VMware AVI

Official

by vmware-skills · Python

VMware AVI (NSX ALB) load balancer plus AKO Kubernetes ops — 29 MCP tools.

io.github.vmware-skills/vmware-avi MCP Server

This MCP server provides integration for “VMware AVI (NSX ALB) load balancer” plus “AKO Kubernetes ops,” exposing 29 MCP tools. It is identified by the slug io-github-vmware-skills-vmware-avi and is focused on enabling developers to access VMware AVI and related Kubernetes operational capabilities via MCP.

🛠️ Key Features

VMware AVI (NSX ALB) load balancer integration
AKO Kubernetes ops integration
29 MCP tools

🚀 Use Cases

Managing or operating VMware AVI (NSX ALB) load balancer functionality
Supporting Kubernetes operations via AKO alongside VMware AVI

⚡ Developer Benefits

Tool-based access to VMware AVI and AKO operations through MCP
Clear scope: VMware AVI (NSX ALB) plus AKO, with 29 available tools

Topics

agent-skillsai-skillakoautomationavi-controllerclaude-codecodexgemini-clihomelabinfrastructurekubernetes-ingressload-balancermcpnsx-albvmwarevsphere

README.md18 KBView on GitHub

VMware AVI

Author: Wei Zhou, VMware by Broadcom — wei-wz.zhou@broadcom.com This is a community-driven project by a VMware engineer, not an official VMware product. For official VMware developer tools see developer.broadcom.com.

English | 中文

AVI (NSX Advanced Load Balancer) management and AKO Kubernetes operations tool — 28 tools across 10 categories.

Dual mode: Traditional AVI Controller management + AKO K8s operations in one skill.

Companion skills handle everything else:

Skill Scope Install
vmware-aiops VM lifecycle, deployment, guest ops, cluster uv tool install vmware-aiops
vmware-monitor Read-only: inventory, health, alarms, events uv tool install vmware-monitor
vmware-storage Datastores, iSCSI, vSAN management uv tool install vmware-storage
vmware-vks Tanzu Namespaces, TKC cluster lifecycle uv tool install vmware-vks
vmware-nsx NSX networking: segments, gateways, NAT uv tool install vmware-nsx-mgmt
vmware-nsx-security DFW firewall rules, security groups uv tool install vmware-nsx-security
vmware-aria Aria Ops: metrics, alerts, capacity uv tool install vmware-aria

Quick Install

bash

# Via uv (recommended)
uv tool install vmware-avi

# Or via pip
pip install vmware-avi

# China mainland mirror
pip install vmware-avi -i https://pypi.tuna.tsinghua.edu.cn/simple

# Verify installation
vmware-avi doctor

Offline / Air-Gapped Install (from source)

This project uses the modern PEP 517 build system (hatchling), so there is no setup.py by design — that is expected, not a missing file. If you cloned the source and hit ERROR: File "setup.py" or "setup.cfg" not found ... editable mode currently requires a setuptools-based build, your pip is older than 21.3 and cannot do an editable (-e) install with a non-setuptools backend. Editable mode is a developer convenience, not needed to run the tool — do one of:

bash

# From the source tree — a normal (non-editable) install builds a wheel:
pip install .              # NOT  pip install -e .

# ...or upgrade pip first, and editable works too:
pip install --upgrade pip && pip install -e .

For a truly air-gapped host, build the wheels on a connected machine and copy them over — the target then needs no network:

bash

# On a connected machine, collect this package + its dependencies as wheels:
pip wheel . -w dist        # → dist/*.whl   (or: uv build, for just this package)

# Copy dist/ to the air-gapped host, then install offline:
pip install --no-index --find-links dist vmware-avi

Capabilities Overview

What This Skill Does

Category	Tools	Count
Virtual Service	list, status, enable/disable	3
Pool Member	pool discovery, member list, enable/disable member (drain/restore traffic)	4
SSL Certificate	list, expiry check	2
Analytics	VS metrics overview, request error logs	2
Service Engine	list, health check	2
AKO Pod Ops	status, logs, restart, version info	4
AKO Config	values.yaml view, Helm diff, Helm upgrade	3
Ingress Diagnostics	annotation validation, VS mapping, error diagnosis, fix recommendation	4
Sync Diagnostics	K8s-Controller comparison, inconsistency list, force resync	3
Multi-cluster	cluster list, cross-cluster AKO overview, AMKO status	3

CLI vs MCP: Which Mode to Use

Scenario	Recommended	Why
Local/small models (Ollama, Qwen)	CLI	~2K tokens vs ~8K for MCP
Cloud models (Claude, GPT-4o)	Either	MCP gives structured JSON I/O
Automated pipelines	MCP	Type-safe parameters, structured output
AKO troubleshooting	CLI	Interactive log tailing, Helm diff output

Rule of thumb: Use CLI for cost efficiency and small models. Use MCP for structured automation with large models.

