Thanks for the suggestion but unfortunately it still says "operation not supported":
PowerCLI C:\VPX\ps> $esx = Get-VMHost -Name 10.217.174.27
PowerCLI C:\VPX\ps> New-vApp -Location $esx -Name AlansTestApp
New-vApp : 1/15/2013 4:53:58 PM New-VApp The operation is not supported on the object.
At line:1 char:1
+ New-vApp -Location $esx -Name AlansTestApp
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+ CategoryInfo : NotSpecified: (:) [New-VApp], NotSupported
+ FullyQualifiedErrorId : Client20_ClientSideTaskImpl_ThreadProc_UnhandledException,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Commands.NewVApp
Though the object returned by Get-VMHost looks OK:
PowerCLI C:\Users\alansi\Desktop\VPX\ps> $esx
Name ConnectionState PowerState Id CpuUsage CpuTotal Memory Memory
Mhz Mhz UsageMB TotalMB
---- --------------- ---------- -- -------- -------- ------- -------
10.217.174.27 Connected PoweredOn ...host 61 12768 3179 16373
Is there any obvious mistake I'm making? The host is running ESXi 5.0.0 build 623860.