Have you ever gone through your vCenter and configured alarms to email?  If you have, you know that if anything ever screamed for automation within vSphere, it’s this, as it is extremely tedious.  You really want to use a PowerCLI script to masnage vCenter alarm email actions!

For one, the action must be set individually on each alarm. On top of that, you configure each alarm with the email address(es) you want  to be sent alerts.  You can also set repeated email actions on each alarm.  While this provides granularity and customization opportunities, it creates a boring snoozefest, inviting confusion and human error in configuring them.  Plus, vCenter contains many alerts, and many people do not know which ones you should configure for emails, and how critical each one is.

Introduction to PowerCLI Script to Configure vCenter Alarm Email Actions

I found a good script about a year ago to do this with PowerCLI script using a CSV of the alarms.  I cannot seem to find who made it now.  If you stumble on this and know who originally made the similar script, please comment below.  I very much want people recognized for their hard work.

Not to simply take the script, I added additional functionality to it, to provide end to end configuration, including vCenter SMTP email server settings, as well as the ability to configure multiple vCenter servers in one fell swoop.  Also, I really love the design of this script for several reasons:

• Simplicity rules this script.  Even if you want the script to do something else, it’s easy to follow and adapt.
• One can easily adapt the script to new versions of vSphere.  Each version of vSphere adds, removes, or changes alarms.  I can easily dump those alarm names into a new CSV and set their values.
• It provides a three-tiered priority system for email frequency.   Don’t like them?  It’s easy to change them within the script.
• Ongoing maintenance of the alerts is a snap.  Change the values within the script, and simply rerun it.
• The CSV file provides an opportunity to track changes to alerts and a deliverable document.  I intend also to maintain the CSV files here as I receive feedback on the alarms.

Ready to use a PowerCLI script to configure vCenter alarm email actions?

Directions for PowerCLI Script to Configure vCenter Alarm Email Actions

This PowerCLI script to configure vCenter alarm email actions is very straight forward.  You simply set the variables at the beginning of the script, which includes info such as vCenter servers, the CSV file to be used, vCenter user name and password, the SMTP server and port to use, etc.

Next, set the values within the CSV according to how you want that alert configured within the Priority column.  The values are as follows :

• Low Priority – Removal of all email alert actions, and reconfigured to send one email without repeat emails for non-critical alerts.
• Medium Priority – Removal of all email alert actions, and reconfigured to send one repeated email daily for more serious alerts.
• High Priority – Removal of all email alert actions, and reconfigured to send one repeated email every four hours for more serious alerts.  (I originally set this to hourly, but customer feedback said this was far too much.)
• Disabled – Removal of all email alert actions.  Use this on alerts that are far too chatty (looking at you VM CPU and memory usage!), and you wish to turn emails for them off.
• Blank (aka no value) – Leave the alarm as is in case you manually configured the alert and wish to keep it that way.

$vcenterservers = "vcenter1.vs6lab.local","vcenter2.vs6lab.local"
$vcenterusername = 'administrator@vsphere.local'
$vcenteruserpwd = 'P@ssw0rd'
$alarmfile = import-csv c:\scripts\vsphere60-alarms.csv
$AlertEmailRecipients = @("email1@domain.com","email2@domain.com")
$SMTPServer = "FQDNorIP.domain.com"
$SMTPPort = "25"
$SMTPSendingAddress = "sender@domain.com"

#Import PowerCLI module
import-module -name VMware.PowerCLI

#----These Alarms will be disabled and not send any email messages at all ----
$DisabledAlarms = $alarmfile | where-object priority -EQ "Disabled"

#----These Alarms will send a single email message and not repeat ----
$LowPriorityAlarms = $alarmfile | where-object priority -EQ "low"

#----These Alarms will repeat every 24 hours----
$MediumPriorityAlarms = $alarmfile | where-object priority -EQ "medium"

#----These Alarms will repeat every 4 hours----
$HighPriorityAlarms = $alarmfile | where-object priority -EQ "high"

foreach ($vcenterserver in $vcenterservers){
Disconnect-VIServer -Confirm:$False
Connect-VIserver $vcenterserver -User $vcenterusername -Password $vcenteruserpwd
Get-AdvancedSetting -Entity $vcenterserver -Name mail.smtp.server | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value $SMTPServer -Confirm:$false
Get-AdvancedSetting -Entity $vcenterserver -Name mail.smtp.port | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value $SMTPPort -Confirm:$false
Get-AdvancedSetting -Entity $vcenterserver -Name mail.sender | Set-AdvancedSetting -Value $SMTPSendingAddress -Confirm:$false

#---Disable Alarm Action for Disabled Alarms---
Foreach ($DisabledAlarm in $DisabledAlarms) {
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $DisabledAlarm.name | Get-AlarmAction -ActionType SendEmail| Remove-AlarmAction -Confirm:$false
}

#---Set Alarm Action for Low Priority Alarms---
Foreach ($LowPriorityAlarm in $LowPriorityAlarms) {
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $LowPriorityAlarm.name | Get-AlarmAction -ActionType SendEmail| Remove-AlarmAction -Confirm:$false
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $LowPriorityAlarm.name | New-AlarmAction -Email -To @($AlertEmailRecipients)
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $LowPriorityAlarm.name | Get-AlarmAction -ActionType SendEmail | New-AlarmActionTrigger -StartStatus "Green" -EndStatus "Yellow"
#Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $LowPriorityAlarm.name | Get-AlarmAction -ActionType SendEmail | New-AlarmActionTrigger -StartStatus "Yellow" -EndStatus "Red" # This ActionTrigger is enabled by default.
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $LowPriorityAlarm.name | Get-AlarmAction -ActionType SendEmail | New-AlarmActionTrigger -StartStatus "Red" -EndStatus "Yellow"
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $LowPriorityAlarm.name | Get-AlarmAction -ActionType SendEmail | New-AlarmActionTrigger -StartStatus "Yellow" -EndStatus "Green"
}

#---Set Alarm Action for Medium Priority Alarms---
Foreach ($MediumPriorityAlarm in $MediumPriorityAlarms) {
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $MediumPriorityAlarm.name | Get-AlarmAction -ActionType SendEmail| Remove-AlarmAction -Confirm:$false
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $MediumPriorityAlarm.name | Set-AlarmDefinition -ActionRepeatMinutes (60 * 24) # 24 Hours
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $MediumPriorityAlarm.name | New-AlarmAction -Email -To @($AlertEmailRecipients)
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $MediumPriorityAlarm.name | Get-AlarmAction -ActionType SendEmail | New-AlarmActionTrigger -StartStatus "Green" -EndStatus "Yellow"
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $MediumPriorityAlarm.name | Get-AlarmAction -ActionType SendEmail | Get-AlarmActionTrigger | Select -First 1 | Remove-AlarmActionTrigger -Confirm:$false
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $MediumPriorityAlarm.name | Get-AlarmAction -ActionType SendEmail | New-AlarmActionTrigger -StartStatus "Yellow" -EndStatus "Red" -Repeat
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $MediumPriorityAlarm.name | Get-AlarmAction -ActionType SendEmail | New-AlarmActionTrigger -StartStatus "Red" -EndStatus "Yellow"
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $MediumPriorityAlarm.name | Get-AlarmAction -ActionType SendEmail | New-AlarmActionTrigger -StartStatus "Yellow" -EndStatus "Green"
}

#---Set Alarm Action for High Priority Alarms---
Foreach ($HighPriorityAlarm in $HighPriorityAlarms) {
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $HighPriorityAlarm.name | Get-AlarmAction -ActionType SendEmail| Remove-AlarmAction -Confirm:$false
Get-AlarmDefinition -name $HighPriorityAlarm.name | Set-AlarmDefinition -ActionRepeatMinutes (60 * 4) # 4 hours
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $HighPriorityAlarm.name | New-AlarmAction -Email -To @($AlertEmailRecipients)
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $HighPriorityAlarm.name | Get-AlarmAction -ActionType SendEmail | New-AlarmActionTrigger -StartStatus "Green" -EndStatus "Yellow"
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $HighPriorityAlarm.name | Get-AlarmAction -ActionType SendEmail | Get-AlarmActionTrigger | Select -First 1 | Remove-AlarmActionTrigger -Confirm:$false
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $HighPriorityAlarm.name | Get-AlarmAction -ActionType SendEmail | New-AlarmActionTrigger -StartStatus "Yellow" -EndStatus "Red" -Repeat
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $HighPriorityAlarm.name | Get-AlarmAction -ActionType SendEmail | New-AlarmActionTrigger -StartStatus "Red" -EndStatus "Yellow"
Get-AlarmDefinition -Name $HighPriorityAlarm.name | Get-AlarmAction -ActionType SendEmail | New-AlarmActionTrigger -StartStatus "Yellow" -EndStatus "Green"
}
}

File downloads:

PowerCLI script to configure vCenter alarm email actions

Recommended alarm configurations for vSphere 5.5

Recommended alarm configurations for vSphere 6.0

Recommended alarm configurations for vSphere 6.5

These CSV files include the alarms for each version, what I’ve found with customer feedback so far as the best values for each one, a notes field that has any relevant info that may help you decide how to configure each one, and an IfUsed column for each one I’ve set to disabled if you want to enable it what I would recommend.

When to Run PowerCLI Script to Configure vCenter Alarm Email Actions

I designed the PowerCLI script to configure vCenter alarm email actions not just for initial configurations, but also to set any changes that are made.  That’s why the script removes any email alarm actions for Low, Medium, High, and Disabled.  If you wish for the script to not change an alarm’s configuration, leave the Priority column blank for the alarm.

This way, you will have a current documented configuration of alarms that you can simply update and run the script again.p