Nimsoft Monitor. vmware Guide. v6.0 series

Transcription

1 Nimsoft Monitor vmware Guide v6.0 series

2 Legal Notices Copyright 2013, CA. All rights reserved. Warranty The material contained in this document is provided "as is," and is subject to being changed, without notice, in future editions. Further, to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, Nimsoft LLC disclaims all warranties, either express or implied, with regard to this manual and any information contained herein, including but not limited to the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose. Nimsoft LLC shall not be liable for errors or for incidental or consequential damages in connection with the furnishing, use, or performance of this document or of any information contained herein. Should Nimsoft LLC and the user have a separate written agreement with warranty terms covering the material in this document that conflict with these terms, the warranty terms in the separate agreement shall control. Technology Licenses The hardware and/or software described in this document are furnished under a license and may be used or copied only in accordance with the terms of such license. No part of this manual may be reproduced in any form or by any means (including electronic storage and retrieval or translation into a foreign language) without prior agreement and written consent from Nimsoft LLC as governed by United States and international copyright laws. Restricted Rights Legend If software is for use in the performance of a U.S. Government prime contract or subcontract, Software is delivered and licensed as "Commercial computer software" as defined in DFAR (June 1995), or as a "commercial item" as defined in FAR 2.101(a) or as "Restricted computer software" as defined in FAR (June 1987) or any equivalent agency regulation or contract clause. Use, duplication or disclosure of Software is subject to Nimsoft LLC s standard commercial license terms, and non-dod Departments and Agencies of the U.S. Government will receive no greater than Restricted Rights as defined in FAR (c)(1-2) (June 1987). U.S. Government users will receive no greater than Limited Rights as defined in FAR (June 1987) or DFAR (b)(2) (November 1995), as applicable in any technical data. Trademarks Nimsoft is a trademark of CA. Adobe, Acrobat, Acrobat Reader, and Acrobat Exchange are registered trademarks of Adobe Systems Incorporated. Intel and Pentium are U.S. registered trademarks of Intel Corporation. Java(TM) is a U.S. trademark of Sun Microsystems, Inc. Microsoft and Windows are U.S. registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation. Netscape(TM) is a U.S. trademark of Netscape Communications Corporation. Oracle is a U.S. registered trademark of Oracle Corporation, Redwood City, California. UNIX is a registered trademark of the Open Group. ITIL is a Registered Trade Mark of the Office of Government Commerce in the United Kingdom and other countries. All other trademarks, trade names, service marks and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies. For information on licensed and public domain software, see the Nimsoft Monitor Third-Party Licenses and Terms of Use document at:

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5 Contents Chapter 1: vmware vmware Overview... 7 Chapter 2: vmware Probe Deployment 9 Requirements... 9 Prerequisites... 9 Hardware Requirements... 9 Software Requirements Supported Platforms Probe Deployment Chapter 3: vmware Probe Configuration 11 Probe Configuration Interface Installation Monitoring Capabilities Templates Probe Configuration General Setup Create a New Resource Message Pool Manager Create New Template Advanced Configuration Chapter 4: Adding Monitors 17 Manually Selecting Monitors to be Measured Enabling the Monitors for QoS and Alarming To Edit Monitor Properties Using Templates To Create a New Template To Add Monitors to a Template To Apply a Template Using Automatic Configurations Adding a Template to the Auto Configurations Node Adding a Monitor to the Auto Configurations Node Exploring the Contents of the Auto Configurations Node Checking the Auto Monitors Node Contents 5

6 Chapter 5: Probe Configuration Interface 27 Configuration Interface Navigation The Toolbar Buttons The Navigation (Left) Pane Resources Node Templates Node Navigation Pane Updates The Content (Right) Pane Content Pane Updates Chapter 6: Best Practices 31 Support for Instance UUIDs Prepending Origin to the QoS Source Field Chapter 7: Known Issues and Workarounds 33 No Value is Listed for a Monitor Out of Memory Errors Error When Closing the Configuration GUI UI Fails to Load Auto/All Monitors Nodes UI Slowly Loads Nodes Within the Inventory Tree Chapter 8: Error Messages 37 Error Message Examples vmware Guide

7 Chapter 1: vmware 6.0 This description applies to the Nimsoft vmware probe version 6.0. This section contains the following topics: vmware Overview (see page 7) Documentation Changes (see page 8) vmware Overview Business based on Virtualization Technology depends on a high degree of quality and availability. In such situations, the availability and performance of the VMware hosts and virtual machines must be as high as possible. Monitoring and managing the components and services can help you ensure optimal performance. The Nimsoft vmware monitoring probe automates all common monitoring and data collection tasks, and lets you focus on problems as they arise. The vmware probe collects and stores data and information from the monitored components through VMware Virtual Center, or by connecting to ESX servers directly, at customizable intervals. You can define alarms to be raised and propagated to the Alarm Console when the specified thresholds are breached. Chapter 1: vmware 6.0 7

