Exclude list of Vms from script deleting snapshots in vmware - powercli

Question

I have a powercli script which is scheduled to delete the VMs older than X days, recently we got a list of VMs which are supposed to be excluded from the snapshot deletion as these are critical Snapshots.
How do I introduce the parameter exclude VM in my script to compare the VMS with a snapshot in Vcenter to the list I provide and list and delete only VMS which meets the criteria of not older than X days and not part of the Exclude VM list.
I am relatively new and using below code to fetch snapshots older than 10 Days and delete them.
# vCenter Server configuration
$vcenter = "Vcenter Name"
$vcenteruser = "Domain\Userid"
$vcenterpw = "Password"
#Connect to the vCenter server defined above. Ignore certificate errors
Connect to vcenter Server connect-viserver $vcenter -User $vcenteruser -Password $vcenterpw"
Add-PSSnapin VMware.VimAutomation.Core -ErrorAction 'SilentlyContinue'
Clear-Host
$old_snapshots = Get-VM | Get-Snapshot |? { ([DateTime]::Now - $_.Created).TotalDays -gt 7 } | Remove-Snapshot: $old_snapshots | Remove-Snapshot -RunAsync -Confirm:$false
I need to figure out what if i have a list of 'vms' having snapshots older than 10 days which shouldn't be deleted. I want to exclude those 'Vms' but i am not sure how to do that.
So I tried Using the logic by # I.T Delinquent . I put a value in '$VmToIgnore' and compare it with the list of VMs received in 'Get-Vm'. If it is true do nothing, If it s false, get snapshot and other attribute of that VM and export it to CSV.
$vmsToIgnore ="Vm1"
$e = Get-VM
Foreach-Object {
if ($vmsToIgnore -Contains $_.Name){
#Do nothing as VM name is in the vmsToIgnore list
}else{
$f = $e |get-Snapshot| Select-object
vm,VMId,name,Description,SizeGB,created
$f| Export-Csv -Path "\\%path%\snapshot.csv"
}
}
This is still returning list of all 'VM' Snapshots including the one n '$VMToIgnore'.
I must be making some mistake here as it should not print the '$VmToIgnore' in Excel.

Answer 1

Could you build upon something like this:
$vmsToIgnore = "VM1","VM2"
$old_Snapshots = Get-VM | Foreach-Object {
if ($vmsToIgnore -Contains $_.Name){
#Do nothing as VM name is in the vmsToIgnore list
}else{
#Perform tasks as vm isn't in vmsToIgnore list
}
}
I'm not really sure what Get-VM will return so please you will likely have to edit my example. Here is the basis of it though assuming that Get-VM returns a nice list of VMs:
$vmsToIgnore = "VM1","VM2"
$outputFromGetVM = "VM1","VM1.2","VM2","VM3"
foreach ($vm in $outputFromGetVM){
if ($vmsToIgnore -contains $vm){
Write-Host "Ignoring"
}else{
Write-Host "performing"
}
}
Let me know if you have any questions
UPDATE
I think this could be used:
$vmsToIgnore = "Vm1"
Get-VM | ForEach-Object {
if ($vmsToIgnore -contains $_.Name){
#Do nothing as VM name is in the vmsToIgnore list
}else{
Get-Snapshot $_ | Select-Object vm, VmId, Name, Description, SizeGB, Created | Export-Csv -Path "\\path\to\file.csv"
}
}

Answer 2

Sounds like you have the VM names as a list already in which case exclude them
$list = Get-VM | where {"name" -ne "mypreciousvm"}
You will need to play with -notmatch or -notcontains I can't remember which one you will need. Then pass the exclusion list below.
$old_snapshots = Get-VM -name $list | Get-Snapshot |? { ([DateTime]::Now - $_.Created).TotalDays -gt 7 } | Remove-Snapshot: $old_snapshots | Remove-Snapshot -RunAsync -Confirm:$false
If Vms come and go a lot then try to do it in one go otherwise you may get an error as you reget the vm name
$old_snapshots = Get-VM | where {$.name -notcontains $list}| Get-Snapshot |? { ([DateTime]::Now - $.Created).TotalDays -gt 7 } | Remove-Snapshot: $old_snapshots | Remove-Snapshot -RunAsync -Confirm:$false

Answer 3

Delete Snapshots that are older than 3 days
Get-VM | Get-Snapshot | ? {$_.created -lt (Get-Date).AddDays(-3)} | Remove-Snapshot -Confirm:$false -RunAsync