The book is, of course, primarily targeted at administrators of vSphere environments who want to automate tasks. But the subjects that we discuss in the book cover so many aspects of the management of a VMware vSphere environment that everyone who comes into contact with a VMware vSphere environment will be able to pick up something useful.
In our day-to-day contact with PowerCLI users, we noticed that most of them start with what we like to call the reporting phase. Thanks to the natural look and feel of PowerShell and PowerCLI, it is quite easy for beginners to produce impressive reports about their vSphere environment. That’s why we included several chapters on different types of reporting. The somewhat more advanced user will go into the configuration phase. That is the moment when you start changing settings on your virtual guests and in the vSphere servers. There is an extensive number of chapters for this phase in the book.
The ultimate phase you can achieve through the use of PowerCLI is the process automation phase. As an administrator, you are now going to automate complex processes in your vSphere environment. This process can range from automating the deployment of vSphere servers all the way to automating the switch to a disaster recovery center. Again, the book offers several chapters for this phase.
Since PowerCLI runs as a snap-in in PowerShell, you might think that you have to be a Windows administrator to profit from the book. Although that is indeed the targeted audience, there are some automation aspects that are only (or at least easily) accessible through the PowerCLI snap-in. So, even if you are primarily a *nix shop, you can still profit from using PowerCLI for some of your administrative tasks.