Automation

I'm writing a small script to check the ESX host network connections and flag up if a NIC connection goes down.

A small issue is that the physical hosts have 8-10 NICs so I want to specify which NICs are connected for each vSwitch.

I've got this far, but

(a) It seems overly complex at this stage

(b) I have an error in the vSwitch output I'm trying to fathom.

Anyone with a better knowledge of extended data views have a better suggestion?

#List of vDS and NICs in use by ESX hosts in order to exclude unpatched NICS

$vDSw1 = 'SRV-PRI-DSwitch1'

$vDSw2 = 'SRV-PRI-DSwitch2'

$UsedNICsSw1 = "vmnic0|vmnic1|vmnic4|vmnic6"

$UsedNICsSw2 = "vmnic0|vmnic5|vmnic7|vmnic8"

$VMH = Get-VMHost | sort Name

$SwitchAssignments = ForEach($vds in Get-VDSwitch){

    Get-View -Id $vds.ExtensionData.Config.host.config.host -Property Name | Select Name, @{N='vDSwitch';E={$vds.Name}} | Sort-Object Name

}

ForEach ($VMHost in $VMH) {

    $DvSwitchInfo = Get-VDSwitch -VMHost $VMHost

    If ($DvSwitchInfo -ne $null) {

        $DvSwitchHost = $DvSwitchInfo.ExtensionData.Config.Host

        $DVNic = $DvSwitchHost.config.backing.PnicSpec.PnicDevice 

    } 

    ForEach($pNic in $VMHost.ExtensionData.Config.Network.Pnic){

        If ($DVNic -contains $pNic.device) { 

            $vSwitch = $DVswitchInfo | select-object -ExpandProperty Name 

        } 

        Else { 

            $vSwitchname = $VMHost | Get-VirtualSwitch -Standard | Where-object {$_.nic -eq $pNic.Device} 

            $vSwitch = $vSwitchname.name 

        }

        If($pNic.LinkSpeed -eq $null){

            $LinkStatus = 'Down'

        }

        Else {

            $LinkStatus = $pNic.LinkSpeed.SpeedMb

        }

        $Details = [pscustomobject]@{EsxName = $VMHost.Name;VMNic = $pNIC.device;vSwitch = $vSwitch; Status = $LinkStatus}  

        If ( ($SwitchAssignments | ? { $_.name -eq $VMHost.name}).vDSwitch -eq $vDSw1) {

            $Details | Where-Object {$_.Status -eq "down"} |? {$_ -match $UsedNICsSW1}

        }

        If ( ($SwitchAssignments | ? { $_.name -eq $VMHost.name}).vDSwitch -eq $vDSw2) {

            $Details | Where-Object {$_.Status -eq "down"} |? {$_ -match $UsedNICsSW2}

        }

    }

}  

Moderator note: Moved to PowerCLI

Can you try something like this?
It will only show the pNics that are connected to a VDS and that are down.

Thanks Luc, however I do need the standard vSwitch NICs as well because they we have NICs attached there on on another network, which is why I was trying from the ESX host standpoint. This has given me a start though I'll see if I can figure it.

Try like this

Excellent thanks, I can work this into my report easily.

LucD

so...

do I change the HostSystem with my esx name and its will show the NIcs state on vds?

Get-View -ViewType HostSystem -PipelineVariable esx |

ForEach-Object -Process {

    $netSys = Get-View -Id $esx.ConfigManager.NetworkSystem

    foreach($vss in $netSys.NetworkInfo.Vswitch){

        foreach($nic in $vss.Pnic){

            $netSys.NetworkInfo.Pnic | where{$_.Key -eq $nic -and $_.LinkSpeed -eq $null} |

            Select @{N='VMHost';E={$esx.Name}},

                @{N='Switch';E={$vss.Name}},

                @{N='SwitchType';E={'VSS'}},

                @{N='pNic Down';E={$_.Device}}

        }

    }

    foreach($vds in $netSys.NetworkInfo.ProxySwitch){

        foreach($nic in $vds.Spec.Backing.PnicSpec){

            $netSys.NetworkInfo.Pnic | where{$_.Device -eq $nic.PnicDevice -and $_.LinkSpeed -eq $null} |

            Select @{N='VMHost';E={$esx.Name}},

                @{N='Switch';E={$vds.DvsName}},

                @{N='SwitchType';E={'VDS'}},

                @{N='pNic Down';E={$_.Device}}

        }

    }

}

Blog: htt

No, this is using the Get-View cmdlet, use the Filter parameter.

Also remove the the test on the LinkSpeed otherwise you will only get pNIC that are down/not connected.

This will give the result for VSS and VDS

I just want to get the state of the vmnics on vds and std . Could you please help me to modifiy your script to get the list of vmnics up and down? (vds and sw) , I dont have too experience on powercli scripts

Try like this

you rock! :smileywink: , thanks.. One question more:

In my example below the host 4 the "SpeedMB" and "Duplex"   are empty because the vmnic is DOWN. Is there any way to show the state down on this field and not empty? I need to create an automation script to avoid incidents

VMHost     : host1

Switch     : vSwitch0

SwitchType : VSS

pNic       : vmnic5

SpeedMB    : 10000

Duplex     : True

VMHost     :  host2

Switch     : vSwitch0

SwitchType : VSS

pNic       : vmnic0

SpeedMB    : 10000

Duplex     : True

VMHost     :  host3

Switch     : vSwitchUSB0

SwitchType : VSS

pNic       : vusb0

SpeedMB    : 100

Duplex     : True

VMHost     :  host4

Switch     : dvSwitch-

SwitchType : VDS

pNic       : vmnic1

SpeedMB    :

Duplex     :

VMHost     : host5

Switch     : dvSwitch-

SwitchType : VDS

pNic       : vmnic4

SpeedMB    : 10000

Duplex     : True

Try like this

Awesome!! I got the state fine! .... its possible to add a refresh the host's network system on script before to list the state of the vmnics?

Thanks in advance!

Just add the line after the initialisation of the $netSys object

Thanks!!! :smileywink: I got what I wanted.

Does performing the network refresh during the business hours can cause performance impact or any outage?

Any action on the vCenter has potential impact.
It all depends on the size and complexity of your environment, but in my personal experience this method has not caused an extreme additional load on any of my vCenters.

But your mileage may vary.

That's great. many thanks Luc for your clarification.

Hi LuCD,

i have tried the below and got error. Can you please help to advise

Get-View : 7/25/2020 5:26:42 PM Get-View                Invalid object specified for the Filter parameter  - 'Hashtable{

String,

null}'. Filter accepts objects of type  'Hashtable{String, String}'.

At C:\tsm_images\vmnic1.ps1:1 char:1

+ Get-View -ViewType HostSystem -Filter @{Name=$esxName} -PipelineVaria ...

+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    + CategoryInfo          : InvalidArgument: (System.Collections.Hashtable:Hashtable) [Get-View], VimException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : Core_GetVIView_TryGetFilterParam_InvalidValue,VMware.VimAutomation.ViCore.Cmdlets.Comman

   ds.DotNetInterop.GetVIView

i was looking to get the Physical network state of all the ESXi host in the vCenter with status (up/down) with switch name.

Regards

Narayanan.

The variable $esxName seems to be empty, hence the null error

Thanks LuCD for the quick reply.

i have removed the first line "$esxName = 'MyEsx'" as i require all the esxi hosts in the vCenter,  so i have connected the vCenter server directly and run the below

Get-View -ViewType HostSystem -Filter @{Name=$esxName} -PipelineVariable esx |

ForEach-Object -Process {

    $netSys = Get-View -Id $esx.ConfigManager.NetworkSystem

    foreach($vss in $netSys.NetworkInfo.Vswitch){

        foreach($nic in $vss.Pnic){

            $netSys.NetworkInfo.Pnic | where{$_.Key -eq $nic} |

            Select @{N='VMHost';E={$esx.Name}},

                @{N='Switch';E={$vss.Name}},

                @{N='SwitchType';E={'VSS'}},

                @{N='pNic';E={$_.Device}},

                @{N='SpeedMB';E={$_.LinkSpeed.SpeedMB}},

                @{N='Duplex';E={$_.LinkSpeed.Duplex}},

                @{N='Status';E={if($_.LinkSpeed -eq $null){'Down'}else{'Up'}}}

        }

    }

    foreach($vds in $netSys.NetworkInfo.ProxySwitch){

        foreach($nic in $vds.Spec.Backing.PnicSpec){

            $netSys.NetworkInfo.Pnic | where{$_.Device -eq $nic.PnicDevice} |

            Select @{N='VMHost';E={$esx.Name}},

                @{N='Switch';E={$vds.DvsName}},

                @{N='SwitchType';E={'VDS'}},

                @{N='pNic';E={$_.Device}},

                @{N='SpeedMB';E={$_.LinkSpeed.SpeedMB}},

                @{N='Duplex';E={$_.LinkSpeed.Duplex}},

                @{N='Status';E={if($_.LinkSpeed -eq $null){'Down'}else{'Up'}}}

        }

    }

}

It would be very helpful how how to get the network status report for all the esxi hosts in the vCenter server with formatted table.

I have tried below using esxcli v2 in simple format but didnt get the host name and formatted output what exactly i am looking.

$EsxHosts = Get-VMHost

foreach($EsxHost in $EsxHosts){

  $esxcli = Get-VMHost $EsxHost | Get-EsxCli -V2

  $esxcli.network.nic.list.Invoke()

}

Thank you

Regards

Narayanan.