Use eCM to automate bginfo inside guests - Knowledge Base - Forum

Summary:

bginfo (http://technet.microsoft.com/e…..97557.aspx) is a useful tool that helps admins to keep track of which system they are logged on to by displaying system information on the desktop. It is often desirable to augment this display with information from the eCloudManager database. This article describes the steps required to perform this task.

Prerequisites:

The procedure described in this article works for VMware VMs that have guest tools installed. Furthermore, eCM 3.0 is required.

Steps in the guests:

1) install bginfo

2) install VMware guest tools

3) create a bginfo config file with a placeholder such as ________ (8 chars)

4) Split the file into parts 1 and 3 (before and after the placeholder – use an editor that will not destroy the binary content)

5) Setup a recurring job to run this script:

vmwareservice.exe –cmd "info-get guestinfo.X" > 2
type 1 2 3 > out.bgi
bginfo out.bgi

Steps on eCloudManager:

Use the hypervisor service CLI to set the guest tool variable with the desired value:

cli –login admin … getHypervisorService setGuestVariable -vm {enclosure:virtualcenter.fluidops.corp,name:vm-6898} -key guestinfo.X -value MY_VALUE

Note that the value needs to habe the same length as the placeholder.

Using the eCloudManager groovy shell, the command can be issued for several VMs at once. The VMs can be selected via an SQL query:

vms = api.sql( "select * from Host where …." );
for ( Host vm : vms )
    api.getHypervisorService().setGuestVariable( "guestinfo.X", getLabel(vm) );