Skip to main content

VMware vCenter

Overview​

VMware is an software company based in the USA. VMware provides cloud computing and virtualization software and services.

The Centreon Plugin and Monitoring Connectors rely on the Centreon VMWare Connector to request the vCenter SDK.

Monitoring Connector Assets​

Monitored Objects​

  • Clusters
  • Datastores
  • Licenses
  • VMs

Discovery Rules​

Rule nameDescription
Virt-VMWare2-Datacenters-Alarm-NameDiscover the Datacenters and monitor the alarms
Virt-VMWare2-vCenter-Clusters-Status-NameDiscover the Clusters and monitor the status
Virt-VMWare2-vCenter-Datastores-Io-NameDiscover Datastores and monitor the I/O
Virt-VMWare2-vCenter-Datastores-Iops-NameDiscover Datastores and monitor the IOPs
Virt-VMWare2-vCenter-Datastores-Usage-NameDiscover Datastores and monitor the usage
Virt-VMWare2-vCenter-Datastores-Vm-Count-NameDiscover Datastores and monitor the number of running VMs

Collected Metrics​

Metric nameDescriptionUnit
StatusStatus of the Datacenter
datacenter.alarms.warning.current.countNumber of Total warning alarmsCount
datacenter.alarms.critical.current.countNumber of Total critical alarmsCount
dcname#datacenter.alarms.warning.current.countNumber of warning alarms per DatacenterCount
dcname#datacenter.alarms.critical.current.countNumber of critical alarms per DatacenterCount

Prerequisites​

Centreon VMWare Connector​

For the VMWare monitoring, Centreon use daemon to connect and request the vCenter.

Install this daemon on each needed poller:

yum install centreon-plugin-Virtualization-VMWare-daemon

To configure the access to your infrastructure, edit the "/etc/centreon/centreon_vmware.pm" configuration file:

%centreon_vmware_config = (
    vsphere_server => {
        default => {
            url => 'https://<ip_hostname>/sdk',
            username => '<username>',
            password => '<password>'
        }
    }
);

1;

Make sure to replace variables with needed information:

  • ip_hostname: IP address or hostname of the vCenter or ESX (if standalone),
  • username: username with at least "read only" access to the vCenter or ESX (you can use domain user),
  • password: password of the username.

You can configure multiple vCenter or ESXi connections using this structure:

%centreon_vmware_config = (
    vsphere_server => {
        'my_first_vcenter' => {
            url => 'https://<ip_hostname>/sdk',
            username => '<username>',
            password => '<password>'
        },
        'my_other_vcenter' => {
            url => 'https://<ip_hostname>/sdk',
            username => '<DOMAIN>\<username>',
            password => '<password>'
        },
    },
    port => 5700
);

1;

Each entry is called a container.

You can also define the "port" attribute to change listening port.

Then start the daemon and make sure it is configured to start at server boot:

systemctl start centreon_vmware
systemctl enable centreon_vmware

Make sure that the daemon configuration works fine by looking for errors in "/var/log/centreon/centreon_vmware.log".

Network flows​

The Poller with the Centreon VMware Connector installed need to access in TCP/443 HTTPS to the vCenter.

The Pollers that request the Centreon VMWare Connector host need to access in TCP/5700 to the Centreon VMWare Connector host.

Installation​

  1. Install the VMWare Connector Centreon Plugin on every poller expected to monitor VMWare infrastructures:
yum install centreon-plugin-Virtualization-Vmware2-Connector-Plugin
  1. Install the 'Vmware vCenter' Centreon Monitoring Connector on the Configuration > Monitoring Connectors Manager page

Configuration​

  • Log into Centreon and add a new Host through "Configuration > Hosts".
  • Apply the relevant Host Template "Virt-VMWare2-VCenter-custom", and configure the mandatory Macros:
MandatoryNameDescription
XCENTREONVMWARECONTAINERName of your container in the file centreon_vmware.pm
XCENTREONVMWAREHOSTThe Centreon server that launches the connection
XCENTREONVMWAREPORTBy default: 5700
CENTREONVMWAREEXTRAOPTIONSCustomize it with your own if needed

FAQ​

How do I run my plugin through the CLI and what do the main parameters stand for ?​

Once you've installed the plugin, you can test it logging with centreon-engine user:

/usr/lib/centreon/plugins//centreon_vmware_connector_client.pl \
    --plugin=apps::vmware::connector::plugin \
    --mode=snapshot-vm \
    --custommode=connector \
    --connector-hostname='localhost' \
    --connector-port='5700' \
    --container='vcenter01' \
    --vm-hostname='.*' \
    --filter \
    --filter-uuid='' \
    --warning='259200' \
    --critical='432000' \
    --disconnect-status='ok' \
    --nopoweredon-skip \
    --check-consolidation \
    --verbose

Expected command output is shown below:

CRITICAL: Snapshots for VM older than 432000 seconds: [TLS-LIN-001] | 'num_warning'=0;;;0; 'num_critical'=1;;;0;
'TLS-LIN-001' snapshot create time: 2020-07-20T12:19:16.246902Z [only base os image]

This command above checks the virtual machine snapshots (--plugin=apps::vmware::connector::plugin --mode=snapshot-vm). It connects to the VMWare daemon on localhost (--connector-hostname='localhost') on the port 5700 (--connector-port='5700'). Then the command requests the container vcenter01 (--container='vcenter01').

It will trigger a WARNING alarm if the age of the snapshot is older than 3 days / 259200s (--warning='259200') and a CRITICAL alarm if the snapshot is older than 5 days / 432000s (--critical='432000').

All available modes with the plugin can be displayed with: 

/usr/lib/centreon/plugins/./centreon_vmware_connector_client.pl \
    --plugin=apps::vmware::connector::plugin \
    --list-mode

The available options for a mode can be displayed using the --help parameter: 

/usr/lib/centreon/plugins/./centreon_vmware_connector_client.pl \
    --plugin=apps::vmware::connector::plugin \
    --mode=snapshot-vm  \
    --help

Why do I get the following error:​

UNKNOWN: Unknown container name 'default' |​

This error message means that the container invoked in the command doesn't exist in your VMWare connector configuration. Check your macro CENTREONVMWARECONTAINER on your host or check the file /etc/centreon/centreon_vmware.pm

UNKNOWN: Cannot get response (timeout received)​

This error message means that the Plugin didn't get a response off the VMWare Daemon. Check your connection parameters and the macros CENTREONVMWAREHOST and CENTREONVMWAREPORT.

UNKNOWN: Container connection problem |​

This error message means that you have a issue with the credentials provided for your Container. Check your credentials in /etc/centreon/centreon_vmware.pm. You can also take a look into the log for more information: /var/log/centreon/centreon_vmware.log