vTip – A VMware Expert updating your VI

We have all seen the message of the day setting which allows you to alter what you would like to tell your colleagues today and other than the normal fun type messages I have never seen it put to good use.  (Yes I know this is used to tell people that a host is being managed by a VI).

So you could stick with your normal messages….

Or you could put it to use, how would you like a vExpert, no a vGuru, no a vGod to update your Message of the Day, giving you tips and help each day and helping you along the path to virtual enlightenment ?  Well now you can.

Jason Boche has recently announced his vCalendar which is a great daily calendar with tip for each day, there is also a blog widget and netvibes or Google widget for this too, so my script takes these wonderful daily tips and adds them to a place we all visit on a daily basis…. The Virtual Infrastructure Client.

Now you can be taught a daily message by the vMan himself.

The script should work in most cases apart from those companies that have complex proxy servers. – Hope it works for you !

Don’t forget to set it up as a scheduled task to run at 00:01 every night and update your VI with the next vTip.

Function vTip {
    $proxyAddr = (get-itemproperty 'HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings').ProxyServer
    $proxy = new-object System.Net.WebProxy
    $proxy.Address = $proxyAddr
    $proxy.useDefaultCredentials = $true

    $webClient = New-Object System.Net.WebClient
    $webadd = "http://www.printedowl.com/CalendarNetvibeGadget.aspx?id=boche&render=1"
    $webClient.proxy = $proxy

    trap [System.Management.Automation.MethodInvocationException]{ Continue}

    $RAWTip = $webClient.DownloadString($webadd)

    if ($RAWTip -eq $null){
        $DailyTip = $null
    }
    Else {
        $DailyTip = $RAWTip -replace "[`r`n]",'' -replace '^.*<!-- google_ad_section_start -->(.*)<!-- google_ad_section_end -->.*$','$1'
    }

    $DailyTip

}

$Message = VTip

# Dont forget to change the below line to connect to your VI
Connect-VIServer MYVISERVER

$UpdateMessage = Get-View -Id SessionManager
$UpdateMessage.UpdateServiceMessage($message)

Or if your like me and do most of your work from the PowerCLI console you could remove the last 5 lines and add it to your PowerShell profile: