VMware Healtcheck script
Introduction:
Healthcheck is a Powershell script that reports information like snapshots, VMware tools version, datastore space, CDROM and/or floppy drives connected, VM details etc. to HTML and e-mail the output. This script can be scheduled so that for example you get every week a rapport in your mailbox with the status of the VMware environment.
Reason for creating this script:
As VMware Consultant I see a lot of common problems in VMware environments like:
Snapshots are enabled and forgot the commit to the VM.
Datastores are almost full (for example if snapshots are enabled)
VMware tools versions are different
CDROM and floppy drives are still mounted to the VM
Virtual Machines have CPU and Memory limits or reservations (VMs are swapping)
In the VM, the VMware Tools timesync option is not enabled
In the Virtual Infrastructure Client (VIC) it is difficult to see this sort of information. By creating a Powershell script, I can do a quick inventory. In a lot of VMware environments I created a scheduled tasks, so the script runs once a week and sent to HTML rapport to the administrator.
What does the script:
I wrote a Powershell script with HELP from the VMTN community that makes a HTML file and sent the output by e-mail to a person or distribution list. The Healthcheck script does the following checks:
VMware ESX hardware
VMware ESX versions
VMware VirtualCenter versions
Active snapshots
CDROM and Floppy drive(s) mounted to the VM
Datastore information like capacity, free space and the percentage free space
VirtualMachine (VM) information like VMware tools version, CPU, Memory reservations and limits etc.
On what VMs VMware Tools timesync is not enabled
Requirements:
The following software must be installed:
Microsoft Powershell 1.0 (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserver2003/technologies/management/powershell/download.mspx)
VMware Infrastucture (VI) toolkit for Windows 1.0
http://www.vmware.com/download/sdk/
Set the ExecutionPolicy in Windows Powershell to RemoteSigned by using the following command:
set-ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned
Installation:
Unzip the Healthcheck.zip script to a directory on the VC server for example.
When the ZIP if unpacked there are two files:
Healthcheck.ps1, this is the Powershell script
Style.CSS, controls the HTML layout
Configuration:
Edit the Powershell.ps1 file
edit the following variables:
$vcserver="localhost"
Enter the VC server, if you execute the script on the VC server you can use the localhost name
$filelocation="D:\temp\Healthcheck.htm"
Specify the location where to store the HTML output
$enablemail="yes"
Enable (yes) or disable (no) to sent the script by e-mail
$smtpServer = "mail.ivobeerens.nl"
Specify the SMTP server in your network
$mailfrom = "VMware Healtcheck <mailto:powershell@ivobeerens.nl>"
Specify the from field
$mailto = mailto:ivo@ivobeerens.nl
Specify the address where the e-mail to sent to
Usage:
Manually run the Healthcheck.ps1 script":
1. Open Powershell
2. Browse to the directory where the Healthcheck.ps1 script resides
3. enter the command:
./Healthcheck.ps1
To create a schedule task in for example Windows 2003 use the following syntax in the run property:
Powershell -command "& 'path\Healthcheck.ps1'
edit the path
Powershell -command "& 'path\Healthcheck.ps1'
edit the path .
Future:
List Orphaned VMDK's
Add performance information like VM usage
Check timesync on the VMware hosts
Happy testing