simple linux Script to shut down VMs and ESXi host

Posted: May 14, 2018/Under: HPE, HPE & VMware, VMware, VMware | CLI, VMware | vMA/By: vNote42

Here is a very simple linux bash script to shut down all VMs of a ESXi host and the host itself, for example when a power failure occurs, this script can be used in UPS software. Some time ago a posted how to use such script in an HPE UPS environment. You can find the post here.

The script is run-able in a vMA (vSphere Management Assistant). But vSphere 6.5 is the last release, vMA is available. All future releases will not include a vMA. More information here. When I need to update the script to a newer version (authentication will change), I will post an update.

# Parameter:
# $1: Host to shutdown
# $2: Seconds between VM shutdown
# $3: Seconds before the Host is shut down
# $4: Seconds to wait to the start of the script

# Time to wait, to avoid to shutdown all hosts at once
sleep $4s

# create a log-file
NOW=$(date +"%Y-%m-%d_%H%M%S")
LOGFILE="/tmp/UPS-shutdown-$NOW.log"
> $LOGFILE

# add local host to shutdown to management
/opt/vmware/vma/bin/vifp addserver $1 --username root --password 'PASSWORD' 2>>$LOGFILE

# set as default-server
source /opt/vmware/vma/bin/vifptarget --set $1 2>>$LOGFILE

# set name of vMA itself
VMA=`hostname -s`

# loop to shutdown VMs, except vMA itself
for i in `vmware-cmd -l`; do
        if [ `vmware-cmd $i getstate | egrep -c "on"` -eq 1 ]; then
                echo $i  >> $LOGFILE
                if [ `echo $i | egrep -i -c $VMA` -ge 1 ]; then
                        echo "Skip shut down of vMA"   >> $LOGFILE
                else
                        echo "Shut down $i"  >>$LOGFILE
                        vmware-cmd "$i" stop soft 2>>$LOGFILE
                        sleep $2s
                fi
        fi
done

# wait for $3 seconds
sleep $3s

# shut down hosts - with NO Maintenance-Mode!
echo "Shut down Host!" >> $LOGFILE
vicfg-hostops --operation shutdown --force 2>>$LOGFILE

Description (Rows)

8: Script waits for $4 seconds.
11: Set variable NOW to current date and time.
12: Defines logfile path and file-name.
13: Creates logfile for this run.
16-19: Adds host to shut down ($1) to vMA target list and sets as default. 2>> redirects errors to logfile.
22: Set variable VMA to hostname of vMA. This is because we want to skip vMA-VM to shut down. This happens in row 28. Therefore it is necessary to have the same hostname and inventoryname.
25-36: Loop to shut down VMs running on host.
- 26: Select running VMs.
- 27: Write VM-name to logfile.
- 28-29: Skip vMA and log.
- 31: Log VM to shut down.
- 32: Execute shut down VM.
- Wait for $2 seconds.
39: Wait for $3 seconds.
42: Final log-entry.
43: Shutting down ESXi host and log errors to logfile.

3 responses to “simple linux Script to shut down VMs and ESXi host”

configure esxi shutdown in case of power loss (HP UPS) – vNote42 says:

May 14, 2018 at 10:02 pm

[…] copy script (in my case: ShudownESXi.sh) to shut down all VMs running on that host to /usr/local/HP/PowerProtector/bin/virt-tools [ShutdownESXi.sh is s very simple script to shut down all VMs, but the vMA itself, and the host afterwards. You can’t use cluster-settings to shut down VMs on an cluster with HA enabled. If you don’t have an own script to do this task, leave a command and I will email the script [update] A working script you can find here] […]

Reply
Steve says:

November 28, 2020 at 7:46 pm

Hi, I’m trying to run this script unchanged, but I keep getting these errors.
What am I doing wrong?

login as: vi-admin
Pre-authentication banner message from server:
| Welcome to vSphere Management Assistant
End of banner message from server
vi-admin@10.65.10.127‘s password:
Last login: Sat Nov 28 18:38:40 UTC 2020 from 10.65.10.147 on pts/0
Last login: Sat Nov 28 18:43:49 2020 from 10.65.10.147
vi-admin@vMA-Host2:~> /bin/su – vi-admin -c “/usr/local/HPE/PowerProtector/bin/virt_tools/ShutdownESXiH2.sh” 10.65.10.71 5 360 1
Password:
Last login: Sat Nov 28 18:43:49 UTC 2020 from 10.65.10.147 on pts/0
sleep: invalid time interval `s’
Try `sleep –help’ for more information.
/usr/local/HPE/PowerProtector/bin/virt_tools/ShutdownESXiH2.sh: line 13: syntax error near unexpected token `&’
/usr/local/HPE/PowerProtector/bin/virt_tools/ShutdownESXiH2.sh: line 13: `> $LOGFILE’
vi-admin@vMA-Host2:~> /bin/su – vi-admin -c “/usr/local/HPE/PowerProtector/bin/virt_tools/ShutdownESXiH2.sh 10.65.10.71 5 360 1”
Password:
Last login: Sat Nov 28 18:44:06 UTC 2020 on pts/0
/usr/local/HPE/PowerProtector/bin/virt_tools/ShutdownESXiH2.sh: line 13: syntax error near unexpected token `&’
/usr/local/HPE/PowerProtector/bin/virt_tools/ShutdownESXiH2.sh: line 13: `> $LOGFILE’
vi-admin@vMA-Host2:~>

Reply
- vNote42 says:
  
  November 29, 2020 at 11:04 pm
  
  Hi Steve!
  
  Just noticed there are a few errors in the script in the post (wrong characters-translation). A few month ago, I changed the plugin for displaying scripts. Something must have gone wrong there. I have corrected it right now. The script should work now as expected.
  
  Sorry for that – and thanks for using my script 😉
  Regards
  Wolfgang
  
  Reply