2.8 Discovering VMware vSphere Resources

Use the Discovery_VirtualCenter Knowledge Script to discover VMware vSphere resources. Run the script on vCenter servers and agent computers that can monitor vCenter.

To ensure that this module can support large vSphere environments, the Discovery_VirtualCenter script generates delta discovery events itself instead of relying on the agent to generate delta discovery events. As a result, you should not enable the Full discovery option found on the Discovery tab in Control Center for this script. If you enable full discovery, the discovery process might fail for large environments, and the script might not discover many of the objects in the TreeView.

Performing a discovery of a large VMware deployment can be a resource-intensive process that might cause performance-related events in AppManager and console unresponsiveness until discovery is completed.

You can use the parameters under Detailed object settings to filter the number of resource objects and resource object details that are discovered, such as CPU, memory, network, and disk details. Filtering these objects will reduce the time and resources required for performing discovery. However, limiting the number of discovered objects also limits the Knowledge Script jobs you can run. For example, if you disable the Discover datastores? parameter, you cannot run the DataStoreUsage Knowledge Script, because no datastore objects get discovered.

You can also use the Discovery_VirtualCenter script to create exclusion lists for hosts and virtual machines (VMs) you do not wish to display in the TreeView. Any objects you exclude will be removed from the TreeView after you run discovery.

Virtual machines will not be discovered if the Discovery_VirtualCenter job is running while the virtual machines are being deployed from a template.

NOTE:This module does not support the use of a pipe character ("|") in the name of a virtual machine, host, cluster, datastore, resource pool, or other resource object. If a pipe character is present in a resource object name, such as Test|machine, the VMware vSphere Knowledge Scripts will not be able to monitor that object, nor will the scripts be able to monitor a collection of virtual machines containing that resource object.

By default, this script is set to run once. However, if you are using the Inventory Knowledge Script to monitor changes in hosts, virtual machines, and container objects (such as clusters, folders, datacenters, resource pools, and vApps), NetIQ Corporation recommends you run the Discovery_VirtualCenter script once a day during off-peak hours. Running Discovery_VirtualCenter on a daily basis ensures that the module updates objects (such as datastores and datastore clusters) that are not monitored by the Inventory script in the TreeView.

Set the parameters on the Values tab as needed:

Description

How to Set It

General Settings

Job Failure Notification

Event severity if Discovery job fails unexpectedly

Set the event severity level, from 1 to 40, to indicate the importance of an event in which the Discovery job fails unexpectedly. The default is 5.

Additional Settings

Event Details

Event detail format

Select either HTML Table or Plain Text as the format for event detail. The default is HTML Table.

Raise event if Discovery succeeds?

Select Yes to raise an event if discovery succeeds in finding VMware vSphere resources. The default is Yes.

Event severity if Discovery succeeds

Set the event severity level, from 1 to 40, to indicate the importance of an event in which discovery succeeds in finding VMware vSphere resources. The default is 25.

Raise event if excluded objects not found?

Select Yes to raise an event if the objects you listed in the Hosts to exclude and the Virtual machines to exclude parameters were not found during the discovery process. The default is Yes.

Event severity if excluded objects not found?

Set the event severity level, from 1 to 40, to indicate the importance of an event in which the objects you listed in the exclusion list were not found during the discovery process. The default is 15.

Raise event if Discovery fails?

Select Yes to raise an event if discovery fails to find VMware vSphere resources. The default is Yes.

Event severity if Discovery fails

Set the event severity level, from 1 to 40, to indicate the importance of an event in which discovery fails to find VMware resources. The default is 5.

Discover vCenter

Detailed object settings

Discover datastores?

Select Yes to discover datastore objects. Disable this parameter to reduce the number of objects that are discovered. The default is Yes.

NOTE:If you disable this parameter, you cannot run the VirtualCenter_DataStoreUsage Knowledge Script, because no datastore objects are discovered.

Discover cluster details?

Select Yes to discover cluster details. Disable this parameter to reduce the number of resource object details that are discovered. The default is Yes.

Discover resource pool details?

