The modeling framework of port-Hamiltonian descriptor systems and their use in numerical simulation and control are discussed. The structure is ideal for automated network-based modeling since it is invariant under power-conserving interconnection, congruence transformations, and Galerkin projection. Moreover, stability and passivity properties are easily shown. Condensed forms under orthogonal transformations present easy analysis tools for existence, uniqueness, regularity, and numerical methods to check these properties.After recalling the concepts for general linear and nonlinear descriptor systems, we demonstrate that many difficulties that arise in general descriptor systems can be easily overcome within the port-Hamiltonian framework. The properties of port-Hamiltonian descriptor systems are analyzed, time-discretization, and numerical linear algebra techniques are discussed. Structure-preserving regularization procedures for descriptor systems are presented to make them suitable for simulation and control. Model reduction techniques that preserve the structure and stabilization and optimal control techniques are discussed.The properties of port-Hamiltonian descriptor systems and their use in modeling simulation and control methods are illustrated with several examples from different physical domains. The survey concludes with open problems and research topics that deserve further attention.