VIRTUMANIA Podcast Episode 20 – Powershell is Latin to Me. Rich Brambley (@rbrambley) of VMETC and Marc Farley (@3parfarley) of StorageRap.com with special guests Scott Herold (@vmguru) of vmguru.com and Hal Rottenberg (@halr9000) of halr9000.com. This week’s discussion focuses on using Powershell in virtual environments instead of a GUI, compares learning scripting to learning the verbs and nouns of a new language such as Latin, and highlights several Powershell sites and tools that every administrator should check out. Virtumania is an Infosmack Production.

Before, between, and after the important stuff we also have some fun with using bots in first person shooter games, Mohitos, and the trial of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

Listen to the podcast with the embedded player or subscribe to get a weekly copy so you can listen when convenient.

Check out the VM /ETC VIRTUMANIA Page to listen to past episodes as well as episodes of Infosmack.

The following links offer more information on some of the topics mentioned in VIRTUMANIA Episode 20:

Microsoft’s Page on Powershell

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptcenter/powershell.aspx

Virtualization and Powershell snapins

VMware – VMware vSphere PowerCLI

Hyper-V – Enabling PowerShell on Hyper-V Server 2008 R2

Citrix – Announcing XenServer PowerShell SnapIn

RedHat – API Guide – API, Scripting and Custom Actions

Hal’s Book

Virtualization EcoShell

thevesi.org

Other Powershell Sites and Tools Mentioned

• Alan Renouf 
• LucD
• poshcode.org
• powergui
• powershell plus (combo editor and gui)
• powershell.com (free ebook)
• Microsoft TechNet scripting center
• PowerWF

Jim Poshible

http://www.twitter.com/jimposhible

After having to boot several VMs in Windows Safe Mode in order to prevent the various HP utilities and drivers from attempting to load I finally got a clue and made sure I disabled all HP Services before running the P2V conversion. That made the start up as a new VM better, but I still had to spend some quality time with Add/Remove Programs in the Windows Control Panel to uninstall all of those HP programs!

You may be thinking “OK. You should just uninstall all the HP Programs and Drivers before the P2V.” I could, but there goes my safety net, fall back plan. I want the physical server to remain operational exactly as it was in case something unexpected prevents the P2V from succeeding. It’s rare, but if it does happen I want to be able to power back on the physical server. Maintenance windows are short and I’m not one to make my night longer than necessary.

Looks like one of my GestaltIT Tech Field Day brothers has made my next late night date with HP server migrations a little easier. Simon Seagrave’s post VMware P2V – Easy Method to Remove HP Agents and Utilities is about the HP Proliant Support Pack Cleaner v1.1 utility available from ctxadmtools.musumeci.com.ar – a site self described as full of “FREE Tools for Citrix, Microsoft and VMware Administrators and Consultants.”

I haven’t tried this utility myself yet, there doesn’t appear to be any documentation for it, and Seagrave doesn’t mention how/when he uses the utility, so I’ll have to figure out later if my process of disabling all the HP services works with this Support Pack Cleaner. I imagine it’ll work fine. I’ll just run it after I boot the migrated VM for the first time.

Sorry Windows Control Panel and Add/Remove Programs, we’ve spent a lot of time together over the years but it’s time for me to move on. Thanks Simon!

Seagrave has also previously posted about a script to do the same job. Check out both of his posts!

“These sample codes are related to products such as the new vSphereCLI, vCLI, Perl toolkit, Java Webservices SDK, etc.

I’m trying to involve the entire developer community in using(sharing/contributing) this site more.“

On the VMware Code Central Blog he explains Code Central “is intended for VMware community developers and system administrators who use VMware infrastructure and would like to have IT control through automation.” Apparently, the Code Central Blog will update what’s new on the Code Central Community Page on a weekly basis.

