Query - NTP service restart

[Bunty11]

We get list of esxi host which are always not in sync with ntp server by 5 secs.

And the list is aroung 20-25 servers.

Can we create a script which can restart ntp service on all 25 servers.

[LucD · Accepted solution]

I assume that the list of servers is in a CSV file, that looks like this

Hostname

esx1

esx2

...

Then you could do something like this

Import-Csv hostnames.csv -UseCulture | %{
  Get-VMHost -Name $_.Hostname | Get-VMHostService | where {$_.Key -eq "ntpd"} |
  Restart-VMHostService -Confirm:$false
}

[Borja_Mari]

Hello,

another option (not using a csv input file):

$allVMhost = Get-VMHost

foreach ($vmhost in $allVMhost){

$ntp = Get-VMHostService -vmhost $vmhost| ? {$_.Key -eq 'ntpd'}
Restart-VMHostService $ntp -confirm:$false
Write-Host "$ntp Service on $vmhost was restarted"
}

Best regards,

Pablo

[Bunty11]

I guess script from Pablo will restart ntp on all esxi host in my enviorment.

Where as if i only want to restart ntp on 5 esxi host out of 10 esxi host ?

Then we can use LuCD approach. Anyways i wanted to restart ntp on only selected host in my enviorment and not all.

[juriskrumins]

Use hybrid approach:

function Restart-VMHostNTPService

{

    [CmdletBinding()]

    [OutputType([int])]

    Param

    (

        # Param1 help description

        [Parameter(Mandatory=$true,

                   ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true,

                   Position=0)]

        [ValidateNotNullOrEmpty()]

        [Alias("Name")]

        [string]$VMHost

    )

    Process

    {

        Get-VMHostService -vmhost $VMHost | ? {$_.Key -eq 'ntpd'} | Restart-VMHostService -confirm:$false

    }

}

Get-VmHost -name host* | Restart-VMHostNTPService

Specify any filter you want using PowerShell capabilities like Where-Object, regular expressions and so on and pipe all this to function.

[LucD]

What is "hybrid" about this ?

The user starts from a list of hostnames which the script needs to read.

If you use a function or not, it is still a Restart-VMHostService you need to do in the end.

[Borja_Mari]

Hello,

you're right, the LucD's way is what you want

My script will restart the ntp service in all vmware hosts.

Best regards,

Pablo

[juriskrumins]

By "hybrid"  I mean using advanced functions of PowerShell, which is on my mind the best way to do things, cause you can reuse code, load it from your profile, make libraries/modules and so on.

Of course I completely agree with you, that at the end it's Restart-VMHostService, but function handles loops,piping and parameter validation. But those are probably personal preferences.

Anyway all mentioned approaches will work and that's the main goal I believe.

[LucD]

Ok, I see.

And you are of course right, try to create reusable code.

On the other hand in this forum I always try to concentrate on the solution for the question that was asked.

In your answer you assume that the user is at a specific PowerShell version, that he knows about advanced functions, ...

It's not bad, and it should be a best practice for writing PS scripts, but I fear that it might confuse some of the users even more than the simple question they started with.

Just a different point of view :smileycool: