Alfa BBT

I’ve had the chance to play around with some PowerShell scripting again. A nice occasion to try and include some Comment Based Help I read about in TechNet Magazine a couple of months ago. However I couldn’t get it to work in combination with the standard script header template I tend to use for all of my scripts.

I experimented with commenting out each line on its own:

#header
#
#help

or using comment blocks

<#
header
help
#>

even

<#
header
#>
<#
help
#>

and a couple more variations, but no joy. After some “binging” I ended up reading about_Comment_Based_Help;

All of the lines in a comment-based Help topic must be contiguous. If a comment-based Help topic follows a comment that is not part of the Help topic, there must be at least one blank line between the last non-Help comment line and the beginning of the comment-based Help.

It still took some more trial and error to realize that an “empty line” well, needs to be really empty. It cannot contain a comment character either! Call me stupid ;-)

Here’s an example of how it should be done (Ref. line 22):

#========================================================================================================
# AUTHOR
# Koen Vermoesen
# ***.***@***.***
# 2010-05-20
#========================================================================================================
# SCRIPT
# Create custom address lists based on a CSV file
#========================================================================================================
# PREREQUISITES
# /
#========================================================================================================
# CHANGE HISTORY:
# 2010-05-10 Initial version
#========================================================================================================
# TO DO
# /
#========================================================================================================
# COMMENTS
# Parent lists need to proceed child lists in your input csv-file!
#========================================================================================================

#.SYNOPSIS
#Create custom address lists
#
#.DESCRIPTION
#Create custom address lists based on a CSV file called "CreateAddressLists.csv" with these columns
# - Name
# - Container
# - RecipientFilter
#The script will check if the "Container"-field is empty and run de cmdlet with or without "-container" option
#
#.Link
#http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa996912.aspx

$Input = "CreateAddressLists.csv"
Import-CSV $Input | Foreach { If ($_.Container -eq "") {New-AddressList -Name $_.Name -RecipientFilter $_.RecipientFilter} else {New-AddressList -Name $_.Name -Container $_.Container -RecipientFilter $_.RecipientFilter}}

For those of you wondering, I have the habit of using scripts not just for bulky or repetitive actions but also as means of documentation and standardization. Additionally these scripts come in handy If you ever need to rebuild some part of the infrastructure. Hence the 35 lines of comment for only 2 lines of code.

Notepad++ supports Powershell from version v5.6 but the VMware PowerCLI cmdlets aren’t included.

So I created PowerCLI Language definition file for syntax highlighting. It contains the cmdlets available in vSphere PowerCLI 4 Update 1 and vCenter Update Manager PowerCLI 4 Update 1.

<NotepadPlus>
    <UserLang name="PowerCLI" ext="ps1">
        <Settings>
            <Global caseIgnored="yes" />
            <TreatAsSymbol comment="no" commentLine="no" />
            <Prefix words1="yes" words2="yes" words3="no" words4="no" />
        </Settings>
        <KeywordLists>
            <Keywords name="Delimiters">000000</Keywords>
            <Keywords name="Folder+"></Keywords>
            <Keywords name="Folder-"></Keywords>
            <Keywords name="Operators"></Keywords>
            <Keywords name="Comment"></Keywords>
            <Keywords name="Words1">Add-PassthroughDevice Add-VMHost Add-VmHostNtpServer Apply-DrsRecommendation Apply-VMHostProfile Connect-VIServer Copy-DatastoreItem Copy-HardDisk Copy-VMGuestFile Disconnect-VIServer Dismount-Tools Export-VApp Export-VMHostProfile Get-Annotation Get-CDDrive Get-Cluster Get-CustomAttribute Get-Datacenter Get-Datastore Get-DrsRecommendation Get-DrsRule Get-FloppyDrive Get-Folder Get-HardDisk Get-Inventory Get-IScsiHbaTarget Get-Log Get-LogType Get-NetworkAdapter Get-NicTeamingPolicy Get-OSCustomizationNicMapping Get-OSCustomizationSpec Get-PassthroughDevice Get-PowerCLIConfiguration Get-PowerCLIVersion Get-ResourcePool Get-ScsiLun Get-ScsiLunPath Get-Snapshot Get-Stat Get-StatInterval Get-StatType Get-Task Get-Template Get-UsbDevice Get-VApp Get-VICredentialStoreItem Get-VIEvent Get-View Get-VIObjectByVIView Get-VIPermission Get-VIPrivilege Get-VIRole Get-VirtualPortGroup Get-VirtualSwitch Get-VM Get-VMGuest Get-VMGuestNetworkInterface Get-VMGuestRoute Get-VMHost Get-VMHostAccount Get-VMHostAdvancedConfiguration Get-VMHostAvailableTimeZone Get-VMHostDiagnosticPartition Get-VMHostFirewallDefaultPolicy Get-VMHostFirewallException Get-VMHostFirmware Get-VMHostHba Get-VMHostModule Get-VMHostNetwork Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter Get-VMHostNtpServer Get-VMHostProfile Get-VMHostService Get-VMHostSnmp Get-VMHostStartPolicy Get-VMHostStorage Get-VMHostSysLogServer Get-VMQuestion Get-VMResourceConfiguration Get-VMStartPolicy Import-VApp Import-VMHostProfile Install-VMHostPatch Invoke-VMScript Mount-Tools Move-Cluster Move-Datacenter Move-Folder Move-Inventory Move-ResourcePool Move-Template Move-VM Move-VMHostNew-CDDrive New-ClusterNew-CustomAttribute New-CustomField New-Datacenter New-Datastore New-DrsRule New-FloppyDrive New-Folder New-HardDisk New-IScsiHbaTarget New-NetworkAdapter New-OSCustomizationNicMapping New-OSCustomizationSpec New-ResourcePool New-Snapshot New-StatInterval New-Template New-VApp New-VICredentialStoreItem New-VIPermission New-VIRole New-VirtualPortGroup New-VirtualSwitch New-VM New-VMGuestRoute New-VMHostAccount New-VMHostNetworkAdapter New-VMHostProfile Remove-CDDrive Remove-Cluster Remove-CustomAttribute Remove-CustomField Remove-Datacenter Remove-Datastore Remove-DrsRule Remove-FloppyDrive Remove-Folder Remove-HardDisk Remove-Inventory Remove-IScsiHbaTarget Remove-NetworkAdapter Remove-OSCustomizationNicMap... Remove-OSCustomizationSpec Remove-PassthroughDevice Remove-ResourcePool Remove-Snapshot Remove-StatInterval Remove-Template Remove-UsbDevice Remove-VApp Remove-VICredentialStoreItem Remove-VIPermission Remove-VIRole Remove-VirtualPortGroup Remove-VirtualSwitch Remove-VM Remove-VMGuestRoute Remove-VMHost Remove-VMHostAccount Remove-VMHostNetworkAdapter Remove-VMHostNtpServer Remove-VMHostProfile Restart-VM Restart-VMGuest Restart-VMHost Restart-VMHostService Set-Annotation Set-CDDrive Set-Cluster Set-CustomAttribute Set-CustomField Set-Datacenter Set-Datastore Set-DrsRule Set-FloppyDrive Set-Folder Set-HardDisk Set-IScsiHbaTarget Set-NetworkAdapter Set-NicTeamingPolicy Set-OSCustomizationNicMapping Set-OSCustomizationSpec Set-PowerCLIConfiguration Set-ResourcePool Set-ScsiLun Set-ScsiLunPath Set-Snapshot Set-StatInterval Set-Template Set-VApp Set-VIPermission Set-VIRole Set-VirtualPortGroup Set-VirtualSwitch Set-VM Set-VMGuestNetworkInterface Set-VMGuestRoute Set-VMHost Set-VMHostAccount Set-VMHostAdvancedConfiguration Set-VMHostDiagnosticPartition Set-VMHostFirewallDefaultPolicy Set-VMHostFirewallException Set-VMHostFirmware Set-VMHostHba Set-VMHostModule Set-VMHostNetwork Set-VMHostNetworkAdapter Set-VMHostProfile Set-VMHostService Set-VMHostSnmp Set-VMHostStartPolicy Set-VMHostStorage Set-VMHostSysLogServer Set-VMQuestion Set-VMResourceConfiguration Set-VMStartPolicy Shutdown-VMGuest Start-VApp Start-VM Start-VMHost Start-VMHostService Stop-Task Stop-VApp Stop-VM Stop-VMHost Stop-VMHostService Suspend-VM Suspend-VMGuest Suspend-VMHost Test-VMHostProfileCompliance Test-VMHostSnmp Update-Tools Wait-Task Attach-Baseline Detach-Baseline Download-Patch Get-Baseline Get-Compliance Get-Patch Get-PatchBaseline New-PatchBaseline Remediate-Inventory Remove-Baseline Scan-Inventory Set-PatchBaseline Stage-Patch</Keywords>
            <Keywords name="Words2">Answer-VMQuestion Get-ESX Get-PowerCLIDocumentation Get-VC Get-VIServer Get-VIToolkitConfiguration Get-VIToolkitVersion Set-VIToolkitConfiguration</Keywords>
            <Keywords name="Words3"></Keywords>
            <Keywords name="Words4"></Keywords>
        </KeywordLists>
        <Styles>
            <WordsStyle name="DEFAULT" styleID="11" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="FOLDEROPEN" styleID="12" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="FOLDERCLOSE" styleID="13" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="KEYWORD1" styleID="5" fgColor="0000FF" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="1" />
            <WordsStyle name="KEYWORD2" styleID="6" fgColor="8080FF" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="KEYWORD3" styleID="7" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="KEYWORD4" styleID="8" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="COMMENT" styleID="1" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="COMMENT LINE" styleID="2" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="NUMBER" styleID="4" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="OPERATOR" styleID="10" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="DELIMINER1" styleID="14" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="DELIMINER2" styleID="15" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
            <WordsStyle name="DELIMINER3" styleID="16" fgColor="000000" bgColor="FFFFFF" fontName="" fontStyle="0" />
        </Styles>
    </UserLang>
</NotepadPlus>

To add PowerCLI as a user-defined language %APPDATA%\Notepad++\userDefineLang.xml and add the above configuration to this file.

Secondly I created a PowerCLI auto-completion file which contains the same PowerCLI cmdlets. This configuration needs to be added to C:\Program Files\Notepad++\plugins\APIs\PowerCLI.xml. The name of the auto-completion file needs to be the same as defined in the user-defined language definition file.

<NotepadPlus>
	<AutoComplete>
		<KeyWord name="Add-PassthroughDevice"/>
		<KeyWord name="Add-VMHost"/>
		<KeyWord name="Add-VmHostNtpServer"/>
		<KeyWord name="Answer-VMQuestion"/>
		<KeyWord name="Apply-DrsRecommendation"/>
		<KeyWord name="Apply-VMHostProfile"/>
		<KeyWord name="Attach-Baseline"/>
		<KeyWord name="Connect-VIServer"/>
		<KeyWord name="Copy-DatastoreItem"/>
		<KeyWord name="Copy-HardDisk"/>
		<KeyWord name="Copy-VMGuestFile"/>
		<KeyWord name="Detach-Baseline"/>
		<KeyWord name="Disconnect-VIServer"/>
		<KeyWord name="Dismount-Tools"/>
		<KeyWord name="Download-Patch"/>
		<KeyWord name="Export-VApp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Export-VMHostProfile"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Annotation"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Baseline"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-CDDrive"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Cluster"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Compliance"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-CustomAttribute"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Datacenter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Datastore"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-DrsRecommendation"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-DrsRule"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-ESX"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-FloppyDrive"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Folder"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-HardDisk"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-IScsiHbaTarget"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Inventory"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Log"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-LogType"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-NetworkAdapter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-NicTeamingPolicy"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-OSCustomizationNicMapping"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-OSCustomizationSpec"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-PassthroughDevice"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Patch"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-PatchBaseline"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-PowerCLIConfiguration"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-PowerCLIDocumentation"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-PowerCLIVersion"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-ResourcePool"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-ScsiLun"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-ScsiLunPath"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Snapshot"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Stat"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-StatInterval"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-StatType"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Task"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-Template"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-UsbDevice"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VApp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VC"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VICredentialStoreItem"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VIEvent"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VIObjectByVIView"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VIPermission"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VIPrivilege"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VIRole"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VIServer"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VIToolkitConfiguration"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VIToolkitVersion"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VM"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMGuest"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMGuestNetworkInterface"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMGuestRoute"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHost"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostAccount"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostAdvancedConfiguration"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostAvailableTimeZone"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostDiagnosticPartition"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostFirewallDefaultPolicy"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostFirewallException"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostFirmware"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostHba"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostModule"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostNetwork"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostNtpServer"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostProfile"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostService"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostSnmp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostStartPolicy"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostStorage"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMHostSysLogServer"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMQuestion"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMResourceConfiguration"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VMStartPolicy"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-View"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VirtualPortGroup"/>
		<KeyWord name="Get-VirtualSwitch"/>
		<KeyWord name="Import-VApp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Import-VMHostProfile"/>
		<KeyWord name="Install-VMHostPatch"/>
		<KeyWord name="Invoke-VMScript"/>
		<KeyWord name="Mount-Tools"/>
		<KeyWord name="Move-Cluster"/>
		<KeyWord name="Move-Datacenter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Move-Folder"/>
		<KeyWord name="Move-Inventory"/>
		<KeyWord name="Move-ResourcePool"/>
		<KeyWord name="Move-Template"/>
		<KeyWord name="Move-VM"/>
		<KeyWord name="Move-VMHost"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-CDDrive"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-Cluster"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-CustomAttribute"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-CustomField"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-Datacenter"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-Datastore"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-DrsRule"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-FloppyDrive"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-Folder"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-HardDisk"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-IScsiHbaTarget"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-NetworkAdapter"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-OSCustomizationNicMapping"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-OSCustomizationSpec"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-PatchBaseline"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-ResourcePool"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-Snapshot"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-StatInterval"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-Template"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VApp"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VICredentialStoreItem"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VIPermission"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VIRole"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VM"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VMGuestRoute"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VMHostAccount"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VMHostNetworkAdapter"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VMHostProfile"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VirtualPortGroup"/>
		<KeyWord name="New-VirtualSwitch"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remediate-Inventory"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-Baseline"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-CDDrive"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-Cluster"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-CustomAttribute"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-CustomField"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-Datacenter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-Datastore"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-DrsRule"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-FloppyDrive"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-Folder"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-HardDisk"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-IScsiHbaTarget"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-Inventory"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-NetworkAdapter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-OSCustomizationNicMap..."/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-OSCustomizationSpec"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-PassthroughDevice"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-ResourcePool"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-Snapshot"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-StatInterval"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-Template"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-UsbDevice"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VApp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VICredentialStoreItem"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VIPermission"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VIRole"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VM"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VMGuestRoute"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VMHost"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VMHostAccount"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VMHostNetworkAdapter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VMHostNtpServer"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VMHostProfile"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VirtualPortGroup"/>
		<KeyWord name="Remove-VirtualSwitch"/>
		<KeyWord name="Restart-VM"/>
		<KeyWord name="Restart-VMGuest"/>
		<KeyWord name="Restart-VMHost"/>
		<KeyWord name="Restart-VMHostService"/>
		<KeyWord name="Scan-Inventory"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-Annotation"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-CDDrive"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-Cluster"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-CustomAttribute"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-CustomField"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-Datacenter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-Datastore"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-DrsRule"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-FloppyDrive"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-Folder"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-HardDisk"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-IScsiHbaTarget"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-NetworkAdapter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-NicTeamingPolicy"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-OSCustomizationNicMapping"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-OSCustomizationSpec"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-PatchBaseline"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-PowerCLIConfiguration"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-ResourcePool"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-ScsiLun"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-ScsiLunPath"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-Snapshot"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-StatInterval"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-Template"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VApp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VIPermission"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VIRole"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VM"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMGuestNetworkInterface"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMGuestRoute"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHost"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostAccount"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostAdvancedConfiguration"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostDiagnosticPartition"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostFirewallDefaultPolicy"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostFirewallException"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostFirmware"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostHba"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostModule"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostNetwork"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostNetworkAdapter"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostProfile"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostService"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostSnmp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostStartPolicy"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostStorage"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMHostSysLogServer"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMQuestion"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMResourceConfiguration"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VMStartPolicy"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VirtualPortGroup"/>
		<KeyWord name="Set-VirtualSwitch"/>
		<KeyWord name="Shutdown-VMGuest"/>
		<KeyWord name="Stage-Patch"/>
		<KeyWord name="Start-VApp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Start-VM"/>
		<KeyWord name="Start-VMHost"/>
		<KeyWord name="Start-VMHostService"/>
		<KeyWord name="Stop-Task"/>
		<KeyWord name="Stop-VApp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Stop-VM"/>
		<KeyWord name="Stop-VMHost"/>
		<KeyWord name="Stop-VMHostService"/>
		<KeyWord name="Suspend-VM"/>
		<KeyWord name="Suspend-VMGuest"/>
		<KeyWord name="Suspend-VMHost"/>
		<KeyWord name="Test-VMHostProfileCompliance"/>
		<KeyWord name="Test-VMHostSnmp"/>
		<KeyWord name="Update-Tools"/>
		<KeyWord name="Wait-Task "/>
	</AutoComplete>
</NotepadPlus>

