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Retrieving statistics for a Distributed Virtual Port using the vSphere API & PowerCLI

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Over the weekend I received an email from a fellow colleague over in the NSBU who was interested in retrieving statistics on an individual Distributed Virtual Port using the vSphere API and had asked if I had done this before. Although I have written about using the vSphere API to access various properties of a Distributed Virtual Switch (here & here) and migrating from a Virtual Standard Switch (VSS) to Distributed Virtual Switch (VDS) and from a VDS back to VSS (here & here), I have not done a whole lot with the vSphere API with regards to individual Distributed Virtual Ports.

Having said that, with the easy to use PowerCLI Distributed Virtual Switch cmdlets being available, it is actually not too difficult to retrieve this information using the vSphere API. For those of you who have not worked with a Distributed Virtual Switch before, to view the statistics of an individual Distributed Virtual Port, you must drill down into a specific Distributed Virtual Portgroup which you can find using either the vSphere Web/C# Client. Below is a screenshot from my vSphere Web Client.

distributed-virtual-port-stats-0
To retrieve information on a Distributed Virtual Port using the vSphere API, you can refer to the DistributedVirtualPort property. Within this object, there is a state property which you can then drill down further to retrieve statistics using the stat property. If you would like to be able to pull other properties as shown in the screenshot, you can use the runtimeInfo property which provides additional information on the Distributed Virtual Port such as connected entity, MAC Address, VLAN ID, state, etc.

The following two PowerCLI VDS cmdlets: Get-VDPortgroup & Get-VDPort will help us retrieve the information we are looking. However, out of the box these cmdlets do not support pulling statistics for a Distributed Virtual Port. To do so, we will need to access the ExtensionData property which will allows us to access the underlying vSphere API from the PowerCLI object.

Below is a simple PowerCLI script which connects to a vCenter Server and retrieves a specific Distributed Virtual Portgroup (dvPg) that we are interested in using the Get-VDPortgroup cmdlet. Once we have the dvPg, we can then identify a specific Distributed Virtual Port (dvP) by using the Get-VDPort and passing in the dvPg from the previous command as well as the specific port by using the -key property. From here, we can then access a few properties from the dvP and most importantly, the statistics which we were originally interested in. In the example below, I am displaying the entire "stat" property, but you can easily filter out the specific stats you care about.

$server = Connect-VIServer -Server reflex.primp-industries.com

# Retrieve a Distributed Portgroup
$vdportgroup = Get-VDPortgroup -Name dv-vlan333

# Retrieve a specific Distributed Virtual Port from the Distributed Portgroup using the "key" property
$vdport = Get-VDPort -VDPortgroup $vdportgroup -Key 4

# Sample Distributed Virtual Port properties
Write-Host "Link Up: " $vdport.ExtensionData.State.RuntimeInfo.Linkup
Write-Host "Connectee: " $vdport.ExtensionData.State.RuntimeInfo.LinkPeer
Write-Host "Runtime MAC Address: " $vdport.ExtensionData.State.RuntimeInfo.macAddress

# Distributed Virtual Port Stats
$vdport.ExtensionData.State.Stats

Disconnect-VIServer -Server $server -Confirm:$false

Here is an example of the output from the script above and we can see that Distributed Virtual Port "4" matches to what we see in the vSphere Web Client screenshot.
distributed-virtual-port-stats-1

Automate the reverse, migrating from vSphere Distributed Switch to Virtual Standard Switch using PowerCLI 5.5

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Last week I demonstrated how you can easily leverage the new PowerCLI 5.5 VDS cmdlets to migrate from a VSS (Virtual Standard Switch) to a VDS (vSphere Distributed Switch). During the development of the script, I needed a way to easily jump back and fourth between VSS->VDS and VDS->VSS and I wanted to automate this so I did not have to use the UI to reset my environment.

I initially thought this was not possible after playing around with a couple of the cmdlets but thanks to Kamen, a PowerCLI Engineer who was able to provide me with the necessary information to create a reverse migration script going from VDS to VSS.

Here is what my lab environment looks like which includes three ESXi hosts connected to a VDS called "VDS-01" which is backed by 4 pNICSs. The VDS contains 3 VMkernel interfaces and here are their respective DVPortgroup names: Management Network, Storage Network and vMotion Network.