• lamw: Backing up VMs in ESX(i) 3.5 and 4.x in vSphere SDK for Perl
• lucd: Guest Provisioning System in vSphere PowerCLI
• alanrenouf: Report into MS Word in vSphere PowerCLI
• esloof: Dynamic Resource Pool Calculator in vSphere PowerCLI
• tzamora: VMware Infrastructure Power Documeter in vSphere PowerCLI
• stumpr: FindDatacenterByHostname in vSphere SDK for Perl

Update your bookmarks and RSS readers. I’m sure the Code Central Blog and VMTN Community will become a great resource.

health_check.sh script report .html

If you are looking for a free and quick method to document your ESX 3.0.X  and ESX 3.5 server configurations without installing a scripting environment then don’t forget about A. Mikkelsen’s ESX Healthcheck script. An oldie but still a goodie, this script is simply transferred to your ESX 3.5 Console and then just run manually or via a scheduled job. The end result is a .html report that is saved on your ESX host, or if you utilize the optional send_smtp.pl script the report can be mailed to you automatically.

I’m not providing any new information in this post. In fact I am way behind  as Duncan Epping has covered this script on his blog at Yellow-bricks.com. Duncan first posted about the esx healthcheck script in January 2008 and recently mentioned it again in his post about his tools he uses when conducting customer Healthcheck services. The comments thread on Duncan’s January post walk through a year’s worth of feature development and support.

Download your copy of the script at  SourceForge.net: ESX Healthcheck Script

Once downloaded, the .zip file contains several helpful text files along with the script. The rest of this post walks through the install and configure steps and then explains how to run the script when ready.

The INSTALL file explains configuration steps.

You can ignore steps 1. and 2. if you do not want the report to be auto mailed via smtp.

How to quick install:

* 1. Get smtp_send.pl from http://www.vmguru.com/files/10/scripts/entry102.aspx

Put the file in the same folder as health_check.sh.
Please read in smtp_send.pl about prerequesites (MIME::Lite) installation.

* 2. Get MIME::Lite from http://search.cpan.org/~yves/MIME-Lite-3.01/lib/MIME/Lite.pm

I had to create the MIME folder and copy file to /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.0/MIME/Lite.pm on my test system.

# mkdir /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.0/MIME
# cp MIME-Lite-3.01/lib/MIME/Lite.pm /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.0/MIME/Lite.pm

* 3. Copy health_check.conf.example to health_check.conf

# cp health_check.conf.example health_check.conf

* 4. Edit health_check.conf with maildata (set mailoutput=0 if you do not want to use email) and other adjustments

* 5. Make sure to open firewall port 25 out

# esxcfg-firewall -o 25,tcp,out,smtp_out

* 6. Make sure that health_check.sh and smtp_send.pl scripts has the right execute permissions

# chmod 744 health_check.sh
# chmod 744 smtp_send.pl

The USAGE file explains how to run it.

Of course, you first have to place the health_check.sh amd file in a directory on your ESX 3.0 or 3.5 host. I recommend free file managemnt tools like WinSCP, FastSCP, or VMX Explorer to transfer the file.

Once the the files are in place

* 1. Become root.

* 2. Run from within the folder with the script

#./health_check.sh

* 3. Check email or /var/log/esx* for output

Check out either http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-8050 or the VMTN Forum thread at http://communities.vmware.com/thread/168266 to download the scripts. Here’s some brief info from these links:

“The clone script does a straight clone of a VM. It copies the directory, renames the files and tweaks all the text inside the files by using sed to replace the old name with the new one, then sets all the permissions to what they would be if you created a new VM.

The rename script basically does all but copy it. This is handy for if you tried to rename a directory manually or attempted a manual copy and then found it still shows up under the old name in the web console. Remember this one assumes you have already renamed the directory to the new name and it MUST be the same as what you intend for the new name to be.

Both work the same way… scriptname <old name> <new name>”

I am not aware of equivalent scripts for VMware Server hosted on Windows, but if they exist please leave a comment with a link for VM /ETC readers.

The rest of this post is my example of using the clone_vm.sh script to make a template for future VMware Server 2.0 VM cloning.

Using the clone_vm.sh script to create a templatefor future cloning

In this example I have a Windows 2003 Server VM that I want to create a template from for future VM clones. I want to keep the current VM as is, but clone it to a new VM and then clean it up and sysprep it so it can become a template to be cloned for future VMware Server VMs. For this example here are some things you need to know:

• VMware Server 2.0 is running on Ubuntu Server 8.0.4
• The VM directory on host server is /home/hcrestadmin
• Source VM is named winS01
• Source VM directory is /home/hcrestadmin/winS01
• New VM will be named winT2003
• New VM directory will be /home/winT2003
• I used winSCP to transfer the script files to my Ubuntu Server
• I used Putty to log on remotely to run the script

After downloading and transferring the clone_vm.sh script to the /home/hcrestadmin directory it was time to run the script. Since I was logged as in my hcrestadmin account I had to use super user privileges by entering “#su –” and my password. Then I was ready to start the script.

root@vmwS01:/home/hcrestadmin# sh clone_vm.sh winS01 winT2003

The following screen shot shows the script in progress.

Once the script finished I was able to use the VMware Server web interface to add the new VM as an existing Virtual Machine. From the main Summary Tab select “Add Virtual Machine to Inventory” from the Commands section and you can browse to the new folder and .vmx file created by the script

Then I could power on the VM, clean it up by removing services and programs, and then use Sysprep to reseal the OS and power it off. Once finished,  I was ready to deploy clones from this VM folder by repeating the vm_clone.sh process on this sysprep-ed template.

For help building an Ubuntu 8.0.4 Server and installing VMware Server 2.0 use the following links as references:

• https://help.ubuntu.com/community/VMware/Server
• https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/serverguide/C/installation.html
• http://www.howtoforge.com/perfect-server-ubuntu8.04-lts
• http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=779934
• http://www.howtoforge.com/how-to-install-vmware-server-2-on-an-ubuntu-8.04-desktop

I am keeping copies (as of this post’s publish date) of the scripts here on VM /ETC for posterity, but be sure to check phxrider’s links for any current versions.

From the VMware Field: Mike D’s Virtualization Blog: Quick Migration for VMware – The Power of PowerShell shows off the script and flirts with comparing this ability to the Microsoft Hyper-V Quick Migration feature.

“One of the things that was also brought up over and over again in the debate was the fact that Quick Migration was free and came with Hyper-V since it was based on Microsoft Clustering whereas VMware VMotion was only available in the most expensive Enterprise SKU of VMware Infrastructure. So there it was – I need to create Quick Migration for the lower priced and free VMware solutions. I went off, built my little script, and showed it off at VMworld. There was a GREAT response to it so I’m posting it here for others to use or improve upon however you see fit.

The script works just like Microsoft Quick Migration – the virtual disk is stored on shared storage, the VM is suspended to disk, and the VM is then resumed on the destination.”

Mike provides the various requirements and the links later in his post.

To set this up in your environment you’ll need a few things:

1. 2 VMware Infrastructure 3 hosts
2. Windows PowerShell (and all of the pre-requirements for that if needed)
3. VMware Infrastructure Toolkit (for Windows)
4. The VM Migrator script from me
5. A VM you want to migrate – it doesn’t matter what the guest OS is

Read the entire post and watch the video at the link above. Mike comments at the end of his post that the shared storage requirement is actually not necessary, but without it makes the script take much longer when copying between local storage on ESX hosts. Obviously, if you are considering this script as an alternative for providing Quick Migration -like availability then shared storage is preferred.

I also noticed that Mike does not list VirtualCenter as a requirement, but the demo video shows one of the script’s first prompts is asking for the VC server name. The VI Foundation bundle provides a license for VC so it still makes this script appropriate for environments without VMotion, but Mike states that he created the script for the free versions of VMware products as well. I’m sure modifcation of Mike’s original PowerShell script used for the demo will make this work in any VMware Infrastructure.

I suggested 2 alternatives for the customer. The first is a scripted solution configured inside each Linux VM and the second is a built in feature of VirtualCenter and ESX for versions 2.0.1 and 3.0.1 or greater. I have not tested either of these solutions. My reason for writing this post is partly to explain the options, but also to get some feedback from the community. Let me know if you use or have tried either of these solutions or anything similar. If there is a better way please comment on this post! If you try one of these for your Linux virtual guests let me know what works and what doesn’t.

