Vcenter Integration with KloudMate

7min

In today’s dynamic IT environments, effective monitoring and management of virtualized resources are crucial for maintaining performance and reliability. This document outlines the integration of vCenter with OpenTelemetry (OTel), facilitating the collection and transmission of metrics from VMware vSphere environments, including both vCenter and ESXi hosts.
By leveraging the vSphere APIs, our integration allows seamless fetching of vital metrics, which are then forwarded to KloudMate. This ensures that teams have access to real-time insights and analytics, enabling proactive management of virtual infrastructure. Through this integration, organizations can enhance visibility into their virtualized resources, optimize performance, and streamline troubleshooting processes, ultimately driving improved operational efficiency.
Pre-requisites::
Vcenter must be running with the version 8 and 7.0. 
User credentials: A “Read Only” user assigned to a vSphere with permissions to the vCenter server, cluster and all subsequent resources being monitored must be specified in order for the receiver to retrieve information about them.
Endpoint: Endpoint to the vCenter Server or ESXi host that has the sdk path enabled. 
Install the OpenTelemetry collector on the specific server which have access to Vcenter. 
Check  Installing and Configuring OpenTelemetry Collector. 
﻿
Step 1: Configure the Receivers to scrape metrics as well as Logs.
To start monitoring with VMware with Otel Collector, you need to configure vcenter receiver ﻿
Linux Users: Open the file located at /etc/otelcol-contrib/config.yamlusing your preferred text editor.
Windows Users: Create a new file called config.yaml in the C:\Program Files\OpenTelemetry Collector folder. You can use Notepad or any text editor to do this.
Add the suitable extensions : 
YAML
extensions:
  health_check:
  pprof:
    endpoint: 0.0.0.0:1777
  zpages:
    endpoint: 0.0.0.0:55679
extensions:
  health_check:
  pprof:
    endpoint: 0.0.0.0:1777
  zpages:
    endpoint: 0.0.0.0:55679
﻿
In this configuration file, ensure the vcenter receiver is set up to collect and send metrics according to your specific requirements. 
YAML
receivers:
  vcenter:
    endpoint: http://localhost:15672  #Endpoint to the vCenter Server or ESXi host. Example format is <protocol>://<hostname>
    username: <username>  # change username
    password: <password>  #change password
    collection_interval: 1m
    initial_delay: 1s
    tls:
      insecure: true
    metrics:
      vcenter.host.cpu.utilization:
        enabled: false
receivers:
  vcenter:
    endpoint: http://localhost:15672  #Endpoint to the vCenter Server or ESXi host. Example format is <protocol>://<hostname>
    username: <username>  # change username
    password: <password>  #change password
    collection_interval: 1m
    initial_delay: 1s
    tls:
      insecure: true
    metrics:
      vcenter.host.cpu.utilization:
        enabled: false
﻿
Step 2: Set up the processor component to identify resource information and either append or replace the resource values in the telemetry data with this information.
YAML
processors:
  batch:
    send_batch_size: 5000
    timeout: 10s

  resourcedetection:
    detectors: [system]
    system:
      resource_attributes:
        host.name:
          enabled: true
        host.id:
          enabled: true
        os.type:
          enabled: false

  resource:
    attributes:
      - key: service.name
        action: insert
        from_attribute: host.name
processors:
  batch:
    send_batch_size: 5000
    timeout: 10s

  resourcedetection:
    detectors: [system]
    system:
      resource_attributes:
        host.name:
          enabled: true
        host.id:
          enabled: true
        os.type:
          enabled: false

  resource:
    attributes:
      - key: service.name
        action: insert
        from_attribute: host.name
﻿
Step 3: Configure the exporter, extension and save the configuration
Set up the KloudMate Backend on the exporter part of the Open Telemetry configuration file and configure the pipeline.
YAML
exporters:
  debug:
    verbosity: detailed
  otlphttp:
    endpoint: 'https://otel.kloudmate.com:4318'
    headers:
      Authorization: xxxxxxxx  # Use the auth key

service:
  pipelines:

    metrics:
      receivers: [vcenter]
      processors: [batch, resourcedetection, resource]
      exporters: [debug, otlphttp]
  extensions: [health_check, pprof, zpages]
exporters:
  debug:
    verbosity: detailed
  otlphttp:
    endpoint: 'https://otel.kloudmate.com:4318'
    headers:
      Authorization: xxxxxxxx  # Use the auth key

