Collecting ESXi Host Hardware Information with PowerShell

Posted on December 28, 2014 by Matt Bradford

We keep a matrix of all our ESXi host hardware information and this usually takes a few hours to touch each host and gather the information. It’s worth the time to ensure our environment is uniformed, however PowerShell/PowerCLI is able to make this much easier.

I began writing this script a while back and recently got around to finishing it. It collects information such as host model, BIOS firmware, OS version, HBA, NIC, and Smart Array driver and firmware levels. It then spits the information out to the console and to a CSV for easier consumption. While some of this information is available through various Cmdlets, some aren’t so I chose to stick with collecting everything VIA SSH. As such this script relies on Simon Tatham’s Plink. You can download it from his site here. The script expects Plink.exe to be in the same folder as the script itself, if not it will throw an error.

Output all information to CSV for use in Excel

Because I’m using SSH and because you’re doing such a great job securing your environment (i.e. disabling SSH on all your hosts), this script automatically starts the SSH service and stops it when it’s all done. If you were a naughty admin and SSH was already running, the script will leave it alone.

If this is your first time opening an SSH connection to a host, PLINK will throw the following dialog…

But don’t worry, you don’t have to provide any input. The script automatically tells PLINK to store the key so the next time you run it you won’t see this message.

Because our environment is entirely HP, I’m only querying for HPSA controllers but you could modify this easily to pull PERC or other controller information. The same goes for HBA driver types as well. We are all Emulex and QLogic so we only need to query lpfc and qlnativefc.

If you’re unsure what driver type your HBA is using. Simply SSH to the host and enter…

# esxcfg-scsidevs -a

Typically vmhba0 is your local RAID controller, so we’ll look at vmhba1. In the example below we can see we’re running the lpfc driver.

Script Usage:

Change “your_vcenter_server.fqdn” to your vCenter server in line 7. Keep the quotes
Run the script and enter the SSH user and password to be used. For example the user could be root
The CSV will be in the script folder as hostinfo.csv. Unless you modify line 8

Script Requirements:

Plink.exe is in the same folder as the script
PowerCLI is installed on your system
Your hosts are running ESXi 5.x. Some of the commands used are not available in previous versions
Your hosts use HP Smart Array RAID controllers
Your HBA’s use either lpfc or qlnativefc drivers

#========================================================================
# Collect ESXi Host Information
# Version 2.0 12/28/2014
# Created by:   Matt Bradford
#========================================================================
# Edit the following section. Enter your vCenter server and the desired location of the output CSV.
$vcenter = "your_vcenter_server.fqdn"
$csvfile = ".\hostinfo.csv"
#========================================================================
# Load the VMware Snapin (for PowerShell only)
Add-PSsnapin VMware.VimAutomation.Core

# Test to make sure plink.exe is present in the same directory as the script. If not, throw an error.
if (!(Test-Path ".\plink.exe")) {Throw "Plink.exe is not available in the script folder. Please download from http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/download.html"}

# Create the array that will be used to display information. This makes it easier to assemble each line of the CSV.
$output = New-Object System.Collections.ArrayList

# Check to see if the CSV file exists, if it does then overwrite it.
if (Test-Path $csvfile) {
Write-Host "Overwriting $csvfile"
del $csvfile
}

# Create the CSV title header
Add-Content $csvfile "Host Name,Host Model,Bios Version,Bios Date,OS Version,OS Friendly Name,HBA Adapter,HBA Driver Version,HBA Firmware Version,NIC Adapter,NIC Driver Version,NIC Firmware Version,HPSA Adapter,HPSA Driver Version,HPSA Firmware Version"

# Connect to vCenter
Write-Host "Connecting to vCenter..."
Connect-VIServer $vcenter -wa 0 | Out-Null
Write-Host "Connected"
Write-Host " "

# Collect login information to SSH to each host. The last two lines just convert the string from secure to plain text for plink.exe to use
$user = Read-Host "ESXi Host SSH User"
$rootpword = Read-Host "ESXi Host SSH Password" -AsSecureString
$rootbstr = [System.Runtime.InteropServices.marshal]::SecureStringToBSTR($rootpword)
$rootpword = [System.Runtime.InteropServices.marshal]::PtrToStringAuto($rootbstr)

# Get the host inventory from vCenter
$vmhosts = Get-VMHost | Sort Name

foreach ($vmhost in $vmhosts){

# Check to see if the SSH service is running on the host, if it isn't, start it
$sshservice = Get-VMHost $vmhost | Get-VMHostService | Where-Object {$_.Key -eq "TSM-SSH"}
if (!$sshservice.Running) {Start-VMHostService -HostService $sshservice -Confirm:$false | Out-Null}

# Often times plink will throw a message that the server's key is not cached in the registry when connecting to a host for the first time. The echo y command automatically accepts the key.
echo y | .\plink.exe -ssh $vmhost -l $user -pw $rootpword exit | Out-Null

# smbiosDump is full of great information, here we're using it to collect model and bios information
$hostmodel = .\plink.exe -ssh $vmhost -l $user -pw $rootpword -batch "smbiosDump | grep -i Product:"
$biosfwv = .\plink.exe -ssh $vmhost -l $user -pw $rootpword -batch "smbiosDump | grep -i Version:"
$biosfwd = .\plink.exe -ssh $vmhost -l $user -pw $rootpword -batch "smbiosDump | grep -i Date:"

# vmware -vl displays OS version information
$esxiversion = .\plink.exe -ssh $vmhost -l $user -pw $rootpword -batch "vmware -vl"

# esxcfg-scsidevs -a displays all the scsi/hba interfaces. First we look for interfaces using lpfc drivers. If none are returned then look for qlnativefc drivers.
# For model information you could just pull information for one hba. For example ...grep -i vmhba2. Howerver there is no guarantee that vmhba2 will always be your fibre controller.
$hbamodel = .\plink.exe -ssh $vmhost -l $user -pw $rootpword -batch "esxcfg-scsidevs -a | grep -i lpfc"
if (!$hbamodel){$hbamodel = .\plink.exe -ssh $vmhost -l $user -pw $rootpword -batch "esxcfg-scsidevs -a | grep -i qlnativefc"}
# Pull driver information. This requires a driver type. Again we look for lpfc and if none are found look for qlnativefc.
$hbadrv = .\plink.exe -ssh $vmhost -l $user -pw $rootpword -batch "vmkload_mod -s lpfc |grep -i Version"
if (!$hbadrv){$hbadrv = .\plink.exe -ssh $vmhost -l $user -pw $rootpword -batch "vmkload_mod -s qlnativefc | grep -i Version"}
# Many times publishers will included commas in the driver information. We strip them out for the sake of our CSV file.
$hbadrv = $hbadrv -replace ",", ""
# /usr/lib/vmware/vmkmgmt_keyval/vmkmgmt_keyval -a is a goldmine of hba information. We're just using it to pull the hba firmware version.
$hbafw = .\plink.exe -ssh $vmhost -l $user -pw $rootpword -batch "/usr/lib/vmware/vmkmgmt_keyval/vmkmgmt_keyval -a | grep -i 'FW Version'"

# The output of esxcfg-scsidevs -a isn't delimited in any particular way. However, it always displays information in the same order.
# Vmhba name, driver type, link status, WWN, PCI Address, & model infromation. So we split this string by spaces, removing any empty lines.
# Since the model information is always the 5'th item (we start counting at 0) we strip out everything before then and stop at the 30'th item (arbitrary high number)
$hbamodel = $hbamodel[0].split(" ",[System.StringSplitOptions]::RemoveEmptyEntries)[5..30]
# Now that we've stripped out the other information, re-assemble the information to one line
$hbamodel = [string]::join(" ", $hbamodel)
# Remove any commas from the model information for the sake of the CSV
$hbamodel = $hbamodel -replace ",", ""

# esxcli network nic list | grep -i vmnic0 returns information on the first NIC. Assuming all NICs in the host are the same.
$nicadapter= .\plink.exe -ssh $vmhost -l $user -pw $rootpword -batch "esxcli network nic list | grep -i vmnic0"
# esxcli network nic get -n vmnic0 | grep -i Version: returns Firmware and Driver versions.
$nicver = .\plink.exe -ssh $vmhost -l $user -pw $rootpword -batch "esxcli network nic get -n vmnic0 | grep -i Version:"

