SolarWinds Virtualization Manager Admin Guide
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager Admin Guide
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager Admin Guide
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disassembled, published or distributed, in whole or in part, or translated to any electronic
medium or other means without the written consent of SolarWinds. All right, title, and
interest in and to the software and documentation are and shall remain the exclusive
property of SolarWinds and its respective licensors.
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trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Table of Contents
14
About SolarWinds
14
Contacting SolarWinds
14
Conventions
15
15
Chapter 1: Introduction
17
17
19
20
20
Browser requirements
21
21
Port requirements
23
Memory requirements
28
29
30
30
31
32
34
36
38
38
39
42
45
48
49
49
Upgrading on Hyper-V
50
51
52
53
53
54
55
56
57
58
Licensing
58
59
63
64
65
65
66
67
68
Basic setup
68
69
Configuring credentials
69
70
Table of Contents
Configuring collection schedules
71
73
74
75
75
Advanced setup
76
User management
77
78
Using labels
79
Configuring SNMP
79
80
83
86
88
89
93
94
95
Data rollup
95
Data retention
96
Aggregation
97
Infrastructure aging
97
99
Dashboard
99
Explore
99
Capacity planning
100
100
100
101
101
101
How can I solve VM sprawl, reclaim resources, and rightsize my virtual environment?
102
102
Chapter 5: Dashboards
104
Dashboard basics
105
107
Widget types
108
Customizing widgets
118
Portal integration
119
123
Trends
123
Trend operations
124
126
127
Chapter 7: Search
132
133
Search details
134
134
135
Search language
136
157
Chapter 8: Alerts
163
Table of Contents
Scope
164
Criteria
164
165
Attributes
165
Notifications
167
169
Example Action
169
SNMP settings
172
Advanced settings
172
173
174
174
175
176
Planning basics
176
176
179
181
182
185
Overloaded hosts
186
Advanced options
186
189
190
190
191
191
192
193
193
Setting context
194
Understanding alerts
194
195
Exporting data
195
195
Sorting items
195
196
197
Editing content
197
197
Importing content
198
Exporting content
198
Content types
199
Tags
200
201
202
204
Data exports
204
Generating exports
204
205
On-demand reporting
205
206
Table of Contents
Downloading reports
207
Configuring schedules
207
208
208
208
210
Creating labels
210
Modifying labels
211
Removing labels
211
212
Adding notes
212
Viewing notes
212
213
213
214
Virtualization thresholds
215
Using baselining
216
Defining baselines
217
219
vCenter
221
Datacenter
221
Cluster
222
Host
222
Virtual Machine
224
225
225
226
227
228
229
230
230
230
Component Volumes
231
Datacenter Details
231
231
232
Datastore Info
232
233
233
233
234
234
234
235
235
236
237
237
237
Percent Availability
238
238
10
Table of Contents
Predicted Datastore Space Depletion
238
239
Resource Utilization
240
241
Storage Summary
241
242
243
Top VM IOPS
244
Top VM Latency
244
245
246
246
247
247
248
248
249
249
250
250
251
252
252
252
253
254
11
254
254
Usage MHz
255
255
255
256
256
256
257
Virtualization Assets
257
258
Overall
258
VMware
258
Hyper-V
259
260
260
261
261
262
262
263
263
264
264
12
265
265
Table of Contents
Testing local WMI services
266
266
267
268
268
272
Configuring Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) and User Account Control
(UAC)
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281
281
283
Installing PowerShell
283
284
284
285
285
285
Scripts
286
Using cmdlets
288
301
Module installations
301
301
302
302
Scripting tips
304
305
13
Contacting SolarWinds
You can contact SolarWinds in a number of ways, including the following:
Team
Contact Information
Sales
1.866.530.8100
http://www.solarwinds.com/
http://www.thwack.com/
14
Conventions
Conventions
The documentation uses consistent conventions to help you identify items
throughout the printed and online library.
Convention
Specifying
Bold
Italics
Fixed font
Straight brackets, as
in [value]
Curly braces, as in
{value}
Logical OR, as in
value1|value2
Purpose
information.
15
Release
Notes
16
Chapter 1: Introduction
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager offers an easy-to-use, scalable virtualization
management solution whose resources can also be integrated with other
SolarWinds products on the Orion platform.
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager provides visibility into virtual machines and
their support infrastructure. It acts as a single pane of glass through which virtual
infrastructure administrators can view the internal configuration and state of the
services that comprise the virtualized workloads running atop virtual
infrastructure, along with the supporting computing environment to capture a
holistic representation of the evolution and movement of VMs within the
infrastructure.
In addition, real-time and historical information is aggregated within an advanced
visualization interface to present a structured representation of previously
unstructured uncorrelated data.
17
Chapter 1: Introduction
Historical Insight
Provides a logical historical record of the entire virtual infrastructure
environment to better support temporal-based life cycle management needs.
Multi-Discipline
Facilitates broad problem isolation, forensics, performance management,
and capacity and consolidation planning processes over the entire
managed infrastructure.
Business Views
Applies analytics to show data center trends, performance correlations, and
pie chart visualizations of your virtual infrastructure.
Actionable Interface
Provides an actionable interface to all of the information sources to support
remediation-based administration models.
18
Performance monitoring
Virtualization dashboards
Performance alerts
19
Minimum requirements
Licensing
Minimum requirements
This section provides information about software and hardware requirements.
Before you proceed with the installation procedures, make sure your hardware
and software meet the following minimum requirements.
20
Browser requirements
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager is a web-based product that has the following
browser requirements.
Software
Requirements
Requirements
21
Software or
hardware
Requirements
l
22
Software or
hardware
Requirements
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CPU
2 GHz quad-core
Disk space
Virtual NIC
1 Gigabit vNIC
Port requirements
The port requirements of SolarWinds Virtualization Manager depend on the
features and components that you use. The features and components on which
the port requirements depend are the following:
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23
Port requirements
AD/LDAP authentication
Orion integration
Federated collectors
Master appliance
24
Usage
Access from federated collectors to the master appliance during initial setup.
443
5480
Configure the following outbound ports, depending on the individual setup and
the functions you use.
Port
Usage
162
25
389
3268
LDAP authentication.
25
Port requirements
Federated collector
Usage
Usage
61616
443 or
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26
Port
Usage
8983
Access from federated collectors to the master appliance during initial setup.
Data collection
Depending on the environment you poll, configure the following outbound ports
on the master or the collector for data collection.
Port
Usage
443
Access to Hyper-V hosts that were added by using a fully qualified domain name.
135
Dynamic RCP WMI communication. You can configure the available ports on
ports
the WMI target/policy.
27
Memory requirements
Memory requirements
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager has the following memory requirements
based on the number of hosts and VMs.
Number of ESX hosts Number of VMs Memory
100
1000
8 GB
125
1250
10 GB
150
1500
12 GB
175
1750
14 GB
200
2000
16 GB
200 <
2000 <
Contact Support
The minimum memory requirement is 8 GB, but your deployment may require
more to handle peak memory demands. If certain conditions are met, you can
reduce the memory requirement for collecting from multiple vCenters (VC) in the
following ways:
l
Schedule the configuration data collection jobs for the different VCs to be
certain they do not overlap, by setting the start times at least 3 hours apart.
This necessitates reducing the frequency of configuration collection to 1-2
times per day.
Instead of using the actual total number of ESX hosts in the environment,
calculate a "proxy number of hosts by using the following formula:
l
For example, if you have three VCs and the largest VC manages 90 hosts, then
your "proxy number of hosts" is 117.
28
29
The VMware user account used for data collection must have at least Read-Only
permissions for the host and VMs you want to monitor.
To collect information about data stores, the account must also have the Browse
Datastore permission.
30
Software/Hardware Requirement
evaluation purposes only:
Windows 7
Windows 7 SP1
Windows 8 (except Standard edition)
Windows 8.1 (except Standard edition)
Windows 8.1 Update 1 (except Standard edition)
CPU
3.0 GHz
RAM
8 GB
HDD
20 GB
.NET Framework
SQL Server
Browser
31
free, but you will eventually exhaust this. For more information, see Disk
space requirements.
9. Select a network, and then click Next.
10. To use DHCP to determine the IP address of the appliance, click DHCP,
and then click Next.
11. To use a fixed IP address from the network pool, follow these steps:
a. Click Fixed, and then click Next.
b. Enter the fixed IP to reserve for the appliance, and then click Next.
12. Click Finish.
13. Open a browser to https://IPaddress:5480 where IPaddress is the
address of the virtual appliance server.
14. Log in, and then accept the End User License Agreement. The default
account is admin with the password admin.
15. Click Network, and then click Address.
16. If you use DHCP to determine the IP address of the appliance, verify that it
is selected.
17. If you use a static IP address, complete the following steps:
a. Enter the static IP of the virtual appliance.
b. Enter the net mask.
c. Enter the gateway.
d. Enter the DNS Server 1.
e. Enter the DNS Server 2.
f. Enter a host name to use for the virtual appliance.
g. Click Save Settings.
18. Click Proxy and enter proxy server information if necessary, and then click
Save Settings.
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34
35
36
37
38
VMware
(Host)
Hyper-V
(Host)
VMware
(Guest)
Hyper-V
(Guest)
No Status
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
ICMP
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
WMI/ICMP
N/A
Yes
Yes
Yes
SNMP/ICMP
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
39
You have a licensed and supported version of NPM or SAM installed on the
server where you want to integrate Virtualization Manager.
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8. Select the file system folder where you want to install SolarWinds Integrated
Virtual Infrastructure Monitor, and then click Next.
9. Click Next on the Start Copying Files window.
10. Click Finish to close the installation wizard.
11. The SolarWinds Configuration Wizard is launched automatically. Click Next
on the Welcome window to continue the basic configuration. For more
information about completing the configuration wizard, see the SolarWinds
Network Performance Monitor Administrator Guide.
Integrating IVIMwith Virtualization Manager
After finishing the configuration of the Integrated Virtual Infrastructure Monitor, log
in to the Orion web console. You will be prompted to integrate IVIM with
Virtualization Manager.
To perform the integration, complete the following steps:
1. Enter the appropriate information about your Virtualization Manager
instance.
a. Enter the host name or IP address of the Virtualization Manager
server.
Note: To access the network settings for the Virtualization Manager
appliance server, use a browser to navigate to https://ip_
address:5480. From this page you can review and adjust network
settings, including the interface on the server through which
Virtualization Manager communicates, the use of a static IP address
instead of DHCP (default), the use of a proxy server, and the primary
and secondary DNS servers.
b. Enter the port number on which Virtualization Manager expects to
service web requests. The default port is 443.
c. Enter the credentials of the administrator user with which you can
access the Virtualization Manager web console.
44
2. Click Submit.
Explanation
Could not use credentials from Virtualization Manager/Orion. Incorrect integration data in
Virtualization Manager/Orion.
Reset Virtualization Manager integration and go through the Syn-
If there is a change in Virtualization Manager or in the SolarWinds Orion server during the integration process, the integration
data becomes invalid. Reset the integration process to load valid data. If the
issue persists, check the error log for more
information.
45
Error message
Explanation
Could not use credentials from Vir- This message indicates a general error.
tualization Manager/Orion.
Check the error log for more information.
Issues with importing nodes to the SolarWinds Orion server
Error message
Explanation
mapped to the existing node in Virtualization Manager. The IP address of the node was probed unsuccessfully. Check the node, and then start the polling
manually. After the polling is finished, run the Synchronization Wizard again.
Explanation
to Virtualization Manager/Orion.
46
Error message
Explanation
If there is a change in Virtualization Manager or in the SolarWinds Orion server during the integration process, the integration
data becomes invalid. Reset the integration process to load valid data. If the
issue persists, check the error log for more
information.
Explanation
Sending integration
data to Virtualization
Manager failed. Reset
Virtualization Manager
integration and go
through the Synchronization Wizard
again.
Explanation
47
Error message
Explanation
to node [NAME]
([IP_ADDRESS]). +
ERROR
MESSAGE
The ability to monitor CPU, Memory, Virtual Memory, Response Time, and
Latency.
The ability to assign Custom Properties to nodes.
Depending on the other Orion platform products you own, you can get access to
further resources.
If you use both SolarWinds Orion Network Performance Monitor and Virtualization
Manager, and manage a node in the Orion Web Console, you can do the
following:
l
If you use both SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor and Virtualization
Manager, and manage a node in the Orion Web Console, you can do the
following:
l
Gather asset inventory data for virtual machines and ESX hosts.
Reboot the server directly from within the Orion Web Console.
48
Upgrading on Hyper-V
49
Upgrading on Hyper-V
Upgrading on Hyper-V
The appliance upgrade comes as an .iso file for use with the Hyper-V client.
To upgrade Virtualization Manager on Hyper-V, complete the following
steps:
1. Save the .iso file to a data storage that you can access from the virtual
machine running SolarWinds Virtualization Manager.
2. Run the Hyper-V Manager.
3. Select the virtual machine currently running SolarWinds Virtualization
Manager.
4. Click Settings.
5. Click DVD Drive.
6. Select the Image file, and then click Browse.
7. Select the .iso file, and then click Open.
8. Click OK.
9. Open a browser to https://ip_address:5480 where ip_address is the IP
address or name of the SolarWinds Virtualization Manager VM.
50
51
52
53
54
7. Enter the host name or IP address of the existing virtual appliance that you
are migrating from in the text field of Step 2.
8. Click Perform Migration. The migration tool moves your information to the
new virtual appliance.
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5. In the VMware client, shut down and delete the old collector.
6. Extract the contents of the Collector .zip archive file.
7. In the VMware client, deploy the new federated collector appliance from the
OVF template.
8. Power on the federated collector, and then configure it through the console
with your network settings.
9. Log on to the administration website of the new collector
(https://ipAddress:5480).
10. Click the SolarWinds Data Collector tab.
11. In the Collector Timezone field, select the time zone of the main
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager.
57
12. In the Collector Hostname field, enter the host name you want to use for
this collector.
13. In the Collector Display Name field, enter the display name of the previous
collector.
14. In the SolarWinds Virtualization Manager Server Address field, enter the
host name or IP address of the main SolarWinds Virtualization Manager.
15. Click Configure Now.
Licensing
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager is licensed according to the number of CPU
sockets per monitored host.If you try to monitor more sockets or VMs than your
license allows, you will not be able to add more data sources and you will not be
able to apply upgrades or updates to SolarWinds Virtualization Manager.
If you are licensed per VM, you can continue to use that license. Contact your
SolarWinds sales representative if you have questions about your license.
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11. In the Unique Machine ID field, enter the machine ID you copied from
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager.
12. Click Generate License File.
13. Click the license download link to download the license file.
14. Transfer the license file to the computer you are using to access SolarWinds
Virtualization Manager.
15. Click Upload License File.
16. Select your license file, and then click Open.
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Basic setup
The result of basic setup is a well-populated repository of virtual infrastructure
information on which you can conduct searches, show data center trends, and
graph performance data. In order to reach this goal, at least one Configuration
Data and one Sample Data job must be scheduled and executed to completion
on a licensed server. This is done by specifying endpoints such as VMware
vCenter servers or unmanaged ESX hosts that need to be interrogated for virtual
machine information. To extract information from such endpoints, proper
credentials must be supplied to pass authentication requirements.
The Configuration Wizard guides you through the basic steps to enable your
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager installation for data collection.
68
Configuring credentials
The next step in the Configuration Wizard is to enter a set of credentials that will
be used to access the data sources you just defined. Depending on the intended
usage, provide the following types of credentials:
l
69
Username: The login name or user ID of the account. This is usually root,
administrator, or some domain administrator account.
After you entered the necessary information, click Save to add the credential to
the Credential Pool. This returns you to the Credentials screen.
After you entered all your credentials, click Next to continue.
Note: For enhanced security, it is recommended that you change the default
admin credentials.
To change the default credentials of the admin account:
1. Connect to the Virtualization Manager Administration Console through
https://IP_address:5480 where IP_address is the IP address of your
appliance.
2. Navigate to SolarWinds Mgmt > Change Password, and then type the
new password.
3. Click Change.
TCP Port: The HTTPS port of the admin page for this data source.
70
Collector: If you have set up a federated data collector to use for this
collection, select the federated collector. In other cases, select localhost.
Validate Connections: An optional step to confirm that the data source is
reachable.
CIDR or Range: The range where the host is located (if applicable).
When you add a Hyper-V data source, a discovery job is automatically created
and enabled. The hosts discovered by this job are then subject to configuration
and performance data collection as configured in Configuring collection
schedules.
After entering the necessary information, click Save to add the endpoint to the
data source list.
After you entered all your data sources, click Next to continue.
71
Start Time: Indicates the date and time from which to begin the data
collection job.
Performance Interval: Indicates the time interval on which the job is
performed.
Enable Schedule: Indicates whether the job is enabled or disabled for data
collection.
Note: For each data source, schedule two jobs to provide configuration,
performance, and state information for virtual machines, a configuration data
collection job and a sample data collection job. This includes VirtualCenters,
unmanaged ESX hosts, and Hyper-V hosts.
After all of the data collection jobs have been scheduled and enabled, the
scheduler executes each job at the specified start time and continues to run them
at the specified interval. The time it takes for a job to complete varies widely
based on the size of the environment to be collected from. To execute a collection
schedule immediately, select the schedule on the Collection Schedules screen,
and then click Run Now.
For more information about the way Virtualization Manager collects data and
calculates rollup information, see Collecting data and calculating rollup
information.
72
TCP Port: Port that the email server expects SMTP connections.
73
TCP Port: The port used for the Storage Manager web server. The default
port is 9000.
Storage Manager Username: The user you want to automatically log on as
when requesting a Storage Manager page
Storage Manager Password: The password corresponding to your
Storage Manager user name.
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Advanced setup
Advanced setup
The yellow Advanced Setup link on the left menu of the Administration page
opens the advanced setup menu.
76
You can accomplish these tasks by selecting their corresponding menu item
under Advanced Setup on the Configuration page.
User management
To control user access to SolarWinds Virtualization Manager, select the Users
menu option. Here you can add, edit, or delete users from the internal credential
store.
To add a new user, click Add, and then provide the following information:
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2. Click Add.
3. Enter the Network address and Mask for your new inclusion list.
4. Click Save.
You can add as many filters as you want to include multiple ranges of IP
addresses.
Using labels
The Labels configuration page provides you with a quick way of creating a series
of custom labels that you can apply to VMs and hosts.
To create a label, click Add Label.
For more information, see Custom labels.
Configuring SNMP
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager can send SNMP traps for events that occur in
the system such as the following:
l
UDP Port: The port the SNMP receiver expects SNMP UDP traffic.
79
After saving a new Trap Host, click Send Test Trap to test the integration.
SNMP trap receivers may need details of the Manager alert MIB (Management
Information Base). Click MIB to view the entire SolarWinds Virtualization
Manager MIB.
80
This error occurs when there is more than a couple of minutes difference between
the system times of the client machine and the Content Engine server. Make sure
you synchronize the time on both systems.
Adding an LDAP authentication server
To add an LDAP authentication server, perform the following steps:
1. Click Add.
2. From the Authentication Type list, select LDAP.
3. If you want this to be the authentication server for users who log in to
Virtualization Manager without specifying a domain prefix, click Use for all
accounts where a domain is not specified.
4. If you want this to be the authentication server for users who specify a
domain, click Use for this domain only, and then enter the specific domain
in the text field.
5. In the Server field, type the IP address of the LDAP server.
6. In the Port field, type the port used for LDAP authentication. The default port
is 3268.
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Add to App
View Notes
Export
Compare
Add to Chart
Map
Label
Plan
For example, if you right-click a virtual machine, and then click SolarWinds >
Add to Chart, vSphere opens a performance analyzer window for that virtual
machine.
This plug-in also adds a SolarWinds option to the Management panel. This
option, available on the Home Page or in the View menu under Management>
SolarWinds, opens Virtualization Manager inside your vSphere client.
Note: Only one SolarWinds Virtualization Manager can register this plug-in for
each vCenter. If you have more than one SolarWinds Virtualization Manager
collecting data, you must disable the plug-in on one before enabling it for the
other.
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Note: If you use the default keystore, hyper9-keystore, you do not need to
modify the server.xml file.
5. When prompted, enter a new keystore password. This information is
necessary for a later step.
6. Enter the information necessary for the new certificate. Provide the following
information:
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90
maxThreads="150"
scheme="https"
secure="true"
clientAuth="false"
sslProtocol="TLS" />
If you receive "Untrusted site" errors after adding your certificate, see the KB
article about Accepting an Unsigned Certificate.
Adding a certificate from a certificate authority
Warning: Even though you can add a certificate from a certificate authority,
SolarWinds Technical Support only assists you with adding a self-signed
certificate.
If you need clarification, see the Tomcat help page, or the help page of your
certificate authority.
To add a certificate from a certificate authority:
1. Log on to the virtual appliance by using the console or an SSH connection.
2. Enter the following command: sudo su - root.
3. Navigate to the java bin folder on the virtual appliance. This is generally
found in the /usr/java/jdkX/bin folder, where X represents the jdk version
number.
4. Enter the following command, where mykeystore is the name of your new
keystore:
91
11. Enter the following command, where mykeystore is the name of your new
keystore:
keytool -certreq -keyalg RSA -alias tomcat -file certreq.csr keystore mykeystore
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15. Import the chain certificate by entering the following command, where
mykeystore is the name of your new keystore and chain_certificate_
filename is the name of your chain certificate:
keytool -import -alias root -keystore mykeystore -trustcacerts file chain_certificate_filename
16. Import the new certificate be entering the following command, where
mykeystore is the name of your new keystore and certificate_filename is
the name of your certificate:
keytool -import -alias tomcat -keystore mykeystore -file
certificate_filename
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Configuration
Performance
94
Data rollup
Raw performance data is rolled up over time, to provide hourly, daily, weekly,
monthly and quarterly averages, maximal, and other statistics. The rollup periods
are based on the local server time and do not take business hours into account.
The raw and hourly performance data consumes large amounts of storage
capacity, and it is discarded after a configurable amount of time. Higher level
rollups are retained indefinitely for record keeping purposes, cost accounting, and
95
Data retention
to act as a data warehouse. This information provides administrators with long
term trends in resource consumption.
Peak values are calculated in the following way:
l
Latest Value (peak): The highest values of each sample collected from
VMware. VMware collects raw data in 20 second intervals.
Hourly Rollup (peak): The highest values from the data collected during the
last hour.
Daily Rollup (peak): The highest values from the hourly rollups during the
last 24 hour period.
Weekly Rollup (peak): The highest values from the daily rollups during the
last seven days.
Monthly Rollup (peak): The highest values from the daily rollups during the
last calendar month.
Quarterly Rollup (peak): The highest values from the monthly rollups during
the last quarter.
Note: Monthly and quarterly rollups are not generated daily, as this operation
would generate a considerable computation load every day.
Although average and peak are the two most common metrics, other metrics
collected by the performance job use different rollups. For example, when the
Powered On status is rolled up, Virtualization Manager only retains whether the
system was mostly on or off during the rollup period.
Data retention
Raw performance data is saved for 14 days, and hourly rollups are saved for 90
days by default. You can change how long Virtualization Manager retains this
data under Setup > Advanced Setup > System Properties. Increasing the
length of time data is retained may slow down the application or the database if
you do not provide adequate storage resources. However, any increase to the
96
90 days (configurable)
Daily rollup
Indefinite
Weekly rollup
Indefinite
Monthly rollup
Indefinite
Yearly rollup
Indefinite
Aggregation
Aggregation combines the performance data collected during the same time
across your virtual environment. To calculate overall performance and load
statistics for data stores, for example, Virtualization Manager collects partial data
from each individual host and VM which accesses the data store, and then
aggregates that data to get a complete picture of the load and performance of that
data store.
Raw data is aggregated by the collection job in real time. When there are
aggregate raw data points, they are stored, processed, indexed, and rolled up by
Virtualization Manager.
Infrastructure aging
If no data is collected against a piece of your virtual infrastructure after 24 hours,
that piece, or configuration item (CI), is considered "stale," and data relating to it is
grayed out. After 48 hours with no data collected, Virtualization Manager
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Infrastructure aging
considers that CI to be removed from your infrastructure and stops displaying
information about it. The data is not deleted from the database, and if the CI
reappears in your virtual environment, Virtualization Manager links the new
information to the information already gathered in the database.
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Dashboard
The Dashboard area uses widgets to bring you information at a glance regarding
performance, capacity planning, VM sprawl, and more. You can customize both
dashboards and dashboard widgets to display what is most important to your
environment. The dashboard answers high-level questions such as the following:
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What is the estimated cost of running a set of VMs in the cloud (EC2)?
Explore
In the Explore area you can quickly view items in your environment, including
historical information collected by Virtualization Manager. You can view your
environment in the Map, the content stored in Virtualization Manager, historical
information for alerts and resources, and more.
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Capacity planning
By using the Capacity Planner tool you can create capacity plans. You can create
what-if scenarios, visualize how long you can continue with your current load, or
plan when to procure new resources. The Capacity Planner answers questions
such as:
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Search
The search engine is the underpinning of many of the tools and customizations
that you can perform. Saved search queries can be used to create new reports,
alerts, trends, and more.
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environment?
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5. Select the Criteria tab of the trend to see the XPath query that is used for
calculating the cloud cost.
For example, the criteria for the EC2 Average Monthly Windows VM Cost trend
is the following:
if (/virtualMachine/memory <= 1740.8 and /virtualMachine/cpuCount <=1)
then 87.6 else if
(/virtualMachine/memory <= 1740.8 and /virtualMachine/cpuCount <=5) then
211.7 else if
(/virtualMachine/memory <= 7680 and /virtualMachine/cpuCount <=4) then
350.4 else if
(/virtualMachine/memory <= 17510.4 and /virtualMachine/cpuCount <=6.5)
then 452.6 else if
(/virtualMachine/memory <= 15360 and /virtualMachine/cpuCount <=8) then
700.8 else if
(/virtualMachine/memory <= 7168 and /virtualMachine/cpuCount <=20) then
846.8 else if
(/virtualMachine/memory <= 35020.8 and /virtualMachine/cpuCount <=13)
then 1051.2 else 2102.4
The first line represents Windows on m1.small instance with 1.8 GiB of memory
and one vCPU. The last number is the price per month. To adapt the query to
your needs, modify the numbers according to the output of the cloud cost
calculator provided by Amazon or other cloud providers.
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Dashboards form a single pane of glass to highlight important information about
your virtual environment. Dashboards are customizable.
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Capacity Planning
Provides details about resources that are nearly depleted, and provides an
overview of the capacity in the virtual infrastructure.
Cloud Cost (EC2)
Provides information about the cost of moving the current virtual
infrastructure to Amazon EC2. For more information, see How much would it
cost to move my virtual infrastructure to Amazon EC2?
Cluster Host Health
Provides high level details of the health statistics for cluster hosts in
VMware, Hyper-V, or mixed environments.
Manager
Provides a high level view of the size and scope of the virtual environment
and its available capacity for VMware, Hyper-V, or mixed environments.
Reporting
Provides trends about how the virtual environment is changing over time.
Showback
Provides a quick view of how the virtual machines are being used over time.
Storage
Provides insight into the virtual environment storage utilization, mostly from
the data store point of view.
VM Sprawl
Shows the resources that are currently being wasted by inactive VMs and
other virtual infrastructure.
Dashboard basics
You can always return to the dashboards by clicking the logo at the top left of the
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager application or by using the Recent tab to
navigate to the dashboard.
To view a different dashboard, select it from the More Dashboards list.
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Dashboard basics
To create a new dashboard, click New Dashboard. After naming the new
dashboard, it is displayed as an empty dashboard. All new dashboards are empty
except for the Add Widget placeholder represented by the empty widget with a
blue plus sign (+). For information about adding widgets, see Common widget
controls and the following section.
To create a report based on the contents of the current dashboard, click Create
Dashboard Report.
Dashboards are composed of one or more widgets. A widget is a small window in
each dashboard which presents information from the SolarWinds Virtualization
Manager system. There is no limit to the number of widgets that you can place on
a dashboard. Virtualization Manager contains the following widget types:
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Consumption widget
Content/Alert List
Fitment widget
Map widget
Notes widget
Top N widget
Trend widget
Each dashboard contains a final widget with a blue plus sign (+) which you can
click to add a new widget to the dashboard. This walks you through the
configuration of the new widget depending on its type. Configuration options for
each type of widget are covered in the following sections.
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Dashboards are another type of content in SolarWinds Virtualization Manager.
You can view and manage all of your dashboards in the Content Manager. You
can also make a dashboard private to have a highly personalized view of your
virtual environment.
