VMWare vCenter Monitoring

VMWare vCenter is the centralized management platform for vSphere environments, providing a single point of control to monitor the availability and performance of virtualized environments in both cloud and on-prem environments.

Monitoring VMWare vCenter servers helps ensure availability, maintain performance, and optimize resource utilization. Effective monitoring allows administrators to proactively identify and address potential issues before they impact end-users, such as hardware failures, network bottlenecks, or storage constraints.

Prerequisites

Before configuring a vCenter server for monitoring in IT-Conductor, follow the instructions below.

Account Requirements

1. Create a new vCenter server monitoring account.

2. Grant the user with at least a Read-Only role.

Note: Perform these steps on the vCenter server to be monitored.

Configure vCenter Server Monitoring in IT-Conductor

To configure vCenter server monitoring in IT-Conductor, follow the instructions below.

Add New vCenter Server

1. Visit service.itconductor.com and enter your login credentials.

2. Navigate to Dashboards → Administrator to access the Administrator's Dashboard.

3. Locate the VMware vCenter Servers actions panel and click the title to access the complete list.

Figure 1: VMWare vCenter Servers Actions Panel in Administrator's Dashboard

4. Click to start adding a new server instance for monitoring.

Figure 2: VMWare vCenter Servers Actions Panel Page

5. Fill out all the necessary information in the New vCenter Instance wizard. Once completed, click to add the server instance.

Figure 3a: New vCenter Instance Wizard (New vCenter Server Screen)

• Description - refers to any relevant information about the server instance being added.

• Organization - refers to an administrative structure that defines objects with a common goal or purpose. If you previously created an organization, please select it.

• Role - refers to the environment where the server instance will be used.

• Site - refers to a logical object that describes a particular area or location, depending on the context in which it is used.

• Gateway - allows communication between the customer's site network and the IT-Conductor cloud platform. See Gateway Setup for more details.

• Scheme - refers to the communication protocol used to connect to the vCenter server.

• Host - refers to the hostname or IP address where the vCenter server is deployed.

• Connect Timeout - refers to the maximum time that IT-Conductor will wait while attempting to connect to the vCenter server.

• Enforce Certificate - refers to a security setting that requires IT-Conductor to verify the SSL certificate of the vCenter server.

6. Provide the account information in the New Account screen and click to complete the configuration.

Figure 3b: New vCenter Instance Wizard (New Account Screen)

• Description - refers to any relevant information about the user account being added.

• Application - refers to the name given to the server instance being added.

• Person - refers to the name of the user who is adding the server instance.

• User Name - refers to the user created aligned with the Account Requirements.

• Password - refers to the password of the previously created user.

• Re-type Password - refers to the same password provided in the Password field.

7. Verify if the server was added to the VMware vCenter Servers actions panel and check its status.

Note: The status will remain on Ready for a few minutes. Refresh the panel if needed. If there are configuration issues, such as incorrect connection parameters or an invalid account, the status will remain Ready. Click to display the logs and troubleshoot. If everything is configured correctly, the status will change to In Progress.

8. Navigate to the service grid and verify if the server was added under the vCenter Servers node.

Note: The server will appear in the service grid within 5-15 minutes.

Monitor vCenter Server in IT-Conductor

To view the availability and performance metrics of a vCenter server and its hosts, locate the vCenter Servers node in the service grid.

Figure 4: vCenter Servers Node View in Service Grid

vCenter Server Key Metrics

• Availability - refers to the operational state and accessibility of the server instance.

• Connection Failures - refer to the events where attempts to establish a connection are unsuccessful.

• Heartbeat - refers to the periodic signal sent to the server, enabling real-time detection of server downtime.

• Missing Account - refers to the absence of a required user account or resource within the server instance.

• Retriever Failures - refer to the errors or issues encountered during the retrieval process of essential data or information within the server instance.

• Monitoring Failures - refers to the lapses or malfunctions in surveilling the server's health, performance, and operational metrics.

VM Hosts Key Metrics

• Power State - refers to the operational status of the virtual machine (VM) host.

• Guest State - refers to the status of the operating system running inside the VM host.

Note: All metrics will not show data when a server or a host is unavailable.

To access a historical view of each of these metrics, click and a pop-up chart will be displayed.

Figure 5: Guest State & Power State Monitoring Charts in Service Grid

Datastores

Datastores are storage containers that provide the underlying storage infrastructure for VM hosts.

To see more information about a specific datastore, click . To access the historical view of its storage utilization, click .

Figure 6: Datastore Properties & Space Used Chart in Service Grid