Architecture

code

User (Natural Language)
  |
AI CLI Tool (Claude Code / Gemini / Codex / Cursor / Trae)
  | reads SKILL.md
  |
vmware-avi CLI
  |--- avisdk (AVI REST API) ---> AVI Controller ---> Virtual Services / Pools / SEs
  |--- kubectl / kubernetes ---> K8s Cluster ---> AKO Pods / Ingress / Services

Configuration

Step 1: Create Config Directory

bash

mkdir -p ~/.vmware-avi
vmware-avi init          # generates config.yaml and .env templates
chmod 600 ~/.vmware-avi/.env

Step 2: Edit config.yaml

yaml

controllers:
  - name: prod-avi
    host: avi-controller.example.com
    username: admin
    api_version: "22.1.4"
    tenant: admin
    port: 443
    verify_ssl: true

default_controller: prod-avi

ako:
  kubeconfig: ~/.kube/config
  default_context: ""
  namespace: avi-system

Step 3: Set Passwords

Create ~/.vmware-avi/.env:

bash

# AVI Controller passwords
# Format: {CONTROLLER_NAME_UPPER}_PASSWORD
PROD_AVI_PASSWORD=your-password-here

Password environment variable naming convention:

code

{CONTROLLER_NAME_UPPER}_PASSWORD
# Replace hyphens with underscores, UPPERCASE
# Example: controller "prod-avi" -> PROD_AVI_PASSWORD
# Example: controller "staging-alb" -> STAGING_ALB_PASSWORD

Step 4: Verify

bash

vmware-avi doctor    # checks Controller connectivity + kubeconfig + avisdk

CLI Usage

Virtual Service Management

bash

# List all virtual services
vmware-avi vs list [--controller prod-avi]

# Check status of a specific VS
vmware-avi vs status my-webapp-vs

# Enable / disable a VS (disable requires double confirmation)
vmware-avi vs enable my-webapp-vs
vmware-avi vs disable my-webapp-vs

Pool Member Drain / Restore

bash

# List pool members and health status
vmware-avi pool members my-pool

# Graceful drain (disable) — double confirmation required
vmware-avi pool disable my-pool 10.1.1.5

# Restore traffic (enable)
vmware-avi pool enable my-pool 10.1.1.5

SSL Certificate Expiry Check

bash

# List all certificates
vmware-avi ssl list

# Check certificates expiring within 30 days
vmware-avi ssl expiry --days 30

Analytics and Error Logs

bash

# VS analytics: throughput, latency, error rates
vmware-avi analytics my-webapp-vs

# Request error logs
vmware-avi logs my-webapp-vs --since 1h

Service Engine Health

bash

# Name, mgmt IP, operational status, SE group — status sourced from the
# serviceengine-inventory endpoint (config + runtime merged)
vmware-avi se list

# Per-SE operational status + connected-VS counts
vmware-avi se health

AKO Troubleshooting

bash

# Check AKO pod status
vmware-avi ako status [--context my-k8s-context]

# View AKO logs
vmware-avi ako logs [--tail 100] [--since 30m]

# Restart AKO pod (double confirmation)
vmware-avi ako restart

# Show AKO version
vmware-avi ako version

AKO Helm Config Management

The AKO Helm release is discovered automatically (official installs use helm install --generate-name, so the release is not named ako). Upgrades pull the official Broadcom OCI chart oci://projects.packages.broadcom.com/ako/helm-charts/ako with --reuse-values.

bash

# View current AKO Helm values (release auto-discovered)
vmware-avi ako config show

# Show pending changes (diff against the official OCI chart)
vmware-avi ako config diff

# Helm upgrade (double confirmation + --dry-run default)
vmware-avi ako config upgrade

Ingress Diagnostics

bash

# Validate Ingress annotations
vmware-avi ako ingress check <namespace>

# Show Ingress-to-VS mapping
vmware-avi ako ingress map

# Diagnose why an Ingress has no VS
vmware-avi ako ingress diagnose <ingress-name>

Sync Diagnostics

bash

# Check K8s-Controller sync status
vmware-avi ako sync status

# Show inconsistencies between K8s and Controller
vmware-avi ako sync diff

# Force AKO resync (double confirmation)
vmware-avi ako sync force

Multi-cluster AKO

bash

# List clusters with AKO deployed
vmware-avi ako clusters

# Cross-cluster AKO status overview
vmware-avi ako cluster-overview

# AMKO GSLB status
vmware-avi ako amko status

MCP Server

The MCP server exposes all 28 tools via the Model Context Protocol. Works with any MCP-compatible client.

