VMware PowerCLI 101 - part12 - Get uptime and boot time of ESXi nodes and VMs

You can use the following PowerCLI commandlets to get the uptime and boot time of ESXi hosts and VMs.

• Get ESXi boot time.

> Get-Cluster | Get-VMHost | Select Name, @{Name="Boot time";Expression={$_.ExtensionData.Runtime.BootTime}}

Name                                  Boot time
----                                  ---------
esxi1.wxxxxx.com                      2/27/2025 10:13:45 AM
esxi2.wxxxxx.com                      6/18/2025 2:39:38 PM

• Get ESXi uptime.

> Get-Cluster | Get-VMHost | Select Name, @{Name="Uptime (Days)";Expression={(Get-Date) - $_.ExtensionData.Runtime.BootTime | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Days}}

Name                                  Uptime (Days)
----                                  -------------
esxi1.wxxxxx.com                      116
esxi2.wxxxxx.com                      5

• Get VM boot time.

> Get-Cluster | Get-VM | Select Name, @{Name="Boot time";Expression={$_.ExtensionData.Runtime.BootTime}}

Name                                      Boot time
----                                      ---------
test-vineeth
rhel84-vineeth
VMware vCenter Server                     2/25/2025 11:28:13 AM
vCLS-50a1b507-5a1d-5e00-8410-7599fc72e5b5 6/18/2025 2:51:59  PM

• Get VM uptime.

> Get-Cluster | Get-VM | Select Name, @{Name="Uptime (Days)";Expression={(Get-Date) - $_.ExtensionData.Runtime.BootTime | Select-Object -ExpandProperty Days}}

Name                                      Uptime (Days)
----                                      -------------
test-vineeth
rhel84-vineeth
VMware vCenter Server                     118
vCLS-50a1b507-5a1d-5e00-8410-7599fc72e5b5 5

Hope it was useful. Cheers!

VMware PowerCLI 101 - part10 - Verify vSphere cluster state

To verify the most common selected status attributes of the cluster:

Get-Cluster | Get-VMHost | Select Name,@{N='HAState';E={$_.ExtensionData.Runtime.DasHostState.State}},ConnectionState,PowerState,@{N='OverallStatus';E={$_.ExtensionData.OverallStatus}},@{N='ConfigStatus';E={$_.ExtensionData.ConfigStatus}},@{N='InMaintenanceMode';E={$_.ExtensionData.Runtime.InMaintenanceMode}},@{N='RebootRequired';E={$_.ExtensionData.Summary.RebootRequired}},@{N='BootTime';E={$_.ExtensionData.Runtime.BootTime}} | ft

> Get-Cluster | Get-VMHost | Select Name,@{N='HAState';E={$_.ExtensionData.Runtime.DasHostState.State}},ConnectionState,PowerState,@{N='OverallStatus';E={$_.ExtensionData.OverallStatus}},@{N='ConfigStatus';E={$_.ExtensionData.ConfigStatus}},@{N='InMaintenanceMode';E={$_.ExtensionData.Runtime.InMaintenanceMode}},@{N='RebootRequired';E={$_.ExtensionData.Summary.RebootRequired}},@{N='BootTime';E={$_.ExtensionData.Runtime.BootTime}} | ft

Name      HAState           ConnectionState PowerState OverallStatus ConfigStatus InMaintenanceMode RebootRequired BootTime
----      -------           --------------- ---------- ------------- ------------ ----------------- -------------- --------
10.90.1.4 connectedToMaster       Connected  PoweredOn        yellow       yellow             False          False 8/27/2024 7:31:10 AM
10.90.1.5 master                  Connected  PoweredOn        yellow       yellow             False          False 9/6/2024 9:08:09 PM

Hope it was useful. Cheers!

vSphere with Tanzu using NSX-T - Part30 - Troubleshooting inaccessible TKC with server pool members missing in the LB VS

Encountering issues with connectivity to your TKC apiserver/ control plane can be frustrating. One common problem we've seen is the kubeconfig failing to connect, often due to missing server pool members in the load balancer's virtual server (LB VS).

The Issue

The LB VS, which operates on port 6443, should have the control plane VMs listed as its member servers. When these members are missing, connectivity problems arise, disrupting your access to the TKC apiserver.

Troubleshooting steps

1. Access the TKC: Use the kubeconfig to access the TKC.
   

   ❯ KUBECONFIG=tkc.kubeconfig kubectl get node
   Unable to connect to the server: dial tcp 10.191.88.4:6443: i/o timeout
   ❯
   

2. Check the Load Balancer: In NSX-T, verify the status of the corresponding load balancer (LB). It may display a green status indicating success.
3. Inspect Virtual Servers: Check the virtual servers in the LB, particularly on port 6443. They might show as down.
4. Examine Server Pool Members: Look into the server pool members of the virtual server. You may find it empty.
5. SSH to Control Plane Nodes: Attempt to SSH into the TKC control plane nodes.
6. Run Diagnostic Commands: Execute diagnostic commands inside the control plane nodes to verify their status. The issue could be that the control plane VMs are in a hung state, and the container runtime is not running.
   

   vmware-system-user@tkc-infra-r68zc-jmq4j [ ~ ]$ sudo su
   root [ /home/vmware-system-user ]# crictl ps
   FATA[0002] failed to connect: failed to connect, make sure you are running as root and the runtime has been started: context deadline exceeded
   root [ /home/vmware-system-user ]#
   root [ /home/vmware-system-user ]# systemctl is-active containerd
   Failed to retrieve unit state: Failed to activate service 'org.freedesktop.systemd1': timed out (service_start_timeout=25000ms)
   root [ /home/vmware-system-user ]#
   root [ /home/vmware-system-user ]# systemctl status containerd
   WARNING: terminal is not fully functional
   -  (press RETURN)Failed to get properties: Failed to activate service 'org.freedesktop.systemd1'>
   lines 1-1/1 (END)lines 1-1/1 (END)
   

7. Check VM Console: From vCenter, check the console of the control plane VMs. You might see specific errors indicating issues.
   

   EXT4-fs (sda3): Delayed block allocation failed for inode 266704 at logical offset 10515 with max blocks 2 with error 5
   EXT4-fs (sda3): This should not happen!! Data will be lost
   EXT4-fs error (device sda3) in ext4_writepages:2905: IO failure
   EXT4-fs error (device sda3) in ext4_reserve_inode_write:5947: Journal has aborted
   EXT4-fs error (device sda3) xxxxxx-xxx-xxxx: unable to read itable block
   EXT4-fs error (device sda3) in ext4_journal_check_start:61: Detected aborted journal
   systemd[1]: Caught <BUS>, dumped core as pid 24777.
   systemd[1]: Freezing execution.
   

8. Restart Control Plane VMs: Restart the control plane VMs. Note that sometimes your admin credentials or administrator@vsphere.local credentials may not allow you to restart the TKC VMs. In such cases, decode the username and password from the relevant secret and use these credentials to connect to vCenter and restart the hung TKC VMs.
   

   ❯ kubectx wdc-01-vc17
   Switched to context "wdc-01-vc17".
   ❯
   ❯ kg secret -A | grep wcp
   kube-system                                 wcp-authproxy-client-secret                                               kubernetes.io/tls                                  3      291d
   kube-system                                 wcp-authproxy-root-ca-secret                                              kubernetes.io/tls                                  3      291d
   kube-system                                 wcp-cluster-credentials                                                   Opaque                                             2      291d
   vmware-system-nsop                          wcp-nsop-sa-vc-auth                                                       Opaque                                             2      291d
   vmware-system-nsx                           wcp-cluster-credentials                                                   Opaque                                             2      291d
   vmware-system-vmop                          wcp-vmop-sa-vc-auth                                                       Opaque                                             2      291d
   ❯
   ❯ kg secrets -n vmware-system-vmop wcp-vmop-sa-vc-auth
   NAME                  TYPE     DATA   AGE
   wcp-vmop-sa-vc-auth   Opaque   2      291d
   ❯ kg secrets -n vmware-system-vmop wcp-vmop-sa-vc-auth -oyaml
   apiVersion: v1
   data:
     password: aWAmbHUwPCpKe1Uxxxxxxxxxxxx=
     username: d2NwLXZtb3AtdXNlci1kb21haW4tYzEwMDYtMxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxQHZzcGhlcmUubG9jYWw=
   kind: Secret
   metadata:
     creationTimestamp: "2022-10-24T08:32:26Z"
     name: wcp-vmop-sa-vc-auth
     namespace: vmware-system-vmop
     resourceVersion: "336557268"
     uid: dcbdac1b-18bb-438c-ba11-76ed4d6bef63
   type: Opaque
   ❯
   
   ***Decrypt the username and password from the secret and use it to connect to the vCenter.
   ***Following is an example using PowerCLI:
   
   PS /Users/vineetha> get-vm gc-control-plane-f266h
   
   Name                 PowerState Num CPUs MemoryGB
   ----                 ---------- -------- --------
   gc-control-plane-f2… PoweredOn  2        4.000
   
   PS /Users/vineetha> get-vm gc-control-plane-f266h | Restart-VMGuest
   Restart-VMGuest: 08/04/2023 22:20:20	Restart-VMGuest		Operation "Restart VM guest" failed for VM "gc-control-plane-f266h" for the following reason: A general system error occurred: Invalid fault
   PS /Users/vineetha>
   PS /Users/vineetha> get-vm gc-control-plane-f266h | Restart-VM
   
   Confirm
   Are you sure you want to perform this action?
   Performing the operation "Restart-VM" on target "VM 'gc-control-plane-f266h'".
   [Y] Yes  [A] Yes to All  [N] No  [L] No to All  [S] Suspend  [?] Help (default is "Y"): Y
   
   Name                 PowerState Num CPUs MemoryGB
   ----                 ---------- -------- --------
   gc-control-plane-f2… PoweredOn  2        4.000
   
   PS /Users/vineetha>
   

9. Verify System Pods and Connectivity: Once the control plane VMs are restarted, the system pods inside them will start, and the apiserver will become accessible using the kubeconfig. You should also see the previously missing server pool members reappear in the corresponding LB virtual server, and the virtual server on port 6443 will be up and show a success status.

Following these steps should help you resolve the connectivity issues with your TKC apiserver/control plane effectively.Ensuring that your load balancer's virtual server is correctly configured with the appropriate member servers is crucial for maintaining seamless access. This runbook aims to guide you through the process, helping you get your TKC apiserver back online swiftly.

Note: If required for critical production issues related to TKC accessibility I strongly recommend to raise a product support request.

Hope it was useful. Cheers!

ESXi in a HA cluster fails to Enter Maintenance Mode and gets stuck

Recently we came across a situation where when we try to put a ESXi host in Maintenance Mode, it is getting stuck at certain level. These ESXi nodes were part of a vSphere with Tanzu 7 U3 cluster. While troubleshooting we noticed that there are some VMs that are either orphaned or inaccessible running on it. We deleted those orphaned and inaccessible VMs and then the ESXi node enters Maintenance Mode successfully.

You can use VMware PowerCLI to list those orphaned and inaccessible VMs.

(Get-VMHost <host_fqdn> | Get-VM | Where {$_.ExtensionData.Summary.Runtime.ConnectionState -eq "orphaned"}) | select Name,Id,PowerState

(Get-VMHost <host_fqdn> | Get-VM | Where {$_.ExtensionData.Summary.Runtime.ConnectionState -eq "inaccessible"}) | select Name,Id,PowerState

We then deleted those orphaned and inaccessible VMs. You can try to delete them using Remove-VM command. 