Move -
Options -
Open Related -
Moving widgets
To move a widget to a different location on the Dashboard, drag the Move button
to the location you want. All other widgets will be reorganized according to the
widget you moved.
Displaying widget options
Click the Options button to display the following commands:
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Edit widget: Edit the options and properties of the widget. In most widgets
you can configure the data columns that are displayed in the widget from the
Columns tab. Other configurable options and properties are covered in the
widget descriptions.
Copy Widget Link: Create a URL for the widget and copy the URL to the
clipboard. You can paste the URL from the clipboard to share the widget
with others in an email message or web page.
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Widget types
Widget types
Each widget has its own unique perspective, controls, and configuration options.
This section contains information about each widget type in detail.
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Consumption widget
Content/Alert List
Fitment widget
Map widget
Notes widget
Top N widget
Trend widget
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Alert Monitor widget
By using Alert Monitor widgets, you can view some or all of the alerts configured
in SolarWinds Virtualization Manager.
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Widget types
Consumption widget
Consumption widgets show the remaining virtualization resources based on the
default usage profile and the default resource container. You can change both the
resource container and the usage profile.
Content/Alert List
By using Content/Alert List widgets you can have any content in the SolarWinds
Virtualization Manager system available to you on your dashboard. Every piece of
content that is displayed in the widget is a link that launches into a detailed view
for that type of content.
All content in SolarWinds Virtualization Manager has a type, tags, and an owner.
To add a new Content Viewer widget, click the blue plus (+) widget at the end of
every dashboard to add the widget manually. Select the type of content and
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optionally select the content with a given tag to display. Then choose an attribute
to sort the content by. You can choose from the following options:
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You can also choose to see all content visible to you, or only content that you
own.
The only custom control for an Alert Monitor Widget is the Refresh link at the top
of the widget. This reloads the list of content in the widget in case more has been
created since the dashboard was last refreshed.
Facet View widget
To create a new Facet Visualization widget, first enter the Data center visualizer
section of Business Views and configure the pie chart. Then click Add Widget in
the top right of the screen to save the view as a widget. Pick the dashboard in
which that widget will reside, and then click Save.
You can also click the blue plus (+) widget at the end of every dashboard to add
the widget manually. In this process, you are prompted for the Search Query from
which you want to facet, and the type of entity (VM, host, datastore, cluster, or
application) to search. You can enter the search query manually or load a saved
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Widget types
query by using the Load query link. Next, select the facet property that will break
down the search results into pie sections. You can enter the facet property
manually, or click Select facet to choose from a list of all facets. Click Save to
view your new widget, or click Cancel.
The process of configuring a Facet Visualization Widget is identical to the
process of creating a new one except that its current Search Query and facet will
be pre-populated.
The last control on the Facet Visualization Widget is the Explore link at the top of
the widget. Click this link to display a full screen view of that Facet Visualization
in the Data Center Visualization section of Business Views.
Fitment widget
By using fitment widgets, you can see the number of VMs that you can add to your
various clusters, given the current load on the virtual infrastructure.
Fitment widgets are driven by a supply side and a demand side. The supply side
is a Resource Container and defines the computing resources that are available
in one or more hosts or all the hosts in one or more clusters. The demand side is
called a Usage Profile and it defines the set of VMs that utilize the computing
resources. For more information, see Capacity planning.
To configure a Fitment Widget, click the blue plus (+) widget at the end of a
dashboard to add the widget manually. The default view uses the Default (All
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Clusters) as the resource and the Default (All VMs) as the consumption usage
profile. Edit the widget to change the resource, usage profiles, and workload size.
Click Recalculate to recompute the capacity plan in the widget.
Map widget
By using the Map widget, you can add a smaller version of the map view directly
to your dashboard.
The default map widget view displays all available VMs, hosts, datastores,
clusters, and applications. To switch object types, click the object counter at the
bottom.
Widget options
Click
Open related
Click
The Refresh link at the top of the widget reloads the list of content in the widget in
case more has been created since the dashboard was last refreshed. The Show
in Search link at the top of the widget opens the selected map view in the search
results page.
Notes widget
By using the Notes widget, you can display any notes added to inventory items.
This is a convenient way to share team information about past activity or planned
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Widget types
future activity. All notes can be displayed on a widget.
Like all content in SolarWinds Virtualization Manager, all notes can be tagged.
When adding a Notes Widget, you can select to show all notes in the system, or
just notes with a certain tag.
Select the tag of the notes you want to show when creating the widget.
For information about creating notes, see Notes.
Performance Chart widget
By using the Performance Chart widget you can place metrics on your dashboard.
Note: New chart widgets are empty until you configure the chart details in the
options.
Widget options
Click
> Edit Widget > Chart to select the asset type, the asset, and the metric.
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Open related
Click
To configure the RSS Feed Widget, click the blue plus (+) widget at the end of a
dashboard, and then provide the URL of the RSS feed you want to view in the
widget. Click Save to view your new widget.
The only custom control on the RSS Feed widget is the Refresh link at the top.
Click this link to get a fresh version of the RSS feed and refresh the widget with
new content.
Top N widget
Top N widgets display a short list of virtual entities (VMs, hosts, clusters, data
stores, or applications) that are using more resources than their counterparts. Top
N widgets without graphs provide more real estate for more results.
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Widget types
Top N widgets with graphs display both the value of the resource consumed and
a historical chart of the consumption of the given resource over time.
To configure a Top N widget, click the blue plus (+) widget at the end of a
dashboard to add the widget manually. Then specify the title of the widget, select
the type of entity to display, and enter the search query used to get those items.
This lets you see all or just a subsection of your virtual environment. You can
enter the search query manually, or load a saved query by using the Load query
(optional) link. Next, select Pick a sort field to pick a field that determines how
the results are ordered in your Top N widget (ascending or descending).
You can select which columns are displayed by clicking the plus button and
adding an attribute. You can reorder or edit the columns after they have been
added to the widget. You can optionally select to include a graph with the Top N
results by clicking the Overlay Graph (optional) link. This displays all the graphs
available to display in the widget.
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If you create dashboard reports from dashboards with Top-N widgets, you can
also choose how many results are displayed in the widget.
By using the custom controls for a Top N widget, you can add the virtual entities
to the active list, view the items in the performance analyzer, and run the search in
the search results view. The Graph link opens the entities in the Performance
Analyzer to give you a full screen view of the entities and their resource
consumption over time.
Trend widget
By using trend widgets, you can embed a historical trend graph or a multi-trend
table into a dashboard.
Historical trend graphs look like the following image:
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Customizing widgets
To create a new Facet Historical Chart widget, find the trend in the Business
Views section of SolarWinds Virtualization Manager. When you are viewing the
trend, click Add Widget in the top right of the screen to save the trend as a
widget. Pick the dashboard in which you want to place the widget, and then click
Save.
You can also click the blue plus (+) widget at the end of a dashboard to add the
widget manually.
On the Mode tab, select Historical Chart or Multi-Trend Table to determine the
widget type.
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On the Trends tab, click Add Trend to add one or more trends. You can filter the
list of trends by tag, ownership, or by a search term.
For Historical Charts, you can choose to View the trend in detail. This launches
into the trends of Business Views and displays a full screen version of the trend.
Customizing widgets
You can customize widgets from existing widget types. Some widgets can be
customized directly from the widget, such as the RSS Feed widget, and some
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widgets need a custom search query, such as the Top N widget.
For widgets that do not rely on a modifiable query, add the widget and use the
Edit control to make any necessary changes.
For widgets that rely on a selectable query, first create the query. You can save
the query, create a trend from the query, or do both. When you customize the
widget, you can select the custom query or the custom trend.
Portal integration
Widgets can be viewed outside of the SolarWinds Virtualization Manager
application.
To obtain the URL to embed or link to a widget, click the arrow on the top right of
the widget, and then select Copy widget link.
This option provides a direct URL to a read-only view of the widget as well as the
HTML source code to embed the widget in another web page. The URL is valid
for the specific widget spot, not for the specific widget. For example, if you get the
URL for the first widget, which could be a Top-N widget, and then you later put a
Trend widget in the first spot, the URL will show the Trend widget.
When you embed widgets in other HTML pages, provide at least 354 pixel width.
A narrower width may result in scroll-bars placed over the widget.
If you use localhost, the URL you receive is also from localhost, and it is not
accessible from the outside. In this case, replace localhost with the real server
host name or IP address.
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SolarWinds Orion server
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager can integrate with Orion platform products by
embedding a widget on a page.
To embed a widget on the SolarWinds Orion server:
1. In Virtualization Manager, click Copy Widget Link above the widget.
2. Copy the HTML code.
3. Open your SolarWinds Orion product and navigate to the page from which
you want to view your Virtualization Manager widget.
4. Click Customize Page.
5. Click the plus sign icon in a column.
6. Group the available resources by type, and then select Custom
Resources.
7. Select Custom HTML, and then click Add selected resources.
8. Click Done in the Customize Page screen.
9. Click Edit on the Custom HTML widget.
10. Paste the HTML code copied from Virtualization Manager.
11. Click Submit.
OpenSocial portals
The OpenSocial dashboard standard of Google is a common way to share
gadgets. The widgets of SolarWinds Virtualization Manager can be displayed
inside of an OpenSocial Gadget. This example uses the Atlassian JIRA project.
To use a Virtualization Manager widget in an OpenSocial portal:
1. Add the gadget to your directory of gadgets.
2. In JIRA, click Add Gadget at the top of any dashboard.
3. Click the Add Gadget to Directory.
4. Provide your gadget URL.
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Now the SolarWinds Virtualization Manager gadget is ready to be used on your
OpenSocial compliant dashboard. In JIRA, click the Add it Now button to place
an empty gadget on your dashboard, and then complete the following steps to
configure the gadget.
1. Click Edit at the top of the widget
2. Configure the following two fields:
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SWF URL: This field is where the gadget should look for the flash
movie. Use the Widget URL retrieved from Virtualization Manager, but
remove everything after the ConsoleContainer.swf. For example,
http://hyper9.example.com:8983/hyper9/ConsoleContainer.swf.
Widget Token: This field is for the unique token for the widget. This is
the last section of the widget URL after the = symbol.
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Trends -
To reach the Business Views, click the Reporting tab, and then click Business
Views in the top menu.
Note: The Historical performance analyzer charts are no longer a section of the
Business Views. You can see performance charts from anywhere by clicking Add
to Chart when you have one or more objects selected.
Trends
Data centers undergo constant change, and SolarWinds Virtualization Manager
constantly collects and monitors configuration and performance data over time.
The Global Trends aspect displays high level changes of your environment over
time. Upon installation, the SolarWinds Virtualization Manager system begins
tracking over 70 trends that are contained within the product.
To access the Global Trends:
1. Click Reporting > Business Views.
2. Click the line chart icon on the top left.
By default, each trend runs a search every four hours and records the result. The
result may be a count of the number of results returned, or a value based on data
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Trend operations
You can perform the following operations with the currently loaded trend using the
links in the top right corner of the Trend screen:
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Creating trends
Apart from the trends that are available by default, you can also create your own
trends.
To create a trend:
1. Perform a search.
2. Click Trend Results to access the Trend creation screen.
The Trend creation screen consists of the following tabs:
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Scope: On this tab, the item type is automatically selected, and the Search
Query field is pre-populated according to the search query you used.
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Trend operations
Criteria: To trend the number of search results over time, select Search
result count. To pull data out of each search result, instead of just using the
count of search results, you have two options:
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Select Attribute in the Criteria tab, and then type the name of the
attribute you want to base the trend on. The autocomplete function
suggests options based on what you have typed so far. To select from
all the available attributes, click Find.
Use XPath in the Attribute field. This requires familiarity with the
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager configuration model, but provides
a powerful way to do math operations on multiple values to return the
attribute value.
Whether you use XPath, or select an attribute, make sure that you select the
appropriate unit from the Units list for the data you want to pull. Also make
sure that you choose a value from the Aggregation Function list to specify
whether you want to count the number of values, the total (sum) of the
values, or the minimum, maximum or average of values.
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After you finished setting up the details of the new trend, click Preview at the
bottom of the screen to see the set of values that will be saved as trend values if
you decide to run the trend. If the preview shows that the trend is set up correctly,
click Save to persist the trend with a new name and an optional description, and
begin tracking data center changes.
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CPU Ready
CPU Used
CPU Wait
Memory Active
Memory Ballooning
Memory Consumed
Memory Swap In
Memory Utilization %
Net Packets Rx
Net Packets Tx
To view data for any object, select one or more objects, and then click Add to
Chart.
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: Click this control to open a dialog box to add lines from this VM, its
parent cluster, its parent host, or related data stores.
: Click this control to view the individual component values that determine
the overall value of this line. For example, viewing the component values for
CPU usage displays the individual vCPU cores. If the line is made up of
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Capacity planning
All lines on the performance charts include an optional "best fit" line that shows a
flat line which best fits the points for that metric. To see the best fit line, select the
Best Fit option at the top of the chart.
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Gradient is the slope of the line, it displays the rate of growth of the
performance metric or trend.
r2 is the r-squared coefficient of determination. The range of possible values
is 0.0 to 1.0. A higher value means that the data better fits a straight line
projection with growth over time. Do not lend too much weight to this value if
there is only a small number of data points in the graph. For example, if
there are only two data points in the graph, the value of r2 will always be
1.0. A low value of r2 indicates either a lot of variability in the data, or that
the data do not change significantly with time. Either of these cases means
that extrapolating a "drop dead" date on the specific resource is invalid.
For any metric that is a percentage of total resources, the best fit line also
includes an estimate for when that value will reach 100%. This gives you a
predictive analysis of how your resources are trending over time, so that you can
plan when to insert more resources.
Overlays
At the top of the Performance Analyzer chart there are other options that control
data that can be overlaid on top of the time line in context of the lines being
displayed.
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The search engine of Virtualization Manager has been specifically tailored to
handle the challenges posed by searching large, in-depth, unstructured
information sets, such as the data created from an operational virtualized
environment. You can create search queries for any items of interest within the
entire scope of the virtualized environment. This includes searching for both the
performance and configuration details of the following item types:
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vCenters
clusters
data stores
hosts
applications
virtual machines
It leverages the vendor supplied APIs to access all available data provided
for these objects.
The entire process of data collection is repeated at periodic intervals. The end
result is a data repository that accurately represents the configuration, state,
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performance, and utilization of the virtual infrastructure. This data repository is
queried by the search service of Virtualization Manager, and the data is available
for analysis.
Several items on the dashboard perform a search and show results on the search
page. The query for the search is pre-populated in the search bar. Many times,
you can edit this search to modify the results. However, you can also create
search queries from scratch. For more information, see Searching for objects in
Virtualization Manager.
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Search details
You can choose from the following permission types:
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Private: Only the user saving the search query has access.
World Writable: All users can view and modify the query.
Search details
Click any search result to open the Search Details page. For each type of search
result the details differ, but there are important details to help you understand the
importance of a particular item to the virtual environment.
The left column displays the vital performance metrics of the item, and alerts
about its performance. Click an alert to see the corresponding details. The icon
indicates the importance of the alert.
The right column displays the relationship of the particular item to the other
members of the virtual infrastructure. Click any of these items to open it on the
search details page.
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Add to Chart: Opens the Performance Analyzer with the selected search
results in context to view graphs of performance metrics over time.
Map: Displays a dependency map of the virtual infrastructure with the
selected search results in context.
View Notes: Displays any custom notes on any of the selected search
results.
Export: Performs data export to create a spreadsheet that contains details
about the properties of the selected search results.
Plan: Creates a capacity plan using the selected search results.
Add to App: Groups the VM search results together into an application.
This action is only applicable to VM search results.
Compare: Performs a DNA comparison between one or two selected
search results.
Label: Adds or edits the labels attached to the selected search results.
Note: The action buttons are only displayed after you select one or more search
results.
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Search language
Search language
The Virtualization Manager search language is a powerful search syntax with
which you can create multi-clause, proper-name, instance-based search queries.
Queries are composed of terms and operators. A term can be a single term or a
phrase. A single term is a single word such as windows or west. A phrase is a
group of words surrounded by quotation marks, such as windows west.
Multiple terms can be combined with Boolean operators to form more complex
queries. If there are multiple terms, they are implicitly joined together with AND
clauses meaning that all clauses must be true for the search results.
The following advanced search syntax elements are also supported:
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Wildcards
Fuzzy searches
Proximity searches
Range queries
Language syntax
The following sections contain information about the Virtualization Manager
search query language elements, and about their usage.
Terms
There are two types of terms: single terms and phrases. A single term is a single
word such as "vm" or "west". A phrase is a group of words surrounded by
quotation marks, such as "vm west". You can combine multiple terms together
with Boolean operators to form a more complex query.
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Fields
or
VM:"River Ranch" AND Windows Server 2008
Because text is the default field, the field indicator is not required.
Note: The field is only valid for the term that it directly precedes, so the query
VM:River Ranch only finds VMs named "River". It finds "Ranch" in the default
field, in this case, the text field.
Using wildcard searches
Multiple character wildcard searches look for 0 or more characters. For example,
to search for ESX, ESX3.0.2 or ESX3.5, you can use the following search:
ESX*
You can also use wildcard searches in the middle of a term. For example:
ESX*2
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Search language
Using fuzzy searches
This search finds terms such as "PQL" and "TQL". An optional parameter can
specify the required similarity. The value is between 0 and 1. If the value is closer
to 1, only terms with a higher similarity will be matched. For example:
SQL~0.8
The default that is used if the optional parameter is not given is 0.5.
Using proximity searches
By using proximity searches, you can find words that are within a specific
distance away. To do a proximity search, use the tilde (~) symbol at the end of a
phrase. For example, to search for "Microsoft" and "Server" within 10 words of
each other in a document, use the following search:
"Microsoft Server"~10
Using range searches
By using range queries, you can match documents whose field values are
between the lower and upper bound specified by the range query. Range queries
can be inclusive or exclusive of the upper and lower bounds. Sorting is done
lexicographically. For example, the following query finds documents whose mod
date fields have values between 20020101 and 20030101, inclusive:
mod_date:[20020101 TO 20030101]
You can also use range queries with non-date fields. The following query finds all
VMs whose names are in the range between DB01 and DB10, but not including
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DB01 and DB10:
VM:{DB01 TO DB10}
Note: Inclusive range queries are denoted by straight brackets. Exclusive range
queries are denoted by curly braces.
Using date searches
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager supports searching for both specific dates and
relative dates.
Specific date searches can be in the following formats:
vm.internal.datecreated:YYYY-MM-DD
vm.internal.datecreated:MM-DD-YYYY
The part separator can be either a dash (-), a slash (/) or a period (.).
Searches using either format or any part separator return the same VMs.
Use the following terms to include dates relative to now:
or YEARS
YEAR
MONTH
HOUR
MINUTE
or MINUTES
SECOND
or SECONDS
or MONTHS
or HOURS
Boosting a term
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more relevant, boost it by using the ^ symbol along with the boost factor next to
the term. For example:
Microsoft^4 Windows
The previous search query makes documents with the term Microsoft appear
more relevant. You can also boost phrase terms as in the following example:
"Microsoft Windows"^4 "Server 2003"
By default, the boost factor is 1. Although the boost factor must be positive, it can
be less than 1, such as 0.2.
Using Boolean operators
By using Boolean operators, you can combine terms through logical operators.
You can use the following Boolean operators in Virtualization Manager:
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AND
OR
NOT
AND
The AND operator matches documents where both terms exist anywhere in the
text of a single document. This is equivalent to an intersection using sets. You
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can use the && symbol in place of the word AND. To search for documents that
contain "Microsoft Windows" and "SQL Server", use the following query:
"Microsoft Windows" AND "SQL Server"
+
The "+" or required operator requires that the term after the "+" symbol exist
somewhere in a field of a single document. To search for documents that must
contain "Microsoft" and may contain "Windows", use the following query:
+Microsoft Windows
NOT
The NOT operator excludes documents that contain the term after NOT. This is
equivalent to a difference using sets. You can use the ! symbol in place of the
word NOT. To search for documents that contain "Microsoft Windows" but not
"SQL Server", use the following query:
"Microsoft Windows" NOT "SQL Server"
Note: The NOT operator cannot be used with just one term. For example, the
following search does not return any results:
NOT "Microsoft Windows"
The "-" or prohibit operator excludes documents that contain the term after the "-"
symbol. To search for documents that contain "Microsoft Windows" but not "SQL
Server" use the following query:
"Microsoft Windows" -"SQL Server"
Grouping
You can use parentheses to group clauses to form sub-queries. This can be
useful to control the Boolean logic for a query. To search for either "Microsoft" or
"VMware" and "Server", use the following query:
(Microsoft OR VMware) AND Server
The previous query eliminates any confusion, and makes sure that a server must
exist, and that either the term Microsoft or VMware may exist.
141
Search language
Field grouping
You can also use parentheses to group multiple clauses to a single field. To
search for a VM that contains both the word "Server" and the phrase "Oracle
Database", use the following query:
VM:(+Server +"Oracle Database")
Escaping special characters
To escape special characters that are part of the query syntax, type a backslash
(\) before the special character. The current list of special characters is the
following:
+ - && || ! ( ) { } [ ] ^ " ~ * ? : \
Search query examples
You can search for applications, clusters, data stores, hosts, and virtual machines
in SolarWinds Virtualization Manager. The following table contains examples of
the search queries you can execute. The examples listed in the table are search
queries for virtual machines, but the search language is the same for other types
of entities.
Search query
Results
vm.name:rcarecords-2-test
rca*
rcarecords-?-test
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Chapter 7: Search
Search query
Results
character
rcarecords~
Server OR Workstation
+Mail Server
143
Search language
Search query
Results
-Mail Server
Named fields
vm = Virtual Machine
cluster = Cluster
datastore = Datastore
Not all properties have a sub-property, therefore many named field searches use
the following syntax:
CI_TYPE.PROPERTY:VALUE.
Example search queries
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Chapter 7: Search
This query searches for all virtual machines with two CPUs and 1024 MBs of
memory as configured. The usage of MBs as the unit of measure for the memory
field is specific to the named field implementation.
You can also use more complex named field structures. They are based on dot
notation hierarchies as in the following example:
vm.environmentFor.networkAdapters.defaultGateway.ipV4Address:192.0.2.1
This query searches for virtual machines whose network adapters default
gateway is set to 192.0.2.1.
Named fields can also be composed of query sub-clauses and any other
additional search language features as in the following example:
vm.cpuCount:2 AND vm.memory:(1024 OR 2048)
In this example, the query searches for all virtual machines with two (2) CPUs and
1024 or 2048 MBs of memory as configured.
If a named field value contains special characters, it must be enclosed in quotes.
For example, the following query returns disk drives that are labeled "Hard", and
not "Hard Disk 1":
vm.environmentFor.diskVolume.label:Hard Disk 1
The following table contains an abbreviated list of fields and their description,
including the associated unit of measure.
Named field (without vm. qualifier)
Description
cpuCount
Number of
vCPUs
configured
diskDrives.capacity
Capacity of
configured
virtual disk in
MBs
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Search language
Description
diskDrives.label
Name of
configured
virtual disk
environmentFor.cpus.description
Description
of CPU
environmentFor.cpus.deviceId
Processor
number
environmentFor.cpus.manufacturer
Manufacturer
of CPU
environmentFor.cpus.name
Name of
CPU
environmentFor.cpus.processorId
ID of
processor
environmentFor.cpus.socket
Socket
number of
CPU
environmentFor.cpus.speed
Speed of
CPU in MHz
environmentFor.networkAdapters.defaultGateway.ipV4Address IP address of
default
gateway for
NIC
environmentFor.networkAdapters.dnsServers.ipV4Address
IP address of
DNS server
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Chapter 7: Search
Description
associated
with NIC
environmentFor.networkAdapters.ipAddress.ipV4Address
IP address of
NIC
environmentFor.networkAdapters.macAddress
MAC
address of
NIC
environmentFor.networkAdapters.name
Name of NIC
environmentFor.networkAdapters.status
Status of NIC
environmentFor.networkAdapters.type
Type of the
NIC
environmentFor.removableDrives.attachedMedia
Label or
location of
media
present in
removable
device
environmentFor.removableDrives.removableDriveType
Type of
removable
device
environmentFor.runningOS.computerName
NetBIOS
name for
Guest OS
environmentFor.runningOS.currentTimeZone
Current time
147
Search language
Description
zone
enabled for
Guest OS
environmentFor.runningOS.daylightInEffect
Whether
daylight
savings time
is in effect for
the Guest OS
environmentFor.runningOS.dnsHostname
Host name in
DNS of
Guest OS
environmentFor.runningOS.ntDomain
Windows NT
domain
membership
of Guest OS
environmentFor.runningOS.oemInfo.description
Information
provided by
VMware
environmentFor.runningOS.osType
Type of
Guest OS
environmentFor.runningOS.paeEnabled
Whether
physical
address
memory
extensions
are enabled
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Chapter 7: Search
Description
in Guest OS
environmentFor.runningOS.partOfDomain
Whether the
Guest OS is
part of a
Windows NT
domain
environmentFor.runningOS.services.displayName
Display
name for
service on
Guest OS
environmentFor.runningOS.services.name
Internal
registration
name for
service on
Guest OS
environmentFor.runningOS.services.pathName
Path name to
service
executable
for service on
Guest OS
environmentFor.runningOS.services.startMode
Start mode
for service on
Guest OS
environmentFor.runningOS.services.type
Type of
service for
service on
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Search language
Description
Guest OS
environmentFor.runningOS.systemType
Type of
physical
system
provided by
virtual
machine to
Guest OS
environmentFor.runningOS.versionInfo.buildNumber
Build number
of Guest OS
environmentFor.runningOS.versionInfo.osVersion
Version of
Guest OS
environmentFor.runningOS.versionInfo.servicePack
Service pack
level of
Guest OS
environmentFor.runningOS.versionInfo.servicePackMajor
Major version
number of
service pack
level on
Guest OS
environmentFor.runningOS.versionInfo.servicePackMinor
150
Minor version
number of
service pack
level on
Guest OS
Chapter 7: Search
Description
environmentFor.runningOS.versionInfo.version
Version of
Guest OS
guestFamily
Family of
Guest OS
guestFullName
Full name of
Guest OS
guestId
ID for Guest
OS type
hostname
Host name of
virtual
machine
hostserver.hostName
Name of
ESX host for
virtual
machine
hostserver.ipAddress
IP address of
ESX host for
virtual
machine
identity.apiVersion
Version of
hypervisor
identity.configFileName
Name of VM
configuration
file
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Search language
Description
identity.relativePathName
Path name of
VM folder in
storage
location
identity.vmVendorName
Vendor of
hypervisor
managedByServer
IP address of
management
server entity
managementServer.hostName
Name of
VirtualCenter
managing
ESX host
running
virtual
machine
managementServer.ipAddress
IP address of
VirtualCenter
managing
ESX host
running
virtual
machine
manufacturer
Virtualization
infrastructure
vendor
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Chapter 7: Search
Description
memory
Memory
configured in
MBs
memoryOverhead
Memory
overhead in
bytes
model
Type of
virtualization
infrastructure
name
Name of
virtual
machine
networkAdapters.ipAddress.subnetMask
Subnet mask
of NIC
snapshotSummary.dateCreated
Date when
snapshot
was created
snapshotSummary.description
Description
of snapshot
snapshotSummary.filename
snapshotSummary.fullPath
Full path of
snapshot
snapshotSummary.name
Name of
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Search language
Description
snapshot
snapshotSummary.powerStateWhenTaken
Power state
of VM when
snapshot
was taken
snapshotSummary.quiesced
Quiescent
state of VM
when
snapshot
was taken
suspendInterval
Number of
cumulative
seconds
suspended
toolsVersion
Version of
VMtools
running on
virtual
machine
virtualDisk.capacity
Capacity for
virtual disk in
KBs
virtualDisk.controllerType
Controller
type for
virtual disk
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Chapter 7: Search
Description
virtualDisk.location
File system
location of
virtual disk
virtualDisk.location
Location of
VMDK
virtualDisk.mode
Storage
mode for
virtual disk
virtualDisk.name
Name of
virtual disk
virtualDisk.type
File system
type of virtual
disk
virtualMediaDevice. startConnected
Connection
state of
virtual media
device when
VM is
powered on
virtualMediaDevice.connected
Connection
state of
virtual media
device
virtualMediaDevice.media
Media type of
virtual media
device
155
Search language
Description
virtualMediaDevice.name
Name of
virtual media
device
virtualMediaDevice.type
Type of
virtual media
device
virtualNIC.adapterType
Type of NIC
virtualNIC.connected
Connection
state of NIC
virtualNIC.macAddress
MAC
address of
NIC
virtualNIC.startConnected
Connection
state of NIC
when VM is
powered on
virtualNIC.virtualNetworkName
Name of
virtual
network
associated
with NIC
worldId
World ID
number
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Chapter 7: Search
157
Search query
Number of Windows X
Machines
Number of licensed
VMs/Windows VMs
guestFamily:windowsGuest
VI3 topology
Issue
Search query
managementServer/hostname:west-vc.hyper9.com
hostServer/hostname:california.hyper9.com
Number of X of Y (Dell
2950s)
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Chapter 7: Search
Issue
Search query
hostServer/deviceProperties/value:3.0.*
hostServer/deviceProperties/value:3.5.*
VM issues
Issue
Search query
toolsVersion:64607
tools version
Show VMs with mismatched tools
NOT suspendInterval:0
environmentFor/diskVolume/freeSpace:[0 TO
10000000]
virtualNIC/virtualNetworkName:Lake-Net
virtualDisk/location:*Storage*
Number of Virtual
Disk is 1
$/virtualMachine/virtualDisk/colSize:1
Number of Disk
Volumes is 1
$/virtualMachine/environmentFor/diskVolume/colSize:1
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Search query
NOT $/virtualMachine/media/colSize:0
virtualMediaDevice/connected:true
NICs down
NOT
environmentFor/networkAdapters/status:Connected
Cloning issues
Issue
Search query
MAC address
conflict on X
environmentFor/networkAdapters/macAddress:
75:34:44:0b:48:19 AND NOT virtualNIC/macAddress:
75:34:44:0b:48:19
NOT environmentFor/runningOS/currentTimeZone:-300
VMs in time
zone X
environmentFor/runningOS/currentTimeZone:-300
Daylight Sav-
environmentFor/runningOS/daylightInEffect:false
Search query
NOT $/virtualMachine/snapshotSummary/colSize:0
snapshotSummary/quiesced:false
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Chapter 7: Search
Guest OS issues
Issue
Search query
OS version is X.Y
environmentFor/runningOS/versionInfo/version:5.1.*
OS build is X
environmentFor/runningOS/versionInfo/buildNumber:2600
Search query
VMs with
service
running
environmentFor/runningOS/services/displayName:Alerter
VMs with
application
installed
environmentFor/runningOS/installedApplications/displayableName
:VMware*
Search query
Patche- environmentFor/runningOS/componentUpdates/installDate:
s
[20080901 TO 20080930]
installed in the
last X
VMs
with
environmentFor/runningOS/componentUpdates/displayName:KB*
161
Issue
Search query
Hotfix
VMs
with
patch
conflict
environmentFor/runningOS/componentUpdates/displayName:KB111111
AND environmentFor/runningOS/componentUpdates/displayName:KB222222
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Chapter 8: Alerts
Virtualization Manager uses alerts to monitor the environment for specified
conditions, and to notify users or external systems about those conditions. You
can configure alerts to fire when a specific condition arises, when it ceases to
exist, or both. Virtualization Manager contains over 40 alerts by default to help
you identify and highlight common problems in virtual environments.
Note: Virtualization Manager includes an alert that triggers when a VM fails to
send a heartbeat after the expected interval. For sending a heartbeat in a VMware
environment, VMware Tools has to be installed, and in a Hyper-V environment
the Integration Service has to be installed or enabled.
If no heartbeats are being received for any of the VMs on a host, it could indicate
a problem on the host itself, or that none of the hosted VMs have the required
VMware Tools or Hyper-V Integration Service installed or enabled.
To see the available alerts:
1. Click Content on the Explore tab.
2. Open the By type accordion on the left, and then select Alerts.
To create a new alert:
1. Search for a set of items that you want to alert on.
2. Click Create Alert.
The alert creation screen contains the following tabs:
l
Scope
Criteria
Notifications
Advanced settings
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Chapter 8: Alerts
Scope
At the highest level, the scope describes what data you analyze, and defines the
importance of the alert. You can define the following details:
l
Criteria
Alerts use criteria to evaluate data in the results of a search query, which is
defined in the scope of the alert. The evaluation criteria includes the following:
l
Base Alert On: The basis of the alert. This is either the Search result count
or the Attributes within the search results.
Triggers on: The rules based on which an alert is raised.
164
Attributes
Some alerts are based on the attributes of the search results instead of the
number of search results. This means that the alert must pluck properties from the
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Chapter 8: Alerts
search results and evaluate the value of that property.
To base an alert on the attributes of search results:
1. In the Base Alert On grouping of the Criteria tab, select Attribute.
2. Click Find to see the list of attributes available for evaluation.
Note: The list of available attributes is based on the type of object your
search returns.
3. Select the unit of measure for the attribute you want to evaluate. Because
Virtualization Manager allows XPath functions, it cannot automatically
determine the correct unit.
4. Select an aggregation function to perform operations across the search
results. The following options are available:
l
Average
Total
Count
5. Define the rules used in evaluation in the Triggers On grouping. Select one
of the following options:
l
Select Less Than and Greater Than to define the range of values for
which the alert should fire. The alert fires when the value is in the
range, not outside of the range.
Select Evaluate this range once against the entire result to base
the alert on the total value across search results, as defined in the
Aggregation Function list.
166
Notifications
Select Evaluate this range against each VM to base the alert on the
attribute value of each search result.
Because virtual environments are dynamic, you may only want an alert to fire if a
condition for the alert has been met for a sustained period of time. For example,
you may not want an alert to be fired immediately the first time when a VM has
high CPU utilization, but only if the high CPU utilization is sustained over a
specific time span. In this case, specify the time span in the Sustained Minutes
field.
Because alerts are only evaluated when new data is collected by Virtualization
Manager, set the Sustained Minutes to a period that matches the collection
period for that data type. By default, performance data is collected every 10
minutes, and configuration data is collected every 12 hours. Check the Evaluate
on settings on the Scope tab to see whether the alert is evaluated on a
performance collection schedule, or a configuration collection schedule.
Note: Alerts often perform mathematical operations on the properties. For such
cases, you can use XPath in the Attribute field. In most cases, XPath is used to
create an average or summary of multi-value properties. For example, to get the
total free space of all disk volumes in a VM, type the following in the Attribute
field:
sum(/virtualMachine/diskVolume/freeSpace)
To get the cluster storage utilization, type the following in the Attribute field:
(sum(/cluster/datastore/freeSpace) div sum(/cluster/datastore/capacity))
* 100
Notifications
Configure an alert to fire a notification when it is lowered or raised or is active.
You can configure the way an alert sends notifications of status changes on the
Notifications tab.
The status of every alert is evaluated automatically as new data is collected by
Virtualization Manager. If you set up an alert to evaluate on performance data, the
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Chapter 8: Alerts
evaluation happens every time new performance data is collected (10 minutes by
default). If you set up an alert to evaluate on configuration data, the evaluation
happens every time new configuration data is collected (12 hours by default).
You can also evaluate an alert manually by saving your changes on the alert
configuration page, or by clicking Evaluate now on the alert details page.
If you want to receive the notification every time the alert status is raised, lowered,
or active, select Notify on consecutive events. Otherwise, select Notify only
when raised. This way, Virtualization Manager only sends a notification when the
alert is raised.
Each alert has the following four statuses:
l
Inactive
Raised
Active
Lowered
The following table describes when an email notification is sent with the different
options selected.
Selected options
Inactive Raised
None
Active
Email sent -
Lowered
Email sent
Email sent -
Both
To receive an alert in email, specify the email address in the Email To field. You
can enter multiple addresses separated by a comma.
Note: Virtualization Manager must be configured for SMTP before an alert can
send email notifications when it is raised or lowered. For more information, see
Basic setup.
168
Example Action
If you do not have any actions defined yet, the following sample manifest provides
an example.
To use this example, perform the following steps:
1. Save the manifest file to the data/content/externalActions folder of your
server.
2. Name it logAlert.manifest.
3. After the file is saved, click Reload on the Select an External Action
window.
4. Select the action from the list.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<manifest xmlns="http://www.hyper9.com/ws"
xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance">
<enabled>true</enabled>
<type>ALERT</type>
<uniqueId>alert-test</uniqueId>
<name>Log Alert Summary</name>
<description>Logs a summary of this alert's firing details to a
file</description>
<command>perl</command>
<command>$MANIFEST_HOME/logAlert.pl</command>
<argumentPrefix>-</argumentPrefix>
<successCode>0</successCode>
<!--Optionally specify the directory to start from -->
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Chapter 8: Alerts
<!--<workingDirectory></workingDirectory>-->
</manifest>
For this example, a script was customized to run as the command, called
logAlert.pl. There are two command elements. Use a new element for every
time you have white space in your arguments.
Save the following code in the same data/content/externalActions folder as
logAlert.pl. Because it is saved in the same folder as the manifest, the
$MANIFEST_HOME variable from the previous manifest is used to describe its path.
#!/usr/bin/perl
# Author: Ryan Kruse
#
# Description: Designed to be called through the Hyper9 external actions
framework,
# this script simply uses the SOAP API to retrieve an Alert and log its
values to a file
#
use strict;
use Hyper9::Client;
use Getopt::Long;
my $timestamp;
my $alertId;
my $loginToken;
get_args();
my $client = Hyper9::Client->new( host => 'localhost:8983', );
#$client->{services_path} = '/single-vm';
$client->loginWithToken( username => 'admin', token => $loginToken, ) ||
die "Login failed\n\n";
my $alert = $client->getWorkspaceAsset(assetId=>$alertId);
$client->logout();
my $status = ($alert->{raised} eq 'true') ? "RAISED" : "LOWERED";
open( LOG, ">>logAlert.log" );
print LOG $timestamp."\t".$alert->{name}."\t$status\t".$alert->
{value}."\n";
close(LOG);
sub get_args
{
my $help;
GetOptions(
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Example Action
"timestamp:i"
"alertId:s"
"loginToken:s"
"help"
"h"
=>
=>
=>
=>
=>
\$timestamp,
\$alertId,
\$loginToken,
\$help,
\$help,
);
usage() if ( $help || !($alertId) );
}
sub usage
{
print STDERR << "EOF";
usage: $0 -timestamp=1271186678 -alertId=404cb4f0-4732-11df-98790800200c9a66
-loginToken=62b796e0-4732-11df-9879-0800200c9a66
-timestamp : seconds since epoch
-alertId
: hyper9 ID of the alert
-loginToken : a token that can be used to login to the hyper9 web
service
EOF
exit;
}
timestamp: The time stamp of the alert firing instance. This can be used to
retrieve more details of this alert firing.
alertId: The ID of the alert. This can be used to retrieve more details of the
alert.
loginToken: A short-lived one time use token that can be used to log in to
the Hyper9 web service.
The previous script uses the Perl Client (Hyper9::Client) module. You must
download this module from the additional components page of the SolarWinds
Customer Portal before you can run the action. Make sure it is installed in your
Perl path. For more information, see Using Perl SDK.
Consult the Web Services Description Language (WSDL) of your system
(http://your-server:8983/swvm/ws/hyper9.wsdl) for information about all you
can do through the SOAP web services.
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Chapter 8: Alerts
SNMP settings
You can use external monitoring tools to view all system alerts, because
Virtualization Manager can integrate with these systems by sending SNMP traps.
SNMP traps are automatically sent for every alert if your system is configured for
at least one trap receiver. For more information, see Configuring SNMP.
If you do not want all alerts to use the same OIDs, specify a different OID per alert
on the Advanced tab of the Alert definition. The SNMP alerts are always prefixed
by the Virtualization Manager enterprise OID.
Advanced settings
On the Advanced tab of the alert creation screen you can define the following
optional details about an alert:
l
In the In Context Search Link grouping, you can define a search query which
displays additional information about the resources for which the alert is raised.
For example, if you have an alert defined on the Scope tab which is raised when
the VMs under a host do not send a heartbeat, you can additionally set up a query
on the Advanced tab for displaying the list of VMs.
For information about displaying the results of the in context search query, see
Accessing historical alert information.
To define an in context search link:
1. Select the item type from the list for which you want to define the in context
query.
2. In the Search Query field, set up the query by using one of the following
methods:
172
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Chapter 8: Alerts
Click the Map icon to place the resource in context on the map.
If you defined an in context search query on the Advanced tab of the alert
creation screen, click the Magnifier icon to view the results returned by that
search query. If you specified a sort field on the Advanced tab of the alert
creation screen as well, the results are displayed according to the defined
sort field.
174
175
Planning basics
Capacity planning is driven by a supply side and a demand side. The Capacity
Planning module contains the following sections:
l
For more information, see Using resource containers and Using usage profiles.
CPU
memory
176
disk space
You can enter a resource container either directly from the Capacity Planning tab,
or by running a search query.
To define a resource container through search:
1. Search for hosts in the Search field.
2. Select one or more of the results.
3. Click Plan to enter the Capacity Planning module. The resource container
is in the upper left of the Capacity Planning module.
The resource container includes the following options:
l
Click Edit to modify, and then save the current resource container.
After clicking Edit, you can specify the members of a resource container in the
following ways:
l
Note: If you choose to use a cluster, all hosts in that cluster are considered as
resources.
177
Click Show Profile to toggle screens to edit the Usage Profile in context.
Click Save or Save as to save the resource container for future use.
Resource containers are not saved by default.
Click Show Details to get more details about the members of a resource
container.
To get different views of the capacity plan, click the links at the bottom of the
window:
l
Click Capacity to open the utilization graphs that display the actual
consumed capacity within the Resource Container.
Click Consumption to view the dates when the resource will cross the
configure warning and outage thresholds. For more information about
configuring warning and outage thresholds, see Advanced options.
Click Details to view all the calculations that went into the capacity plan. For
more information about capacity planning details, see Showing the
calculations and variables.
Click Scatterplot to view the scatterplot graphs of IOPS.
Click Summary to return to the Capacity Planning summary view which
contains an overview of the resource container, the Usage Profile, and the
Capacity Planning Results. If the calculation results are not displayed, click
Calculate in the upper right of the Capacity Planning module.
Note: The total and average percentage values displayed in the resource
container are the same by design. The VmAverage value can be lower if the load
on the host or cluster includes non VM-related load.
178
CPU
memory
disk space
To define a usage profile, you can enter the Capacity Planning module directly
from the Capacity Planning tab, or by running a search query.
To define a usage profile through search:
1. Search for VMs in the Search field.
2. Select one or more of the results.
3. Click Plan to enter the Capacity Planning module. The usage profile is in
the upper right of the Capacity Planning module.
