VMware.Vim.ClusterVMGroup returned instead of groupnames from ExtensionData.Configurationex.Group

[vStout_Bill]

When I run a powershell query to find groupnames in ExtensionData.Configurationex.Group I see the groupnames expected.

PowerCLI C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\vSphere PowerCLI\Scripts> Get-cluster | Select Name,@{Name="Group";Expression={$_.Ex

tensionData.Configurationex.Group}} | ?{$_.Name -like "lax-devtest*"}

Name                                                              Group

----                                                              -----

lax-devtest4                                                      {mssql-vm, winsvr-vm, mssql-hosts, winsvr-hosts}

lax-devtest1

lax-devtest3                                                      VMware.Vim.ClusterVmGroup

However if I change the output type (html, csv, etc.) I don't see the gorupnames. 

PowerCLI C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\vSphere PowerCLI\Scripts> Get-cluster | Select Name,@{Name="Group";Expression={$_.Ex

tensionData.Configurationex.Group}} | ?{$_.Name -like "lax-devtest*"}  | export-csv c:\tmp\getcluster.csv

#TYPE Selected.VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.Inventory.ClusterImpl
Name	Group
lax-devtest4	VMware.Vim.ClusterVmGroup VMware.Vim.ClusterVmGroup VMware.Vim.ClusterHostGroup VMware.Vim.ClusterHostGroup
lax-devtest1
lax-devtest3	VMware.Vim.ClusterVmGroup

Why does other output types return VMware.Vim.ClusterVmGroup instead of the names?  This also affects searches since only VMware.Vim.ClusterVmGroup is seen when looking for names.

[LucD]

That is because the calculated property Group is an array (indicated by the curly braces in the output).

The PowerShell output routine knows how to handle this, bu the cmdlets like ExportTo-Csv don't.

A solution is to convert the array into a string.

Something like this

@{Name="Group";Expression={[string]::Join(',',($_.ExtensionData.Configurationex.Group)}}

[vStout_Bill]

Converting the array into a string obscures the group names on the console.

PowerCLI C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\vSphere PowerCLI> Get-cluster | Select Name,@{Name="Group";Expression={[string]::Join(',',($_.ExtensionData.Configurationex.Group))}

}  | ?{$_.Name -like "lax-devtest*"}

Name                                                              Group

----                                                              -----

lax-devtest4                                                      VMware.Vim.ClusterVmGroup,VMware.Vim.ClusterVmGroup,VMware.Vim...

lax-devtest1

lax-devtest3                                                      VMware.Vim.ClusterVmGroup

[LucD · Accepted solution]

My bad, you should of course extract the name, otherwise you will get the name of the object behind the property.

Try like this

Get-cluster | Select Name,
@{Name="Group";Expression={[string]::Join(',',($_.ExtensionData.Configurationex.Group | Select -ExpandProperty Name))}}

[vStout_Bill]

LucD, awesome as usual for the last few years!

This solved the problem I was really trying to address, which is search by groupnames.

PowerCLI C:\Program Files\VMware\Infrastructure\vSphere PowerCLI> Get-cluster | Select Name,@{Name="Group";Expression={[string]::Join(',',($_.ExtensionData.Configurationex.Group | Select -ExpandProperty Name))}} | ?{$_.Group -like "mssql*"}

Name                                                              Group

----                                                              -----

lax-devtest4                                                      mssql-vm,winsvr-vm,mssql-hosts,winsvr-hosts

lax-devtest3                                                      mssql-vm