Configuring VMWare, Version 5.2

This section describes the required configurations as well as the optional configurations available for the Solution Package for VMWare in the RTView Configuration Application. You must define the classpath to the vSphere Java API file and you must also define data source connections for each vCenter server that you want to monitor. 

Configuring Data Collection

Use the RTView Configuration Application to configure your data collection:

  • Navigate to Solution Package Configuration > VMWare > CONNECTIONS tab.

  • On the CONNECTIONS tab, enter the full path to the directory containing the vSphere Java API in the Classpath field. Enter the path to reflect the location of this jar on your host. If necessary, download and install the jar from https://developercenter.vmware.com/web/sdk/55/vsphere-management. Version 5.5 of the vSphere management SDK is recommended, but the monitor should function with later versions.
  • To add connections to your vCenter servers, click the  icon.

The Add Connection dialog displays.

Specify the connection information and click SAVE where:

Connection Name: The name of the connection. The Connection Name specifies the name you want to define for the vCenter Server or Direct EXSi Host that will be used in the VMware displays.

Connect Method: Select either vCenter Server or Direct EXSi Host as the connect method.

URL: Enter the complete URL for the vCenter Server or Direct EXSi Host. A comma-separated list of URLs is used to designate fault tolerant server pairs.

Username: The username is used when creating the connection to the vCenter Server or Direct EXSi Host. This field is optional.

Password: This password is used when creating the connection to the vCenter Server or Direct EXSi Host. This field is optional. By default, the password entered is hidden. Click the  icon to view the password text.

Repeat the last two steps for any additional vCenter servers or EXSi hosts to which you want to connect.

  • You can optionally modify the Poll Rates (query interval, in seconds) that will be used to collect the metric data for various general and disk usage caches in Solution Package Configuration > VMWare > DATA COLLECTION > Poll Rates.

General Caches

Update the polling rate for the General field to modify the default polling rate for the VmwHostRuntimeStatus, VmwVirtualMachines, VmwVmRuntimeStatus, VmwVmDiskUsage, VmwHostSystems, VmwHostSystemHealthInfo, VmwDatastoreHosts, VmwHostPhysicalNIC, VmwHostVirtualNIC, VmwDatastoreVMs, VmwDatastoreRuntimeStatus, VmwNetworkRuntimeStatus, VmwClusterComputeResources, VmwEvents, and VmwAlarms caches

Disk Usage Caches

Update the polling rate for the Disk Usage field to modify the default polling rate for the VmwVmDiskUsage cache

Configuring Historical Data Collection (Optional)

You can specify the number of history rows to store in memory, the compaction rules, the duration before metrics are expired and deleted, and the different types of metrics that you want the Historian to store in the DATA STORAGE tab in the RTView Configuration Application.

Defining the Storage of VMWare In Memory History

You can modify the maximum number of history rows to store in memory in the DATA STORAGE tab. The History Rows property defines the maximum number of rows to store for the VmwVirtualMachines, VmwHostSystems, VmwVmDiskUsage, and VmwDatastoreRuntimeStatus caches. The default settings for History Rows is 50,000. To update the default settings:

  • Navigate to the Solution Package Configuration > VMWare > DATA STORAGE tab.
  • In the Size region, click the History Rows field and specify the desired number of rows.

Defining Compaction Rules for VMWare

Data compaction, essentially, is taking large quantities of data and condensing it using a defined rule so that you store a reasonably sized sample of data instead of all of your data, thus preventing you from potentially overloading your database. The available fields are:

Condense Interval -- The time interval at which the cache history is condensed for the following caches: VmwVirtualMachines, VmwHostSystems, VmwVmDiskUsage, and VmwDatastoreRuntimeStatus. The default is 60 seconds.

Condense Raw Time -- The time span of raw data kept in the cache history table for the following caches: VmwVirtualMachines, VmwHostSystems, VmwVmDiskUsage, and VmwDatastoreRuntimeStatus. The default is 1200 seconds.