8 vmware Overview Documentation Changes This table describes the version history for this document. Version Date What's New? 6.0 Dec 2013 Updated document for 6.0 release. New features include support for VMware 5.5 and performance enhancements. 5.0 Nov 2013 Updated document for 5.06 service release. 5.0 Mar 2013 Updated to use common components. 4.2 Jun 2012 Added support for multi-tenant tracing and copying a template. 4.1 Mar 2012 Polling interval alarms are now cleared with the collection cycle take less time than the configured interval. Target string corrected for DS, Cluster, and Network auto-monitors created from static monitors. Target string corrected to contain topology path for Resource Pools and Networks. Corrected the robot dependencies setting in the VMware probe package; restored missing VM Memory usage metric in the inventory tree. Corrected reported VM Snapshot size. Added support for tracking VMs by instanceuuids for env. with duplicate UUIDs (e.g., Lab Manager & vcloud) 4.0 Oct 2011 Added support for SOC management of hosts; VMCount and VMCountActive monitors now report zero for vsphere targets with zero VMs. Related Documentation Documentation for other versions of the vmware probe The Release Notes for the vmware probe Monitor Metrics Reference Information for CA Nimsoft Probes ( 8 vmware Guide

9 Chapter 2: vmware Probe Deployment Successful distribution of the vmware probe package relies on the Java package installed with the CA Nimsoft Monitor Server. The vmware probe requires a VMware VC/ESX Server environment. This section contains the following topics: Requirements (see page 9) Probe Deployment (see page 10) Requirements This section contains the prerequisites and system requirements for the vmware probe. Prerequisites The vmware probe requires user account access to the following applications: User access to the VMware VC/ESX server. The vmware probe supports targeting the following vsphere environments: VMware VirtualCenter 4.1 update 1, 5.0, 5.1, and 5.5 VMware ESX/ESXi 4.1, 5.0, 5.1, and 5.5 Important! The probe requires targeted vsphere environments to use unique UUIDs. This means that when cloning virtual machines (VMs), each clone must have a distinct UUID in order for proper monitoring to occur. If each VM does not have a unique UUID, incorrect data will be reported for the VMs. For more information see Handling Cloned VM Environments. Hardware Requirements The vmware probe should be installed on systems with the following minimum resources: Memory: 2-4 GB of RAM. The probe as shipped requires 512 MB of RAM. CPU: 3GHz dual-core processor, 32-bit or 64-bit. Chapter 2: vmware Probe Deployment 9

10 Probe Deployment Software Requirements The vmware probe requires the following software environment: Nimsoft Monitor Server 7.0 or later. The 7.0 or later version is required to use the Unified Service Management (USM) portlet, which most customers use. If you do not want to use USM, data collection and dashboards function with Nimsoft Monitor or later. Nimsoft Robot 5.23 or later. Java Virtual Machine 1.6 or later (typically installed with CA Nimsoft Monitor 5.0 and later) Supported Platforms The VMware monitoring probe is supported on the same set of operating systems and databases as the Nimsoft Monitor Server solution. Please refer to the: Nimsoft Compatibility Support Matrix for the latest information on supported platforms. Support Matrix for Nimsoft Probes for additional information on the VMware monitoring probe. Probe Deployment There are three ways to distribute archive packages. You can distribute the package within the web-based Admin Console (for supported probes), from within Infrastructure Manager, or use the standalone Nimsoft Distribution application. 10 vmware Guide

11 Chapter 3: vmware Probe Configuration Important! Service-oriented configuration of the vmware probe through UMP is not compatible with the standard configuration through the probe's configuration interface described here. Do not mix or interchange configuration methods! If you do, the result will be unpredictable monitoring of your VMware hosts and/or VMs. See the VMware section of the Monitor Configuration Reference in UMP help for details on service-oriented configuration. With the vmware probe installed, you must next define what to monitor. At a high level, there are three steps: 1. Connect to the VMware vcenter or ESX server. 2. Add monitors (checkpoints). See the description in the section Adding and Configuring Monitors (Checkpoints). Configure the properties for the checkpoints, in which you define QoS data, set thresholds, and define alarms to be sent if thresholds are breached. Note: Click the Apply button to activate any configuration changes. This section contains the following topics: Probe Configuration Interface Installation (see page 11) Monitoring Capabilities (see page 11) Templates (see page 12) Probe Configuration (see page 12) Probe Configuration Interface Installation The probe configuration interface is automatically downloaded and installed by the Nimsoft Infrastructure Manager when the probe is deployed on a robot. Monitoring Capabilities The following entities may be monitored on hosts and virtual machines: CPU Memory Disk I/O Network I/O Chapter 3: vmware Probe Configuration 11

