NSX Security Tag Display

[eaphilipp]

Hello,

I am creating a menu driven function that will display all of VMs attached to a security tag. All of that works, the only issue I have is when the VMs display the security tag is not displaying.

function VM-Tag

{

cls

$v = Get-NsxSecurityTag | select name

$menu = for ($i = 0; $i -lt $v.Count; $i += 2)

{

  $obj = [ordered]@{

   Odd = "$($i+1). $($v[$i].Name)"

   }

   if ($v[$i + 1])

   {

   $obj.Add('Even', "$($i+2). $($v[$i+1].Name)")   }

  New-Object PSObject -Property $obj

}

$menu | Format-Table -HideTableHeaders

$choice = Read-Host -Prompt "Select Section (1..$($v.Count))"

$VMS = Get-NsxSecurityTagAssignment -SecurityTag (Get-NsxSecurityTag $v[$choice - 1].name)

cls

$VMS | FT

}

I am getting this for a display:

SecurityTag VirtualMachine

----------- --------------

securityTag G46PALATOWER004

securityTag G46PAL0011    

securityTag G46PAL0012    

securityTag G46PAL0013    

securityTag G46PAL0014

I was hoping that the "security tag" would be my selection from the menu.

So:

SecurityTag VirtualMachine

----------- --------------

APP-TAG      G46PALATOWER004

APP-TAG     G46PAL0011    

APP-TAG      G46PAL0012    

APP-TAG      G46PAL0013    

APP-TAG      G46PAL0014

What am I missing?

[LucD]

Did you already try changing (Get-NsxSecurityTag $v[$choice - 1].name) into (Get-NsxSecurityTag $v[$choice - 1].name).SecurityTag

[eaphilipp]

Yes, when I do that. Nothing returns, which is odd.

[LucD]

Could you also try building the menu with this line

$v = Get-NsxSecurityTag | select -ExpandProperty name

And can you also check that this returns what you expect it to return.

Get-NsxSecurityTag |

ForEach-Object -Process {

   Get-NsxSecurityTagAssignment -SecurityTag $_.Name

}

[eaphilipp]

When I did this:  $v = Get-NsxSecurityTag | select -ExpandProperty name

I got this:

1.   2. 

3.   4. 

5.   6. 

7.   8. 

9.   10.

11.  12.

13.  14.

15.  16.

Tags didn't populate initial menu.

I tried this on its own:

Get-NsxSecurityTag |

ForEach-Object -Process {

   Get-NsxSecurityTagAssignment -SecurityTag $_.Name

}

And I got this:

Get-NsxSecurityTagAssignment : Cannot process argument transformation on parameter 'SecurityTag'. Cannot convert the "APP-TANIUM" value of type "System.String" to type "System.Xml.XmlElement".

At line:4 char:46

+    Get-NsxSecurityTagAssignment -SecurityTag $_.Name

+                                              ~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (:) [Get-NsxSecurityTagAssignment], ParameterBindingArgumentTransformationException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentTransformationError,Get-NsxSecurityTagAssignment

I have found a few bugs in PowerNSX. So maybe this is just another. But I feel like I am missing something obvious.

[LucD]

Strange, can you what properties are available?
With Get-NsxSecurityTag | Get-Member

[eaphilipp]

I got this:

PS C:\> Get-NsxSecurityTag | Get-Member

   TypeName: System.Xml.XmlElement

Name                 MemberType            Definition                                                                                                                                                     

----                 ----------            ----------                                                                                                                                                     

ToString             CodeMethod            static string XmlNode(psobject instance)                                                                                                                       

AppendChild          Method                System.Xml.XmlNode AppendChild(System.Xml.XmlNode newChild)                                                                                                    

Clone                Method                System.Xml.XmlNode Clone(), System.Object ICloneable.Clone()                                                                                                   

CloneNode            Method                System.Xml.XmlNode CloneNode(bool deep)                                                                                                                        

