Get VMware vCenter Scheduled Tasks with PowerCLI

VMware vSphere PowerCLI is missing cmdlets to work with VMware vCenter Scheduled Tasks. In a series of blog posts I will show you some PowerShell advanced functions that you can use to work with vCenter Scheduled Tasks. The first function is Get-VCScheduledTask. You can use this function to retrieve one or more scheduled tasks from your vCenter Server.

The Get-VCScheduledTask function

function Get-VCScheduledTask {
<#
  .SYNOPSIS
    Retrieves the scheduled tasks on a vCenter Server.

  .DESCRIPTION
    Retrieves the scheduled tasks on a vCenter Server.

  .PARAMETER  Name
    Specify the name of the scheduled tasks you want to retrieve. If no value is
    given to this parameter, the command returns all the scheduled tasks.

  .PARAMETER  Server
    Specify the vCenter server to apply the command on. If no value is given to
    this parameter, the command runs on the server currently specified in the
    $DefaultVIServers variable.

  .EXAMPLE
    PS C:\> Get-VCScheduledTask -Server vCenter
    Retrieves all the scheduled tasks for the vCenter server named vCenter.

  .EXAMPLE
    PS C:\> Get-VCScheduledTask -Name "*Update Manager*"
    Retrieves all the VMware vSphere Update Manager scheduled tasks.

  .INPUTS
    System.String

  .OUTPUTS
    PSCustomObject

  .NOTES
    Author:  Robert van den Nieuwendijk
    Date:    17-1-2013
    Version: 1.0

  .LINK
    https://rvdnieuwendijk.com/
    http://twitter.com/rvdnieuwendijk

#>

  [CmdletBinding()]
  [OutputType([PSObject])]
  
  # Parameter definitions
  param([parameter(position=0)][string[]]$Name = "*",
        [parameter(position=1)][string[]]$Server = "*"
  )

  # Loop through the servers
  foreach ($SingleServer in $Server) {
    # Loop through the scheduled task names
    foreach ($SingleName in $Name) {
      # Create the parameterset for the Get-View cmdlet
      $GetViewParameterSet = @{
        Id = "ServiceInstance"
       } 
      if ($SingleServer)
      {
        $GetViewParameterSet += @{
          Server = $SingleServer
        }
      }  

      # Get the ScheduledTaskManager objects
      $ServiceInstance = Get-View @GetViewParameterSet
      $ScheduledTaskManager = $ServiceInstance |
        ForEach-Object {
          if ($_)
          {
            Get-View -Id $_.Content.ScheduledTaskManager
          }
        }
	
      # Get the scheduled tasks
      if ($ScheduledTaskManager) {
        Get-View -Id ($ScheduledTaskManager |
          Select -ExpandProperty ScheduledTask |
          Sort-Object -Unique) |
        Where-Object {
          $_.Info.Name -like $SingleName -and $_.Client.ServiceUrl.Split('/')[2].Split(':')[0] -like $SingleServer
        } |
        ForEach-Object {
          if ($_)
          {
            $ScheduledTask = $_

            # Find the server
            $VIServer = $global:DefaultVIServers |
              Where-Object {
                $_.Name -eq $ScheduledTask.Client.ServiceUrl.Split('/')[2].Split(':')[0]
              }
			
            # Create the output objects
            New-Object -TypeName PSObject -Property @{
              Name = $ScheduledTask.Info.Name
              Description = $ScheduledTask.Info.Description
              Action = $ScheduledTask.Info.Action
              EntityId = $ScheduledTask.Info.Entity
              Entity = $ScheduledTask.Info.Entity |
                Get-VIObjectByVIView -Server $VIServer
              Enabled = $ScheduledTask.Info.Enabled
              Notification = $ScheduledTask.Info.Notification
              State = $ScheduledTask.Info.State
              Progress = $ScheduledTask.Info.Progress
              LastModifiedTime = $ScheduledTask.Info.LastModifiedTime
              LastModifiedUser = $ScheduledTask.Info.LastModifiedUser
              NextRunTime = $ScheduledTask.Info.NextRunTime
              PrevRunTime = $ScheduledTask.Info.PrevRunTime
              Scheduler = $ScheduledTask.Info.Scheduler
              ExtensionData = $ScheduledTask
              Id = $ScheduledTask.MoRef
              Uid = "/VIServer=$($VIServer.User)@$($ScheduledTask.Client.ServiceUrl.Split('/')[2])/ScheduledTask=$($ScheduledTask.MoRef)/"
              Client = $ScheduledTask.Client
            } |
            Select-Object -Property Name,Description,Action,EntityId,Entity,Enabled,
              Notification,State,Progress,LastModifiedTime,LastModifiedUser,
              NextRunTime,PrevRunTime,Scheduler,ExtensionData,Id,Uid,Client
          }
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Listing 1. The Get-VCScheduledTask function to retrieve VMware vCenter Scheduled tasks.