Select Yes to discover resource pool details. Disable this parameter to reduce the number of resource object details that are discovered. The default is Yes.

Discover hosts?

Select Yes to discover hosts. Disable this parameter to reduce the number of resource object details that are discovered. The default is Yes.

NOTE:If you disable this parameter, you cannot run the following Knowledge Scripts, because no virtual machine objects are discovered:

  • VirtualCenter_HostConnected

  • VirtualCenter_HostCPUUsage

  • VirtualCenter_HostDataStoreUsage

  • VirtualCenter_HostDiskIO

  • VirtualCenter_HostDiskTotalLatency

  • VirtualCenter_HostMemoryUsage

  • VirtualCenter_HostNetworkIO

  • VirtualCenter_HostUptime

Discover host details?

Select Yes to discover host details. Disable this parameter to reduce the number of resource object details that are discovered. The default is Yes.

NOTE: If you select Yes for this parameter, but do not select Yes for the Discover hosts? parameter, AppManager will raise an error event stating that detailed object settings are mismatched.

Hosts to exclude (comma-separated)

List any hosts you do not wish to display in the AppManager for VMware vSphere TreeView. The asterisk (*) and (?) are acceptable wildcards. Separate multiple names with a comma, without any spaces.

Creating an exclusion list like this can prove useful if you have two hosts co-located underneath a single vCenter server. A single VMware module discovery will discover both hosts, and this module will monitor them together as one environment. As a result, you cannot use monitoring policies on just one of the hosts unless you list the host or hosts you want to exclude.

Full path to file containing list of hosts to exclude

Provide the path to a location on the agent computer or the UNC path that contains the file with the list of hosts you want to exclude.

Discover vApps?

Select Yes to discover pre-built software solutions called virtual appliances, or vApps. Disable this parameter to reduce the number of resource object details that are discovered. The default is Yes.

Discover vApp details?

Select Yes to discover vApp details. Disable this parameter to reduce the number of resource object details that are discovered. The default is Yes.

Note If you select Yes for this parameter, but do not select Yes for the Discover vApps? parameter, AppManager will raise an error event stating that detailed object settings are mismatched.

Discover virtual machines?

Select Yes to discover virtual machine objects. Disable this parameter to reduce the number of objects that are discovered. The default is Yes.

NOTE:If you disable this parameter, you cannot run the following Knowledge Scripts, because no virtual machine objects are discovered:

  • VirtualCenter_VmConnected

  • VirtualCenter_VmCPUUsage

  • VirtualCenter_VmDiskIO

  • VirtualCenter_VmDiskUsage

  • VirtualCenter_VmMemoryUsage

  • VirtualCenter_VmNetworkIO

  • VirtualCenter_VmPowerStatus

  • VirtualCenter_VmToolsStatus

  • VirtualCenter_VmUptime

Discover virtual machine details?

Select Yes to discover virtual machine details. Disable this parameter to reduce the number of resource object details that are discovered. The default is unselected.

Note If you select Yes for this parameter, but do not select Yes for the Discover virtual machines? parameter, AppManager will raise an error event stating that detailed object settings are mismatched.

Discover virtual machine templates?

Select Yes to discover virtual machine templates and add them to the TreeView. NetIQ Corporation recommends that you leave this option unselected, because virtual machine templates do not contain any performance metrics. As a result, the discovered templates will always return zero values, which will prevent accurate reporting.

NOTE:To discover virtual machine templates, you must also select Yes for the Discover virtual machines? parameter.

Virtual machines to exclude (comma separated)

List any virtual machines you do not wish to display in the AppManager for VMware vSphere TreeView. The asterisk (*) and (?) are acceptable wildcards. Separate multiple names with a comma, without any spaces.

Creating an exclusion list like this can prove useful if you have two virtual machines co-located underneath a single vCenter server. A single VMware module discovery will discover both entities, and this module will monitor them together as one environment. As a result, you cannot use monitoring policies on just one of the virtual machines unless you list the virtual machine or machines you want to exclude.

Full path to file containing list of virtual machines to exclude

Provide the path to a location on the agent computer or the UNC path that contains the file with the list of virtual machines you want to exclude.