Add a VMware Data Collector policy
To improve performance, if you configure the vCenter 5-minute summaries for level 3 or higher, the Data Collector will use this configuration to reduce the load on the Portal during data collection. In vCenter, go to . Edit the 5-minute statistics interval and set the statistics to level 3. Note that when using level 3, some per-instance data (such as CPU core) may be missed or incomplete.
Before adding the policy: A Data Collector must exist in the Portal, to which you will add Data Collector Policies.
For specific prerequisites and supported configurations for a specific vendor, see the Certified Configurations Guide.
After adding the policy: For some policies, collections can be run on-demand using the button on the page action bar. The button is only displayed if the policy vendor is supported.
On-demand collection allows you to select which probes and devices to run collection against. This action collects data the same as a scheduled run, plus logging information for troubleshooting purposes. For probe descriptions, refer to the policy.
To add the policy
- Select Admin > Data Collection > Collector Administration. Currently configured Portal Data Collectors are displayed.
- Search for a Collector if required.
- Select a Data Collector from the list.
- Click Add Policy, and then select the vendor-specific entry in the menu.
- Configure the VMware Data Collector policy.
Table: VMware Data Collector Policy
Field | Description |
|---|---|
Collector Domain | The domain of the collector to which the collector backup policy is being added. This is a read-only field. By default, the domain for a new policy will be the same as the domain for the collector. This field is set when you add a collector. |
Policy Domain | The Policy Domain is the domain of the policy that is being configured for the Data Collector. The Policy Domain must be set to the same value as the Collector Domain. The domain identifies the top level of your host group hierarchy. All newly discovered hosts are added to the root host group associated with the Policy Domain. Typically, only one Policy Domain will be available in the drop-down list. If you are a Managed Services Provider, each of your customers will have a unique domain with its own host group hierarchy. To find your Domain name, click your login name and select from the menu. Your Domain name is displayed in your profile settings. |
ESX/Virtual Center Server* | One or more IP addresses or host names to probe. Comma-separated addresses or IP ranges are supported. If the server requires an SSL certificate, refer to Adding a Certificate to the Java Keystore for instructions. Sample value: 192.168.0.1-250, 192.167.1.10, myhost |
User ID* | The view-only VMware user ID that has a role with the following privileges: and . |
Password* | The password associated with the User ID. |
ESX Servers to Exclude | Enter one or more ESX server names or IP addresses. Comma-separated names/addresses or IP ranges are supported. |
Optimization Level | Select an optimization level for your VMWare data collection. Choose from default, aggressive, or none. Each selection impacts runtime differently. Effects will be most noticeable when running the Datastores collection. |
Inventory | By default, this probe collects data from VMware using the defined schedule. VMware tags and custom attributes are collected as part of this probe. Tags are only available when collecting from vCenter and not directly from an ESX server. Custom attributes are available from both vCenter and directly from ESX server. For performance reasons, this collection only gathers information on files currently in use by VMs collected by this probe. This includes VM disk files, suspended state, etc. Due to limitations in the data returned from VMware, this probe may miss certain files, such as ISO files that are attached to virtual DVD drives. To capture all datastore file information including the files associated with VMs in the inventory, select the check box: . If the Datastore Scan probe is not regularly run, the Datastore Usage Breakdown report is likely to have a large Unknown category. For additional information, See Datastore scan collection. and See Reports impacted by Datastore Collection. Click the clock icon to create a schedule. Every Minute, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, and Monthly schedules may be created. Advanced use of native CRON strings is also available. Note: Explicit schedules set for a Collector policy are relative to the time on the Collector server. Schedules with frequencies are relative to the time that the Data Collector was restarted. |
Datastore Scan | Select to perform a complete scan and capture all datastore file information. This probe may take several hours to complete and should be configured to run when VMWare is less active (for example on weekends). This probe will find files that are not discoverable using the Inventory probe but are consuming space on the datastore. After this probe has run the Datastore Usage Breakdown report will normally only have a small Unknown category, however, there usually will be some Unknowndata, representing file system overhead and internal VMWare disk structures that are not reported as files. Only enable this probe when actively looking for files that may be wasting space in the datastores. For additional information, See Datastore scan collection. Click the clock icon to create a schedule. Every Minute, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, and Monthly schedules may be created. Advanced use of native CRON strings is also available. Note: Explicit schedules set for a Collector policy are relative to the time on the Collector server. Schedules with frequencies are relative to the time that the Data Collector was restarted. |
ESX Server Performance | Select ESX Server Performance to collect performance data for ESX servers. Click the clock icon to create a schedule. Every Minute, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, and Monthly schedules may be created. Advanced use of native CRON strings is also available. Note: Explicit schedules set for a Collector policy are relative to the time on the Collector server. Schedules with frequencies are relative to the time that the Data Collector was restarted. |
Virtual Machine Performance | Select this probe to collect performance data from virtual machines. This probe may need to be run less often than the ESX Server Performance probe because there are usually more virtual machines than ESX servers. This probe may be disabled if it is not necessary to monitor the performance of individual virtual machines. When the default schedule of once every 3 hours is used, the Data Collector will use vCenter's 5-minute summaries for part of the data or, if collecting directly from an ESX server, there may be gaps in the data. To ensure that real-time data is always used (subject to the statistics level that is set), or if collecting from an ESX server, change the schedule of this probe to every hour (or more frequently). Click Help to view the statistics level settings in the Click the clock icon to create a schedule. Every Minute, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, and Monthly schedules may be created. Advanced use of native CRON strings is also available. Note: Explicit schedules set for a Collector policy are relative to the time on the Collector server. Schedules with frequencies are relative to the time that the Data Collector was restarted. |
vSAN Details | Select vSAN Details probe to collect vSAN configuration details, along with health and policy. Schedule will execute daily at 03:00 hours by default and collects:
This probe executes on vCenter configuration and does not perform collection for ESX configuration. Note: Explicit schedules set for a Collector policy are relative to the time on the Collector server. Schedules with frequencies are relative to the time that the Data Collector was restarted. |
vSAN Performance | Select this probe to collect vSAN performance information. By default, the probe executes every hour at 10 minutes and collects information from the previous one hour. If you change the schedule to a duration less than an hour (less than 60 minutes), the probe executes at the specified schedule and also collects information of the time specified in the schedule. In case you set the schedule for a duration longer than one hour, the probe executes at the scheduled interval but collects data only of the past one hour from the time of execution. This behavior continues for all collections scheduled more than one hour apart. Hence as a best practice, you must schedule the probe to execute in less than or equal to one hour to be able to collect and report all the information within that hour. This probe executes on vCenter configuration and does not perform collection for ESX configuration. Note: Explicit schedules set for a Collector policy are relative to the time on the Collector server. Schedules with frequencies are relative to the time that the Data Collector was restarted. |
Notes | Enter or edit notes for your data collector policy. The maximum number of characters is 1024. Policy notes are retained along with the policy information for the specific vendor and displayed on the Collector Administration page as a column making them searchable as well. |