Automatic cleanup of machines in 7.11.0

[Qander]

Hello there,

I'm looking for a way to determine if a machine hasn't been logged on for X amount of days.

When the user hasn't logged on to it for more then X amount of days the machine may be automatically deleted.

The users shouldn't lose his entitlement to the pool.

This way we will be able to cleanup inactive machines and regain CPU, ram and storage for these machines automatically.

It will be really appreciated if someone could help me out in this one.

Thank you,

Remie

[nburton935]

It would take some scripting, but you can likely get it done.

If your VMs are within a specific OU, you can get a list of the machines using Get-ADComputer -Filter * -SearchBase 'OU=ouname,DC=yourdomain,DC=com' -Properties * | sort lastlogondate | select name,lastlogondate

That will at least get you a list of your machines and their last logons. If you're wanting to fully automate it, you can apply a filter based on your date requirements, pipe those names to the Remove-HVMachine commandlet, and have it run as a scheduled task. Here's the get-help for Remove-HVMachine (part of PowerCLI).

NAME

    Remove-HVMachine

SYNOPSIS

    Remove a Horizon View desktop or desktops.

SYNTAX

    Remove-HVMachine [-MachineNames] <Array> [-DeleteFromDisk] [[-HVServer] <Object>] [-WhatIf] [-Confirm]

    [<CommonParameters>]

DESCRIPTION

    Deletes a VM or an array of VM's from Horizon. Utilizes an Or query filter to match machine names.

PARAMETERS

    -MachineNames <Array>

        The name or names of the machine(s) to be deleted. Accepts a single VM or an array of VM names.This is a

        mandatory parameter.

        Required?                    true

        Position?                    1

        Default value

        Accept pipeline input?       false

        Accept wildcard characters?  false

    -DeleteFromDisk [<SwitchParameter>]

        Determines whether the Machine VM should be deleted from vCenter Server. This is only applicable for managed

        machines.

        This must always be true for machines in linked and instant clone desktops.

        This defaults to true for linked and instant clone machines and false for all other types.

        Required?                    false

        Position?                    named

        Default value                False

        Accept pipeline input?       false

        Accept wildcard characters?  false

    -HVServer <Object>

        The Horizon server where the machine to be deleted resides. Parameter is not mandatory,

              but if you do not specify the server, than make sure you are connected to a Horizon server

              first with connect-hvserver.

        Required?                    false

        Position?                    2

        Default value

        Accept pipeline input?       false

        Accept wildcard characters?  false

    -WhatIf [<SwitchParameter>]

        Required?                    false

        Position?                    named

        Default value

        Accept pipeline input?       false

        Accept wildcard characters?  false

    -Confirm [<SwitchParameter>]

        Required?                    false

        Position?                    named

        Default value

        Accept pipeline input?       false

        Accept wildcard characters?  false

    -------------------------- EXAMPLE 1 --------------------------

    PS C:\>Remove-HVMachine -HVServer 'horizonserver123' -MachineNames 'LAX-WIN10-002'

    Deletes VM 'LAX-WIN10-002' from HV Server 'horizonserver123'

    -------------------------- EXAMPLE 2 --------------------------

    PS C:\>Remove-HVMachine -HVServer 'horizonserver123' -MachineNames $machines

    Deletes VM's contained within an array of machine names from HV Server 'horizonserver123'

    -------------------------- EXAMPLE 3 --------------------------

    PS C:\>Remove-HVMachine -HVServer 'horizonserver123' -MachineNames 'ManualVM01' -DeleteFromDisk:$false

    Deletes VM 'ManualVM01' from Horizon inventory, but not from vSphere. Note this only works for Full Clone VMs.

-Nick

[Qander]

Hi Nburton935,

Thanks for pointing me the remove-hvmachine command.

I have made a script which doesn't work for some reason and I cannot understand what I'm doing wrong.

Here is the code:

$HorizonServer = "horizonserver.domain.com"
$dagen = (Get-Date).AddDays(-31) 
$vms = Get-ADComputer -Filter 'Description -LIKE "*VMWARE*" -AND lastLogonDate -lt $dagen' -SearchBase 'OU=VDI OU,DC=Domain,DC=com' -Properties * | select name
Connect-HVServer -server $HorizonServer -user domain\someserviceuser -password MyIncrediblyHardPassword
foreach($vm in $vms) 
{
Remove-HVMachine -machinenames $vm -deletefromdisk -confirm
}
Disconnect-HVServer -Confirm

When I run the command as domain\someserviceuser manually with a single VDI machine pointed in the remove-hvmachine command it works just fine.

PS C:\Users\administrator.PRIMELINE> foreach($vm in $vms)

{

Remove-HVMachine -machinenames $vm -deletefromdisk -confirm

}

Exception calling "Machine_GetInfos" with "2" argument(s): "There is an error in the XML document."

At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\VMware.Hv.Helper\VMware.HV.Helper.psm1:10536 char:7

+       $deleteMachine = $machineService.Machine_GetInfos($services,$de ...

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

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperationException

Attempting log off of machines

Attempting to Delete:

Exception calling "Machine_DeleteMachines" with "3" argument(s): "There is an error in the XML document."

At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\VMware.Hv.Helper\VMware.HV.Helper.psm1:10602 char:7

+       $machineService.Machine_DeleteMachines($services,$deleteMachine ...

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

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperationException

Exception calling "Machine_GetInfos" with "2" argument(s): "There is an error in the XML document."

At C:\Program Files\WindowsPowerShell\Modules\VMware.Hv.Helper\VMware.HV.Helper.psm1:10536 char:7

+       $deleteMachine = $machineService.Machine_GetInfos($services,$de ...

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

    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException

    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : InvalidOperationException

What am I doing wrong here?

[amdjfk]

What is being passed in to $vms? are those String names of machines? I haven't figured out how to get the array of machine names I want yet without having to get all the relevent machines using get-HVMachine -MachineName $pattern and then looping through the list to get the names into another array. If I do, I will let you know.