Remove-VM -VM <vm_name> -DeletePermanently 

If that does not work, you can try with dcli.

dcli> com vmware vcenter vm delete --vm <vm-id>


Hope it was useful.

VMware PowerCLI 101 - part9 - Working with NSX-T

Note I am using the following versions:

PSVersion: 7.1.3
VMware PowerCLI: 12.3.0.17860403

Connect-NsxtServer -Server 192.168.41.8

Get-Module "VMware.VimAutomation.Nsx*" -ListAvailable
Get-Command -Module "VMware.VimAutomation.Nsxt"

Get-NsxtService | measure

Get-NsxtService | more

Get-NsxtService com.vmware.nsx.cluster

$t1 = Get-NsxtService com.vmware.nsx.cluster
$t1 | Get-Member
$t1.get()

$t1 = Get-NsxtService com.vmware.nsx.cluster.status

$t1.get()

$t1.get().mgmt_cluster_status

$t1.get().control_cluster_status

$t1 = Get-NsxtService com.vmware.nsx.capacity.usage

$t1.get().capacity_usage | select usage_type, display_name, current_usage_count, max_supported_count, current_usage_percentage,severity | ft

$t1 = Get-NsxtService com.vmware.nsx.alarms

$t1.list().results | select feature_name, event_type, summary, severity, status | ft

Hope it was useful. Cheers!

References

https://blogs.vmware.com/PowerCLI/2017/11/getting-started-nsx-t-powercli.html

VMware PowerCLI 101 - part8 - Working with vSAN

This article explains how to work with vSAN resources using PowerCLI. 

Note I am using the following versions:
PowerShell: 5.1.14393.3866
VMware PowerCLI: 12.1.0.17009493

Connect to vCenter:
Connect-VIServer <IP of vCenter server>

List all vSAN get cmdlets:
Get-Command Get-Vsan*

vSAN runtime info:
$c = Get-Cluster Cluster01
Get-VsanRuntimeInfo -Cluster $c

vSAN space usage:
Get-VsanSpaceUsage

vSAN cluster configuration:

Get-VsanClusterConfiguration

vSAN disk details:

Get-VsanDisk

View all properties of a disk:

(Get-VsanDisk)[31] | select *

View disk vendor, model, firmware revision, physical location, operational state:

(Get-VsanDisk)[31].ExtensionData

 vSAN disk group details:

Get-VsanDiskGroup

Get all properties of a disk group:

Use "extensiondata" property to get more details about cache and capacity tiers:

Cache tier details: 

(Get-VsanDiskGroup)[0].ExtensionData.Ssd

Capacity tier details:

(Get-VsanDiskGroup)[0].ExtensionData.NonSsd

Hope it was useful. Cheers!

Related posts

VMware PowerCLI 101 - Part1 - Installing the module and working with stand-alone ESXi host
VMware PowerCLI 101 - Part2 - Working with vCenter server
VMware PowerCLI 101 - Part3 - Basic VM operations
VMware PowerCLI 101 - Part4 - Snapshots
VMware PowerCLI 101 - Part5 - Real time storage IOPS and latency
VMware PowerCLI 101 - part6 - vSphere networking
VMware PowerCLI 101 - part7 - Working with vROps

Kubernetes 101 - Part3 - Install kubectl on Windows

This article shows how to install kubectl on a Windows machine and connect to a remote Kubernetes cluster.

Open PowerShell as administrator and run the following:

Install-Script -Name install-kubectl -Scope CurrentUser -Force

This will download the installation files to Windows PowerShell script folder of the current user. In my case it is: C:\Users\vineetha\Documents\WindowsPowerShell\Scripts

Now browse to the above location in Powershell and execute the install-kubectl.ps1 file.

install-kubectl.ps1 [-DownloadLocation <path>]

Note: If you do not specify a DownloadLocation, kubectl will be installed in the user's temp directory.