vSphere Diagnostic Tool: VMware Fling

Since this is my Christmas post, I will try to keep this as short and simple as possible!

Recently I happened to test the "vSphere Diagnostic Tool" VMware fling. This tool is a python script that needs to be executed on a vCenter appliance. The script runs several diagnostic tests on the vCenter appliance and reports out the results to the end user. For more information on this, visit the fling's homepage: "vSphere Diagnostic Tool | VMware Flings". You can download the tool package zip folder "vdt-v1.1.3.zip" from the above mentioned link.

Using the fling is quite easy. Firstly, using the vCenter console, enable bash and SSH on the target vCenter server. Start a SSH session with the vCenter using putty or similar application. Execute the following script, so that you can transfer the zipped folder to the vCenter server:

Now, using WinSCP, transfer the zipped folder to your vcenter server's /root directory.

Enter the following commands to run the tool:

cd /root/
unzip vdt-version_number.zip
python vdt.py

This will run the diagnostic tool and generate a report.

There are certain features of the report that I particularly found useful and unique, that would make life of sysadmins much easier in troubleshooting scenarios:

- Quick Summary of certificates

- Quick Summary of DNS status:

- VMware KB link to solutions for failed tests

Concluding today's post:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year readers!!