Create and Administer vCenter Server Alarms

 

  – Create and Administer vCenter Server Alarms

For this objective I used the following resources

• vSphere Resource Management guide
• VMware vSphere Examples and Scenarios guide

Knowledge

List vCenter default utilization alarms

Alarm	Description
Virtual machine memory usage	Default alarm to monitor virtual machine memory usage
Virtual machine cpu usage	Default alarm to monitor virtual machine cpu usage
Datastore usage on disk	Default alarm to monitor datastore disk usage
Host memory usage	Default alarm to monitor host memory usage
Host cpu usage	Default alarm to monitor host cpu usage

List courtesy of the Alarms tab at the root of vCenter

List vCenter default connectivity alarms

Alarm	Description
Cannot connect to storage	Default alarm to monitor host connectivity to storage device
Host connection and power state	Default alarm to monitor host connection and power state
Host connection failure	Default alarm to monitor host connection failure
Network connectivity lost	Default alarm to monitor network connectivity on a virtual switch
Network uplink redundancy degraded	Default alarm to monitor network uplink redundancy degradation on a virtual switch
Network uplink redundancy lost	Default alarm to monitor loss of network uplink redundancy on a virtual switch

List courtesy of the Alarms tab at the root of vCenter

List possible actions for utilization and connectivity alarms

Host related actions

• Send a notification email
• Send a notification trap
• Run a command
• Enter maintenance mode
• Exit maintenance mode
• Enter standby
• Exit standby
• Reboot host
• Shutdown host

VM related actions

• Send a notification email
• Send a notification trap
• Run a command
• Power on VM
• Power off VM
• Suspend VM
• Reset VM
• Migrate VM
• Reboot guest on VM
• Shutdown guest on VM

Create a vCenter utilization alarm

For this excercise we are going to create a host alarm based on network utilization

1. From the root object in vCenter select the Alarms tab
2. Select the Definitions tab next to View
3. In the right hand, right click in open a space and select New Alarm
4. In the General tab give the alarm a Name, Description, and select Hosts from the Alarm Typedrop down.
5. Select the Triggers tab
6. Right click in the open space and select Add Trigger
7. Click the trigger type to display the list of available triggers
8. From the list select Host Network Usage (kbps)
9. For the Warning and Alert values select what is appropriate for your environment
10. Click the Actions tab
11. Right click in the open space and select Add Action
12. Select Send a notification email
13. Under the Configuration column input your email address
14. Leave the default setting to email when going from a warning state to an alert state
15. Click OK

Create a vCenter connectivity alarm

For this exercise we are going to create a host alarm based on lost storage path redundancy

1. From the root object in vCenter select the Alarms tab
2. Select the Definitions tab next to View
3. In the right hand, right click in open a space and select New Alarm
4. In the General tab give the alarm a Name, Description, and select Hosts from the Alarm Typedrop down.
5. Select Monitor for specific events occuring on this object, for example, VM powered on
6. Select the Triggers tab
7. Right click in the open space and select Add Trigger
8. Click the trigger type to display the list of available triggers
9. From the list select Lost Storage Path Redundancy
10. Click the Actions tab
11. Right click in the open space and select Add Action
12. Select Send a notification email
13. Under the Configuration column input your email address
14. Leave the default setting to email when going from a warning state to an alert state
15. Click OK

Configure alarm triggers

See sections above Create a vCenter Connectivity Alarm and Create a vCenter Utilization Alarm. Also review pages 33 thru 39 of the vSphere Monitoring and Performance documentation.

Configure alarm actions

See sections above Create a vCenter Connectivity Alarm and Create a vCenter Utilization Alarm. Also review pages 33 thru 39 of the vSphere Monitoring and Performance documentation.

For a give alarm, identify the affected resource in vSphere implementation

If using any of the default vCenter alarms the alarm name as well as the alarm description should identify which resource is being affected.

Tools

• vCenter Server and Host Management guide
• vSphere Resource Management guide
• vSphere Monitoring and Performance guide
• VMware vSphere Examples and Scenarios guide