ZenPack:VMware vSphere (legacy)

From Zenoss Wiki
This is the approved revision of this page; it is not the most recent. View the most recent revision.
Jump to: navigation, search


Note: This ZenPack is available in commercial versions of Zenoss. Click here to request more information about this commercial ZenPack. Click here to see all commercial ZenPacks.

Organization
Zenoss, Inc.
ZenPack name
ZenPacks.zenoss.ZenVMware
More Information
GitHub page/HomePage


Applications Monitored: 



VMware vSphere (legacy) ZenPack

This ZenPack uses VMware's vSphere API to retrieve information about hosts, virtual machines, clusters, resource pools, and data stores from a vCenter Server.

Warning

The ZenPack Catalog has moved to its new home at https://www.zenoss.com/product/zenpacks as of January 17, 2017. The following information may be out of date, and this page will eventually be removed.

Support

This ZenPack is included with commercial versions of Zenoss and enterprise support for this ZenPack is provided to Zenoss customers with an active subscription.

Releases

Version 2.1.11- Download
Released on 2013/09/03
Requires Dynamic Service View ZenPack,StorageBase ZenPack
Compatible with Zenoss Resource Manager 4.2.x
Incompatible with Zenoss Core 2.5.x, Zenoss Core 3.1.x, Zenoss Core 3.2.x, Zenoss Core 4.2.x, Zenoss Resource Manager 4.1.x

Background

The ZenPacks.zenoss.ZenVMware ZenPack monitors VMware devices through the vSphere API.


Note: This ZenPack is deprecated; see .


By entering a single set of connection parameters, Zenoss platform can :

  • Obtain the names and properties of various entities in your VMware infrastructure
  • Monitor metrics collected by VMware
  • Retrieve VMware events

Zenoss platform extracts VMware information through the VMware Infrastructure (VI) SDK, VMware's SOAP interface to its line of server virtualization products. The SDK can be accessed from an individual ESX server or vCenter Server (previously, VirtualCenter Server) instance, which can return information about many ESX servers.

VMware's Virtualization overview.


Gallery

  • VMware Events (Event Console)

  • Event Details

  • Add VMware Infrastructure Dialog

  • VMware Device Classes

  • Virtual Guest Devices

  • Virtual Guest Devices - Managed Device

  • Add Data Source

  • Push Changes


VMware Events

VMware records a wide range of events that are available through the VI SDK. Zenoss platform extracts these events and makes them available in the event console.


VMware Events (Event Console)


(ZenVMware)VMwarevSphere.vmwareevents.png


The device column shows the ID of the VMware entity with which the event is associated, unless the event is specific to a guest VM. In that case, the Device column shows the ID of the host, and the Component column displays the ID of the guest.

If a VMware host is disconnected, performance collection stops and the interface reflects its disconnected status.

Zenoss platform maps the VMware event to the event class and assigns the event a severity level. The event class appears in the Event Class column.

To see detailed event information and the original VMware event type, double-click the event row.

The VMware event type is the value shown for eventGroup.


Event Details


(ZenVMware)VMwarevSphere.vmwareeventdetails.png


Migration Events

When a VMotion guest migrates from one host to another, VMware records events to signal its progress. When a VmMigrated event occurs, it is duplicated to become two events, which are mapped to the /VMware/Migration event class in Zenoss platform. One event contains the originating host as the device; the other lists the destination host as the device.

An event command (navigate to Events > Event Manager, and then select Commands in the left panel) reacts to these events by remodeling the two hosts and generating an updated view of the guests. The time required to produce updated guest lists (from the time migration completes) is between 30 seconds and four minutes.


Prerequisites

The VMware VI API is required. It is compatible with VMware Infrastructure 3 (including ESX Server 3.5, VirtualCenter Server 2.5, and ESX Server 3i) and vSphere 4 and 5 (including ESX 4, ESXi 4 and 5, vCenter Server 4 and 5). It is not explicitly compatible with ESX Server 3.0.x or VirtualCenter Server 2.0.x, or any previous versions.


Prerequisite Restriction
Product Zenoss platform 4.x
Required ZenPacks ZenPacks.zenoss.ZenVMware,

ZenPacks.zenoss.StorageBase,

ZenPacks.zenoss.DynamicView


Warning: If the time on the monitored VC/ESX server is too far form the time on the box where the zenvmwareperf daemon is running, the daemon will not collect any data.


Enable Monitoring

Follow these steps to begin monitoring your VMware servers.


  1. From Infrastructure > Devices, select Add VMware Infrastructure from the Add Device menu. The Add VMware dialog appears. Add VMware Infrastructure Dialog (ZenVMware)VMwarevSphere.Vmware add dialog.png
  2. Enter parameters to connect to the ESX server or vCenter Server that will provide monitoring capabilities.
    • Name or ID -Enter a name for the infrastructure to be monitored.
    • Host - Enter the hostname of the server providing the VI SDK connections. This can be an individual ESX server or the location of a vCenter Server instance.
    • Use SSL - Select this option if the connection should be made by using SSL encryption.
    • Username - Enter the user name used to authenticate.
    • Password - Enter the password used to authenticate.
    • Collector - Select the collector to use to retrieve information from the VI SDK endpoint.
  3. Click Add. Zenoss platform begins modeling the VMware infrastructure. It places the information in the device hierarchy under /Devices/VMware/ID, where ID is the value of the ID field you entered during setup.


Note: Do not model the same VMware infrastructure client with different names.


Viewing VMware Devices

Zenoss platform represents these VMware entities as devices:

  • Hosts (ESX servers)
  • Resource Pools
  • Data stores
  • Clusters

Each of these categories is represented as a device class under the newly created organizer. For example, if the ID of an infrastructure is esxwin, then four device classes appear below /Devices/VMware/esxwin: Clusters, Datastores, Hosts, and ResourcePools.


VMware Device Classes


(ZenVMware)VMwarevSphere.VMware Classes.png


If the SDK endpoint is an individual ESX server, then the Clusters organizer will be empty. (A VMware cluster is a concept external to an individual host.)


Viewing Guest Virtual Machines

To view guest VMs on an ESX server:


  1. Navigate to a device in the Hosts class.
  2. Select VMware Guest in the host's component tree (in the left panel). The Virtual Guest Devices list appears. Virtual Guest Devices (ZenVMware)VMwarevSphere.snapshot guests.png


In the list, the first column contains a link to the guest component, named the same name as the VM. (This is not necessarily the same as the VM hostname.) If the VM has been modeled elsewhere in Zenoss platform, then a link to that device appears in the Managed Device column.

As shown in the previous figure, none of the VMs are being monitored in their "native" device classes. For example, the guest named "ldap test box" is a Linux VM with the hostname "public-demo.zenoss.loc." If you add that device to /Devices/Server/Linux, a link will appear.


Virtual Guest Devices - Managed Device


(ZenVMware)VMwarevSphere.snapshot guestswithdevice.png


Click the Name link to go to the Guest component status page, which shows the VM's relationships to other VMware entities, and provides access to VMware-specific metrics and events.

Click the managed device link to go to the Device status page, which contains information about the device as a separate Linux or Windows server. These two status pages link to each other.


Enabling Data Collection Using resxtop

Follow these steps to enable gathering of VMware host and guest statistics.


Gathering VMware Host Statistics

By default, data collection using resxtop statistics is disabled. To enable it:


  1. From the Zenoss platform interface, select Advanced, and then select Monitoring Templates.
  2. Locate and select the VMwareHost_esxtop template.
  3. For each of the data sources:
    1. Click the data source to open it.
    2. Select the Enabled option to enable data collection.
    3. Click Save.

    Data collection will begin shortly after update, followed by visible graph data.