After uv tool install vmware-avi, start the MCP server with one command (v1.5.15+):

bash

# Recommended — single command, no network re-resolve
vmware-avi mcp

# With custom config path
VMWARE_AVI_CONFIG=/path/to/config.yaml vmware-avi mcp

Claude Desktop Config

Add to claude_desktop_config.json:

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vmware-avi": {
      "command": "vmware-avi",
      "args": ["mcp"],
      "env": {
        "VMWARE_AVI_CONFIG": "~/.vmware-avi/config.yaml"
      }
    }
  }
}

Alternative: uvx (no install) or legacy entry point

bash

# Run without installing (requires PyPI access each launch)
uvx --from vmware-avi vmware-avi mcp

# Legacy entry point (still works, kept for backward compatibility)
vmware-avi-mcp

Behind a corporate TLS proxy? uvx may fail with invalid peer certificate: UnknownIssuer. Use the recommended vmware-avi mcp form above (no network needed), or set UV_NATIVE_TLS=true.

MCP Tools (28)

Category	Tools
Virtual Service (3)	`vs_list`, `vs_status`, `vs_toggle`
Pool Member (4)	`pool_list`, `pool_members`, `pool_member_enable`, `pool_member_disable`
SSL Certificate (2)	`ssl_list`, `ssl_expiry_check`
Analytics (2)	`vs_analytics`, `vs_error_logs`
Service Engine (2)	`se_list`, `se_health`
AKO Pod (4)	`ako_status`, `ako_logs`, `ako_restart`, `ako_version`
AKO Config (3)	`ako_config_show`, `ako_config_diff`, `ako_config_upgrade`
Ingress Diagnostics (3)	`ako_ingress_check`, `ako_ingress_map`, `ako_ingress_diagnose`
Sync Diagnostics (3)	`ako_sync_status`, `ako_sync_diff`, `ako_sync_force`
Multi-cluster (2)	`ako_clusters`, `ako_amko_status`

Common Workflows

1. Maintenance Window -- Drain a Pool Member

When taking a backend server offline for patching:

List pool members and health status
bash
```
vmware-avi pool members my-pool
```
Disable the target server (graceful drain)
bash
```
vmware-avi pool disable my-pool 10.1.1.5
```
Monitor analytics to confirm active connections are draining
bash
```
vmware-avi analytics my-vs
```
Perform maintenance on the server

Re-enable the server

bash

vmware-avi pool enable my-pool 10.1.1.5

Verify health status is green
bash
```
vmware-avi pool members my-pool
```

2. AKO Ingress Not Creating VS

When a developer reports their Ingress is not producing a Virtual Service:

Verify AKO is running
bash
```
vmware-avi ako status
```

Validate Ingress annotations

bash

vmware-avi ako ingress check <namespace>

Check sync status between K8s and Controller
bash
```
vmware-avi ako sync status
```
If annotations are wrong, diagnose the specific Ingress
bash
```
vmware-avi ako ingress diagnose <ingress-name>
```
If sync drift is detected, review the diff and force resync if needed
bash
```
vmware-avi ako sync diff
vmware-avi ako sync force
```

3. SSL Certificate Expiry Audit

Expired certificates cause outages. Run periodic checks:

Check all certificates expiring within 30 days
bash
```
vmware-avi ssl expiry --days 30
```
Review which VS uses each expiring certificate (output includes VS mapping)
Plan renewal with the certificate team
After renewal, verify the new certificate is in place
bash
```
vmware-avi ssl list
```

Troubleshooting

"Controller unreachable" error

Run vmware-avi doctor to verify connectivity
Check if the controller address and port are correct in ~/.vmware-avi/config.yaml
For self-signed certs: set verify_ssl: false in config.yaml (lab environments only)

AKO Pod in CrashLoopBackOff

Check logs: vmware-avi ako logs --tail 50
Common causes: wrong controller IP in values.yaml, network policy blocking AKO to Controller, expired credentials
Fix config: vmware-avi ako config show to inspect, then vmware-avi ako config upgrade with corrected values (release auto-discovered; pulls the official Broadcom OCI chart)

Ingress created but no VS on Controller

Validate annotations: vmware-avi ako ingress check <namespace>
Check AKO logs for rejection reason: vmware-avi ako logs --since 5m
Run sync diff: vmware-avi ako sync diff to see if the object is stuck

Pool member shows "down" after enable

Health monitor may still be failing. The member is enabled but unhealthy. Check the actual health status on the Controller side. Fix the backend service first, then the health status will auto-recover.

