Powercli : Connecting and disconnecting servers

After installation of powercli on desktop now its time to start using it , for that you have to connect to a vCenter server or ESXi server.

Connecting to a server

If you are not connected to a vCenter or an ESXi server, you will get an error message if you try to run a PowerCLI cmdlet. Let's try to retrieve a list of all of your datacenters using the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> Get-Datacenter

The output of the preceding command is as follows:

Get-Datacenter : 03/27/2017 12:37:36 PM    Get-Datacenter        Youare not currently connected to any servers. Please connect firstusing a Connect cmdlet.
At line:1 char:1
+ Get-Datacenter
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : ResourceUnavailable: (:) [Get-Datacenter], ViServerConnectionException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId :Core_BaseCmdlet_NotConnectedError,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Com

You see that this gives an error message. You first have to connect to a vCenter Server or an ESXi server using the Connect-VIServer cmdlet. If you have a vCenter Server, you only need to connect to the vCenter Server and not to the individual ESXi servers. It is possible to connect to multiple vCenter Servers or ESXi servers at once. The Connect-VIServer cmdlet has the following syntax:

Connect-VIServer [-Server] <String[]> [-Port <Int32>] [-Protocol <String>] [-Credential <PSCredential>] [-User <String>] [-Password <String>] [-Session <String>] [-NotDefault] [-SaveCredentials] [-AllLinked] [-Force] [<CommonParameters>]
Connect-VIServer -Menu [<CommonParameters>]

As you can see, the Connect-VIserver cmdlet has two parameter sets: Default and Menu. In the Default parameter set, the –Server parameter is required. In the Menu parameter set, the –Menuparameter is required. You cannot combine parameters from the Default parameter set with the Menu parameter set.

Let's first try to connect to a vCenter Server with the following cmdlet:

PowerCLI C:\> Connect-VIServer –Server 192.168.0.132



192.168.0.133 is the IP address of the vCenter Server in my home lab. Replace this IP address with the IP address or DNS name of your vCenter or ESXi server.

The preceding command will pop up a window in which you have to specify server credentials to connect to your server if your Windows session credentials don't have rights on your server. Enter values for User name and Password and click on OK.

If you specified valid credentials, you will get output similar to the following:

Name                           Port  User
----                           ----  ----
192.168.0.132                  443   root



You can also specify a username and password on the command line as follows:

PowerCLI C:\> Connect-VIServer –Server 192.168.0.132 -User admin -Password pass



You can also save the credentials in a variable with the following command:

PowerCLI C:\> $Credential = Get-Credential



The preceding command will pop up a window in which you can type the username and password.



You can now use the $Credential variable to connect to a server using the –Credentialparameter, as follows:

PowerCLI C:\> Connect-VIServer –Server 192.168.0.132 –Credential$Credential.
Courtesy/Ref :- Learning PowerCLI by Robert van den Nieuwendijk