VMware vSphere PowerCLI 6.3 Release 1 consists of three components that users can install and use according to their needs and environments.

With the RelatedObject parameter of vSphere PowerCLI cmdlets, you can retrieve vSphere inventory objects and vSphere PowerCLI view objects from cloud resources. This interoperability between the vSphere PowerCLI and vCloud Director PowerCLI components expands cloud administration, automation, reporting, and troubleshooting options for provider administrators.

In vSphere PowerCLI, you can pass strings and wildcards to all parameters that take inventory objects, datastores, OSCustomizationSpec objects, and VIServer objects as arguments. This vSphere PowerCLI approach is named Object-by-Name (OBN) selection.

When you provide login credentials in the command prompt or in a script file, a PowerShell limitation might prevent vSphere PowerCLI from processing non-alphanumeric characters correctly. To prevent login problems, escape the non-alphanumeric characters in your credentials.

By default, vSphere PowerCLI cmdlets return an output only after completion of the requested tasks. If you want a cmdlet to return to the command line immediately, without waiting for the tasks to complete, you can use the RunAsync parameter.

By default, vSphere PowerCLI and vSphere PowerCLI cmdlets run on the vCenter Server systems or vCloud Director servers you are connected to, if no target servers can be determined from the provided parameters.

vSphere PowerCLI provides two types of objects for customization specification: persistent and nonpersistent.

The vSphere PowerCLI list of cmdlets includes the Get-View and Get-VIObjectByVIView cmdlets, which enable access to vSphere PowerCLI views from .NET.

vSphere PowerCLI provides you the capability to use ESXCLI through its console.

The Inventory Provider is designed to expose an unfiltered inventory view of the inventory items from a server.

The Datastore Provider is designed to provide access to the contents of one or more datastores.

You can learn more about some vSphere PowerCLI concepts and features from the built-in help articles named about articles. You can access them through a running vSphere PowerCLI process.