Annotations

Line 47-48: Both parameters are defined as [string[]]. That means that you can specify an array as the value of the parameter.

Line 55-64: A PowerShell technique called splatting is used to create the parameter set of the Get-View cmdlet used in line 67.

Line 67: The GetViewParameterSet variable is used as a parameter to the Get-View cmdlet. Notice that it is used as @GetViewParameterSet without a $ sign.

Line 117-119: The output of the New-Object cmdlet on line 96-116 can have it properties in an unsorted order. The Select-Object cmdlet orders the properties.

Sample output

The objects that the Get-VCScheduledTask function returns look like the objects that the PowerCLI Get-* cmdlets return. The objects have a Name, ExtensionData, Id, Uid and Client property.

PowerCLI C:\users\robert> Get-VCScheduledtask


Name             : VMware vCenter Update Manager Update Download
Description      : A pre-defined scheduled task to download software patch definitions.
Action           : VMware.Vim.CreateTaskAction
EntityId         : Folder-group-d1
Entity           : Datacenters
Enabled          : True
Notification     :
State            : success
Progress         :
LastModifiedTime : 6-11-2012 14:25:44
LastModifiedUser : com.vmware.vcIntegrity
NextRunTime      : 18-1-2013 03:10:00
PrevRunTime      : 17-1-2013 03:10:00
Scheduler        : VMware.Vim.DailyTaskScheduler
ExtensionData    : VMware.Vim.ScheduledTask
Id               : ScheduledTask-schedule-101
Uid              : /VIServer=rvdnieuwendijk\robert@vcenter:443/ScheduledTask=ScheduledTask-schedule-101/
Client           : VMware.Vim.VimClient

Name             : VMware vCenter Update Manager Check Notification
Description      : A pre-defined scheduled task to check update notifications.
Action           : VMware.Vim.CreateTaskAction
EntityId         : Folder-group-d1
Entity           : Datacenters
Enabled          : True
Notification     :
State            : success
Progress         :
LastModifiedTime : 6-11-2012 14:25:45
LastModifiedUser : com.vmware.vcIntegrity
NextRunTime      : 17-1-2013 20:04:00
PrevRunTime      : 17-1-2013 19:04:00
Scheduler        : VMware.Vim.HourlyTaskScheduler
ExtensionData    : VMware.Vim.ScheduledTask
Id               : ScheduledTask-schedule-102
Uid              : /VIServer=rvdnieuwendijk\robert@vcenter:443/ScheduledTask=ScheduledTask-schedule-102/
Client           : VMware.Vim.VimClient

Name             : Power on storage-test
Description      :
Action           : VMware.Vim.MethodAction
EntityId         : VirtualMachine-vm-109
Entity           : storage-test
Enabled          : True
Notification     :
State            : success
Progress         :
LastModifiedTime : 3-1-2013 14:03:00
LastModifiedUser : rvdnieuwendijk\robert
NextRunTime      :
PrevRunTime      : 5-1-2013 15:02:00
Scheduler        : VMware.Vim.OnceTaskScheduler
ExtensionData    : VMware.Vim.ScheduledTask
Id               : ScheduledTask-schedule-201
Uid              : /VIServer=rvdnieuwendijk\robert@vcenter:443/ScheduledTask=ScheduledTask-schedule-201/
Client           : VMware.Vim.VimClient



PowerCLI C:\users\robert>

Output 1. Sample output of the Get-VCscheduledTask function.

Have fun with scheduled tasks!