Introduction to Scripting in Virtual Machine Manager

Applies To: Virtual Machine Manager 2008, Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2, Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2 SP1

System Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) 2008 is a server application that you can use to manage virtual machines on a variety of virtualization platforms. VMM server includes the Windows PowerShell - Virtual Machine Manager command shell. You can use this command shell to manage virtual machine hosts, library servers, virtual machines, and other VMM components interactively by using commands or by using task-based scripts.

The VMM command shell includes all the standard Windows PowerShell cmdlets and a comprehensive set of cmdlets that are designed specifically for VMM. You can use standard Windows PowerShell cmdlets together with VMM cmdlets to create scripts. Windows PowerShell and the VMM command shell support programming constructions such as variable assignment, looping, conditional statements, and flow control.

The sample scripts provided in each section illustrate how you can use Windows PowerShell for centralized management of your physical and virtual infrastructure when that infrastructure is managed by VMM. Experimenting with these scripts can help you understand how to create scripts that are useful in your own environment.

This section includes the following topics:

• About Windows PowerShell for Virtual Machine Manager

• Managing Objects in Virtual Machine Manager

• Using the VMM Cmdlets

• Using Cmdlet Help

• Converting Cmdlet Help Examples into Scripts

• Connecting to the Virtual Machine Manager Server

For More Information

The examples in this section focus on the VMM command shell. For more information about Windows PowerShell, see Windows PowerShell (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=86262). For more information about scripting with Windows PowerShell, see Scripting with Windows PowerShell (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=128815).