Technical Note

vSphere Client Hardware Health Monitoring

VMware vSphere 4.1

Purpose of This Document

VMwarevSphereprovideshealthmonitoringdataforESXhardwaretosupportdatacentervirtualization. HealthmonitoringdataisavailablefromtheVMwarevSphereClientaswellasfromseveralprogrammatic interfaces. Thisdocumentdescribes:

ThebasicarchitecturethatsupportshardwarehealthmonitoringinESX Thehealthinformationthatisavailablebydefault Howpartnersandindependenthardwarevendorscanextendthearchitecturetoprovidehealth informationabouttheirownsystems Howsystemsmanagementvendorscanextracthardwarehealthinformation

Hardware Health Monitoring Options

VMwaresupportshealthmonitoringthroughseveralinterfaces,includingAPIs,CLIs,andGUIs.Userscan createtheirownhealthmonitoringsoftwareusingtheAPIs,ortheycantakeadvantageofexistingGUIorCLI clientstoaccesshardwarehealthinformation. HealthmonitoringclientscanconnectdirectlytoanESXserver,ortothevCenterServerthatmanagesan ESXserver.ClientsthatconnecttovCenterServercanviewhardwarehealthinformationforanymanagedESX serverthroughasingleconnection.

Programmatic Interfaces for Health Monitoring

Forthosewhowantthepowerandflexibilitytodesigntheirownhealthmonitoringsolutions,VMware supportsthefollowingprotocols.Twoofthemareindustrystandardprotocols,andoneisaproprietaryAPI designedspecificallyformanagingvSpheredatacenters:

CIM(CommonInformationModel) SNMP(SimpleNetworkManagementProtocol) vSphereWebServicesAPI(WSAPI)

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Figure 1. Health Monitoring APIs

data SNMP client GetRequest etc. notification SNMP trap receiver data CIM client GetInstance etc. notification Indication consumer data notification

WS API client RetrieveProperties WaitForUpdates

vCenter Server Trap Indication

SNMP agent

CIMOM ESX

Host Agent

Thisdocumentusesthetermnotificationinagenericsense,includingbothSNMPtrapsandCIM indications. ThearrowsinFigure 1andFigure 2representinitialmessages,whetherrequestsornotifications.Noarrows areshownforreplies.

Polling and Notification

Allthreeoftheseinterfacesofferbothpollingandasynchronousnotificationcapabilities. Table 1. Polling and Notification Capabilities
Polling SNMP CIM WS API get,getnext getinstance,enumerateinstances RetrieveProperties Notification SNMPtraps CIMindications Events(WaitForUpdates)

NotificationsforSNMPandCIMconformtoasubscribepushmodel,whereasWSAPIeventsuseadelayed replymodeltoapproximateasynchronousnotifications.TheWaitForUpdatesfunctionkeepsarequestopen untiltheserverhaschangestoreport.

VMware API Language Bindings

TheWSAPIislanguageagnostic.TheAPIisdefinedinaWebServicesDescriptionLanguage(WSDL)file. YoucanbindtheWSDLtoyourchoiceofclientsidestubs. VMwareprovidesclientbindingsforPerlintheVMwarevSphereSDKforPerl.TheSDKincludesan additionalAPIlayerthatyoucanusetosimplifycommonoperations. ThevSphereSDKforPerlalsocontainsanAPIforCIMoperations.APerlclientcanaccesseithertheCIMOM (CIMObjectManager)ortheHostAgenttogatherhardwareinformation. WS-Management VMwaresupportstheWSManagementprotocol,inadditiontotheCIMXMLprotocol,forcommunications withtheCIMOM.Clientscanuseeitherprotocol,buttheVMwarevSphereSDKforPerlcontainsclient librariestosupportWSManagementfunctions.

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Figure 2. VMware Perl APIs in Health Monitoring Clients

SNMP client GetRequest etc. SNMP trap receiver Perl CIM client GetInstance etc. Indication consumer Perl WS API client RetrieveProperties WaitForUpdates

vCenter Server Trap Indication

SNMP agent

CIMOM ESX

Host Agent

Command-Line Interfaces for Health Monitoring

CLIsareavailableforallthreeprotocolssupportedbyVMware. Table 2. CLIs for Monitoring Hardware Health
SNMP CIM WS API snmpget,snmpgetnext,snmpwalk wbemcli,owexecwql,wbemop,cimcli VMwarevSpherePowerCLI

ThevSpherePowerCLIinterfacesupportsmanystandardPowerShelloptions.Thecapabilitytopipe.NET objectsfromonecommandtoanothergivesyouconsiderablepowerinmanagingvSphereobjectsfromthe commandline.

