VMware Communities : All Content - vSphere SDK for Perl

VIC folders under folders

GeekBoi — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:21:14 GMT

Hello,

I have a frustrating problem with the vSphere SDK. The people that setup our infrastructure made things a little more complicated than we would prefer. That will be remedied when we upgrade to 4. The issue I am having is with folders within folders in a datacenter. Looks something like this:

Datacenter
	Dev Folder
		Project1 Folder
			Some Servers
			One Cluster
		Project2 Folder
			Some Servers
		Project3 Folder
			More Servers

The issue is tring to get that structure from the SDK. Everything I have tried returns all of the servers as if they were all under Dev Folder and not under the project folders. It seems to flatten the structure and ignore my attempts to retain the correct layers.

Here is a snippet of test code I was trying to get the structure. I get the datacenter views with Vim::find_entity_views(view_type => 'Datacenter'), and ask for the list of folder views with the same find_entity_views method. For each folder view I filter out the builtin folders for datastores and the like. I then loop through the list of folders and use find_entity_views(view_type => 'Folder', begin_entity => $folder) to try and get the sub folders. This is the part that does not seem to work.

I use %allhosts as a temp hash to keep a list of servers I have already gone over. All hosts end up being listed und the very top level folder and none listed under the sub folders as they have already been used and exist in the %allhosts hash.

Any suggestions or am I asking the vim service the wrong questions?

my $dc = Vim::find_entity_views(view_type => 'Datacenter');
foreach(@$dc) {
my %allhosts = ();
if($_->name =~ m/Dev/i) {
#print Dumper($_);
my $dcfolders = Vim::find_entity_views(view_type => 'Folder', begin_entity => $_);
foreach my $folder(@$dcfolders) {
next if($folder->name =~ m/vm|Discovered\ Virtual\ Machine|host/i) ;
my $subfolders = Vim::find_entity_views(view_type => 'Folder', begin_entity => $folder);
print "Should be here first\n";
foreach my $subfolder(@$subfolders) {
next if($folder->name =~ m/vm|Discovered\ Virtual\ Machine|host/i) ;
print $subfolder->name . "\n";
my $subhosts = Vim::find_entity_views(view_type => 'HostSystem', begin_entity => $subfolder);
foreach my $subhost(@$subhosts) {
my $subhostname = $subhost->name;
next if(exists $allhosts{$subhostname});
$allhosts{$subhostname} = ($subfolder->name);
print $subfolder->name . " - " . $subhost->name . "\n";
}
}
my $hosts = Vim::find_entity_views(view_type => 'HostSystem', begin_entity => $folder);
foreach my $host(@$hosts) {
my $hostname = $host->name;
next if(exists $allhosts{$hostname});
$allhosts{$hostname} = ($folder->name);
print $folder->name . " - $hostname\n";
}
}
}
}

Thank You,

Charles Hutchinson

P.S. Sorry about the formatting. I seem to be a failure at this web editor

vimService.wsdl - connect.pl

lamw — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 21:22:51 GMT

Please take a look at this document if you're new to the vSphere API/SDKs: Getting Started with vSphere SDKs

Depending on the language of choice, you'll need to download the appropriate wrappers and if you're using Perl, then you'll need to install the vCLI which includes the Perl wrapper: vSphere SDK for Perl which is also accessible if you download the vMA virtual appliance.

Here is another doc that'll get you started with using vSphere SDK for Perl: Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl

=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at: http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/
Twitter: @lamw
vGhetto Script Repository
Getting Started with the vMA (tips/tricks)
Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
VMware Developer Comuunity

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

Authentication timed out?

skayser — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 15:09:44 GMT

Your backup is taking about an hour, so I think you are indeed running timeout problems for your VI Perl Toolkit session. Have a look at VI Perl Toolkit Times out... How to recover?or try searching the forums for timeout issues, there are quite a few threads on this topic (for instance VI Perl Timeouts). If you can't come up with a heartbeat to keep your session alive, maybe you simply need to issue a Vim::logout before issuing another Vim::login?

HTH

Sebastian

P.S.: You know about ghettoVCBg2.pl? It doesn't deal with custom fields as your script does, but i provides a ready-to-use simplistic backup solution.

HowTo: Installing vSphere SDK for Perl on OS X 10.6.2 (Snow Leopard)

akutz — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 00:37:42 GMT

I thought some of you may find this useful. I document how to install the vSphere SDK for Perl on a OS X 10.6.2 (Snow Leopard) system at http://akutz.wordpress.com/2009/11/20/installing-vsphere-sdk-for-perl-on-os-x-10-6-2-snow-leopard/

Create VM instance on Cluster

lamw — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:56:26 GMT

If you don't have/use resource pool, by default there is a default resource pool called resourcePool. You just need to get a reference to the root pool and that can be used as a param to CreateVM_Task().

Retrieving vNIC packetsRx and packetsTx possible on VSphere 4.0?

lamw — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 16:54:39 GMT

performance.pl is a really simple script to show what you can potentially extract from the various performance metrics available via the APIs.

For a more detail explanation of the metrics available, take a look at the performanceManager

Specifically to your questions of retrieving RX/TX packets per VM, this is possible, take a look at Networks which will give you a nice table of the available metrics for networking

MOB equivalent to Vim::find_entity_views?

skayser — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:57:48 GMT

Greetings,

i have started using the Managed Object Browser on a vCenter 4 installation to explore the object structure of the API, but i haven't been able to find VM objects so far. Could someone kindly point me to where i can find / query VM instances in the MOB. Similar to what i would do via Vim::find_entity_views.

Thanks

Sebastian

SessionIsActive() is not implemented in vSphere ESX 4.0

dkaur — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 07:44:20 GMT

The SessionIsActive method as Stumpr has pointed is available only on vCenter. This method has been introduced starting VI API's 2.5 and continues to remain available only on vCenter for SDK 2.5 as well as vSphere 4.0.