service:
  pipelines:

    metrics:
      receivers: [vcenter]
      processors: [batch, resourcedetection, resource]
      exporters: [debug, otlphttp]
  extensions: [health_check, pprof, zpages]
﻿
Step 4:  To restart and verify the status of the OpenTelemetry (Otel) Collector, follow these steps:
For Linux:
Execute the following commands:
Text
sudo systemctl restart otelcol-contrib 
sudo systemctl status otelcol-contrib
sudo systemctl restart otelcol-contrib 
sudo systemctl status otelcol-contrib
﻿
These commands will restart the Otel Collector and display its current status.
For Windows:
Open the Services window:
Press Win + R, type services.msc, and press OK.
Alternatively, search for "Services" in the Windows Start menu.
In the Services window, locate the "OpenTelemetry Collector" service.
Right-click the service and select "Restart."
Subsequently, monitor the metrics on the KloudMate dashboard and set up an alarm to receive notifications if the potential metrics for a specific application rise. 
Default Metrics
Metrics
Description
vcenter_datacenter_cluster_count
The number of clusters in the datacenter.
vcenter_datacenter_host_count
The number of hosts in the datacenter.
vcenter_datacenter_vm_count
The number of VM's in the datacenter.
vcenter_datacenter_datastore_count
The number of datastores in the datacenter.
vcenter_datacenter_disk_space
The amount of available and used disk space in the datacenter.
vcenter_datacenter_cpu_limit
The total amount of CPU available to the datacenter.
vcenter_datacenter_memory_limit
The total amount of memory available to the datacenter.
vcenter_cluster_cpu_limit
The amount of CPU available to the cluster.
vcenter_cluster_cpu_effective
The effective CPU available to the cluster. This value excludes CPU from hosts in maintenance mode or are unresponsive.
vcenter_cluster_memory_limit
The available memory of the cluster.
vcenter_cluster_memory_effective
The effective available memory of the cluster.
vcenter_cluster_vm_count
The number of virtual machines in the cluster.
vcenter_cluster_vm_template_count
The number of virtual machine templates in the cluster.
vcenter_cluster_host_count
The number of hosts in the cluster.
vcenter_cluster_vsan_throughput
The vSAN throughput of a cluster.
vcenter_cluster_vsan_operations
The vSAN IOPs of a cluster.
vcenter_cluster_vsan_latency_avg
The overall cluster latency while accessing vSAN storage.
vcenter_cluster_vsan_congestions
The congestion of IOs generated by all vSAN clients in the cluster.
vcenter_datastore_disk_usage
The amount of space in the datastore.
vcenter_datastore_disk_utilization
The utilization of the datastore.
vcenter_host_cpu_utilization
The CPU utilization of the host system.
vcenter_host_cpu_usage
The amount of CPU used by the host.
vcenter_host_cpu_capacity
Total CPU capacity of the host system.
vcenter_host_cpu_reserved
The CPU of the host is reserved for use by virtual machines.
vcenter_host_disk_throughput
Average number of kilobytes read from or written to the disk each second.
vcenter_host_disk_latency_avg
The latency of operations to the host system's disk.
vcenter_host_disk_latency_max
Highest latency value across all disks used by the host.
vcenter_host_memory_utilization
The percentage of the host system's memory capacity that is being utilized.
vcenter_host_memory_usage
The amount of memory the host system is using.
vcenter_host_network_throughput
The amount of data that was transmitted or received over the network by the host.
vcenter_host_network_usage
