This test is used to know the details about the scsi devices of the esx server.

The default parameters associated with this test are as follows:

• The TEST PERIOD list box helps the user to decide how often this test needs to be executed.

• In the HOST text box, the host name of the server for which the test is to be configured has to be specified.

• Specify the PORT at which the above-mentioned HOST listens. By default, this is NULL.

• In order to enable the test to extract the desired metrics from a target ESX server, you need to configure the test with an ESX USER and ESX PASSWORD. The user credentials to be passed here depend upon the mechanism used by the eG agent for collecting performance statistics from the ESX server and its VMs. These monitoring methodologies and their corresponding configuration requirements have been discussed hereunder:

  • Monitoring using the web services interface of the ESX server: Starting with ESX server 3.0, a VMware ESX server offers a web service interface using which the eG agent collects metrics from an ESX server. The VMware VI SDK is used by the agent to implement the web services interface. To use this interface for monitoring, this test should be configured with an ESX USER who has "Read-only" privileges to the target ESX server. By default, the root user is authorized to execute the test. However, it is preferable that you create a new user on the target ESX host and assign the "Read-only" role to him/her. The steps for achieving this have been elaborately discussed in the Monitoring VMware Infrastructures document.

    ESX 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 ESX 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 before it opens new sessions, then you would have to configure all the tests with the credentials of an ESX user with permissions to View and stop sessions (prior to vSphere 4.1, this was called View and Terminate Sessions permission). The steps for achieving this have been elaborately discussed in the Monitoring VMware Infrastructures document.

  • Monitoring using the vCenter in the target environment: By default, the eG agent connects to each ESX server and monitors it. While this approach scales well, it requires additional configuration for each server being monitored. For example, separate user accounts may need to be created on each server for read-only access to performance metrics. While monitoring large virtualized installations however, the agents can be optionally configured to monitor an ESX server using the metrics already collected by the different vCenter installations that may be in use in the environment. In this case therefore, the ESX USER and ESX PASSWORD that you specify should be that of an Administrator or Virtual Machine Administrator in vCenter. However, if, owing to security constraints, you prefer not to use the credentials of such users, then, you can create a special role in vCenter with 'Read-only' privileges. Refer to the Monitoring VMware Infrastructures document for the corresponding procedure.

    If the ESX server for which this test is being configured had been discovered via vCenter, then the eG manager automatically populates the ESX USER and ESX PASSWORD text boxes with the vCenter user credentials using which the ESX discovery was performed. Like ESX servers, vCenter servers too 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 before it opens new sessions, then you would have to configure all the tests with the credentials of a vCenter user with permissions to View and stop sessions (prior to vCenter 4.1, this was called View and Terminate Sessions permission). The steps for achieving this have been elaborately discussed in the Monitoring VMware Infrastructures document.

• Confirm the password by retyping it in the CONFIRM PASSWORD text box.

• By default, the ESX server is SSL-enabled. Accordingly, the SSL flag is set to Yes by default. This indicates that the eG agent will communicate with the ESX server via HTTPS by default.

  Like the ESX sever, the vCenter is also SSL-enabled by default. If you have chosen to use the vCenter for monitoring, then you have to set the SSL flag to Yes.

• If the eG manager had discovered the target ESX server by connecting to vCenter, then the IP address of the vCenter server used for discovering this ESX server would be automatically displayed against the VIRTUAL CENTER parameter; similarly, the ESX USER and ESX PASSWORD text boxes will be automatically populated with the vCenter user credentials, using which ESX discovery was performed.

  If this ESX server has not been discovered using vCenter, but you still want to discover the guests on the ESX server via vCenter, then select the IP address of the vCenter host that you wish to use for guest discovery from the VIRTUAL CENTER list. By default, this list is populated with the IP address of all vCenter hosts that were added to the eG Enterprise system at the time of discovery. Upon selection, the ESX USER and ESX PASSWORD that were pre-configured for that vCenter server will be automatically displayed against the respective text boxes.

  On the other hand, if the IP address of the vCenter server of interest to you is not available in the list, then, you can add the details of the vCenter server on-the-fly, by selecting the Other option from the VIRTUAL CENTER list. This will invoke the ADD VCENTER SERVER DETAILS page. Specify the following details in this page to add a new vCenter server:

  • Provide the IP or hostname of the vCenter server being added in the vCenter Identity (IP or Host name) text box.
  • Then, indicate whether the eG manager is to connect to vCenter using SSL or not by selecting the Yes or No option from the Use SSL to connect to vCenter list.
  • By default, in most virtualized environments, vCenter listens on port 80 (if not SSL-enabeld) or on port 443 (if SSL-enabled) only. This implies that while discovering ESX servers using vCenter, eG Enterprise communicates with vCenter via the default ports 80 or 443, depending upon the SSL-enabled status of vCenter. Accordingly, the Web Port parameter is set to 443 by default, if the SSL flag is set to Yes, and displays the default value 80 if the SSL flag is set to No.In some environments however, the default ports 80 or 443 might not apply. In such a case, in the Web Port text box, specify the exact port at which vCenter in your environment listens.
  • If the vCenter being added is to be used for ESX discovery as well, set the Discover ESX hosts using this vCenter flag to Yes. Otherwise, set this flag to No.
  • In order to be able to discover ESX servers using a vCenter server, the eG manager needs to connect to vCenter using the credentials of a valid user to vCenter. Provide the user name and password of such a user in the Username to connect to vCenter and Password for the user text boxes. This user typically requires Administrator or Virtual Machine Administrator privileges. However, if you cannot expose the credentials of such a user owing to security constraints, then, you can use the credentials of a user with 'Read-only' privileges to vCenter. If such a user pre-exists, then, provide the name and password of that user in the text boxes mentioned above. Otherwise, assign the 'Read-only' role to a local/domain user to vCenter, and provide the name and password of this user in the Username to connect to vCenter and Password for the user text boxes. The steps for achieving this are detailed in Monitoring VMware Infrastructures document.
  • Confirm the password of the user by retyping it in the Comfirm password for the user text box.
  • You can then click the Update button to save the vCenter configuration.

  On the other hand, if you want the eG agent to behave in the default manner - i.e., communicate with each ESX server for VM information - then set the VIRTUAL CENTER parameter to 'none'. In this case, the ESX USER and ESX PASSWORD parameters can either be set to none or can be configured with the credentials of a user who has at least 'Read-only' privileges to the target ESX server.

• By default, in most virtualized environments, vCenter listens on port 80 (if not SSL-enabeld) 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.

• If multiple components of the same component type are awaiting configuration, then an APPLY TO OTHER COMPONENTS check box will appear in this page. Clicking on this check box will allow you to apply the configuration to all/selected components of that type.

• Once the necessary values have been provided, clicking on the Update button will register the changes made and the selected server will move over to the CONFIGURED COMPONENTS panel.

• The test parameters for an already configured server can be reconfigured using the Reconfigure button. The parameter configuration page reappears and the required changes can be made to the existing values of the parameters.

• If the test under consideration is not to be executed for any of the configured servers, they can be removed from the list using the Exclude button doing which will move the server to the EXCLUDED COMPONENTS panel.

• Clicking on the Include button in this panel will add the excluded server to the list of servers to be configured.

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.