The VMware PowerCLI User's Guide provides information about installing and using the VMware PowerCLI cmdlets (pronounced “commandlets”) for managing, monitoring, automating, and handling operations for VMware® vSphere, VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM), vSphere Automation API, vSAN, VMware Cloud Director, vSphere Update Manager, VMware Aria Operations, VMware Horizon, VMware NSX, VMware HCX, and VMware Cloud on AWS components.

To help you start with PowerCLI, this documentation includes descriptions of specific PowerCLI concepts and features. In addition, this documentation provides a set of use case examples and sample scripts.

Intended Audience

This guide is intended for anyone who wants to install and use PowerCLI. This documentation is written for administrators and developers who are familiar with virtual machine technology and PowerShell.

  • Basic administrators can use cmdlets included in PowerCLI to manage their vSphere, VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM), vSphere Automation API, vSAN, VMware Cloud Director, vSphere Update Manager, VMware Aria Operations, VMware Horizon, VMware NSX, VMware HCX, and VMware Cloud on AWS infrastructure from the command line.
  • Advanced administrators can develop PowerShell scripts that other administrators can reuse or integrate into other applications.