12 Templates Events Alarms Datastores Datastore Free Space Templates Templates allow you to define reusable sets of monitors to apply to various hosts, VMs, ESX servers, or datastores. After you create a template and define a set of checkpoints for that template, you can either: Drag-and-drop the template into the VMware probe hierarchy where you want to monitor the checkpoints defined for the template. This creates a static monitor for that resource component and its children (recursively) based on the template contents at the time the static monitor is created. Drag-and-drop the template onto the Auto Configuration node to add the template contents to the list of auto configuration monitors. See the section Using Templates for details. Probe Configuration This section contains specific configuration information for the vmware probe. General Setup Click the General Setup button to set the level of details written to the log file for the vmware probe. Log as little as possible during normal operation to minimize disk consumption. This is a sliding scale with the range of information logged being fatal errors all the way to extremely detailed information used for debugging purposes. Click the Apply button to implement the new log level immediately. Note: The probe allows you to change the log level without restarting the probe. Create a New Resource There are two ways to create a Resource: Click the New Resource button on the toolbar. Right click Resources in the navigation pane and select New Resource. 12 vmware Guide

13 Probe Configuration The Resource (New) dialog box appears. Enter the appropriate field information: Hostname or IP Address Port Active The hostname or IP address of the vcenter or ESX server system to monitor. The port number for the vcenter or ESX server REST API environment. Default is 443. Select this checkbox to activate or deactivate monitoring of the Resource. Username A valid username and domain name to be used by the probe to log on to the vcenter or ESX server environment. Example: admin Password A valid password to be used by the probe to log on to the vcenter or ESX server environment. Alarm Message Select the alarm message to be sent if the Resource does not respond. Note: You can edit the message or define a new message using the Message Pool Manager. Check Interval The check interval defines how often the probe checks the values of the monitors. This can be set in seconds, minutes or hours. vcenter or ESX server system data is updated once per minute. We recommend polling once every 10 minutes. The polling interval should not be smaller than the time required to collect the data. Test button Click the Test button to verify the connection to the Resource. After completing the fields and testing that the connection works, click OK to add the Resource. The initial data collection/polling cycle starts. The resource hierarchy will populate once the polling cycle has completed. Message Pool Manager You can add, remove, or modify alarm messages.these are the messages sent when a QoS threshold has been breached. Chapter 3: vmware Probe Configuration 13

14 Probe Configuration Add a New Alarm Message Delete an Alarm Message To add a new alarm message: 1. Click the Message Pool Manager button on the toolbar. The Message Pool dialog appears. 2. Click the Add button. The Message Properties dialog appears. 3. Complete the field information: Identification Name Token The name of the message. The type of alarm, either "monitor_error" or "resource_error". Error Alarm Text The alarm text sent when a violation occurs. Variables can be used in this field. Example: $monitor This variable will put the actual monitor name in the alarm text. There are several available variables: $resource, $host, $port, $descr, $key, $unit, $value, $oper, and $thr. Clear Alarm Text (OK) The text sent when an alarm is cleared. Error Severity Severity of the alarm. Subsystem string/id The NAS subsystem ID for the vcenter or ESX server system. 4. Click OK to save the new message. To delete an alarm message: 1. Click the Message Pool Manager button on the toolbar. The Message Pool dialog appears. 2. Select the message to remove. 14 vmware Guide

15 Probe Configuration Edit an Alarm Message 3. Click the Remove button. The alarm message is removed. 4. Close the Message Pool Manager window and click Apply to implement the changes. To edit an alarm message: 1. Click the Message Pool Manager button on the toolbar. The Message Pool dialog appears. 2. Select a message id in the list. 3. Click the Edit button. The Message Properties dialog appears. 4. Update the message properties as needed. 5. Click OK. 6. Close the Message Pool Manager window and click Apply to implement the changes. Create New Template There are two ways to create a new template: Click the New Template button on the toolbar. Right click the Templates node in the navigation pane and select New Template. See the section Using Templates for more information. Advanced Configuration Multi-tenant Tracing This section describes advanced configuration options for the vmware probe. This feature assumes that a tenant would be isolated under a Cluster or Template and everything under it belongs to the tenant. By including this path in the QoS details, reporting can filter on the path to display these based on tenants. Multi-tenant tracing can be configured using the Raw Configure option for the vmware probe. 1. Hold the shift key, and right click on the vmware probe in Infrastructure Manager. Chapter 3: vmware Probe Configuration 15