Graphical Interfaces for Health Monitoring

AnumberofcommercialGUIclientsthatuseSNMPareavailableforhealthmonitoring,suchas HP Openview,IBMTivoliNetcool,andDellOpenManage. VMwareprovidesthevSphereClientformanagingESXdatacenters.ThevSphere Clienttakesadvantageof boththeCIMAPIandtheWebServicesAPItogatherinformationaboutthehardware.ItusestheWSAPIfor mostmanagementtasks,andtheCIMAPIforhardwarehealthmonitoring.

vSphere Client Health Status Display

WhenyouconnectthevSphereClienttoasingleESXhost,itdisplaysdatarelatedonlytothathost.Health monitoringdataisavailableontheConfigurationtabintheHealthStatuspaneoftheHardwaredisplay. Figure 3,PowerSupplySensor,onpage 4showsanexampleofthevSphereClientdisplaywhenconnected toasinglehost. WhenyouconnectthevSphereClienttovCenterServer,itdisplaysdataforallESXhostsmanagedby vCenter Server.Afteryouselectahostintheinventorypane,thehealthstatusdisplayforthathostisavailable ontheHardwareStatustab.YoumighthavetoscrollthroughthetabsiftheHardwareStatustabisnotvisible. Figure 4,TemperatureSensor,onpage 5showsanexampleofthevSphereClientdisplaywhenconnected tovCenterServer. ThevSphereClientdisplayshealthinformationashealthstatussensors.Asensorcanrepresenteither hardwareorsoftwaredata.

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Hardware Health
Ahardwaresensorrepresentsalogicalinterpretationofoneormorephysicalmeasurementsinthehost machine,suchasavoltagemonitoronapowersupplyoutput. AhardwaresensordisplayedbythevSphereClientmightnotcorrespondtoasinglephysicalmeasurement. Forexample,whenyouconnecttovCenterServer,youmightseeonesensorthatisanaggregate representationofthehealthofanentirehost.Theaggregatesystemhealthsensorisawaytorollupsimilar sensordataacrossalldevicesinthesystem. Figure 3showsanexampleofahardwaresensorthatreportsapowersupplyvoltagewithinnormallimitsfor powersupply#1.ThesensorvalueisNormal. Inthesamefigure,powersupply#2isnotreportedwithinnormallimits.ItsstatusisUnknown.Thismightbe theresultofthepowersupplybeingturnedoff. Figure 3. Power Supply Sensor

Figure 4onpage 5showsatemperaturesensorwithanabsolutereadingthatiswithinitsnormalrange.The temperaturesensorisconfiguredwithnoncriticalandcriticaltemperaturelimits.Ifthetemperatureever exceedsitsconfiguredlimits,thegreeniconintheStatuscolumnwillchangetoaredoryellowcolor, indicatingeitheracriticalproblemoradegradedstatus.

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Figure 4. Temperature Sensor

Software Health
ThevSphereClientdisplayssoftwareinformationasasensor.Asoftwaresensorreportsadescriptionofan installedsoftwareorfirmwaremodule.SoftwaresensorsaredisplayedforsystemBIOS,devicedrivers,and virtualmachinehypervisors.Figure 5showssomesoftwaresensors,includingthenameandversionofthe ESXhypervisor. Figure 5. Software Sensor

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Sensors Displayed in the vSphere Client

ThesetofsensorsdisplayedforanESXhostdependsonthespecifichardware.Thisdocumentcannotgivea completelistofallthesensorsyousee. SensorsdisplayedinthevSphereClientaregroupedbytype.Forinstance,allsensorsrelatedtopower suppliesareshowntogether,andallsensorsrelatedtofansareshowntogether.Thesensorgroupsyouseein thevSphereClientmightincludesomeorallofthesegroups:

Processors Memory Power Voltage Temperature Fan Network SoftwareComponents

Yourhardwaremightshowfewergroupsormoregroupsthanthislist,dependingonwhatsensorsare actuallypresent.TheversionoftheESXhypervisoralsoaffectswhichsensorgroupsareshown. NOTETheSoftwareComponentsgroupisintroducedinvSphere4.1.EarlierversionsofVMwaresoftwaredo notreportinstalledsoftware.