    For information about the collected data, see Section 7, "Batch Mode," in the document titled "Interpreting esxtop Statistics" at the following location:

    http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-9279


Gathering VMware Guest Statistics

By default, data collection using resxtop statistics is disabled. To enable it:


  1. From the Zenoss platform interface, select Advanced, and then select Monitoring Templates.
  2. Locate and select the VMwareGuest_esxtop template.
  3. For each of the data sources:
    1. Click the data source to open it.
    2. Select the Enabled option to enable data collection.
    3. Click Save.

    Data collection will begin shortly after update, followed by visible graph data.

    For information about the collected data, see Section 7, "Batch Mode," in the document titled "Interpreting esxtop Statistics" at the following location:

    http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-9279


Adding a Custom Metric

In Zenoss platform, metric-bearing VMware entities (such as Hosts, Guests, and Clusters) have associated templates. These templates define which metrics are gathered. By default, only a subset is collected; however, you can add more by adding data sources to the templates. Once created, you can then create custom graphs from these data sources.

To create a custom data source:


  1. Navigate to Advanced > Monitoring Templates and select the template to which you want to add the data source.
  2. From the Data Sources area, click Add. The Add Data Source dialog appears. Add Data Source (ZenVMware)VMwarevSphere.Add Datasource.png
  3. Enter a name and select the VMware data source from the list of options, and then click Submit.
  4. Double-click the newly created data source to edit it. Enter or select values:
    • Event Key - Not used.
    • Severity - Not used.
    • Group, Counter, and Rollup Type - VMware-specific data points are determined by this trio of strings. For information about each of these metrics, see the chapter titled "Performance Counters Reference" in the VI SDK Programming Guide.
    • Instance - Certain metrics are further specified by an instance name. For example, the metric whose Group/Counter/Rollup Type triplet is Network/Network Data Receive Rate/average requires the name of the actual interface for full specification. In Zenoss platform, this metric is represented by the data source nicRx on the template VMwareNic. The VMwareNic template is bound to the individual host interfaces, each of whose ID is the interface name. In this case, the instance name is ${here/instanceId}.
  5. Click Save to save the new data source.


Moving VMware Devices Between Collectors

If you move a VMware device to a different collector, you must follow one of these procedures to force the changes to take effect:

  • Restart the collector daemons. To do this, go to Advanced > Settings, select Daemons in the left panel, and then click Restart in the row for each of these daemons:
    • zenvmwaremodeler
    • zenvmwareperf
    • zenvmwareevents

    Note: Alternatively, as user zenoss, enter the following commands to stop and then restart these Zenoss platform daemons: 


    zenvmwaremodeler restart
zenvmwareperf restart
zenvmwareevents restart

    OR

  • Navigate to the page for the organizer that represents the VMware endpoint (for example, Devices/VMware, myEndpoint), and then select Push Changes from the Action menu. Push Changes (ZenVMware)VMwarevSphere.VMware push changes.png


Daemons

Type Name
Modeler zenvmwaremodeler
Performance Collector zenvmwareperf
Event Collector zenvmwareevents


Tuning Options

These collector daemons offer options for tuning performance. Use them to control data amounts and the rate at which data comes back to be modified.

  • zenvmwareperf
    Daemons
    Option Description
    --callChunkSize=Value Specifies the number of performance requests to submit at the same time.
    --callChunkSleep=Value Specifies the time to sleep, in seconds, between performance requests.


  • zenvmwareevents
    Daemons
    Option Description
    --eventChunkSize=Value Specifies the number of events to gather at one time.
    --eventChunkSleep=Value Specifies the time to sleep, in seconds, between event requests.


Installation

Normal Installation (packaged egg)

  1. Download the appropriate egg file for the version of Zenoss you are running.
  2. Ensure you are logged in as the zenoss user: 
    $ sudo su - zenoss
  3. Install the ZenPack: 
    $ zenpack --install ZenPacks.zenoss.ZenVMware-*.egg
  4. Restart these services: 
    $ zenoss restart


Discuss

Purplemarker.png New: Don't forget to add yourself to the Zenoss User Map!

blog comments powered by Disqus



Retrieved from "http://wiki.zenoss.org/index.php?title=ZenPack:VMware_vSphere_(legacy)&oldid=11337"