Vcops Enterprise10 Users Guide

VMware vCenter Operations Enterprise Users Guide
vCenter Operations Enterprise 1.0
This document supports the version of each product listed and supports all subsequent versions until the document is replaced by a new edition. To check for more recent editions of this document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
EN-000543-00
VMware vCenter Operations Enterprise Users Guide
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Copyright 2011 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.
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Contents
AboutThisBook
1 IntroducingvCenter Operations Enterprise 9

ProductOverview 9 ThevCenter Operations EnterpriseUserInterface 9 TheHomePage 9 TheMenuBar 11 Breadcrumbs 12 TheConceptsofvCenter Operations Enterprise 12 Resources 12 AttributesandMetrics 13 AlertsandAnomalies 13 Health 15 Forensics 16
2 GettingStartedwithvCenterOperationsEnterprise 17
GettingStartedOverview 17 LoggingOn 18 ViewingDashboards 19 ViewingAlerts 19 ModifyingYourHomePage 20
3 3 Alerts 23
IntroductiontoAlertsandAnomalies 23 KPIandAlerts 24 AboutAlerts 24 TypesofAlerts 25 ViewingAlertLists 26 TheAlertsOverviewPage 26 AlertWatchList 30 ViewingSingleAlerts 32 TheAlertSummaryPage 32 TroubleshootinganAlert:theAlertDetailPage TheDynamicDashboard 38 RespondingtoAlerts 38 HowtoRespondtoanAlert 39 OwningAlerts 40 SuspendingandSuppressingAlerts 40
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4 ViewingResourcesandApplications 43
IntroductiontoViewingResourcesandApplications 43 ViewingResourceInformation 43 TheResourceList 44 ResourceDetails 47 ResourceHealthOverview 47
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vCenter Operations Enterprise Users Guide
ViewingApplicationInformation 47 TheApplicationList 47 ApplicationDetails 48 TheResourceDetailPage 48
5 Forensics 51
Introduction 51 CrossSiloAnalysis 51 UsingCrossSiloAnalysis 52 TopNAnalysis 54 Fingerprints 56 ViewingandWorkingWithFingerprints 56 ManuallyCapturingaProblemFingerprint 59 CapacityAnalysis 60
6 DesigningYourWorkspace 65
IntroductiontoWidgetsandDashboards 65 WorkingwithDashboards 66 CreatingaNewDashboard 67 CloningaDashboard 68 EditingaDashboard 68 ChangingDashboardOrder 69 SettingUpAutomaticDashboardSwitching 69 SharingDashboards 70 DeletingaDashboard 71 DashboardTemplates 71 WorkingwithWidgets 72 ChangingaWidgetsAppearance 72 WidgetInteraction 74 ModifyingUserPreferences 78 ChangingUserPreferences 78
7 Widgets 79
WidgetOverview 80 WidgetInteraction 81 AdvancedHealthTreeWidget 81 AlertsWidget 82 ApplicationDetailWidget 84 ApplicationOverviewWidget 85 ConfigurationOverviewWidget 86 DataDistributionAnalysisWidget 87 GenericScoreboardWidget 88 GEOWidget 90 HealthStatusWidget 91 HealthTreeWidget 92 HealthWorkloadScoreboardWidget 93 HeatMapWidget 94 MashupChartsWidget 98 MetricGraphWidget 100 MetricGraph(RollingView)Widget 102 MetricSelectorWidget 104 MetricSparklinesWidget 105 MetricWeatherMapWidget 106
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Contents
ResourcesWidget 107 RootCauseRankingWidget 108 TagSelectorWidget 110 TopNAnalysisWidget 111
8 GeneratingReports 113
PreparingtoRunaReport 113 UploadingaReportImage 113 PerformanceCorrelationReport 113 BehaviorCorrelationReport 115 AnomalyCorrelationReport 115
Index 117
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About This Book
ThevCenterOperationsEnterpriseUsersGuidedescribeshowtouseVMware vCenter Operations Enterprise tomonitortheperformanceofyourenterprisetodiagnoseandpreventproblems.
Intended Audience
ThisbookisintendedforvCenter Operations Enterpriseusersandadministrators.
VMware Technical Publications Glossary

VMwareTechnicalPublicationsprovidesaglossaryoftermsthatmightbeunfamiliartoyou.Fordefinitions oftermsastheyareusedinVMwaretechnicaldocumentationgotohttp://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
Document Feedback
VMwarewelcomesyoursuggestionsforimprovingourdocumentation.Ifyouhavecomments,sendyour feedbacktodocfeedback@vmware.com.
VMware vCenter Operations Enterprise Documentation

ThedocumentationsetforVMwarevCenter Operations Enterpriseconsistsofthefollowingdocuments.
VMwarevCenter Operations EnterpriseInstallationandAdministrationGuide.Explainsinstallationand administrationofvCenter Operations Enterprise VMwarevCenter Operations EnterpriseUsersGuide.Containsconceptualandproceduralinformationon usingvCenter Operations Enterprise. AnalyticsGuideforVMwarevCenter Operations Enterprise.Containsconceptualinformationthatdescribes theprinciplesofthevCenter Operations Enterpriseanalyticsfeatures. IntegrationGuideforvCenter Operations EnterpriseandEMCSmarts.Containsconceptualandprocedural informationonintegratingvCenter Operations EnterprisewithEMCSmarts. VMwarevCenter Operations Enterpriseonlinehelp.Containsconceptualandproceduralinformationto helpyoucompleteyourtaskswhenadministeringusingvCenter Operations Enterprise. VMwarevCenter Operations EnterpriseReleaseNotes.Containslatebreakingnewsanddescriptionsof knownissuesandworkarounds.
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Technical Support and Education Resources

Thefollowingsectionsdescribethetechnicalsupportresourcesavailabletoyou.Toaccessthecurrentversion ofthisbookandotherbooks,gotohttp://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
Online and Telephone Support

Touseonlinesupporttosubmittechnicalsupportrequests,viewyourproductandcontractinformation,and registeryourproducts,gotohttp://www.vmware.com/support. Customerswithappropriatesupportcontractsshouldusetelephonesupportforthefastestresponseon priority1issues.Gotohttp://www.vmware.com/support/phone_support.
Support Offerings
TofindouthowVMwaresupportofferingscanhelpmeetyourbusinessneeds,goto http://www.vmware.com/support/services.
VMware Professional Services

VMwareEducationServicescoursesofferextensivehandsonlabs,casestudyexamples,andcoursematerials designedtobeusedasonthejobreferencetools.Coursesareavailableonsite,intheclassroom,andlive online.Foronsitepilotprograms andimplementationbestpractices,VMwareConsultingServicesprovides offeringsto helpyouassess,plan,build,andmanageyourvirtualenvironment.Toaccessinformationabout educationclasses,certificationprograms,andconsultingservices,gotohttp://www.vmware.com/services.
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Introducing vCenter Operations Enterprise
ThissectionintroducesyoutovCenter Operations Enterprise,itsuserinterface,andsomekeytermsand concepts.Itdiscussesthefollowingtopics:

ProductOverviewonpage 9 ThevCenter Operations EnterpriseUserInterfaceonpage 9 TheConceptsofvCenter Operations Enterpriseonpage 12
Product Overview
vCenter Operations Enterprisecollectsperformancedatafrommonitoredsoftwareandhardwareresources, storesit,analyzesit,andusesthatanalysistoprovideyouwithrealtimeinformationaboutproblems,or potentialproblems,anywhereinyourenterprise.Itleveragesthepowerofyourexistingsystemmanagement toolsbyaggregatingdatafromdifferentsourcesandprocessingthemwithitsproprietaryanalyticalgorithms. vCenter Operations Enterprisepresentsitsdataandanalysistoyouinseveralways:throughSmartAlertsthat warnofpotentialoroccurringproblems,inconfigurabledashboardsthatcanshowtheexactcombinationof datayouwanttosee,onpredefinedpagesthatshowcommonlyneededinformation,orinanumberof predefinedreports.
The vCenter Operations Enterprise User Interface

ThevCenter Operations Enterpriseclientisbrowserbased:youuseitbypointingyourWebbrowsertothe vCenter Operations EnterpriseURLforyourinstallation,andallofitsinformationisshowninthebrowser window.Withinthebrowserwindow,vCenter Operations Enterpriseincludesmenusforyoutoselectits variousfeatures.EachmenuoptionopensavCenter Operations Enterprisepage.Pagesperformvarious functions,basedonthemenuwheretheyarefound:pagesaccessedthroughtheReportsmenuletyourun vCenter Operations Enterprisereports;pagesaccessedthroughtheEnvironmentmenushowhowthe vCenter Operations Enterpriseenvironmentisconfigured(andletuserswithsufficientpermissionschange theconfiguration),andsoon.
The Home Page

TheHomepagedeservesspecialmention,asitisdifferentthanothervCenter Operations Enterprisepages. TheHomepagecontainsallofthedashboardsyouhaveaccessto.Youseeitwhenyoufirstloginto vCenter Operations Enterprise,andyoucanreturntoitatanytimebyclickingtheHomemenuorselectinga particulardashboardfromtheDashboardsmenu.
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vCenter Operations Users Guide
Eachdashboardcontainsoneormorewidgets;eachwidgetshowsacollectionofrelateddata.Youcanview anydashboardbyclickingitstab.Youcanconfigurewidgetsanddashboardstoshowthedatayouwantin thecombinationsyouwant.

Page
Widget
Dashboard
Dashboards
WhenyoustartusingvCenter Operations Enterprise,thedashboardsonyourHomepagearedeterminedby thegroupsyourusernamebelongsto.Forexample,bydefault,theadministratoruserseesdashboardscalled vCenter Operations EnterpriseAdminandManager,whileusersintheOperatorsgroupseetheOperations andAlertsbyTypedashboards.Youcanviewanyofyourdashboardsbyclickingitstab. Eachdashboarddisplaysoneormorewidgets,eachofwhichisshowninanindividualpane. vCenter Operations Enterpriseincludesanumberofpredefineddashboards,butdashboardsare configurable.Ifyourusernamehastherightpermissions,youcancreatenewdashboardsandmodifyexisting ones.Youcanadd,remove,resize,ormovethewidgetsoneachdashboardtodisplaywhatismostimportant inyourenvironment. Toaddadashboard,clicktheAddiconattherightsideofthetabs.SeeCreatingaNewDashboardon page 67formoreinformation.
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Chapter 1 Introducing vCenter Operations Enterprise
Widgets
Widgetsarepanes,displayedondashboards,thatcontaincollectionsofrelatedinformationaboutoneormore resources.AresourceisanythingvCenter Operations Enterpriseisconfiguredtocollectandtrackdatafor, fromasinglepieceofsoftwareorhardwareuptoyourentireenvironment.Ifyouhavetheappropriate permissions,youcanmodifyyourdashboardstocontainthewidgetsyoupreferandconfigurewidgetsto displaytheinformationyouwanttosee.ThetypesofwidgetsavailablearedescribedinChapter 7.
The Menu Bar

ThevCenter Operations Enterpriseinterfacecontainssevenmenus.Thefollowingsectionsbrieflydescribe eachone.
Home
TheHomemenudisplaysyourHomepage,withthedefaultdashboardshown.
Dashboards
TheDashboardsmenuletsyougodirectlytoanydashboardonyourHomepage.Selecttheoptionforthe dashboardyouwanttoview.
Reports
TheoptionsontheReportsmenuletyougenerateanumberofdifferentreportswithinformationonwhatis happeninginyourenvironment.Thesereportsinclude:
PerformanceCorrelation:Listspairsofresourceswhichshowsignificantcorrelationbetweentheir performance,theirdetectedanomalies,orboth. BehaviorCorrelation:Fortworesourceswhichshowcorrelation,liststhespecificpairsofcorrelated metrics,includingthepercentageofcorrelatedbehavior. AnomalyCorrelation:Fortworesourceswhichshowanomalycorrelation,showsthespecificpairsof metricswhoseanomaliesarecorrelated,thenumberofcorrelatedanomalies,andthecorrelation percentage.
Youcanalsochangetheimageshownatthetopofeachreport.Formoreinformationonreports,seeChapter 8.
Environment
TheEnvironmentmenucontainsoptionstoviewtheresources,applications,andattributesdefinedfor vCenter Operations Enterprisetotrackandanalyze.Thesefeaturesareusedmainlyforconfiguring vCenter Operations Enterprise,andaredescribedinthevCenterOperationsEnterpriseInstallationand AdministrationGuide.
Alerts
TheAlertsmenuletsyouviewlistsofanddetailsaboutthealertsvCenter Operations Enterprisehas generated.AlertsarediscussedinChapter 3.
Forensics
TheForensicsmenufeaturesaccesssomeoftheproblemanalysisandpredictionfeaturesof vCenter Operations Enterprise.TheyaredescribedinChapter 5.
Admin
ThefeaturesontheAdminmenuaredescribedinthevCenterOperationsEnterpriseInstallationand AdministrationGuide.
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Breadcrumbs
Tohelpyounavigatetheinterfaceandkeeptrackofwhereyouare,vCenter Operations Enterprisecontains breadcrumbs.ThebreadcrumbsappearatthetopleftcornerofeachpageexcepttheHomepage.
Youcanclickapagenameinthebreadcrumbstoreturntothatpage.
The Concepts of vCenter Operations Enterprise

ThissectiondescribessomeofthetermsusedinvCenter Operations Enterpriseandsomeconceptsthatwill helpyouunderstandthevCenter Operations Enterprisedisplaysandgetthemostoutoftheproduct.
Resources
AresourceisanyentityinyourenvironmentforwhichvCenter Operations Enterprisecancollectdata.For example,atypicalenvironmentmightcontainanyofthefollowingresources:routers,switches,firewalls, databases,applicationservers,TCP/IPbasedapplicationsessentially,anythinginyourenvironmentthat canproducedata.vCenter Operations Enterpriseprovidescomprehensivedatacollection,predictiveanalysis, andalertingforyourresources. Inadditiontosingleentitiessuchasdatabasesresourcescanbecontainerstoholdotherresources.This letsyougetcombinedmetricsforlogicallygroupedresources.Forexample,ifyouhaveseveralWebservers, youwoulddefineeachoneasaresource,thendefineanotherresourcewhichcontainsalltheindividualWeb serversandallowsyoutomonitortheircombinedperformance.Applicationsandtiersaretypesofcontainer resources:
Anapplicationisacollectionofrelatedresources,suchasallresourcesrelatedtoyouraccountspayable application,organizedintiers.Anapplicationgivesyoutheabilitytocombine,track,andanalyzemetrics fortheserelatedresourcesoveraperiodoftime.Foramorecompletediscussionofthisaspectof vCenter Operations Enterprise,seetheAnalyticsGuideforvCenter Operations Enterprise. Atierisagroupofresourcesthatperformaspecifictaskinyourenvironment,suchasdatabaseservers orWebservers.Tiersarecollectedtogetherintoapplications.Multipletierscanexistinagiven application.Onlyapplicationscancontaintiers.
Resource Tags
YoucanselectresourcesfromalistinmanyplacesinvCenter Operations Enterprise.Forexample,many widgetsletyouselecttheresourcestoseedatafor.Becauseanenterprisecouldeasilyhavehundredsor thousandsofresourcesdefined,vCenter Operations Enterpriseletsadministratorsassigntagstoresourcesto makeiteasiertofindtheoneyouwant. Aresourcetagisatypeofinformation,suchasApplicationorGEOLocation.Thesetwotagsalwaysexistin vCenter Operations Enterprise.Eachtaghastagvalues,whicharevaluesofthattypeofinformation.For example,theGEOLocationtagcouldhavevaluesofNewYork,London,andMumbai,ifthatswhereyour officesarelocated,whiletheapplicationtagcouldhavevaluesofaccountspayable,humanresources,andso on.Whenyouselectaresourceusingtags,youfirstselectthetag,thenaspecifictagvalue,tolisttheresources forthatvalue.Youcanthenpicktheresource(s)youwant.Thisisgenerallymuchfasterandeasierthan lookingthroughtheentireresourcelist. HowtocreateandassigntagsandtagvaluesisdescribedinthevCenterOperationsEnterpriseInstallationand AdministrationGuide. NOTEvCenter Operations Enterprisehasseveralpredefinedtags.Itautomaticallycreatesvaluesformostof thesetagsandassignsresourcestothemwhentheresourceisaddedtovCenter Operations Enterprise.For example,wheneveranadministratoraddsaresource,vCenter Operations Enterpriseassignsittothetag valuesforthecollectoritusesandthekindofresourceitis,firstcreatingthosetagvaluesiftheydonotalready exist.
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Attributes and Metrics

vCenter Operations Enterprisemaycollectseveraldifferentkindsofdataforasingleresource.Forexample, foradatabaseserver,vCenter Operations Enterprisemayreceivedataonfreediskspace,CPUutilization, averageresponsetimeforadatabaserequest,andsoon.Eachdifferenttypeofdatathat vCenter Operations Enterprisecollectsiscalledanattribute.ThevCenter Operations Enterpriseadministrator definesattributepackagesdifferentcombinationsofattributesandassignseachresourcetheattribute packagethatcontainstheattributesyouwanttotrackforthatresource.Aninstanceofanattributefora specificresourceforexample,averageresponsetimefordatabaseserver3iscalledametric. Foreachmetric,vCenter Operations Enterprisecollectsandstoresmultiplereadingsovertime.Forexample, aparticularsoftwareprogrammayprovideinformationaboutitsperformanceevery30secondsorevery minute.Eachpieceofdatacollectediscalledametricvalue.Ifaprogramhastheresponsetimeattribute assignedtoit,vCenter Operations Enterprisecollectsmetricvaluestrackingtheresponsetime.
KPI
Youcandefineattributeswhichareparticularlycriticaltoyourenterpriseaskeyperformanceindicators,or KPI.vCenter Operations EnterprisetreatsKPIsdifferentlythanotherattributes:thresholdviolationsbyaKPI automaticallygeneratealerts,whilesomeviolationsbynonKPIattributesdonot.
Super Metrics
Itcanbeusefultotrackcombinationsofmetrics,eitherfromasingleresourceor,morecommonly,from multipleresources.InvCenter Operations Enterprise,youcancombinedifferentmetricsusingmathematical operationstodefineasupermetric,whichvCenter Operations Enterprisethentrackslikeanyothermetric. Forexample,youcantracktheaveragefreediskspaceforalldatabaseserversbydefiningasupermetric combiningandaveragingthefreediskspacemetricsforeachserver.SeethevCenter Operations Enterprise InstallationandAdministrationGuideformoreinformation.
Alerts and Anomalies

Foreveryattribute,vCenter Operations Enterprisemaintainsthresholdsofnormalbehavior,eitherhard thresholdsyoudefineordynamicthresholdsthatvCenter Operations Enterprisecalculatesandupdatesbasedon theattributesusualvalues.Whenametricviolatesitsattributesthresholdforexample,CPUusegoeshigher thanitshould,oratransactiononaWebservertakeslongerthanitshouldvCenter Operations Enterprise generatesananomaly.Ananomalyindicatesanoutofrangevalue.vCenter Operations Enterprisecontinually tracksallanomalies;whenitsalgorithmsdeterminethatacombinationofanomaliesmayindicateareal problem,vCenter Operations Enterprisegeneratesanalert. Analertisanotificationofanabnormalitythatmightrequireyourattention.Eachalertincludesdetailsabout theanomalyoranomaliesthattriggeredit.Analertmayindicateaproblemwithanytypeofresource,either aresourcethatrepresentsasingleentityoracontainerresourcesuchasatierorapplication. Forexample,ifmultiplemetricsofaresourcesuchasCPUuseforalloftheserversinaparticulartiergo outofthresholdandstaythatwayforaperiodoftime,vCenter Operations Enterprisegeneratesanomaliesfor eachmetricvaluethatisoutofthreshold.However,itsendsonlyonealertnotifyingyouofthepossible problem.Whenyoulookatthealertdetails,vCenter Operations Enterpriselistsalltheanomaliesforeach metric,soyouhavethecompletedetailsofwhatishappening. vCenter Operations Enterprisecangenerateseveralkindsofalerts,andthereareseveralwaysyoucanlist alerts.Youcanevenbenotifiedautomaticallywhenoneoccurs.SeeChapter 3,formoreinformation.
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TheAlertsOverviewpagelistsalertsvCenter Operations Enterprisehasgenerated.Youcanfilterthealertlist toshowonlycertaintypesofalerts,orbyothercriteria.
Formoreinformationaboutalerts,seeChapter 3.
Thresholds
vCenter Operations Enterpriseusestwotypesofmetricthresholds,hardanddynamic:
Ahardthresholdisavalueanadministratordefinesforametric.Ahardthresholdisstatic;itchangesonly ifanadministratorchangesit. AdynamicthresholdisdefinedbyvCenter Operations Enterprisebasedontheincomingandhistorical metricdata.vCenter Operations Enterpriseadjustsdynamicthresholdsasnewdataallowittobetter definewhatisnormalforametricandwhatisnt.Dynamicthresholdsautomatethemassivemanual effortthatcouldbeneededwithhardthresholds,whereyoumightneedtoconfigurethresholdsfor hundredsorthousandsofmetrics. DynamicthresholdsaddcontextthathelpsvCenter Operations Enterprisediscriminatebetweennormal andabnormalbehavior.TheyenablevCenter Operations EnterprisetoevaluatetheperformanceofIT componentsincontextwithhistoricalconditionsanddetermineifananomalyistrulywarranted.By determiningwhatisnormalintheenvironment,vCenter Operations Enterprisecanfilteroutalertsthat areassociatedwithnormalbehaviorthealertsthatwouldbetriggeredbyhardthresholdsandinstead generatealertsonlyforabnormalbehaviorsthatareprecursorstorealproblemsinyourenvironment.
Root Causes
Therootcauseofanalertisthecondition,orsymptom,thatwasthefirststepinthechainofeventsthatledto thealert.Forexample,aslowdowninnetworktrafficthroughaparticularroutercouldleadtoanincreased timepertransactionforusersofyourWebsite,whichinturnleadstoanalertbeingissuedfortheWebserver resource. Foranyalert,youcanseealistoftheconditionsvCenter Operations Enterprisecalculatesasthemostlikely rootcausesofthesymptomthatcausedthealert,rankedinorder.Youcanlistrootcauseseitherona dashboardintheRootCauseRankingwidget,orfromtheAlertsOverviewpage.
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Health
Thehealthratinggivesyouaquickoverviewofthecurrentstateofanyresource,fromanindividualoperation uptoyourentireenterprise.vCenter Operations Enterprisecalculateshealthbylookingattheinternally metricsfortheresourceandusingitsproprietaryanalyticsformulastodetermineanoverallhealthscore,from 0to100. NOTEInternallygeneratedmetricsaremetricsthatvCenter Operations Enterprisegeneratesandstores automaticallyforeveryresource:thetotalnumberofalertsandanomalies,thenumberofactivealerts,andso on.Theyaregenerallyusedonlyforcalculatingthehealthscore. vCenter Operations Enterpriseindicateshealthintwoways:thenumericscore,oracoloredindicatorbased ontherangeofthehealthscore:

Green:76100.Resourceisbehavingnormally.Noattentionrequired. Yellow:5175.Resourceisexperiencingsomelevelofproblems.Checkandtakeappropriateaction. Orange:2650.Resourcecouldhaveseriousproblems.Checkandtakeappropriateactionassoonas possible. Red:025.Resourceiseithernotfunctioningproperlyorispredictedtostopfunctioningshortly.Take actionimmediately.Healthof0indicatestheresourceisdown. Blue:Nodataisavailableforanymetricsforthisresource.Thisshowsasaquestionmarkonpageswhere thenumericscoreisshown,andas1onhistorichealthgraphs. NOTEAbluehealthindicatormeansthatvCenter Operations Enterprisedoesnotknowthehealthofthe resource.Itisnotthesameasa0healthscore.A0healthscoreindicatesthat vCenter Operations Enterprisehasreceivedinformationfromtheadapterinstanceindicatingthatthe resourceisdown.Ablue(1)scoremeansthatvCenter Operations Enterpriseisnotreceivingdata.This couldindicatethatmetricsarenotbeingcollectedfortheresourceorthattheresourcecacheisbeing reloaded.ThecacheisreloadedwheneverthevCenter Operations Enterpriseservicesarerestartedorif thereareconfigurationchangestotheresourceoritsparent. Whenanadapterinstancecannotconnecttoitsdatasource,theadapterinstanceresourcesandallofits childresourceswillshowblue.
Thenumberrangesshownarethedefaults;anadministratorcanchangethemsothat,forexample,green indicatesascoreabove80insteadof75. AnywheretheresourceislistedinvCenter Operations Enterprise,youcanseethehealthscore,theindicator, orboth.TheHealthwidgetbelowdisplaysthehealthscoreforeachtierofanapplication.
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Forensics
ThefeaturesontheForensicsmenuletyoulookatacrosssiloanalysisofresourceanomalies,topnanalysis ofthebehaviorofselectedresourcesormetrics,orthefingerprintlibraryofvCenter Operations Enterprise. YoucangetmoreinformationonthesefeaturesinChapter 5.
Cross-Silo Analysis
TheCrossSiloAnalysispagedisplaysoneormoregraphsshowingthenumberofanomaliesovertimefor particularresources.Youcanzoomthegraphtofocusonanydesiredperiodoftime,suchasjustbeforea particularalertwasissued.Youcanclickatanypointinthegraphtoseearankingofthelikelyrootcausesfor theanomaliesatthatpoint.Forapplications,theanomalygraphalsoincludesalineshowingtheinternally determined90%threshold.Ifthenumberofanomaliesexceedsthisthreshold,itgeneratesanearlywarning SmartAlert,asthereisastrongprobabilitythatthereisaproblemwiththeapplication.
Top-N Analysis
TheTopNAnalysispageshowsyouthetopresources,metrics,oralertsinoneormorecategoriesyouselect. Forexample,youcanseethefivemostorleasthealthyresourcesinatier.Youcanselecttheresourcetagand timeframetoanalyzeandthecategoriestoshow. YoucanalsoshowatopnanalysisontheTopNAnalysiswidget,butitshowsonlyonecategoryatatime. SeeTopNAnalysisWidgetonpage 111
Fingerprints
WhenaKPIforanapplicationoratierbelongingtoanapplicationviolatesathreshold, vCenter Operations Enterpriseexaminestheeventsleadinguptotheviolation.Ifitfindsenoughrelated information(suchasotheranomalies),itcapturesthesetofeventswhichprecededandleduptotheviolation. Thiscapturedseriesofeventsiscalledafingerprint.vCenter Operations Enterprisecanthenmonitorevents inthefuture,and,ifitfindsasimilarseriesofevents,issueapredictivealertwarningthattheKPIviolationis likelytooccur. Fingerprintingcapturesmodelsofproblemsyoucanusefordetailedforensics.Thishelpsyouidentify problemsandresolvethemmorequicklythaninatraditionalITenvironmentby:
Helpingyoutoisolateproblems.vCenter Operations Enterprisenarrowsthenumberofpossible silos/tiersinwhichtheproblemmayhaveoccurred,soyoucanfindandresolveitmorequickly. Capturingtheprecursorstoproblemsforrootcauseanalysis. Notifyingyouofproblemsbeforetheyoccur,enablingyoutosolveproblems.
YouviewthefingerprintinformationbyselectingProblemFingerprintLibraryfromtheForensicsmenu. TheAnalyticsGuideforvCenterOperationsEnterprisecontainsmoreindepthinformationaboutfingerprints.
Capacity Analysis
Somemetrics,suchasdiskspaceusageornetworktrafficmeasurements,frequentlyshowlongterm trendstheytendtoeitherriseorfallovertime,thoughshorttermfluctuationscanhidethisormakeit difficulttocalculate.Thecapacityanalysislooksattheoverallvaluetrendforaselectedmetricandtellsyou whenitispredictedtoreachathresholdyousetandhowconfidentvCenter Operations Enterpriseisofthe prediction.Thiscanhelpwithplanningforinfrastructureupgrades,suchasaddingadditionalstorage capacity,networkrouters,andsoon.
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Getting Started with vCenter Operations Enterprise
ThissectionshowsyouhowtogetvCenterOperationsEnterpriseupandrunning.Itdoesnotprovide indepthinformation;itwalksyouthroughsettinguptheminimumconfigurationrequiredtodiscover resources,begincollectingdata,andviewinitialresults. Thissectioncontainsthefollowingtopics:

GettingStartedOverviewonpage 17 GettingStartedOverviewonpage 17 ViewingDashboardsonpage 19 ViewingAlertsonpage 19 ModifyingYourHomePageonpage 20
Getting Started Overview

vCenterOperationsEnterpriseallowsyoutodoalargenumberofmaintenanceandtroubleshootingtasks, fromrespondingtoalertstotrackinganomaliestosystemtuningbasedonthepredictiveinformationit generates. NOTEBeforeyoucanuseanyoftheproceduresdescribedheretoviewvCenterOperationsEnterprisedata, thevCenterOperationsEnterpriseadministratormustconfiguretheresourcesvCenterOperationsEnterprise willmonitorandstartdatacollection.SeethevCenterOperationsEnterpriseInstallationandAdministrationGuide formoreinformation. ThebestwaytolearnthefullfeaturesetofvCenterOperationsEnterpriseistogetsomehandsonexperience withthesystem.ThischapterdescribessomeofthebasicwaysyoucanviewthedatavCenterOperations Enterprisehascollectedandanalyzed:

Loggingon Viewingdashboards Viewingalertinformation Designingdashboardstoshowthedatayouwant
YourabilitytouseanyvCenterOperationsEnterprisefeaturedependsontheaccessrightsassignedtoyouby thevCenterOperationsEnterpriseadministrator.Ifyoucannotuseafeatureyouthinkyoushouldhaveaccess to,contactyouradministratortoseeifyouraccessrightsneedtobeadjusted. AllofthefeaturesmentionedinthischapteraredescribedmorefullyelsewhereintheUserGuide.
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Logging On
NOTEvCenterOperationsEnterpriseworksbestwitheithertheMicrosoftInternetExplorer(IE)7or8or MozillaFirefox3browser. OncevCenterOperationsEnterpriseisinstalledandthevCenterOperationsEnterpriseservicesarerunning, youcanconnecttothevCenterOperationsEnterpriseserverusingasupportedWebbrowser.Dothe following: 1 Inyourbrowser,gotothefollowingURL:
http://ip_address/
ip_addressistheIPaddressofthevCenterOperationsEnterpriseserver.IfyouareusingtheHTTPS
protocolfortheserver,enterHTTPSinsteadofHTTP. ThevCenterOperationsEnterpriseLoginPageappears.
2 3 4
Enteryourusernameandpassword.Ifyoudonotknowyourusername,contactyouradministrator. ClickLogin. vCenterOperationsEnterprisedisplaysyourHomepage.Youcancustomizethedefaultdashboards showntosuityourneeds.SeeModifyingYourHomePageonpage 20formoreinformation. NOTEYourvCenterOperationsEnterprisesessionwilltimeoutafter30minutesofinactivity,andyou willhavetologinagain.
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Chapter 2 Getting Started with vCenter Operations Enterprise
Viewing Dashboards
WhenyoulogintovCenterOperationsEnterprise,youseeyourHomepage.TheHomepageconsistsofone ormoredashboards,eachofwhichcontainsoneormorewidgets.Eachwidgetshowsaparticulartypeof informationaboutoneormoreresources.
IfthereismorethanonedashboardonyourHomepage,youcanswitchtoadifferentonebyclickingitstab. Dashboardsandwidgetsareveryflexible.Youcanchangethesizeofanywidget,andeditittochangethe informationitshowsortheformatitusestodisplayit.Often,widgetsareconnectedsothatselectinga resourceormetricinonewidgetchangesasecondwidgettoshowinformationabouttheselection. Formoreinformationaboutconfiguringwidgetsanddashboards,seeChapter 6. Fordescriptionsofeachavailablewidgettype,seeChapter 7.
Viewing Alerts
Alertsaredesignedtonotifyingyouaboutpossibleproblemsinyourenvironment.Becauseofthepredictive capabilitiesofvCenterOperationsEnterprise,manyalertstellyouaboutproblemsthathavenothappenedyet, butthatvCenterOperationsEnterprisepredictsarelikelytohappeninthenearfuture. DependingonhowtheadministratorhasconfiguredvCenterOperationsEnterprise,youmayreceivea notification,suchasanemailmessage,whenthereisanalertforanareayouareresponsiblefor.However, youcanalwaysseealistofcurrentalertsbyusingtheAlertsOverviewpage.
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To view an alert list and information 1 FromtheAlertsmenu,selectAlertsOverviewtoopentheAlertsOverviewpage.
Bydefault,thispagelistsallactivealertsinthevCenterOperationsEnterprisesystem.Iconsindicatethe alertscriticalitylevelandtype.Youcanclicktheiconsatthetopofthelisttoseeonlyaparticulartypeof alert(suchasKPIbreaches),alertsthathavebeencancelled,andsoon. 2 Toseedetailedinformationforalistedalert,doubleclickit.ThisopenstheAlertSummarypageforthe alert.
TheAlertSummarypageshowsthereasonforthealert,theresourceitisfor,itsimpactontheresource, anditslikelyrootcauses.Forevenmoreinformation,youcanclicktheTroubleshootbuttonatthetopof thepage. Formoreinformationaboutalerts,pleaseseeChapter 3.
Modifying Your Home Page