How the vSphere Client Collects Sensor Data

ThevSphereClientcollectssensordataindifferentways,dependingonthesensortypeandtheserverto whichyouconnect.Regardlessofthedatasource,itishandledbytheCIMObjectManager(CIMOM)and conformstotheCIMstandard. Figure 6onpage 7showsthebasicCIMarchitectureonanESXhost.

Hardware Sensors
ManyofthesensorsdisplayedforanESXhostarederivedfrominformationreportedbytheIntelligent PlatformManagementInterface(IPMI)builtintothehardware.TheIPMIstandarddefinesacrossplatform architectureforcollectingandcommunicatinginformationaboutthehardware. AdditionalinformationaboutthehostisgatheredfromtheSMBIOSsubsystemonthehost.

Software Sensors
SoftwaresensorsinthevSphereClientderivefromdatareportedbyadifferentprovider.Thisdatareportsthe installedsoftwareandcurrentversioninformation.AnysoftwarethatispackagedandinstalledasavSphere InstallationBundle(VIB)isrepresentedasasoftwaresensor,includingESXdriversandthehypervisoritself.

Collecting and Reporting Health Data

IfyouconnectthevSphereClienttoanESXhostratherthantovCenterServer,thesensordatayouseeinthe vSphereClientiscollecteddirectlyfromthathost.IfyouconnectthevSphereClienttovCenterServer,you haveaccesstosensorsforalltheESXhoststhatvCenterServermanages.

Collecting Health Data on an ESX Host

TheCIMsubsystemthatrunsonanESXhostincludesaCIMOMandanumberofCIMdataproviders.The CIMOMgathersdatafromtheprovidersandreturnsthedatatoarequestingsoftwaremoduleusinga standardCIMcommunicationprotocol.
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Figure 6representsatypicalsetofprovidersthatsupplydataforhardwarehealthstatusreporting,including aprovidersuppliedbyathirdpartystoragehardwarevendor.Thirdpartyprovidersmightnotbepresenton yourhardware. Figure 6. Hardware Health Status Providers on an ESX Host
CIM client

CIM Object Manager IPMI & SMBIOS providers software status provider(s) system health summary provider storage subsystem provider(s)

Hypervisor and Device Drivers Hardware

Collecting Health Data in vCenter Server

WhenyouconnectthevSphereClienttovCenterServer,youcanaccessdatafromanyhostmanagedby vCenterServer.ThedataiscollectedbyavCenterServerpluginthatactsasaCIMclienttoeachhostand storestheresponsesinitslocaldatabase.Thepluginrefreshesthedataatregularintervals. AconnectiontovCenterServerprovidestheadditionaladvantagethatsystemhealthforeachhostis summarizedinasinglesensor.ThisisnotavailablewithadirectconnectiontoanESXhost. Figure 7. vCenter Server Plug-In as a CIM Client
vSphere Client

vCenter Server

CIMOM

CIMOM

CIMOM

CIMOM

Third-Party Health Monitoring Features in the vSphere Client

ESXhostmachinesthatyougetfromthirdpartiesmightreportanexpandedsetofsensordata.Theadditional sensorscancomefromdifferentsources.However,thirdpartiesmustuseCIMproviderstocollectsensordata andreportitthroughtheCIMOM.Thirdpartiescan,iftheychoose,implementpluginsforthevSphere Client thatdisplaythedataindifferentways.

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Figure 8. Third-Party Health Monitoring Extensions

vSphere client 3rd Party Plug-In

vCenter Server

CIM Object Manager VMware providers 3rd party provider(s) IPMI Extension provider(s)

VMware Hypervisor and Drivers Hardware

3rd Party Device and Kernel Module Drivers

Figure 8showswherethirdpartyvendorscanaddsoftwaretoextendtheoutofboxhardwarehealth monitoringfeatures.