# The output of esxcli network nic list | grep -i vmnic0 isn't delimited in any particular way. However, it always displays information in the same order.
# NIC name, PCI address, driver type, link status, link speed, link duplex, MAC address, MTU, & model
# Since the model information is always the 8'th item (we start counting at 0) we strip out everything before then and stop at the 30'th item (arbitrary high number)
$nicadapter = $NICAdapter.split(" ",[System.StringSplitOptions]::RemoveEmptyEntries)[8..30]
# Now that we've stripped out the other information, re-assemble the information to one line
$nicadapter = [string]::join(" ", $nicadapter)

# Pull information on the first HPSA HP Raid controller. cat /proc/driver/hpsa/hpsa0 | grep -i hpsa0: returns model information
$hpsamodel = .\plink.exe -ssh $vmhost -l $user -pw $rootpword -batch "cat /proc/driver/hpsa/hpsa0 | grep -i hpsa0:"
# Pull driver and firmware version from cat /proc/driver/hpsa/hpsa0
$hpsaver = .\plink.exe -ssh $vmhost -l $user -pw $rootpword -batch "cat /proc/driver/hpsa/hpsa0 | grep -i Version:"

# If this script enabled SSH on the host, then stop the serivce. Otherwise leave it running.
if (!$SSHService.Running) {Stop-VMHostService -HostService $SSHService -Confirm:$false | Out-Null}

# Build the array with all the information we collected
$output.Add($vmhost.Name) | Out-Null
$output.Add($hostmodel.split(":", 2)[1].split('"',3)[1].trim()) | Out-Null
$output.Add($biosfwv[0].split(":",2)[1].split('"',3)[1].trim()) | Out-Null
$output.Add($biosfwd.split(":",2)[1].split('"',3)[1].trim()) | Out-Null
$output.Add($esxiversion[0].trim()) | Out-Null
$output.Add($esxiversion[1].trim()) | Out-Null
$output.Add($hbamodel) | Out-Null
$output.Add($hbadrv.trim()) | Out-Null

# Qlogic firmware versions don't include a semicolon. Output is "Flash FW version x.xx.xx" and must be handled differently.
if($hbafw[0].split(":",2)[1]){$output.Add($hbafw[0].split(":",2)[1].trim()) | Out-Null}
else {
$hbafw = $hbafw[0].split(" ",[System.StringSplitOptions]::RemoveEmptyEntries)
$output.Add($hbafw[3]) | Out-Null
}

$output.Add($nicadapter) | Out-Null
$output.Add($nicver[1].split(":")[1].trim()) | Out-Null
$output.Add($nicver[0].split(":")[1].trim()) | Out-Null
$output.Add($hpsamodel.split(":")[1].trim()) | Out-Null
$output.Add($hpsaver[1].split(":")[1].trim()) | Out-Null
$output.Add($hpsaver[0].split(":",2)[1].trim()) | Out-Null

# Assemble the information into CSV format and append it to the CSV file. There's probably an easier way to do this, but it works!
$csvline = $output[0] + "," + $output[1] + "," + $output[2] + "," + $output[3] + "," + $output[4] + "," + $output[5] + "," + $output[6] + "," + $output[7] + "," + $output[8] + "," + $output[9] + "," + $output[10] + "," + $output[11] + "," + $output[12] + "," + $output[13] + "," + $output[14]
Add-Content $csvfile $csvline

# Display all the information we collected in a readable format
Write-Host ""
Write-Host "Hostname:" $output[0] -ForegroundColor "Green"
Write-Host "Host Model:" $output[1]
Write-Host "BIOS Firmware:" $output[2] $output[3]
Write-Host ""
Write-Host "OS Version:"$output[4]
Write-Host "OS Version Friendly Name:" $output[5]
Write-Host ""
Write-Host "HBA Adapter:" $output[6]
Write-Host "HBA Driver Version:" $output[7]
Write-Host "HBA Firmware Version:" $output[8]
Write-Host ""
Write-Host "NIC Adapter:" $output[9]
Write-Host "NIC Driver Version:" $output[10]
Write-Host "NIC FW Version:" $output[11]
Write-Host ""
Write-Host "HPSA Adapter:" $output[12]
Write-Host "HPSA Driver:" $output[13]
Write-Host "HPSA Firmware Version:" $output[14]
Write-Host ""
Write-Host "----------------------------------"

# Clean up the array for the next host
$output.Clear()
}