The following methods require that VMware tools are already installed in the Linux guests. For instructions for installing the tools check out the current VMware .pdf guide titled Basic System Administration Update 2 Release for ESX 3.5, ESXi version 3.5, VirtualCenter 2.5. if you are wondering if you should even install VMware tools in Linux guests than check out my post “Why do I need to install VMware Tools?”.

Script to detect Linux kernel change and re-install VMware tools

I stumbled across this script from the post Automating VMware modules reinstall after Linux kernel upgrades – From the Recliner…

“Now, most admins note about the “–default” option which can be used when running the vmware-config-tools.pl (or vmware-config.pl) script to cause the script automatically answer all the questions with the default answer. All we need is a way to run this automatically when a new kernel is booted. It turns out, at least with Redhat systems (and I suspect other systems), that this is exceptionally easy. For legacy reasons the Redhat init scripts check for the existence of a file called /etc/rc.modules and, if it exist, execute it. The file is typically a simple shell script and thus all we need is a simple method for detecting if the currently booting kernel already has the VMware modules installed and, if not, run the vmware config script with the “–default” option.

Here’s the script that I’m currently using with Linux VM’s running in VMware ESX/Server:

#!/bin/bash

if [ ! -e /lib/modules/`uname -r`/misc/.vmware_installed ]; then
/usr/bin/vmware-config-tools.pl –default
touch /lib/modules/`uname -r`/misc/.vmware_installed
fi

Simply place these lines in /etc/rc.modules and make sure it is executable and your good to go. Note that it’s possible you may already have a rc.modules file so in that case you should just add the lines to the existing file. When you install a new kernel and reboot the “.vmware_installed” file will be missing from the /lib/modules directory for that kernel and it will run the vmware-config-tools.pl (or vmware-config.pl) with the “–default” option to reinstall the VMware kernel modules. Even better, because this is called very early during startup, long before the VMware services are started, eveything will work the first time with no interaction whatsoever.

One thing to look out for, if you install an upgraded vmware-tools (or VMware Workstation/Server release) without upgrading the kernel and you want the new modules to be installed on the next reboot you need to remove the “.vmware_installed” file. Simply run the following command and the new modules will be installed on the next boot:

rm -f /lib/modules/`uname -r`/misc/.vmware_installed

One major drawback, if your system uses a separate partition/logical volume for /usr, which is common, then the rc.modules script will probably be called before that system is mounted. Possible solutions include adding a command to mount /usr at least read-only before attempting to run the vmware-config script or, you could just move the commands to rc.local. The disadvantage of rc.local is that, for Linux guest VM’s using the “flexnet” adapter they will have already loaded the pcnet32 module in place of the vmxnet driver. You could easily script unloading this module and restarting the vmware-tools service, but I’ve seen a few applications that behave poorly if you stop networking after they’ve already been started.“

The concept of this solution is solid. If would recommend that you create a gold image template with the script already configured and deploy new VMs from this template. I imagine that slight variances in the script benefit different distributions. Read the entire post and it’s comments at the link above for some additional advice and user feedback.

Use the VI Client to update VMware Tools in multiple VMs simultaneously

The built in feature of VirtualCenter and ESX to bulk upgrade VMware tools works great for Windows VMs. VMware’s documentation confirms the process works for supported Linux guests as well. For a table of all supported guest operating systems go here.

Here are the step by step instructions for using the VI Client:

1. Launch the VI Client and log in to the VirtualCenter Server.
2. Click Inventory in the navigation bar and expand the inventory.
3. In the inventory list, select the host on which virtual machines you want to upgrade reside.
4. Click the Virtual Machines tab.
5. Select the virtual machines you want to upgrade with the new version of VMware Tools.
6. Right?click the virtual machines and choose Install/Upgrade Tools.

