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528 Views 17 Replies Last post: Feb 13, 2008 7:38 AM by langonej RSS
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renehasp Enthusiast 61 posts since
Dec 2, 2005
Currently Being Moderated

Feb 6, 2008 10:28 AM

Snapshot reporting?

Hi there, I am looking for a tool that will give me centralized reporting on all the snapshots in my environment. I know there is a 3rd party product called snapshot hunter. I was wondering if anyone is using it and their opinion on it. I was also wondering if there are any other tools out there that would give me this type of report or functionality.

 

It's kinda hard to manage all the snapshots in the environment when you have to click vm by vm to see if there is a snapshot. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thank You,

Rene

RParker Guru 7,853 posts since
Dec 6, 2006
Currently Being Moderated
1. Feb 6, 2008 11:21 AM in response to: renehasp
Re: Snapshot reporting?

The best way is go to into the table and look for : VPX_SNAPSHOT . That list's ALL the VM's w/ snapshots.

 

 

 

 

Whatever database you are using for your VC, you can find snapshots in that table. It even shows current snapshots and if they are current, you can change the description here, but I wouldn't recommend you delete or change anything else unless its via the VIC.

depping Champion VMware Employees User Moderators vExpert 4,239 posts since
Jan 17, 2005
Currently Being Moderated
2. Feb 6, 2008 11:30 AM in response to: RParker
Re: Snapshot reporting?

The VC database isn't always accurate. I recommend using a script which check for registered snaps and orphaned snaps because orphaned snaps aren't registered in VC. This happens when a vmsd file gets corrupted. I wrote a script 6 months ago which does exactly that... It reports via an html mail and can check any server you want providing you've setup ssh... I will put it online asap.

 

 

 

 

Duncan

My virtualisation blog:

http://www.yellow-bricks.com

Duncan | Yellow-Bricks.com | Author of the vSphere 5.0 Clustering Deepdive
depping Champion VMware Employees User Moderators vExpert 4,239 posts since
Jan 17, 2005
Currently Being Moderated
3. Feb 6, 2008 12:10 PM in response to: depping
Re: Snapshot reporting?

 

Because I actually don't seem to have life , i just posted a blog with my script on my website: http://www.yellow-bricks.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=84

 

 

 

 

 

Duncan

My virtualisation blog:

http://www.yellow-bricks.com

 

 

Duncan | Yellow-Bricks.com | Author of the vSphere 5.0 Clustering Deepdive
Ridiz Enthusiast 21 posts since
Jul 28, 2006
Currently Being Moderated
4. Feb 6, 2008 12:25 PM in response to: renehasp
Re: Snapshot reporting?

 

 

 

I use Alex Mittell's snap_hunter.pl script .  It's simple, free and it works well.  You can put it on a host that can see all your data stores or multiple hosts if required.  I have it setup in cron to run weekly.  On Mondays I review the e-mails and perform cleanups where necessary...very quick and easy.

 

 

Otherwise, ConfigureSoft's new version of ECM has some nice VI reporting  functionality, including snapshot reporting.

 

 

HTH,

Rich

 

 

 

 

 

 

williamarrata Expert 502 posts since
Jul 19, 2006
Currently Being Moderated
5. Feb 6, 2008 4:53 PM in response to: Ridiz
Re: Snapshot reporting?

 

Hey guys,

 

 

I've been trying to run the snap_hunter.pl as follows:

 

 

snap_hunter.pl --config, -c

 

 

After doing this I get:

 

 

Option config requires an argument

 

 

I have set the .cfg file as I want.?????

 

 

anyone get this?

 

 

 

 

Hope that helped.

 

 

Hope that helped. :-)
Ridiz Enthusiast 21 posts since
Jul 28, 2006
Currently Being Moderated
6. Feb 7, 2008 5:25 AM in response to: williamarrata
Re: Snapshot reporting?

Bill,

 

My snap_hunter.pl cron script is of the form:

 <path_to_script_dir>/snap_hunter.pl -c <path_to_config_file_dir>/snap_hunter.cfg 

Specifically:

 /usr/local/snap_hunter/snap_hunter.pl -c /usr/local/snap_hunter/snap_hunter.cfg 

 

Ridiz Enthusiast 21 posts since
Jul 28, 2006
Currently Being Moderated
8. Feb 7, 2008 9:48 AM in response to: renehasp
Re: Snapshot reporting?

I'm running it against VC 2.0.

 

My config file has a VC domain account in it.  You don't have to specify the domain in the config file, just

username=aVCadminAccount

 

Message was edited by: Ridiz - removed 2.5 statement, test was not valid.

Ridiz Enthusiast 21 posts since
Jul 28, 2006
Currently Being Moderated
10. Feb 7, 2008 10:49 AM in response to: renehasp
Re: Snapshot reporting?

Hi Rene,

 

I didn't change anything on the firewall.  But I was able to reproduce your error.  If I run the script on a host, but point it to a VC that is not managing that host, I get the error you describe.  In my case, I did this on a 3.0 host and pointed it to a VC2.5 install that was not managing it.

 

If I run it on a host, and point it to a VC that is managing that host, then it runs correctly.  I verified this on a 3.5 host and VC2.5.

 

Maybe you're running it on a host and pointing it to a different VC?

 

HTH,

Rich

Ridiz Enthusiast 21 posts since
Jul 28, 2006
Currently Being Moderated
12. Feb 7, 2008 12:03 PM in response to: renehasp
Re: Snapshot reporting?

Yes, I have HA and DRS, but I haven't tried that specific combination (ESX 3.0 and proper VC 2.5).  I'm afraid I can't test that either given my current environment.  I may have an opportunity in to do so in the next week or two.

williamarrata Expert 502 posts since
Jul 19, 2006
Currently Being Moderated
13. Feb 8, 2008 2:33 PM in response to: Ridiz
Re: Snapshot reporting?

 

Sweet, Got it to work and send E-Mails thanks to Ridiz.  Now, Issue number 2, ready.  I have 84 Hosts, Is there a way to start a task or something to get them to run this script.

 

 

/usr/local/snap_hunter/snap_hunter.pl -c /usr/local/snap_hunter/snap_hunter.cfg  on every host at once

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hope that helped. :-)
langonej Hot Shot vExpert 255 posts since
May 24, 2005
Currently Being Moderated
14. Feb 11, 2008 7:50 AM in response to: williamarrata
Re: Snapshot reporting?

 

When I need to run concurrent scripts against many (100 or more) ESX boxes I typically use dancer's shell (DSH).  You could also do it with a loop on one ESX box but I've been using DSH for years and its quite quick.  I use this to issue HBA rescans for dozens at a time, concurrently.

 

 

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