The sum of the data transmitted and received for all the NIC instances of the host.
vcenter_host_network_packet_error_rate
The rate of packet errors transmitted or received on the host network.
vcenter_host_network_packet_rate
The rate of packets transmitted or received across each physical NIC (network interface controller) instance on the host.
vcenter_host_network_packet_drop_rate
The rate of packets dropped across each physical NIC (network interface controller) instance on the host.
vcenter_host_vsan_throughput
The vSAN throughput of a host.
vcenter_host_vsan_operations
The vSAN IOPs of a host.
vcenter_host_vsan_latency_avg
The host latency while accessing vSAN storage.
vcenter_host_vsan_congestions
The congestion of IOs generated by all vSAN clients in the host.
vcenter_host_vsan_cache_hit_rate
The host's read IOs which could be satisfied by the local client cache.
vcenter_resource_pool_memory_usage
The usage of the memory by the resource pool.
vcenter_resource_pool_memory_shares
The amount of shares of memory in the resource pool.
vcenter_resource_pool_memory_swapped
The amount of memory that is granted to VMs in the resource pool from the host's swap space.
vcenter_resource_pool_memory_ballooned
The amount of memory in a resource pool that is ballooned due to virtualization.
vcenter_resource_pool_memory_granted
The amount of memory that is granted to VMs in the resource pool from shared and non-shared host memory.
vcenter_resource_pool_cpu_usage
The usage of the CPU used by the resource pool.
vcenter_resource_pool_cpu_shares
The amount of shares of CPU in the resource pool.
vcenter_vm_memory_ballooned
The amount of memory that is ballooned due to virtualization.
vcenter_vm_memory_usage
The amount of memory that is used by the virtual machine.
vcenter_vm_memory_swapped
The portion of memory that is granted to this VM from the host's swap space.
vcenter_vm_memory_swapped_ssd
The amount of memory swapped to fast disk device such as SSD.
vcenter_vm_disk_usage
The amount of storage space used by the virtual machine.
vcenter_vm_disk_utilization
The utilization of storage on the virtual machine.
vcenter_vm_disk_latency_avg
The latency of operations to the virtual machine's disk.
vcenter_vm_disk_latency_max
The highest reported total latency (device and kernel times) over an interval of 20 seconds.
vcenter_vm_disk_throughput
Average number of kilobytes read from or written to the virtual disk each second.
vcenter_vm_network_throughput
The amount of data that was transmitted or received over the network of the virtual machine.
vcenter_vm_network_packet_rate
The rate of packets transmitted or received by each vNIC (virtual network interface controller) on the virtual machine.
vcenter_vm_network_packet_drop_rate
The rate of transmitted or received packets dropped by each vNIC (virtual network interface controller) on the virtual machine.
vcenter_vm_network_usage
The network utilization combined transmit and receive rates during an interval.
vcenter_vm_cpu_utilization
The CPU utilization of the VM.
vcenter_vm_cpu_usage
The amount of CPU used by the VM.
vcenter_vm_cpu_readiness
Percentage of time that the virtual machine was ready, but could not get scheduled to run on the physical CPU.
vcenter_vm_memory_utilization
The memory utilization of the VM.
vcenter_vm_vsan_throughput
The vSAN throughput of a virtual machine.
vcenter_vm_vsan_operations
The vSAN IOPs of a virtual machine.
vcenter_vm_vsan_latency_avg
The virtual machine latency while accessing vSAN storage.
﻿

