Stuck Creating Custom VM name on Clone Script

[nicholas1982]

Must be having an off moment trying to clone 3 vms from a script and I want the cloned vm name to be original vmName + _backup_ + $date but I can't get it to work in a loop

$VC = 'vc.vsphere.local'

$Cluster = 'Intel-Skull-Canyon'

$Date = (get-date).ToString("yyyyMMdd")

$Folder = 'VM_BACKUPS'

$myVM = 'server0*'

Connect-VIServer $VC -username administrator@vsphere.local -password VMware1!

$VMs = Get-VM $myVM

$vsanDS = Get-Cluster $Cluster | Get-Datastore | Where-Object type -EQ 'VMFS'

foreach ($vm in $VMs){

$BackupName = "$vm + '_Backup_' + $Date"

New-VM -Name $BackupName -Location $Folder -VM $vm -Datastore $vsanDS -ResourcePool $cluster

Start-Sleep -Seconds 5

}

Disconnect-VIServer $VC -Force -Confirm:$false

Remove-Variable * -Force -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue

[nicholas1982]

Ok I kind of figured out the naming issue but I'm still getting errors although it does clone

$VC = 'vc.vsphere.local'

$Cluster = 'Intel-Skull-Canyon'

$Date = (get-date).ToString("yyyyMMdd")

$Folder = 'VM_BACKUPS'

$myVM = 'server0*'

Connect-VIServer $VC -username administrator@vsphere.local -password VMware1!

$VMs = Get-VM $myVM

$vsanDS = Get-Cluster $Cluster | Get-Datastore | Where-Object type -EQ 'VMFS'

foreach ($vm in $VMs){

New-VM -Name "$($vm.Name)-clone" -Location $Folder -VM $vm -Datastore $vsanDS -ResourcePool $cluster

Start-Sleep -Seconds 5

}

ERRORS...

New-VM : 10/4/2017 7:48:28 PM New-VM Operation is not valid due to the current state of the object.

At C:\scripts\Clone-Backup-Scripts\Clone-Backup.ps1:17 char:1

+ New-VM -Name "$($vm.Name)-clone" -Location $Folder -VM $vm -Datastore ...

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

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [New-VM], VimException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Core_BaseCmdlet_UnknownError,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.NewVM

[LucD]

Error can have many causes.

Can you try adding Verbose to the New-VM cmdlet?

Did you already look in the vpxd log to see if there are more details in there?

[nicholas1982]

Hey Luc,

I restarted ISE and that resolved it, I read this New/Remove-VM: Operation is not valid due to the current state of the object.

Are you aware of how to avoid this issue, I  need to run this in a prod environment on about 100 vm's is it just an issue with ISE, should I just use the native PowerCLI when running in prod?

[LucD · Accepted solution]

Which PowerCLI version are you using?

That other thread is relatively old, and not using any of the latest PowerCLI builds.

In prod I would not run this from the ISE, but use the regular PowerShell console.

Load the modules and then run your script.

But are you starting that manually in Prod or from a scheduled task?

[nicholas1982]

well once I confirm the script is functioning in my lab I will manually execute it from PowerCLI shell in prod this weekend, I'm not confident is ISE I've seen strange issues.

PS C:\> $PSVersionTable

Name                           Value                                                                                                                                 

----                           -----                                                                                                                                 

PSVersion                      5.1.14409.1012                                                                                                                        

PSEdition                      Desktop                                                                                                                               

PSCompatibleVersions           {1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0...}                                                                                                               

BuildVersion                   10.0.14409.1012                                                                                                                       

CLRVersion                     4.0.30319.42000                                                                                                                       

WSManStackVersion              3.0                                                                                                                                   

PSRemotingProtocolVersion      2.3                                                                                                                                   

SerializationVersion           1.1.0.1   

PS C:\> Get-PowerCLIVersion

WARNING: The cmdlet "Get-PowerCLIVersion" is deprecated. Please use the 'Get-Module' cmdlet instead.

PowerCLI Version

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

   VMware PowerCLI 6.5.1 build 5377412

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

Component Versions

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

   VMware Cis Core PowerCLI Component 6.5 build 6230110

   VMware VimAutomation Core PowerCLI Component 6.5 build 6234650

   VMWare ImageBuilder PowerCLI Component 6.6 build 5299608

   VMWare AutoDeploy PowerCLI Component 6.6 build 5299608

   VMware Vds PowerCLI Component 6.5 build 5374428

   VMware Cloud PowerCLI Component 6.5 build 5375799

   VMware HA PowerCLI Component 6.0 build 5314477

   VMware HorizonView PowerCLI Component 7.1.0 build 5307191

   VMware Licensing PowerCLI Component 6.5 build 5375648

   VMware PCloud PowerCLI Component 6.5 build 5376282

   VMware Storage PowerCLI Component 6.5 build 5374001

   VMware vROps PowerCLI Component 6.5 build 5375723

   VMware vSphere Update Manager PowerCLI 6.6 build 5301639

[LucD]

Yes, definitely do not run it from ISE, but go for the PS prompt.

[nicholas1982]

Ohh ok wait the latest PowerCLI isn't installable like before right, you import the module from PS console now, is that correct?

[LucD]

Correct, see Updating PowerCLI through the PowerShell Gallery

[nicholas1982]

Cheers Luc