Error: Server version unavailable at 'https://1.1.1.1/sdk/vimService.wsdl' when connecting to virtual center with connect.pl

likid000 — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:47:52 GMT

I installed the vi perl sdk :

VMware-VIPerl-1.6.0-104313.i386.tar.gz

/usr/lib/vmware-viperl/apps/general/connect.pl --url https://1.7.1.1/sdk --username d --password cu
Error: Server version unavailable at 'https://1.7.1.1/sdk/vimService.wsdl' :1: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found
LWP will support https URLs if the Crypt::SSLeay module is installed.
^
at /usr/lib/perl5/site_perl/5.8.8/VMware/VICommon.pm line 323

I have the SSLeay installed:

rpm -qa | grep -i SSLeay

perl-Crypt-SSLeay-0.51-11.el5
perl-Net-SSLeay-1.30-4.fc6

find_entity_view from MOID

stumpr — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 22:26:16 GMT

UUID is going to be your best bet. There are two UUID values though in a Virtual Machine. First is the BIOS UUID (similar to what every physical machine would have) and the vCenter UUID. The latter is stored in instanceUuid property.

Script is not pretty, but I typed it out to give you an example. Should be a good way to start.


#!/usr/bin/perl -w
 
use strict;
use warnings;
 
use VMware::VIRuntime;
 
Opts::parse();
Opts::validate();
 
Util::connect();
 
my ($vm_moref, $vm_view, $service_content, $search_index, $uuid);
 
$service_content = Vim::get_service_content();
 
$search_index = Vim::get_view( mo_ref => $service_content->searchIndex );
 
$vm_view = Vim::find_entity_view(
 view_type => "VirtualMachine",
 filter => { "name" => qr/CRAFT115/ },
);
 
unless ( defined $vm_view ) {
 die "Failed to find VM in inventory by name!!";
}
 
$uuid = $vm_view->config->instanceUuid;
 
print $vm_view->name . " = " . $uuid . "\n";
 
$vm_moref = $search_index->FindByUuid(
 uuid => $uuid,
 vmSearch => 1,
 instanceUuid => 1,
);
 
unless ( defined $vm_moref ) {
 die "Failed to find VM in inventory by UUID: $uuid!";
}
 
$vm_view = Vim::get_view( mo_ref => $vm_moref );
 

$uuid = $vm_view->config->instanceUuid;
 
print $vm_view->name . " = " . $uuid . "\n";

Example Run:


C:\Documents and Settings\uname\Desktop>perl vmuuid.pl --url=https://vCenter/sdk --username=
uname
Enter password:
CRAFT115 = 50379346-5145-c38a-161a-70cf3c24fbe9
CRAFT115 = 50379346-5145-c38a-161a-70cf3c24fbe9
 
End Disconnect

In your case after you found your VM for the first time, you'd get the instanceUuid property and store it. You can then use it with the FindByUuid to get a managed object reference back from the inventory. Note the vmSearch and instanceUuid parameters. You can also search for Hosts this way, in this case we are targeting a VM so vmSearch is set to 1. The instanceUuid is set to 1 as well since we want to look at the instanceUuid and not the BIOS uuid property as mentioned at earlier.

Problem with undefined value when running vidiscovery.pl

HomeAwayTech — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 22:28:00 GMT

I am have the same issue trying to run queryVMCustomField.pl:

VMA4$ ./queryVMCustomField.pl --vmname <guest-name> --customfield <custom field name>
Can't call method "type" on an undefined value at /usr/lib/perl5/5.8.8/VMware/VICommon.pm line 1244.

<guest-name> and <custom field name> are for the forum - we are using valid values here

how to assign a mac-address manually via the SDK

lamw — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 14:50:02 GMT

You'll need to call the ReconfigVM_Task specify a configuration spec of adding a new device of type VirtualEthernetCard and when adding the new vNIC, you have the option of specifying how the MAC Address will be generated: http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vc-sdk/visdk400pubs/ReferenceGuide/vim.vm.device.VirtualEthernetCard.html You'll need to set the addressType to manual and macAddress to the MAC Address string you want to set, remember that the MAC address must be in the range of 00:50:56:00:00:00-00:50:56:3F:FF:FF

Can't get disk.totalLatency.average performance counter

luger_lee — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:30:52 GMT

I think it's an unexperienced problem to all.

Here is an image expressed the disk.totalLatency.average performance counter can be obtained from a virtual machine.

Get mac address without VMware tools running

kilo666 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:12:40 GMT

Thanks a lot, that was exactly what I was looking for, I was on the right track but didn't quite get that far.

Much appreciated!

iops

lamw — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:31:43 GMT

Hi,

If you're new to the VMware API/SDK's, first take a look at this document: Getting Started with vSphere SDKs

Here is a great page to get started with performance monitoring with VMware API/SDKs: VMware vSphere - SDK Performance Monitoring - Resource

You'll want to get familiar with the performanceManager managed object: http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vc-sdk/visdk400pubs/ReferenceGuide/vim.PerformanceManager.html

=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at: http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/
vGhetto Script Repository
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
VMware Developer Comuunity
Getting Started with the vMA (tips/tricks)
Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl
Twitter: @lamw

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

Get size of file in datastore

Dexxt0r — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:32:19 GMT

Never mind, i figure out how to do it.

I access Virtualmachine->config->hardware->device to retrieve size of virtual disk.

ipAddress array in GuestNicInfo is incomplete

lamw — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:10:44 GMT

Thanks for the info, good to know it's fixed in vSphere

=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at: http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/
vGhetto Script Repository
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
VMware Developer Comuunity
Twitter: @lamw

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

Update Virtual Hardware using SDK?

lamw — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:25:54 GMT

Here's a Perl script that'll help with the upgrade process: upgradeVMVirtualHardware.pl

=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at: http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/
vGhetto Script Repository
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
VMware Developer Comuunity
Twitter: @lamw

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

interface with update manager

lamw — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 15:14:44 GMT

afaik, there are no APIs exposed for VUM, what you're seeing with the HostPatchManager is the ability to patch individual hosts specifying a local repo and primarily this was a function for ESXi but should also work for classic ESX

With the latest version of vCLI, you have two commands vihostupdate for ESX(i) 4.0 and vihostupdate35 for ESX(i) 3.5. The command allows you to query, scan install or list the bundles/patches that have been applied against a specific host but it does not have capabilities such as checking it against a baseline created using VUM. You would be manually downloading a set of patches and that is what you would consider your 'baseline'. Both of these scripts are implemented using vSphere SDK for Perl and are installed as part of the vCLI, you can take a look at the source for further questions.