YoumaynowwanttomodifyyourHomepage.vCenterOperationsEnterpriseisextremelyflexible:youcan createyourowndashboardscontainingthewidgetsbestsuitedtoyourneeds,witheachwidgetconfiguredto showtheexactinformationyouwant.Italsohaspreconfigureddashboardsavailable.Togetstarted,we recommendyouchooseapreconfigureddashboard.
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Chapter 2 Getting Started with vCenter Operations Enterprise
To add a preconfigured dashboard to your Home page 1 OntheHomepage,clicktheAdd(+)button.TheAddaTab:PickaTemplatepageappears.
2 3 4 5
Thispagecontainstwopanes.Theleftpaneshowstheavailabledashboardtemplates.Dragthe dashboardtemplateyouwant(forexample,theAlerts by Typetemplate)fromtheleftpanetotheright. Typeanameforyourdashboardinthetextboxatthetopoftherightpane(forexample,Alerts by Type). IntheSetasdefaultfieldatthetopoftherightpane,clickYesifyouwantthisdashboardtobeyour default.Ifnot,leaveNoselected. ClickSavetosaveyournewdashboardandreturntotheHomepage.Youwillseeatabforyournew dashboardatthetopofyourHomepagewiththelabelyouselected.Ifyouselectedthisdashboardasyour default,itappearsontop.
Onyournewdashboard,youcandragwidgetsaroundtonewlocationsandcolumns. Formoreinformation,seeChapter 6.
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3 3
Alerts
ThissectioncoversthealertingfunctionalityofvCenter Operations Enterprise.Itcontainsthefollowing topics:

IntroductiontoAlertsandAnomaliesonpage 23 AboutAlertsonpage 24 ViewingAlertListsonpage 26 ViewingSingleAlertsonpage 32 RespondingtoAlertsonpage 38
Introduction to Alerts and Anomalies

ThealertingfeaturesofvCenter Operations Enterprisecombineindustrystandardthresholdviolation alertswiththeadvanced,uniquedynamicthresholdcalculationsandmetriccorrelationabilitiesof vCenter Operations Enterprise.ThedynamicthresholdsinvCenter Operations Enterprisedeterminewhat thenormalrangeofvaluesisforanymetric.Itcanthendetectwhenanymetricdeviatesfromitsnormalrange, anduseitscorrelationanalyticstodetermineifthisdeviationissymptomaticofalargerprobleminthe enterprise.ThiscorrelationofmetricsfromdifferentresourcesallowsvCenter Operations Enterprisetodoa muchbetterjoboftellingyouwhenyouneedtopayspecialattentiontoasituation,andwhatyouneedtopay attentionto. Tofacilitatethisintelligentalertnotification,vCenter Operations Enterprisecangeneratetwotypesofevents inresponsetoabnormalitiesinyourmetrics:
Ananomalyisgeneratedwheneveranymetricviolateseitheraninternallycalculateddynamicthreshold orauserdefinedhardthreshold.YouarenotifiedofananomalyonlyifitoccursonadesignatedKey PerformanceIndicator(KPI)orbecomespartofalargeralert. AnalertisgeneratedonlyifaKPIviolatesathresholdorifvCenter Operations Enterprisecorrelates severalanomaliesanddeterminesthattheymayindicatealargerproblem.Differentcombinationsof conditionscausedifferenttypesofalerts,asdescribedinTypesofAlertsonpage 25.
Thismeansthatnotallanomaliestriggeralerts.Asinglemetricgoingaboveorbelowitsthresholdgenerates analertmessageonlyifthatmetricisdefinedasaKPI.Ifitisnot,vCenter Operations Enterprisecontinuesto trackit,andgeneratesanalertonlyifacombinationofcorrelatedmetricssignalsaprobableproblem.Thiscan greatlyreducethenumberoffalsealertswhichcantakeupvaluabletimeandresources. NOTEFormetricswithdynamicthresholds,thecalculationtodeterminewhethertogenerateananomalyis actuallysomewhatmorecomplicatedthandescribedhere.Basedonhowoften,historically,themetrichas violateditsthresholdsandbyhowmuch,vCenter Operations Enterprisecalculatesandcontinuallyadjustsa degreeofabnormalityforthemetric.Ifthemetricvalueiswithinthisdegreeofabnormality,noanomalyis generatedevenifthevalueisoutsidethedynamicthreshold.
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ThescreenshotbelowshowstheMetricGraphwidgetforametric.Theshadedgrayareashowsthedynamic thresholdforthemetricaslongasthevaluestaysinthatareaitisperformingnormally.Theyellowareas indicateoutofrangevalueswhichgeneratedanomalies.
AlertsareshownontheAlertsOverviewpageordashboardsusingvariouswidgetsandcanbeupdated automaticallyatanintervalyouset.Anomaliescanonlybeseeninthedetailsofanalert,whichincludeall anomaliesthathavebeenrolledupintothatalert. Forinformationonconfiguringconditionsthatshouldtriggeralerts,seethevCenter Operations Enterprise InstallationandAdministrationGuide.
KPI and Alerts

WhenvCenter Operations Enterpriseadministratorsconfigureattributepackages,theycanidentifyany attribute(orattributes)foranyresourceasaKeyPerformanceIndicator(KPI).AKPIisahighprioritymetric thatcouldindicateasevereprobleminyourinfrastructureifitgoesoutofitsnormalvaluerange.Forthis reason,vCenter Operations EnterprisetreatsKPIdifferentlythanothermetrics.IfaKPIviolatesathreshold, italwaysgeneratesanalert.ThealerttypedependsonthetypeofthresholdtheKPIuses:
IftheKPIviolatesaninternallycalculateddynamicthreshold,vCenter Operations Enterprisesendsa SmartKPIBreachalert. IftheKPIviolatesauserdefinedhardthreshold,vCenter Operations EnterprisesendsaClassicKPI Breachalert.
SeeTypesofAlertsonpage 25formoreinformationaboutalerttypes.
About Alerts
AlertsarethemechanismsvCenter Operations Enterpriseusestonotifyyouofabnormalbehavior. Thereareseveraltypesofalerts,eachofwhichhasitsowntriggersandcontents.Analertmaybegenerated byabnormalbehaviorofoneormoremetricsforanyresource,includingatierorapplication,orwhena fingerprintpredictsanupcomingproblem.vCenter Operations Enterprisedeterminesthetypeofalerttosend basedonwhattriggersit. AmajorbenefitofalertprocessinginvCenter Operations EnterpriseisthatvCenter Operations Enterprisecan significantlyreducethetotalvolumeofalertsbecauseitsendsanalertonlywhenitsanalyticalgorithms indicatethereistrulyanimpendingproblem. AlertsareshownontheAlertsOverviewpageandondashboardsusingvariouswidgetsandcanbeupdated automaticallyatanintervalyouchoose.YoucanhavevCenter Operations Enterprisesendalertstoevent managementconsolesandemailaddresses,asdescribedinthevCenter Operations EnterpriseInstallationand AdministrationGuide.
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Chapter 3 Alerts
Types of Alerts
Alertsareseparatedintotypesandsubtypes.AsdescribedinFilteringtheAlertListonpage 29,youcanlist allalertsoronlythesubtypesyouareinterestedinontheAlertsOverviewpage.Eachtypeandsubtype indicatesadifferentproblem,orpotentialproblem,intheenterprise.Thealerttypesin vCenter Operations Enterpriseare:
SmartAlertAsmartalertistriggeredwhenaninternallycalculatedvalue,eitheracorrelatedprediction offuturebehaviororadynamicthresholdbreachonaKPI,indicatesthatthereisorsoonwillbea problem.Smartalertsdonotdependonanyuserdefinedvaluesexceptwhichmetricshavebeen designatedKPI.Smartalertshavethreesubtypes:

Subtype KPIDTBreach KPIPrediction Description AKPIhasbreachedoneofitsinternally calculateddynamicthresholds. vCenter Operations Enterprisepredictsthata KPIwillsoonbreachathreshold.Thecause couldbethatthecurrentcombinationof metricsmatchesastoredmetricfingerprint whichpredictsthebreach,orthatametric whichishighlycorrelatedwiththeKPIhas breacheditsthreshold,indicatingtheKPIwill likelyalsodoso.KPIPredictionalertsare alwaysconsideredcritical. ThevCenter Operations Enterprisecorrelation algorithmscalculateagreaterthan90%chance (abovethenoisethreshold)thatthereisa problemwithanapplication.Earlywarning alertsarealwaysconsideredcritical. Reason Determinedautomaticallybyanalyticsbased onuserdefinedKPI. Determinedautomaticallybyanalyticsbased onuserdefinedKPI.
EarlyWarning
Determinedautomaticallybyanalyticsbased onapplicationtopology
ClassicAlertsAclassicalertisanalertthatcouldbegeneratedbyclassicmonitoringsoftware;itrelies onuserenteredhardthresholds,notvCenter Operations Enterprisedynamicthresholdsorother advancedcalculations.Classicalertshavethreesubtypes:

Subtype KPIHTBreach Abnormality Notification Description AdefinedKPIhasbreachedauserdefined hardthreshold. AnonKPImetrichasbreachedoneofits internallycalculateddynamicthresholds. AnonKPImetrichasbreachedauserdefined hardthreshold.Thisisatraditionalalertsuch asthosesentbytypicalsystemandnetwork managementapplications. Reason AuserdefinedKPIhasbreachedoneofits userdefinedhardthresholds. Asinglemetric(nonKPI)hasbreachedoneof itsdynamicthresholds. Asinglemetric(nonKPI)hasbreachedoneof itsinternallycalculateddynamicthresholds.
AdministrativeAlertsAnadministrativealertindicatesaproblemwithvCenter Operations Enterprise itself,themonitoringsoftwareitiscollectingdatafrom,ortheenterprisenetwork.Administrativealerts havetwosubtypes:

Subtype System Environment Description SomecomponentofthevCenter Operations Enterpriseapplicationhasfailed. vCenter Operations Enterprisehasstoppedreceivingdatafromoneormoreresources.This couldindicateaproblemwiththeresource,themonitoringsoftware,orthenetwork infrastructure.
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Bydefault,vCenter Operations Enterprisegeneratesalltypesofalertsexceptforclassicabnormalityalerts. SincetheydonotinvolveKPI,classicabnormalitiesareunlikelytorequireanyactionandwouldjustbe noiseyouneededtolookthroughtofindthemoreimportantalertswhichcouldindicateaproblem.Ifyou thinkyoumaywanttochangethetypesofalertsvCenter Operations Enterprisegenerates,contactyourlocal vCenter Operations EnterpriseadministratororrefertotheTechnicalSupportandEducationResources sectionofthevCenter Operations EnterpriseInstallationandAdministrationGuide
Alert Criticality
Inadditiontoatype,everyalerthasacriticalitylevelthatindicateshowseriousaproblemitislikelyto indicateandhowimportantitistodealwithitquickly.Therearefourcriticalitylevels,asshowninthetable below.
Level Critical Immediate Warning Info Color Red Orange Yellow Blue Value 5 4 3 2
vCenter Operations EnterprisepredictiveSmartAlerts,KPIpredictionandearlywarningalerts,arealways Criticalalerts.Otheralerttypesmaybeofanycriticality,dependingonthealerttypeandhowtheattribute thattriggersthemisconfigured. BoththeAlertsOverviewpageandtheAlertswidgetoffertheoptiontocolorcodethedisplayedalertsby criticality.
Viewing Alert Lists

TherearethreewaystolistalertsinvCenter Operations Enterprise:ontheAlertsOverviewpage,intheAlerts widgetonadashboard,orthroughthealertwatchlist.TheAlertswidgetisdescribedinAlertsWidgeton page 82.TheAlertsOverviewpageandthewatchlistaredescribedinthefollowingsections.
The Alerts Overview Page

ToviewtheAlertsOverviewpage,selectAlertsOverviewfromtheAlertsmenu.Thedisplayisverysimilar totheAlertswidget,buttheAlertsOverviewpageincludeslistfilteringoptionsnotavailableonthewidget.
YoucanclicktheRefreshiconatthebottomofthepageperiodicallytorefreshthelist.Thedisplaymay betoowidetofitinyourbrowserwindow.Ifso,usethescrollbartoseetheadditionalcolumns. Toseemoreinformationforanyalert,doubleclickit.ThisopenstheAlertSummarypageforthealert,which isdescribedinViewingSingleAlertsonpage 32.
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Youcanmodifythealertlistbydoinganyofthefollowing:
Youcanfilterthelistsoitshowsonlyalertsfortheresourcetagsyouselectand/ormeetingthecriteriayou choose.SeeFilteringtheAlertListonpage 29. Bydefault,alertsaresortedbytheinternallyassignedalertID.Youcansortthelistbyanycolumn.Todo so: a b Movethemousepointertotheheadingofthecolumntosortby.Adownarrowappearsattheright sideoftheheading. Clickthedownarrow,thenselecteitherSortAscendingorSortDescendingfromthepopupmenu thatappears.
Tocolorcodethelistbyalertcriticality,clicktheColorizeRowsicon.Whenthisoptionison,the rowsarecoloredasdescribedinAlertCriticalityonpage 26.Toturntheoptionoff,clicktheicon again. Tomoveacolumntoanotherplaceinthetable,dragitsheadertothedesiredlocation. Tochangethecolumnsshown: a b c d Movethemousepointertotheheadingofanycolumn.Adownarrowappearsattherightsideof theheading. Clickthedownarrow,thenclickColumnsfromthepopupmenuthatappears. Checktheboxforeachcolumntoaddtothedisplay,andcleartheboxforanycolumntoremove. Whenyouredone,clickanywhereoutsidethecolumnlist.
ThecolumnsavailablearelistedinTable 31. Table 3-1. Alerts Overview Column Descriptions

Column ID Type Description SequentialalertIDnumber. Iconindicatingthetypeofalert.SeeTypesofAlertsonpage 25foradescriptionofeach type: Smartalert Administrativealert Classicalert StartTime CancelTime Duration Status Dateandtimethealertwasfirstgenerated. Dateandtimethealertwascancelled. Howlongthealertlasted. Iconshowingwhetherthealertisactiveorcancelled: Active Cancelled ControlState Iconindicatingwhetherthealertisopen,assigned,suspended,orsuppressed. Open Assigned Suspended
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Table 3-1. Alerts Overview Column Descriptions (Continued)

Column Description Suppressed UserName CriticalLevel Ifthealerthasbeenassigned,theuseritisassignedto. Colorcodediconindicatingthealertscriticality:

Red=critical Orange=immediate Yellow=warning Blue=Info
ResourceName ResourceKind ResourceIdentifiers
Resourceassociatedwiththealert. Kindofresourcethealertwasgeneratedfor(forexample,FileServer Mount). Listofidentifiers(uptofive)whichuniquelyidentifytheresource.Thisissometimes,but notalways,thesameastheresourcename.(Multipleresourcescanhavethesamename.) Theexactidentifiersshowndependontheadaptertype. Themetricwhichviolatedathresholdandtriggeredthealert. Collectorassociatedwiththealert(forexample,vCenter Operations Enterprise Server). Iconindicatingthealertssubtype.Thesevarybasedonthetypeofalert.SeeTypesof Alertsonpage 25fordescriptionsofeachtypeandsubtype. ForSmartAlerts,thesubtypesare: KPIdynamicthresholdbreach KPIprediction Earlywarning Foradministrativealerts,thesubtypesare: Alicecomponentfailure Resourcedisconnected Forclassicalerts,thesubtypesare: KPIhardthresholdbreach Notification
Metric Collector SubType
RootCause WorstSubContainers
Thesymptomthatmostlikelyindicatesthestartofthechainofeventsthatledtothealert. Ifthealertisforaresourcewhichcontainsothercontainerresources(suchasan application,whichcontainstiers),theseiconsrepresentthesubcontainerswhich contributedmosttothealert. Forexternalnotificationalerts,thiscolumnmayshowadditionalinformationsentwiththe alertmessage. Dateandtimethealertwasmostrecentlyupdated.
Info UpdateTime
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Filtering the Alert List

Youcanfilterthealertlistintwoways:byselectingoneormoreresourcetagvalues,orbyselectingthe appropriateicon(s)atthetopleftoftheAlertsOverviewpage. Bydefault,thelistshowsalertsforallresources,Whenyouselectaresourcetagvalue,thelistshowsonlyalerts forresourceswiththatvalue.Whenyouselectmultipletagvalues,vCenter Operations Enterprisefollows theserules:

Ifyouselectmorethanonevalueforthesametag,thelistincludesresourcesthathaveeithervalue. Ifyouselectvaluesfortwoormoredifferenttags,thelistincludesonlyresourcesthathavealltheselected values.
Forexample,ifyouselecttwovaluesoftheGEOLocationtag,suchasNewYorkandLondon,thelistincludes alertsforresourceswitheithervalue.IfyoualsoselecttheTiervalueoftheResourceKindtag,onlyalertsfor tierswhichareinNewYorkorLondonarelisted.Alertsarenotlistedfortiersinotherlocations,orfor resourcesinthosecitieswhicharenottiers. Youcanalsonegativelyselecttheresourcestoshowalertsfor.IfyouclicktheInvertResulticon,the listwillincludealertsforresourceswhichdonotmatchthetagvaluesyouveselected.Forexample,if youselectNewYorkandLondon,thenclickInvertResult,youwillseealertsforallresourcesthatarenotin eitherofthosecities. Theiconsatthetopofthelistfilterbycharacteristicsofthealertratherthanbyresource.Whenfilteringusing theicons,youcanselectmorethanonetofilterbymorethanonecharacteristic.Forexample,ifyouclickthe ActiveandAssignedicons,thelistwillshowonlyactivealertsthathavebeenclaimedbyauser. Table 32showsthealertfilteringicons. Table 3-2. Alert Filter Icons
Icon Alert Type All.Displaysbothcancelledandactivealerts.
Active.Displaysonlyactivealerts.
Cancelled.Displaysonlycancelledalerts.
Own.Displaysalertsownedbyyourusername.
Open.Displaysalertsnotownedbyanyuser.
Assigned.DisplaysalertsownedbyanvCenter Operations Enterpriseuser.
Suspended.Displaysalertssuspendedbyuserfordurationspecifiedinminutes.
Suppressed.Displaysalertssuppressedbyuserfordurationspecifiedindays.
Smart(EarlyWarning).Displaysonlyearlywarningsmartalerts.
Smart(KPIBreach).DisplaysonlyKPIdynamicthresholdbreachsmartalerts.
Smart(KPIPrediction).DisplaysonlyKPIpredictionsmartalerts.
Classic(KPIHTBreach).Displaysonlyclassichardthresholdbreachalerts.
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Table 3-2. Alert Filter Icons (Continued)

Icon Alert Type Classic(Notification).Displaysonlyclassicnotificationalerts.
Administrative(System).DisplaysonlyadministrativealertsindicatingavCenter Operations Enterprise componenthasfailed. Administrative(Environment).Displaysonlyadministrativealertsindicatingaproblemintheenvironment.
TheotherbuttonsatthetopoftheAlertsOverviewpageletyoucancel,suspend,suppress,takeownershipof, orreleaseownershipofanalert.Theyaredescribedintheappropriatesectionsofthischapter.
Canceling an Alert
YoucancancelanyactivealertfromtheAlertOverviewlistbydoingthefollowing: 1 2 Selectthealertinthelist. ClicktheCancelAlerticon.
Alert Watch List

AllvCenter Operations Enterprisepagesincludethewatchlistattheupperrightcorner,totherightofthe menuitems.Thewatchlistshowsthecurrentnumberofactivealerts.Itcanshowallalertsfortheentire system,oryoucanselectalertsbycriticalitylevel,type,application,andsoon.Thisletsyouseeasnapshotof theentirecurrentenvironment,orjustthepartofityouareconcernedwith.
Thewatchlistdisplaysthenumberofalertsforeachcriticalitylevelandthetrend(up,down,ornochange). Thistrendcomparesthesumofallalertsofaparticulartypeduringthecurrenttimeperiodwiththeaverage ofthelastthreeperiodsbeforethat.YousetthelengthofthetimeperiodintheManageAlertWatchList window,asdescribedbelow. Tolistthealertsofaparticularcriticality,hoverthemouseiconoverthecriticalityicon.Youcandoubleclick analertinthelisttoseetheAlertSummarypageforthatalert.TheAlertSummarypageisdescribedin ViewingSingleAlertsonpage 32.
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Managing the Alert Watch List

ClickEditattherightofthewatchlisttoopentheManageAlertWatchListwindow.
Youcansetthefollowingoptionsforthewatchlist.Yoursettingsaffectonlyyourwatchlist,notanyotheruser.

RefreshTimeHowoften,inseconds,torefreshthewatchlistwithrecentalerts. BaselineTimeThelength,inminutes,ofeachperiod.Tocalculatethetrend, vCenter Operations Enterprisecomparesthetotalalertsinthelasttimeperiodwiththeaverageofalerts inthethreetimeperiodsbeforethat. SelectwhichtagstofilterToshowalertsonlyforresourceswithcertaintagvalues,selectthetagvalues youwanttomonitor.Ifyouselectmorethanonevalue,vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowsthese rules:

Ifyouselectmorethanonevalueforthesametag,thelistincludesresourcesthathaveeithervalue. Ifyouselectvaluesfortwoormoredifferenttags,thelistincludesonlyresourcesthathaveallthe selectedvalues.
CriticalityLevelRangeLimitsthealertsdisplayedinthewatchlisttoonlythecriticalitylevelsspecified. Onlythelevelscheckedwillappearinthewatchlist.
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FilterByLimitsthealertsdisplayedinthewatchlisttoonlythevaluesyouspecify.Youcanfilterbyany orallof:

AlertTypeSelectthealerttype(s)and/orsubtype(s)toinclude. UserAlertControlStateIfyouselectmorethanoneofOpen,Assigned,Suspended,and Suppressed(forexample,bothSuspendedandSuppressed),allalertsmatchingeitherselectionare included.However,ifyouselectOwnAlertsandoneormoreoftheotherstates,onlyalertswhich youownandwhichmatchoneoftheotherselectionsareincluded. TimeRangeSelectorenterastartingandendingdateandtime,orselectatimerangefromthe dropdownlist.
Numberofalertstoshowintooltip
Viewing Single Alerts

vCenter Operations Enterpriseofferstwolevelsofdetailedinformationaboutanyalert:theAlertSummary pageandtheAlertDetailpage:
TheAlertSummaryincludesinformationabouttheeventthattriggeredthealert,thealertseffects,and itslikelycauses.TheinformationontheAlertSummarypageisusuallyallyouneedtodeterminewhoin theenterprisemayneedtotakeactioninresponsetothealert.SeeHowtoRespondtoanAlerton page 39forourrecommendationsonhowtousetheAlertSummarytogetthenecessaryinformation aboutanalerttotherightpersonorpeople. TheAlertDetailpageisusuallyonlyaccessedbythepersonresponsibleforfixingtheconditionthat causedthealert.Itcontainsmoreinformationabouteventsleadinguptothealert,otherbehavior correlatedwiththealert,andmore.
The Alert Summary Page

Toviewdetailedinformationaboutaspecificalert,doubleclicktherowforthatalertinanyalertlist.This displaystheAlertSummarypage,asshownbelow.
ThetopoftheAlertSummarypageshowsthealerttype,whenitstarted,itsduration,andtheresourceitis for.YoucanclicktheresourcenametonavigatetotheResourceDetailpagewhereyoucanviewdetailed informationfortheselectedresource(seeTheResourceDetailPageonpage 48).Thereisalsoa Troubleshootbutton,whichisdescribedinTroubleshootinganAlert:theAlertDetailPageonpage 33. ThetoprightofthepagecontainsthealertIDandiconswhichenableyoutogotothenextorpreviousalert, orsearchforanalertbyID.
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Therestofthepageisdividedintothreeareas:
ReasonPaneShowsspecificinformationaboutthealert:thetypeoftriggerthatcausedit,theresource ormetricthetriggerwason,anddetailsaboutthetrigger. ImpactPaneShowsinformationaroundthealert:healthinformationforthelastsixhoursforthe resourcethealertisforandanysubcontainersinit,or,ifthealertisforatier,ahealthgraphforthe applicationcontainingitandcurrenthealthforallthetiersintheapplication.Italsoshowsametricgraph foruptofivemetricsfortheresource,inthisorder:breachingKPI,breachingsupermetrics, nonbreachingKPI,nonbreachingsupermetrics.Iftherearemoreanomalies,youcanseethemallby clickingtheTroubleshootbuttonandlookingattheMetricChartspane. RootCausePaneThedisplayisverysimilartotheRootCauseRankingwidgetinsymptommode, whichisdescribedinRootCauseRankingWidgetonpage 108.Itshowsthelikelyrootcausecontainer resources,rankedbytheanalyticalalgorithmonthecontainerresource.Youcandoubleclickany resourcetoseethesymptomgroups,rankedbypercentageofpossibleresourcesexhibitingsymptomsin thegroup,anddoubleclickanygrouptoseethetopfiveindividualsymptoms,rankedbypercentageof possibleresourcesexhibitingthesymptom. Youcandoubleclickanydisplayedrootcausesymptomtoopenapopupwindowlistingthe individualanomaliesthatcomprisetheit.YoucanthenclicktheCopytoClipboardbuttontocopy thelisttotheclipboard.Forexample,youmightwanttodothisifyouareopeningaproblemticketfor thealert,orsendinganemailmessageaboutit.Youcanalsoselectasymptominthepopupwindowand clicktheDynamicDashboardicontodisplaytheDynamicDashboard(seeTheDynamicDashboard onpage 38).
Theexactinformationshowninthesethreeareasvariesdependingonthetypeofalertandthetypeofresource thealertisfor.vCenter Operations Enterprisealwaysshowswhatitconsidersthemostrelevantinformation ofeachtype.Forexample,foranearlywarningsmartalertforanapplication,theRootCausepaneshowsthe tiersintheapplicationrankedbynumberofsymptoms.Ontheotherhand,foraKPIbreachsmartalertfora noncontainerresource,RootCauseshowstheactualsymptomsencounteredintheresourcesmetrics. NOTEManyofthepiecesofinformationontheAlertSummarypagehaveacirclednumberoriconattheright endoftheline.Thisindicatestheadapterinstancetheinformationisbeingcollectedthrough.Placethemouse pointeroverthenumbertoseetheadapterkind.
Troubleshooting an Alert: the Alert Detail Page

Toseemoreinformationaboutthisalertortakeactionforit,clicktheTroubleshootbutton.Thisdisplaysthe AlertDetailpage.
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ThetopoftheAlertDetailpageisthesameastheAlertSummarypage,exceptthatitincludesiconsforyou tosuspendthealert,suppressit,ortakeorreleaseownershipofit.Usingtheseiconsisdescribedin SuspendingandSuppressingAlertsonpage 40andOwningAlertsonpage 40. TheleftsideoftheAlertDetailpageisthesameastheAlertSummarypage.Therightsideincludesseven additionaltabs.Youcanusetheinformationonthetroubleshootingtabstohelpyoudiagnosetheactualcause ofthebehaviorleadingtothealertandseewhatstepsyoucantaketopreventitfromhappeningagaininthe future.Thetabsaredescribedbelow. NOTEvCenter Operations Enterpriseremembersthestateofeachtabaslongasyouarelookingat informationforthesamealert.Forexample,ifyouchangethegraphsshownontheMashuptab,thenswitch totheTimelinetab,thengobacktoMashup,thegraphsyouselectedwillstillbeshown.
Mashup Tab
TheMashuptabisshownbydefaultwhenyouclickTroubleshoot.Itdisplaysuptothreetypesofcharts showingbehavioroftheresourcethealertisfor.
Bydefault,thechartscoverthesixhoursbeforethealertwasgeneratedandonehourafter.Thechartsare:
Ahealthchartfortheresource.Thechartcaninclude(basedontheLayerssetting)eachalertduringthe timeshown.Clickanalerttoseemoreinformation,ordoubleclickittoopentheAlertSummarypagefor it.TheAlertSummarypageisdescribedonpage 32. Ananomalycountgraphfortheresource.Foranapplication,thisalsoshowsthecountforanytierswhich containrootcausemetricsfortheresource.Thisisverysimilartotheanomalygraphshownbythe CrossSiloAnalysisfeature(seeCrossSiloAnalysisonpage 51).Thegraphshowsthenumberof anomaliesfortheresourceattheindicatedtime.Aredlinemarksthenoisethresholdfortheresourcean anomalycounthigherthanthisindicatesa90%probabilityofaproblemandtriggersanearlywarning alert. MetricgraphsforanyoralloftheKPIforanyresourcelistedasarootcauseresource.Foranapplication, thiswillbetheapplicationandanytierswhichcontainrootcauses.YoucanselecttheKPItoincludeby clickingChartControls,KPIs.AnyshadedareasonagraphindicatetheKPIwasviolatingitsthreshold duringthattime.
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Topickwhichchartstoview,clickChartControlsatthetopofthetab.Youcanselect:

ShowChartstoselectwhichtypesofgraphstoinclude. Layerstoselectwhattypesandsubtypesofalertstoshowonthemetricgraph.Youcanalsochooseto havethegraphshowchangeevents.Changeeventsareuserdefinednotificationssentto vCenter Operations EnterpriseusingthevCenter Operations EnterpriseOpenAPI. ShowinStackedModechangestheAnomalyCountGraphtobeasinglestackedgraphshowing anomaliesforallselectedrootcauseresources. RootCauseResourcesletsyouselectthechildresourcestoincludeintheAnomalyCountGraph. KPIstoselecttheKPItoincludemetricgraphsfor.
Tochangethetimeperiodshown,clicktheDateControlsicon.Youcantheneitherselectaperiodin thetopboxorenterastartdateandtimeandenddateandtimeinthefieldsbeneathit. Youcanusethebuttonsatthetopleftofthetabtozoomorpanthegraphs.Allofthegraphschangetogether, soyoualwaysseethesametimeperiodforallthedatashownonthetab. ToseethevalueofagraphedKPIatanygivenpoint,clickthePointValuesicon,thenmovethemouse cursoroverthedesiredKPIandtime.Youcanalsoclickthetopleftofanyshadedalertareaonthemetric graphtoseeinformationaboutthatalert.
Timeline Tab
TheTimelinetabshowsallanomaliescontributingtothisalert,displayedasadualdragtimelinestartingwith thebeginningofthefirstanomaly.Itendswiththecurrenttimeor,ifthealertwascancelled,thecanceltime.
Thetopportiondisplaysazoomedinversionofthetimelineandthebottomportiondisplaysasummaryview. Tomovethroughthetimelinequickly,clickanddragusingthemouseineitherportionofthetimeline.You canalsousethesekeys:

HomeBringsthestartofthefirstassociatedanomalytothecenterofthetimeline. EndBringstheendofthelastassociatedanomalytothecenterofthescreen PageUpShowsthepreviouspageinthetimeline. PageDownShowsthenextpageinthetimeline.
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Youcanhoverthemousepointeroverametrictodisplaythecompletename.Clickatimeperiodtodisplaya popupofsymptomdetails.Theanomaliesaregroupedbysymptom.TodisplaytheDynamicDashboard(see TheDynamicDashboardonpage 38),selectasymptominthepopupwindowandclicktheDynamic Dashboardicon.
Relationships Tab
TheRelationshipstabdisplaysaresourcerelationshipchartfortheresourcethealertisfor.Thechartshows thestructureofthetopographyaroundtheresourceitsparentandchildresources.Thisisthesamedisplay astheHealthTreewidget.SeeHealthTreeWidgetonpage 92formoreinformation.
Metric Charts Tab

TheMetricChartstaballowsyoutoviewmetricchartsforanyorallofthemetricscontributingtothealert. SelectaresourceintheContainerpane,thenasymptomintheSymptomspane,thendoubleclickthe anomalyintheAnomaliespane.ThechartforthemetricexhibitingthatanomalydisplaysintheMetricGraph pane.ThegraphandoptionsarethesameasthosedescribedinMetricGraphWidgetonpage 100.
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ForsmartKPIpredictionalertstriggeredbyafingerprintmatch,youhaveanadditionaloption.Ifyouclick VisualizeFingerprintintheAnomaliespane,vCenter Operations EnterpriseopenstheFingerprintAlert Detailspage.ThisisthesameastheDisplaybyImportanceviewontheProblemFingerprintLibrarypage, withoneaddition.Itaddsacircletothegraphforeachsymptom,showingthecorrelationbetweenthedata whenthefingerprintwascapturedandwhenthealertwastriggered.Seebelowasamplepage.
Correlations Tab
TheCorrelationstablistsmetricsshowingeitherbehaviororanomalycorrelationstotheKPImetrics contributingtothealert.SelectoneoftheKPIMetricsinthefieldatthetopofthetabtoseetheresources whichcontaincorrelatedmetrics.Clickaresourcetoexpandthetreeandseeitscorrelatedmetrics.Eachmetric willshowsapercentagecorrelationintheBehaviorCorrelationorAnomalyCorrelationcolumn,orboth.The higherthenumber,themorecloselycorrelatedthemetricsare.
Notes Tab
TheNotestabshowsallnotesrelatedtothealert.Thisisalistofallprioralertfunctions(suspend,suppress, own,release),andcanbeviewedbyothervCenter Operations Enterpriseusers(forexample,teammembers workingseparatetimeshifts). Youcanexpandanindividualentrybyclickingthe+button.YoucanaddanotebydoubleclickingNotes, enteringthetext,andclickingSave.
Resolutions Tab
TheResolutionstabdisplaysallresolutionnotesfromrelatedapplicationsandtiers.Youcanaddtoor editthenotesbyclickingtheManageResolutionsicon.Youcanalsoaddandeditnotesonthe ApplicationDetailorTierDetailpage. Astheresourcescanbepartofmultipleapplicationsortiers,youcanfiltertheresolutionnotesbyselecting thedesiredApplicationorTierinthosefields.
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The Dynamic Dashboard

