Project: Netdata (Observability and Analysis / Observability)
File: vmware_vcenter_server.md

<!--startmeta customediturl: "https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/src/go/collectors/go.d.plugin/modules/vsphere/README.md" meta_yaml: "https://github.com/netdata/netdata/edit/master/src/go/collectors/go.d.plugin/modules/vsphere/metadata.yaml" sidebar_label: "VMware vCenter Server" learn_status: "Published" learnrelpath: "Collecting Metrics/Containers and VMs" most_popular: True message: "DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE DIRECTLY, IT IS GENERATED BY THE COLLECTOR'S metadata.yaml FILE" endmeta--> <img src="https://netdata.cloud/img/vmware.svg" width="150"/> Plugin: go.d.plugin Module: vsphere <img src="https://img.shields.io/badge/maintained%20by-Netdata-%2300ab44" /> This collector monitors hosts and vms performance statistics from `vCenter` servers. Warning: The `vsphere` collector cannot re-login and continue collecting metrics after a vCenter reboot. go.d.plugin needs to be restarted. This collector is supported on all platforms. This collector supports collecting metrics from multiple instances of this integration, including remote instances. This integration doesn't support auto-detection. The default configuration for this integration does not impose any limits on data collection. The default `update_every` is 20 seconds, and it doesn't make sense to decrease the value. VMware real-time statistics are generated at the 20-second specificity. It is likely that 20 seconds is not enough for big installations and the value should be tuned. To get a better view we recommend running the collector in debug mode and seeing how much time it will take to collect metrics. <details> <summary>Example (all not related debug lines were removed)</summary> ``` [ilyam@pc]$ ./go.d.plugin -d -m vsphere [ DEBUG ] vsphere[vsphere] discover.go:94 discovering : starting resource discovering process [ DEBUG ] vsphere[vsphere] discover.go:102 discovering : found 3 dcs, process took 49.329656ms [ DEBUG ] vsphere[vsphere] discover.go:109 discovering : found 12 folders, process took 49.538688ms [ DEBUG ] vsphere[vsphere] discover.go:116 discovering : found 3 clusters, process took 47.722692ms [ DEBUG ] vsphere[vsphere] discover.go:123 discovering : found 2 hosts, process took 52.966995ms [ DEBUG ] vsphere[vsphere] discover.go:130 discovering : found 2 vms, process took 49.832979ms [ INFO ] vsphere[vsphere] discover.go:140 discovering : found 3 dcs, 12 folders, 3 clusters (2 dummy), 2 hosts, 3 vms, process took 249.655993ms [ DEBUG ] vsphere[vsphere] build.go:12 discovering : building : starting building resources process [ INFO ] vsphere[vsphere] build.go:23 discovering : building : built 3/3 dcs, 12/12 folders, 3/3 clusters, 2/2 hosts, 3/3 vms, process took 63.3s [ DEBUG ] vsphere[vsphere] hierarchy.go:10 discovering : hierarchy : start setting resources hierarchy process [ INFO ] vsphere[vsphere] hierarchy.go:18 discovering : hierarchy : set 3/3 clusters, 2/2 hosts, 3/3 vms, process took 6.522s [ DEBUG ] vsphere[vsphere] filter.go:24 discovering : filtering : starting filtering resources process [ DEBUG ] vsphere[vsphere] filter.go:45 discovering : filtering : removed 0 unmatched hosts [ DEBUG ] vsphere[vsphere] filter.go:56 discovering : filtering : removed 0 unmatched vms [ INFO ] vsphere[vsphere] filter.go:29 discovering : filtering : filtered 0/2 hosts, 0/3 vms, process took 42.973s [ DEBUG ] vsphere[vsphere] metric_lists.go:14 discovering : metric lists : starting resources metric lists collection process [ INFO ] vsphere[vsphere] metric_lists.go:30 discovering : metric lists : collected metric lists for 2/2 hosts, 3/3 vms, process took 275.60764ms [ INFO ] vsphere[vsphere] discover.go:74 discovering : discovered 2/2 hosts, 3/3 vms, the whole process took 525.614041ms [ INFO ] vsphere[vsphere]