Note: SolarWinds does not recommend creating usage profiles with more than
500 VMs. Usage profiles with more than 500 VMs negatively impact performance
during capacity planning calculations.
The usage profile provides the following options:
l
179
Note: If you choose to use a cluster, all VMs in that cluster are considered as
members of the usage profile, and they are considered when calculating resource
utilization.
The window provides the following options:
l
To get different views of the capacity plan, click the links at the bottom of the
window:
l
Click Capacity to open the utilization graphs that display the actual
consumed capacity within the Usage Profile.
Click Consumption to view the dates when the resources will cross the
configured warning and outage thresholds. For more information about
configuring warning and outage thresholds, see Advanced options.
180
Click Details to view all the calculations that went into the capacity plan. For
more information about capacity planning details, see Showing the
calculations and variables.
Click Scatterplot to view the scatterplot graphs of IOPS.
Click Summary to return to the Capacity Planning summary view which
contains an overview of the resource container, the usage profile, and the
capacity planning results. If the calculation results are not displayed, click
Calculate in the upper right of the Capacity Planning module.
Note: The total and average percentage values displayed in the resource
container are the same by design. The VmAverage value can be lower if the load
on the host or cluster includes non VM-related load.
CPU utilization
memory utilization
network consumption
Note: 100% is the default threshold, but you can customize this in the Capacity
Manager. For more information, see Advanced options.
181
The large graphs show the historic values, and a best fit line.
The table below the graph contains the calculated dates when each
resource hits certain thresholds based on their current course and speed.
Warning Date: The date when the metrics will reach the Warn at threshold.
Note: You can configure both the Warn at and Out at thresholds in the Capacity
Manager. For more information, see Advanced options.
To return to the Capacity Planning summary page, click Summary in the lower
right.
182
CPU utilization
memory utilization
network consumption
2. Load a usage profile that contains VMs that are representative of the new
VMs you want to add. The calculations examine the following consumption
metrics of these VMs:
l
CPU
memory
disk space
Workload (constraint): If you specified the number of VMs you want to add
and their specifications in the Workload section of the Advanced Options,
this column displays how many times you can add all of them. For more
information, see Advanced options.
Small VMs: This column displays the number of VMs you can add if you
only add the smallest VMs within the usage profile, which consume the
least resources.
183
Average VMs: This column displays the number of VMs you can add,
based on the average resources consumed by VMs within the usage profile.
Large VMs: This column displays the number of VMs you can add if you
only add the largest VMs within the usage profile, which consume the most
resources.
For a more visual representation of the number of VMs you can add, click
Capacity in the bottom of the Capacity Planning module.
The bar chart on the left shows all the clusters or hosts. If the resource container
you used for the calculations holds clusters, the chart shows clusters. If the
resource container holds hosts, the chart shows hosts. Each of the consumed
resources is represented per cluster or host. The chart provides an overview of
the latest resource utilization information across the given resource container.
The Remaining Capacity bars of the bar charts on the right show the number of
VMs that may be added. The charts display the following information:
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VM capacity by CPU
Note: The charts take into account the settings you specify in Advanced Options,
and are refreshed whenever you click Update in the Advanced Options section,
or click Calculate at the top right of the Capacity Planning module. For more
information, see Advanced options.
Calculating VM sizes
Virtualization Manager calculates the sizes of small, average, and large VMs
based on the information contained in the usage profile.
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3. Click Update to see how the new resources affect the number of VMs you
can add.
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Overloaded hosts
Note: These options are saved in the resource container. To save your
specifications, make sure that you save the resource container. The total extra
resources that will be added to this resource container are the resources per host
multiplied by the number of hosts. Any calculations outlined in the When will I run
out? and How much more can I add? use cases consider these new resources as
available when using this resource container.
Overloaded hosts
In general, the best indicator of an overloaded datastore is the latency, or
response time, of read/write requests to the datastore. Outside of the storage
dashboard and alerts, you can determine when datastores will be overloaded
based on the current performance.
After adding your datastores to the chart, select a device latency graph or line to
see which datastores are experiencing the highest response time. You can also
plot IOPs for the datastore and the corresponding VMs to find the VMs that
generate the most IO.
Advanced options
On every screen within the Capacity Planning Module, the Advanced options
link is at the bottom left of the screen. Click this link to customize how the capacity
plan is calculated.
The advanced options column is displayed on the left of any capacity planning
screen. The options are separated into the following four sections in an accordion
control:
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Calculation settings
Resource types
Workload
Sample period
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Reserved/Additional hosts
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Failover Capacity
x Speed (MHz): The speed of each CPU (in MHz, not GHz).
Shared Disk (GB): Shared disk space per host (in GB).
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Advanced options
To make the new settings take effect immediately, click Update at the bottom of
the custom Calculation Settings.
Resource types
When viewing the resource consumption chart as described in the When will I run
out? use case, the thresholds for a warning and an outage are configurable in the
Resource Types section of the Capacity Manager.
To make the new settings take effect immediately, click Update at the bottom of
the custom Resource Types.
Workload
In the Workload section you can define a theoretical set of new VMs to deploy in
your environment to see if your current resources can support it. This is part of the
How much more can I add? use case.
To make the new settings take effect immediately, click Update at the bottom of
the custom Workload.
Sample period
In the Sample Period section you can specify the performance data used to
calculate load on a resource container. The default is to use your average
performance data for all day over the last 30 days, but you can change the default
settings to use only data collected during business hours, or only during daylight
hours.
To use only samples pertaining to certain time periods:
1. Click the radio button next to Start.
2. Specify the daily interval when you want to collect performance data.
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3. Specify the days of the week when you want to collect performance data.
4. Click Update to save your changes.
Note: The settings you specify are saved within the resource container.
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This page is comprised of several key details. The left column displays a list of
categories of attributes that you can examine for comparison on a category by
category basis. The degree of differences for each category is also displayed in a
gauge to the left of the category name. The green represents similarities and the
white space represents differences. The overall matching percentage based
score is computed and presented by the gauge on the results pane with a
comparison of the direct attribute counts below. The meaning of the colors is
similar to the attribute categories.
The majority of the results page is dedicated to the comparison of the selected
objects.
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Virtual Machines
Hosts
Clusters
Datastores
Applications
The items displayed in their boxes are only the items that are related to whatever
is in context. Changing the context will change the dependencies.
Click Explore, and then click Map. This method opens the dependency
map with all clusters in context. By definition, this means that the
dependency map shows the entire virtual environment.
Select one or more items from search results or the active list, and then click
Map in the action bar. This method places the selected items in context.
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Only those virtual infrastructure items that are related to what is in context
will be displayed on the dependency map.
Setting context
To reset the context, click Show Entire Environment on the left. This puts all
clusters in your virtual environment in context. By definition, this means that each
box contains all entities: VMs, hosts, datastores, and applications.
To set the context to just a few items currently in the map:
1. Select the small check box in the upper left corner of the items you want.
2. Click Context in the main box to put the selected items in context.
Understanding alerts
In all boxes, any entity that has an alert firing displays a colored icon. Hover over
the item to get details of the alerts that are currently firing.
The colors and their meanings are the following:
Color
Meaning
No color No alerts
Blue
Informational
Yellow
Warning
Red
Critical
This legend is displayed in the top right of the dependency map. Clear the
relevant check boxes to fade alerts into the background if you do not want to see
them.
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Exporting data
To export data, perform the following steps:
1. Select the small check box in the upper left of the items you want to export.
2. Click More in the upper right, and then select Export.
3. Add any attributes you want to include in the data export, or load a
predefined template.
4. Click Run Export.
Sorting items
To sort a box, place an item in context first. Click Sort by in the lower left of the
box, and then select how to sort the items in the box. Click OK to finalize the sort.
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Editing content
After you have found the content you want, click it to get the details and actions
you can take with that piece of content.
The actions at the bottom of the screen are the following:
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Configure: Launches the editor to change the content based on its type.
View: Launches the viewer to see the output of the content based on its
type.
Note: Not all types of content have the same operations available to them.
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Importing content
To import content, perform the following steps:
1. Click Import Content in the lower right of the content viewer.
2. Select the file to import.
3. Select the privileges (visibility) that you want to assign the new content.
Virtualization Manager content is in XML format and you can browse to
open any XML file that SolarWinds delivered to you to import it into the
system. After import, the new content is available in the content browser and
can be edited, executed, deleted, or tagged.
You can also export content to share with other Virtualization Manager users, or
to request assistance from SolarWinds Technical Support.
Exporting content
To export content, perform the following steps:
1. Select the content in the Content viewer.
2. Click Export in the upper right.
3. Click Save on the window that appears to name the export file and select its
location.
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Content types
Content types
The following table lists the content types with a brief description.
Content
type
Description
Alerts
Dashboards
Lists
Queries
Reports
Resource
Containers
Usage Profiles
Templates
Trends
Tags
Type
Owner
Permissions
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Tags
In the Tags accordion content filter section on the left, you can filter content by
tags. By default, this view has no tags selected, so it shows all content regardless
of tags. Select one or more tags to filter the view to only show content with the
specific tag. This way you can filter content to only see pieces that can help with a
problem at hand. For instance, if you have storage issues, select the Storage tag
on the left to see all content where you can search, trend, or alert on storage
related issues.
Modifying the tags of a piece of content
To modify tags, perform the following steps:
1. Select the content, and then click Tags.
2. With the Assign button selected, click each tag you want to add to the
content.
Removing tags from a piece of content
To remove tags, perform the following steps:
1. Select the content, and then click Tags.
2. Click Remove, and then select the tag names to remove.
Creating custom tags
To create custom tags, perform the following steps:
1. Click Tags in the top right of the content viewer.
2. Click Assign.
3. In the text box next to the Plus (+) button, type the name of the new tag.
4. Click the Plus (+) button.
After clicking the Plus (+) button, the new tag can be applied to all content.
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Export items
Compare items
The actions you can perform with the whole list are the following:
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Click Save as in the bottom right to save the contents of the current list for
later use. Specify the permissions, name, description, and one or more tags
when saving a new list.
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Data exports
You can export the results of any search query or list to a Microsoft Excel
spreadsheet in XLS format. When it is exported, you can download the results
immediately or save them as a report for sharing with other Virtualization Manager
users. This is particularly useful when you want to share the results of a query,
condition, or state of your virtual infrastructure with others. You can either provide
the export results in Microsoft Excel (XLS) format for emailing to others who do
not have access to Virtualization Manager such as managers, suppliers, or
vendors, or place the report in a shared folder within Virtualization Manager for
other users to see.
Generating exports
To generate an export, perform the following steps:
1. Select one or more items in the search results page, or in the active list.
2. Click Export.
3. In the left column of the Data Export screen, verify that you have selected
the appropriate objects to export data from. If you have not selected the
objects you wanted, click either Load list or Load search to reset the
Export These Items list.
4. Click Add Attribute in the right column.
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5. Select the attributes you want to export, either from the list, or by using the
Filter field.
6. Click OK.
7. Repeat Steps 4 to 6 for every attribute that you want to export.
8. Click Run Export.
As the report runs, it is displayed in the report schedules page. When it is
completed, you can download the resulting report immediately, or you can refer to
it at any point as a piece of content.
On-demand reporting
On-demand reports provide a mechanism for exporting data from Virtualization
Manager. Scripted reports differ from data exports by adding additional data or
doing additional processing. While data exports enable you to create a
spreadsheet of data that has already been collected, a scripted report can collect
additional data from external sources and process it to present new insight.
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Active Snapshots
Chargeback
Connected Media
Orphaned Files
Undersized VMs
Unused Templates
VM Aging
VM Free Space
To execute any of the reports, select it either directly from the reports lists, or from
the report categories listed on the right. Reports are generated from direct
connections with live data sources. Therefore a Virtual Center or Hyper-V server
instance must be specified in the selection list. The format for the report data is a
Microsoft Excel 2007 spreadsheet (XLS) file.
Besides the scripted reports, you can create your own reports as well. For more
information about creating reports, see Using custom reports.
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Scheduled
Running
Completed
Downloading reports
After a scheduled job is executed, it is displayed in the Completed column, and
the resulting report is available for download.
To download a report:
1. Click Download.
2. Click Save, and then specify the location where you want to save the report.
Configuring schedules
Click Configure to configure a schedule. The job configuration dialog has the
following tabs:
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Information: Here you can view and change the name and description of
the job. For reports, this is the name and description of the resulting report
when it completes and is present in your content.
Schedule: Here you can configure a repeating schedule for a job. In
practice, this is most commonly used to generate daily, weekly, or monthly
reports. Select the start time and the recurrence interval (Once, Daily,
Weekly, Monthly, or Cron). If you select Cron, fill in the Cron expression in
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GMT to describe the recurrence interval. Finally, you can choose an end
date after which no more jobs will be run on this schedule.
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Notifications: Here you can specify the users you want to notify of the
completion of a job. You can enter multiple email addresses, separated by a
comma. If the job is a report, the users on the notification list receive an
email stating that the report completed, and the report itself is also attached
to the email.
Note: You must enable an SMTP server under Setup > Administration >
SMTP Configuration to be able to send emails.
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4. Specify the permission, name, description, and the associated tags of the
new report.
5. Click Save.
6. To schedule when the report runs and who is notified when it has run, go to
Reporting > Report Schedules.
You can also create custom reports by using dashboard reports.
To run a dashboard report:
1. Create a custom dashboard.
2. Click Create Dashboard Report in the top right of the dashboard.
3. Specify the permission, name, description, and the associated tags of the
new report.
4. Click Save.
5. To configure when the report runs and who is notified when it has run, go to
Reporting > Report Schedules.
Notes:
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Creating labels
To create a label, perform the following steps:
1. Select one or more result on the search results page.
2. Click Label, and then click Add new field.
3. Specify the name of the label, and then click Create.
The Labels page also shows all of the currently defined labels and the values of
those labels on the selected search results.
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Modifying labels
To modify a label, perform the following steps:
1. Type the new value in the field next to the appropriate label.
2. Click Save changes.
Removing labels
To remove a label, perform the following steps:
1. Select the label from the list.
2. Click Delete a field.
Note: If you remove a label, no history of the label or its value will remain.
To search for a label, type the value of the label into the Search Query.
Alternatively, you can also type the label name and value separated by a colon.
For instance, if you have a label named "Department" and you want to find
entities in the "Finance" department, you can search for either:
Finance
or
Department:Finance
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Adding notes
To add a note, perform the following steps:
1. Select one or more objects on the search results page, the active list, or
configuration item view.
2. Click Add Note.
3. Specify the content, the permission, the tags and the expiry date of the note.
4. Click Save.
Viewing notes
To view existing notes, perform the following steps:
1. Select one or more objects on the search results page or the active list.
2. Click View Notes.
The results provide details about each note, when it was created, who created it,
and for which entity it applies. In addition, you can get a link to any of these notes
as well as provide any additional commentary on the existing notes.
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Account limitations
Virtualization thresholds
Using baselining
Account limitations
Account limitations can be used to restrict user access to designated virtual
machines, hosts, clusters, or data stores, or to withhold certain types of
information from designated users.
The following account limitation types are available for use in the integrated
Virtualization Manager resources:
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Single Cluster
Group of Clusters
Single Datacenter
Group of Datacenters
Single Datastore
Group of Datastores
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Virtualization thresholds
Virtualization thresholds
The Virtualization Thresholds settings page lets you configure warning and
critical (high) thresholds for statistics collected for VMware objects.
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Using baselining
Using the baselining feature, you can display baselines on different charts in the
Orion Web Console. In the Orion Web Console, you can define general static
thresholds for every entity, and you can base alerts on the global static
thresholds. However, you can also override the global threshold, and specify a
custom dynamic baseline threshold on an entity per entity basis.
The baseline is calculated based on the normal historical distribution of data,
taking the mean and standard deviations into account. Baselines can be used to
detect and alert on deviations from the average values. Baselines can be
calculated automatically, and can be applied as soon as sufficient statistical data
becomes available. You can also recalculate baselines on demand.
Note: Some of the values that are considered during baseline calculation come
from Virtualization Manager. For this reason, baselining only works when Virtual
Integration Manager (VIM) is enabled.
The following table contains the list of statistics for which baselines are
applicable.
vNode
VIM clusters (VMware only)
VIM hosts
Statistics
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CPULoad
MemLoad
NetworkUtilization
MemLoad*
CPULoad*
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Defining baselines
vNode
VIM virtual machines
Statistics
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CPULoad
MemLoad
CPUReady*
IOPSTotal*
IOPSRead*
IOPSWrite*
LatencyTotal*
LatencyRead*
LatencyWrite*
VIM datastores
Network Usage
Rate
IOPSTotal*
IOPSRead*
IOPSWrite*
LatencyTotal*
LatencyRead*
LatencyWrite*
* - For the statistics marked with asterisk, baselines are only available if
Virtualization Integration is enabled, and the vNodes contain data sent from
Virtualization Manager.
Defining baselines
You can define baselines for individual entities, and for multiple resources at
once.
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Virtual Centers
Clusters
Hosts
Virtual Machines
Datastores
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Critical
Applies to
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Cluster
Datastore
Warning
Virtual
Machine
Virtual
Machine
Host
Cluster
Datastore
Virtual
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Status
Applies to
Machine
Up
Host
Cluster
vCenter
Datastore
Unknown
Host
Cluster
vCenter
Datastore
Unreachable
Unmanaged
Virtual
Machine
Virtual
Machine
Host
vCenter
Host
vCenter
Host
The following tables provide information about the individual status icons and
their meaning.
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vCenter
vCenter
Status
Icon Description
Up
Unknown
Unreachable
Unmanaged
Could not
poll
Disabled
polling
Datacenter
Status
Icon Description
Critical
Warning
Up
Unknown
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Cluster
Status
Icon Description
Critical
Warning
Up
Unknown
The status is inherited from the parent object. The datacenter or vCenter is in an Unknown, Unmanaged, Unreachable, or Could not poll state.
Disabled
polling
Host
Status
Icon
for
ESX Icon for
(i)
Hyper-V Description
Critical
Warning
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Host
Status
Icon
for
ESX Icon for
(i)
Hyper-V Description
on the host is active in vSphere.
Up
Unknown
Unreachable
Unmanaged
Could not
poll
Disabled
polling
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Virtual Machine
Status
Down
Shutdown
Critical
Warning
Up
Unknown
Disabled
polling
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Icon Description
Down
Shutdown
Critical
The item is in a critical state. The item has reached a critical level threshold.
Warning
Up
Unknown
Unreachable
Unmanaged
Disabled
polling
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Virtual cluster
Virtual host
Virtual machine
Virtual cluster
Virtual datastore
Virtual host
Virtual machine
For information about integrating IVIM with Virtualization Manager, see Integrating
IVIMwith Virtualization Manager.
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If you own two or more of the listed products, AppStack will not function properly
unless each product is upgraded to the previously listed versions.
You can reach the AppStack Environment view by navigating to Home >
Environment in the Orion web console.
Through the AppStack Environment view, you can visualize and navigate the
entire infrastructure that an application is using. Additionally, you can see what
other loads on the infrastructure can be affecting a particular application.
The following virtualization entities are part of the AppStack Environment:
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Virtual Centers
VMware datacenters
Virtual clusters
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Virtual hosts
Virtual machines
Data stores
Apart from the AppStack Environment view, you can also use the AppStack
Environment resource. The AppStack Environment resource is available on the
Details pages of individual entities, and it displays objects that are related to the
particular entity whose Details page you are viewing.
For more information about the AppStack Environment view, see Introduction to
the AppStack Environment View and the related topics in the SolarWinds Server
and Application Monitor Administrator Guide.
For more information about the AppStack Environment resource, see AppStack
Environment Resource in the SolarWinds Network Performance Monitor
Administrator Guide, and Understanding the AppStack Resource in the
SolarWinds Server and Application Monitor Administrator Guide.
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Hardware Details
Hardware Health
The following resource is displayed on the Virtualization Summary view. Click the
link for more information about the resource.
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Time of alert
Application Name
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Component Volumes
This resource, available on the Node Details > Storage view, provides a table
with the following information about the node:
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Mount Point
Capacity
Free Space
Used (%)
Virtual Disk
Click Edit to adjust the title and the warning and critical thresholds.
Datacenter Details
This resource displays a table of useful information about the current datacenter.
Hover over the Virtual Center Name to see additional information about the
vCenter.
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Title
Subtitle
Datastore Info
This resource, available on the Datastore Details view, provides a table with the
following data store usage information:
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Status (online/offline)
Location
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Title
Subtitle
Filter by vendor
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Title
Subtitle
Filter by vendor
VM nodes by name
Overall IOPS
Read IOPS
Write IOPS
Click Edit to adjust the zoom range (controlled by the slider), the amount of
historical data to load (for example, Last 1 Day), and the sample interval (for
example, 6 hours).
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VM nodes by name
Overall latency
Read latency
Write latency
Click Edit to adjust the zoom range (controlled by the slider), the amount of
historical data to load (for example, Last 1 Day), and the sample interval (for
example, 6 hours).
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Percent Availability
To view the number of running or not running VMs at a given point in time, hover
over the appropriate bar in the chart.
Click Export to get a printable and exportable version of the chart.
Percent Availability
This chart displays the availability of the cluster.
To get a more detailed view of the cluster availability, click the zoom buttons, or
move the slider at the bottom of the chart to cover the time period you want.
To view the exact availability percentage at a given point in time, hover over the
appropriate bar in the chart.
Click Export to get a printable and exportable version of the chart.
Datastore (name)
Capacity (GB)
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Node (VM)
Free (%)
Capacity
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Resource Utilization
the default location or datastore for vm and vhd files. All VMs managed by a
hypervisor are automatically associated with this default datastore.
Resource Utilization
This resource, available on the Virtualization Summary subview under an ESX
host detail or a VM detail, provides the resource utilization values for nodes. The
VM detail view of the resource shows the resource utilization values for a specific
VM and its host. The Host detail view shows the resource utilization values for a
specific host and for the VM with the top resource consumption under the host.
The Host detail view of this resource displays the following resource utilization
values:
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CPU - Top VM
Memory - Top VM
IOPS - Top VM
Latency - Top VM
Note: Every top utilization value can correspond to a different virtual machine.
The VM detail view of this resource displays the following resource utilization
values:
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CPU - This VM
CPU - Host
Memory - This VM
Memory - Host
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IOPS - This VM
Latency - This VM
Storage Summary
This resource, available on the Node Details > Storage view, provides the
following information about storage:
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Host Server
Datastore that the host is using, including its size, free space, IOPS, latency
LUN ID/Path
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Node
Read (ms)
Write (ms)
Click Edit to adjust the zoom range (controlled by the slider), the amount of
historical data to load (for example, Last 1 Day), and the sample interval (for
example, 6 hours).
Click Export to convert chart data into XLS or HTML format. You can adjust the
title, the default zoom range, the time period, the sample interval, and the chart
size in preparation for export.
Notes:
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the default location or datastore for vm and vhd files. All VMs managed by a
hypervisor are automatically associated with this default datastore.
Node
IOPS (total)
Read
Write
Click Edit to adjust the zoom range (controlled by the slider), the amount of
historical data to load (for example, Last 1 Day), and the sample interval (for
example, 6 hours).
Click Export to convert chart data into XLS or HTML format. You can adjust the
title, the default zoom range, the time period, the sample interval, and the chart
size in preparation for export.
Notes:
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Top VM IOPS
Top VM IOPS
This resource provides a graph VM IOPS against a date or time period.
Hover over a graph line to see details about all VMs at the data point (IOPS at the
specific date and time). Hover over a node to see VM information.
The table below the graph provides the following information:
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Node
IOPS (total)
Read
Write
Click Edit to adjust the zoom range (controlled by the slider), the amount of
historical data to load (for example, Last 1 Day), and the sample interval (for
example, 6 hours).
Click Export to convert chart data into XLS or HTML format. You can adjust the
title, the default zoom range, the time period, the sample interval, and the chart
size in preparation for export.
Top VM Latency
This resource provides a graph VM IO latency (ms) against a date or time period.
Hover over a graph line to see details about all VMs at the data point (latency at
the specific date and time). Hover over a node to see VM information.
The table below the graph provides the following information:
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Node
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Datastore (name)
Free (%)
Capacity
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assigned to share.
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249
VM nodes by name
(Storage) Capacity
250
VM nodes by name
(Storage) Capacity
251
Node
CPU (%)
Node
Mem (%)
Node
Snapshots (GB)
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Node
Capacity (GB)
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Node
CPU (%)
Node
Mem (%)
VM nodes by name
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(Storage) Capacity
Usage MHz
This chart displays how many CPU cycles are used by the cluster as a whole.
To get a more detailed view of the CPU cycles of the cluster, click the zoom
buttons, or move the slider to cover the time period you want.
To view the exact CPU usage at a given point in time, hover over the appropriate
bar in the chart.
Click Export to get a printable and exportable version of the chart.
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Virtualization Assets
This resource displays the virtual servers monitored by SolarWinds and also lists
the individual virtual machines they host.
To add VMs from the Virtualization Assets Resource:
1. Click the [+] next to any virtual server listed in the Virtualization Assets
resource to expand the list of virtual machines.
2. Click a virtual machine that is not currently managed by SolarWinds.
Unmanaged VMs are listed in italic type.
3. Click Yes, Manage this Node.
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4. If the VM is not running Virtual Tools, manually enter the IP address of the
VM in the Hostname or IP Address field.
5. Select any additional options required to monitor the VM, and then click
Next.
6. Follow the remainder of the Add Node wizard to completion, and then click
OK, Add Node.
Overall
Number of Hosts
Indicates the total number of hosts you are monitoring.
Number of VMs
Indicates the total number of VMs you are monitoring, including information
about the number of running VMs.
Total Number of Physical CPU Cores
Indicates the total number of CPU cores in your virtual infrastructure.
Total RAM
Indicates the total amount of memory in your virtual infrastructure.
Last Poll
Indicates the age of the summary information in your virtual infrastructure.
VMware
Number of Virtual Centers
Indicates the total number of servers you are monitoring.
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Hyper-V
Number of Hosts
Indicates the total number of Hyper-V hosts you are monitoring.
Number of VMs
Indicates the total number of VMs you are monitoring in your Hyper-V
environment, including information about the number of running VMs.
Total Number of Physical CPU Cores
Indicates the total number of CPU cores in your Hyper-V infrastructure.
Total RAM
Indicates the total amount of memory in your Hyper-V infrastructure.
Last Poll
Indicates the age of the summary information in your Hyper-V infrastructure.
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Number of datastores
Total space
Free space
Oversubscribed
Virtual Machines:
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Average size
Average IOPS
Average latency
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Volume name
Datastore
Virtual Disk
The resource also provides direct access to the Virtualization Storage Summary
view.
Note: The resource is only displayed if a mapping exists between a storage
volume and the virtualization volume entity, and if the integration with
Virtualization Manager is enabled. For information about integrating IVIM with
Virtualization Manager, see Preparing for the integration of Virtualization
Manager.
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Node
Node
Configured Memory
Total Storage
Node name
CPU load
CPU costop
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Title
Subtitle
Title
Subtitle
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Firewall is misconfigured
UAC is enabled
If these conditions are not met, Virtualization Manager cannot collect information
from the Hyper-V host.
If data collection stops after the initial setup, it can be related to new security
policies or a group policy that supersedes your changes. This document is not
intended to troubleshoot this scenario.
For further troubleshooting information, see the Microsoft TechNet and the
Microsoft Developer Network websites, and search for WMI troubleshooting.
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5. Click Connect.
6. Click Enum Classes.
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7. Select the Recursive radio button without entering a superclass name, and
then click OK.
8. If the WMI class you are querying appears in this list, local WMI services are
functioning correctly. Skip to the next topic and test remote WMI.
9. If the list does not appear or does not contain the WMI class you want, WMI
is not functioning correctly. Continue reading this section to repair WMI
services on the target server.
10. Click Close, and then click Exit.
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5. Type the user name and the password in the relevant fields, and type
NTLMDOMAIN:NameOfDomain in the Authority field, where NameOfDomain is the
domain of the user account specified in the User field.
6. Click Connect.
7. Click Enum Classes.
Verifying the administrator credentials
Only credentials that have administrator rights on the Hyper-V host have the
necessary permissions to access the WMI services of the host. Make sure that the
user name and password you use belongs to an administrator on the target
server.
If the administrator credential is a domain member, specify both the user name
and the domain in the standard Microsoft syntax. For example:
DOMAIN\Administrator.
Complete the following procedure on each Hyper-V host server to ensure that the
account specified in the credential store has the appropriate permissions.
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4. Right-click Remote Procedure Call (RPC), and then click Start on the
context menu.
5. Select Recursive without entering a superclass name, and then click OK.
7. If the list does not appear, remote WMI is not functioning correctly. Continue
reading this topic for guidance on restoring remote WMI connections on the
target server, and retest remote WMI after completing each troubleshooting
step.
8. Click Close, and then click Exit.
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Core Networking
WMI DCOM-In
If you connect to the Hyper-V host over a DMZ or otherwise employ a hardware
firewall, you must make corresponding changes to your hardware firewall.
If the Hyper-V host cannot respond to ping, either open port 7 or follow the
instructions in Disabling ping discovery to disable ping.
Adding the Windows Firewall snap-in
If you use a Server Core installation, you can connect to the host using an MMC
connection to the host to modify the firewall.
1. Log on to a remote server that can connect to the Server Core installation
with administrative credentials.
2. Press Windows Key + R, and then type mmc.
3. In the File menu, click Add/Remove Snap-in.
4. Select Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.
5. Click Add.
6. Select Another computer, and then enter the IP address or computer name
of the Server Core installation.
7. Click OK.
8. Click OK again.
After the snap-in is added, complete the following instructions.
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6. Click Save.
7. Restart the virtual appliance by clicking Restart Virtualization Manager.
Need
DCOM
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Item
Need
l
WMI
Modify the CIMV2 security to enable and remote enable the
Namespaces account used to access the server or workstation through WMI.
Ensure the security change applies to the current namespace
and subnamespaces.
User
Account
Control
Enabling DCOM
WMI uses DCOM to communicate with monitored target computers.
To enable DCOM permissions for your Virtualization Manager credentials:
1. Log on to the target server with an administrator account.
2. Navigate to Start> Control Panel> Administrative Tools>Component
Services. Switch to the Classic View of the Control Panel to use this
navigation path. You can also launch this console by double-clicking
comexp.msc
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7. Click Edit Default, and then ensure the user account you want to use to
collect WMI statistics has Local Access and Remote Access.
8. Click OK.
9. Click Edit Limits in the Launch and Activation Permissions grouping.
10. Ensure that the user account you want to use to collect WMI statistics has
Local Launch, Remote Launch, Local Activation, and Remote Activation,
and then click OK.
11. Click Edit Default, and then ensure that the user account you want to use to
collect WMI statistics has Local Launch, Remote Launch, Local Activation,
and Remote Activation.
12. Click OK.
Enabling account privileges in WMI
The account you specify in the Credentials Library must possess security access
to the namespace and subnamespaces of the monitored target computer. To
enable these privileges, complete the following procedure.
To enable namespace and subnamespace privileges:
1. Log on to the computer you want to monitor with an administrator account.
2. Navigate to Start> Control Panel> Administrative Tools>Computer
Management> Services and Applications. Switch to the Classic View of
the Control Panel to use this navigation path.
3. Click WMI Control, and then right-click and select Properties.
4. Select the Security tab, expand Root,and then click CIMV2.
5. Click Security, select the user account used to access this computer, and
ensure you grant the following permissions: Enable Account, Remote
Enable.
6. Click Advanced, and then select the user account used to access this
computer.
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Installing PowerShell
Using cmdlets
Installing PowerShell
Download the PowerShell Client installer from the SolarWinds Customer Portal.
To download and install the PowerShell Client Installer:
1. Log on to the SolarWinds Customer Portal.
2. Under the Licensing & Maintenance tab, click License Management.
3. Select Virtualization Manager from the list of products, and then click
Choose download.
4. Download the PowerShell Client for Virtualization Manager from the Agent
Downloads section.
5. When the download is completed, install PowerCLI by double-clicking on
the installer file.
You can also install the VMware vSphere PowerCLI for additional functionality if
you want to take advantage of the integration of SolarWinds Virtualization
Manager and VMware. You can download the VMware vSphere PowerCLI from
the VMware website.
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The preceding example sets your active query to all known virtual machines, and
returns the number of results found. The first parameter is a query, just like the
query you type into the search bar. The optional second parameter is the object
type. In addition to virtual machines, you can search for any managed object that
SolarWinds Virtualization Manager knows about. After defining the query, you
can view the results with the following command:
Show-H9Results 1 20
The preceding example prints a list of items 1 through 20 in the current search
result set.
All Virtualization Manager cmdlets are pipeline-aware. The following command
achieves the same result as the previous example:
Show-H9Results | Select-Object -first 20
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This returns an [xml] object, which can then be traversed and inspected:
PS C:\> $xml.virtualMachine.cpuAllocation
limit
reservation
shares
sharesLevel
-----
-----------
------
-----------
45351
500
low
The previous command retrieves all known virtual machines through the vSphere
PowerCLI, converts each to a SolarWinds Virtualization Manager reference, and
then adds them to the active list.
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For more information about the usage of cmdlets, see Using cmdlets.
Scripts
The SolarWinds Virtualization Manager PowerCLI contains PowerShell scripts
that can help you manage your virtual environment. Scripts are located in the
Scripts directory within the SolarWinds Virtualization Manager PowerCLI
directory. By default, this is C:\Program Files\Hyper9 VEO PowerCLI.
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Scripts
- This script synchronizes the folder and resource pool hierarchy of a
VM along with the custom fields of both VMs and hosts to SolarWinds
Virtualization Manager labels.
vi2h9.ps1
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Using cmdlets
The following table provides information about the syntax and usage of cmdlets.
Area
Cmdlet
Description
Syntax
Example
ConnectH9Server
Establishes a connection
to the SolarWinds Virtualization Manager. This
step is necessary before
using any other cmdlets.
Connect-H9Server [-Server]
<String> [-User] <String> [Password] <String> [<CommonParameters>]
ConnectH9Server
akutz-hyper9
admin admin
DisconnectH9Server
Disconnects PowerCLI
from the SWVM server.
You must reconnect to
Disconnect-H9Server [<CommonParameters>]
DisconnectH9Server
Get-H9Credentials [-CType]
<CredentialType> [-Verbose] [Debug] [-ErrorAction
<ActionPreference>] [-WarningAction <ActionPreference>]
[-ErrorVariable <String>] [WarningVariable <String>] [OutVariable <String>] [-
Get-H9Credentials VirtualCenter
Get-H9Credentials
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Using cmdlets
Area
Cmdlet
Description
Syntax
Example
OutBuffer <Int32>]
Add-H9Credential [-Endpoint]
<CredentialType> [-User]
<String> [-Password] <String>
[[-Domain] <String>] [[Description] <String>] [<CommonParameters>]
Add-H9Credential
Get-H9Collector
Add-H9Credential VirtualCenter
admin Admin321
testDomain
"Virtual
Center On
192.168.1.150"
Get-H9Collector
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Add-H9Datasource [-Address]
<String> [[-Description]
$col = GetH9Collector
Area
Search and
facet browsing
Cmdlet
Description
Syntax
Example
source
AddH9Datasource
192.168.1.150
"Virtual
Center on
192.168.1.150"
$col[0] 443
Set-H9Query
An active query
for all VMs: SetH9Query * VirtualMachine
and Cluster.
Get-H9Result
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Using cmdlets
Area
Cmdlet
Description
Syntax
Example
ending with
20:Get-H9Result 10 20
Active list
integration
Get-H9Facet
Get-H9Facet
Add-H9List
Get-H9Result |
Add-H9List
Show-H9List
Returns configuration
item references for the
contents of the active list.
Show-H9List [<CommonParameters>]
Show-H9List
Set-H9List
Loading a
saved list, "VM
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Area
Cmdlet
Description
Syntax
Label management
Example
2008 list" to the
active list: GetH9Content
SavedList "VM
2008 list" |
Set-H9List
Clear-H9List
Clear-H9List [<CommonParameters>]
Clear-H9List
Set-H9Label
tual machine
called "Virtual
Machine Test":
Set-H9Query
"Virtual
Machine Test"
VirtualMachine
$vm = GetH9Result
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Using cmdlets
Area
Cmdlet
Description
Syntax
Example
Set-H9Label
"OS" "Windows"
$vm
Get-H9Label
Clear-H9Label
Clear-H9Label [[-Label]
<String>] [-CiRef] <ConfigurationItemReference> [<CommonParameters>]
Retrieving the
labels from virtual machines
that are saved in
the $vm variable:
Get-H9label$vm
Removing the
label "OS"
saved in the $vm
variable from
the virtual
machine: ClearH9Label "OS"
$vm
Notes
New-H9Note
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Area
Cmdlet
Description
Syntax
Example
machine saved
in the $vm variable: NewH9Note"Testing
note" $vm
Get-H9Note
Retrieving notes
for the virtual
machine saved
in the $vm
variable:GetH9Note $vm
Document
Export-
Performs an on-demand
DNA
H9DNA
Export-H9DNA [-LeftCi] <ConfigurationItemReference> [RightCi] <ConfigurationItemReference> [[LeftDate] <DateTime>] [[RightDate] <DateTime>] [<CommonParameters>]
Retrieving the
differences of
two VMs saved
in the $vm and
$vm1 variables:
ExportH9DNA$vm $vm1
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Get-H9Related [-RelatedType]
<ConfigurationItemType> [CiRef] <Con-
Retrieving
Using cmdlets
Area
ing
Cmdlet
Description
Syntax
Example
the host
where the
virtual
machine
from the
0: Virtual Machine
1: Host
$vm
2: Cluster
variable is
hosted:
3: Datastore
GetH9Related
1 $vm
l
Retrieving
the list of
VMs
hosted by
the host
from the
$hst
variable:
GetH9Related
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Area
Cmdlet
Description
Syntax
Example
0 $hst
Retrieving
and managing user
content
Get-H9Content
Retrieving the
list of saved lists
whose name
includes the
string "2008":
Get-H9Content
Set-H9Con-
0: ExportTemplate
1: ReportOutput
2: SavedList
3: SavedSearch
4: Alert
5: Trend
6: Dashboard
7: ResourceContainer
8: ResourceUsageProfile
Set-H9Content [-Asset]
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2 "2008"
Using cmdlets
Area
Cmdlet
Description
Syntax
tent
RemoveH9Content
Remove-H9Content [-Asset]
<AbstractWorkspaceAsset> [<CommonParameters>]
Get-H9Report
Given a ReportOutput
content item, the cmdlet
downloads the related
Get-H9Report [-Report]
<ReportOutput> [<CommonParameters>]
Example
Retrieves configuration
item references (Virtual
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Get-H9AlertRefs [-Alert]
<Alert> [<CommonParameters>]
$alarm = GetH9Content 4
"High VM
Memory Util-
Area
Cmdlet
Description
Syntax
ization"
ConvertToH9Ref
Converts a VI PowerCLI
object to a SolarWinds
Virtualization Manager
GetH9Alertrefs
$alarm
ConvertTo-H9Ref [-Target]
<Object> [<CommonParameters>]
Get-H9Property
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Example
Using cmdlets
Area
Cmdlet
Description
Syntax
Example
[-ErrorVariable <String>]
[WarningVariable <String>] [OutVariable <String>] [OutBuffer <Int32>]
Set-H9Property [-PropertyGroupName] <String> [-PropertyName] <String> [-Value]
<String> [-Verbose] [Debug] [ErrorAction <ActionPreference>] [-WarningAction
<ActionPreference>] [ErrorVariable <String>] [-WarningVariable <String>] [OutVariable <String>] [OutBuffer <Int32>]
Set-H9Property
Simple doc-
Get-H9Doc
ument management
Get-H9History
Get-H9History [[-Start]
<DateTime>] [[-End]
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Area
Cmdlet
Description
Syntax
figuration documents,
stored between the specified dates.
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Example
Module installations
The Perl Client ::Client module requires SOAP::Lite.
To install SOAP::Lite on Linux or Mac versions of Perl, run the following
command:
sudo cpan install SOAP::Lite
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3. Set up your script with a Hyper9::Client reference and use it to log in. You
must substitute the host address and credentials in the setup of the client. In
the following example, it is configured to log in to a SolarWinds
Virtualization Manager server found at localhost using the admin/admin
credentials.
my $client = Hyper9::Client->new(
username => 'admin',
password => 'admin',
host
=> 'VirtualizationManagerHostnameOr',
);
$client->login() || die "Login failed\n\n";
4. Use the $client variable to run any of the web service operations. For a
complete list of operations along with their inputs and outputs, visit
http://your-server:8983/swvm/ws/hyper9.wsdl. To execute the search
operation, insert the following code into your script:
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# Search for VMs configured with less than 1GB memory and retrieve
their total
# memory and memory usage at the same time
my @results = $client->searchCustom(
ciType => 'VirtualMachine',
query => 'vm.memory:[0 TO 1023]',
pageData => {
pageSize => $pageSize,
pageNumber => 1,
},
sort =>{
sortField => 'vm.memory',
sortDescending => 0,
},
paths => ['vm.memory', 'vm.memload.latest'], # these show up in
'values' on the result
);
The result of the search call is placed into an array called @results.
5. Insert the following code into the script to iterate the result items that are
VMs and print out how much memory they actually have:
# Print out the names of the VMs and their memory size, tab
delimited
print "------------------------------------\n";
print "Memory\tUsed\tVM Name\n";
print "------------------------------------\n";
foreach my $result (@results) {
if (defined $result->{ciRef}) {
my $memory = $result->{'values'}[0]->{'value'};
my $memoryUtil = $result->{'values'}[1]->{'value'};
$memoryUtil = int($memoryUtil) if $memoryUtil;
print $memory."MB\t".$memoryUtil."%\t".$result->{ciRef}->
{displayName}."\n";
}
elsif (defined $result->{'total'})
{
$total = $result->{'total'};
}
}
print "....Showing $pageSize of $total\n";
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7. Save the searchMemory.pl file and run it using perl searchMemory.pl. The
result should look something like the following:
ryankruse$ ./searchExample.pl
512MB Sarasota
768MB Jacksonville
256MB Natchitoches Parish
768MB Apalachicola
256MB Inx Lake
512MB Reunion Arena
512MB Ubuntu 64 bit
256MB Johnson Space Center
256MB Insta-Gator Ranch
768MB Clearwater
512MB Dixie Landing
512MB Lafayette
512MB Odessa
512MB River Ranch
Scripting tips
Whenever you receive a response from a Hyper9::Client call, you can place it
directly into an array or a simple scalar, depending on what the web service call
sends in its response.
Accepting a response into a scalar:
my $response = $client->methodThatReturnsSingleThing();
If you are not sure of the structure of the response variable, use the Data::Dumper
module in Perl for an exhaustive printout of the data structure. The Data::Dumper
is one of the most valuable modules when using the Hyper9::Client so use it often
while developing your scripts:
use Data::Dumper; print Dumper(@response);
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