Compaction Rules -- This field defines the rules used to condense your historical data in the database for the following caches: VmwVirtualMachines, VmwHostSystems, VmwVmDiskUsage, and VmwDatastoreRuntimeStatus. By default, the columns kept in history will be aggregated by averaging rows with the following rule 1h -;1d 5m;2w 15m, which means the data from 1 hour will not be aggregated (1h - rule), the data over a period of 1 day will be aggregated every 5 minutes (1d 5m rule), and the data over a period of 2 weeks old will be aggregated every 15 minutes (2w 15m rule).

  • Navigate to the Solution Package Configuration > VMWare > DATA STORAGE tab.
  • In the Compaction region, click the Condense Interval, Condense Raw Time, and Compaction Rules fields and specify the desired settings.

Note: When you click in the Compaction Rules field, the Copy default text to clipboard link appears, which allows you copy the default text (that appears in the field) and paste it into the field. This allows you to easily edit the string rather than creating the string from scratch.

Defining Expiration and Deletion Duration for VMWare Metrics

The data for each metric is stored in a specific cache and, when the data is not updated in a certain period of time, that data will either be marked as expired or, if it has not been updated for an extended period of time, it will be deleted from the cache altogether. By default, metric data will be set to expired when the data in the cache has not been updated within 45 seconds. By default, expiration time is set to 120 seconds for caches impacted by the Expire Time field (VmwVirtualMachines, VmwHostSystems, VmwHostRuntimeStatus, VmwVmRuntimeStatus, VmwHostPhysicalNIC, and VmwHostVirtualNIC). The default expiration time is set to 700 seconds for caches impacted by the Expire Time Long field (VmwVmDiskUsage, VmwDatastoreRuntimeStatus, VmwDatastoreHosts, VmwDatastoreVMs, VmwHostSystemHealthInfo, VmwNetworkRuntimeStatus, VmwClusterComputeResources, and VmwAlarms). The default expiration time for the cache impacted by the Expire Time for Events field (VmwEvents) is 86,400 seconds. Also, by default, if the data has not been updated for the caches impacted by the Expire Time and Expire Time Long fields within 3600 seconds, it will be removed from the cache. The caches impacted by the Delete Time field are: VmwVirtualMachines, VmwHostSystems, VmwHostRuntimeStatus, VmwVmRuntimeStatus, VmwVmDiskUsage, VmwDatastoreRuntimeStatus, VmwDatastoreHosts, VmwDatastoreVMs, VmwHostSystemHealthInfo, VmwNetworkRuntimeStatus, VmwHostPhysicalNIC, VmwHostVirtualNIC, VmwEvents, and VmwClusterComputeResources. To modify these defaults:

  • Navigate to the Solution Package Configuration > VMWare > DATA STORAGE tab.
  • In the Duration region, click the Expire Time, Expire Time Long, Expire Time for Events, and Delete Time fields and specify the desired settings.

Enabling/Disabling Storage of VMWare Historical Data

The History Storage section allows you to select which metrics you want the Historian to store in the history database. By default, historical VMWare Data Stores and Data Usage data is not saved to the database. All other metrics are saved by default. To enable/disable the collection of historical data, perform the following steps:

  • Navigate to the Solution Package Configuration > VMWare > DATA STORAGE tab.
  • In the History Storage region, select the toggles for the various metrics that you want to collect. Blue is enabled, gray is disabled.

Defining a Prefix for All History Table Names for VMWare Metrics

The History Table Name Prefix field allows you to define a prefix that will be added to the database table names so that the Monitor can differentiate history data between data servers when you have multiple data servers with corresponding Historians using the same solution package(s) and database. In this case, each Historian needs to save to a different table, otherwise the corresponding data server will load metrics from both Historians on startup. Once you have defined the History Table Name Prefix, you will need to create the corresponding tables in your database as follows:

  • Locate the .sql template for your database under rtvapm/vmwmon/dbconfig and make a copy of template.
  • Add the value you entered for the History Table Name Prefix to the beginning of all table names in the copied .sql template.
  • Use the copied .sql template to create the tables in your database.

Note: If you are using Oracle for your Historian Database, you must limit the History Table Name Prefix to 2 characters because Oracle does not allow table names greater than 30 characters (and the longest table name for the solution package is 28 characters).

To add the prefix:

  • Navigate to the Solution Package Configuration > VMWare > DATA STORAGE tab.
  • Click on the History Table Name Prefix field and enter the desired prefix name.