I had to configure additional portgroups based on vlanids on a vSphere cluster. I couldn’t use host profiles to apply the configuration on all hosts.

$vCenter = Connect-VIServer -server(Read-Host "Please enter the name of your vCenter Server.")
$Cluster = Get-Cluster -Name (Read-Host "Please enter the name of the cluster whose servers need to be reconfigured.")
$vSwitch = Read-Host "Please enter the name of the vSwitch on which the portgroups need to be created."
$PGfile = import-csv -Path (Read-Host "Please enter the path to the csv file with the new portgroups to be added to the vSwitch")

$Cluster | Get-VMhost | `
Foreach{
$vSwitch = Get-VirtualSwitch -Name $vSwitch -Vmhost $_
$PGfile | `
Foreach {
$vpg = New-VirtualPortGroup -VirtualSwitch $vSwitch -Name $_.PortGroupName
Set-VirtualPortGroup -VirtualPortGroup $vpg -VLanId $_.Vlanid
}
}

Disconnect-VIserver -Server $vCenter -Confirm:$False

The script asks for

• vCenter IP or FQDN
• Cluster Name
• vSwitch name
• Path to the csv file

The csv file contains the portgroup names and vlanid’s.

PortGroupName,Vlanid
VLAN900,900
VLAN901,901
VLAN902,902

One of my colleagues gave me a list of AD groups for the sharepoint environment he’s confguring. Instead of creating them manually I used the Quest ActiveRoles management shell.

import-csv ‘SecurityGroups.csv’ | foreach {
New-QADGroup -Parent $_.ParentContainer -Name $_.Name -sAM $_.Name -GroupScope $_.GroupScope -GroupType $_.GroupType
}

This script imports a .csv file to create the security groups. The .csv file contains the OU distinguished name, the group Name, the group type (security or distribution) and finally the scope (Domain Local, Global or Universal).

It looks like this:

Parentcontainer,Name,Grouptype,GroupScope
“OU=Sharepoint,DC=domain,DC=local”,SecurityGroup01,Security,DomainLocal

I gave a custom Exchange 2007 course to one of our customers yesterday. Not unsurprisingly, it also included a demo of Exchange Management Shell (EMS). These demos tend to end up in a quest for the exact command, which is quite annoying if you’re in front of an audience (even a small one). Think about:

• about_regular_expressions or about_regular_expression?
• $_. or $._?
• Why is -Confirm $False not working?

This time I decided to try and automate that demo by using the autoreplace feature (Hotstring) in AutoHotKey. The main goal is avoiding typo’s by using tried and true commands in a working order. A poor man’s Start-Demo script if you wish ;-)

The script starts of with a bunch of commands controlling the overall functionallity (the first 3 come with the default template):

#NoEnv

Recommended for performance and compatibility with future AutoHotkey releases.

SendMode Input

Recommended for new scripts due to its superior speed and reliability.

SetWorkingDir %A_ScriptDir%

Ensures a consistent starting directory.

#Hotstring EndChars `n

Limit the hotstring end characters to ENTER only

#Hotstring O

Don’t actually type the end character. (I want to launch the command myself after/during my explanation.)