Metrics	Description
vcenter_datacenter_cluster_count	The number of clusters in the datacenter.
vcenter_datacenter_host_count	The number of hosts in the datacenter.
vcenter_datacenter_vm_count	The number of VM's in the datacenter.
vcenter_datacenter_datastore_count	The number of datastores in the datacenter.
vcenter_datacenter_disk_space	The amount of available and used disk space in the datacenter.
vcenter_datacenter_cpu_limit	The total amount of CPU available to the datacenter.
vcenter_datacenter_memory_limit	The total amount of memory available to the datacenter.
vcenter_cluster_cpu_limit	The amount of CPU available to the cluster.
vcenter_cluster_cpu_effective	The effective CPU available to the cluster. This value excludes CPU from hosts in maintenance mode or are unresponsive.
vcenter_cluster_memory_limit	The available memory of the cluster.
vcenter_cluster_memory_effective	The effective available memory of the cluster.
vcenter_cluster_vm_count	The number of virtual machines in the cluster.
vcenter_cluster_vm_template_count	The number of virtual machine templates in the cluster.
vcenter_cluster_host_count	The number of hosts in the cluster.
vcenter_cluster_vsan_throughput	The vSAN throughput of a cluster.
vcenter_cluster_vsan_operations	The vSAN IOPs of a cluster.
vcenter_cluster_vsan_latency_avg	The overall cluster latency while accessing vSAN storage.
vcenter_cluster_vsan_congestions	The congestion of IOs generated by all vSAN clients in the cluster.
vcenter_datastore_disk_usage	The amount of space in the datastore.
vcenter_datastore_disk_utilization	The utilization of the datastore.
vcenter_host_cpu_utilization	The CPU utilization of the host system.
vcenter_host_cpu_usage	The amount of CPU used by the host.
vcenter_host_cpu_capacity	Total CPU capacity of the host system.
vcenter_host_cpu_reserved	The CPU of the host is reserved for use by virtual machines.
vcenter_host_disk_throughput	Average number of kilobytes read from or written to the disk each second.
vcenter_host_disk_latency_avg	The latency of operations to the host system's disk.
vcenter_host_disk_latency_max	Highest latency value across all disks used by the host.
vcenter_host_memory_utilization	The percentage of the host system's memory capacity that is being utilized.
vcenter_host_memory_usage	The amount of memory the host system is using.
vcenter_host_network_throughput	The amount of data that was transmitted or received over the network by the host.
vcenter_host_network_usage	The sum of the data transmitted and received for all the NIC instances of the host.
vcenter_host_network_packet_error_rate	The rate of packet errors transmitted or received on the host network.
vcenter_host_network_packet_rate	The rate of packets transmitted or received across each physical NIC (network interface controller) instance on the host.
vcenter_host_network_packet_drop_rate	The rate of packets dropped across each physical NIC (network interface controller) instance on the host.
vcenter_host_vsan_throughput	The vSAN throughput of a host.
vcenter_host_vsan_operations	The vSAN IOPs of a host.
vcenter_host_vsan_latency_avg	The host latency while accessing vSAN storage.
vcenter_host_vsan_congestions	The congestion of IOs generated by all vSAN clients in the host.
vcenter_host_vsan_cache_hit_rate	The host's read IOs which could be satisfied by the local client cache.
vcenter_resource_pool_memory_usage	The usage of the memory by the resource pool.
vcenter_resource_pool_memory_shares	The amount of shares of memory in the resource pool.
vcenter_resource_pool_memory_swapped	The amount of memory that is granted to VMs in the resource pool from the host's swap space.
vcenter_resource_pool_memory_ballooned	The amount of memory in a resource pool that is ballooned due to virtualization.
vcenter_resource_pool_memory_granted	The amount of memory that is granted to VMs in the resource pool from shared and non-shared host memory.
vcenter_resource_pool_cpu_usage	The usage of the CPU used by the resource pool.
vcenter_resource_pool_cpu_shares	The amount of shares of CPU in the resource pool.
vcenter_vm_memory_ballooned	The amount of memory that is ballooned due to virtualization.
vcenter_vm_memory_usage	The amount of memory that is used by the virtual machine.
vcenter_vm_memory_swapped	The portion of memory that is granted to this VM from the host's swap space.
vcenter_vm_memory_swapped_ssd	The amount of memory swapped to fast disk device such as SSD.
vcenter_vm_disk_usage	The amount of storage space used by the virtual machine.
vcenter_vm_disk_utilization	The utilization of storage on the virtual machine.
vcenter_vm_disk_latency_avg	The latency of operations to the virtual machine's disk.
vcenter_vm_disk_latency_max	The highest reported total latency (device and kernel times) over an interval of 20 seconds.
vcenter_vm_disk_throughput	Average number of kilobytes read from or written to the virtual disk each second.
vcenter_vm_network_throughput	The amount of data that was transmitted or received over the network of the virtual machine.
vcenter_vm_network_packet_rate	The rate of packets transmitted or received by each vNIC (virtual network interface controller) on the virtual machine.
vcenter_vm_network_packet_drop_rate	The rate of transmitted or received packets dropped by each vNIC (virtual network interface controller) on the virtual machine.
vcenter_vm_network_usage	The network utilization combined transmit and receive rates during an interval.
vcenter_vm_cpu_utilization	The CPU utilization of the VM.
vcenter_vm_cpu_usage	The amount of CPU used by the VM.
vcenter_vm_cpu_readiness	Percentage of time that the virtual machine was ready, but could not get scheduled to run on the physical CPU.
vcenter_vm_memory_utilization	The memory utilization of the VM.
vcenter_vm_vsan_throughput	The vSAN throughput of a virtual machine.
vcenter_vm_vsan_operations	The vSAN IOPs of a virtual machine.
vcenter_vm_vsan_latency_avg	The virtual machine latency while accessing vSAN storage.

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