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Foglight for vCloud Director 5.8.3 - User Guide

Getting Started Setting Up Monitoring Agents Investigating Resource Consumption Levels Investigating Object Dependencies Reference

Discovering Server Groups

A vCloud Director® server group contains one or more vCloud Director servers. The vCloud Director servers use a shared database, and are associated with vCenter® servers and ESX® hosts. Each vCloud Director server is considered a cell in the server group, with established connections to the shared database, vCenter server, and any ESX hosts.

Given a vCloud Director server, the vCloud Discovery Wizard allows to locate a desired server group, and to configure monitoring for one or more server cells belonging to that group. This results in two or more agent instances: a vCloud Director agent (to monitor the vCloud server) and one or more VMware Performance agents (to monitor the associated vCenters).

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NOTE: In FIPS-compliant mode, you need to import the CA certificate or the self-signed certificate to the KeyStore of FglAM to use this option. For more information, see Managing certificates .
 
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NOTE: The VMware Performance Agent is provided with Foglight for VMware. Ensure this product is installed and enabled in your environment before running the vCloud Discovery wizard. For complete information about Foglight for VMware for VMware, see the Foglight for VMware User and Reference Guide.
To start monitoring a vCloud Director server:
1
Log in to the Foglight browser interface.
2
On the navigation panel, under Dashboards, click vCloud Director > vCloud Environment.
3
Click the Administration tab.
4
Under Tasks, click Discover vCloud Server Groups to launch the vCloud Discovery Wizard.
The vCloud Discovery Wizard appears, showing the Select Agent Host page. The page lists one or more hosts that are running Agent Manager instances.
5
On the Select Agent Host page, select the running Agent Manager that you want to manage the monitoring agents you are about to create, and click Next.
6
On the Discovery Configuration page, provide the following information needed to connect to the vCloud server belonging to the group whose cell you want to monitor.
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vCloud Server: Type the vCloud server name.
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User Name: Type the user name needed to access the vCloud server.
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Password: Type the password needed to access the vCloud server, associated with the above user name.
7
Click Next.
8
On the All vCloud Cells page, select the vCloud server that you want to monitor, and click Next.
9
On the All vCenter Servers page, select one or more vCenter that you want to monitor.
 
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IMPORTANT: Monitoring a vCenter requires a running instance of the VMware Performance Agent. This agent is provided with Foglight for VMware. For more information about this product, see the Foglight for VMware User and Reference Guide.
10
Optional—Configure monitoring of a vCenter using the VMware Performance Agent.
a
On the All vCenter Servers page, in the row listing the vCenter that you want to configure, click the Configure Agent column.
The VMware vCenter Agent: Configure Agent Properties dialog box appears.
b
Provide the following information needed to connected to the vCloud server belonging to the group whose cell you want to monitor.
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VMware Agent Name: If you want to specify a different name than the one provided by default (for example, VMware Agent 1), type it in this box.
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Port: If you want to use a different port number than the one provided by default, 443, type it in this box.
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User Name: Type the user name for the VMware Performance Agent to use to log in to the specified Virtual Center.
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Password: Type the password needed to access the specified Virtual Center, associated with the above user name.
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Enable Storage Collection: If you are running Foglight for Storage Management and want to enable the VMware Performance Agent to collect the Foglight for Storage Management data, select this check box. Otherwise, leave this box clear.
 
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NOTE: Foglight for Storage Management can help you optimize the VMware environment virtual storage and its underlying physical storage components. For more information about this product, see the Foglight for Storage Management documentation.
c
Click Save.
11
Click Finish.
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The vCloud Discovery Wizard closes and the Result For Agent(s) Creation dialog box appears, showing a list of monitoring agents created during the discovery process.
 

Configuring Monitoring Agents for Data Collection

Foglight for vCloud Director uses the vCloud Director Agent to collect information from monitored hosts. Creating a vCloud Director Agent instance creates the agent process on the Agent Manager host. Activating the vCloud Director Agent starts that agent process. Starting an agent instance’s data collection enables the agent to start collecting data from the monitored host and to send it to the Management Server.

When the vCloud Director Agent package is successfully deployed, create one or more agent instances, activate them, and start their data collection. To perform these steps in a single operation for one or more monitored hosts, use the Create vCloud Agent wizard accessible from the Agents area on the Administration tab of the vCloud Environment dashboard.

To create and activate vCloud Director Agent instances, and start their data collection:
1
Log in to the Foglight browser interface.
2
On the navigation panel, under Dashboards, click vCloud Director > vCloud Environment.
3
Click the Administration tab.
4
Under Agents, click Add to launch the Create vCloud Agent wizard.
5
Select the host running the Agent Manager that you want to use to manage the agent instance you are about to create, and click Next.
6
On the Agent Properties page, provide the following information needed to create a vCloud associated with the server that you want to monitor.
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vCloud Server Group Name: Type the name of the group to which the vCloud server that you want to monitor belongs.
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vCloud Server: Type the vCloud server name.
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User Name: Type the user name needed to access the vCloud server.
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Password: Type the password needed to access the vCloud server and associated with the above user name.
7
Click Finish.
The wizard closes, and the Agents area refreshes, showing a newly created agent instance.
8
Select the agent instance in the list and click Activate.
9
Select the agent instance in the list and click Start Data Collection.

Configuring Agent Properties

The vCloud Director Agent collects data from the virtual infrastructure and sends it to the Management Server. The agent keeps track of resource utilization metrics and alerts you when certain pre-defined thresholds are reached.

When an agent connects to Foglight™, it is provided with sets of properties that it uses to configure its correct running state. Each agent is provided with a combination of two types of properties: agent properties and shareable properties.

Default versions of these properties are installed with Foglight for VMware. However, you can edit the default shareable and agent properties, configure agent properties that apply only to a specific agent instance, and create edited clones of shareable properties that are used by a subset of agents of a certain type.

For detailed information about working with agent properties, see the Administration and Configuration Help.

To modify agent properties:
1
Log in to the Foglight browser interface.
2
Open the Agent Status dashboard and navigate to the agent properties.
a
On the navigation panel, under Dashboards, choose Administration > Agents > Agent Status.
b
On the Agent Status dashboard, select the instance of the vCloud Director Agent whose properties you want to modify, and click Edit Properties.
c
Click Modify the private properties for this agent.
The vCloud Director Agent properties appears in the display area.

The configuration of agent properties described in this section include:

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Setting the Configuration Properties
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Setting the Data Collection Scheduler Properties

Setting the Configuration Properties

The Configuration properties specify general settings the vCloud Director Agent needs to connect to the monitored vCloud server.

Figure 5. Configuration properties

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vCloud Server Group Name: The name of the group to which the vCloud server belongs. Changing the server group name causes the agent to be a part of a different group, while the data associated with the old group is preserved, which may lead to confusion. Therefore changing the server group is not recommended.
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vCloud Server: The vCloud server name.
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User Name: The user name needed to access the vCloud server.
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Password: The password needed to access the vCloud server and associated with the above user name.
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Event Collection Disabled: Event Collection is disabled by default.
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