Does anyone a QA process they would like to share with the community? We are trying to conform to a new standard and would like a way to make sure our ESXi hosts are built correctly by our build team. We currently have a checklist but that doesn't seem to be doing the trick. Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.
Hi Hop3241,
I have always used PowerShell / PowerCLI scripts to configure the hosts, and similarly use a PowerShell script to audit them ... no matter who in the team builds the host I can execute the script and have the results in under a minute.
Depending on your licence, host profiles could help out with consistent configuration / compliance. Out of interest, what are the major consistency issues you're struggling with?
Cheers,
Jon
Networking setups and our documentation of the new hosts. We do have some host profiles setup, but not all of our locations have the same exact networking setup. Not much we can do there but maybe there's something to scripting our QA process.
Network config is very easy to get back with PowerShell, if you want I can send you a copy of my audit script so that you can tweak it for your own requirements?
I'll just strip out any internal information and post the results so that you can see what it looks like.
Here is a sample, with some data changed for anonymity;
######################################
## REFERENCE DATA FOR : MY-ESX-HOST ##
## TIMESTAMP : 10/02/2015 10:14:03 ##
######################################
Build Information
-----------------
HostName : MY-ESX-HOST
Product : VMware ESXi
Version : 5.1.0
Update : 3
Build : Releasebuild-2323236
VendorName : Dell Inc.
ProductName : PowerEdge R720
SerialNumber : xxxxxxx
Domain Membership
-----------------
VMHost Domain DomainMembershipStatus
------ ------ ----------------------
MY-ESX-HOST
Installed VIBs
--------------
AcceptanceLevel CreationDate ID InstallDate Name Status Vendor Version
--------------- ------------ -- ----------- ---- ------ ------ -------
PartnerSupported 2013-10-15 Dell_bootbank_OpenManage_7.3.0.2-0000 2015-01-27 OpenManage Dell 7.3.0.2-0000
Network Adapters
----------------
Host PNic Speed MAC DeviceID PortID
---- ---- ----- --- -------- ------
MY-ESX-HOST vmnic0 1000 bc:30:5b:ed:b9:xx
MY-ESX-HOST vmnic1 1000 bc:30:5b:ed:b9:xx
MY-ESX-HOST vmnic2 1000 bc:30:5b:ed:b9:xx
MY-ESX-HOST vmnic3 1000 bc:30:5b:ed:b9:xx
MY-ESX-HOST vmnic4 1000 a0:36:9f:08:80:xx
MY-ESX-HOST vmnic5 1000 a0:36:9f:08:80:xx
MY-ESX-HOST vmnic6 a0:36:9f:08:80:xx
MY-ESX-HOST vmnic7 a0:36:9f:08:80:xx
Virtual Switches
----------------
HostName VirtualSwitch Adapters NumPorts Mtu ActiveNic StandbyNic UnusedNic FailbackEnabled NotifySwitches
-------- ------------- -------- -------- --- --------- ---------- --------- --------------- --------------
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch0 {vmnic1, vmnic0} 128 1500 {vmnic0, vmnic1} False True
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 {vmnic3, vmnic2} 256 1500 {vmnic2, vmnic3} False True
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch2 {vmnic5, vmnic4} 128 1500 {vmnic4, vmnic5} False True
Port Groups
-----------
HostName VirtualSwitch VirtualPortGroup VLanId InheritFaiover ActiveNic StandbyNic UnusedNic LoadBalancingPolicy FailbackEnabled
-------- ------------- ---------------- ------ -------------- --------- ---------- --------- ------------------- ---------------
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch0 Management Network xx True {vmnic0, vmnic1} LoadBalanceSrcId False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch0 VMOTION xx False {vmnic1, vmnic0} LoadBalanceSrcId False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx x True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xxx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xxx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xxxx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xxxx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xxxx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xxxx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xxxx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch1 Network_xx.xx.xx xxxx True {vmnic2, vmnic3} LoadBalanceIP False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch2 DMZ_xx.xx.xx xxx True {vmnic4, vmnic5} LoadBalanceSrcId False
MY-ESX-HOST vSwitch2 DMZ_xx.xx.xx xxx True {vmnic4, vmnic5} LoadBalanceSrcId False
Datastores
----------
Name FreeSpaceGB CapacityGB
---- ----------- ----------
MY-ESX-HOST_DAS 130.052 131.000
NMP/SATP - Path Select Policy
-----------------------------
DefaultPSP Description Name
---------- ----------- ----
VMW_PSP_RR Supports non-specific active/active arrays VMW_SATP_DEFAULT_AA
NTP Servers
-----------
my-ntp1.mydomain.com
my-ntp2.mydomain.com
HBA Connections
---------------
Hostname Device Type Driver Status Speed WWPN
-------- ------ ---- ------ ------ ----- ----
MY-ESX-HOST vmhba2 FibreChannel qla2xxx online 8 21000024ff08xxxx
MY-ESX-HOST vmhba3 FibreChannel qla2xxx online 8 21000024ff08xxxx
DNS Settings
------------
HostName DnsAddress
-------- ----------
MY-ESX-HOST {xx.xx.xx.xx, xx.xx.xx.xx}
VMKernel Port IP Addresses
--------------------------
VMHost DeviceName Mac DhcpEnabled IP SubnetMask PortGroupName ManagementTrafficEnabled VMotionEnabled
------ ---------- --- ----------- -- ---------- ------------- ------------------------ --------------
MY-ESX-HOST vmk0 bc:30:5b:ed:b9:xx False xx.xx.xx.xx 255.255.255.0 Management Network True False
MY-ESX-HOST vmk1 00:50:56:60:0b:xx False xx.xx.xx.xx 255.255.255.0 VMOTION False True
Services
--------
Key Label Policy Running Required
--- ----- ------ ------- --------
TSM ESXi Shell on True False
TSM-SSH SSH on True False
ntpd NTP Daemon on True False
Firewall Exceptions
-------------------
Name Enabled IncomingPorts OutgoingPorts Protocols ServiceRunning
---- ------- ------------- ------------- --------- --------------
FTP Client True 20 21 TCP
NTP Client True 123 UDP True
SNMP Server True 161 UDP True
SSH Client True 22 TCP
SSH Server True 22 TCP
syslog True 514, 1514 UDP, TCP
Advanced Settings
-----------------
Name Value
---- -----
UserVars.ESXiShellInteractiveTimeOut 600
UserVars.ESXiShellTimeOut 0
UserVars.SuppressShellWarning 1
SNMP Settings
-------------
Enabled Port ReadOnlyCommunities TrapTargets
------- ---- ------------------- -----------
True 161 {MyCommunity1, MyCommunity2} {my.destination1.com:162-MyCommunity1, my.destination2.com:162-MyCommunity2}
This is a great snapshot of your hosts settings.