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vSphere ESXi Image Builder Workflows with PowerCLI Cmdlets
vSphere ESXi Image Builder workflows are examples for cmdlet use. Workflows do not represent
actual tasks, but illustrate how you might explore different ways of using a cmdlet. Administrators
trying out the workflows benefit from some experience with PowerCLI, Microsoft PowerShell, or
both.
Examine Depot Contents
You can examine software depots and VIBs with vSphere ESXi Image Builder cmdlets. You can
use wildcards to examine depot contents. All wildcard expressions are supported.
The workflow itself passes parameters by name. However, you can pass parameters as objects by
accessing variables.
You can use filtering options and wildcard expressions to examine depot contents.
Prerequisites
Verify that PowerCLI and prerequisite software is installed. See Install vSphere ESXi Image Builder
and Prerequisite Software.
Procedure
1 In a PowerCLI session, run the Add-EsxSoftwareDepot cmdlet for each depot you want to
work with.
Option
Action
Remote depot Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl <depot_url>.
ZIP file a Download the ZIP file to a local file system.
b Run Add-EsxSoftwareDepot -DepotUrl C:\<file_path>\<offline-
bundle>.zip
The cmdlet returns one or more SoftwareDepot objects.
2 Retrieve image profiles.
You can filter by vendor, name, and acceptance level.
n Get-EsxImageProfiles
Returns an array of ImageProfile objects from all depots you added to the session.
n Get-EsxImageProfile -Vendor "C*"
Returns all image profiles created by a vendor with a name that starts with the letter C.
3 Retrieve software packages by using the Get-EsxSoftwarePackage cmdlet.
You can filter, for example by vendor or version, and you can use the standard PowerShell
wildcard characters.
n Get-EsxSoftwarePackage -Vendor "V*"
VMware ESXi Installation and Setup
VMware, Inc. 68