16 Probe Configuration 2. Select Raw Configure from the menu. The Raw Configure screen appears. 3. Select setup in the left pane and click the New Key button. 4. Enter multi_tenant_path in the Enter key name: field. 5. Enter one of the following values in the Enter value: field: target For VMs and their children a QoS target component is augmented to list the full path from the containing Data Center down to the VM. If this component resides within a template and pool those will be included in the path. source For VMs and their children a QoS source component is augmented to list the full path from the containing Data Center down to the VM. If this component resides within a template and pool those will be included in the path. both This option enables both the target and source settings listed above. The following examples illustrate the path that would display in your reports: Target Example: If you enabled the Memory metric on a VM: Without this setting the target would simply be Memory. With this setting the target would be of the form <DataCenter Name>/<Cluster Name[/<Optional Template Name>[/<Optional pool name>]]::<vm Name>::Memory DataCenter-1/Cluster-1/desktopTemplate/desktops::VM-1::Memory Source Example: If you enabled the Memory metric on a VM: Without this setting the source would simply be the VMs name. With this setting the source would be of the form <DataCenter Name>/<Cluster Name[/<Optional Template Name>[/<Optional pool name>]]::<vm Name> DataCenter-1/Cluster-1/desktopTemplate/desktops::VM-1 16 vmware Guide

17 Chapter 4: Adding Monitors There are three different ways to add monitors to vmware entities: Manually select the monitors To manually select and enable monitors, navigate to the target entity within the Resource. This lists its monitors in the right pane. Use the available check-boxes to enable QoS monitoring for the selected metrics. To enable Alarm thresholding, you will need to launch the Edit Monitor dialog. See the section Manually Selecting Monitors to be Measured. Use Templates Templates let you define reusable sets of monitors to apply to various vmware monitored entities. See the section Using Templates for further information. Use Auto Configurations Auto Configuration is a powerful way to automatically add monitors to be measured. Monitors are created for new devices (that is, ones not currently monitored) that would otherwise need manual configuration to be monitored. Example: Auto Configuration contains an auto-monitor for VM 'Memory Used'. When a new VM is created the Auto Configuration feature creates a monitor automatically for monitoring the VM. See the section Using Automatic Configurations for further information. This section contains the following topics: Manually Selecting Monitors to be Measured (see page 18) Using Templates (see page 21) Using Automatic Configurations (see page 23) Chapter 4: Adding Monitors 17

18 Manually Selecting Monitors to be Measured Manually Selecting Monitors to be Measured To select a monitor you want to be measured for a Resource, click the Resource node in the navigation pane, and navigate through the Resources hierarchy. Select a folder in the hierarchy to see the monitors for it, listed in the right pane. Click the check box beside the Monitors you want to be active. Typically when you select a Resource component in the navigation pane, you see the current value for its monitors in the Value column of the content pane. However, some monitors for the vmware probe take a while to collect. For these monitors, the current value is not displayed unless the monitor is activated (the check box is selected). Once you select the check box, the value is collected during the next polling cycle, even if QoS and alarming are not enabled. Note: You can also add monitors to be measured using templates (see the section Using Templates). Select the All Monitors node to list all monitors currently being measured in the right pane. You can select or deselect monitors here as well. Green icon - the monitor is configured and active Gray icon - the monitor is configured but not active Black icon - the monitor is not configured Note: If a monitor name is in italics you have changed the configuration however have not applied the changes. Enabling the Monitors for QoS and Alarming Selecting the checkbox next to a monitor name only enables the monitor. To configure the probe to send QoS data and/or send alarms you must modify the properties for each monitor. Double-click a monitor (or right-click and select Edit) to launch the monitor s properties dialog. See To Edit Monitor Properties for further information. To Edit Monitor Properties Double-click a monitor (or right-click and select Edit) to launch the monitor s properties dialog. Note the Type column when monitors are listed in the right pane. Monitors of type value and type event have different properties. 18 vmware Guide

19 Manually Selecting Monitors to be Measured Monitors of Type Value The properties for monitors of type value are as follows: Name Key This is the name of the monitor. The name will be inserted into this field when the monitor is retrieved from the vcenter or ESX server environment. This is a read-only field, describing the monitor key. Description This is a description of the monitor. This description will be inserted into this field when the monitor is retrieved from the vcenter or ESX server environment. Value Definition This drop-down list lets you select which value to be used, both for alarming and QoS: You have the following options: The current value. The most current value measured will be used. The delta value (current previous). The delta value calculated from the current and the previous measured sample will be used. Delta per second. The delta value calculated from the samples measured within a second will be used. The average value of the last and current sample: (current + previous) / 2. The average value last... The user specifies a count. The value is then averaged based on the last "count" items. Active This activates the monitoring of the probe. Enable Alarming Selecting this option activates the alarming. Note that the monitor will also be selected in the list of monitors in the right window pane when this option is selected, and that you can enable or disable monitoring of the checkpoint from that list. This section describes the alarm properties for the monitor. You can define both a high and a low threshold. Initially the high threshold is set to the current value. Set this value to match your needs. The low threshold is initially disabled. If you want to use it, you must select another operator than "disabled" from the list and configure it to match your needs. Chapter 4: Adding Monitors 19