VirtualCenter provides two options to upgrade VMware tools:

• Interactive tools upgrade - Requires some user interaction and requires you to reboot the guest operating system manually.
• Auto tools upgrade – Upgrades tools without user interaction and reboots the guest operating system, if required. Auto tools upgrade is supported for tools version ESX 3.0.0 and above on Windows and Linux guest operating systems.
• Note: the field for Advanced Options can use any of the command line options

Command line options:

For more information about bulk upgrading VMware Tools and using the VirtualCenter command line as an alternative see my previous post Use the VI Client to bulk upgrade VM tools.

VMworld 2008 Session for VMware in a Linux Shop

If you are attending VMworld 2008 next month the session listed below may provide complimentary recommendations for managing Linux VMs. The presenter, Mike DiPetrillo, maintains his own blog titled From the VMware Field: Mike D’s Virtualization Blog and is a fellow resident of Atlanta, GA. Check out both Mike’s blog and his session if you can. I have a schedule conflict but will keep this session on my “preferred switch list”. If you are reading this and VMworld 2008 was in the past look up the presentation at VMworld.com. (It feels weird writing a message for someone in the future!)

Here’s what little I know about Powershell for VMware so far:

• PowerShell is actually a Microsoft application that is the base of the VMware VI Toolkit
• The best way for getting started with PowerShell is to download the Windows PowerShell 1.0 Documentation Pack
• The VMware Communities is home to the VI PowerShell Blog. They are actually running a scripting contest right now.

Here are links to several useful PowerShell scripts created by the user community:

baeke.info :: PowerShell script to check ESX patch status

“You can use the simple PowerShell script below to check ESX server patching status from your Windows client.”

VMware Powershell script – remove connected iso

“… is a script which can remove the connected iso files from the CD drive. Some administrators do not disconnect a CD drive when the have finished use the ISO, the side effects of this behavior are: the VM regularly polls the CD drive which creates a slight overhead and a VMotion may fail. This script can run unattended e.g. every night so even when an ISO file remains mounted it is ejected every night.”

Adding and re-adding ESX servers to VirtualCenter

“This script automatically detects any disconnected host and reconnects it (be sure you connect to VirtualCenter before running it though!) On the first line, the script also allows setting a password Sometimes you can’t reconnect a host without a password, usually because the password has been changed. If this applies to you, set the password here and you’ll be re-connecting hosts faster than ever.”

[omitted]

If an ESX host you want to manage doesn’t appear in VirtualCenter, you need to add it. This is a bit tricker than reconnecting since there’s no inventory in VirtualCenter to tell you the IP addresses of all the hosts you use, and you also need to know a host’s password in order to add it. This is another case where entering things in a spreadsheet can really speed things up. I made just such a spreadsheet, and here’s a video of me using it.”

PowerShell Script for VDI Mass Replicas

“Folks, many folks have asked HOW we do the “thousands of desktops, instantly, consuming the space of one” that I demoed and described about here.

Here are the step-by-step instructions and PowerShell scripts we use.”

Automatically Configure VirtualCenter Virtual Networking Using PowerShell

“I wrote a little PowerShell script that goes out to a VirtualCenter instance and grabs a list of all the Port Groups in use by every ESX host under VC management. It ignores the default ‘VM Network’, ‘Service Console’, and ‘VMKernel’ PortGroups. Then it goes out to each ESX host under management and makes sure that it has all of the VLans and that they are using the correct VLanId. It does some simple error checking. If the VLan ID’s don’t match up, the script prompts you to ask you to pick the right one. So now when I need to add a network, I can just add it to any host under management and then run my script to reconcile everything. I think its neat. Saves me time and human error.”

Scripting VMware ESX servers to fail over to other ESX servers

“The solution used in this article gets by the downtime limitation by using VMware Converter 3.0.1 Enterprise to schedule a “conversion” of the target virtual machine to a new location on another ESX server while the target virtual machine is still running.

VMware Converter 3.0.1 Enterprise allows you to use a tool called p2vtool.exe. This is a command-line interface for VMware Converter 3.0.1. It should be noted that there is only experimental support for p2vtool.exe. However, I have tested the scripted conversion presented in this article several times with no failures.”