I've heard VUM APIs are coming but not sure when

=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at: http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/
vGhetto Script Repository
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
VMware Developer Comuunity
Twitter: @lamw

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

vmclone.pl SoapFault

lamw — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 04:20:24 GMT

For Orgnization-Name, do you have any special characters in the name? Also do you have VMware Tools installed on the VM you're trying to clone and sysprep is configured on your vCenter server when issuing the vmclone.pl against your vCenter?

=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at: http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/
vGhetto Script Repository
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
VMware Developer Comuunity
Twitter: @lamw

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

errorhandling? (Vim::login)

LarsOeschey — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 07:46:20 GMT

{quote}Any reason you're not
using the default Util::connect() and Util::disconnect() code that
VMware already wrote in their perl modules?{/quote}

Edit: ok, my quote tags obviously are wrong Looks like the correct syntax is well hidden somewhere and not included in the Editor here...

I'm trying to not use commandline options, and I'm trying to do some logging, since the script will run unattended. The Vim::login just was in some sample script, but with this problem (methods not returning a string to the script), Util::connect() wouldn't make much difference I think...

Determining snapshot file size

piuhapofuhpaosf — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 14:01:52 GMT

Nevermind, I figured it out. The key was to use SearchDatastoreSubFolders, and then only check for files of type "VmSnapshotFileInfo". Cool.

Shutting down VMs on a host in some type of order

heyitspablo — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 17:35:20 GMT

EXPRESS,

Have you looked at PowerCLI (Powershell) some very easy to use scripts and also a helpful community behind it..

http://vmware.com/go/powercli

getting custom variables

lamw — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 21:10:40 GMT

Take a look at this script: addVMCustomField.pl, if no data is returned, then the custom field is not set for a specific VM.

Regarding the API reference on properties/methods/etc. it's located at: http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vc-sdk/visdk400pubs/ReferenceGuide/index.html

=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at: http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/
vGhetto Script Repository
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
VMware Developer Comuunity
Twitter: @lamw

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

Set permission on a particular datastore on ESXi

Dexxt0r — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 14:04:48 GMT

Ok, I get it. Thank for this helpful information

Problem with rdmCreate.pl

ii00907 — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 13:42:57 GMT

Hi,

i have a problem with Perl Script rdmCreate.pl.

If I create a new disk rdm puntanto all 'esx4, the disc that I am going to add it correctly deal. This is the command;

~~root@ITRMVSC1 vm~~# perl rdmCreate.pl --url https://172.33.22.111/sdk/vimService --username MYUSER --password MYPSW --vmname VM1 --filename Test.vmdk --backingtype rdm

Adding Virtual Disk on Virtual machine VM1 in the host esxhost.it.domain.com with file name Test.vmdk

env browser

*****
ARRAY(0x1fe9eb90)
*****

*****
number of present disks is 2
*****
ITRMVSC Disk[0]: Capacity /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6006016055351f00516decc0459cde11
cannonical_name: /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6006016055351f00516decc0459cde11VM1 Disk[1]: Capacity /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6006016055351f00506decc0459cde11
cannonical_name: /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6006016055351f00516decc0459cde11
calling the reconfigure VM

returned from reconfigure VM
Virtual Disk created.

but when I try to point the Virtual Center back to me the following error;

perl rdmCreate.pl --url https://172.55.22.444/sdk/webService --username administrator --password MYPSW --vmname VM1 --filename Test.vmdk --backingtype rdm

Adding Virtual Disk on Virtual machine ITRMVSC in the host 172.33.22.111 with file name Test.vmdk
env browser

*****
ARRAY(0xb5a20d0)
*****

*****
number of present disks is 2
*****
ITRMVSC Disk[0]: Capacity /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6006016055351f00516decc0459cde11
cannonical_name: /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6006016055351f00516decc0459cde11ITRMVSC Disk[1]: Capacity /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6006016055351f00506decc0459cde11
cannonical_name: /vmfs/devices/disks/naa.6006016055351f00516decc0459cde11
calling the reconfigure VM
Error trapped
SOAP Fault:

Fault string: Invalid datastore path 'Test.vmdk'.
Fault detail: InvalidDatastorePathFalut :
SOAP Fault:

Fault string: Invalid datastore path 'Test.vmdk'.

My version ESX : VMware ESX 4.0.0 build-164009

My version Vsphere : VMware vCenter Server Version 4.0.0 Build 162856

vSpher CLI Version : VMware vSphere CLI 4.0.0-161974.x86_64

Please help me.

Attached the script I use

Getting Started with the vSphere SDK for Perl

lamw — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 02:39:50 GMT

Author: William Lam
Twitter: @lamw
Website: http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/

Step 1. Visit the vSphere SDK for Perl Home Page

vSphere™ SDK for Perl

You will find latest Downloads, Reference Documentation and Community Discussions and links to resources.

Step 2. Become familiar with vSphere SDK for Perl Resources:

Support Information: vSphere, VI 3.x SDK - Support Information
VMware Code Central (Sample Code) : SDK for Perl
Take a look at Getting Started with vSphere SDKs document

Step 3. Explore new ways of managing your vSphere Platform using the remote CLI

Try some of the esxcfg-* commands using vSphere SDK for Perl scripts
- RCLI - http://engr.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/#vmware_rcli
- vCLI - http://engr.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/#vmware_vcli

Additional utilities bundled with vCLI/RCLI installation
- VI Perl Toolkit Utility Application Reference
- vSphere SDK for Perl Utility Application Reference

Step 4. Develop and create your own scripts and utlities using the vSphere SDK for Perl

Become familiar vSphere 4.0 API Reference documentation
- vSphere 4.0 - http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vc-sdk/visdk400pubs/ReferenceGuide/index.html
- VI 3.5 - http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vc-sdk/visdk25pubs/ReferenceGuide/index.html

Learn how to get started with writing your own Perl script using vSphere SDK for Perl
- http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/viperltoolkit/doc/perl_toolkit_appliance_idx.html

I think the easiest way to learn this is to start playing with some of the canned scripts and to make it even easier to have an environment that's all setup for you with both the vCLI and vSphere SDK for Perl, you can download VMware vMA. vMA is a Redhat Enterprise 5 Linux Virtual Appliance to allow administrators and developers to run scripts and agents to manage ESX/ESXi and vCenter Server systems remotely.

Help us improve our document, provide additional useful information and share with a friend.

FAQ

1. What is difference between vSphere API and vSphere SDK for Perl?

Let's define two very important vocabulary words -

Wikipedia defines an API as:

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Application_programming_interface

Application programming interface (API) is an interface in computer science that defines the ways by which an application program may request services from libraries and/or operating systems

An API may be:

Language-dependent; that is, available only in a given programming language, using the syntax and elements of that language to make the API convenient to use in this context.

Language-independent; that is, written in a way that means it can be called from several programming languages (typically an assembly or C interface). This is a desired feature for a service-style API that is not bound to a given process or system and is available as a remote procedure call.Wikipedia defines SDK as:

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sdk

A software development kit (SDK or "devkit") is typically a set of development tools that allows a software engineer to create applications for a certain software package, software framework, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system, or similar platform.

It may be something as simple as an application programming interface (API) in the form of some files to interface to a particular programming language or include sophisticated hardware to communicate with a certain embedded system.Simply put, VMware exposes the VI3/vSphere 4 API as a Web Service API that utilizes (WSDL,SOAP and HTTP) to access server-side objects. From the above API defintion, an API can be language-indepednent, which is exactly what VMware has done to allow development from the various rich scripting and programming languages such as Perl, PowerCLI, C#, .net and Java. These are the various SDK's or "bindings" that have been created to allow administrators and developers to write a simple scripts to automate a task or complex applications to monitor, deploy or configure the wide ranges of componets in the VI/vSphere platform.

2. What is difference between RCLI and vCLI?

With the advent of ESXi which is basically ESX without the Service Console, managing and configuring ESXi has slightly changed. VMware wanted to provide some continutity when managing and configuring ESXi and decided to duplicate majority of the esxcfg-* commands and functionality into a set of "remote" esxcfg-* commands which utilizes the VI/vSphere API and hence RCLI/vCLI was born. The RCLI (Remote Command Line Interface) has been renamed to vCLI (vSphere Command Line Interface) with the release of vSphere.

Here is a table of the new vSphere names from the old VI3 names for the various SDKs/APIs/Toolkits

Audience	vSphere 4.0	VMware Infrastructure 3.x
Developer	vSphere Web Services SDK 4.0\	VMware Infrastructure SDK
Developer	vSphere SDK for Perl 4.0\	VMware Infrastructure Perl Toolkit
Developer	vSphere SDK for Java (Tech Preview)\	VMware Infrastructure for Java (Tech Preview)
Administrator	vSphere PowerCLI 4.0\	VMware Infrastructure Toolkit for Windows
Developer	vSphere Guest SDK 4.0\	VMware Guest SDK
Developer	VIX API 1.7\	VIX API
Developer	Virtual Disk Development Kit 1.1\	Virtual Disk Development Kit
Developer	VMware Studio 1.0\	VMware Studio 1.0
Developer	CIM SDK 4.0\	CIM SDK
Administrator	vSphere Management Assistant 4.0 (vMA 4.0)\	VMware Infrastructure Management Assistant (VIMA 1.0)
Administrator	vSphere Command Line Interface (vCLI) 4.0\	VMware Infrastructure RCLI
Administrator	VMware OVF Tool 1.0\	Not Available

Updated vCenter, now perl scripts get SOAP error "500 EOF when chunk header expected"

david_drew — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 21:36:09 GMT

In our case, I pointed out the problem VM to our admin. He tried viewing the VM settings in the VIC (connected to vCenter), but got an error. He pointed the VIC at the ESX server, opened up the settings for the VM, then saved it without making any changes, and it fixed the problem in vCenter.

I can get the logs for you if you want. The admin said there wasn't anything in the logs related to that VM.

BTW, sorry, but I've got another question about the interval labels:

Labels for VC 2.5-147633 - 'Past Day', 'Past Week', 'Past Month', ...

Labels for VC 4.0 - 162856 (production): 'Past Day', 'Past week', 'Past month', ...

Labels for VC 4.0 - 162856 (test lab): 'Past day', 'Past week', 'Past month', ...

In our production 4.0 vCenter, "Past Day" is capitalized as stated in the docs, but the other standard intervals have lowercase second words.

In our test lab 4. 0 vCenter, ALL of the intervals have lowercase second words.

Do you have any idea what's causing this, and why the same build would have different labels? Also, since the docs are wrong, what are the correct values for these labels? If I send the wrong label, the script breaks, with a SOAP Fault: Fault string: A specified parameter was not correct. querySpec.interval (Fault detail: InvalidArgumentFault)

Maybe the API could be updated to not be case sensitive?

Thanks, and let me know if you want to see the logs.

How to create a vmxnet3 adapter

kri-2 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 05:16:49 GMT

Hi,

yes both are in the newest version. But I missed to upgrade to the latest VIPerlToolkit which was running in the 3.5 version.

Chris

ShutDown / PowerOn VMs

EXPRESS — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:04:59 GMT

Thanks.

Thank you,
Express

toolkit 1.6 => error in hostops.pl

jnhall — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:57:18 GMT

FYI We've changed that code in 4.0.

Extract files from a VM in vsphere

jnhall — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:51:27 GMT

What do you mean by not connected to the same network? What network are you going to connect the VM to? And what machine/location/whatever do you want to access the files from?

Performance data not available via VI Perl 1.6 ... with VC 2.5

jnhall — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 23:45:59 GMT

Performance Manager is not the easiest thing to query. We would have to see some command line(s), what you're trying to retrieve, output, and so on.

How to emulate esxcfg-vmhbadevs -m with the Perl API?

Aristizabal — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:23:39 GMT

Thanks a lot William, your suggestion works great.

How do I get the size of files in a datastore?

lamw — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 19:10:01 GMT

np. Don't forget to award 'correct' or 'helpful' points

=========================================================================
William Lam
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getting started with the perl api?

k_ — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 18:01:06 GMT

er - wow - that's just what I needed.

