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.

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

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

Download the version of VDT compatible with your vCenter version that's attached to this article (see above).
Use the file-moving utility of your choice (WinSCP for example) to copy the entire ZIP directory to /root on the node on which you wish to run it. For being able to open an SCP connection to the vCenter Server Appliance, you need to change the default shell for the root user. Please see Error when uploading files to vCenter Server Appliance using WinSCP for more information.
Change your directory to the location of the file, and unpack the zip:
```
# cd /root/
# unzip vdt-version_number.zip
```
Change to the directory that was created by unpacking the zip file.
```
cd vdt-<version_number>
```
Run the tool with the command:
```
python vdt.py
```

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

The tool will then proceed to run. You can 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 if you want 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, you can 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:

From the VDT 2 directory, modify the vc_vdt.ini file:
```
vi ./vcenter/vc_cfg/vc_vdt.ini
```

Find the following lines:

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

Place a semi-colon before each line:

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

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]

You encounter inaccurate or strange results for any check
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 if you want 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, you can 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]

You encounter inaccurate or strange results for any check:
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.
Date hash added 7/25/2024
If the file is updated a new hash will need to be added

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

Attachments

vdt-2.0.8-09_18_2024.zip get_app

vdt-v1.1.4 get_app

vdt-v1.1.6 get_app

Using the VCF Diagnostic Tool for vSphere (VDT)

Article ID: 344917

Updated On: