PowerCLI

  • 1.  How to list local vCenter users and groups [vCenter 6.7 and 8]

    Posted 23 days ago

    I need to export and import local vCenter SSO, e.g. "vsphere.local", users and groups. Using the built-in object explorer in vCenter 8 I found "Managed Object Type: ManagedObjectReference:UserDirectory" at https://myvCenter/mob/?moid=UserDirectory and tried the method RetrieveUserGroups with the following inputs:

    domain (optional) string
    searchStr (required) string *
    belongsToGroup (optional) string
    belongsToUser (optional) string
    exactMatch (required) boolean false
    findUsers (required) boolean true
    findGroups (required) boolean true

    ... and got the following output:

    name string Return value
    val UserSearchResult[]

    I wanted to use the object explorer to figure out how to use PowerCLI to retreive the local users and groups. I tried using another script (https://community.broadcom.com/vmware-cloud-foundation/discussion/how-do-i-create-a-report-on-vcenter-permissions-via-powercli) as inspiration for this:

    PS C:\> $si = Get-View ServiceInstance -Server $global:DefaultVIServer
    PS C:\> $UserDirectory = Get-View -Id $si.Content.UserDirectory-Server $global:DefaultVIServer
    PS C:\> $UserDirectory.RetrieveUserGroups
     
    OverloadDefinitions
    -------------------
    VMware.Vim.UserSearchResult[] RetrieveUserGroups(string domain, string searchStr, string belongsToGroup, string belongsToUser, bool exactMatch, bool findUsers, bool findGroups)
    PS C:\> $UserDirectory.RetrieveUserGroups()
    Cannot find an overload for "RetrieveUserGroups" and the argument count: "0".
    At line:1 char:1
    + $UserDirectory.RetrieveUserGroups()
    + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodException
        + FullyQualifiedErrorId : MethodCountCouldNotFindBest
     
    PS C:\> $UserDirectory.RetrieveUserGroups( "" , "*" , "" , "" , "false" , "true" , "true" )
    Exception calling "RetrieveUserGroups" with "7" argument(s): "The object or item referred to could not be found."
    At line:1 char:1
    + $UserDirectory.RetrieveUserGroups( "" , "*" , "" , "" , "false" , "tr ...
    + ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
        + FullyQualifiedErrorId : VimException
     
    PS C:\>


    How to I get a list of vCenter local users and groups using PowerCLI?

    My next question will be how to create these users and groups on another vCenter instance but that's for another post.



  • 2.  RE: How to list local vCenter users and groups [vCenter 6.7 and 8]

    Posted 23 days ago

    I did discover that Get-VIAccount will export users and groups from the local OS and SSO domain (vsphere.local). However, I'm still curious to get the previously posted code above working.


    Original Message