Category: vExpert

Update: There is a new way to pull the event information without having to enter the sql password please see this post about it.

So two weeks ago I had a nice little post about talking to Horizon View using PowerCLI. I also promised to be digging a bit more into PowerCLI by grabbing the script posted on the VMware blog and editing it a little to my taste. It’s a very useful script they have on there but still I prefer to know what might have caused the issues. I decided I needed to know who the last user was that used the desktop and the last entry into the eventlog and the time of that log. So actually most code used talks to the eventlog database, something already available pre PowerCLI 6.5 but what I hardly ever used.

The basics for connecting I won’t post but we do need an extra connection and that is to the event database:

$eventdb=connect-hvevent -dbpassword $hvedbpassword

As with the Horizon View connection it’s best to put this into a variable so it can be used later on. The $hvedbpassword should be the password for the user that View uses to connect to the database server in plain text! Earlier in the script I read the password from hashed contents in a text file.The request has been dropped to be able to pass encrypted credentials and/or creta a credentialstore for this.

Next up is grabbing the events for a certain Desktop

$lastevent=get-hvevent -hvdbserver $eventdb -timeperiod 'day' -messagefilter $problemvm.base.name

This could use some rework since I would prefer the time period to be a variable based on the current date but if the event is older then a day it will be hard to find anything on it anyway.

if ($lastevent.events){
$lasteventtime=$lastevent.events | select -expandproperty eventtime -first 1
$lasteventmessage=$lastevent.events | select -expandproperty message -first 1 
$lasteventusername=$lastevent.events | select -expandproperty Username -first 1 
}

This grabs the latest event, the time it happened and the user it happened to. This can be anything including a logoff. It might be able to help you why a lot of desktops are ending up in a rotten state.

The rest of the script is basic building of arrays, filling them, mailing it etc etc. So still not a lot of complicated code that some people build but it’s a bit of the basics in talking to the View Api and the event database.

This is the output you will get (this is from an html file and heavily edited to anonimize it)

The complete script, please do use and abuse it to your own taste as I have done with the original:

#########################################################################################
#																						#
# Get List of Desktops that are not available or connected		 						#
# This is based on the script posted here:												#
# https://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2017/01/vmware-horizon-7-powercli-6-5.html				#
# Required:																				#
# Powercli 6.5 Release 1																#
# The VMware.Hv.Helper Module from https://github.com/vmware/PowerCLI-Example-Scripts	#
#																						#
#########################################################################################

#region variables
#########################################################################################
#								Variables												#
#	Password files need to be filled firs using:										#
#	Read-Host -AsSecureString | ConvertFrom-SecureString | Out-File 'filename.txt'		#
#	Enter password and press enter														#
#	vCenter things have been marked out but I left them in here 						#
#	because they might be usefull for when someone else uses this script				#
#########################################################################################
$cs = "connectionbroker"														# Horizon Connection Server
$hvcsUser= "Service_Account"													# User account to connect to Connection Server
$hvcsPassword = get-content .\hvcs_Credentials.txt | convertto-securestring		# Password for user to connect to Connection Server
$csDomain = "domain"															# Domain for user to connect to Connection Server
$hvedbpassword=get-content .\hvedb_Credentials.txt | convertto-securestring   	# password to access event database
$mailto="user@domain.com"														# Address to send the status mail to
$mailfrom="connectionbroker@domain.com"											# Address to send the mail from
$mailsubject="Overview bad VDI desktops"										# Mail subject
$smtpserver="mailserver.domain.com"												# Mail server			
#$vcuser="vcuser"																# User account to access the vCenter server
#$vcpassword=get-content .\vCenter_Credentials.txt | convertto-securestring		# password to access the vCenter server
#vc = "Enter vCenter name"														# vCenter Server



$baseStates = @('PROVISIONING_ERROR',
                'ERROR',
                'MAINTENANCE',
                'DISCONNECTED',
                'AGENT_UNREACHABLE',
                'AGENT_ERR_STARTUP_IN_PROGRESS',
                'AGENT_ERR_DISABLED',
                'AGENT_ERR_INVALID_IP',
                'AGENT_ERR_NEED_REBOOT',
                'AGENT_ERR_PROTOCOL_FAILURE',
                'AGENT_ERR_DOMAIN_FAILURE',
                'AGENT_CONFIG_ERROR',
                'UNKNOWN')
				