A little reading to catch up on though - but loads clearer!

Cannot perform this operation in powered off state

c_shanklin — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 20:47:47 GMT

Are you sure it's not related to an expired license?

=====
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Slow perl script execution

heyitspablo — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 05:38:22 GMT

I can ask our team to take a peek at this..or at least have a different set of eyes looking at issue..

_Pablo

CopyDatastoreFile_Task does not work

r123 — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:17:34 GMT

Hello,

I need to copy virtual disks (or files) between datastores in VI. I am using VMware Infrastructure (VI) API for perl or vSphere SDK for Perl 4.0. Initialy I tried to use CopyVirtualDisk_Task, but it apeared that it works just with ESX servers not virtual center. Then I tried to use CopyDatastoreFile_Task. CopyDatastoreFile_Task works very strange. When copying vmdk files it just creates very small file in destination - I think that it is some kind of reference to original file. Why it is so? How can I copy file or disk with vSphere SDK for Perl 4.0?

Following code is used in perl script to do the copy.

my $service_content = Vim::get_service_content();
my $file_mgr = Vim::get_view(mo_ref => $service_content->fileManager);
$file_mgr->waitForTask($file_mgr->CopyDatastoreFile_Task(sourceName => $SourceName,sourceDatacenter => $SourceDatacenter,destinationName => $DestName,destinationDatacenter => $DestDatacenter));

Regards,
Roberts

Weird Problems since Virtualisation

stumpr — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:29:36 GMT

You should probably redirect this to a different forum, not sure this is going to provide the best answers for you.

However, it sounds like you have network issues. Also, be sure you researched best practices with virtualizing Active Directory (particularly, don't use snapshots and roll back unless you understand the implications of watermarks and AD updates).

But from your issue list, I would first spend time validating the network configuration and performance.

AddDVPortgroup error

duyuyang — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:11:16 GMT

Thanks, problem solved.

sub add_dvportgroup {

my ($vdswitch_view, $dvpgname, $vlan, $uplinks) = @_;

################## The following inherited fields are MUST #####################
my $uplinkpolicy = new VMwareUplinkPortOrderPolicy(inherited => 'false', activeUplinkPort => $uplinks);
my $policy = new StringPolicy(inherited => 'false', value => "loadbalance_srcmac");
my $uplinkteamingpolicy = new VmwareUplinkPortTeamingPolicy(inherited => 'false', uplinkPortOrder => $uplinkpolicy, policy => $policy);

my $qostag = new IntPolicy(inherited => 'true');
my $security = new DVSSecurityPolicy(inherited => 'true');
my $txuplink = new BoolPolicy(inherited => 'true');
my $blocked = new BoolPolicy(inherited => 'true');
my $inshaping = new DVSTrafficShapingPolicy(inherited => 'true');
my $outshaping = new DVSTrafficShapingPolicy(inherited => 'true');
my $vendor = new DVSVendorSpecificConfig(inherited => 'true');

my $dvsportsetting = new VMwareDVSPortSetting(vlan => $vlan, uplinkTeamingPolicy => $uplinkteamingpolicy,
blocked => $blocked, inShapingPolicy => $inshaping,
outShapingPolicy => $outshaping, vendorSpecificConfig => $vendor,
qosTag => $qostag, securityPolicy => $security, txUplink => $txuplink);

my $pgpolicy = new VMwareDVSPortgroupPolicy(blockOverrideAllowed => 'true', livePortMovingAllowed => 'false',
portConfigResetAtDisconnect => 'false', shapingOverrideAllowed => 'false',
vendorConfigOverrideAllowed => 'false', securityPolicyOverrideAllowed => 'false',
uplinkTeamingOverrideAllowed => 'false', vlanOverrideAllowed => 'false');

################## type is a MUST ################
my $dvpgspec = new DVPortgroupConfigSpec(name => $dvpgname, type => "earlyBinding", numPorts => 128, policy => $pgpolicy, defaultPortConfig => $dvsportsetting);

my $dvpgspecs = $dvpgspec;

eval {$vdswitch_view->AddDVPortgroup(spec => $dvpgspecs);};

if ($@) {
print_plain($vdswitch_view->name, "AddDVPortgroup failed: " . $@->fault_string);
return 1;
}

print_plain($vdswitch_view->name, "Add $dvpgname succeeded");
return 0;
}

Problem using vSphere™ SDK for Perl instead of VI Perl Toolkit 1.6

martinkj — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:14:59 GMT

Installing XML::LibXML again did solve the problem. This requirement is only listed under the "Installing the vSphere SDK for Perl from Source Code" section and not the "Installing a vSphere SDK for Perl Package" section. Thank you for your help.

remove a VM and rename a VM

LuffyDLiu — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:16:50 GMT

Thanks

those information are helpful

vsphere viperl image customization crashes vCenter

ultra01 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 05:48:48 GMT

check tools status doesn't return the good value

gierone — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:41:59 GMT

Thank you William, unfortunately my vm run on esx 3.5 but this information will serve me for my tests.

does hardware related events supported in vSphere SDK for Perl?

lamw — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:00:57 GMT

Yes, this information is available as part of CIM SMASH: http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/cim-sdk/4.0/smash/index.html which has it's own API, I've not used it personally but this is the API you'll want to use for this kind of query.

=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at: http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/
vGhetto Script Repository
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
http://twitter.com/lamw

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

VMWareTools version provided by the host

kri-2 — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:12:51 GMT

I really appreciate your ideas and answers, but it is not that trivial here. But you earned some points now .
We are having a fully automated install/update process of our vms without the focus on the VMWareTools but on every software/drivers in the vm. So we need a really rock solid installation/update process for the tools that can be run in every state, every situation, on every host and every time without beeing watched and controlled. For this I was just looking for a DataObject/method in the VIPerlToolkit that returns the version of the tools of the queried host. If there is such a DO/method I would have the solutions, but it seems there isn't one.

Chris

VI RLC get() , put()

lamw — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 06:40:14 GMT

vifs is part of the vCLI and is a Perl script which utilizes HTTP GET/PUTs to transfer files to/from the remote host. Regarding the speed, yes it's not the fastest but I've not personally tried to see if there was a way to speed it up.