YoucanviewtheDynamicDashboardpagefromthepopupwindowshowingindividualanomalies(Youcan displaytheanomalypopupfromtheRootCausewidget,theRootCausepaneoftheAlertSummaryor CrossSiloAnalysispage,orfromtheTimelinepaneoftheAlertDetailpage.
TheDynamicDashboardisdividedintothreepanes:
InfoShowsinformationabouttheanomalyyoudisplayedthedashboardfor:theresourcethealertwas for,thesymptomitself(themetricnameandwhatthresholdwasviolated),theresourcethesymptomwas on,andthetimeperiodfortheanomaly. AnomaliesDetailListstheindividualanomalieswhichcomprisetherootcausesymptom.Doubleclick asymptom(orselectitandclickMovetoGraph)tographitintheMetricGraphpane. MetricGraphShowsmetricgraphsfortheselectedsymptoms.ItisthesameastheMetricGraph widget.SeeMetricGraphWidgetonpage 100fordetailsaboutthewidgetdisplay.
Responding to Alerts
HowtorespondtoanvCenter Operations Enterprisealertdependsonwhattypeofalertitisandwhatkind ofresourceitisfor.Ingeneral,predictivesmartalertseitherearlywarningsorKPIpredictionscallforfaster actionthanotheralerttypes.Thatiswhythesealertsarealwaysratedascritical.Alertsforapplicationsortiers aregenerallymoreurgentthanalertsforanindividualresource,astheireffectscanbemorewidespread. HowtoRespondtoanAlertonpage 39containssomesuggestedcoursesofactionforvariousalertand resourcetypes. IfyourorganizationmanagesalertresponsesthroughvCenter Operations Enterprise,therearetwoadvanced actionsyoumaywanttotakewithsomealerts:claimingownership,orsuspendingorsuppressing.Taking ownershipofanalertnotifiesothervCenter Operations Enterpriseusersthatyouarehandlingthesituation, andtheydonotneedto.Suspendingorsuppressinganalertsignalsthatnoactionneedstobetakenonitat thecurrenttime.Suspendingorsuppressinganalertalsogivesyouownershipofit.SeeOwningAlertson page 40andSuspendingandSuppressingAlertsonpage 40.
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How to Respond to an Alert

HowtoproceedaftervCenter Operations Enterprisenotifiesyouofanalertvariesgreatlydependingonthe alertstype,criticalitylevel,andothercharacteristics,suchasthetypeofresourceitisfor.Thedetailsofany processforresolvingalertswillalsodependonyourorganizationsrules,procedures,andpriorities.The flowchartonthenextpagegivessomegeneralproceduresfordealingwithalerts. NOTEIfyoureceiveanadministrativesystemalert,donotfollowthestepsbelow.Instead,seetheprocedures intheSystemAlertsappendixofthevCenter Operations EnterpriseInstallationandAdministrationGuide. Figure 3-1. Flow Chart Diagram for Resolving Alerts
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Owning Alerts
Youcantakeownershipofanylistedalert.Owninganalertmeansyouhaveacknowledgedthealertisyours. Thiscanreduceoverlapwhenmultipleoperatorsmanagealerts.Whenanalertisowned,itshowsasAssigned intheControlStatecolumnofthealertlist,andtheownersusernameisintheUserNamecolumn.Onlythe ownercansuspendorsuppressanownedalert. To take ownership of one or more alerts 1 2 3 4 InthelistontheAlertsOverviewpageortheAlertswidget,selectthealert(s).Toselectmultiplealerts, holddowntheCTRLkeywhileclicking,orholddownSHIFTtoselectarange. ClicktheTakeOwnershipicon. ClickYes. Inthealertlist,theControlStateforthealert(s)willshowAssigned.
To release ownership of one or more alerts 1 2 3 4 InthelistontheAlertsOverviewpageortheAlertswidget,selectthealert(s).Toselectmultiplealerts, holddowntheCTRLkeywhileclicking,orholddownSHIFTtoselectarange. ClicktheReleaseOwnershipicon. ClickYes. Inthealertlist,theControlStateforthealert(s)willshowOpen.
ToincludeonlyownedalertsinthelistontheAlertsOverviewpage,clicktheAssignedAlertsicon. ToincludeonlyyourownalertsinthelistontheAlertsOverviewpage,clicktheOwnAlertsicon. ToincludeonlyunownedalertsinthelistontheAlertsOverviewpage,clicktheOpenAlertsicon. NOTEYoucanalsotakeorreleaseownershipofasinglealertbyclickingtheappropriateicononitsAlert Detailspage.
Suspending and Suppressing Alerts

vCenter Operations Enterpriseallowsyoutosuspendorsuppressanactivealertforaperiodoftimeyou define.Iftheproblemconditionremainsaftertimehaselapsed,vCenter Operations Enterprisereactivatesthe alert.Youcansuspendanalertforaspecificnumberofminutesorsuppressoneforaspecificnumberofdays. Suspendingorsuppressinganalertdoesnotcancelitscancelcycle;thealertisstillcancelledaccordingtothe cancelcyclevaluesetwhentheresourceorapplicationwasconfigured. Whenyoususpendorsuppressanalertyoutakeownershipofit,asdescribedintheprevioussection.You cannotsuspendorsuppressanalertownedbyanotheruser. To suspend one or more alerts 1 2 3 4 InthelistontheAlertsOverviewpageortheAlertswidget,selectthealert(s).Toselectmultiplealerts, holddowntheCTRLkeywhileclicking,orholddownSHIFTtoselectarange. ClicktheSuspendicon. Enterthenumberofminutestosuspendthealert(s). TheControlStateforthealert(s)willchangetoSuspended.
Toviewthealertsyoususpended,clicktheSuspendedAlertsicon.
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To suppress one or more alerts 1 2 3 4 5 InthelistontheAlertsOverviewpageortheAlertswidget,selectthealert(s).Toselectmultiplealerts, holddowntheCTRLkeywhileclicking,orholddownSHIFTtoselectarange. ClickTroubleshoottoopentheAlertDetailpage. ClicktheSuppressicon. Enterthenumberofdaystosuppressthealert(s). TheControlStateforthealert(s)willchangetoSuppressed.
Toviewthealertsyousuppressed,clicktheSuppressedAlertsicon. NOTEYoucanalsosuspendorsuppressasinglealertbyclickingtheappropriateicononitsAlertDetails page. Youcanalsoreturnasuspendedorsuppressedalerttoanopenstate.Todoso: 1 2 3 4 InthelistontheAlertsOverviewpageortheAlertswidget,selectthealert(s).Toselectmultiplealerts, holddowntheCTRLkeywhileclicking,orholddownSHIFTtoselectarange. ClicktheReleaseOwnershipicon. ClickYes. Inthealertlist,theControlStateforthealert(s)willshowOpen.
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Viewing Resources and Applications
ThissectiondescribehowtoviewdetailedinformationaboutanyvCenter Operations Enterpriseresourceor application.Itcontainsthefollowingtopics:

IntroductiontoViewingResourcesandApplicationsonpage 43 ViewingResourceInformationonpage 43 ViewingApplicationInformationonpage 47 TheResourceDetailPageonpage 48
Introduction to Viewing Resources and Applications

AsdiscussedinResourcesonpage 12,aresourceisanyentityinyourenvironmentforwhich vCenter Operations Enterprisecancollectdataandanapplicationisacollectionofrelatedresources whichgivesyoutheabilitytocombine,track,andanalyzemetricsfortheserelatedresourcesoveraperiod oftime. Thevariouswidgets,reports,andalerts,discussedelsewhereinthismanual,showcertaintypesof informationaboutallorselectedresourcesorapplications.Thischapterdescribestwospecific vCenter Operations Enterprisepages,theEnvironmentOverviewpageandtheApplicationOverviewpage, whichcanlistresourcesorapplicationsandletyouseedetailsaboutthem. vCenter Operations Enterpriseadministratorsusethesetwopagestocreateandmaintaintheresourcesand applications.ThoseaspectsofthesefeaturesaredescribedinthevCenter Operations EnterpriseInstallationand AdministrationGuide.
Viewing Resource Information

InvCenter Operations Enterprise,youcaneasilyviewalistofallresourcesinyourenvironment,andselect anyresourcetoseedetailedinformationaboutit.
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The Resource List

ToseealistofvCenter Operations Enterpriseresources,selectEnvironmentOverviewfromtheEnvironment menu.TheEnvironmentOverviewpageappears.
Theleftpanedisplaysallresourcetags.AsdescribedinResourceTagsonpage 12,tagsmakeiteasierto categorizeandselectresources.Thenumberofresourcesassociatedwitheachtagvalueisshownbesideit. vCenter Operations Enterpriseadministratorscreateandmaintainresourcetags. Therightpanedisplaysthelistofresources.Ifnotagvalueisselected,itshowsallresources.Youcanlimitthe resourcesinthelistbyselectingoneormoretagvalues.Whenyouselecttagvalues, vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowstheserules:

Ifyouselectmorethanonevalueforthesametag,thelistincludesresourcesthathaveeithervalue. Ifyouselectvaluesfortwoormoredifferenttags,thelistincludesonlyresourcesthathavealltheselected values.
Forexample,ifyouselecttwovaluesoftheGEOLocationtag,suchasNewYorkandLondon,itshows resourceswitheithervalue.IfyoualsoselecttheTiervalueoftheResourceKindtag,onlytierswhicharein NewYorkorLondonarelisted.Tiersinotherlocationsarenot,andneitherareresourcesinthosecitieswhich arenottiers. Youcanalsonegativelyselecttheresourcestoshow.IfyouclicktheInvertResulticon,thelistwill includeresourceswhichdonotmatchthetagvaluesyouveselected.Forexample,ifyouselectNew YorkandLondon,thenclickInvertResult,youwillseeallresourcesthatarenotineitherofthosecities. Foreachresource,thelistcanshowthename,description,currenthealthscore,resourcekind,andmuchmore. Toimproveperformance,itshowsthelistapageatatime.Youcanselectthenumberofresourcestoshowper page(from50to1000)intheResourcesperPagefield. Administratorscanadd,editanddeleteresourcesfromthispage,asdescribedinthe vCenter Operations EnterpriseInstallationandAdministrationGuide.
Columns in the Resource List Pane

Bydefault,theResourceListPaneincludesthesecolumns: Table 4-1. Resource List Pane Default Columns
Column Name Health ResourceKind Description Thenameoftheresource. Thecurrenthealthscorefortheresource.Healthisdescribedonpage 15. Thetypeofresourceitis.
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Table 4-1. Resource List Pane Default Columns (Continued)

Column CollectionState Description WhethervCenter Operations Enterpriseissupposedtobecollectingvaluesfortheresource. Thismaybe:

CollectingResourceissettocollectdata. NotCollectingResourceissetnottocollectdata. StartingCollectionisintheprocessofstarting. StoppingCollectionisintheprocessofstopping. UpdatingResourceisbeingupdated(forexample,monitoringintervalischanging). FailedProblemwithresourceconfiguration(forexample,adapterinstancemayhave beendeleted). InMaintenanceResourceisinscheduledmaintenance. InMaintenance(Manual)Resourceisinmanualmaintenance. RemovingResourceisintheprocessofbeingdeleted.
CollectionStatus
WhethervCenter Operations Enterpriseisactuallyreceivingvaluesfortheresource.Therewill beastatusonlyiftheCollectionStateisCollecting.Thisstatusmaybe:

DataReceivingDataisbeingreceivedforresource. OldDataReceivingThereisdataforthisresource,butitisnotcurrent.Themostrecent valueisatleastfivemonitoringcyclesold. NoDataReceivingTheadapterinstanceiscollectingdata,butnodatahasbeenreceived forthisresource. NonevCenter Operations Enterprisewasjuststartedorcollectionwasjuststartedforthe resource,andtherehasnotyetbeenanattempttocollectdata. ErrorTherewasanerrorwhentryingtocollectdata. UnknownAdapterinstancecannotconnecttotheresource,sostatususunknown. ResourceDownResourceisdown.Someadaptertypescanreportthattheresourceis knowntobedown. NoparentresourcemonitoringTheadapterinstanceresourceusedforthisresourceis stopped. CollectordownThevCenter Operations Enterprisecollectorortheadapterinstanceused forthisresourceisdown. OtherSomeadaptersmaywriteacustomizedstatusandmessageinsomecircumstances. Thisisusuallydonetogivemoreinformationifthereisaproblemreceivingdata.
NoteBothCollectionState,andCollectionStatusmayhavemorethanonevalueforasingleresource.Ifmetricsfora resourcearecollectedthroughmorethanoneadapterinstance(somemetricsmaybecollectedthroughoneadapterand othersthroughanother,forthesameresource),therewillbeaseparatestateandseparatestatusforeachadapterinstance. DataSource Identifier1through3 Description AttributePackage CreationTime MaintenanceSchedule Thetype(s)ofadapterscollectinginformationforthisresourceanditschildren.Hoverthe mousepointeroveranicontoseetheadaptertype. Additionaluniqueidentifiers,ifany,fortheresource.Theseentriesvarydependingonthe adaptertypeusedfortheresource. Theresourcedescription. Theattributepackage(groupofmetrics)beingcollectedfortheresource.Thisissetbyan administrator. WhentheresourcewasaddedtovCenter Operations Enterprise, Whentheresourceisdownforscheduledmaintenance.
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YoucanaddthesecolumnstothelistbyfollowingtheprocedureinCustomizingtheResourceListon page 46: Table 4-2. Resource List Pane Optional Columns
Column ID Identifiers4and5 ResourceFlag Description TheresourceID,asassignedbyvCenter Operations Enterprise. Additionaluniqueidentifiers,ifany,fortheresource.Theseentriesvarydependingontheadapter typeusedfortheresource. Usuallyblank,butmaybeoneofthefollowing:

MarkedfordeletionAnadministratorhastoldvCenter Operations Enterprisetodeletethe resource,butthedeletionhasnotyetbeenprocessed. ConfigurationinvalidSomethingabouttheresourcesconfigurationisinvalid.Forexample, anupdatemayrequireanewresourcetypeidentifierwhichtheresourcedoesnothave.This situationmustbecorrectedbyanadministrator.
Customizing the Resource List

YoucanmodifytheinformationshownforeachresourceintheListtabpageoftheEnvironmentOverview page.Youcanchangethecolumnsshown,theirwidth,theirorder,andwhatcolumnthelistissortedby. NOTEAnychangesyoumaketothelistaffectallvCenter Operations Enterpriseusers. To change the columns shown 1 2 Putthemousepointerovertherightsideofanycolumnheading.Adownarrowappearswhenthe pointerisintherightplace. Clickthedownarrow.Thecolumnmenuopens.
3 4 5
ClickColumns.Thislistsallpossiblecolumns,withthecurrentlydisplayedcolumnschecked. Clickeachcolumntoaddtothedisplay;toremoveacolumn,clickitsoitsboxisnolongerchecked. Whenyouvemadeallyourselections,clickoutsidethecolumnlist.
Tochangethecolumnorder,dragtheheadingofthecolumnyouwanttomovetothelocationyouwant. Tochangecolumnwidth,putthemousepointerovertherightedgeofthecolumnheader.Whenthemouse pointerchangestoaverticalbarwithtwohorizontalarrows,dragthecolumnedgetothenewwidth. To change the sort order of the list 1 2 3 Putthemousepointerovertherightsideofthecolumntosortby.Adownarrowappearswhenthe pointerisintherightplace. Clickthedownarrow.Thecolumnmenuopens. SelecteitherSortAscendingorSortDescending.
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Resource Details
To see detailed information for any resource 1 2 3 Ifdesired,intheleftpane,expandatagandselectatagvalueassignedtotheresource.Thiscangreatly shortentheresourcelistandmakeiteasiertofindtheresourceyouwant. Selecttheresourceinthelistontheright. ClicktheShowDetailicon.ThisdisplaystheResourceDetailpagefortheresource.SeeThe ResourceDetailPageonpage 48.
Resource Health Overview

To see a quick graphical representation of the health of all the resources for a specific tag value 1 2 3 4 5 Intheleftpane,expandthetagandselectthetagvalueyouwanttoseeinformationfor. Intherightpane,selecttheGrouptab.TheGrouptabshowsacolorediconrepresentingthecurrent healthofeachresourcefortheselectedtagvalue. Toseethehealthiconsforanytimeinthepastsixhours(infiveminuteincrements),movethesliderat thebottomofthetabtotheleft. Toseewhatresourceanyiconisfor,hoverthemousepointeroverit. Toseedetailedinformationforaresource,clickitsicon,thenclicktheShowDetailicon.This displaystheResourceDetailpagefortheresource.SeeTheResourceDetailPageonpage 48.
HealthscoresarediscussedinHealthonpage 15.
Viewing Application Information

InvCenter Operations Enterprise,youcaneasilyviewalistofalldefinedapplications,thenselectasingle applicationtoseedetailedinformationaboutitanditscomponenttiersandresources.
The Application List

ToviewalistofvCenter Operations Enterpriseapplications,selectApplicationsOverviewfromthe Environmentmenu.TheApplicationOverviewpageappears.
Theleftpanedisplaysallconfiguredapplicationtags.Applicationtagsmakeiteasiertocategorizeand manageapplications.Thenumberofapplicationsassociatedwitheachtagvalueisshownbesideit. vCenter Operations Enterpriseadministratorscreateandmaintainapplicationtags. Therightpanedisplaysthelistofapplications.Ifnoapplicationtagisselected,itshowsallapplications;ifyou selectanapplicationtag,thenatagvalue,itshowsonlyapplicationswiththattagvalue.Bydefault,foreach application,vCenter Operations Enterpriseshowsagraphofapplicationhealthoverthelastsixhours,the currenthealthscore,iconsindicatingthehealthofeachtier,andthenumberofactivealerts,bytype.
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Administratorscanadd,editanddeleteapplicationshere,asdescribedinthevCenter Operations Enterprise InstallationandAdministrationGuide.
Application Details
Toseedetailsaboutanapplication,doubleclickitinthelisttoopentheResourceDetailpageforthe application.SeeTheResourceDetailPageonpage 48.
The Resource Detail Page

YoucanviewtheResourceDetailpageforaresourcebyclickingtheShowDetailiconfromtheEnvironment Overviewpage,orforatierorresourcefromtheApplicationDetailpage.TheResourceDetailpageshowsyou informationaboutthecurrentstateoftheresource,itsmetrics,anditsplaceintheresourcetree.Becauseissues ontheresourcemayberelatedtoorcausedbybehavioronrelatedresources,youcanalsodisplaydetails aboutitschildrenorparentresourcesfromthispage,asdescribedbelow.
TheResourceDetailpageisdividedintofivepanes:
HealthStatusShowsthehealthgraphandcurrenthealthscorefortheresource.Toseetheexacthealth scorefromanytimeshownonthegraph,hoverthemousepointeroverthattime.Iftheresourcehas children,italsoshowsthenumberofimmediatechildresources,andthetotalnumberofmetricsforthe resourceanditschildren. HoverthemousepointerovertheMoreicontoseeitscollector,adapterkindandinstance, collectioninterval,resourcekind,attributepackage,andcreationtime.
RootCauseRankingShowstherootcausesofanycurrenthealthdegradationfortheresource,ordered bycontainerresourceandsymptomgroup.Doubleclickasymptomgrouptolistthespecificresources showingthatsymptom.Youcanthendoubleclickaspecificsymptomresourcetoopenapopupwindow showingdetailsaboutthespecificthresholdviolations.
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MetricSelectorListsthemetricgroupsfortheresourcecurrentlyselectedintheHealthTree pane.(Theresourcecurrentlybeingshownisgiveninthetitlebarofthepane.)Expandametric grouptoseetheindividualmetrics.ToseethegraphforametricintheMetricGraphspane,doubleclick itorselectitandclicktheMovetoGraphicon.Youcangraphasmanymetricsasdesired. Toseeonlymetricsforwhichdataisbeingcollectedfortheselectedresource,clicktheShow MetricsCollectingicon.Ifyoudonotclickthisicon,thelistshowsalldefinedmetricsthathave everbeencollectedfortheresource.
HealthTreeShowsthesectionofthehealthtreearoundtheresource,bothitsparentsandchildren.You havethesechoicesinthispane:

SelectaresourcetolistitsmetricsintheMetricSelectorpane. DoubleclickaresourcetocentertheHealthTreepanearounditandlistitsmetricsintheMetric Selectorpane. SelectaresourceandclicktheShowDetailicontoshowitsResourceDetailpage. SelectaresourceandclicktheShowAlertsicontolistanycurrentalertsforit.
MetricGraphShowsgraphsfortheselectedmetrics.ItisthesameastheMetricGraphwidget. SeeMetricGraphWidgetonpage 100fordetailsaboutthewidgetdisplay.
NOTEIfyouleavetheResourceDetailpageandreturntoitforthesameresourceduringthesame vCenter Operations Enterprisesession,itwillshowthegraphsyouhadpreviouslyselected.
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Forensics
ThissectioncoversthefeaturesavailablethroughtheForensicsmenuofvCenter Operations Enterprise.It containsthefollowingtopics:

Introductiononpage 51 CrossSiloAnalysisonpage 51 TopNAnalysisonpage 54 Fingerprintsonpage 56 CapacityAnalysisonpage 60
Introduction
ThethreefeaturesavailablefromtheForensicsmenuofferyoudifferentwaysoflookingatthedata vCenter Operations Enterprisehascollected:
CrossSiloAnalysisletsyoucomparethenumberofanomaliesforaselectedtimeperiodonvarious resourcesfromanywhereintheenterprise. TopNAnalysisshowsyouthetoporbottomperformingresources,metrics,oralertsinthecategoryyou select. ProblemFingerprintLibraryshowsthecapturedproblemfingerprintspatternsofmetricvalues vCenter Operations Enterprisehasdeterminedmayleadtofutureproblemsandletsyoudrilldownto seedetailsofanyone. CapacityAnalysispredictswhenaselectedmetricislikelytoreachavalueyouset.
Cross-Silo Analysis
TheCrossSiloAnalysispageshowsthenumberofanomaliesovertimeforanyresourcesyouselect.It includesallanomaliesforallmetricsdefinedfortheresources.Youcanselectmorethanoneresourceto comparemultipleresourcesfromanywhereinyourenterprise. Youcanzoomthegraphtofocusonanydesiredperiodoftime,suchasjustbeforeaparticularalertwasissued. Youcanseearankingofthelikelyrootcausesfortheabnormalitiesatanygiventime.Forapplications,the analysisalsoincludesalineshowingtheinternallydetermined90%probabilitythreshold.Ifthenumberof anomaliesexceedsthisthreshold,vCenter Operations EnterprisegeneratesanearlywarningSmartAlert,as thereisastrongprobabilitythatthereisaproblemwiththeapplication. YoucanseethisanalysisonlyontheCrossSiloAnalysispageandwhencreatingamanualfingerprint;itdoes notappearonanywidget,andsocannotbeshownonadashboard.Becausecrosssiloanalysisisusedto analyzepastbehaviorratherthanmonitorcurrentconditions,thereisgenerallynoneedtohaveitavailable onadashboard.
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Thepageisdividedintofourinteractingpanes:

Atthetopleftisalistofresourcestags,whereyouselecttheresourcetodisplay. ThetopcenterpaneshowsaHealthTreewidgetcenteredontheresourceyouselected. ThebottompaneshowsanomalycountgraphsforanyresourcesyouselectintheHealthTree. Thetoprightdisplaystherootcausesrankingforaselectedgraphandtime.
NOTEThegraphshownwhencreatingamanualfingerprintdoesnothaveallthefeaturesoftheCrossSilo Analysispage.SeeManuallyCapturingaProblemFingerprintonpage 59forinstructionsoncreatinga manualfingerprint.
Using Cross-Silo Analysis

To display information on the Cross-Silo Analysis page 1 2 FromtheForensicsmenu,selectCrossSiloAnalysis. Inthetopleftpane,selectthedesiredresource.Tofindtheresource,youcan:

SearchforitbytypingallorpartofthenameintheSearchfieldandclickingtheSearchicon. Sortthelistbyanycolumn:Hoverthepointerovertherightsideofthedesiredcolumnheader,click thearrowthatappears,andselectSortAscendingorSortDescending.
Onceyouhavefoundtheresource,clickittodisplayitssectionoftheHealthTree. NOTEYoucanaddorremovecolumnsfromtheresourcelistbyhoveringthepointerovertherightside oftheacolumnheader,clickingthearrowthatappears,andselectingColumns.Checktheboxesforany columnstoaddorcleartheboxesforanycolumnstoremove. 3 IntheHealthTree(topcenterpane),clickanyresourcetodisplayitsanomalygraphinthebottompane. Youcanclickmultipleresources;eachgraphisaddedtothepane.Youcanalsodoubleclickaresourceto bothdisplayitsgraphandcentertheHealthTreeonit. Youcanalsousetheiconsonthepanestoolbar:
ZoomtofitChangesthesizeofthedisplayedresourceiconsforthebestpossiblefitinthe widget. PanClickthisbutton,thenclickanddragthehierarchytoseedifferentpartsofit. ImageMapTooltipIfPanorZoomtheviewisselected,selectthisicontoleavethatmode andreturntoshowingaresourcesnameandcurrenthealthwhenyouhoverthemousepointer overit. ZoomtheviewClickthisicon,thendragtooutlineapartofthedisplayedhierarchy.The displayzoomstoshowjusttheoutlinedsection. ZoominZoomsinonthehierarchydisplay. ZoomoutZoomsoutonthehierarchydisplay. ResettoInitialResourceReturnsthedisplaytotheresourceyouselectedinthelistandresets ittotheinitialdisplaysize. ResourceDetailToshowtheResourceDetailpageforaresource,selectit,thenclickthisicon. SeeTheResourceDetailPageonpage 48foradescriptionoftheResourceDetailpage. ShowAlertsToseethealertsforaresource,selectitin,thenclickthisicon.Thisliststhealerts inapopupwindow.YoucandoubleclickanalertinthelisttoseeitsAlertSummarypage,as describedonpage 32.
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ThebottompaneshowsgraphsofthenumberofanomaliesforeachresourceselectedintheHealthTree. Aredlineindicatestheinternallycalculatednoiselinethethresholdwhichtriggersanearlywarning SmartAlertwhenitisexceeded.(Ifearlywarningalertsarenotenabledforaresource,thelineisnot shown.) Thereareseparategraphsforeachselectedresource.Asyouselectnewresources,theirgraphsareadded atthebottomofthepane;youmayneedtoscrollthelisttoseeallthegraphs. Generally,youwillbemoreinterestedinsometimesthaninothersforexample,inthetimeduringor justbeforeaparticularalert.Youcanzoomthegraphdisplay,andmore,usingtheiconsinthetoolbarat thetopofthepane.Theyare:
ZoombyXWhenselected,zoomingthegraphaffectstheXaxis.YoucanselectbothZoom byXandZoombyYatthesametime.ZoomtheViewmustbeselectedforzoomingtowork. ZoombyYWhenselected,zoomingthegraphaffectstheYaxis.YoucanselectbothZoom byXandZoombyYatthesametime.ZoomtheViewmustbeselectedforzoomingtowork. ZoomtoFitChangesallgraphstoshowtheentiretimeperiodandvaluerange. ZoomAllWhenselected,zoominganyonegraphchangesalldisplayedgraphs. ZoomtheViewWhenselected,dragginginagraphzoomsthegraphtoshowjustthe selectedarea.TheexactbehaviorisdeterminedbytheZoombyX,ZoombyY,andZoomAll settings. PanWhenselected,dragginginthegraphchangesthetimeperiodshown;itdoesnotzoom thegraph. PointValuesClickthisicon,thenplacethepointeroveragrapheddatapointtoseeitstime andexactvalue. AutoRefreshWhenselected,thegraphswillrefreshwithnewdataevery15seconds. DateControlsSelectthetimeperiodtoshowonthegraphs.Youcaneitherselectaperiodin thetopboxorenterastartdateandtimeandenddateandtimeinthefieldsbeneathit. ActiveAnomaliesClicktoshowonlyactiveanomalies. NewAnomaliesClicktoshowonlynewanomalies. NormalizeClicktonormalizeallgraphstoapercentagescale.
Youcanalsoclicktheiconsatthetoprightofanyindividualgraph.Theyare:

DownloadClicktodownloadthedatamakingupthegraphtoatabseparateddatafile. MoveClickthedownarrowtomovethegraphdowninthelistortheuparrowtomove itup. RemoveClickthisicontoremovethegraphfromthelist.
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Toshowtherootcausesfortheanomaliesatanypointonagraph,selectPointValues,thenclickthepoint youwantinformationfor.
Toshowtherootcausesforadifferentpoint,clickit.Youcanshowrootcausesforonlyonepointonone graphatatime. 6 TheRootCausepaneisverysimilartotheRootCauseRankingwidgetinsymptommode,whichis describedinRootCauseRankingWidgetonpage 108.Itshowsthelikelyrootcausecontainer resources,rankedbytheanalyticalalgorithmonthecontainerresource.Youcan:
Doubleclickanyresourcetoseethesymptomgroups,rankedbypercentageofpossibleresources exhibitingsymptomsinthegroup. Doubleclickanygrouptoseethetopfiveindividualsymptoms,rankedbypercentageofpossible resourcesexhibitingthesymptom.Athinverticalbarinthehorizontalbarforthesymptomshows whenthatanomalybegan.Ifthelightbulbicontotherightappearslit,thesymptomisstillactive. Doubleclickasymptomtoopenapopupwindowlistingtheindividualanomaliesthat compriseit.YoucanthenclicktheCopytoClipboardbuttontocopythelisttotheclipboard. Forexample,youmightwanttodothisifyouareopeningaproblemticketforthealert,orsending anemailmessageaboutit.YoucanalsodisplaytheDynamicDashboardforaresourcebyselecting ananomalyandclickingtheDynamicDashboardicon.SeeTheDynamicDashboardonpage 38.
Top-N Analysis
TheTopNAnalysispageshowsyouthetoporbottomperformersinoneormorecategoriesyouselect.Itcan showmanytypesofinformation:themostorleasthealthytiersinanapplicationorresourcesinatier,themost volatileKPIs,thetoprootcausemetrics,andsoon.ItisverysimilartotheTopNAnalysiswidgetdescribed onpage 111,butoffersmoreoptions.
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To use the Top-N Analysis feature 1 2 FromtheForensicsmenu,selectTopNAnalysis.ThisopenstheTopNAnalysispage. ClicktheConfigureicon.ThisopenstheConfigurationpage.
3 4 5 6 7
OntheConfigurationpage,selectthetimeperiodtoshowdatafor:30,60,or90days. Selectthenumberofitemstoshowineachlist.Select5,10,or15,orselectUserdefinedandtypethe numberyouwaninthefieldtotheright. Intheresourcetree,selecttheresourcetoshowdatafor. ClickSave. TheResourceHealthpaneatthetopleftshowsthehealthoftheselectedresourceforthetimeperiod.In theToolsarea,checktheboxforeachtypeofinformationyouwanttosee.Theinformationisshownin therighthandpane.
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Toseedetailsaboutanylisteditem,clickit.Whatisdisplayeddependsontheitemtype:
Foraresource,itshowstheResourceDetailpage.Fordetails,seeTheResourceDetailPageon page 48. Forametric,itdisplaysdetailsabouttheresourcethemetricbelongsto. Foranalert,itdisplaysdetailsaboutthealert.SeeViewingSingleAlertsonpage 32formore information.
Youcanchangetheitemstodisplayortheconfiguredresourcesortimeperiodatanytime.
Fingerprints
vCenter Operations Enterprisecancalculateandstorefingerprintsforapplications.WhenaKPIforan applicationoratierbelongingtoanapplicationviolatesathreshold,vCenter Operations Enterpriseexamines theeventsleadinguptotheviolation.Ifitfindsenoughrelatedinformation(suchasotheranomalies),it capturesthesetofeventswhichprecededandleduptotheviolation.Thiscapturedseriesofeventsiscalled afingerprint.vCenter Operations Enterprisecanthenmonitoreventsinthefuture,and,ifitfindsasimilar seriesofevents,issueapredictivealertwarningthattheKPIviolationislikelytooccur. Afingerprintprovidesinformationforfuturedetectionandanalysisofprecursorevents.Moreimportantly,it equipseventcorrelationtorecognizewhentheproblemisrecurringinordertoissueaKPIPredictionSmart Alert.Theinformationobtainedafterthefingerprintwasgeneratedassistsyouincorrectingtheproblem. vCenter Operations Enterprisegeneratesfingerprintsonlyforapplications.Whenever vCenter Operations Enterprisegeneratesafingerprint,itnotesitinthesystemadminlog. NOTETheonlytypeofattributethatcanbeassigneddirectlytoatierorapplicationisasupermetric. Therefore,vCenter Operations Enterprisewillgeneratefingerprintsonlyifyouhavesupermetricsassigned toatierorapplicationandmarkedasKPI.Forinformationaboutcreatingsupermetricsandconfiguringthem asKPI,seethevCenter Operations EnterpriseInstallationandAdministrationGuide.
Viewing and Working With Fingerprints