On each ESXi host, there is an already created VSS called "vSwitch0". If one is not created or if you decide to name it something differently, then you will need to modify the script. Here is a quick screenshot of what that looks like

The PowerCLI example script below uses the Add-VirtualSwitchPhysicalNetworkAdapter cmdlet which accepts a list of pNICs, VMkernel interfaces and the portgroups to migrate from VDS to VSS. The order in which the VMkernel and portgroups are specified is critically important as they will be assigned based on the provided ordering. The script also create the necessary portgroups on the VSS which of course can be modified based on your environment. Once the migration has been completed, it will then use the Remove-VDSwitchVMHost cmdlet to remove the ESXi hosts from the VDS.

Disclaimer: Please ensure you test this script in a development/test lab before using it in a production environment.

Connect-VIServer -Server vcenter55-1.primp-industries.com -User *protected email* -Pass vmware</b></i>

# ESXi hosts to migrate from VSS-&gt;VDS
$vmhost_array = @("vesxi55-1.primp-industries.com","vesxi55-2.primp-industries.com","vesxi55-3.primp-industries.com")

# VDS to migrate from
$vds_name = "VDS-01"
$vds = Get-VDSwitch -Name $vds_name

# VSS to migrate to
$vss_name = "vSwitch0"

# Name of portgroups to create on VSS
$mgmt_name = "Management Network"
$storage_name = "Storage Network"
$vmotion_name = "vMotion Network"

foreach ($vmhost in $vmhost_array) {
Write-Host "`nProcessing" $vmhost

# pNICs to migrate to VSS
Write-Host "Retrieving pNIC info for vmnic0,vmnic1,vmnic2,vmnic3"
$vmnic0 = Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter -VMHost $vmhost -Name "vmnic0"
$vmnic1 = Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter -VMHost $vmhost -Name "vmnic1"
$vmnic2 = Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter -VMHost $vmhost -Name "vmnic2"
$vmnic3 = Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter -VMHost $vmhost -Name "vmnic3"

# Array of pNICs to migrate to VSS
Write-Host "Creating pNIC array"
$pnic_array = @($vmnic0,$vmnic1,$vmnic2,$vmnic3)

# vSwitch to migrate to
$vss = Get-VMHost -Name $vmhost | Get-VirtualSwitch -Name $vss_name

# Create destination portgroups
Write-Host "`Creating" $mgmt_name "portrgroup on" $vss_name
$mgmt_pg = New-VirtualPortGroup -VirtualSwitch $vss -Name $mgmt_name

Write-Host "`Creating" $storage_name "Network portrgroup on" $vss_name
$storage_pg = New-VirtualPortGroup -VirtualSwitch $vss -Name $storage_name

Write-Host "`Creating" $vmotion_name "portrgroup on" $vss_name
$vmotion_pg = New-VirtualPortGroup -VirtualSwitch $vss -Name $vmotion_name

# Array of portgroups to map VMkernel interfaces (order matters!)
Write-Host "Creating portgroup array"
$pg_array = @($mgmt_pg,$storage_pg,$vmotion_pg)

# VMkernel interfaces to migrate to VSS
Write-Host "`Retrieving VMkernel interface details for vmk0,vmk1,vmk2"
$mgmt_vmk = Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter -VMHost $vmhost -Name "vmk0"
$storage_vmk = Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter -VMHost $vmhost -Name "vmk1"
$vmotion_vmk = Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter -VMHost $vmhost -Name "vmk2"

# Array of VMkernel interfaces to migrate to VSS (order matters!)
Write-Host "Creating VMkernel interface array"
$vmk_array = @($mgmt_vmk,$storage_vmk,$vmotion_vmk)

# Perform the migration
Write-Host "Migrating from" $vds_name "to" $vss_name"`n"
Add-VirtualSwitchPhysicalNetworkAdapter -VirtualSwitch $vss -VMHostPhysicalNic $pnic_array -VMHostVirtualNic $vmk_array -VirtualNicPortgroup $pg_array  -Confirm:$false
}

Write-Host "`nRemoving" $vmhost_array "from" $vds_name
$vds | Remove-VDSwitchVMHost -VMHost $vmhost_array -Confirm:$false

<i><b>Disconnect-VIServer -Server $global:DefaultVIServers -Force -Confirm:$false

Here is a screenshot of the script executing:

Automate the migration from Virtual Standard Switch to vSphere Distributed Switch using PowerCLI 5.5

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I have been spending quite a bit of time in the lab lately working with some of our "future" software and one of the fun tasks I get to do is perform frequent rebuilds of my lab environment. Depending on the issues I encounter, I may even need to rebuild it on a daily basis and of course I have the majority of this automated so it is not as painful as it would be if I had to go through this manually.

The output of this build is a complete working vSphere environment that consists of several ESXi hosts connected to a vCenter Server with all the network and storage configured. On the networking front, the ESXi hosts were all running on a regular Virtual Standard Switch (VSS) and I needed to migrate them over to a Virtual Distributed Switch (VDS). In this particular environment, there is some Windows infrastructure and I thought about the different ways I could accomplish this and I remember hearing about some new VDS cmdlets that came out of PowerCLI 5.5. release.

Since I already had some scripts being kicked off on this Windows system, I thought I give the new PowerCLI cmdlets a try for VSS->VDS migration as I have heard good things about the new cmdlets. I performed my prototyping on a vSphere 5.5 environment, but I believe you might even be able to use this on older releases of vSphere.

Here is a list of the new VDS cmdlets that I used for the script:

Here are additional vSphere networking cmdlets that were required for script:

Even as a beginner of PowerCLI, I was able to quickly knock out a script that performed the migration from VSS to VDS and was able migrate ALL VMkernel interfaces and physical interfaces without any downtime. These new cmdlets definitely make it very easy for administrators to go from old Virtual Standard Switch over to the vSphere Distributed Switch.

Here is a overview of what my environment looks like which consists of three ESXi hosts with four physical NICs and three VMkernel interfaces.

The script below will create a brand new VDS and their associated Distributed Portgroups and attach a list of ESXi hosts which is configurable and performs the migration of VMkernel and physical interfaces. It does this by first moving two of the four physical NICs to the new VDS to ensure connectivity and then starts the migration of all VMkernel interfaces. Once that is complete, it will move the remainder physical NICs and then delete the Virtual Stand Switch portgroups.

Disclaimer: Please ensure you test this script in a development/test lab before using it in a production environment.

Connect-VIServer -Server vcenter55-1.primp-industries.com -User *protected email* -Pass vmware

# ESXi hosts to migrate from VSS-&gt;VDS
$vmhost_array = @("vesxi55-1.primp-industries.com", "vesxi55-2.primp-industries.com", "vesxi55-3.primp-industries.com")

# Create VDS
$vds_name = "VDS-01"
Write-Host "`nCreating new VDS" $vds_name
$vds = New-VDSwitch -Name $vds_name -Location (Get-Datacenter -Name "VSAN-Datacenter")

# Create DVPortgroup
Write-Host "Creating new Management DVPortgroup"
New-VDPortgroup -Name "Management Network" -Vds $vds | Out-Null
Write-Host "Creating new Storage DVPortgroup"
New-VDPortgroup -Name "Storage Network" -Vds $vds | Out-Null
Write-Host "Creating new vMotion DVPortgroup"
New-VDPortgroup -Name "vMotion Network" -Vds $vds | Out-Null
Write-Host "Creating new VM DVPortgroup`n"
New-VDPortgroup -Name "VM Network" -Vds $vds | Out-Null

foreach ($vmhost in $vmhost_array) {
# Add ESXi host to VDS
Write-Host "Adding" $vmhost "to" $vds_name
$vds | Add-VDSwitchVMHost -VMHost $vmhost | Out-Null

# Migrate pNIC to VDS (vmnic0/vmnic1)
Write-Host "Adding vmnic0/vmnic1 to" $vds_name
$vmhostNetworkAdapter = Get-VMHost $vmhost | Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter -Physical -Name vmnic0
$vds | Add-VDSwitchPhysicalNetworkAdapter -VMHostNetworkAdapter $vmhostNetworkAdapter -Confirm:$false
$vmhostNetworkAdapter = Get-VMHost $vmhost | Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter -Physical -Name vmnic1
$vds | Add-VDSwitchPhysicalNetworkAdapter -VMHostNetworkAdapter $vmhostNetworkAdapter -Confirm:$false

# Migrate VMkernel interfaces to VDS

# Management #
$mgmt_portgroup = "Management Network"
Write-Host "Migrating" $mgmt_portgroup "to" $vds_name
$dvportgroup = Get-VDPortgroup -name $mgmt_portgroup -VDSwitch $vds
$vmk = Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter -Name vmk0 -VMHost $vmhost
Set-VMHostNetworkAdapter -PortGroup $dvportgroup -VirtualNic $vmk -confirm:$false | Out-Null

# Storage #
$storage_portgroup = "Storage Network"
Write-Host "Migrating" $storage_portgroup "to" $vds_name
$dvportgroup = Get-VDPortgroup -name $storage_portgroup -VDSwitch $vds
$vmk = Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter -Name vmk1 -VMHost $vmhost
Set-VMHostNetworkAdapter -PortGroup $dvportgroup -VirtualNic $vmk -confirm:$false | Out-Null

# vMotion #
$vmotion_portgroup = "vMotion Network"
Write-Host "Migrating" $vmotion_portgroup "to" $vds_name
$dvportgroup = Get-VDPortgroup -name $vmotion_portgroup -VDSwitch $vds
$vmk = Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter -Name vmk2 -VMHost $vmhost
Set-VMHostNetworkAdapter -PortGroup $dvportgroup -VirtualNic $vmk -confirm:$false | Out-Null

# Migrate remainder pNIC to VDS (vmnic2/vmnic3)
Write-Host "Adding vmnic2/vmnic3 to" $vds_name
$vmhostNetworkAdapter = Get-VMHost $vmhost | Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter -Physical -Name vmnic2
$vds | Add-VDSwitchPhysicalNetworkAdapter -VMHostNetworkAdapter $vmhostNetworkAdapter -Confirm:$false
$vmhostNetworkAdapter = Get-VMHost $vmhost | Get-VMHostNetworkAdapter -Physical -Name vmnic3
$vds | Add-VDSwitchPhysicalNetworkAdapter -VMHostNetworkAdapter $vmhostNetworkAdapter -Confirm:$false

# Remove old vSwitch portgroups
$vswitch = Get-VirtualSwitch -VMHost $vmhost -Name vSwitch0

Write-Host "Removing vSwitch portgroup" $mgmt_portgroup
$mgmt_pg = Get-VirtualPortGroup -Name $mgmt_portgroup -VirtualSwitch $vswitch
Remove-VirtualPortGroup -VirtualPortGroup $mgmt_pg -confirm:$false

Write-Host "Removing vSwitch portgroup" $vmotion_portgroup
$vmotion_pg = Get-VirtualPortGroup -Name $vmotion_portgroup -VirtualSwitch $vswitch
Remove-VirtualPortGroup -VirtualPortGroup $vmotion_pg -confirm:$false

Write-Host "Removing vSwitch portgroup" $storage_portgroup
$storage_pg = Get-VirtualPortGroup -Name $storage_portgroup -VirtualSwitch $vswitch
Remove-VirtualPortGroup -VirtualPortGroup $storage_pg -confirm:$false
Write-Host "`n"
}

Disconnect-VIServer -Server $global:DefaultVIServers -Force -Confirm:$false

Here is a screenshot of running through the script:

If we now take a look at our enviornment, we can see all three ESXi hosts have been migrated over to the VDS.

UPDATE (11/4/13) -  Thanks to one of the PowerCLI engineers, it looks like there is a PowerCLI cmdlet that can be used to migrate from VDS->VSS. I will be sharing that script in another blog post for those that may want to perform the reverse.

One caveat that I hit during the development of this script is needing the ability to easily migrate between VSS->VDS and VDS->VSS. I was hoping it was simply reversing the set of operations and moving the VMkernel interfaces back to the Virtual Standard Switch but what I found for the Set-VMHostNetworkAdapter cmdlet is that it only accepts a Distributed Virtual Portgroup. This meant that I could only migrate to a VDS but not to a VSS. Though this will probably will fit the majority of customer use cases, for me this was a problem and means I will need to dig into the vSphere APIs to be able to seamlessly perform a VDS->VSS migration. Given that PowerCLI is an abstraction, we should be able to easily add this feature and I will be filing an FR with Engineering to see if we can get this added as I think it would be a useful feature to have.