There is an article by Dave Mishchenko about potentially speeding up transfers and it works with vifs, take a look here: http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/http_transfers.php

=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at: http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/
vGhetto Script Repository
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
http://twitter.com/lamw

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

vSphere SDK for perl is thread safe?

duyuyang — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:16:47 GMT

Thanks, I got that.

Shawn

openSSL certificate verification

kef461 — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 12:29:14 GMT

I am using the vMA? I am under the directory general and executing the connect.pl. I am getting the above errors that point back to a problem with the self-signed ceritificates. I have verified the certificates are good by openssl verify <cerificate nane>. I believe that it is a configuration error. Not sure how openssl works with self-signed cerificates on the client side.

If you need any sample code to get started, make a request here!

navadavuluri — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 21:07:54 GMT

Please check the updated versions that we have updated today. Let us know if there is any other problems

-Nava

problem with vmclone.pl

lamw — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 04:37:54 GMT

I'm connecting to a vmware ESX server, not a virtual center, so I'm not sure how to figure out the name of the "data center" in this context.

That's your problem, vmclone.pl only supports connecting to vCenter, as the CloneVM() operation is a feature of vCenter. You will not be able to use this script to clone your VM

=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at: http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/
vGhetto Script Repository
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
http://twitter.com/lamw

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

Script to update bios on Dell servers

stumpr — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 22:14:36 GMT

Have you looked into the Dell Tool Kit (DTK)?

I used it with a PXE boot environment to do automated firmware updates. There are also some tools provided with the OpenManage packages (they probably still put out a version for ESX servers). It had tools for getting/setting information from the DRAC, BIOS, etc.

How can I provide the option inside a perl script?

cnuckels — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 14:56:07 GMT

I too was looking for this, and I found a great way to do it, without Enviroment Vars which are a little more unsecure.

Inside the VILib.pm file, you can find the names of the various options, and then use...

Example for setting the VMName:

Opts::set_option("vmname","whatever");

Do that after the Opts::parse();

Worked for me.

Problems with vihostupdate.pl

sochry — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 13:41:08 GMT

That appears to have been the issue. Originally, I verified that I was running the most current version of RCLI, unaware that vCLI had replaced it. Upgrading to vCLI allowed me to query.

Thanks,

Steve

vSphere SDK on SLES 11 or Debian Lenny

davidhaase — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 08:59:08 GMT

Hi,
thank for your response and sorry for answering that late, but I lost sight of that issue since there was too much daily business

I agree, that some performance impacts result of that heavy XML data returned. But stracing a test case gives us approx. 17.700 systemcalls. About
14.000 of these are stat-calls searching the file ima_method_maker.al in various path components. This lasts about 7 sec.

We have installed:

melete:/root>>> rpm -qi perl-Class-MethodMaker
Name : perl-Class-MethodMaker Relocations: (not relocatable)
Version : 2.11 Vendor: SUSE LINUX
Products GmbH, Nuernberg, Germany
Release : 13.22 Build Date: Sa 21 Feb 2009
03:45:54 CET
Install Date: Mo 06 Jul 2009 11:45:08 CEST Build Host: cherubini
Group : Development/Libraries/Perl Source RPM:
perl-Class-MethodMaker-2.11-13.22.src.rpm
Size : 21374929 License: Artistic License
Signature : RSA/8, Sa 21 Feb 2009 03:46:10 CET, Key ID e3a5c360307e3d54
Packager : http://bugs.opensuse.org
Summary : Class::MethodMaker
Description :
This module solves the problem of having to write a bazillion get/set
methods that are all the same.

Authors:

fluffy@engineer.com
Distribution: SUSE Linux Enterprise 11

Obviously there is no such file part of this package:

melete:/root>>> rpm -qil perl-Class-MethodMaker | grep -i ima
melete:/root>>>

According to
http://search.cpan.org/~evo/Class-MakeMethods-1.01/MakeMethods/Emulator/MethodMaker.pm

we found:

ima_method_maker - no longer supported; use target_class instead

Cheers
David

Pedo mellon a minno --

Installed perl toolkit 1.5 on Windows and problem running the sample script.

lamw — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 02:58:44 GMT

The error is showing that it's unable to load the Perl modules, can you check to see if those exists? You may want to uninstall and try a fresh install, also note there is a newer release of the VI Perl Toolkit 1.6 and also the vSphere SDK for Perl 4.0

=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at: http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/
vGhetto Script Repository
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
http://twitter.com/lamw

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

VMware API Perl Toolkit Install Issue

softential — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:58:29 GMT

Thanks Shanklin,

I commented out the lines below and it got installed.

4734 # if (vmware_product() ne 'tools-for-linux' &&
4735 # vmware_product() ne 'tools-for-freebsd' &&
4736 # vmware_product() ne 'tools-for-solaris') {
4737 # If the product is not tools, we need to bail on detecting a xen kernel.
4738 # if ( -d '/proc/xen' ) {
4739 # error('You cannot install ' .
4740 # vmware_product_name() .
4741 # ' on a system running a xen kernel.');
4742 # }
4743 # }

Trouble validating VI Perl Toolkit 1.6

joeboren — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 16:56:38 GMT

Thanks for the responses. Somehow you guys fixed it.

Or more likely I am some kind of fat-fingered idiot.

I literally spent several hours fighting this yesterday, and today i was typing in the exact command i was trying to use, to post here and i decided to try it one more time to make sure i quoted the error message right, and bam, it works. I think i may have messed up the path, can i really have typed it wrong that many times??? I guess i could. Thanks for the reminder, stumpr.

So thanks much for the help, everyone. I will have to learn to read, or type accurately, or something....

Best regards,
joe

Remote procedure call using SDK for Perl

lamw — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 04:19:58 GMT

afaik, there is not a way. VIX API is exactly for this use case relying on the guestOS to have VMware Tools installed.

=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at: http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/
vGhetto Script Repository
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
http://twitter.com/lamw

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

Get guest vm ip address

duyuyang — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 02:05:40 GMT

Hi, thanks again. It helps a lot.

Regards,

Shawn

What does "an OVF descriptor" mean ?

luger_lee — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 01:33:08 GMT

I’ve tried hard to solve this problem but I can’t. I give up.

Using ovftool may be a good idea, I think.

Thank you for your kindly help.

Change VLAN while Cloning

lamw — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:06:16 GMT

Yes, take a look at my perl script which shows you how to do that. You need to edit your VirtualDeviceConfigSpec http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/vc-sdk/visdk25pubs/ReferenceGuide/vim.vm.device.VirtualDeviceSpec.html

=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at: http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/
vGhetto Script Repository
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
http://twitter.com/lamw

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

Getting ext3 file system details using vi sdk

lamw — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 13:55:42 GMT

This information is not exposed through the vSphere API nor the VI API, the closet information you'll be able to retrieve is the partition information (no information on the actual mount points nor folder sizes/etc), take a look at this script I wrote for more details: queryDiskParition.pl

=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at: http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/
vGhetto Script Repository
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
http://twitter.com/lamw

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

Unregister a vm does not remove it from the inventory?

duyuyang — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 05:31:27 GMT

Thank you both. Your answers help a lot.

Regards,

Shawn

Changes to the ESX Service Console for ESX 4.0

navadavuluri — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:38:09 GMT

Please check out the attched document for information

This technical paper discusses incompatibilities between the ESX 3.5 service
console and the ESX 4.0 service console. Included are suggestions of what you might do to upgrade your
existing environments that depend on the ESX service console. This document also discusses how you might
bridge the gap to support ESXi, which does not include a service console. And finally, if you are currently
writing applications that run in the ESX service console, this document suggests some possible options you
have for transitioning away from it.

Problem with VMInfo.pl

DrewGator — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:32:54 GMT

I found the problem: the vmname has to be entered in the same case as it is listed in the VC database. In our case we create all VMs in all caps so that is how it has to be entered in the script. I just need to add some code to make sure the command line arguments are always in all caps or convert them if not.

Browsing datastore files

lamw — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 23:47:05 GMT

Your datastorePath is set to NULL that is the reason you're getting the current fault, it needs to be in the following form:

[datastore_name]

So you should probably do something like:

my $path = "[" . $datastore->info->name . "]";

I also assume you've taken a look at the dsbrowse.pl which is part of the vSphere SDK for Perl as the snippet of code is familiar.

=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at: http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/
vGhetto Script Repository
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
http://twitter.com/lamw

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

datacenter question

stumpr — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 23:05:47 GMT

datacenter would be any datacenter objects you have created in your VC inventory. You could have multiple datacenters in your inventory, so it's a way to only see objects from that datacenter down the tree.

You should use --server= or --url= for your VC parameter. Server would be just the FQDN or IP, url would be https://<FQDN(or IP)>/sdk

Simple create VM script not working

repl1cant — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 18:26:24 GMT

Howdy folks,

I'm trying to create a simple create VM script from the ground up and I can't for the life of me find out what's wrong. The error I keep on getting is:

SOAP Fault:

Fault string: A component of the virtual machine is not accessible on the host.
Fault detail: CannotAccessVmComponent

I've tried to trim it down as much as possible to try and figure out this last issue. I took out the deviceChange portion and still get the same error. I also tried changing the datastore name to verify the format of it, and that was not the issue either as it complained .. Also, in the version I pasted below I put the var's directly in the create_vm_spec function as well .. Help!!!

use strict;
use VMware::VIRuntime;

my $vc = 'x.x.x.x';
my $vc_un = 'username';
my $vc_pw = 'password';
my $host = 'hostname';

$vc = "https://$vc:443/sdk/vimService";

Util::connect($vc,$vc_un,$vc_pw);

my $host_view = get_esx_host($host);
my $dc_view = get_datacenter("datacenter");
my $folder = $dc_view->vmFolder;

my $folder_view = Vim::get_view(mo_ref =>; $dc_view->vmFolder);
my $comp_view = Vim::get_view(mo_ref => $host_view->parent);

my $spec = create_vm_spec();

eval {
$folder_view->CreateVM(
config =>$spec,
pool =>$comp_view->resourcePool
);
};

print $@;

Util::disconnect();

# creates object for a given host
sub get_esx_host {
my $host = shift;
return Vim::find_entity_view(
view_type => 'HostSystem',
filter => {
name => qr/$host/i
}
);
}

# creates an object for a given dc
sub get_datacenter {
my $dc = shift;
return Vim::find_entity_view(
view_type => 'Datacenter',
filter => {
name => qr/$dc/i
}
);
}

# create vm spec, see below for params
sub create_vm_spec {

my $name = "testMe";
my $cpus = 1;
my $mem_size = 256;
my $guest_os = "rhel4Guest";
my $ds_name = "datastore";

my $ds_path = "$ds_name";

# create a ref for the location of the vm files
my $files = VirtualMachineFileInfo->new(
logDirectory => undef,
snapshotDirectory => undef,
suspendDirectory => undef,
vmPathName => $ds_path
);

# and for the grand finalie, lets create the vm spec!!!!!!!
my $vm_spec = VirtualMachineConfigSpec->new(
name => $name,
memoryMB => $mem_size,
files => $files,
numCPUs => $cpus,
guestId => $guest_os
);

return $vm_spec;

}

how to check the status of the server added in vMA

lamw — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:54:09 GMT

When you add add a target to vMA for management, all it does is adds two local accounts (vi-user and vi-admin) and keeps an internal list of the targets which can be displayed by using listservers option. There is no concept of status since it will just fail a command when you try to execute a command to a host that is not available, you might want to run a very generic script as you loop through all targets and based on this you take into account of any targets that are not online.

A good one would be /usr/lib/vmware-vcli/apps/general/viversion.pl

You would also do a simple ping test prior to executing your commands, so it really depends on what you want to check for, but there is nothing special with the vifp that provides a current status of your targets.

=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at: http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/
vGhetto Script Repository
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
http://twitter.com/lamw

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

Shutting down multiple hosts and the vm's on the hosts

c_shanklin — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 19:03:31 GMT

I think you're trying to just syspend or shutdown every VM and then shut down the host.

This code might help.

Can SDK for perl execute an ESX service console command: esxcfg-info?

duyuyang — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 02:05:12 GMT

Thank you again.

