VMware

Warning

If you are using the VMware integration, it is recommended to switch to the VMware Collection Agent plugin to ensure that you are getting the latest updates and features.

Overview Copied

The VMWare Collection Agent plugin monitors metrics and events from VMware vSpheres through the VMwareCollector collector.

Metrics Copied

The VMwareCollector collector monitors metrics of managed entity types such as HostSystem or VirtualMachine. Metrics can be monitored through the performance manager by supplying performance counters or by accessing the properties path.

Performance counter groups and labels Copied

Managed entity properties path Copied

Refers to the managed entity class member variable path. The paths are added in the configuration as a list of properties in order to monitor entity properties.

Events Copied

The VmwareCollector collector monitors events through the event manager by querying using a filter. This collector only supports severityand time, wherein the latter is calculated through the collectionInterval with a default value of 10 seconds.

Setting a low value for the collectionInterval allows for events to be collected in near real-time. A longer collection interval broadens the time window for event collection, which means potential delays in collecting critical events logged in the vSphere and a need to process more events within a given period.

Note

Refer to the VMware documentation for the complete list of event filters and events. Note that:

  • Severity is listed as category in the VMware event filters documentation.
  • Each event can be extended to another type of event. These are listed in the Extended by section of the events documentation.

Prerequisites Copied

Geneos environment Copied

The VMware Collection Agent plugin requires the following versions of Geneos components:

The VMware Collection Agent plugin jar file is packaged with Netprobe, and is stored in the collection_agent folder. Alternatively, you can download separate binaries for the VMware Collection Agent plugin from ITRS Downloads.

vSphere Copied

Set up your Collection Agent plugin Copied

Set up your collector in the Gateway Setup Editor by adding the following configuration in Dynamic Entities > Collectors. For more information, see Collectors in Dynamic Entities.

Configuration reference Copied

Warning

Upgrading to Geneos version 7.3 requires you to create a new configuration to ensure that the plugin functions properly. Configuration files from older versions will no longer be compatible.

Below is an example YAML file which may require some changes for your project’s configuration:

collectors:
  # VMware collector configuration
  - name: vmware
    type: plugin
    class-name: VmwareCollector

    # URL to connect to the vSphere servers (required)
    url: ${env:VMWARE_URL}
    # Basic authentication used to connect to the vSphere (required)
    username: ${env:BASIC_AUTH_USERNAME}
    password: ${env:BASIC_AUTH_PASSWORD}

    # Interval (in millis) between collections (optional, unused if not set).
    # collectionInterval: 300000

    # Metrics configuration (optional)
    metrics:

      # Interval (in millis) between collections (optional, default to collector collectionInterval or 5 minutes).
      # collectionInterval: 300000

      # Collection level used for availability of counters, used only for vCenter servers (optional, default unused)
      # Please see documentation for reference link to see full list of available counters per level.
      # collectionLevel: 1

