Using the VCF Diagnostic Tool for vSphere (VDT)

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

VCF Diagnostic Tool for vSphere (formerly vSphere Diagnostic Tool) is a multi product diagnostic tool that can be run directly on a vCenter Server appliance. It executes a series of checks on the system configuration and reports user-friendly PASS/FAIL/WARN results for known configuration issues. It also provides information (INFO) messages from certain areas which we hope will make detecting inconsistencies easier. The goal of these tests is to provide information to the user that is hard to gather or otherwise not obvious when troubleshooting an issue.

 

For details on VDT for SDDC Manager, see VCF Diagnostic Tool for SDDC Manager

 

DISCLAIMER: This script is currently in its beta release phase. As such, it may contain bugs, errors, or incomplete features. Please leverage results with caution.  Please check this article frequently for the latest version.

 

NOTE:  If using a version of VDT attached to this article with '_beta' appended to the name, this version may result in unexpected errors.  If an error occurs, please report the issue to [email protected] , then download and use the latest stable version (latest version without '_beta').  Additionally, check back frequently to use the latest version of the '_beta' version, as it will be updated often with bug fixes.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.5.x
VMware vCenter Server 6.7.x

VMware vCenter Server 7.0.x

VMware vCenter Server 8.0.x

VMware vCenter Server 9.0.x

Resolution

Download and Installation

VDT 2 is now available!
VDT 2 has been rewritten from the ground up to evolve from a simple collection of python scripts to a python based health reporting framework.  This new version provides libraries that standardize the output and format of each check.  This means that compatibility for additional products is coming soon!

Release compatibility:

• vdt 1.1.4 - vCenter Server 6.5, 6.7, and 7.0
• vdt 1.1.6 - vCenter Server 7.0 and 8.0
• vdt 2.0.x - vCenter Server 7.0 and 8.0
• vdt 2.1.0.5+ - vCenter Server 7.x, 8.x, and 9.x
• NOTE:  Feel free to use any release labeled 'beta'.  For any issues, see the troubleshooting section.  Afterward, please use the latest full release.

1. Download the version of VDT compatible with vCenter version that's attached to this article (see above).
2. Use the file-moving utility (WinSCP for example) to copy the entire ZIP directory to /root on the node "vCenter" experiencing issues. For being able to open an SCP connection to the vCenter Server Appliance, change the default shell for the root user. Please see Error when uploading files to vCenter Server Appliance using WinSCP for more information.
3. Change directory to the location of the file, and unpack the zip:

   # cd /root/
   # unzip vdt-version_number.zip

4. Change to the directory that was created by unpacking the zip file.

   cd vdt-<version_number>

5. Run the tool with the command:

   python vdt.py

Prompts for the password for [email protected]. Many checks will still run even if credentials are not supplied.

The tool will then proceed to run review the output by scrolling up and down in the window. Each test should be self-explanatory in its meaning, findings, and directions. If any check isn’t clear in its direction, or a false positive is suspected, please report the issue to our team at [email protected] and we will address it.

 

Current Checks

•  vCenter Basic Info
• SSO Checks (Lookup Service and Machine ID)
• Active Directory Integration
• vCenter Certificates
• VMdir Functionality
• Core Files
• vPostgres Database Usage
• Disk Space Usage
• DNS Functionality
• Time Sync & NTP Functionality
• Root Account Validity
• vCenter Services
• VCHA Check
• Syslog Functionality
• IWA/AD Checks
• Local Identity Source Check
• Solution User Checks

 

Troubleshooting

VDT 2.x

• Tests are timing out or taking too long:

As of version 2, a built in 10 second timer (configurable in vdt/vcenter/vc_cfg/vc_vdt.ini)  activates and asks to force the checks to keep going or skip it. If a forced test continues to hang, see the instructions in scenario 2.

• A test hangs or causes issues preventing script execution:

If a test hangs for an unreasonable amount of time or fails preventing execution of further tests cancel using ctrl-c out of the script, then disable the check in the "vcenter/vc_cfg/vc_vdt.ini" file. For example, to disable the IWA/AD checks:

1. From the VDT 2 directory, modify the vc_vdt.ini file:

   vi ./vcenter/vc_cfg/vc_vdt.ini

2. Find the following lines:

   [category:vc_iwa_checks]
   name = "IWA/AD Checks"

3. Place a semi-colon before each line:

   ;[category:vc_iwa_checks]
   ;name = "IWA/AD Checks"

4. Save the file:

   :wq!

• One or more tests throw backtraces or python errors:
  
  1. Collect a log bundle
  2. Proceed with traditional troubleshooting
  3. Report the issue to [email protected]

• If inaccurate or strange results are experienced for any checks
  
  1. Proceed with traditional troubleshooting
  2. Report the issue to [email protected]

VDT 1.x

• Tests are timing out or taking too long:

As of 1.1.6, a built in 20 second timer activates and asks and gives the option to force the checks to keep going or skip it. If a forced test continues to hang, see the instructions in scenario 

• A test hangs for more than 10 seconds in earlier versions of VDT:

If a test hangs for an unreasonable amount of time, use ctrl-c out of the script, then move the test it was running out of the ‘scripts’ directory.  For example:

    mv scripts/vc_ad_check.py /tmp/

• One or more tests throw backtraces or python errors:
  
  1. Collect a log bundle
  2. Proceed with traditional troubleshooting
  3. Report the issue to [email protected]

• If inaccurate or strange results are experienced for any checks
  
  1. Proceed with traditional troubleshooting
  2. Report the issue to [email protected]

Additional Information

vSphere Diagnostic Tool does not make any changes to the environment (other than adding it’s output to log bundles), and is a read-only set of scripts.  There are no passwords recorded in the logs, and all code is non-compiled for easy review.

HASH Info:

The hashes listed are only valid for the current files. 

The current versons are as follows:

vdt-v1.1.4.zip
MD5SUM: 341c8a9cafde3a4ff334f1b26d412c5f
SHA256SUM: 992f380b2ad0bdb5acda0e60a3b3830c806c6b2b8369427fc6a8199cf99a433f

vdt-v1.1.6.zip
MD5SUM: e9d1757b146b4186e82f49de026520f7
SHA256SUM: 96c62b291698d98e246301f38af115598261ddb4a9b942eebef5559e0e1081e3

vdt-2.0.8-09_18_2024.zip
MD5SUM: 1f8f90656bc2818b88e04fd017ee2192
SHA256SUM: b4b7ae6d0ae6a9534f04b2db8bef54f4aa0ea48b6cad78f9282c815924fb0b86

vdt-2.1.1_07-07-2025.zip
MD5SUM: c5f8439c32f41e1b06ff4a1c7aa03004
SHA256SUM: 8b7c4cb0b9df4aa20c5c9e6f874f0e58698ecc7fda14ee40dad1330985f3a64b

vdt-2.2.1_14-07-2025.zip
MD5SUM: 0af7216f191e4a6c7abb25e9af043547
SHA256SUM: eed7040aca62c879f16fb091df2f3bf75a16f77972ed4c702a103aba9e3e439e