Measures reported by VCAlarmTest

vSphere includes a user-configurable events and alarms subsystem. This subsystem tracks events happening throughout vSphere and stores the data in log files and the vCenter Server database. This subsystem also enables you to specify the conditions under which alarms are triggered. Alarms can change state from mild warnings to more serious alerts as system conditions change, and can trigger automated alarm actions. This functionality is useful when you want to be informed, or take immediate action, when certain events or conditions occur for a specific inventory object, or group of objects.

Alarms are notifications that are activated in response to an event, a set of conditions, or the state of an inventory object. An alarm definition consists of the following elements in the vSphere Client:

• Name and description - Provides an identifying label and description.

• Targets - Defines the type of object that is monitored.

• Alarm Rules - Defines the event, condition, or state that triggers the alarm and defines the notification severity. It also defines operations that occur in response to triggered alarms.

• Last modified - The last modified date and time of the defined alarm.

Alarm definitions are associated with the object selected in the inventory. An alarm monitors the type of inventory objects specified in its definition. Alarm actions are operations that occur in response to the trigger. For example, you can have an email notification sent to one or more administrators when an alarm is triggered. Alarms triggered on a selected inventory object are visible in several locations throughout the VMware vSphere Client and the vCenter console.

In a virtual environment, there may be multiple administrators who are assigned different tasks. If an administrator misses to notice an alarm triggered for a selected inventory object and resolve it on time, it may have a huge impact on the performance of the target environment. To enable administrators notice all the alarms triggered in the target environment without a miss, administrators can use the 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.

Outputs of the test: One set of results for the target VMware vCenter server being monitored.

The measures made by this test are as follows: