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Configuration of VCAlarmTest
This test when executed periodically enables the eG agent to read the alarms triggered and logged in the vCenter alarm console. This test reports the count of alarms that are currently triggered and also the reports the count of informational alarms, critical alarms etc. Administrators can use the detailed diagnostics to identify the exact alarms that were triggered and initiate troubleshooting to resolve the alarms at the earliest.
This page depicts the default parameters that need to be configured for the VCAlarmTest test.
To connect to vCenter and extract metrics from it, this test should be configured with the name and password of a user with Administrator or Virtual Machine Administrator privileges to vCenter. However, if, owing to security constraints, you are not able to use the credentials of such users for test configuration, then you can configure this test with the credentials of a user with Read-only rights to vCenter. For this purpose, you can assign the ‘Read-only’ role to a local/domain user to vCenter, and then specify name and password of this user against the VC USER and VC PASSWORD text boxes and confirm the password by retyping it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD text box. The steps for assigning this role to a user on vCenter have been detailed in the Monitoring VMware Infrastructures chapter document.
vCenter servers terminate user sessions based on timeout periods. The default timeout period is 30 mins. When you stop an agent, sessions currently in use by the agent will remain open for this timeout period until vCenter times out the session. If the agent is restarted within the timeout period, it will open a new set of sessions. If you want the eG agent to close already existing sessions on vCenter before it opens new sessions, then, instead of the ‘Read-only’ user, you can optionally configure the VC User and VC Password parameters with the credentials of a user with permissions to View and Stop Sessions on vCenter. For this purpose, you can create a special role on vCenter, grant the View and Stop Sessions privilege (prior to vCenter 4.1, this was called the View and Terminate Sessions privilege) to this role, and then assign the new role to a local/domain user to vCenter. The steps for this have been discussed in the Monitoring VMware Infrastructures chapterdocument.
By default, in most virtualized environments, vCenter listens on port 80 (if not SSL-enabled) or on port 443 (if SSL-enabled) only. This implies that while monitoring vCenter, the eG agent, by default, connects to port 80 or 443, depending upon the SSL-enabled status of vCenter - i.e., if vCenter is not SSL-enabled (i.e., if the SSL flag above is set to No), then the eG agent connects to vCenter using port 80 by default, and if vCenter is SSL-enabled (i.e., if the ssl flag is set to Yes), then the agent-vCenter communication occurs via port 443 by default. Accordingly, the WEBPORT parameter is set to default by default.
In some environments however, the default ports 80 or 443 might not apply. In such a case, against the Webport parameter, you can specify the exact port at which vCenter in your environment listens, so that the eG agent communicates with that port for collecting metrics from vCenter.
By default, the SHOW DD INFO ALARMS flag is set to No indicating that detailed metrics will not be collected by default for the Info alarms measure reported by this test. If you wish this test to report detailed diagnostics for the Info alarms measure, set this flag to Yes.
By default, the SHOW DD UNKNOWN ALARMS flag is set to No indicating that detailed metrics will not be collected by default for the Unknown alarms measure reported by this test. If you wish this test to report detailed diagnostics for the Unknown alarms measure, set this flag to Yes.
By default, the SHOW DD WARN ALARMS flag is set to Yes indicating that detailed metrics will be collected and reported as part of detailed diagnosis for the Warning alarms measure reported by this test. If you do not wish to report detailed diagnostics for the Warning alarms measure, set this flag to No.
By default, the SHOW DD CRITICAL ALARMS flag is set to Yes indicating that detailed metrics will be collected and reported as part of detailed diagnosis for the Critical alarms measure reported by this test. If you do not wish to report detailed diagnostics for the Critical alarms measure, set this flag to No.
Refers to the frequency with which detailed diagnosis measures are to be generated for this test. The default is 6:1. This indicates that, by default, detailed measures will be generated every sixth time this test runs, and also every time the test detects a problem. You can modify this frequency, if you so desire. Also, if you intend to disable the detailed diagnosis capability for this test, you can do so by specifying none against DD FREQUENCY.
To make diagnosis more efficient and accurate, the eG Enterprise embeds an optional detailed diagnostic capability. With this capability, the eG agents can be configured to run detailed, more elaborate tests as and when specific problems are detected. To enable the detailed diagnosis capability of this test for a particular server, choose the On option. To disable the capability, click on the Off option.
The option to selectively enable/disable the detailed diagnosis capability will be available only if the following conditions are fulfilled:
When changing the configuration for specific servers, a “*” beside the text box corresponding to the parameter signifies that these values have to be manually configured by the user. The parameter values that require to be configured will typically be prefixed with a “$” or contain a series of “*”. A value of “none” in the parameter value indicates that the corresponding parameter value can be changed if required.
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