#Hotstring R

Type replacement text in raw mode. (To prevent AHK from interpreting e.g. “{“)

The remainder of the script is actually a long list of hotstring definitions like these ones

::ems01::Get-Help
::ems02::Get-Help About
::ems03::Get-Help About_Regular_Expression
::ems04::Get-Command *mailbox
::ems05::Get-Help New-Mailbox
::ems06::Get-Help New-Mailbox -Detailed
::ems07::Get-Help New-Mailbox -Full

and so on.

Seems stupid with these simple examples, but the advantage becomes clear for more complex commands. Lets take “ems26″ for example;

::ems26::1..10 | Foreach-Object { new-mailbox -Database “Mailbox Database 2″ -Name (“User” + $_) -UserPrincipalName (“User” + $_ + “@exchange2007.lab”) -Password $Pwd }

When I type “ems26″+ENTER in EMS AutoHotKey executable automatically replaces this string with “1..10 | Foreach-Object { new-mailbox -Database “Mailbox Database 2″ -Name (“User” + $_) -UserPrincipalName (“User” + $_ + “@exchange2007.lab”) -Password $Pwd }” and waits. I do my talking and then hit ENTER again to execute the command.

It worked nicely actually. People were impressed with my typing skills ;-) I only encountered one error because I didn’t delete some manually after a test the day before. It even works with shell running inside a VM while the AutoHotKey script is running on my physical computer.

I’ve been playing around with SQLite on the command line (cmd that is) a bit. I immediately started wondering if it would be possible to combine this portable SQL engine with PowerShell, but I couldn’t find any working samples on the internet.

After some more research I discovered the SQLite ADO.net 2.0 Provider but I couldn’t get it to work immediately.

It took me a couple of days to find the blog post Database Queries with Windows Powershell. (This blog seems to have moved recently as most of the hyperlinks/search results are still referring to Typepad). The post is nicely commented, so I could rather easily translate the MySQL to SQLite statements with some assistance from the included help file.

[void][System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadFrom("D:\DATA\Tools\System.Data.SQLite.dll")

$cn = New-Object -TypeName System.Data.SQLite.SQLiteConnection
$cn.ConnectionString = "Data Source=D:\DATA\Tools\koen.sqlite"
$cn.Open()

$cm = New-Object -TypeName System.Data.SQLite.SQLiteCommand
$sql = "SELECT FirstName, LastName FROM tblKoen"
$cm.Connection = $cn
$cm.CommandText = $sql
$dr = $cm.ExecuteReader()

while ($dr.Read())
{
    write-host $dr.GetString(0) " " $dr.GetString(1)
}

$cn.Close()

Some more interesting links I came across:

• Learn SQL
• SQLite ODBC driver
• SQLite Tutorial

Carter Shanklin announced the winners of the contest.

1st prize: The guest provisioning system of LucD. This application lets you provision your VMs in an easy way. You can set the options from one screen no clicking around to configure everything manually.

2nd prize: VI Power Documenter by tzamora. This script generates reports about your virtual infrastructure.

3rd prize: PowerVDI script by Dan Baskette. It let you deploy multiple VDI instances on an EMC celera using snapshots and AD integration.

I’m sure there are other contributions that are very useful.

Congrats to the winners. Nice job guys.

Dmitri over at Dmitry’s PowerBlog just posted about the integration between PowerGui and the VI client. I had already installed the PowerGUI 1.5.1 version but hadn’t noticed the plugin for the VI Client.

This makes managing your VMware environment using  Powershell even more easier. PowerGUI lets you write your own Powershell scripts and the VMware PowerPack is also compatible with the VI client plugin. The plugin uses your current connection to the VC. You don’t need to make a separate connection for every script.

Last week VMware officially released the VI Toolkit for Windows.

• They replaced get-viserver with connect-viserver. get-viserver is now an alias for connect-viserver.
• disconnect-viserver was added which allows you to do a clean disconnect. Hence the rename of the get-viserver cmdlet.
• VMware also added cmdlets for managing the VMware Update Manager.

Jeffrey Snover posted a solution for speeding up the PowerShell start-up long time ago. I only noticed it lasted week :-(

Check it out: http://blogs.msdn.com/powershell/archive/2007/11/08/update-gac-ps1.aspx