VMware: Automate support bundle collection using PowerCLI

When troubleshooting ESXi issues, especially when dealing with VMware technical support, you (almost) always will be asked to provide support bundles for ESXi host(s) and/or the managing vCenter Server.

Support Bundles can be easily generated by accessing vSphere Client -> File -> Export -> Export System Logs although the process is manual and potentially time consuming.

As almost everything in VMware environment even the support bundle collection process can be easily automated using PowerCLI.
The Get-Log PowerCLI cmdlet is used to retrieve support bundle either from vCenter Server either from ESXi hosts.

When connected to a vCenter Server running:

 Get-Log -Bundle -DestinationPath C:\Users\Paolo\Desktop  

will download in specified location support bundle for vCenter Server.

Support bundle will be named: vcsupport-<Generated_ID>.zip

To download support bundles for specific ESXi host(s) only:

 Get-Log -VMHost (Get-VMHost -Name 192.168.243.144) -Bundle -DestinationPath C:\Users\Paolo\Desktop  

where 192.168.243.144 is the IP address of ESXi host to download support bundle from.

This time file will be named: vmsupport-<Generated_ID>.tgz

To automate bundles retrieval for any ESXi host managed by a specific vCenter Server, including support bundle for vCenter itself, you can use the following script:



As usual you can also find the script above in my GitHub page: DownloadSupportBundles.ps1

Support bundle download is also achieved by simply connecting, using a web browser, to an ESXi host to the following address:

 https://<username>:<password>@<ESXi_host_IP_address>/cgi-bin/vm-support.cgi  

The previous step can be automated using PowerShell (not PowerCLI). This could be useful when in need to get support bundles rapidly using a PC/server where PowerCLI is not installed (only PowerShell is needed).



That's all!!