Manage Datastores Through Datastore Drives

You can use the PowerCLI Datastore Provider to browse datastores from datastore drives.

Prerequisites

Verify that you are connected to a vCenter Server system.

Procedure

1. Navigate to a folder on the ds: drive.

   cd VirtualMachines\XPVirtualMachine

2. View the files of the folder by running the ls command.

   ls

   ls is the UNIX style alias of the Get-ChildItem cmdlet.
3. Rename a file by running the Rename-Item cmdlet or its alias ren.

   For example, to change the name of the vmware-3.log file to vmware-3old.log, run:

   ren vmware-3.log vmware-3old.log

   All file operations apply only on files in the current folder.
4. Delete a file by running the Remove-Item cmdlet or its alias del.

   For example, to remove the vmware-3old.log file from the XPVirtualMachine folder, run:

   del ds:\VirtualMachines\XPVirtualMachine\vmware-2.log

5. Copy a file by running the Copy-Item cmdlet or its alias copy.

   copy ds:\VirtualMachines\XPVirtualMachine\vmware-3old.log ds:\VirtualMachines\vmware-3.log

6. Copy a file to another datastore by running the Copy-Item cmdlet or its alias copy.

   copy ds:\Datacenter01\Datastore01\XPVirtualMachine\vmware-1.log ds:\Datacenter01\Datastore02\XPVirtualMachine02\vmware.log

7. Create a new folder by running the New-Item cmdlet or its alias mkdir.

   mkdir -Path ds:\VirtualMachines -Name Folder01 -Type Folder

8. Download a file from the datastore drive to the local machine by running the Copy-DatastoreItem cmdlet.

   Copy-DatastoreItem ds:\VirtualMachines\XPVirtualMachine\vmware-3.log C:\Temp\vmware-3.log

9. Upload a file from the local machine by running the Copy-DatastoreItem cmdlet.

   Copy-DatastoreItem C:\Temp\vmware-3.log  ds:\VirtualMachines\XPVirtualMachine\vmware-3new.log