CreateNavigator      Method                System.Xml.XPath.XPathNavigator CreateNavigator(), System.Xml.XPath.XPathNavigator IXPathNavigable.CreateNavigator()                                           

Equals               Method                bool Equals(System.Object obj)                                                                                                                                 

GetAttribute         Method                string GetAttribute(string name), string GetAttribute(string localName, string namespaceURI)                                                                   

GetAttributeNode     Method                System.Xml.XmlAttribute GetAttributeNode(string name), System.Xml.XmlAttribute GetAttributeNode(string localName, string namespaceURI)                         

GetElementsByTagName Method                System.Xml.XmlNodeList GetElementsByTagName(string name), System.Xml.XmlNodeList GetElementsByTagName(string localName, string namespaceURI)                   

GetEnumerator        Method                System.Collections.IEnumerator GetEnumerator(), System.Collections.IEnumerator IEnumerable.GetEnumerator()                                                     

GetHashCode          Method                int GetHashCode()                                                                                                                                              

GetNamespaceOfPrefix Method                string GetNamespaceOfPrefix(string prefix)                                                                                                                     

GetPrefixOfNamespace Method                string GetPrefixOfNamespace(string namespaceURI)                                                                                                               

GetType              Method                type GetType()                                                                                                                                                 

HasAttribute         Method                bool HasAttribute(string name), bool HasAttribute(string localName, string namespaceURI)                                                                       

InsertAfter          Method                System.Xml.XmlNode InsertAfter(System.Xml.XmlNode newChild, System.Xml.XmlNode refChild)                                                                       

InsertBefore         Method                System.Xml.XmlNode InsertBefore(System.Xml.XmlNode newChild, System.Xml.XmlNode refChild)                                                                      

Normalize            Method                void Normalize()                                                                                                                                               

PrependChild         Method                System.Xml.XmlNode PrependChild(System.Xml.XmlNode newChild)                                                                                                   

RemoveAll            Method                void RemoveAll()                                                                                                                                               

RemoveAllAttributes  Method                void RemoveAllAttributes()                                                                                                                                     

RemoveAttribute      Method                void RemoveAttribute(string name), void RemoveAttribute(string localName, string namespaceURI)                                                                 

RemoveAttributeAt    Method                System.Xml.XmlNode RemoveAttributeAt(int i)                                                                                                                    

RemoveAttributeNode  Method                System.Xml.XmlAttribute RemoveAttributeNode(System.Xml.XmlAttribute oldAttr), System.Xml.XmlAttribute RemoveAttributeNode(string localName, string namespaceURI)

RemoveChild          Method                System.Xml.XmlNode RemoveChild(System.Xml.XmlNode oldChild)                                                                                                    

ReplaceChild         Method                System.Xml.XmlNode ReplaceChild(System.Xml.XmlNode newChild, System.Xml.XmlNode oldChild)                                                                      

SelectNodes          Method                System.Xml.XmlNodeList SelectNodes(string xpath), System.Xml.XmlNodeList SelectNodes(string xpath, System.Xml.XmlNamespaceManager nsmgr)                       

SelectSingleNode     Method                System.Xml.XmlNode SelectSingleNode(string xpath), System.Xml.XmlNode SelectSingleNode(string xpath, System.Xml.XmlNamespaceManager nsmgr)                     

SetAttribute         Method                void SetAttribute(string name, string value), string SetAttribute(string localName, string namespaceURI, string value)                                         

SetAttributeNode     Method                System.Xml.XmlAttribute SetAttributeNode(System.Xml.XmlAttribute newAttr), System.Xml.XmlAttribute SetAttributeNode(string localName, string namespaceURI)     

Supports             Method                bool Supports(string feature, string version)                                                                                                                  

WriteContentTo       Method                void WriteContentTo(System.Xml.XmlWriter w)                                                                                                                    

WriteTo              Method                void WriteTo(System.Xml.XmlWriter w)                                                                                                                           

