Using raw API objects with ExtensionData or Get-View
PowerCLI makes it easy to use the VMware vSphere application programming interface (API). There are two ways to do this. The first one is by using the ExtensionData
property that most of the PowerCLI objects have. The Extensiondata
property is a direct link to the vSphere API object related to the PowerCLI object. The second way is by using the Get-View
cmdlet to retrieve the vSphere API object related to a PowerCLI object. Both these ways will be discussed in the following sections.
Using the ExtensionData property
Most PowerCLI objects, such as VirtualMachineImpl
and VMHostImpl
, have a property called ExtensionData
. This property is a reference to a view of a VMware vSphere object as described in the "VMware vSphere API Reference Documentation". For example, the ExtensionData
property of the PowerCLI's VirtualMachineImpl
object links to a vSphere VirtualMachine
object view. ExtensionData
is a very powerful property because it allows you...