20 Manually Selecting Monitors to be Measured Operator Select from the drop-down list the operator to be used when setting the alarm threshold for the measured value. Example: >= 90 means the monitor is in alarm condition if the measured value is equal to or above 90. = 90 means the monitor is in alarm condition if the measured value is exactly 90. Threshold Unit The alarm threshold value. An alarm message is sent when this threshold is violated. This field specifies the unit of the monitored value (for example %, Mbytes etc.). The field is read-only. Message ID Select the alarm message to be issued if the specified threshold value is breached. These messages reside in the message pool. You can modify the messages in the Message Pool Manager. Publish Quality of Service Select this option if you want QoS messages to be issued on the monitor. QoS Name The unique QoS metric. This is a read-only field. 20 vmware Guide

21 Using Templates Monitors of Type Event and Alarm You can monitor vcenter or ESX server events and alarms on entities, such as clusters, hosts, templates, and VMs. The event is forwarded as an alarm message and the suppression key is based on the entity. The properties for monitors of type event are: Name Key This is the name of the monitor. The name will be inserted into this field when the monitor is retrieved from the vcenter or ESX server, and you are allowed to modify the name. This is a read-only field, describing the monitor key. Description This is a description of the monitor. This description will be inserted into this field when the monitor is retrieved from the vcenter or ESX server. This is a read-only field. Subscribe Selecting this option, an alarm will be sent when this event has been triggered. Operator Select the operator to be used when setting the alarm threshold for the event. This threshold refers to the event s severity level in vcenter or ESX server. Example: >= 1 means alarm condition if the event is triggered, and the severity level in vcenter or ESX server is equal to or higher than 1 (Warning). Severity The threshold severity level for the event in vcenter or ESX server. Message Token Select the alarm message to be issued if the specified threshold value is breached. These messages are kept in the message pool. The messages can be modified in the Message Pool Manager. Important! Monitoring events may cause a larger than expected increase in alarm messages and possibly decrease in system performance. Using Templates Templates let you define reusable sets of monitors to be measured on multiple VMs. They provide an easy way to accomplish consistent monitoring of your vcenter or ESX server environment. Chapter 4: Adding Monitors 21

22 Using Templates You can create your own templates and define a set of monitors belonging to each. You can then apply these templates to anything in the Resources or Auto Configurations hierarchies in the navigation pane by dragging the template and dropping it on the appropriate item. This assigns the template monitors to the drop point and everything below it. If you apply a template to the Auto Configuration, its monitors are applied to all vcenter or ESX server monitored entities as they appear in the system. If you need a finer level of control, you can apply a template to anything in the Resources hierarchy; in this case the monitors are applied to the drop-point and everything subordinate to it. Any templates applied within the Resources hierarchy are static monitors. The static monitors override any auto monitors for that specific resource entity. Note: You can do both, placing general-purpose templates in Auto Configuration, and applying special-purpose templates that override the Auto Configuration templates on specific nodes, for specific purposes. See the Using Automatic Configurations section for details on Auto Configuration. To Create a New Template There are two ways to create a template: Click the toolbar button for New Template ( ). Right click the Templates node in the navigation pane, and choose New Template from the menu. In the resulting Template Properties dialog, specify a Name and a Description for the new template. Note that you can also edit an existing template: Select one of the templates defined under the Templates node in the navigation pane, right-click it, and select Edit from the menu. To Add Monitors to a Template There are two ways to add a monitor to a template: Drag it from the content pane and drop it on the template in the navigation pane. Right-click on a monitor in the content pane and select Add to Template. You can edit the properties for monitors in the template as described in the section To Edit Monitor Properties (see page 18). 22 vmware Guide

