How do I get the tasks associated with vCenter objects using PowerCLI?

Question

We are using vSphere 6.7 in our environment.

I am writing a script to look for certain tasks associated with specific target resources in our vCenter environment. However, Get-Task only returns recent tasks that show up in the Recent Tasks view in the HTML5 client. I can get events associated with resources just fine, for example I can get the events associated with a given datastore folder like so:

Get-Folder FOLDER_NAME -Type Datastore | Get-VIEvent

But there doesn't seem to be an equivalent way to get tasks associated with those same resources. Get-Task doesn't accept pipeline input in the same way Get-VIEvent does, and results in an error:

Get-Folder FOLDER_NAME -Type Datastore | Get-Task

Output:

Get-Task: The input object cannot be bound to any parameters for the command either
because the command does not take pipeline input or the input and its properties
do not match any of the parameters that take pipeline input.

Get-Task also doesn't show any tasks that don't show in the Recent Tasks view of the HTML5 client.

Inspecting the object doesn't seem to offer any members that let me see tasks targeting these resources:

Get-Folder FOLDER_NAME -Type Datastore | Get-Member

Output:

   TypeName: VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.DatastoreManagement.DatastoreClusterImpl

Name                             MemberType Definition
----                             ---------- ----------
ConvertToVersion                 Method     T VersionedObjectInterop.ConvertToVersion[T]()
Equals                           Method     bool Equals(System.Object obj)
GetClient                        Method     VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Interop.V1.VIAutomation VIObjectCoreInterop.GetClient()
GetHashCode                      Method     int GetHashCode()
GetType                          Method     type GetType()
IsConvertableTo                  Method     bool VersionedObjectInterop.IsConvertableTo(type type)
LockUpdates                      Method     void ExtensionData.LockUpdates()
ToString                         Method     string ToString()
UnlockUpdates                    Method     void ExtensionData.UnlockUpdates()
CapacityGB                       Property   decimal CapacityGB {get;}
ExtensionData                    Property   System.Object ExtensionData {get;}
FreeSpaceGB                      Property   decimal FreeSpaceGB {get;}
Id                               Property   string Id {get;}
IOLatencyThresholdMillisecond    Property   System.Nullable[int] IOLatencyThresholdMillisecond {get;}
IOLoadBalanceEnabled             Property   bool IOLoadBalanceEnabled {get;}
Name                             Property   string Name {get;}
SdrsAutomationLevel              Property   VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Types.V1.Cluster.DrsAutomationLevel SdrsAutomationLevel {get;}
SpaceUtilizationThresholdPercent Property   System.Nullable[int] SpaceUtilizationThresholdPercent {get;}
Uid                              Property   string Uid {get;}

This isn't just for folder tasks, though, I can't seem to enumerate any tasks for a given resource at all if they aren't in the Recent Tasks view of the HTML5 client. Conversely, in the HTML5 client, I can easily enumerate tasks on a given resource using its Monitor tab, but this doesn't help with automation short of crawling through the UI programmatically (not happening):

How do I use PowerCLI to see the tasks targeting specific resources using PowerCLI?

Answer 1

@jrmilner's answer worked for me here, but it does not let me get tasks from non-inventory objects, even if I change the type of -Entity to an [object[]]. However, I did post a follow up question about retrieving events from non-inventory objects, but this time I was able to find a solution by modifying another function LucD wrote which I found as I continued my research. How is this related to this question then?

Thanks to Cpt.Whale, I learned that Tasks are Events, and while I obtain the events and separate the "wheat from the Tasks" in a different way, their answer helped me below.

By using the modified Get-VIEventPlus in my linked answer to the other question, I can discern between tasks and events as they would be separated in the HTML5 client by checking whether Severity is set on a returned event like so:

$dsCluster = Get-DatastoreCluster

$tasks = Get-VIEventPlus -Entity $dsCluster | Where-Object { ! $_.Severity }
$events = Get-VIEventPlus -Entity $dsCluster | Where-Object { $_.Severity }

---

It appears that events will have the severity set while tasks do not.

Answer 2

Get-VIEvent returns all kinds of stuff - luckily, including tasks! You can see them by their type [VMware.Vim.TaskEvent], or by checking for their info property which only tasks events have. For example:

$VIEvents = Get-VM $VMName | Get-VIEvent
$VITasks  = $VIEvents | Where Info
$VITasks | Select CreatedTime, FullFormattedMessage

CreatedTime           FullFormattedMessage                 
-----------           --------------------                 
8/19/2021 4:39:22 PM  Task: Remove all snapshots           
8/19/2021 4:38:04 PM  Task: Reconfigure virtual machine    
8/19/2021 3:52:06 PM  Task: Migrate virtual machine        

There is often more detailed information stored in the Info property of task events, but we have to expand it by selecting that property specifically:

$VITasks.Info | select QueueTime,Name,EntityName,State

---

Highly-detailed information about what actually happened is usually stored in other event types though. For example, to see what changed in the 'Reconfigure virtual machine' task, I'll need to check for events with a ConfigChanges property.

These also happen to have a very detailed structure with ConfigChanges and ConfigSpec properties that you can parse. I just use the pre-formatted message here, but you can use calculated properties to display them with Select like I do to get the VM Name:

Get-VM My-Test-VM1 | Get-VIEvent | Where ConfigChanges | 
  Select -First 1 CreatedTime,@{label='VmName';expr={$_.VM.Name}},FullFormattedMessage |
  Format-List

CreatedTime          : 8/19/2021 4:38:04 PM
VmName               : My-Test-VM1
FullFormattedMessage : Reconfigured My-Test-VM1 on My-Test-Host1 in My-Test-Datacenter1.  
                        Modified:  
                       config.hardware.device(3002).deviceInfo.summary: "ISO (ISO-DATASTORE1) RHEL7.iso" -> "Remote ATAPI"; 
                        Added:  
                        Deleted:  

These steps work for any event/task type, but you have to do some initial digging to find where the data you need is stored, and how to display it in a helpful way.

---

For whatever reason, Get-Task is designed specifically to get only:

[...]information about the current or recent tasks[...]

Get-Task reference

Answer 3

Luc Dekens wrote a scripted function to tackle your issue. Here's a copy of the function, you can target specific resources with the entity param.

