Mouse unavailable in Windows Server 2012 R2 on XenServer 6.2

After a fresh installation of Windows Server 2012 R2 on XenServer 6.2, the mouse became unavailable. Even with the latest patches available from Citrix (up to XS62E009) and the XenTools installed, still no mouse. It was available from Remote Desktop, but not really convenient.

After some research, I checked in the Device Manager and found an issue with the PCI to USB Universal Host Controller.

I uninstalled it and went to Action, Scan for hardware changes...

The PCI to USB Universal Host Controller was successfully recreated, and a USB Root Hub has also been successfully added.

The mouse is now available, and no reboot is required.

This issue might come back; it seems to be a known issue with Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 8.1. See this post on Citrix Forums.

How to automate Citrix XenServer PowerShell scripts

Using the XenServer PowerShell cmdlets, it's now easy to automate tasks in XenServer using PowerShell scripts.

This script is based on XenServer 6.2 PSSnapIn, but with few changes, you can adapt to previous version. Cmdlets have different names from previous version (for example, Get-XenServer:VM is now Get-XenVM...).

First, you need to download the XenServer SDK from Citrix website, and the install the XenServerPSSnapIn.

First thing you have to do before you can call any method is to load the PSSnapIn. The command to do it is:

Add-PSSnapIn XenServerPSSnapIn

If you use it in a script, you need to ensure that it's not throwing an error if it's already loaded and terminating your script, so we check before adding:

if ( (Get-PSSnapIn -Name "XenServerPSSnapIn" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -eq $Null ) {Add-PSSnapIn XenServerPSSnapIn}

Then, you need to declare the XenServer host you're connecting to; you need to point at the poolmaster.

So, below you create an array in case you have several pools to look after:

[array]$xenserver_poolmaster = @("mypoolmaster1","mypoolmaster2","mypoolmaster3")

Next, we'll make a loop through the array (% stand for "foreach"):
# Loop through list of hosts (poolmaster)

$xenserver_poolmaster | % {
  ... do things ...
}

To connect, you need to authenticate. You could mention the password in clear text, but it's safer to use a stored encrypted password as described in the following post.

To connect to a XenServer host, we'll use the following command line:

Connect-XenServer -Server $_ -Creds $xenserver_credential -SetDefaultSession

Once connected, as an example, we'll retrieve the list of VMs:

Get-XenVM | ? {$_.is_a_snapshot -eq $false -and $_.is_a_template -eq $false -and $_.is_control_domain -eq $false -and $_.power_state -eq 'running'} | Select-Object name_label

Then, we'll disconnect from the pool:

Get-XenSession -Server $_ | Disconnect-XenServer

So, see below the complete script:

[array]$xenserver_poolmaster = @("poolmaster1","poolmaster2")
[string]$xenserver_username = "root"
[string]$xenserver_credential_path = "c:\temp\xenserver_pool.pwd"

# If Password file does not exist, create it
if ((Test-Path -Path $xenserver_credential_path) -eq $False) {
    (Get-Credential).Password | ConvertFrom-SecureString | Out-File $xenserver_credential_path
}

# Read the password
$xenserver_password = cat $xenserver_credential_path | ConvertTo-SecureString

# Create the PSCredential Object
$xenserver_credential = New-Object -Typename System.Management.Automation.PSCredential -ArgumentList $xenserver_username, $xenserver_password

# Import the XenServer PSSnapIn
if ( (Get-PSSnapIn -Name "XenServerPSSnapIn" -ErrorAction SilentlyContinue) -eq $Null ) {Add-PSSnapIn XenServerPSSnapIn}

# Loop through list of hosts (poolmaster)
$xenserver_poolmaster | % {

  # Connect to XenServer pool
  Connect-XenServer -Server $_ -Creds $xenserver_credential -SetDefaultSession

  # Retrieve the information
  Get-XenVM | ? {$_.is_a_snapshot -eq $false -and $_.is_a_template -eq $false -and $_.is_control_domain -eq $false -and $_.power_state -eq 'running'} | Select-Object name_label

  # Disconnect from the XenServer pool
  Get-XenSession -Server $_ | Disconnect-XenServer

}

How to know on which XenServer host VMs are running

Load-balancing and High Availability are great XenServer features, however, for various reasons, you might want to check on which host which VM is running, and to have the ability to automate the task.

The following powershell script has been created for the XenServer 6.2, using the following XenServerPSSnapin: XenServerPSSnapIn-6.2.0-1.msi

This script does work the same way with previous versions but the cmdlets names changed (e.g.: Get-XenVM was Get-XenServer:VM...).

# Import the XenServer PSSnapIn

Add-PSSnapIn XenServerPSSnapIn

# Connect to the XenServer pool

Connect-XenServer -Server "IP of the poolmaster" -Username "root" -Password "password" -SetDefaultSession

# Retrieve the information

Get-XenVM | ? {$_.is_a_snapshot -eq $false -and $_.is_a_template -eq $false -and $_.is_control_domain -eq $false -and $_.power_state -eq 'running'} | Select-Object name_label, @{Name="hostname";Expression={(Get-XenHost -ref $_.resident_on).hostname}}

# Disconnect from the XenServer pool

Get-XenSession -Server "IP of the poolmaster" | Disconnect-XenServer