VMware PowerCLI 12.6.0 Release Notes

Released 07 April 2022

VMware PowerCLI 12.6.0. Build 19610541

Check frequently for additions and updates to these release notes.

VMware PowerCLI 12.6.0 Release Notes

This document contains the following information:

About VMware PowerCLI

VMware PowerCLI is a suite of PowerShell modules to manage VMware products and services. VMware PowerCLI includes over 800 cmdlets to easily manage your infrastructure on a global scale.

Installation, Upgrade, and Removal of VMware PowerCLI

Management of the PowerCLI modules is provided by the PowerShell Gallery and by using the PowerShell default cmdlets for working with modules in the PowerShell Gallery. For detailed information on how to install, upgrade, or remove PowerCLI, refer to the VMware PowerCLI User's Guide.

VMware PowerCLI Components

In VMware PowerCLI 12.6.0, the following modules have been updated:

  • VMware.PowerCLI: Provides a root module which other modules are dependent on. This ensures the PowerCLI product can be installed, upgraded, and removed as a complete package if needed.
  • VMware.VimAutomation.Core: Provides cmdlets for automated administration of the vSphere environment.
  • VMware.VimAutomation.Common: Provides functionality that is common to all PowerCLI modules. This module has no cmdlets, but is required for other modules to function correctly.
  • VMware.VimAutomation.Cis.Core: Provides cmdlets for managing vSphere Automation SDK servers.
  • VMware.VimAutomation.Vmc: Provides cmdlets for managing VMware Cloud on AWS features.
  • VMware.VimAutomation.Srm: Provides cmdlets for managing VMware Site Recovery Manager features.
  • VMware.Vim: Provides vSphere low-level binding libraries. This module has no cmdlets.
  • VMware.DeployAutomation: Provides cmdlets that provide an interface to VMware Auto Deploy for provisioning physical hosts with ESXi software.
  • VMware.ImageBuilder: Provides cmdlets for managing depots, image profiles, and VIBs.
  • VMware.VimAutomation.Storage: Provides cmdlets for managing vSphere policy-based storage.
  • VMware.VimAutomation.Hcx: Provides cmdlets for managing VMware HCX features.
  • VMware.CloudServices: Provides cmdlets for managing VMware Cloud Services.
  • VMware.PowerCLI.VCenter.*: Provide PowerShell-based cmdlets for automated administration of the vSphere environment.
  • VMware.PowerCLI.Sdk.*: Provide help functionalities for the PowerShell-based cmdlets. These modules have no cmdlets but are required for other modules to function correctly.

In VMware PowerCLI 12.6.0, the following modules have been added:

  • VMware.Sdk.Nsx.Policy: Provides auto-generated cmdlets for accessing the NSX Policy API.

Supported Platforms

For a list of VMware PowerCLI 12.6.0 supported operating systems and PowerShell versions, see Compatibility Matrixes for VMware PowerCLI 12.6.0.

For a list of VMware products with which VMware PowerCLI 12.6.0 is compatible, see VMware Product Interoperability Matrixes.

What's New in This Release

New Features

VMware PowerCLI 12.6.0 introduces the following new features, changes, and improvements:

  • The VMware.Sdk.Nsx.Policy module has been added to provide functionality, which enables you to manage the NSX Policy API with VMware PowerCLI.
  • A number of new cmdlets have been added to the VMware.VimAutomation.Core module.
    • New cmdlets to manage vCenter Server appliance backups.
      Get-ApplianceBackupJob
      Get-ApplianceBackupPart
      New-ApplianceBackupJob
      Stop-ApplianceBackupJob
      Wait-ApplianceBackupJob
  • The VMware.VimAutomation.Srm module has been updated to support VMware Site Recovery Manager 8.5.

For more information on changes made in VMware PowerCLI 12.6.0, including improvements, security enhancements, and deprecated features, see the VMware PowerCLI Change Log. For more information on specific product features, see the VMware PowerCLI User's Guide. For more information on specific cmdlets, see the VMware PowerCLI Cmdlet Reference. For the full list of PowerCLI documentation, visit the VMware PowerCLI 12.6.0 Home Page.

Resolved Issues

The following issues have been resolved in VMware PowerCLI 12.6.0:

  • New-HCXMigration
    New-HCXMigration does not verify whether all the source networks are mapped to the target networks during VM mobility group migration.
  • New-HCXMigration
    When you initiate a non-mobility migration, the network mapping does not appear in the migration dashboard UI.
  • Get-HCXMigration
    Get-HCXMigration throws an error message if a migration was triggered without providing the TargetStorageProfile parameter.
  • Get-HCXVM
    Get-HCXVM is unable to handle pagination and throws an error message when there is a large number of VMs to list.
  • Get-VsanView
    When run on PowerShell 7.2.2, Get-VsanView throws an error message of type Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
  • Other
    • Cmdlets from the VMware.DeployAutomation module might throw error messages of type No sessionId found or vimSessionKey parameter is missing when invoked against certain vSphere versions.
    • The GetRecoveryLocationSettings API does not return the correct object type.

Known Issues

VMware PowerCLI 12.6.0 is known to have the following issues:

  • Get-HCXMigration
    Тhe Username parameter of the Get-HCXMigration cmdlet is case-sensitive.
    Workaround: Use the username format supported by API. For example, use Administrator@VSPHERE.LOCAL.
  • Import-Module
    If you try to import VMware.PowerCLI module on PowerShell Core, you receive an error message and the import process fails.
    Workaround: Import each module separately.
  • New-HCXServiceMesh
    When you run New-HCXServiceMesh, the Service Mesh object accepts destination as an input at the organization virtual datacenter level, but the Service Mesh object is created at an organization level.
  • Set-VsanClusterConfiguration
    When you run Set-VsanClusterConfiguration on vSAN 6.5 or vSAN 6.6, the AddSilentHealthCheck and RemoveSilentHealthCheck parameters do not update any values.
    Workaround: Update to vSAN 6.7.
  • Set-WMCluster
    The default value of the DefaultImageRegistryHostPort parameter is 443, but this is not implemented.
    Workaround: Always define the DefaultImageRegistryHostPort parameter when the DefaultImageRegistryHostname parameter is specified.
  • Test-HCXMigration
    Test-HCXMigration throws an exception instead of a warning. This might mislead you that running Start-HCXMigration is not possible.
  • Get-CustomCertificates, Add-CustomCertificate and Remove-CustomCertificates
    Get-CustomCertificates, Add-CustomCertificate, and Remove-CustomCertificates fail with a message of type Unsupported version URI.
  • Export-VDSwitch and Export-VDPortGroup
    Export-VDSwitch and Export-VDPortGroup fail with an error message of type Could not load file or assembly ICSharpCode.SharpZipLib or one of its dependencies. The system cannot find the file specified.
    Workaround: Update to PowerShell 7.
  • Other
    • For Windows PowerShell 5.1, when you run a cmdlet and the operation fails on the server side, you might receive a There is an error in the XML document. error message. This is not a valid server error and it is returned when PowerShell is unable to read the actual server-side error.
      Workaround: Update to PowerShell 7 or use the vSphere Web Client to check the actual server-side error.