If SSHing to ESX service console is not an option, we can not execute esxcfg-info to an ESX host and fetch the output back from vMA, am I right?

I am wondering if vSphere SDK API objects provide such capability. And I badly want to get that full set of host information.

Regards,

Shawn

vsphere 4 perl SDK with ESX 3.5?

catphive — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 20:04:31 GMT

Thanks!

Using common options

lamw — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 03:15:09 GMT

So first off, you'll probably want to reference both the programmers guide and toolkit guide: http://www.vmware.com/support/developer/viperltoolkit/doc/perl_toolkit_appliance_idx.html which provides information on how to start writing your own scripts and some methods to implement to make it easier to writing your own custom scripts.

The VI_CONFIG file you're referring to is generally stored as a hidden file which can be named anything, in my example I've named it .viconfig which will hold a few variables:

[vi-admin@scofield ~]$ cat .viconfig
VI_SERVER=reflex.primp-industries.com
VI_USERNAME=primp
VI_PASSWORD=mysecurepassword!

You have the option to store other variables such as the VI_URL, VI_PROTOCOL, etc. though at a minimal for an unattended execution you'll need at least the server, which in this case can be either vCenter Server or ESX(i) server, the proper username/password to login to the systems. VMware has already pre-built some subroutines to automatically parse and validate the various credentials that can provided by default, so no need to reinvent the wheel. Just use what's there, which can be specified on the command line with --config and the path to the configuration file.

Okay, on to the script, again there are lots of scripts that have been pre-written which you can follow from /usr/lib/vmware-vcli/apps/ or /usr/lib/vmware-viperl/apps/ and you'll probably find the vm directory to be quite useful. In your script, you're looking to shutdown and suspend a list of VMs, based on the function of choice, you're doing a hard power off versus a soft guest shutdown. The latter requires that you have VMware Tools installed, else you'll get a soap fault. Nonetheless, it can be handled and caught by doing a force power off, but based on your initial script I've slightly re-written and hopefully it gives you an idea on how to go about writing this script.

Take a look at: poweroff_suspend_vm.pl

Here is a sample run using a configuration file w/o having to provide any credentials:

VM list

[vi-admin@scofield ~]$ cat vmList
Quentin
VCAP

Suspend

[vi-admin@scofield ~]$ ./vmPowerOps.pl --config .viconfig --operation suspend --vmfile vmList
Trying to suspend Quentin
        Successfully suspended Quentin
Trying to suspend VCAP
        Successfully suspended VCAP

Shutdown

[vi-admin@scofield ~]$ ./vmPowerOps.pl --config .viconfig --operation poweroff--vmfile vmList
Trying to poweroff Quentin
        Successfully poweredoff Quentin
Trying to poweroff VCAP
        Successfully poweredoff VCAP

If you're looking to do a proper guest shutdown, take a look at ShutdownGuest

Happy scripting!

=========================================================================
William Lam
VMware vExpert 2009
VMware ESX/ESXi scripts and resources at: http://engineering.ucsb.edu/~duonglt/vmware/
vGhetto Script Repository
VMware Code Central - Scripts/Sample code for Developers and Administrators
http://twitter.com/lamw

If you find this information useful, please award points for "correct" or "helpful".

Trouble retrieving VM objects

stumpr — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 21:41:52 GMT

At least it was something simple. Sorry I misread your post not once, but twice.

Import a Virtual Machine using Perl

c_shanklin — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:15:12 GMT

For the converter-specific problems you may have more luck in the converter forum.

Function RebootGuest() stop when VmWare tools service isn't started

stumpr — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 16:31:37 GMT

Yes, you'd use the defined function. You would test to see if a VirtualMachine's GuestInfo property is defined.


if ( defined $vm_view->guest ) {
     # Do something productive here
}
else {
     # Complain about missing tools here
}

You may want to write a safe check function if you don't want your scripts to generate a run time error when accessing VMware SDK properties. A lot of the properties are not guaranteed to be set. Eval can be a bit easier to manage since you sometimes end up with a long list of if statements. I sometimes just use the ternary operator for value properties

Perl vSphere SDK on OS X

jnhall — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 21:52:25 GMT

Hmm, good catch. I'll file a bug for this. Among other things the One True Way to detect Windows is to see if $^O matches exactly the string 'MSWin32'. (Period.)

Compatibility: VIPerl 1.6 & vSphere SDK for Perl v4: Gotchas/Issues?

kindlund — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:21:31 GMT

Okay, yeah, I think ESX 3.5 and ESX 4 have slightly different ways of implementing the API; however, aside from the Copy task issue, I haven't run into any other issues.

hot migration using perl sdk

aswani521 — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 22:50:06 GMT

apart from the default options given in the script add the following additional option: --state "poweredOn"

it will also perform the hot migrate

VI Perl Toolkit using a lot of CPU (hundreds of thousands of calls to libXML)

MartinWi — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:51:21 GMT

Thanks for your answer. Indeed the script is taking too long to execute, and while it is running it is using 100% cpu. It doesn't make sense to me that a script that only gathers a few values uses so much resources, but it is understandable if the feature to get precise properties was undocumented. The script only requres a few perl modules and an esx or esxi to connect to to make it work. Help would be much appreciated anyhow, and I would gladly assist with testing. Cheers.

scripting datastore creation

njain — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 11:48:24 GMT

Below are couple of forum threads that might be of help:
http://communities.vmware.com/message/1176591#1176591
http://communities.vmware.com/message/851135#851135

vicfg-nas datastore removal

klevron — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:28:02 GMT

I've done some testing and you are right.

I can add and remove datastores using the RCLI on my ESX hosts, but not on the ESXi hosts that are using the free license.

Thanks!

Problems installing vSphere SDK

bandersfdjhefjh — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:12:37 GMT

It is x86 and it finally works after upgrading the 1.65 libxml module to the most recent 1.66 version so it seems like it was not so much about a faulty registered dll-file but rather the Perl module for binding to libxml2.
Thanks for all the help in this matter.

Welcome vSphere SDK for Perl users !

stumpr — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 05:23:35 GMT

I just laid out the steps I usually take to setup your ActiveState Perl environment to run VMware scripts in another thread.

Take a look at this thread in this forum.