function Get-TaskPlus {
    <#  
    .SYNOPSIS  Returns vSphere Task information   
    .DESCRIPTION The function will return vSphere task info. The
    available parameters allow server-side filtering of the
    results
    .NOTES  Author:  Luc Dekens  
    .PARAMETER Alarm
    When specified the function returns tasks triggered by
    specified alarm
    .PARAMETER Entity
    When specified the function returns tasks for the
    specific vSphere entity
    .PARAMETER Recurse
    Is used with the Entity. The function returns tasks
    for the Entity and all it's children
    .PARAMETER State
    Specify the State of the tasks to be returned. Valid
    values are: error, queued, running and success
    .PARAMETER Start
    The start date of the tasks to retrieve
    .PARAMETER Finish
    The end date of the tasks to retrieve.
    .PARAMETER UserName
    Only return tasks that were started by a specific user
    .PARAMETER MaxSamples
    Specify the maximum number of tasks to return
    .PARAMETER Reverse
    When true, the tasks are returned newest to oldest. The
    default is oldest to newest
    .PARAMETER Server
    The vCenter instance(s) for which the tasks should
    be returned
    .PARAMETER Realtime
    A switch, when true the most recent tasks are also returned.
    .PARAMETER Details
    A switch, when true more task details are returned
    .PARAMETER Keys
    A switch, when true all the keys are returned
    .EXAMPLE
    PS> Get-TaskPlus -Start (Get-Date).AddDays(-1)
    .EXAMPLE
    PS> Get-TaskPlus -Alarm $alarm -Details
    #>
    param(
        [CmdletBinding()]
        [VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.Alarm.AlarmDefinitionImpl]$Alarm,
        [VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.Inventory.InventoryItemImpl]$Entity,
        [switch]$Recurse = $false,
        [VMware.Vim.TaskInfoState[]]$State,
        [DateTime]$Start,
        [DateTime]$Finish,
        [string]$UserName,
        [int]$MaxSamples = 100,
        [switch]$Reverse = $true,
        [VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Impl.V1.VIServerImpl[]]$Server = $global:DefaultVIServer,
        [switch]$Realtime,
        [switch]$Details,
        [switch]$Keys,
        [int]$WindowSize = 100
    )
    begin {
        function Get-TaskDetails {
            param(
                [VMware.Vim.TaskInfo[]]$Tasks
            )
            begin {
                $psV3 = $PSversionTable.PSVersion.Major -ge 3
            }
            process {
                $tasks | ForEach-Object {
                    if ($psV3) {
                        $object = [ordered]@{ }
                    }
                    else {
                        $object = @{ }
                    }
                    $object.Add("Name", $_.Name)
                    $object.Add("Description", $_.Description.Message)
                    if ($Details) { $object.Add("DescriptionId", $_.DescriptionId) }
                    if ($Details) { $object.Add("Task Created", $_.QueueTime) }
                    $object.Add("Task Started", $_.StartTime)
                    if ($Details) { $object.Add("Task Ended", $_.CompleteTime) }
                    $object.Add("State", $_.State)
                    $object.Add("Result", $_.Result)
                    $object.Add("Entity", $_.EntityName)
                    $object.Add("VIServer", $VIObject.Name)
                    $object.Add("Error", $_.Error.ocalizedMessage)
                    if ($Details) {
                        $object.Add("Cancelled", (& { if ($_.Cancelled) { "Y" }else { "N" } }))
                        $object.Add("Reason", $_.Reason.GetType().Name.Replace("TaskReason", ""))
                        $object.Add("AlarmName", $_.Reason.AlarmName)
                        $object.Add("AlarmEntity", $_.Reason.EntityName)
                        $object.Add("ScheduleName", $_.Reason.Name)
                        $object.Add("User", $_.Reason.UserName)
                    }
                    if ($keys) {
                        $object.Add("Key", $_.Key)
                        $object.Add("ParentKey", $_.ParentTaskKey)
                        $object.Add("RootKey", $_.RootTaskKey)
                    }
                    New-Object PSObject -Property $object
                }
            }
        }
        $filter = New-Object VMware.Vim.TaskFilterSpec
        if ($Alarm) {
            $filter.Alarm = $Alarm.ExtensionData.MoRef
        }
        if ($Entity) {
            $filter.Entity = New-Object VMware.Vim.TaskFilterSpecByEntity
            $filter.Entity.entity = $Entity.ExtensionData.MoRef
            if ($Recurse) {
                $filter.Entity.Recursion = [VMware.Vim.TaskFilterSpecRecursionOption]::all
            }
            else {
                $filter.Entity.Recursion = [VMware.Vim.TaskFilterSpecRecursionOption]::self
            }
        }
        if ($State) {
            $filter.State = $State
        }
        if ($Start -or $Finish) {
            $filter.Time = New-Object VMware.Vim.TaskFilterSpecByTime
            $filter.Time.beginTime = $Start
            $filter.Time.endTime = $Finish
            $filter.Time.timeType = [vmware.vim.taskfilterspectimeoption]::startedTime
        }
        if ($UserName) {
            $userNameFilterSpec = New-Object VMware.Vim.TaskFilterSpecByUserName
            $userNameFilterSpec.UserList = $UserName
            $filter.UserName = $userNameFilterSpec
        }
        $nrTasks = 0
    }
    process {
        foreach ($viObject in $Server) {
            $si = Get-View ServiceInstance -Server $viObject
            $tskMgr = Get-View $si.Content.TaskManager -Server $viObject 
            if ($Realtime -and $tskMgr.recentTask) {
                $tasks = Get-View $tskMgr.recentTask
                $selectNr = [Math]::Min($tasks.Count, $MaxSamples - $nrTasks)
                Get-TaskDetails -Tasks[0..($selectNr - 1)]
                $nrTasks += $selectNr
            }
            $tCollector = Get-View ($tskMgr.CreateCollectorForTasks($filter))
            if ($Reverse) {
                $tCollector.ResetCollector()
                $taskReadOp = $tCollector.ReadPreviousTasks
            }
            else {
                $taskReadOp = $tCollector.ReadNextTasks
            }
            do {
                $tasks = $taskReadOp.Invoke($WindowSize)
                if (!$tasks) { break }
                $selectNr = [Math]::Min($tasks.Count, $MaxSamples - $nrTasks)
                Get-TaskDetails -Tasks $tasks[0..($selectNr - 1)]
                $nrTasks += $selectNr
            }while ($nrTasks -lt $MaxSamples)
            $tCollector.DestroyCollector()
        }
    }
}

More info at https://www.lucd.info/2013/06/01/task-data-mining-an-improved-get-task/#more-4464