Item                 ParameterizedProperty System.Xml.XmlElement Item(string name) {get;}, System.Xml.XmlElement Item(string localname, string ns) {get;}                                                 

clientHandle         Property              string clientHandle {get;set;}                                                                                                                                 

description          Property              string description {get;set;}                                                                                                                                  

extendedAttributes   Property              string extendedAttributes {get;set;}                                                                                                                           

isTemporal           Property              string isTemporal {get;set;}                                                                                                                                   

isUniversal          Property              string isUniversal {get;set;}                                                                                                                                  

name                 Property              string name {get;set;}                                                                                                                                         

nodeId               Property              string nodeId {get;set;}                                                                                                                                       

objectId             Property              string objectId {get;set;}                                                                                                                                     

objectTypeName       Property              string objectTypeName {get;set;}                                                                                                                               

revision             Property              string revision {get;set;}                                                                                                                                     

systemResource       Property              string systemResource {get;set;}                                                                                                                               

type                 Property              System.Xml.XmlElement type {get;}                                                                                                                              

universalRevision    Property              string universalRevision {get;set;}                                                                                                                            

vmCount              Property              string vmCount {get;set;}                                                                                                                                      

vsmUuid              Property              string vsmUuid {get;set;}                                                                                                                                      

[LucD]

That shows that the name property is there.

And it seems to have the expected value.

Can you check that it does?

[eaphilipp]

When you say that are you asking for this:

Get-NsxSecurityTag | select name

??? Sorry If I am missing something

[LucD]

Correct.

As an alternative, you can try the following alternative for the earlier snippet I gave.

It should say which tag it handling.

Get-NsxSecurityTag |

ForEach-Object -Process {

   Write-Host "Looking at $($_.Name)"

   Get-NsxSecurityTagAssignment -SecurityTag $_.Name

}

[eaphilipp]

Ok... If I run Get-nsxsecuritytag | select name I get a list of all of our security tags by name. So that works correctly:

If I run your snippet, I get this:

Looking at APP-TANIUM

Get-NsxSecurityTagAssignment : Cannot process argument transformation on parameter 'SecurityTag'. Cannot convert the "APP-TANIUM" value of type "System.String" to type "System.Xml.XmlElement".

At line:6 char:46

+    Get-NsxSecurityTagAssignment -SecurityTag $_.Name

+                                              ~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidData: (:) [Get-NsxSecurityTagAssignment], ParameterBindingArgumentTransformationException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ParameterArgumentTransformationError,Get-NsxSecurityTagAssignment

I really appreciate all of the help!

[LucD]

No problem :smileygrin:

And what if you do it like this?

Get-NsxSecurityTag |

ForEach-Object -Process {

   Write-Host "Looking at $($_.Name)"

   Get-NsxSecurityTagAssignment -SecurityTag $_

}

[eaphilipp]

So that did this:

Looking at APP-GITLAB

SecurityTag VirtualMachine

----------- --------------

securityTag G46PALATOWER004

securityTag G46PAL0011    

securityTag G46PAL0012    

securityTag G46PAL0013    

securityTag G46PAL0014    

securityTag G46PAL0013    

securityTag G46PAL0014    

securityTag G46PAL0017    

securityTag G46PAL0018   

I find it odd that it doesn't list the security tag "name" and instead just says security tag and not in this case. APP-GITLAB and then the VM.

I did find a bug where trying to delete NSX security tags from a VM with multiple tags assigned didn't work. It worked great if there was only one security tag assigned. So this snippet is suppose to remove all NSX security Tags assigned to a VM: get-vm $VM | Get-NsxSecurityTagAssignment | Remove-NsxSecurityTagAssignment  -confirm:$false

That is just a side note.

[LucD · Accepted solution]

That PowerNsx module seems to be using PSObjects and also XmlElements.

One more try, now with this

Get-NsxSecurityTag |

ForEach-Object -Process {

   Write-Host "Looking at $($_.Name)"

   Get-NsxSecurityTagAssignment -SecurityTag $_ |

       Select @{N='SecurityTag';E={$_.SecurityTag.Name}},VirtualMachine

}

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