Using the PowerCLI Inventory Provider
Use the PowerCLI Inventory Provider to interact with the VMware vSphere inventory through a file system interface, so that it is easier to navigate, manipulate, and automate tasks.
The PowerCLI Inventory Provider allows navigation and file-style management of the VMware vSphere inventory. By creating a PowerShell drive based on a managed object (such as a data center), you can obtain a view of its contents and the relationships between the items. In addition, you can move, rename, or delete objects by running commands from the PowerShell console.
When you connect to a server with Connect-VIServer, the cmdlet builds two default inventory drives: vi and vis.
To access the inventory of the last connected
server, run: cd vi:\
.
To access the inventory of all vSphere
servers connected within the current PowerCLI session,
run cd vis:\
.
Use the dir and cd commands to navigate the inventories.