About
Robert van den Nieuwendijk is a freelance senior systems engineer with over 30 years of experience in the IT industry. He focusses on VMware vCloud Suite and Microsoft Windows Server. He tries to automate as much of his work as possible using Microsoft PowerShell.
Robert is the author of the books “Learning PowerCLI” and “Learning PowerCLI – Second Edition.” Robert is a frequent contributor and moderator at the VMware VMTN Communities. He has a bachelor degree in software engineering and holds the following IT certifications and accreditations:
VSP 2016, VTSP 2016, VCP4-DCV, VCP5-DCV, VCP6-DCV, VCP6-CMA, VCA-Cloud, VCA-WM, VCA-NV, VMSP, VMTSP, ZCS, ZCP, ZCP-Cloud, MCSE, MCSA, MCP, MCP+I, PRINCE2 Foundation and ITIL Foundation.
In 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 Robert received the VMware vExpert award for his contribution to the community of VMware users over the past year. In 2017 Robert also received the VMware vExpert Cloud award.
PernixData made him in 2015 a member of the PernixPro.
Robert van den Nieuwendijk's Blog 
HI Robert,
I’m enjoying your book. I’m currently on chapter 4 attempting to use your script to invoke vsphere cli commands inside of powercli. Cool Stuff! Howerver I am stuck on the script you provided giving me the below error.
Invoke-Expression : At line:2 char:69
+ ‘C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware vSphere CLI\Bin\\vihostupdate35.pl’ $args }
+ ~~~~~
Unexpected token ‘$args’ in expression or statement.
\add-vclifunction.ps1:55 char:1
+ Invoke-Expression $Function
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ParserError: (:) [Invoke-Expression], ParseException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnexpectedToken,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeExpressionCommand
Invoke-Expression : At line:2 char:65
+ ‘C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware vSphere CLI\Bin\\vmkfstools.pl’ $args }
+ ~~~~~
Unexpected token ‘$args’ in expression or statement.
At C:\Users\blynch.BTGPGH\Documents\add-vclifunction.ps1:55 char:1
+ Invoke-Expression $Function
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ParserError: (:) [Invoke-Expression], ParseException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnexpectedToken,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeExpressionCommand
Invoke-Expression : At line:2 char:65
+ ‘C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware vSphere CLI\Bin\\vmware-cmd.pl’ $args }
+ ~~~~~
Unexpected token ‘$args’ in expression or statement.
At \add-vclifunction.ps1:55 char:1
+ Invoke-Expression $Function
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : ParserError: (:) [Invoke-Expression], ParseException
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : UnexpectedToken,Microsoft.PowerShell.Commands.InvokeExpressionCommand
vicfg-nics : The term ‘vicfg-nics’ is not recognized as the name of a cmdlet, function, script file, or operable program.
Check the spelling of the name, or if a path was included, verify that the path is correct and try again.
At \\vicfg-nics.ps1:7 char:3
+ vicfg-nics -l –server $_.Name
Any suggestions?
Hi William,
I am glad you are enjoying my Learning PowerCLI book.
Did you use the function Add-vCLIfunction from the code bundle accompanied with the book? You can download it from the Support tab on http://www.packtpub.com/learning-powercli/book. I just tried it myself and it works without a problem here.
You can also take a look at my blog post https://rvdnieuwendijk.com/2011/07/21/how-to-run-vmware-vsphere-cli-perl-scripts-from-powercli/. I used this blog post to write the part of the book you specified.
If you keep having problems with this function, let me know.
Hi Robert,
Thanks I think I’m having the same issue as the first post on your blog. It may be an environment issue I can call the commands from command.exe but powershell doesn’t like them. Thanks for the quick reply, I’m going to keep trying!
Hi Robert, I want to be short. Why this job stays in running state forever and returns nothing? I want to perform many tasks as background jobs so I started with this trivial job just for testing purposes.
$cred = Get-Credential -UserName mydomain\mydomainusername
Start-Job -ScriptBlock {
Import-Module ‘C:\Program Files (x86)\VMware\Infrastructure\vSphere PowerCLI\Modules\VMware.VimAutomation.Core’
Connect-VIServer vcenter -Credential $using:cred -WarningAction SilentlyContinue -InformationAction SilentlyContinue | Out-Null
get-vm db01
} -RunAs32
Hi Robert I am seeking your assistance for the installation of both ESXi and vCenter Server. I have just acquired a copy of your book I have both the PowerCLI/Powershell installed. I have copied the iso images to physical media(DVD). How do I proceed with the installation of the same? I have both ESXi/vCenter Server for 60 day evaluation. I seek your assistance.
Hi Nigel, you first have to install ESXi on a server using the media you created. The server can be a physical server or a virtual server, for example, running on VMware Workstation or VMware Fusion. You can install vCenter Server on a Windows Server. However, more easily you can install the VMware vCenter Server Virtual Appliance (vCSA).
You can find more information in the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide (http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/index.jsp#com.vmware.vsphere.install.doc/GUID-7C9A1E23-7FCD-4295-9CB1-C932F2423C63.html?src=vmw_so_vex_rvand_702)