Why can I not filter an object by property when property equals "xyz"?

[JDMils_Interact]

I cannot get the following code to only return results based on the host name:

PS>$ESXiHost = get-vmhost 'MyHost15.MyDomain.Com'
PS>$esxihost.name
MyHost15.MyDomain.Com

PS>$oSwitchObject =  Get-VirtualSwitch -Name 'MyDVSwitch' -Distributed
PS> $oSwitchObject

Name                           NumPorts   Mtu   Notes
----                           --------   ---   -----
MyDVSwitch               782        9000

I have checked that the host is attached to the mentioned dvSwitch using the vCenter GUI.

Now to return the VDPort information for only this host:

Get-VDPort -VDSwitch $oSwitchObject.Name | where-object { ($_.proxyhost -eq $esxihost.name) } | Select *
Get-VDPort -VDSwitch $oSwitchObject.Name | where-object { ($_.proxyhost -eq 'MyHost15.MyDomain.Com') } | Select *

HOWEVER, the following commands DO work:

Get-VDPort -VDSwitch $oSwitchObject.Name | where-object { ($_.proxyhost -like $esxihost.name) } | Select *
Get-VDPort -VDSwitch $oSwitchObject.Name | where-object { ($_.proxyhost -like 'MyHost15.MyDomain.Com') } | Select *

Why does "-Like" work and not "-eq"?

This is the output of the working commands:

ExtensionData      : VMware.Vim.DistributedVirtualPort
Key                : 9
Description        :
IsBlocked          : False
IsBlockedInherited : True
IsLinkUp           : False
MacAddress         :
VlanConfiguration  : VLAN 1234
ConnectedEntity    : Network adapter 1
ProxyHost          : MyHost15.MyDomain.Com
Portgroup          : vLAN1234
Switch             : MySwitch
Name               :
Id                 : 9
Uid                : /VIServer=MyDomain\jmilano@MyvCenter:443/DistributedPort=9/

[LucD]

Because the ProxyHost property is not a single String but a VMware.VimAutomation.Vds.Types.V1.VDPort object.
To use the -eq operand, use the Name property of the ProxyHost object.

Get-VDPort -VDSwitch $oSwitchObject.Name | where-object { ($_.proxyhost.Name -eq $esxihost.name) } | Select *

 

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Blog: lucd.info  Twitter: @LucD22  Co-author PowerCLI Reference

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[JDMils_Interact]

Thanks for that. I was running the command from the command line and got this:

PS > Get-VDPort -VDSwitch $oSwitchObject.Name | Select *

ExtensionData      : VMware.Vim.DistributedVirtualPort
Key                : 5
Description        : 
IsBlocked          : False
IsBlockedInherited : True
IsLinkUp           : True
MacAddress         : 00:50:56:a0:fb:76
VlanConfiguration  : VLAN 100
ConnectedEntity    : Network adapter 1
ProxyHost          : MyHost15.MyDomain.Com
Portgroup          : Management100
Switch             : dvSwitch-MySwitch
Name               : 
Id                 : 5
Uid                : /VIServer=MyDomain\jmilano@MyvCenter:443/DistributedPort=5/

From the result, it seemed that ProxyHost was a text property not an object.

I ran the code in my Powershell ISE and it does come back as an object.

Thank you.

[LucD]

Console output is most of the time not the best way to try and determine what is actually returned.
PS uses these formatting files (.PS1XML) to determine what is shown in the console for an object.

Always the GetType() method to determine an object's type.

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Blog: lucd.info  Twitter: @LucD22  Co-author PowerCLI Reference

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[Guy Leech]

As well as using GetType(), I often pipe an object through Convertto-json (sometimes having to add -depth) to visualise an object. Pipe that into scb (alias for Set-Clipboard) and paste into notepad for an easier experience than in a console window.