Youcanmanageallproblemfingerprints,whetherautomaticallygeneratedbyvCenter Operations Enterprise orcreatedmanually,viatheProblemFingerprintLibrary.ToviewtheProblemFingerprintLibrary,follow thesesteps: 1 2 IntheForensicsmenuselectProblemFingerprintLibrary.TheProblemFingerprintLibrarypage appears. Selectanapplicationfromthedropdownlisttodisplayallactiveproblemfingerprintsforit.Each fingerprintisprecededbyaniconindicatingwhetheritisaKPIviolationoramanuallygenerated fingerprintandlabeledwiththetierandthemetricandsymptomcausingtheproblem. Expandthefingerprinttoviewthelistofbrancheswithinthefingerprint.Eachbranchisadifferentsetof precursorsthatledtotheproblem.ThedefaultnameforthebranchisPrecursorSetandthefingerprint ID.Thisnameiseditable.
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Selectafingerprintbranchtodisplaytheprecursordetails.Iftherearemultipleversionsofthefingerprint, themostrecentversionisshownfirst.
ClicktheShowMatureFingerprintsicontodisplayonlymaturefingerprints.Afingerprintis maturewhenvCenter Operations Enterprisehaslearnedenoughaboutitthatitcanmake predictionsbasedonasimilarpatternwithover50%probability. ClicktheDeleteicontodeletetheselectedfingerprintorbranch. ClicktheActivate/Deactivateicontochangethestatusoftheselectedfingerprintorbranch.This buttontogglesbetweenactiveandpassive.Passivefingerprintswillnotgeneratefingerprint predictionalerts,andwillnotbeupdated.Toactivateadeactivatedfingerprint,youmustclick Activate/Deactivate,thenrestarttheAnalyticsservice.
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Therightpanelcontainstwotabs:View/ManageandCreate.TheView/Managetabcontainsspecific informationaboutthefingerprint,includingthefollowing:
ReasonAnassumedconditionthatjustifiesthecreationofafingerprint.Thisisalsothedisplaynameof thefingerprintbranch.AnexamplereasonmightbeAppDTbelowFreeMemory. ResolutionFreeformtextareawhereyoucanenterthesolutiontotheproblem. HistoryShowsalltheversionsoftheprecursorset,asvCenter Operations Enterpriselearnsovertime. Thisalwaysstartsatthemostrecentversion.Usethenavigationbuttonstoviewthenext,previous,first, andlastversion.Youcanalsotypeinitsnumbertoviewaspecificversion. GeneratedDateandtimeinwhichthespecificversionwasgenerated.
Theuppertoolbarinthecenterofthewindowcontainsbuttonsforyoutomanagethefingerprintversion.
LastVersionDisplaysthelast(mostrecent)fingerprintversion. PreviousDisplaysthepreviouspage(thenextnewestfingerprintversion). VersionDisplaysthespecificversionoutofthetotalnumberofversions. NextDisplaysthenextpage(thenextoldestfingerprintversion). FirstVersionDisplaysthefirst(oldest)fingerprintversion. RefreshRefreshesthefingerprintsymptoms.
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DeleteVersionDeletesthecurrentfingerprintversion. Activate/DeactivateVersionChangesthestatusofthecurrentfingerprintversion.Thisbuttontoggles betweenactiveandpassive. NOTEBecausethemorerecentversionsofafingerprintarefrequentlymoreusefulthanolderversions, thepagesofthefingerprintdisplayarenumberedinreverseversionorder.(Page1isthemostrecent version;higherpagenumbersareolderversions.)ThePreviousandNextbuttonsrefertopages,not versions,sotheirresultsmaybedifferentthanyouexpectatfirst.
Youcanviewfingerprintinformationinthreeformats.Eachformatshowsinformationaboutthesymptoms precedingthefingerprintwhichcausedthefingerprinttobecaptured,shownonatimelineleadinguptothe fingerprintcapturetime.Usethelowertoolbarinthecenterofthewindowtoswitchbetweenthedifferent modes.
DisplayinGridThismodeprovidesanumericalviewofeachsymptominrelationtothefingerprint. Eachsymptomincludesthetier,theattribute,thereasonforthesymptomandthecorrelationweightsas anumericvalue.
DisplayByImportanceThisisthedefaultmodewhenviewingafingerprint.Itgivesagraphicalview ofeachsymptominrelationtothefingerprint.
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EachrowoftheDisplayByImportancelistshowsonesymptom.Thecolumnsshow:
Column Symptom Description Describesthesymptom:itstier,theviolationtype,andtheKPImetricshowingtheviolation. Inthescreenshotabove,thefirstsymptomlistedisAppDTabnormalReports/Branch Transactions.ThisindicatesthatthesymptomisintheApptier,theviolationisanabnormal behavior,andthemetricisReports/BranchTransactions. Thetiercomponentindicatesthatthesymptomisoccurringsomewhereinthistieritmay beoccurringononeresourceinthetieroracrossmultipleresources.Intheexample,allof thewebserversinthetierareviolatingthisthreshold. Weight Howcloselythissymptomiscorrelatedtotheendfailure.Thisvalueiscalculatedby comparingthenumberofresourcesshowingthesymptomtothetotalnumberofresources inthetier. Possiblevaluesarefrom.001to.999,indicatingtheapproximatepercentageprobabilitythat thesymptomisrelatedtotheproblem.Inthisexample,theReports/BranchTransactions symptomweightis.08,meaningthereisa8%probabilitythatitiscorrelatedwiththeend problem/failure. %Corr 15minuteintervals Percentcorrelation.Thisvaluedenoteshowcloselycorrelatedthissymptomistotheend failure. 15minutetimeintervalsinwhichthesymptomoccurred. Agraybubbleinanintervalcolumnindicatesthatthesymptomwasoccurringduringthat interval.Thesizeofthebubblereflectshowcloselythesymptomcorrelatestotheend failure/problemduringthatinterval.Ifthereisnograydotinthatinterval,thesymptomwas notoccurringatthattime. Anorangecircleidentifiesthetimeintervalinwhichthemetricvalueistheclosestmatchto thehistoricalfingerprintinthefingerprintlibrary.
DisplayByTierThismodedisplaysanumberofcircles,colorcodedbyapplicationtier.Thecirclesare placedaboveorbelowthehorizontallinedependingonwhetherthetierisaboveorbelowthethreshold. Thesizeofthecircledeterminesthecorrelationweightofthetier.Mouseoverthecircletoviewthe symptomandthenumberofresourcesexperiencingthissymptom.
Manually Capturing a Problem Fingerprint

Manuallygeneratedproblemfingerprintsletyoudefinetheconditionsforafingerprinttobegeneratedthe momentaviolationoccurs.vCenter Operations EnterprisegeneratesafingerprintwhenitfindsaKPI violationandarequirednumberofprecursorsinanapplication. To manually capture a problem fingerprint 1 2 3 IntheForensicsmenuselectProblemFingerprintLibrary.TheProblemFingerprintLibrarypage appears. Selecttheapplicationtocreatethefingerprintfor. Intherightpanel,clicktheCreatetab.Ananomalychartshowingthenumberofanomaliesinthe applicationappears.
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Inthedropdownfield,selectthetimeperiodofthechart.ThedefaultvalueisLast24Hours. IntheSelectTierfield,choosethetieroftheapplicationtocapture. Clickthecharttochoosethedateandtimeofthemanualfingerprintcapture.Youcanalsoselectaspecific dateandtimeusingthedateandtimefields. Atimecutisthenumberofintervalstogobacktocapturealertpatternsforfingerprints.Setthetimecut bychoosingtheSelectIntervalsCountandSelectIntervalDuration(inminutes).
EnterthereasonforthemanualfingerprintgenerationattemptundertheEnterReasonfield.ClickGenerate ManualFingerprinttodisplaytheresultsofthefingerprintcaptureattempt.Thisincludestheoutcomeofthe attempt,aswellasfurtherdetailsofthenumberofsymptomsfoundduringthattimeperiod.
Capacity Analysis
Thecapacityanalysisusestheperformancehistoryofametricyouselecttopredictitsfuturegrowth,and whenitislikelytoreachalimityouset.Youcanusethistohelpplanwhentoperforminfrastructureupgrades, suchasaddingdiskstoragetoaserverorincreasingyournetworkcapacity.Capacityanalysisworksbestand ismostusefulwithmetricsthattendtoshowlongtermtrendsinonedirection,suchasdiskspaceusageor networktraffic. Toperformacapacityanalysis,youselectthemetrictouse(forexample,PctUsedDiskSpace)andthelimiting valueyouareinterestedinknowingabout(suchas95%full).vCenter Operations Enterpriselooksatthepast andcurrentperformanceofthemetric.Itsanalyticsalgorithmsdeterminethevariouscyclesinthemetrics values(daily,weekly,monthly,orother)andusethemtoextrapolatethemetricslikelyfutureperformance. vCenter Operations Enterprisedisplayswhenthemetricislikelytoexceedthevalueyouset,howpredictable themetricis(higherpredictabilityindicatesahighersignaltonoiseratio),andotherinformationaboutits behavior. To display a capacity analysis for a metric 1 2 FromtheForensicsmenuselectCapacityAnalysis.TheCapacityAnalysispageappears. Ifyouhavepreviouslysavedoneormoreanalysisconfiguration,youcaneither:
DisplaytheanalysisforasavedconfigurationbyselectingitintheConfigurationsfieldandclicking ForecastThis!SkiptoStep 9. ClickthethinbaratthetopofthepagetodisplaytheResourcesTagsandMetricspanessoyoucan makenewselections.
SelecttheresourcecontainingthemetricintheListpaneatthetopcenterofthepage.Youcanfilterthe resourcelistbyselectingoneormoretagvaluesinthelistontheleft.Ifyouselectmorethanonetagvalue, vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowstheserules:

Youcanalsonegativelyselecttheresourcestoshow.IfyouclicktheInvertResulticon,thelist willincluderesourceswhichdonotmatchtheselectedtagvalues. 4 TheattributegroupsfortheselectedresourceappearintheMetricpaneatthetopright.Toselectthe metrictoshow: a b IfyouwanttolistonlyKPImetrics,clicktheKPIMetricsicon. Tofindaparticularmetricgroup,metricinstance,ormetric,youcantypeallorpartofitsname intheSearchfield,selectthetypeofvalueyouaresearchingfor,andclicktheSearchicon.
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Expandthegroupcontainingthedesiredmetric. Doubleclickthemetric.Theperformanceinformationforthemetricappearsinthecenterpane.
Setthevaluelimit(eitherhighorlow)youwantvCenter Operations Enterprisetopredictfor: a Thegraphsrangedependsonthepastperformanceofthemetric.Youcanchangetherangeshown bytypingtheminimumandmaximumvaluestoshowinYmaxandYmin,thenclickingthearrow totherightofthefield. Clicktheiconindicatingwhetheryouwillbeenteringanupperorlowerthreshold. TypethelimitvalueintheThresholdfieldorusethemousetodragthesliderattheleftof thegraphtothedesiredlimitvalue.
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InProbability,enterthepercentageofmetricvaluesthatmustbeoutofthresholdwithina24hourperiod beforeitisconsideredabreach. InShowForecast,selectthetimeperiodtoseetheforecastfor.
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ClickForecastThis!ThecapacityanalysispredictionsappearintheAnalysisResultspane.
TheAnalysisResultsinclude:
Theamountoftimeuntilthemetricispredictedtobreachthelimityouvesetandthedateandtime itispredictedtooccur. Thepredictabilityofthemetricsbehavior,expressedasadecimalbetween0and1.Highervalues indicatemorepredictablebehavior,andthereforemorecertaintyinthepredictedbeachtime. Iftheanalyticsmechanismshavedetectedacorrelationbetweenthebehavioroftheselectedmetric andanothermetric,thedegreeofthecorrelation.Clickthevaluetoopenapopupwindowshowing thecorrelatedmetrics,includingtheresource,themetricname,andthepercentageofcorrelation.You canalsodisplayacolumnshowingthetypeofcorrelation,eitherAnomaly(themetricsanomalies arecorrelated)orBehavior(themetricsbehavioriscorrelated). Thepredictedminimumandmaximumvalueswithintheforecastperiod,andwhentheyare expectedtooccur. NOTEYoucanhideanyofthefieldsatthetopoftheAnalysisResultspane.Movethemousepointer overtherightsideofacolumnheaderandclickthearrowthatappears.SelectColumns,thenclear theboxesforthefieldsyoudontwanttosee,orchecktheboxforanyfieldtoaddtothedisplay.
Ametricgraphshowingrecentbehaviorandthepredictedbehaviorfortheforecastperiod.The graphincludesalineshowingthemostlikelypredictedvalue,withashadedareaarounditshowing theconfidenceboundoftheprediction. Agraphshowingthecalculatedcyclesinthemetricsbehavior.Captionsbeneaththegraphgivethe periodandrelativestrengthofeachcycle.ClickAllCyclestodisplayapopupwindowwith informationonthecycles. NOTEDependingonyourscreenresolution,youmayneedtocollapsetheResourcesTagsand Metricspanes(clickthethinbaratthetopofthepage)todisplaythecyclegraph.
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Younowhavethesechoices:
Tochangeanycriteria,suchastheforecastperiodorthelimitvalue,makeyourchangeandclick ForecastThis!again. Tosavethecurrentconfigurationsoyoucanreturntothissetofcriterialatertoseeifthe predictionhaschanged,clickCapturenew,thentypeanamefortheconfigurationandclick OK.Onlyyoucanuseconfigurationsyouhavesaved. Toupdateanexistingconfigurationwiththecurrentsettings,selectitintheConfigurations list,thenclickUpdateselectedconfiguration. Todeleteanexistingconfiguration,selectitintheConfigurationslist,clickDeleteselected, thenclickYes. Tosavetheforecastdatainoneofthreeformats,clickoneoftheiconsatthetoprightofthemetric graph:Saveasnapshot,Saveafullscreensnapshot,orDownloadtabseparateddata.Youwillbe abletoselectthefilenameandfoldertosaveto.
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Designing Your Workspace
ThissectiondiscussesthevariouswaysyoucanselecttheinformationvCenter Operations Enterpriseshows youandhowitispresented.Itcontainsthefollowingtopics:

IntroductiontoWidgetsandDashboardsonpage 65 WorkingwithDashboardsonpage 66 WorkingwithWidgetsonpage 72 ModifyingUserPreferencesonpage 78
Introduction to Widgets and Dashboards

YoucanseetheinformationvCenter Operations Enterprisetracksandcompilesforyoubydisplayingoneor morewidgets.EachvCenter Operations Enterprisewidgetcontainsacollectionofrelatedinformationabout configuredattributes,resources,applications,ortheoverallprocessesofyourenvironment.Youcan customizeeachwidgettoshowtheinformationyouareinterestedin,selectingtheresourcestodisplay,the timeperioditcovers,andsoon. Youchoosethewidgetstoseebyaddingthemtodashboards.Eachdashboardcontainsoneormorewidgets. Atthedashboardlevel,youselectwhetherthewidgetsarearrangedinone,two,orthreecolumns,thecolumn widths,andwhetheranyofthewidgetsonitinteractwithoneanotherforexample,selectingaresourcein onewidgetmaychangetheinformationshowninanother. Eachdashboardhasaname,whichappearsonitstab.Thetabsforallthedashboardsyoucanviewappear nearthetopofthevCenter Operations Enterprisewindow,justbeneaththemenus.Youselectthedashboard toviewbyclickingitstab.Youcanviewonlyonedashboardatatime.
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ThssreenshotbelowillustratesthevCenter Operations Enterprisewindow,withitswidgets,dashboards,and tabs.