starting discovery process, will do discovery every 5m0s [ DEBUG ] vsphere[vsphere] collect.go:11 starting collection process [ DEBUG ] vsphere[vsphere] scrape.go:48 scraping : scraped metrics for 2/2 hosts, process took 96.257374ms [ DEBUG ] vsphere[vsphere] scrape.go:60 scraping : scraped metrics for 3/3 vms, process took 57.879697ms [ DEBUG ] vsphere[vsphere] collect.go:23 metrics collected, process took 154.77997ms ``` </details> There you can see that discovering took `525.614041ms`, and collecting metrics took `154.77997ms`. Discovering is a separate thread, it doesn't affect collecting. `update_every` and `timeout` parameters should be adjusted based on these numbers. Metrics grouped by scope. The scope defines the instance that the metric belongs to. An instance is uniquely identified by a set of labels. These metrics refer to the Virtual Machine. Labels: | Label | Description | |:--|:-| | datacenter | Datacenter name | | cluster | Cluster name | | host | Host name | | vm | Virtual Machine name | Metrics: | Metric | Dimensions | Unit | |:|:-|:-| | vsphere.vmcpuutilization | used | percentage | | vsphere.vmmemutilization | used | percentage | | vsphere.vmmemusage | granted, consumed, active, shared | KiB | | vsphere.vmmemswap_usage | swapped | KiB | | vsphere.vmmemswap_io | in, out | KiB/s | | vsphere.vmdiskio | read, write | KiB/s | | vsphere.vmdiskmax_latency | latency | milliseconds | | vsphere.vmnettraffic | received, sent | KiB/s | | vsphere.vmnetpackets | received, sent | packets | | vsphere.vmnetdrops | received, sent | packets | | vsphere.vmoverallstatus | green, red, yellow, gray | status | | vsphere.vmsystemuptime | uptime | seconds | These metrics refer to the ESXi host. Labels: | Label | Description | |:--|:-| | datacenter | Datacenter name | | cluster | Cluster name | | host | Host name | Metrics: | Metric | Dimensions | Unit | |:|:-|:-| | vsphere.hostcpuutilization | used | percentage | | vsphere.hostmemutilization | used | percentage | | vsphere.hostmemusage | granted, consumed, active, shared, sharedcommon | KiB | | vsphere.hostmemswap_io | in, out | KiB/s | | vsphere.hostdiskio | read, write | KiB/s | | vsphere.hostdiskmax_latency | latency | milliseconds | | vsphere.hostnettraffic | received, sent | KiB/s | | vsphere.hostnetpackets | received, sent | packets | | vsphere.hostnetdrops | received, sent | packets | | vsphere.hostneterrors | received, sent | errors | | vsphere.hostoverallstatus | green, red, yellow, gray | status | | vsphere.hostsystemuptime | uptime | seconds | The following alerts are available: | Alert name | On metric | Description | |:|:-|:| | | vsphere.vmcpuutilization | Virtual Machine CPU utilization | | | vsphere.vmmemutilization | Virtual Machine memory utilization | | | vsphere.hostcpuutilization | ESXi Host CPU utilization | | | vsphere.hostmemutilization | ESXi Host memory utilization | No action required. The configuration file name for this integration is `go.d/vsphere.conf`. You can edit the configuration file using the `edit-config` script from the Netdata . ```bash cd /etc/netdata 2>/dev/null || cd /opt/netdata/etc/netdata sudo ./edit-config go.d/vsphere.conf ``` The following options can be defined globally: updateevery,

<details><summary>Config options</summary> | Name | Description | Default | Required | |:-|:--|:-|:--:| | update_every | Data collection frequency. | 20 | no | | autodetection_retry | Recheck interval in seconds. Zero means no recheck will be scheduled. | 0 | no | | url | vCenter server URL. | | yes | | host_include | Hosts selector (filter). | | no | | vm_include | Virtual machines selector (filter). | | no | | discovery_interval | Hosts and VMs discovery interval. | 300 | no | | timeout | HTTP request timeout. | 20 | no | | username | Username for basic HTTP authentication. | | no | | password | Password for basic HTTP authentication. | | no | | proxy_url | Proxy URL. | | no | | proxy_username | Username for proxy basic HTTP authentication. | | no | | proxy_password | Password for proxy basic HTTP authentication. | | no | | notfollowredirects | Redirect handling policy. Controls whether the client follows redirects. | no | no | | tlsskipverify | Server certificate chain and hostname validation policy. Controls whether the client performs this check. | no | no | | tls_ca | Certification authority that the client uses when verifying the server's certificates. | | no | | tls_cert | Client TLS certificate. | | no | | tls_key | Client TLS key. | | no | Metrics of hosts matching the selector will be collected. Include pattern syntax: "/Datacenter pattern/Cluster pattern/Host pattern". Match pattern syntax: . Syntax: ```yaml host_include: '/DC1/*' # select all hosts from datacenter DC1 '/DC2//!Host2 ' # select all hosts from datacenter DC2 except HOST2 '/DC3/Cluster3/*' # select all hosts from datacenter DC3 cluster Cluster3 ``` Metrics of VMs matching the selector will be collected. Include pattern syntax: "/Datacenter pattern/Cluster pattern/Host pattern/VM pattern". Match pattern syntax: . Syntax: ```yaml vm_include: '/DC1/*' # select all VMs from datacenter DC '/DC2///!VM2 *' # select all VMs from datacenter DC2 except VM2 '/DC3/Cluster3/*' # select all VMs from datacenter DC3 cluster Cluster3 ``` </details> A basic example configuration. ```yaml jobs: name : vcenter1 url : https://203.0.113.1 username : admin@vsphere.local password : somepassword ``` Note: When you define multiple jobs, their names must be unique. Collecting metrics from local and remote instances. <details><summary>Config</summary> ```yaml jobs: name : vcenter1 url : https://203.0.113.1 username : admin@vsphere.local password : somepassword name : vcenter2 url : https://203.0.113.10 username : admin@vsphere.local password : somepassword ``` </details> To troubleshoot issues with the `vsphere` collector, run the `go.d.plugin` with the debug option enabled. The output should give you clues as to why the collector isn't working. Navigate to the `plugins.d` directory, usually at `/usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/`. If that's not the case on your system, open `netdata.conf` and look for the `plugins` setting under `[directories]`. ```bash cd /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/ ``` Switch to the `netdata` user. ```bash sudo -u netdata -s ``` Run the `go.d.plugin` to debug the collector: ```bash ./go.d.plugin -d -m vsphere ```