      # Entity and group configuration (mutually inclusive with severity).
      # This lists the entities and metrics to be monitored by the collector.
      # Please see documentation for further details.
      entityGroups:
        VirtualMachine:
          #filter: .*(NAME1|NAME2).*
          info:
            - runtime.bootTime
            - runtime.powerState
            - runtime.toolsInstallerMounted
            - runtime.cleanPowerOff
            - runtime.dasVmProtection.dasProtected
            - runtime.faultToleranceState
            - runtime.numMksConnections
            - runtime.onlineStandby
            - runtime.question.text
            - runtime.host.value
            - runtime.recordReplayState
            - runtime.suspendInterval
            - runtime.suspendTime
            - runtime.connectionState
            - runtime.memoryOverhead
            - summary.quickStats.guestHeartbeatStatus
            - summary.quickStats.overallCpuUsage
            - summary.quickStats.guestMemoryUsage
            - summary.quickStats.hostMemoryUsage
            - summary.quickStats.overallCpuDemand
            - config.hardware.numCPU
            - config.hardware.memoryMB
            - config.hardware.numCoresPerSocket
            - config.datastoreUrl.name
          clusterServices: .*
          cpu: Worst case allocation|Total|Usage|Usage in MHz
          disk: Capacity|Highest latency|Space potentially used|Space not shared|Usage|Space actually used
          mem: Consumed|Worst case allocation|Overhead consumed|Swap in rate|Swap out rate|Swap used|Total|Host consumed %|Balloon|Memory Type Total Bandwidth
          network: Usage
          sys: Heartbeat|Uptime
          vmop: .*non-powered-on VMs.*
        HostSystem:
          info:
            - config.product.apiType
            - config.product.apiVersion
            - config.product.build
            - config.product.fullName
            - config.product.instanceUuid
            - config.product.licenseProductName
            - config.product.licenseProductVersion
            - config.product.localeBuild
            - config.product.localeVersion
            - config.product.osType
            - config.product.productLineId
            - config.product.vendor
            - config.product.version
            - summary.quickStats.uptime
            - summary.hardware.memorySize
          clusterServices: .*
          cpu: Worst case allocation|Total|Usage|Usage in MHz
          disk: Capacity|Highest latency|Space potentially used|Space not shared|Usage|Space actually used
          mem: Consumed|Worst case allocation|Overhead consumed|Swap in rate|Swap out rate|Swap used|Total|Host consumed %|Balloon|Memory Type Total Bandwidth
          network: Usage
          sys: Heartbeat|Uptime
          vmop: .*non-powered-on VMs.*
        VmwareDistributedVirtualSwitch:
          info:
            - summary.productInfo.vendor
            - summary.productInfo.build
            - summary.productInfo.version
            - overallStatus
        ClusterComputeResource:
          info:
            - summary.effectiveMemory
            - summary.effectiveCpu
            - summary.overallStatus
            - summary.usageSummary.cpuDemandMhz
            - summary.usageSummary.totalCpuCapacityMhz
            - summary.usageSummary.memDemandMB
            - summary.usageSummary.totalMemCapacityMB

    # Events configuration (optional)
    events:

      # Interval (in millis) between collections (optional, defaults to collector collectionInterval or 10 seconds).
      # collectionInterval: 10000

      # List of severity types to be collected. Allowed severity types are info, warning, error, and user. (mutually inclusive with entityGroups)
      severity: [error]

Note

At least one configuration for metrics or events is required.

Common configuration details Copied

Variable Description
url The URL needed to connect to either vCenter or ESXi. The format is <http or https>://<ESXi or vCenter URL>/sdk e.g. https://abc-vcenter.global.itrs/sdk
username and password

Authentication to connect to the vSphere through a url. Only one connection per collector is allowed.

The username or user account needs read-only privileges.

Mandatory: Yes
collectionInterval

Interval (in milliseconds) between collections

Mandatory: No; unused if not set.

Configuration details for metric collection Copied

Variable Description
collectionInterval

Interval (in milliseconds) between collections

Mandatory: No

Default: 5 minutes
collectionLevel

Determine which performance counters are available for monitoring in VMware vCenter connections.

For ESXi connections, collectionLevel is unavailable.

For more information, see Data Collection Levels.

Mandatory: No
entityGroups Consist of:
  1. List of managed entities - determine which entities to monitor (Mandatory: Yes)
  2. Key-value pair rules - filter out which metrics and attributes to display (Mandatory: Conditional, depending on the connection used and if collectionLevel is set or not):
  • Yes, if connection is ESXi
  • Yes, if connection is vCenter and collectionLevel is not set
  • No, if connection is vCenter and collectionLevel is set

Individual configuration formats for key-value pair rules Copied

Performance counter groups Copied
Managed entity information Copied
Managed entity filtering Copied

Sample VMware metric dataview Copied

VMware metric dataview sample

Configuration details for event collection Copied

Variable Description
collectionInterval

Interval (in milliseconds) between collections

Mandatory: No

Default: 10 seconds
severity List of event categories to be monitored such as info, warning, error, and user.

Sample FKM VMware event dataview Copied

VMware event dataview sample

Configure your mappings Copied

To show metrics and events in Geneos, dynamic mappings must be configured and attached to the Netprobe receiving the data from the Collection Agent. Select one of the options listed below to configure your dynamic mappings.

For more information, see the Mapping and mapping group in Dynamic Entities documentation.

Server connection Copied

The collector currently trusts all servers and does not verify hostnames. Only basic authentication is used by means of username and password that has a minimum role of read-only. When the connection drops and reconnects, the collector can continue operation given that the initial connection was successful.

VMware services metric metadata Copied

A reference list of VMware service metric metadata can be downloaded here. This file includes all metric metadata, categorized as either counter, event, or property. Each category has a masterlist (in CSV format) of all their respective metadata.

The categories are further divided into subcategories:

["Geneos"]["Geneos > Other"] ["User Guide"]

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