23 Using Automatic Configurations To Apply a Template Drag the template to the Auto Configuration node or the Resource (VMs, template, pool, or Datastore) where you want it applied, and drop it there. Note: You can drop the template on an object containing multiple subordinate objects. This applies the template to the entity and all its subordinate entities. A static monitor is created for this entity. Using Automatic Configurations Automatic configuration is an optional but powerful way to automatically add monitors to be measured. This is the preferred method for configuring your resources. When new vcenter or ESX server monitored entities are detected, "Auto Monitors" are created for devices that are not currently monitored using a static monitor. In the case of VMs, only VMs in the power on state are monitored using auto-monitors. If the VM is in another state it is ignored. The Auto Configuration feature consists of two sub-nodes located under the Resource node in the navigation pane: Auto Configurations node You can add contents from one or more templates or individual checkpoints to this node, using drag-and-drop. Click the Apply button and restart the probe to activate the changes. The probe then searches through the vcenter or ESX server environment for applicable entities. Auto Monitors representing the monitor(s) under the Auto Configuration node are created (and listed under the Auto Monitor node, see below) for applicable entities where the metric does not already have a static monitor configured for it. Important! If you are experiencing performance problems, we recommend increasing the polling cycle and/or the memory configuration for the probe. Increase memory when the probe is running out of memory. Increase polling cycle when the collection takes longer than the configured interval. Auto Monitors node This node lists Auto Monitors, created based on the contents added to the Auto Configuration node. Auto Monitors are only created for content without an existing static monitor. Chapter 4: Adding Monitors 23

24 Using Automatic Configurations Adding a Template to the Auto Configurations Node You can add a template's content to the Auto Configurations as follows: 1. Click the Templates node in the navigation pane to list all available templates in the content pane. 2. Add a template to the Auto Configurations node by dragging the template from the list and dropping it on the Auto Configurations node in the navigation pane. 3. Click the Auto Configurations node to verify that the template's content was successfully added. See the Using Templates section to learn more about templates. Note: You must click the Apply button and restart the probe to activate configuration changes. Adding a Monitor to the Auto Configurations Node You can add a single monitor (checkpoint) to the Auto Configurations node. To list available monitors: 1. Select the Resource node in the navigation pane and navigate to the point of interest. 2. Select an object to list its monitors in the right pane. 3. Add the monitor to the Auto Configurations node by dragging the monitor to the Auto Configurations node and dropping it there. 4. Click the Auto Configurations node and verify that the monitor was successfully added. Note: You must click the Apply button and restart the probe to activate configuration changes. 24 vmware Guide

25 Using Automatic Configurations Exploring the Contents of the Auto Configurations Node To verify that the monitors were successfully added, click the Auto Configurations node in the navigation pane. To edit the properties for a monitor, right-click in the list and choose Edit from the menu. See the section To Edit Monitor Properties for detailed information. To delete a monitor from the list, right-click in the list and choose Delete from the menu. Note: You must click the Apply button and restart the probe to activate configuration changes. Checking the Auto Monitors Node Note: When monitors have been added to the Auto Configurations node, you must click the Apply button and restart the probe to activate the Auto Configuration feature. When you restart the probe, it searches through the Resource's entities. For each one that is currently not monitored, an Auto Monitor is created for each of the monitors listed under the Auto Configurations node. All defined Auto Monitors are listed under the Auto Monitors node. Chapter 4: Adding Monitors 25

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27 Chapter 5: Probe Configuration Interface This section contains the basic GUI information for the vmware probe. Double-click the line representing the vmware probe in the Infrastructure Manager to launch the vmware probe configuration interface. It initially appears with the Resources hierarchy empty. This section contains the following topics: Configuration Interface Navigation (see page 27) The Toolbar Buttons (see page 27) The Navigation (Left) Pane (see page 28) The Content (Right) Pane (see page 29) Configuration Interface Navigation The window consists of a row of tool buttons above a window split into two parts: The Navigation pane The Content pane In addition, a status bar at the bottom of the window shows version information, and when the probe was last started. The Toolbar Buttons The configuration interface contains a row of toolbar buttons: The General Setup button allows you to configure the log level for the probe. The New Resource button allows you to add a new resource. The Message Pool Manager button allows you to add, remove or edit alarm messages. The Create New Template button allows you to create a new template. Chapter 5: Probe Configuration Interface 27

28 The Navigation (Left) Pane The Navigation (Left) Pane The pane on the left is the navigation pane. It displays the monitored Resources and any Templates you have created. Resources Node You can create a new Resource by clicking the New Resource button, or by right-clicking the Resources node and selecting New Resource. The Resource is configured as a link to the vcenter or ESX server environment. The icon for each Resource node indicates the status of the resource: Inactive Marked for deletion Unable to connect New (not yet saved) Connected and inventory is ready to browse Loading inventory and not ready to browse Each Resource node contains the following sub-hierarchies: Auto Configurations The monitors under this node are used to automatically configure newly discovered devices. Drag-and-drop individual monitors or templates (which define a set of monitors) onto this node. Auto Monitors Lists the monitors that were created based on the Auto-Configuration entries and the inventory available on the Resource. All Monitors Lists all monitors for the Resource, including Auto Monitors and manually configured monitors. The vmware hierarchy Lists the VMs, vcenters, ESX servers, and data stores available in the VMware environment for monitoring. 28 vmware Guide

