PowerCLI Integration with the PowerShell Plug-In

You can use functionality that is available in a third-party snap-in, such as VMware vSphere PowerCLI, with the PowerShell plug-in.

To use the third-party snap-in functionality, the snap-in must be available on the PowerShell host. To load the snap-in in the current session, you must also invoke the AddPsSnapin action. When using PowerCLI, you must set the name of the snap-in to VMware.VimAutomation.Core.

The PowerShell plug-in does not provide pre-generated actions for third-party snap-ins. You can generate actions for third-party snap-ins by running the Generate an action for a PowerShell cmdlet workflow. See Generate an action for a PowerShell Cmdlet.

The com.vmware.library.powershell.converter package contains basic building blocks that allow conversion from a VC:<SomeObjectType> object, to the corresponding PowerCLI object. This feature allows workflows from the vCenter plug-in to interact with workflows from the PowerShell plug-in and to pass parameters between the two plug-ins.

Converter Workflows

You can use the sample workflows from the Converter workflow category to test the integration between the PowerShell plug-in and PowerCLI. To test the integration, PowerCLI must be installed on the PowerShell host.

The Converter sample workflows demonstrate the conversion functionality available in the plug-in.

Note: The PowerShell plug-in does not support all types that are available in PowerCLI and the vCenter plug-in. Unsupported types return an exception.

To access these workflows, navigate to Library > Workflows and enter the powershell and converter tags in the workflow search box.

Workflow Name	Description
Convert PSObject to vCO object	Converts PowerShellRemotePSObject to VC:<SomeObjectType>.
Convert PSObject to vCO object to PSObject	Converts PowerShellRemotePSObject to VC:<SomeObjectType> and the reverse.
Convert vCO object to PSObject	Converts VC:<SomeObjectType> to PowerShellRemotePSObject.