmstores: -Include *.iso -Exclude $badDS -Recurse

Get-ChildItem : Datastore 'vmrepo1-rep1' is not accessible. No connected and accessible host is attached to this datastore.

At C:\locateisos2.ps1:3 char:1

+ Get-ChildItem -Path vmstores: -Include *.iso -Exclude $badDS -Recurse

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

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [Get-ChildItem], InaccessibleDatastore

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Types.V1.ErrorHandling.InaccessibleDatastore,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.GetChildItemCommand

[LucD · Accepted solution]

Looks like the PSProvider vimstores doesn't handle errors in an optimal way.

That means you should get the desired result, scanning for ISO files, in another way.Try like this

Get-Datastore | where{$_.State -eq 'Available'} | %{

    New-PSDrive -Location $_ -Name ds -PSProvider VimDatastore -Root '\' > $null

    Get-ChildItem -Path ds: -Recurse -Filter *.iso | Select DatastoreFullPath

    Remove-PSDrive -Name ds -Confirm:$false

}

[Skagnola]

Wow! Didn't consider PSDrive!

That works.Thanks, Luc!

[AlbertWT]

Does the command Remove-PSDrive -Name ds -Confirm:$false is considered safe to be executed on the Datastore that is not put into maintenance mode ?

[LucD]

Afaik yes, you, or your script, would just be another user of the datastore.

Regular locking mechanisms apply.