Setting Up Monitoring for VMware

Last updated on 2024-08-29 14:06:19

The VMware service module includes three policies that you can set up to monitor VMware hosts:

VMware ESXi Host Policy for Service Module (Default)

This is the default policy for the VMware service module. This policy has automatic application rules pre-configured to automatically monitor any device in which the OS name starts with VMware ESXi 5.5, VMware ESXi 5.1, or VMkernel.

VMWare ESXi Host Policy for Service Module (Optional 1)

This is a copy of the default VMware ESXi Host Policy for Service Module. You can modify the monitor and alert configurations in this policy to monitor hosts for which you have unique monitoring requirements.

VMWare ESXi Host Policy for Service Module (Optional 2)

This is a second copy of the default VMWare ESXi Host Policy for Service Module, which you can also modify by setting lower thresholds for monitoring and alerting.

It is recommended that you use the default policy to monitor host machines with typical monitoring requirements. The optional policy should be used when monitoring for a single host or a group of hosts falls outside the monitoring and alerting thresholds that are provided with the default VMware policy.

For example, you can change the alerting thresholds to one of the optional policy, then apply the policy to hosts that require a different alert threshold for memory or CPU usage. The optional policy are also useful if you have a group of hosts connected to a specific external storage array in which you want to monitor the total disk latency so that you are alerted to poor performance.

Understanding VMWare Monitors

The VMware policy contains four VMware monitor types.

These four monitor types are only available for the VMware ESXi service module policies. They are not available when adding monitors to other policies in Barracuda RMM.

VMware Events

This monitor type pulls events logged on a VMware ESXi host with a severity level of Warning, Error, or Critical.

VMware Guest Performance

Performance counters related to the virtual guest.

These performance counters are pulled from the host directly and do not necessarily match performance metrics pulled directly from the virtual guest operating system.
You cannot alert on guest performance data.

VMware Inventory Collection

Used to pull hardware/software inventory objects from both the virtual guests and the host.

VMware Performance

Pulls performance counters relating to the host.

Windows and VMware performance monitors are collected using different methods. VMware allows historical data collection, whereas Windows does not. In rare cases, alerts may generate on the initial application of the service module, resulting in what appears to be the alert not following its set configuration because it was generated based on historical data.

Viewing and Changing the Alert Thresholds on a Policy

In Service Center, click Configuration > Service Modules.
From the list of service modules, select VMware.
Click the name of a VMware policy.
Click the Monitors tab.
Click the name of a monitor.
Click the Alerts tab.
Do any of the following:
- To view or modify an existing alert configuration, click the name of the alert configuration.
- To add an alert configuration, click Add Alert Configuration.

Applying the VMware Policies

To begin monitoring with the VMware ESXi service module, you must either add the policies to a policy set, or manually apply it to a site, group, or device.

The two optional policies have automatic application rules applied by default that prevent these policies from monitoring; the default rules state that a VMware host operating system must start with VMware ESXi 5.5, VMkernel, and VMware ESXi 5.1. If you plan to use one of these policies in a policy set, you must remove two of these rules for automatic monitoring to function.

in Service Center, click Configuration > Service Modules.
From the list of service modules, select VMware.
To select a service to associate with the policy in the VMware service module, do the following:
- In the Service Membership area, click Add.
- Select the checkbox beside the name of the service you want to associate with this service module.
- Click Add.
  After adding the service, you can click the service name to view and modify the sites, groups, and devices within its scope.
To manually apply monitoring, do any of the following:
- To apply the policy to a group, click a policy name. Click the Manual Application tab, and then under Applied Groups, click Add. Filter on the Group Type, if desired. Select the group and click Add.
- To apply the policy to a device, click a policy name. Click the Manual Application tab, and then under Applied Devices, click Add. Filter the list of devices. Select the device and click Add.

When applying the policy , you must ensure that the devices to which it is applied, whether through services, groups, or manually added devices, are valid host devices. If the policy is applied to non-host devices, then some of the monitors collect data for these devices and present it in the service module dashboards. For example, memory available, memory page faults, etc.