Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V PowerShell Crib Sheet

Reference notes for Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V PowerShell. The powershell commands are in bold, with user input in red.
Credit: Brien Posey, Pete Zerger, and Chris Henley – download the “Hands-on Guide: Understanding Hyper-V in Windows Server 2012” from Veeam.com here!

Test Cluster

Test-Cluster –List
Test-Cluster –Ignore Storage
Note: Do not run the storage cluster validation check on a production cluster – this may cause VMs to crash!
Test-Cluster –Include {option}
Test-Cluster –Node HVHOST01, HVHOST02, HVHOST03

Get-ClusterResource
Test-ClusterResourceFailure “VM01”
Test-ClusterResourceFailure –Name “Cluster Disk 1”

Anti-affinity rules

Note: Anti-affinity rules cannot be done in the GUI.

Get-ClusterGroup {group name} | Select-Object *


Set-ExecutionPolicy Unrestricted
Import-Module C:\Modules\AntiAffinityClassNames
Get-Command –Module AntiAffinityClassNames
Set-AntiAffinityClassNames –Cluster HyperVCluster –ClusterGroup DC01VM –Value “Is a domain controller”
Get-AntiAffinityClassNames

Syntax simplification

Pre 2012:> Get-Process | ForEach {$_.Name}
In  2012:> Get-Process | ForEach Name

Pre 2012:> Get-Process | where {$_.Handles –GT 500}
In 2012:> Get-Process | Where Handles –GT 500

Attaching to a Hyper-V server

Enter-PSSession HVHOST02
Get-VM
ExitPSSession

Invoke-command –ComputerName HVHOST01, HVHOST02, HVHOST03 {Get-VM}

Querying virtual machines

Get-VM
Get-VM –ComputerName ProdVM01
Get-VM LABVM01
Get-VMHost LABVM1, LABVM2, LABVM3

Filtering the output

-EQ = Equal To
-OR = Or
-AND = And
-Like = Like
-GT = Greater Than
-LT = Less Than

Get-VM | Where Name –Like ‘VMLAB07*’
Get-VM | Where State –EQ ‘Off’
Get-VM –ComputerName LABVM1, LABVM2, LABVM3 | Where State –EQ ‘Running’

Get-ClusterGroup | Where GroupType –EQ ‘VirtualMachine’ | Get-VM
Get-ClusterGroup | Where GroupType –EQ ‘VirtualMachine’ | Get-VM | Where State –EQ ‘Off’
Get-ClusterGroup | Where GroupType –EQ ‘VirtualMachine’ | Get-VM | Where MemoryAssigned –GT ‘1073741825’

Getting more information

Get-VM Lab-DC | FL *
Get-VMHost | FL *
Get-VM | FT VMName, ComputerName, IsClustered

Reporting

Get-VM | FL
Get-VM | FT
Get-VM | Select-Object VMName, State, ComputerName, IsClustered, UpTime, Status
Get-VM | Select-Object VMName, State, ComputerName, IsClustered, UpTime, Status | Export-CSV C:\Data\VMs.csv
Get-VM | FT VMName, State, ComputerName, IsClustered, UpTime, Status | Out-File C:\Data\VMs.txt
Get-VM | Select-Object VMName, State, ComputerName, IsClustered, UpTime, Status | ConvertTo-HTML | Out-File C:\Data\VMs.htm
Get-VM | Select-Object VMName, State, ComputerName, IsClustered, UpTime, Status | ConvertTo-HTML | Out-File CL\Data\VMs.htm | Invoke-Expression C:\Data\VMs.htm

Enter the below lines together to create a styled HTML report:

Changing a virtual machine’s state

Stop-VM LabVM01
Start-VM LabVM01

Creating a virtual machine

With a default configuration of 512MB, DVD drive, no hard disk, no network, 1 vCPU:
New-VM –Name “NewVM01” –Path “C:\VMs” –ComputerName NewVM01

Modifying a virtual machine

Get-VMMemory LABVM01
Set-VMMemory LABVM01 –Startup 2.0GB
Set-VMMemory LABVM01 –DynamicMemoryEnabled $True –MinimumBytes 512MB –StartupBytes 1GB –MaximumBytes 2GB –Priority 80 –Buffer 25
Set-VMMemory NewVM1, NewVM2, NewVM3 –Startup 2.0GB

Creating a virtual machine with a defined memory allocation

New-VM –Name “NewVM01” –Path “C:\VMs” –ComputerName NewVM01 | Set-VMMemory –Startup 4GB

Virtual network adapters

Get-VMNetworkAdapter LABVM01

$VMNic = Get-VMNetworkAdapter –VMName NewVM01
Get-VMSwitch | Select-Object Name
(Or Get-VMSwitch –SwitchType External | Select-Object Name if you have multiple virtual switches)
Connect-VMNetworkAdapter –VMNetworkAdapter $VMNic –SwitchName “Intel(R) Gigabit CT Desktop Adapter #2 – Virtual Switch”
Get-VMNetworkAdapter –VMName NewVM01 | Select-Object VMName, Name, SwitchName

CPU cores

Get-VM NewVM01 | Select-Object VMName, ProcessorCount
Set-VMProcessor NewVM01 –Count 2

Other options:
Set-VMProcessor TestVM01 -Count 2 –Reserve 10 – Maximum 75 – RelativeWeight 200
Set-VMProcessor LegacyVM01 -CompatibilityForOlderOperatingSystemsEnabled $true

Building a virtual machine from scratch

New-VM –Name NewVM01 –NewVHDPath F:\NewVM01\disk1.VHDX –NewVHDSize 50GB –Path F:\NewVM01

With more than one disk, memory, processor, and network settings:
New-VM –Name NewVM02 –NewVHDPath F:\NewVM02\disk1.VHDX –NewVHDSize 50GB –Path F:\NewVM02
New-VHD F:\NewVM02\Disk2.VHDX –Size 50GB
Get-VMHardDiskDrive NewVM02
Add-VMHardDiskDrive NewMV02 IDE 0 1 –Path F:\NewVM02\Disk2.vhdx
Get-VMHardDiskDrive NewVM02             
Set-VMMemory NewVM02 –Startup 4GB
Set-VMProcessor NewVM02 –Count 4
$VMNic = Get-VMNetworkAdapter –VMName NewVM02
Get-VMSwitch | Select-Object Name
Connect-VMNetworkAdapter –VMNetworkAdapter $VMNic –SwitchName
Get-VMNetworkAdapter –VMName NewVM02 | Select-Object VMName, Name, SwitchName

Deleting a virtual machine

Remove-VM NewVM03

Working with virtual machine snapshots

To create a snapshot:
Get-VM LabVM01 | Checkpoint-VM

Get-VMSnapshot –VMName LabVM01
Restore-VMSnapshot –Name (Get-VMSnapshot –VMName “LabVM01”).Name –VMName “LabVM01”
Remove-VMSnapshot –Name (Get-VMSnapshot –VMName “LabVM01”).Name –VMName “LabVM01”

Live migration of a virtual machine

Move-VM “LabVM03” HVHOST02
Move-VM “LabVM03” HVHOST02 –DestinationStoragePath F:\VMs

Getting help

Get-VM -?
Get-Help *-VM
Get-Help Suspend-*
New-VM -Whatif
Get-Command | Where Definition –Like *whatif*

And check out:
Windows PowerShellISE (IntelliSense)

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