RVTools: VMware Management Tool Download and Features

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RVTools is a read-only reporting and inventory tool used for collecting configuration and usage data from ESX hosts, virtual machines, and vCenter Server environments, primarily for audits and offline analysis.

Important context (2024–2026 VMware by Broadcom)

Nowadays, VMware is operated under Broadcom. Since then the product portfolio and licensing model have significantly changed:

• VMware moved to subscription-only licensing
• Now perpetual licenses are no longer sold
• Products are now bundled into suites (VCF/vSphere Foundation/Standalone SKUs)
• Its focus shifted to enterprise bundled infrastructure platforms rather than standalone tools

Getting Started: Installing the RVTools Utility

Installing RVTools on your Windows machine is a straightforward process.

Downloading and Running the RVTools Installer

Simply download the latest version from the official RVTools website, located here:

Since Dell Technologies acquired RVTools in 2023 from its original developer, Rob de Veij, the Dell Support website has become the official distribution source for new releases.

downloads.dell.com/rvtools/rvtools4.8.1.msi

Note. In March 2025, the original RVTools website was temporarily compromised and distributed a malicious installer. You should always download RVTools only from the official Dell distribution page (or other officially designated sources) and verify that you are using the latest trusted release.

Run the installer, and follow the on-screen instructions. Remember, RVTools interacts directly with the VMware vSphere Management SDK. Note that VMware Tools is not required for RVTools itself, but it affects the accuracy of guest OS information retrieved from vCenter.

Unleashing the Power of RVTools for VMware Health Checks

RVTools isn’t just a tool to display information. It’s a great utility for conducting health checks within your vSphere environment. The vHealth tab provides static audit-based indicators that can help you to identify potential config problems in a vSphere environment. It checks for things like:

• VMware tools not installed or out of date
• Zombie VMDKs
• CD Drives connected
• Inconsistent folder names
• Overprovisioned hosts
• Other Best practices

These health checks are a great way to make sure your VMware environment runs smoothly. RVTools makes these checks easier by providing detailed config data that you can review for potential issues in offline mode.

Navigating RVTools: A Closer Look at the Key Tabs

RVTools displays information through several tabs, each offering insight into different aspects of your VMware infrastructure. Some of the tabs VIAdmins reference most often include:

• vInfo tab
• vDisk tab
• vHealth tab.

RVTools Tabs and Features

The vInfo Tab

The vInfo tab in RVTools provides a comprehensive overview of your virtual machines, including their current power state, connection state, VMware Tools installed status, and ESX host data. Notably, the tab displays whether VMware Tools is installed, allowing admins to verify VMware Tools installation status and version information.

The vDisk Tab

The vDisk tab offers detailed information about your virtual machines’ disks. It provides specific information about each VM’s disks, memory, partitions, and network configurations. It also shows whether CD drives and USB devices are connected, proving useful when troubleshooting hardware issues.

The vHealth Tab

The vHealth tab provides additional static checks based on config data from vCenter. It flags potential inconsistencies, such as outdated VMware Tools or inconsistent folder names, and helps you maintain the overall health of your ESX server and the VMs it hosts.

Leveraging RVTools for VMware Resource Management

RVTools is an excellent tool that provides read-only visibility into resource usage and configuration within your VMware environment. It provides insights into resource pools, memory, disks, partitions, network configurations, and more. You can monitor CPU usage, memory allocation, and even the status of your distributed switches and distributed ports.

Efficiently Working with vCenter Server

RVTools interfaces smoothly with vCenter Server, providing administrators with a comprehensive overview of their vSphere environment.

This includes detailed information about ESXi hosts, distributed switches, distributed ports, VMkernel adapters, and licensing information. This data is useful for analysis and auditing of complex virtual environments.

Creating a Single XLSX Report

One of RVTools’ useful features is its ability to generate a single XLSX file report containing all the data it collects. Using an XLSX merge utility (included with RVTools), you can consolidate data from multiple vSphere environments into one comprehensive report. This feature is useful for offline reporting, audits, and data consolidation across multiple vSphere environments. Basically, it’s not operational tool, it’s built for auditing and planning, not for real-time alerts.

RVToolsMergeExcelFiles.exe -input C:\myfiles\vcsa-site1-vHealth.xlsx;C:\myfiles\vcsa-site2-vHealth.xlsx -output C:\myfiles\allvcenters-vHealth.xlsx

If you automate RVTools data collection before merging reports, keep in mind that RVTools 4.8.1 introduced mandatory SSL certificate validation for RVTools Collector. Existing automation may require the -BypassSSLCheck option/properly trusted certificates.

Note. Nowadays, VMware admins are moving away from static Excel spreadsheets. Instead, they get their data through live dashboards and automated systems (such as VMware Aria Operations) that pull info directly from VMware using APIs.

RVTools Limitations

While RVTools is a valuable reporting and inventory tool for VMware environments, keep in mind that it has several important limitations that you should consider:

• RVTools has no write capabilities and cannot modify/manage any VMware objects
• The tool provides no automation features and does not support infrastructure orchestration
• It offers no real-time monitoring or alerting, as it operates on snapshot-based data from vCenter
• RVTools is a Windows-only application (and this limits deployment flexibility in modern cross-platform environments)
• It has limited relevance in cloud-native and Kubernetes-centric architectures, where API-driven and platform-native tools are preferred

Note that these limitations mean that RVTools is best suited for offline reporting, audits, and inventory analysis (rather than operational management/real-time infrastructure monitoring).

SRM Placeholder and Other Advanced Features

RVTools also shows reports for placeholder VMs, which are the “stand-in” virtual machines used by VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) for disaster recovery.

SRM is a classic tool for disaster recovery. However, many modern companies now prefer using cloud-based backups or continuous data sync (replication) instead of the traditional SRM setup. The tool also provides you with multipath information for iSCSI, Fibre Channel, and NFS datastores.