#endregion variables

#region initialize
###################################################################
#                    Initialize                                  #
###################################################################
# --- Import the PowerCLI Modules required ---
Import-Module VMware.VimAutomation.HorizonView
Import-Module VMware.VimAutomation.Core

# --- Connect to Horizon Connection Server API Service ---
$hvServer1 = Connect-HVServer -Server $cs -User $hvcsUser -Password $hvcsPassword -Domain $csDomain

# --- Get Services for interacting with the View API Service ---
$Services1= $hvServer1.ExtensionData

# --- Connect to the vCenter Server ---
#Connect-VIServer -Server $vc -User $vcUser -Password $vcPassword

# --- Connect to the view events database ---
$eventdb=connect-hvevent -dbpassword $hvedbpassword

#endregion initialize

#region html
###################################################################
#                    HTML                                         #
###################################################################

$style = "<style>BODY{font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt;}"
$style = $style + "TABLE{border: 1px solid black; border-collapse: collapse;}"
$style = $style + "TH{border: 1px solid black; background: #dddddd; padding: 5px; }"
$style = $style + "TD{border: 1px solid black; padding: 5px; }"
$style = $style + "</style>"

#endregion

#region main
###################################################################
#                    Main                                        #
###################################################################
$Problemarray=@()
#Write-Output ""
if ($Services1) 
	{
     foreach ($baseState in $baseStates) 
		{
           # --- Get a list of VMs in this state ---
           $ProblemVMs = Get-HVMachineSummary -State $baseState

           foreach ($ProblemVM in $ProblemVMs) 
		   {
		   			$lastevent=get-hvevent -hvdbserver $eventdb -timeperiod 'day' -messagefilter $problemvm.base.name
			
				if ($lastevent.events){
					$lasteventtime=$lastevent.events | select -expandproperty eventtime -first 1
					$lasteventmessage=$lastevent.events | select -expandproperty message -first 1 
					$lasteventusername=$lastevent.events | select -expandproperty Username -first 1 
					}
				else{
				$lasteventtime="Last event is longer then 1 day ago"
				$lasteventmessage="Not Available"
				}
			$lastmaintenancedate=(Get-HVMachine -machinename $problemvm.base.name)
		   	$item = New-Object PSObject
			$item | Add-Member -type NoteProperty -Name Name -Value $problemvm.base.name 
			$item | Add-Member -type NoteProperty -Name State -Value $problemvm.base.basicstate 
			$item | Add-Member -type NoteProperty -Name Pool -Value $problemvm.namesdata.desktopname
			$item | Add-Member -type NoteProperty -Name Last_event_time -Value $lasteventtime
			$item | Add-Member -type NoteProperty -Name Last_event_user -Value $lasteventusername
			$item | Add-Member -type NoteProperty -Name Last_event_message -Value $lasteventmessage
			$Problemarray+= $item
           }
		}
	
		if ($problemarray)	
			{
			$mailbody=$Problemarray | sort state,name | convertto-html -head $style -property  name,state,Pool,Last_event_time,Last_event_user,Last_event_message | out-string
			send-mailmessage -smtpserver $smtpserver -to $mailto -from $mailfrom -subject $mailsubject -body $mailbody -bodyashtml 
			}
		else
			{
			send-mailmessage -smtpserver $smtpserver -to $mailto -from $mailfrom -subject $mailsubject -body "No problems found in the Horizon View Environment" 
			}

     Write-Output "Disconnect from Connection Server."
     Disconnect-HVServer -Server $cs -confirm:$false
		} 

else 
	{
     Write-Output "Failed to login in to Connection Server."
     
     }
# --- Disconnect from the vCenter Server ---
#Write-Output "Disconnect from vCenter Server."
#Disconnect-VIServer -Server $vc
#endregion main