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Foglight for VMware 5.6.16 - User and Reference Guide

Using Foglight for VMware
Introducing the Virtual Infrastructure Navigation Basics Interacting with Foglight for VMware VMware Performance Agent Configuration
Reference
Views
VMware Alarms Views VMware Explorer Views VMware Modeler Views VMware VirtualCenter Views VMware Environment Views Other Views
Rules
Agent Rules Cluster Rules Datacenter Rules Datastore Rules Resource Pool Rules ESX Server Rules VirtualCenter Rules Virtual Machine Rules VMW Stale Data Management Rule Virtual Switch Rules
Appendix: Alarm Messages

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 above 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 2560 MB of memory:
512 MB + 2048 MB = 2560 MB
This is the default setting for agents deployed on 64-bit systems.
Similarly, monitoring 8000 virtual machines requires 4608 MB of memory:
512 MB + 4096 MB = 4608 MB
This requires the default agent setting to be changed.
To change the JVM memory settings:
1
On the agent machine, open the agent.manifest file for editing. The file is located in the <FglAM_home>/agents/VMwarePerformance/5.6.16-5.6.16-<yyyymmdd-hhmm>/config directory.
2
Locate the following line:
<jvm-memory min="2560" max="2560" units="megabyte"/>
3
Set the min and max attributes to 4608 MB:
<jvm-memory min="4608" max="4608" units="megabyte"/>
4
Delete the existing deployed negotiation configuration settings directory:
<FglAM_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 for VMware 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:
 
Table 6. CPU usage guidelines
Up to 1000 VMs
2 CPUs
1000 – 4000 VMs
4 CPUs
4000+ VMs
add 1 CPU per 1000 VMs – round up when necessary
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.

Configuring Agent Properties

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.
There are two ways to access the VMware Performance Agent properties:
•
On the VMware Environment dashboard, on the Administration tab, select an agent instance and click Edit Properties (see Configuring Monitoring Agents for Data Collection ). This method only provides access to the Configuration properties, but not the Black List and Data Collection Scheduler properties.
•
On the Agent Status dashboard, select an agent instance and click Edit Properties. This method provides access to the full set of VMware Performance Agent properties, and is described in this topic.
For more information about working with agent properties, see the Administration and Configuration Guide.
To modify agent properties:
1
Log in to the Foglight browser interface.
2
Ensure that the navigation panel is open.
To open the navigation panel, click the right-facing arrow on the left.
3
Navigate to the VMware Performance Agent properties. An agent instance can have a combination of global and private properties. Global properties apply to all instances of the agent type, while private properties apply only to specific agent instances.
a
On the navigation panel, under Dashboards, choose Administration > Agents > Agent Status.
 
* 
IMPORTANT: Another way of editing the VMware Performance Agent properties is through the Agent Properties dashboard. The properties you specify on this dashboard apply to all instances of the VMware Performance Agent type. To be certain that you are editing properties for a particular agent instance, without overwriting any properties of other VMware Performance instances, use the Agent Status dashboard instead of the Agent Properties dashboard.
b
On the Agent Status dashboard, select the instance of the VMware Performance Agent whose properties you want to modify and click Edit > Edit Properties.
c
Click Modify the private properties for this agent to indicate that you want to edit the properties of the selected VMware Performance Agent instance.
A list of agent properties appears in the display area.
Figure 87. VMware Performance Agent properties
The configuration of agent properties described in this section include:
•
Setting the Configuration Properties
•
Setting the Black List Properties
•
Setting the Data Collection Scheduler Properties

Setting the Configuration Properties

The Configuration properties point the VMware Performance Agent to the machine on which the Virtual Center is running, and provide some additional configuration settings.
To set the configuration properties:
1
Locate the VMware Performance Agent’s Configuration properties.
2
Set the Configuration properties as follows:
•
Host Name: The fully qualified host name of the machine on which the Virtual Center is running.
•
Host Port: The port number of the machine on which the Virtual Center is running that will be used by the VMware Performance Agent to connect to that machine in order to collect data from the monitored Virtual Center.
•
Performance request threads: The number of threads in a performance request.
•
Cisco switch collection threads: The number of threads in a Cisco switch collection.
•
Storage Collection Enabled: If you are running Foglight™ for Storage Management and want to enable the VMware Performance Agent to collect the Foglight Storage data, select True, otherwise, set this property to False. 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 your Foglight for Storage Management documentation.
•
VMWare Request Timeout (sec): The amount of time in seconds after which a VMware request times out.
•
Default performance request timeout (sec). Increased as needed: The amount of time in seconds after which a default performance request times out.
•
Property request timeout (sec): The amount of time in seconds after which a property request times out.
•
Update request timeout (sec): The amount of time in seconds after which an update request times out.
•
Login/open/close timeout (sec): The amount of time in seconds after which login, open, or close requests times out.
•
Cisco switch connection timeout (sec): The amount of time in seconds after which a Cisco switch connection times out.
•
Cisco switch timeout (sec) for performing a single SSH command: The amount of time in seconds after which an attempt to perform a single SSH command on a Cisco switch times out.
•
Request Timeout for HA operation (sec): The amount of time in seconds after which an HA operation request times out.
•
Request Timeout for move vm operation (min): The amount of time in minutes after which a request for an operation to move a virtual machine times out.
•
Alarms Collection Enabled: If you want to collect VMware alarms from the monitored system, set this to True. Otherwise, select False.
•
Performance request batch size (10-50): The size of a performance request batch.
•
Performance submission batch size: The size of a performance submission batch.
3
Click Save.
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