29 The Content (Right) Pane Templates Node Templates allow you to define reusable sets of monitors for the vcenter or ESX server resources. This node contains the following default templates: VM and Host Template UMP Metrics More information: Using Templates (see page 21) Navigation Pane Updates A right-click with the mouse pointer in the navigation pane over the hostname or IP address node opens a pop-up menu with menu items for managing the selected object or creating new objects of its type. Options typically include: New, Edit, Delete, Deactivate, and Refresh. Note: When available, the Refresh menu item retrieves updated values and refreshes the display. The Content (Right) Pane The content of the right pane depends on the selection in the navigation pane. If you select a Resource node in the navigation pane, the content pane lists the vcenter or ESX server environments. If you select a VM, vcenter, ESX server, or Datastore in the navigation pane, the content pane lists the available monitors. Active Monitors are check-marked. The following icons can appear there: Indicates that the monitor is active but not enabled to send alarms. The Enable Monitoring checkbox was not selected for this monitor. Black: Indicates that the monitor is NOT activated. The Action option is not set in the properties dialog for the monitor. Green: Indicates that the monitor is activated for monitoring and, if an alarm threshold is set, the threshold value defined in the properties dialog for the monitor is not exceeded. Gray: Indicates that the monitor is an inactive static monitor. Chapter 5: Probe Configuration Interface 29

30 The Content (Right) Pane Other colors: Indicates that the monitor is activated for monitoring and the threshold value defined in the properties dialog for the monitor is exceeded. The color reflects the message token selected in the properties dialog for the monitor. This icon represents a monitor where no value has been measured. Note: Any monitor name in italics indicates that the monitor has been modified and you must apply the changes before the monitor results are updated. Content Pane Updates A right-click with the mouse pointer on objects in the content pane opens a pop-up menu with menu items for managing the selected object type (Edit, Delete, and Add to Template). Note: When available, the Refresh menu item fetches updated values and refreshes the display. 30 vmware Guide

31 Chapter 6: Best Practices Note: The best practices in this section apply only to users of the CA Nimsoft Monitor Infrastructure Manager interface for configuring the vmware probe. The Release Notes for the vmware probe contain additional best practices that apply to users of any configuration interface. This section contains the following topics: Support for Instance UUIDs (see page 31) Prepending Origin to the QoS Source Field (see page 32) Support for Instance UUIDs For vcenter environments where VMs are completely cloned, including the VM's UUID, the probe now supports tracking the VMs via the vcenters instanceuuid. This duplicate UUID behavior typically manifests itself within vcenter setups that are being utilized by Lab Manager or vcloud. As for the VMware probe, you may see one or more of the following: VMs missing from the inventory, and/or Missing/incorrect data reported on VM attributes (e.g., a powered off VM is reported as powered on). An alarm notifying that a duplicate UUID has been detected To configure the probe to use the instanceuuid, do the following: 1. Update the probe to v5.01 or newer 2. Launch the Raw Configure tool for the probe 3. Navigate to the 'setup' section 4. Change the 'use_instance_uuid' setting to 'yes' IMPORTANT: The Raw Configure tool is similar to the Windows registry editor and has no error checking. Take care that any changes you make are valid before you continue. 5. Apply the configuration changes. Note: the instanceuuid setting applies to all resources monitored by a probe. Chapter 6: Best Practices 31

32 Prepending Origin to the QoS Source Field Prepending Origin to the QoS Source Field For multi-tenant environments where there are overlaps in the Virtual System inventory (both vcenter A & B have VMs details in common), prepend the origin to the QoS Source field. This changes the QoS identifying information from <QOS_ID> <Source> <Message> to: <QOS_ID> <Origin>::<Source> <Message> This way, the QoS data from each VMware monitoring probe running on a tenant-dedicated robot is identified using the source field. To enable this functionality, do the following: 1. Ensure the probe is running on a robot with a dedicated origin setting. 2. Launch the 'Raw Configure...' tool for the VMware probe. 3. Navigate to the 'setup' section 4. Change the 'multi_tenant_source' setting from 'no' to 'yes' IMPORTANT: The Raw Configure tool is similar to the Windows registry editor and has no error checking. Take care that any changes you make are valid before you continue. 5. Apply the changes 32 vmware Guide

