vSphere is VMware's cloud computing virtualization platform that provides a powerful suite for managing virtualized resources. It allows organizations to create, manage, and optimize virtual environments, providing advanced capabilities such as high availability, load balancing, and simplified resource allocation. vSphere enables efficient utilization of hardware resources, reducing costs while increasing the flexibility and scalability of IT infrastructure.
With the release of an upgraded vSphere integration we now support an enhanced set of metrics and datastreams. Package version 1.15.0 onwards introduces new datastreams that significantly improve the collection of performance metrics, providing deeper insights into your vSphere environment.
This enhanced version includes a total of seven datastreams, featuring critical new metrics such as disk performance, memory utilization, and network status. Additionally, these datastreams now offer detailed visibility into associated resources like hosts, clusters, and resource pools. To make the most of these insights, we’ve also introduced prebuilt dashboards, helping teams monitor and troubleshoot their vSphere environments with ease and precision.
We have expanded the performance metrics to encompass a broader range of insights across all datastreams, while also introducing new datastreams for clusters, resource pools, and networks. This enhanced integration version now includes a total of seven datastreams, featuring critical new metrics such as disk performance, memory utilization, and network status. Additionally, these datastreams now offer detailed visibility into associated resources like hosts, clusters, and resource pools.
Each datastream also includes detailed alarm information, such as the alarm name, description, status (e.g. critical or warning), and the affected entity's name. To make the most of these insights, we’ve also introduced prebuilt dashboards, helping teams monitor and troubleshoot their vSphere environments with ease and precision.
Overview of the Datastreams
- Host Datastream: This datastream monitors the disk performance of the host, including metrics such as disk latency, average read/write bytes, uptime, and status. It also captures network metrics, such as packet information, network bandwidth, and utilization, as well as CPU and memory usage of the host. Additionally, it lists associated datastores, virtual machines, and networks within vSphere.
- Virtual Machine Datastream: This datastream tracks the used and available CPU and memory resources of virtual machines, along with the uptime and status of each VM. It includes information about the host on which the VM is running, as well as detailed snapshot metrics like the number of snapshots, creation dates, and descriptions. Additionally, it provides insights into associated hosts and datastores.
-
Datastore Datastream: This datastream provides information on the total, used, and available capacity of datastores, along with their overall status. It also captures metrics such as the average read/write rate and lists the hosts and virtual machines connected to each datastore.
-
Datastore Cluster: A datastore cluster in vSphere is a collection of datastores grouped together for efficient storage management. This datastream provides details on the total capacity and free space in the storage pod, along with the list of datastores within the cluster.
-
Resource Pool: Resource pools in vSphere serve as logical abstractions that allow flexible allocation of CPU and memory resources. This datastream captures memory metrics, including swapped, ballooned, and shared memory, as well as CPU metrics like distributed and static CPU entitlement. It also lists the virtual machines associated with each resource pool.
-
Network Datastream: This datastream captures the overall configuration and status of the network, including network types (e.g., vSS, vDS). It also lists the hosts and virtual machines connected to each network.
-
Cluster Datastream: A Cluster in vSphere is a collection of ESXi hosts and their associated virtual machines that function as a unified resource pool. Clustering in vSphere allows administrators to manage multiple hosts and resources centrally, providing high availability, load balancing, and scalability to the virtual environment. This datastream includes metrics indicating whether HA or admission control is enabled and lists the hosts, networks, and datastores associated with the cluster.
Alarms support in vSphere Integration
Alarms are a vital part of the vSphere integration, providing real-time insights into critical events across your virtual environment. In the updated Elastic’s vSphere integration, alarms are now reported for all the entities. They include detailed information such as the alarm name, description, severity (e.g., critical or warning), affected entity, and triggered time. These alarms are seamlessly integrated into datastreams, helping administrators and SREs quickly identify and resolve issues like resource shortages or performance bottlenecks.
Example Alarm
"triggered_alarms": [
{
"description": "Default alarm to monitor host memory usage",
"entity_name": "host_us",
"id": "alarm-4.host-12",
"name": "Host memory usage",
"status": "red",
"triggered_time": "2024-08-28T10:31:26.621Z"
}
]
This example highlights a triggered alarm for monitoring host memory usage, indicating a critical status (red) for the host "host_us." Such alarms empower teams to act swiftly and maintain the stability of their vSphere environment.
Lets Try It Out!
The new vSphere integration in Elastic Cloud is more than just a monitoring tool; it’s a comprehensive solution that empowers you to manage and optimize your virtual environments effectively. With deeper insights and enhanced data granularity, you can ensure high availability, improved load balancing, and smarter resource allocation. Spin up an Elastic Cloud, and start monitoring your vSphere infrastructure.