Prerequisites for VMware vCenter Inventory

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Table of Contents

Overview Supported Versions Requirements PowerCLI Requirements Troubleshooting -Name VCF.PowerCLI not found connect-viserver: Connect-VIServer Error: Invalid server certificate

Overview

This document provides reference information on the data provider Inventory of VMware vCenter. 

VMware vCenter data provider is able to collect information about virtual machines.

Supported Versions

The following versions of ESXi and vCenter have been tested and are supported by the VMware vCenter data provider:

  • Version 8.0 Update 3
  • Version 8.0 Update 2
  • Version 8.0 Update 1
  • Version 8.0
  • Version 7.0 Update 3
  • Version 7.0 Update 2
  • Version 7.0 Update 1
  • Version 7.0
  • Version 6.7 Update 3
  • Version 6.7 Update 2
  • Version 6.7 Update 1
  • Version 6.7
  • Version 6.5
  • Version 6.0
  • Version 5.5
  • Version 5.0
  • Version 4.1

Ports Used by Connectors and Data Providers

Hyper-V, XenServer and vCenter Inventory Attribute Mapping

Requirements

To be able to scan the VMware vCenter infrastructure under a read-only user, select a user that belongs to the Read-only user role in vSphere Client and specify their credentials when configuring the Inventory of VMware vCenter Data Provider.

PowerCLI Requirements

To successfully scan the VMware vCenter infrastructure, you need to install the latest version of PowerCLI on the machine where you run the Worker (Remote Worker service or Matrix42 Function Engine Dispatcher service).

We only support VMware PowerCLI 11.5 and higher since, according to our experience, previous versions may show unexpected behavior (issues).

 

To check which version is currently installed, run the command:

Get-Module VCF.PowerCLI -ListAvailable

Before installing, please ensure that the old version of PowerCLI is uninstalled. Upgrading from a previous version is impossible.

 

To uninstall the previous version of PowerCLI, stop the Worker service and run PowerShell ISE (not PowerShell ISE (x86)) and run the commands below:

For VCF PowerCLI 9.0.0 and higher:

(Get-Module VCF.PowerCLI -ListAvailable).RequiredModules | Uninstall-Module -Force
                                                            Get-Module VCF.PowerCLI -ListAvailable | Uninstall-Module -Force
(Get-Module VCF.PowerCLI -ListAvailable).RequiredModules | Uninstall-Module -Force
                                                            Get-Module VCF.PowerCLI -ListAvailable | Uninstall-Module -Force

Following Broadcom's acquisition of VMware, the PowerCLI module was renamed from VMware.PowerCLI to VCF.PowerCLI. Find additional information in the VCF PowerCLI article.

Updating PowerCLI with the old command still works, but only finds PowerCLI version 13.3.0. This also displays a warning to notify the user that the version is deprecated.
Please also note that VCF PowerCLI uses a different versioning scheme.

 

For VMware PowerCLI 13.3.0 and lower:

(Get-Module VMware.PowerCLI -ListAvailable).RequiredModules | Uninstall-Module -Force 
Get-Module VMware.PowerCLI -ListAvailable | Uninstall-Module -Force
(Get-Module VMware.PowerCLI -ListAvailable).RequiredModules | Uninstall-Module -Force
Get-Module VMware.PowerCLI -ListAvailable | Uninstall-Module -Force

Additionally, check that the PowerCLI instance is not installed under Programs and Features in Windows settings. Otherwise, uninstall it manually.

To install the latest version of PowerCLI, run the commands below as administrator:

Install-Module -Name VCF.PowerCLI -Scope AllUsers -Force -AllowClobber
Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -InvalidCertificateAction Ignore -Scope AllUsers -Confirm:$false

Start the Worker service.

Troubleshooting

-Name VCF.PowerCLI not found

If this error occurs, please run the following command in PowerShell:

Register-PSRepository -Name PSGallery -SourceLocation https://www.powershellgallery.com/api/v2/ -PublishLocation https://www.powershellgallery.com/api/v2/package/ -ScriptSourceLocation https://www.powershellgallery.com/api/v2/items/psscript/ -ScriptPublishLocation https://www.powershellgallery.com/api/v2/package/ -InstallationPolicy Trusted -PackageManagementProvider NuGet

connect-viserver: Connect-VIServer Error: Invalid server certificate

In this case, run the following command in PowerShell:

Set-PowerCLIConfiguration -InvalidCertificateAction Ignore -Scope AllUsers -Confirm:$false

Further Information:

You can check the compatibility between PowerCLI and VMware vCenter Server by using VMware's compatibility matrix (external link).

 

If PowerShell does not recognize the Install-Module command, please update Windows Management Framework.

 

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