PluginstothevSphereClient:SeeCustomTabsinvSphereClientonpage 9 CIMproviders:SeeThirdPartyHardwareSensorsonpage 8 CIMIPMIExtensionproviders:SeeThirdPartyHardwareSensorsonpage 8 Devicedriversandkernelmoduledrivers:SeeThirdPartyHardwareSensorsonpage 8

ThirdpartyvendorscanfinddocumentationandinformationabouttheVMwarepartnerprogramat http://www.vmware.com/partners.

Third-Party Hardware Sensors

TheVMwareCIMsoftwarecollectssensordatafromtheIPMIsubsystemandreportsitasdescribedin SensorsDisplayedinthevSphereClientonpage 6.AllhardwaresensorsthatconformtotheIPMIstandard arecollected.Thirdpartiesdonotneedtoaddsoftwareproviderstotakeadvantageofthisfunctionality. ThirdpartiesmaychoosetoimplementdataprovidersthatuseproprietaryprotocolstocollectdataontheESX host,whileusingtheCIMOMtopassdatatothevSphereClientbywayofvCenterServer.Thirdparty providersneedonlytranslatetheproprietarydataintostandardCIMsensordata,whichisreportedinthe samewayasIPMIstandardsensors. Informationaboutdiskstorageresourcesmightbeavailablefromathirdpartyhardwarevendor.Avendor canchoosetoimplementaproviderthatsuppliesaseparatesetofsensordatathatisspecifictothestorage type.Storagesensorsaredisplayedinaseparategroupthataugmentsthelistofsensorgroupsdescribedin SensorsDisplayedinthevSphereClientonpage 6. ThirdpartiescreateCIMprovidersusingtheVMwareCIMProviderDevelopmentKit.Customdriversor kernelmodulescanbecreatedusingtheVMwareDeviceDriverDevelopmentKitorthe VMware Kernel Module Development Kit.

Third-Party Software Sensors

TheVMwareCIMsoftwarecollectsinformationaboutsoftwaresuppliedbythirdpartyvendorsaswellasby VMwareitself.IfathirdpartypackagesitssoftwareintoVIBfiles,userswillseethesoftwarereportedinthe listofsoftwaresensors,andthevendordoesnotneedtowriteCIMprovidersforit.
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Custom Tabs in vSphere Client

ThirdpartyvendorsalsohavetheoptiontodisplayhoststatusinadifferentforminthevSphereClient.With thevSphereClientarchitecture,thirdpartiescancustomizethevSphereClient.Customizationincludesthe capabilitytoaddnewtabstothevSphereClient. ThirdpartyextensionsinthevSphereClientcansortthedataandrouteittoavendorspecifichealth monitoringtabfordisplay.Customtabscandisplaythedatainmorespecificandmeaningfulwaysthanthe VMwaretab,orincludethirdpartybranding. SeeCustomizingthevSphereClientforinformationaboutaddingtabstothevSphereClient.

Purchasing Advice
IfyouarepurchasinghardwaretouseasanESXhost,considerthesefactors: 1 VMwarerecommendsthatyouconsulttheVMwareCompatibilityGuideat http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php.ThisisaninteractiveWebpagethathelps youdeterminewhetherVMwaresupportsthehardwarethatyouareconsidering.Supportedhardwareis compatiblewiththeIPMIstandard,whichallowstheCIMsubsystemtocollecthardwaresensordata. ServerhardwaresupportedbyVMwarecanbemonitoredintheHealthStatusdisplay.The vSphere ClientreportsasetofsensorgroupssimilartothesetshowninSensorsDisplayedinthe vSphereClientonpage 6. Forsomehardwaremodelswithadditionalthirdpartyvendorsoftwaresupport,otherhealthmonitoring datamightbeavailable.Contactthevendorforspecificsabouthealthmonitoringsupportforanyspecific modelyouhaveinmind. AnyCIMclientcanaccessthesamedataasthevSphereClient,includingdatafromthirdpartyproviders. YoucandevelopyourownCIMclientorpurchaseaCIMmanagementclientfromathirdpartysoftware vendor.CustomCIMclientscanalsoaccessadditionalvendorspecificCIMdataandpresentthedatain otherways.

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If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to: docfeedback@vmware.com VMware, Inc. 3401 Hillview Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com Copyright 2010 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws. VMware products are covered by one or more patents listed at http://www.vmware.com/go/patents. VMware is a registered trademark or trademark of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. Item: EN-000466-00

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