Invoke-ApplyHostSoftwareAsync can't remediate a host with a cluster-level BaseImage

[Loic Mahe]

Hello,

I've asked this question to Broadcom support, but it seems they don't have the answer for the moment.

I have defined, at the cluster level, a BaseImage + Vendor Add-On on an existing cluster with two hosts in order to upgrade them.

By using the vCenter UI, I was able to remediate the first host (by selecting the host and not the cluster to remediate).

I wanted to remediate the second host using PowerCLI (because we have several hundred hosts to upgrade and I would like to script it), but I got an error:

Get-Cluster -Name MyCluster | Test-LcmClusterCompliance

Cluster                                      Impact               Status CompliantH NonComplia Incompatib Unavailabl

                                                                               osts    ntHosts    leHosts     eHosts

-------                                      ------               ------ ---------- ---------- ---------- ----------

MyCluster                            RebootRequired         NonCompliant          1          1          0          0

$spec = Initialize-SettingsHostsSoftwareApplySpec -AcceptEula $true

$vmhost = Get-VMHost -Name MyHost2

Invoke-ApplyHostSoftwareAsync -Host $vmhost.ExtensionData.MoRef.Value -SettingsHostsSoftwareApplySpec $spec

Invoke-vSphereApiClient : InvocationException: [UNSUPPORTED]

The host MyHost2 is not a vLCM managed standalone host.

---> System.Net.WebException: Le serveur distant a retourné une erreur : (400) Demande incorrecte.

 Why can we remediate at the host level in vCenter UI but not with PowerCLI?

If I understand well, vCenter UI and PowerCLI are performing the same actions through the same low-level routines.

Regards,

Loïc Mahé

Toulouse, France

[p0werShelldude]

Hi Loïc

Once you have defined your cluster image, you can leverage the vCenter GUI or PowerCLI to remediate individual hosts. Using PowerCLI requires a little bit more work for error handling, but here is the basic function to do so

function Wait-ForTask ($taskName) {
    do {
        $tasks = Get-Task | Where-Object { $_.ObjectId -match $clusterId -and $_.Name -eq $taskName }
    
        if ($tasks.State -contains 'Running') {
            Write-Host "$taskName is still running on $($vmHost.Name)"
            Start-Sleep -Seconds 60
        }
    } while ($tasks.State -ne 'Success')
}    

function Invoke-VMHostRemediation ($vmHosts) {
    foreach ($vmHost in $vmHosts) {
        $hostId = $vmHost.ExtensionData.MoRef -replace 'HostSystem-', ''

        #Put the host into Maintenance Mode
        Set-VMHost -VMHost $vmHost.Name -State Maintenance -Confirm:$false

        #Ensure the host is in Maintenance mode
        do {
            Start-Sleep -Seconds 60
            Write-Host "Validating that $($vmHost.Name) is in Maintenance Mode"
            $maintenanceModeCheck = Get-VMHost -Name $vmHost.Name
        } until ($maintenanceModeCheck.ConnectionState -eq 'Maintenance')

        $spec = $esxClusterSoftwareService.Help.'apply$task'.spec.Create()
        $spec.accept_eula = $true
        $spec.hosts = @($hostId)

        # Run vLCM Apply/Patch Operation
        Write-Host "Initiating remediation for $($vmHost.Name)"
        $esxClusterSoftwareService.'apply$task'($clusterId, $spec)

        Wait-ForTask -taskName 'Remediate Cluster' 
        Wait-ForTask -taskName 'Check compliance of cluster with image'           
            
        #Take the Host out of Maintenance Mode
        Write-Host "$($vmHost.Name) is exiting Maintenance Mode"
        Set-VMHost -VMHost $vmHost.Name -State Connected -Confirm:$false | Out-Null
        Start-Sleep -Seconds 15
    }        
}


$vCenter = 'vCenterName.FQ.DN'
$cluster = 'ClusterName'

Connect-VIServer -Server $vCenter 
Connect-CisServer -Server $vCenter

$clusterId = (Get-Cluster $cluster | select -ExpandProperty Id) -replace 'ClusterComputeResource-', ''
$vmHosts = Get-View -ViewType HostSystem | Where-Object { $_.Parent -match $clusterId }
$esxClusterSoftwareService = Get-CisService -Name com.vmware.esx.settings.clusters.software

Invoke-VMHostRemediation -vmHosts $vmHosts

[Loic Mahe]

Hi p0werShelldude and thanks for the answer.

I've already seen this way to perform the remediation in a post by William Lam from 2022, but I thought there would be plain PowerCLI commands by now to do the job.

Regards,

Loïc