SSL expiry check shows 0 certificates

Verify the controller connection has tenant-level access. Certificates are tenant-scoped in AVI. The configured user may only see certs in their tenant.

AKO sync force has no effect

Force resync triggers AKO to re-reconcile all K8s objects. If the drift persists, the issue is likely in the K8s resource definition itself (bad annotation, missing secret). Use vmware-avi ako ingress diagnose to pinpoint the root cause.

Safety Features

Feature	Details
Double Confirmation	Destructive ops (VS disable, pool member disable, AKO restart, Helm upgrade, force resync) require 2 sequential confirmations
Dry-Run Default	`ako config upgrade` defaults to `--dry-run` mode -- user must explicitly confirm to apply
Audit Trail	All operations logged to `~/.vmware/audit.db` via vmware-policy (`@vmware_tool` decorator)
Password Protection	`.env` file loading with permission check; never in shell history
SSL Support	`verify_ssl: false` for self-signed certs in isolated lab environments only
Prompt Injection Protection	All API-sourced text truncated (500 chars max) and C0/C1 control characters stripped
Input Validation	Pool names, VS names, IP addresses, and namespace names validated before API calls

Security Details

Source Code: github.com/vmware-skills/VMware-AVI
Config File Contents: config.yaml stores controller addresses, usernames, and AKO settings. No passwords or tokens. All secrets stored exclusively in .env
Webhook Data Scope: Disabled by default. No third-party data transmission
TLS Verification: Enabled by default. Disable only for self-signed certificate environments
Prompt Injection Protection: _sanitize() truncation + control character cleanup on all AVI API responses
Least Privilege: Use a dedicated AVI service account with minimal permissions. AKO operations require only namespace-scoped kubeconfig access

Companion Skills

Skill	Scope	Tools	Install
vmware-avi	AVI load balancer, AKO K8s operations	28	`uv tool install vmware-avi`
vmware-aiops	VM lifecycle, deployment, guest ops, cluster	49	`uv tool install vmware-aiops`
vmware-monitor	Read-only monitoring, alarms, events	27	`uv tool install vmware-monitor`
vmware-storage	Datastores, iSCSI, vSAN	11	`uv tool install vmware-storage`
vmware-vks	Tanzu Namespaces, TKC cluster lifecycle	20	`uv tool install vmware-vks`
vmware-nsx	NSX segments, gateways, NAT, routing	33	`uv tool install vmware-nsx-mgmt`
vmware-nsx-security	DFW firewall, security groups, IDS/IPS	21	`uv tool install vmware-nsx-security`
vmware-aria	Aria Ops: metrics, alerts, capacity	28	`uv tool install vmware-aria`
vmware-harden	Compliance baselines, drift detection	6	`uv tool install vmware-harden`

Version Compatibility

AVI Controller / Environment	Support	Notes
AVI 30.x in VCF 9.1	✅ Full	avisdk 30.x line covers VCF 9.1 bundle
AVI 30.x in VCF 9.0	✅ Full	Standard AVI / NSX ALB integration
AVI 22.x — 31.x standalone	✅ Full	Pin `avisdk>=22.1,<31.0`
AKO 1.10+	✅ Full	Kubernetes integration via AKO ConfigMap / GatewayClass

Official Broadcom References

SDKs: https://developer.broadcom.com/sdks — VCF Python SDK
REST APIs: https://developer.broadcom.com/xapis — AVI Controller REST API
CLI Tools: https://developer.broadcom.com/tools — VCF PowerCLI 9.1

Troubleshooting & Contributing

If you encounter any errors or issues, please send the error message, logs, or screenshots to zhouwei008@gmail.com. Contributions are welcome -- feel free to join us in maintaining and improving this project!

License

MIT

Install

Add to VS Code Add to Cursor

claude_desktop_config.json

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vmware-avi": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "vmware-avi"
      ]
    }
  }
}