Upgrade and compatibility

Upgrade and compatibility

Foglight Evolve 6.3.x include a new version of Foglight for VMware 6.3.x. This new version of Foglight for VMware provides new capabilities to Foglight Evolve.

Foglight for VMware supports VMware vSphere and VMware vCenter Server versions 5.x, 6.x, 7.x, and 8.x.

Important: The VMware Performance Agent uses a Virtual Center account to log in to the monitored Virtual Center. The administrative role associated with that account must be granted the Performance > Modify intervals privilege. When collecting traffic-type network metrics from the monitored ESX hosts, this privilege enables the VMware Performance Agent to change the performance metric counter levels in order to collect this data.

vCenters in Linked Mode: Linked Mode is supported, however an agent monitoring one vCenter does not gather data from other linked vCenters. Each vCenter requires its own dedicated agent.

The following version of the Cisco Nexus 1000V Switch for VMware vSphere is supported:

• On vSphere 5.x, version 4.2(1)SV2(2.2) is supported. At the time of this release, this is the latest version of the Cisco Nexus 1000V Switch supporting vSphere 5.0, 5.1, and 5.5.

Note: The extended support for VirtualCenter 2.5 ended on May 21, 2013. Foglight for VMware is no longer tested with or supported for VirtualCenter 2.5. 

Foglight for VMware is not compatible with the VirtualCenter for VMware Server.

Important: If you install or upgrade to this version of Foglight for VMware on the Management Server (outside of the Foglight Evolve or Foglight for Storage Management product families), and you also have the Foglight for Storage Management cartridge installed on the server, you must ensure that the Foglight for Storage Management cartridge is at least version 3.1.4. Using an earlier version will prevent the Storage Management data collections and dashboards from working as expected.

The following Foglight product versions and platforms are compatible with this release.

To upgrade to the latest version of Foglight for VMware:

1. Deactivate all VMware Performance agent instances.
2. On the Cartridge Inventory dashboard, install the following cartridge files. Do not remove the older version of these cartridges. Install version 6.0.0 over the older version.
   • vUsage-Feedback-6_3_0.car
   • DRP-6_3_0.car
   • Virtual-VMware-6_3_0.car
   • Virtual-VMware-Admin-6_3_0.car
3. On the VMware Environment dashboard, on the Administration tab, update all of the existing VMware Performance agent instances.
4. Important. If you increased the JVM memory allocation in a previous cartridge installation (as described in System Requirements), you need to repeat this process after deploying the new agent package and before activating the agents.
5. Activate all VMware Performance agent instances.

Note: Extra minutes will be needed if you upgrade to the latest version in the environment where is deployed with more than 4,000 virtual machines.

For more information, see the Foglight Upgrade Guide.

Back to Top

To upgrade to the latest version of Foglight for VMware:

Upgrade and compatibility

Foglight Evolve 6.3.x include a new version of Foglight for VMware 6.3.x. This new version of Foglight for VMware provides new capabilities to Foglight Evolve.

Foglight for VMware supports VMware vSphere and VMware vCenter Server versions 5.x, 6.x, 7.x, and 8.x.

Important: The VMware Performance Agent uses a Virtual Center account to log in to the monitored Virtual Center. The administrative role associated with that account must be granted the Performance > Modify intervals privilege. When collecting traffic-type network metrics from the monitored ESX hosts, this privilege enables the VMware Performance Agent to change the performance metric counter levels in order to collect this data.

vCenters in Linked Mode: Linked Mode is supported, however an agent monitoring one vCenter does not gather data from other linked vCenters. Each vCenter requires its own dedicated agent.

The following version of the Cisco Nexus 1000V Switch for VMware vSphere is supported:

• On vSphere 5.x, version 4.2(1)SV2(2.2) is supported. At the time of this release, this is the latest version of the Cisco Nexus 1000V Switch supporting vSphere 5.0, 5.1, and 5.5.

Note: The extended support for VirtualCenter 2.5 ended on May 21, 2013. Foglight for VMware is no longer tested with or supported for VirtualCenter 2.5. 

Foglight for VMware is not compatible with the VirtualCenter for VMware Server.

Important: If you install or upgrade to this version of Foglight for VMware on the Management Server (outside of the Foglight Evolve or Foglight for Storage Management product families), and you also have the Foglight for Storage Management cartridge installed on the server, you must ensure that the Foglight for Storage Management cartridge is at least version 3.1.4. Using an earlier version will prevent the Storage Management data collections and dashboards from working as expected.

The following Foglight product versions and platforms are compatible with this release.

1. Deactivate all VMware Performance agent instances.
2. On the Cartridge Inventory dashboard, install the following cartridge files. Do not remove the older version of these cartridges. Install version 6.0.0 over the older version.
   • vUsage-Feedback-6_3_0.car
   • DRP-6_3_0.car
   • Virtual-VMware-6_3_0.car
   • Virtual-VMware-Admin-6_3_0.car
3. On the VMware Environment dashboard, on the Administration tab, update all of the existing VMware Performance agent instances.
4. Important. If you increased the JVM memory allocation in a previous cartridge installation (as described in System Requirements), you need to repeat this process after deploying the new agent package and before activating the agents.
5. Activate all VMware Performance agent instances.

Note: Extra minutes will be needed if you upgrade to the latest version in the environment where is deployed with more than 4,000 virtual machines.

For more information, see the Foglight Upgrade Guide.

Back to Top

System requirements

System requirements

Before installing Foglight for VMware, ensure your system meets the following minimum hardware and software requirements:

Note: 32-bit Windows and Linux Agent Manager installers are not included in the Foglight Evolve installer. New installations should use 64-bit Agent Managers. If you are upgrading 32-bit agent hosts, you can obtain 32-bit Agent Manager Installers from Quest Support.

For a complete list of system requirements, refer to the Installing the Virtualization Management Capabilities guide.

VMware Performance Agent and Agent Manager configuration

On 64-bit hosts meeting the minimum system requirements, the embedded Agent Manager can be used to run VMware Performance Agents to monitor up to1000 virtual machines. If the total number of virtual machines to be monitored from a single agent host is greater than 4000, an Agent Manager should be installed on a separate host.

Important: Foglight Evolve Virtual Appliance comes pre-configured to support up to 4,000 virtual machines. If you are using this product, there is no need to follow the configuration procedure described in this section.

If additional cartridges and agents are added to the environment, product performance should be monitored and agents moved off of the embedded Agent Manager to reduce the load.

Foglight VMware Performance Agent host system requirements

* Additional CPUs may be required for larger environments.

Monitoring more than 4000 virtual machines from a single agent host

The Agent Manager JVM usually requires additional memory to monitor more than 4000 virtual machines. The total number of virtual machines is the total from all vCenters that will be monitored from all VMware Performance agents running on the Agent Manager.

The following calculations are guidelines, not hard and fast rules. Memory requirements can vary greatly from installation to installation with similar VM counts. If insufficient memory is configured, the failure mode is easily recognizable: all agents on the Agent Manager host will go into a broken state after the agent(s) were activated for a short period of time, usually within 24 hours. In addition, the Agent Manager log will contain a line similar to the following:

Caused by: java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space

If this is the case, add memory greater than what is shown in the calculations below, in increments of 512 MB until the agents stabilize.

JVM memory requirements for VMware Performance agents are calculated using the following formula:

512 MB + 0.5 MB/VM

According to the above formula, monitoring 4000 virtual machines requires 2512 MB of memory:

512 MB + 2000 MB = 2512 MB (round up to 3 GB)

The default setting for agents deployed on 64-bit systems is 2560 MB, which suffice this environment.

Similarly, monitoring 8192 virtual machines requires 4608 MB of memory:

512 MB + 4096 MB = 4608 MB

Foglight Evolve Virtual Appliance comes pre-configured to support up to 4,000 virtual machines. This requires the default Agent Manager settings to be changed.

To change the JVM memory settings:

1. Determine the amount of additional memory required. This will be the total from the last step above minus the default value of 2560 MB. In the example above, this is 4608 – 2560 = 2048 MB.
2. On the agent machine, open the baseline.jvmargs.config file for editing. The file is located in the <Agent_Manager_home>/state/default/config directory.
3. Add the following lines in the Memory Settings section:
   
   vmparameter.0 = "-Xms2048m";
   vmparameter.1 = "-Xmx2048m";
   
   Note: If this file has been previously edited, increment the numeric parameters accordingly.
4. Delete the existing deployed negotiation configuration settings directory:
   
   <Agent_Manager_home>/state/default/config/deployments
   
5. Restart the Agent Manager for these settings to take effect.

Host system recommendations

Dedication

When monitoring larger vCenters, the Agent Manager machine hosting the VMware Performance agents should be dedicated to this task. No other Foglight agent types should run on the host and the host should not run any other applications.

Memory

Regardless of the values set for JVM memory above, Agent Manager never allocates more than 80% of system memory. So the machine hosting the Agent Manager and VMware Performance Agents must have sufficient memory. Beyond the memory requirements of the Agent Manager, a minimum of 2 GB should be free for the operating system. In the example above for 8000 VMs and an Agent Manager memory requirement of 4608 MB, the host should have a minimum of 6656 MB - the greater of:

1.25 x 4608 MB = 5760 MB

Or:

2048 + 4608 MB = 6656 MB

If the Foglight Agent Manager is configured on a virtual machine, it is recommended that the VM use a memory reservation to ensure maximum performance.

CPU

CPU usage on the Agent Manager host is relatively low most of the time. However, usage peaks dramatically during the performance metric collection. This is normal and expected. CPU utilization consistently over 50% is an indication that additional processing power is required. As with memory, usage can vary between different installations with similar numbers of virtual machines. The following guidelines should be followed:

When the Agent Manager and VMware Performance agents are running on a virtual machine, the VM should be configured with CPU reservation whenever possible to ensure best performance. Lack of processing power on the Agent Manager manifests in missed collections and gaps in the data usually noticeable in various graphs throughout the Foglight for VMware dashboards.

Foglight Management Server minimum memory requirements

* Edit the Foglight Management Server JVM settings in the server.config file located under Quest\Foglight\config\. When running Foglight on a virtual machine, full memory needs be reserved at the hypervisor level.

Back to Top

VMware Performance Agent and Agent Manager configuration

System requirements

Before installing Foglight for VMware, ensure your system meets the following minimum hardware and software requirements:

Note: 32-bit Windows and Linux Agent Manager installers are not included in the Foglight Evolve installer. New installations should use 64-bit Agent Managers. If you are upgrading 32-bit agent hosts, you can obtain 32-bit Agent Manager Installers from Quest Support.

For a complete list of system requirements, refer to the Installing the Virtualization Management Capabilities guide.

On 64-bit hosts meeting the minimum system requirements, the embedded Agent Manager can be used to run VMware Performance Agents to monitor up to1000 virtual machines. If the total number of virtual machines to be monitored from a single agent host is greater than 4000, an Agent Manager should be installed on a separate host.

Important: Foglight Evolve Virtual Appliance comes pre-configured to support up to 4,000 virtual machines. If you are using this product, there is no need to follow the configuration procedure described in this section.

If additional cartridges and agents are added to the environment, product performance should be monitored and agents moved off of the embedded Agent Manager to reduce the load.

Foglight VMware Performance Agent host system requirements

* Additional CPUs may be required for larger environments.

Monitoring more than 4000 virtual machines from a single agent host

The Agent Manager JVM usually requires additional memory to monitor more than 4000 virtual machines. The total number of virtual machines is the total from all vCenters that will be monitored from all VMware Performance agents running on the Agent Manager.

The following calculations are guidelines, not hard and fast rules. Memory requirements can vary greatly from installation to installation with similar VM counts. If insufficient memory is configured, the failure mode is easily recognizable: all agents on the Agent Manager host will go into a broken state after the agent(s) were activated for a short period of time, usually within 24 hours. In addition, the Agent Manager log will contain a line similar to the following:

Caused by: java.lang.OutOfMemoryError: Java heap space

If this is the case, add memory greater than what is shown in the calculations below, in increments of 512 MB until the agents stabilize.

JVM memory requirements for VMware Performance agents are calculated using the following formula:

512 MB + 0.5 MB/VM

According to the above formula, monitoring 4000 virtual machines requires 2512 MB of memory:

512 MB + 2000 MB = 2512 MB (round up to 3 GB)

The default setting for agents deployed on 64-bit systems is 2560 MB, which suffice this environment.

Similarly, monitoring 8192 virtual machines requires 4608 MB of memory:

512 MB + 4096 MB = 4608 MB

Foglight Evolve Virtual Appliance comes pre-configured to support up to 4,000 virtual machines. This requires the default Agent Manager settings to be changed.

To change the JVM memory settings:

1. Determine the amount of additional memory required. This will be the total from the last step above minus the default value of 2560 MB. In the example above, this is 4608 – 2560 = 2048 MB.
2. On the agent machine, open the baseline.jvmargs.config file for editing. The file is located in the <Agent_Manager_home>/state/default/config directory.
3. Add the following lines in the Memory Settings section:
   
   vmparameter.0 = "-Xms2048m";
   vmparameter.1 = "-Xmx2048m";
   
   Note: If this file has been previously edited, increment the numeric parameters accordingly.
4. Delete the existing deployed negotiation configuration settings directory:
   
   <Agent_Manager_home>/state/default/config/deployments
   
5. Restart the Agent Manager for these settings to take effect.

Host system recommendations

Dedication

When monitoring larger vCenters, the Agent Manager machine hosting the VMware Performance agents should be dedicated to this task. No other Foglight agent types should run on the host and the host should not run any other applications.

Memory

Regardless of the values set for JVM memory above, Agent Manager never allocates more than 80% of system memory. So the machine hosting the Agent Manager and VMware Performance Agents must have sufficient memory. Beyond the memory requirements of the Agent Manager, a minimum of 2 GB should be free for the operating system. In the example above for 8000 VMs and an Agent Manager memory requirement of 4608 MB, the host should have a minimum of 6656 MB - the greater of:

1.25 x 4608 MB = 5760 MB

Or:

2048 + 4608 MB = 6656 MB

If the Foglight Agent Manager is configured on a virtual machine, it is recommended that the VM use a memory reservation to ensure maximum performance.

CPU

CPU usage on the Agent Manager host is relatively low most of the time. However, usage peaks dramatically during the performance metric collection. This is normal and expected. CPU utilization consistently over 50% is an indication that additional processing power is required. As with memory, usage can vary between different installations with similar numbers of virtual machines. The following guidelines should be followed:

When the Agent Manager and VMware Performance agents are running on a virtual machine, the VM should be configured with CPU reservation whenever possible to ensure best performance. Lack of processing power on the Agent Manager manifests in missed collections and gaps in the data usually noticeable in various graphs throughout the Foglight for VMware dashboards.

Foglight Management Server minimum memory requirements

* Edit the Foglight Management Server JVM settings in the server.config file located under Quest\Foglight\config\. When running Foglight on a virtual machine, full memory needs be reserved at the hypervisor level.

Back to Top