33 Chapter 7: Known Issues and Workarounds Note: The issues in this section apply only to users of the CA Nimsoft Monitor Infrastructure Manager interface for configuring the vmware probe. The Release Notes for the vmware probe contain additional known issues that apply to users of any configuration interface. This section contains the following topics: No Value is Listed for a Monitor (see page 33) Out of Memory Errors (see page 34) Error When Closing the Configuration GUI (see page 35) UI Fails to Load Auto/All Monitors Nodes (see page 35) UI Slowly Loads Nodes Within the Inventory Tree (see page 36) No Value is Listed for a Monitor Symptom: When I click on a Resource component in the navigation pane, some monitors have no value listed in the Value column in the content pane. Solution: This is expected behavior. Some monitors for the vmware probe take a while to collect. For these monitors, the current value is not displayed unless the monitor is activated (the check box is selected). To see the current value for a monitor, select the check box. The value is collected during the next polling cycle, even if QoS and alarming are not enabled. Chapter 7: Known Issues and Workarounds 33

34 Out of Memory Errors Out of Memory Errors Symptom: Out of memory or garbage collection errors in the log file. Solution: If you have more than several thousand monitors (or entities) in the VMware probe, you may need to increase the heap space for the probe. Heap space is allocated during probe startup. By default the heap space for the VMware probe is 256 MB. You can increase the heap space setting for the VMware probe in the Raw Configure window for the probe. Follow these steps: 1. Shift + right-click on the VMware probe in Infrastructure Manager. 2. Choose Raw Configure from the menu. 3. Click startup in the left pane. 4. Select the options key and open it for editing. 5. Enter a value similar to the following: -Xms256m Xmx<nnnn>m where <nnnn> is heap space up to 2048 MB or greater. For example, to increase the heap space to 1024 MB, enter the following: -Xms256m Xmx1024m Ensure the machine where the CA Nimsoft robot and probe are deployed has enough RAM. 6. Click OK and Apply. 34 vmware Guide

35 Error When Closing the Configuration GUI Error When Closing the Configuration GUI Symptom: I get a Windows error dialog when I attempt to close the configuration GUI. Solution: If the configuration GUI has been open for an extended period of time, the probe will not automatically release its lock on the configuration file (if configuration file locking is enabled). This will only occur if the GUI is left open for periods longer than controller-configured session expiration time and the 'Cancel' button or 'X' button are used to close the GUI. The error is harmless and can safely be ignored. UI Fails to Load Auto/All Monitors Nodes Symptom: In environments with many active monitors, the UI may fail to load the list of monitors into either the Auto Monitors or All Monitors nodes. The issue begins occurring when the monitor count is greater than 40,000 and the UI begins to exhaust memory. Solution: There are no workarounds for this problem. Avoid accessing these node in such environments. If you need to see and manage a particular set of monitors you can temporarily disable other static and auto-monitors to reduce the monitor count, and then work from there. Chapter 7: Known Issues and Workarounds 35

36 UI Slowly Loads Nodes Within the Inventory Tree UI Slowly Loads Nodes Within the Inventory Tree Note: This topic applies to users accessing the VMware monitoring configuration GUI using CA Nimsoft Monitor Infrastructure Manager. It does not apply to Admin Console or Snap users. Symptom: In environments with a large inventory, the UI may take several minutes to load content within the Inventory Tree. For example, for a vcenter with 10,000 VMs loading the VMs will take several minutes. Solution: Where possible, avoid navigating to such nodes. In the example of the VMs node, try finding the VMs under the hosting HyperVisor as opposed to relying on the VMs node. 36 vmware Guide

37 Chapter 8: Error Messages If any of the values you enter when you define a Resource are wrong, you get an error message. This can happen when you click the Test button, or click Apply, then click OK. By default, the probe only logs fatal errors, which also appear in a separate dialog when you use the Test button. You can increase the level of logging from the General tab of the General Setup ( ) dialog in the probe configuration interface. This section contains the following topics: Error Message Examples (see page 37) Error Message Examples apr 20 09:50:31:891 [Thread-24] vmware: Connection problem:login failed due to a bad username or password. Explanation: The user name or password is wrong. apr 20 09:54:53:183 [Thread-10] vmware: Connection problem:(1500), Not able to get certificate, reason: java.net.connectexception: Connection refused. Explanation: The probe does not find a valid certificate behind the host or port specified. Probably the combination host or port is wrong. apr 20 09:55:02:826 [Thread-10] vmware: Connection problem:java.net.connectexception: Connection refused: connect. Explanation: The host or port specified does not exist (is not open). jun 25 11:34:57:194 [Thread-1] vmware: (1500) Connection problem, reason: com.sun.org.apache.xerces.internal.impl.io.malformedbytesequenceexception: Invalid byte 1 of 1-byte UTF-8 sequence Explanation: This error message occurs after a restart of the vcenter server if native characters (like Norwegian æ, ø and å) are used in a name (folder name, Resource pool name, VM name, host name, etc. ) in the vcenter. After a vcenter server restart, the native characters will be shown as unprintable characters ( ) in the vcenter GUI. Please remove the native character(s). Chapter 8: Error Messages 37