Tabs
Widgets
Dashboard
WhenyoufirstlogontovCenter Operations Enterprise,thedashboardsyoucanseearedeterminedbythe usergroupyoubelongto.Forexample,usersintheAdministratorsgroupseeonlythe vCenter Operations EnterpriseAdmindashboardbydefault.Othergroupswillseeotherdashboards,as definedforyourinstallation. Ifyouhavethenecessarypermissions,youcancreatenewdashboards.Whileyoucanputanywidgetonany dashboard,ingeneral,eachdashboardwillcontainwidgetsshowingrelatedinformationdifferentviewsof theperformanceofaparticulargroupofresources,similaralertsforseparateapplications,andsoon.Each newdashboardhasanewtabwithitsnameandisaddedtothelistontheDashboardsmenu. Thefollowingsectionsdescribehowyoucancreateandmodifydashboardsandhowtoworkwithwidgets.
Working with Dashboards

NOTEYoucanonlycreateoreditdashboardsifyouhavepermissiontodoso.Ifyoucannotuseanyofthe featuresdiscussedhere,contactyouradministrator. Adashboardcontainsoneormorewidgets,witheachwidgetshowingadifferentviewoftheinformation vCenter Operations Enterprisehascollectedandanalyzed.Tocreateadashboard,youeitherselecta dashboardtemplatetouseordefinethewidgetsitcontainsandhowtheyarearranged.Youcandisplaythe dashboardyoucreateeitherbyclickingitstaborthroughtheDashboardsmenu. Dashboardshaveone,two,orthreecolumns.Youcanchangethecolumnwidthtofitthewidgetsonthe dashboard.Whenyouplaceawidgetonadashboard,itautomaticallyalignsitselfwithinthecolumnwhere youputit.
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YoucansetthetaborderforthedashboardsonyourHomepage.Youcanalsosetanydashboardtoswitchto anotherafterasetamountoftime.Forexample,ifvCenter Operations Enterpriseisdisplayedonaconsolein theNetworkOperationsCenter,thiswouldallowsomeonetheretokeepaneyeondifferentaspectsofthe enterprise. Youcanshareanyofyourdashboardswithotherusergroups. Thefollowingsectionsdescribehowtocreate,edit,reorder,share,anddeletedashboards,enableautomatic dashboardswitching,andcreateanddeletetemplates.
Creating a New Dashboard

1 2 ClicktheHomemenu.YourHomepageappears. Totherightofthelastlistedtab,clicktheplussymbol.TheDashboardEditing:CreateaTabpage appears.
Theleftsideofthepageshowstheexistingdashboardtemplates.(Forinformationonadding,modifying, anddeletingtemplates,seeDashboardTemplatesonpage 71).Thedefaulttemplatesyouseedepend ontheusergroupyoubelongto. 3 Tobasethedashboardonatemplate:

Dragthetemplatetousetotherightsideofthewindow. Ifdesired,changethedashboardnameintheTabNamefield.
Tostartwithablankdashboard:

ClicktheCreateDashboardUsingWidgetsiconatthetopleftofthewindow. TypethenameforthedashboardintheTabNamefield. InColumnCount,selectthenumberofcolumnstouse. Drageachwidgetyouwantonthenewdashboardfromtheleftpanetotherightpane.Placethemin theorderyouwantthemtoappear.Therightpanedoesnotnecessarilyshowthewidgetsastheywill appearinthedashboard. Tochangethesizeofthecolumns,dragthedividerbar(s)underDragtoChangeLayout.
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Tomakethenewdashboardyourdefault,selectYesintheMarkasDefaultfield. ClickOKtocreatethenewdashboardorCanceltocancelyourchanges.IfyouchooseOK,theHomepage isrefreshedtoincludeyourchanges.
Ifyouusedatemplatetocreatethenewdashboard,andyouwanttochangethelayoutorthewidgetsit includes,seeEditingaDashboardonpage 68.
Cloning a Dashboard
To make a copy of an existing dashboard 1 2 3 4 5 6 ClicktheHomemenu.TheHomepageappears. Clickthetabofthedashboardtocopy. IntheDashboardToolsbar,clickClone.TheCloneTabdialogboxappears. Enterthenametogivethecopieddashboard. ClickOK.ThenewlyclonedtabappearsontheHomepage. Clickthetabforthenewlycloneddashboard.Allwidgetsthatappearintheoriginaldashboardalso appearinthecloneddashboard.Youcannoweditthenewdashboardasdesired.
Editing a Dashboard
Youcanmaketwokindsofchangestoadashboarddirectlyonthedashboarddisplay:

Youcanremoveawidgetfromthedashboard,asdescribedinRemovingaWidgetonpage 74. Youcanmoveawidgetbydraggingitstitlebartothedesiredlocation.
Foranyotherchanges,youmusteditthedashboard.Toeditanexistingdashboard,followthesesteps: 1 2 3 ClicktheHomemenu.TheHomepageappears. Clickthetabofthedashboardtoedit. IntheDashboardToolsbar,clickEdit.TheDashboardEditing:EditaTabpageappears.
Theleftpanedisplaysallavailablewidgets(foracompletelistofavailablewidgets,seeAvailable Widgetsonpage 80).Draganddropeachwidgetyouwantonthisdashboardtotherighthandpaneof thepage.
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Ifdesired,atthetopoftherighthandpane,changetheTabName. Ifyouwantthisdashboardtobeyourdefault,clickYes. Tochangethenumberofcolumns,select1,2,or3inColumnCount. Tochangethesizeofthecolumns,dragthedividerbar(s)underDragtoChangeLayout. Toremoveawidgetfromthedashboard,clicktheDeleteWidgeticoninitsupperrightcorner. Whenyouhavefinishedyourmodifications,clickOK.YourHomepageappearswithyourupdated dashboard.
Changing Dashboard Order

Whenyoucreateanewdashboard,itstabisaddedtotherightoftheotherdashboardtabsonyourHome page.Youcanmovethenewtab,orchangetheorderofanyexistingdashboardtabs,byfollowingthesesteps: 1 FromtheDashboardsmenu,selectReorderTabs.ThisopenstheReorderTabswindow.
2 3
Yourdashboardtabsarelistedontheleft.Tochangetheorder,drageachtabtothelocationyouwant. ClickOK.
Setting Up Automatic Dashboard Switching

Ifyouhavedifferentdashboardsdefinedtodisplayvariousaspectsofyourenterprisesperformance,youmay wanttolookateachoftheminturn.YoucanhavevCenter Operations Enterpriseswitchfromonedashboard displaytoanotherautomatically.Foreachdashboard,youcanselectifyouwanttohaveitswitchtoanother, howlongitshouldwaitbeforedoingso,andwhatdashboarditshouldswitchto.Todoso: 1 2 FromtheDashboardsmenu,selectReorderTabs.ThisopenstheReorderTabswindow. Foreachdashboardyouwanttohaveswitchtoanother: a b c 3 4 SelectSwitchTabOn. Inthefieldtotheright,typethenumberofsecondsthisdashboardshouldstaydisplayedbefore switchingtothenext. Inthelistatthefarright,selectthedashboarditshouldswitchto.
Repeatstep2foreachdashboardthatshouldswitchtoanotherautomatically. Whenyourefinished,clickOK.
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Forexample,theReorderTabswindowshownbelowhasthevCenterOperationsAdmindashboardswitchto theManagerdashboardafter30seconds,theManagerdashboardswitchtotheMashupdashboardafter60 seconds,andtheMashupdashboardswitchbacktothevCenterOperationsAdmindashboardafter60 seconds.Ifyouselectanyofthesethreedashboards,yourHomepagewillcyclethroughallthreeontheset schedule.IfyouselecttheMetricGraphdashboard,itwillstaydisplayed,asautomaticswitchingisnot definedforthattab.
Sharing Dashboards
Whenyoushareadashboard,youaddittotheHomepageforallusersineachgroupyoushareitwith.They seethedashboardexactlyasyoudefineit.Ifyouchangethedashboard,byaddingordeletingwidgetsor editingthewidgetsonit,itchangestheshareddashboardforallusers. Usersinthegroupyoushareadashboardwithcannotchangethedashboard.Theycannotaddwidgetstoit orremovewidgetsfromit,andthewidgetsonitdonothaveEditbuttonssotheycannotmodifytheirsettings. Theycanonlyviewthedashboardasyouvedefinedit. Dashboardsyouhavesharedwithothersanddashboardsothershavesharedwithyouhavespecialiconsin theirtabs:
Thisiconindicatesadashboardyouhavesharedwithotherusergroups. Thisiconindicatesadashboardanotheruserhassharedwithyourgroup.Youcannoteditadashboardmarked withthisicon.
To share a dashboard 1 2 Displaythedashboardyouwanttoshare. IntheDashboardToolsbar,clickSharetoopentheShareDashboardwindow.
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ClickthedashboardintheSharedDashboardslistanddragittotheAccountGrouptoshareitwith.The numberundertheDashboardsAssignedcolumnforthatgroupincreasesbyone. Repeatstep3foreachgroupyouwanttosharethedashboardwith.
To stop sharing a dashboard 1 2 3 4 Displaythedashboardyounolongerwanttoshare. IntheDashboardToolsbar,clickSharetoopentheShareDashboardwindow. ClickthedashboardintheSharedDashboardslist. ClicktheStopSharingDashboardicon.
Thisstopssharingthedashboardwithallgroupsitissharedwith.Ifyouwanttokeepsharingthe dashboardwithsomegroups,youmuststopsharingit,thenreshareitwiththedesiredgroups.
Deleting a Dashboard
To delete a dashboard 1 2 3 4 ClicktheHomemenu.TheHomepageappears. Clickthetabofthedashboardtodelete. IntheDashboardToolsbar,clickDelete.Adialogboxasksyoutoconfirmthatyouwanttodeletethetab. ClickYes.Thedashboardanditstabaredeleted,andthechangeisreflectedonyourHomepage.
Dashboard Templates
Dashboardtemplatesaredesignsyoucanbasenewdashboardson.vCenter Operations Enterprisecontains severaldefaulttemplates;whichonesareavailabletoyoudependsonyourusergroup.Youcancreatenew templatesforyouruseand,ifdesired,assignthemtoothervCenter Operations Enterprisegroupssoother userscanusethem. Adashboardtemplatecontainsalloftheinformationinthedashboarddefinition:thenumberandsizeofthe columns,whatwidgetsaredisplayed,wheretheyappear,andtheoptionschosenforeachwidget. Whenyoucreateatemplate,itisavailabletoalluserswhocancreatedashboards.
Adding a Dashboard Template

To add a new dashboard template 1 2 3 Createthedashboardconfigurationtouseasatemplate.Youcandothisbycreatinganewdashboardor modifyinganexistingone. IntheDashboardToolsbaratthetopofthedashboard,clickCreateTemplatetoopentheCreate Templatewindow.Enterthenameofthenewdashboardtemplate. You,andotherusers,cannowusethenewtemplatetocreatenewdashboards,asdescribedinCreating aNewDashboardonpage 67.
Deleting a Dashboard Template

To delete an existing dashboard template 1 2 TotherightofthelastlistedtabontheHomepage,clicktheplussymbol(+);theAddaTab:Picka Templatepageappears. ClicktheManageTemplateslink.TheManageDashboardTemplateswindowappears.
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3 4
SelectthedashboardtemplatetoremoveandclicktheRemoveSelectedDashboardTemplateicon. Adialogboxappearsaskingifyouaresureyouwanttoremovethedashboard.ClickYestoremove it.
Working with Widgets

Widgetsareboxeswhichcontaininformationaboutconfiguredattributes,resources,applications,orthe overallprocessesoftheenvironment.Thevarioustypesofwidgetscanprovideaholistic,endtoendviewof thehealthofallapplicationsintheenterprise. Youcancustomizewidgetsaccordingtoyourneeds.Youcanhaveasmanywidgetsasnecessaryandcanalign theminone,two,orthreecolumnsonadashboard.(Themorewidgetsyouadd,thefurtheryoumustscroll downinthebrowserwindow.)Youcanalsorearrangethedisplayofwidgetsbydraggingthemacrossthe browserwindowtoyourpreferredposition. Widgetscanworkinconcertwithoneanother.Choosinganiteminonewidgetchangesthewayinformation isdisplayedinothersiftheirfunctionalitiesarerelated. Youcansetmostwidgetstoupdatetheirdataautomaticallyatanintervalyouselect.(TheMetricSelectorand TagSelectorwidgetscannotbesettoupdateautomatically,andtheMetricWeatherMapalwaysdoes.)You canalsoupdatethedisplayedinformationatanytimebyclickingtherefreshiconatitsbottom.Ifawidgethas morethanonepageofinformation,youcanadvancetothenextpagebyclickingtheNextbutton,orgotothe lastpagebyclickingtheEndbutton.Youcancollapseawidgetbyclickingtheiconlocatedtotheleftofits name. Youcanassignauniquenametoeachwidget.ClickEditonthewidgettoolbar.Ontheeditscreen,typeyour chosenwidgetnameintheWidgetTitletextboxandclickSave.
Changing a Widgets Appearance

Thetoolbaratthetoprightofeachwidgetoffersseveralwaysforyoutomodifythewidgetsappearanceand behavior.Youcan:
Editthewidget.Youwillprobablydowhenfirstdefiningthewidgetforaparticulardashboard,butonly rarelyafterward. Changethewidgetheight Expandorcollapsethewidget Removethewidgetfromthedashboard
NOTETochangeawidgetsappearance,youneedtheproperpermissions.Youmaybeabletoperformsome oftheseactionsbutnotothers.Youmaywanttocheckwithyouradministratortoseewhatactionsyouruser nameisallowedtoperform.
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Editing a Widget
To edit a widgets configuration 1 Onthewidgetstoolbar,clicktheEditicon.TheEditWidgetwindowforthatwidgetappears.
TheEditWidgetwindowisdifferentforeachtypeofwidget(HealthStatus,Alerts,andsoon). 2 3 Makealldesiredchanges.FordetailsaboutthefieldsineachwidgetsEditwindow,seethesection describingthatwidgettype. ClickOK,orclickClosetoleavethesettingsastheywere.
Resizing a Widget
Allwidgetscontaincontrolstoletyousettheheightofthewidget.Youcannotchangethewidthofawidget; itdependsonthewidthofthedashboardcolumnitisin. To change a widgets height

Tomakethewidgetlarger,clicktheExpandWidgeticon. Tomakethewidgetsmaller,clicktheShrinkWidgeticon.
Continueclickingeithericonuntilthewidgetistheheightyouwant.
Expanding or Collapsing a Widget

Collapsingawidgethidesitsdatasojustitstitlebarshows.Expandingawidgetreversesthissoyoucansee itsfulldisplay. Tocollapseawidget,clicktheExpand/CollapseWidgeticon. Toexpandacollapsedwidget,clicktheExpand/CollapseWidgeticon. Theiconarrowchangesdirectiondependingonthestateofthewidget.
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Removing a Widget
Tocompletelyremoveawidgetfromthedashboard,clicktheCloseWidgeticon.Thisdoesnotjust temporarilyclosethewidget;itremovesitfromthedashboarddefinition.Toadditbacktothis dashboard,youmusteditthedashboard.SeeEditingaDashboardonpage 68.
Widget Interaction
Manywidgetsprovideinformationonlyonselectedresourcesormetrics.Forexample,theMetricGraph widgetchartsthevaluesonlyforthemetricsyouchoose.Youcanselecttheresourcesormetricstoshowin thesewidgetsintwoways:
Youcanmakethewidgetaselfproviderandselecttheresources,resourcetags,ormetricsontheEditpage forit.HowtodothisisdescribedintheindividualwidgettypesectionsinChapter 7. Youcansetupawidgetinteraction,sothewidgetshowsinformationfortheresourcesormetricsyou selectinoneormoreotherwidgetsonthedashboard.Thissectiondescribesthismethod.
Whenyousetupawidgetinteraction,youspecifythewidgetthatwillprovideinformationtoareceiving widget.Forexample,youcandefinetheMetricSelectorastheproviderfortheMetricGraphwidget,whichis thenthereceivingwidget.Theseinteractionsapplyonlytothedashboardwhereyoudefinethemonone dashboard,theRootCauseRankingwidgetcouldreceiveitsresourcesformtheHealthWidgetwidget;on another,itmaybegetthemfromtheTagSelectorwidgetorbeaselfprovider. Forsomewidgets,youcandefinetwoprovidingwidgets.Tocontinuetheexampleabove,youcoulddefine theRootCauseRankingwidgetasreceivingdatafromboththeTagSelectorandHealthStatuswidgets.It wouldthenshowrootcausedataforanyresourceyouselectintheHealthStatuswidgetortheresourceswith thetagvalueyouselectintheTagSelector. To create or modify widget interactions 1 2 3 ClicktheHomemenu.TheHomepageappears. Clickthetabofthedashboardcontainingthewidgetsyouwanttodefineinteractionsfor. IntheDashboardToolsbar,clickInteractions.TheConfigureWidgetInteractionsdialogboxappears.
TheReceivingWidgetcolumnliststhewidgetsinthedashboardwhichcanreceiveinformationfrom anotherwidgetinthedashboard.TheProvidingWidgetcolumnhaseitheroneortwolistboxesforeach ReceivingWidget.Iftherearetwolistboxes,youcanselectoneprovidingwidgetfromeachone.The possibleprovidingwidgetsforeachreceivingwidgetareshowninTable 61,WidgetInteraction,on page 75.
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ForeachpossibleProvidingWidgetforeachReceivingWidget,selecteitherthedesiredwidgetnameor None. NOTEIfyouselectNoneforallpossibleprovidersforareceivingwidget,thatwidgetwillnotshowany dataunlessitissetasaselfprovider.YoumaywanttoeditthewidgetandmakesureSelfProvideris selected.
ClickOK.
Widget Interaction Chart

Thetablebelowshowswhichwidgetscanprovidedatatoeachwidgetthatcanreceiveit.Thewidgetslisted inProvidingWidgets1canprovidearesourceIDtothereceivingwidget;thewidgetslistedinProviding Widgets2canprovideametricID.Ifthereareentriesinbothprovidingwidgetcolumns,youcanselectone providingwidgetfromeachcolumn. Table 6-1. Widget Interaction
Receiving Widget AdvancedHealthTree Providing Widgets 1 Alerts GenericScoreboard HealthStatus HealthTree HealthWorkloadScoreboard HeatMap Resources RootCauseRanking Alerts AdvancedHealthTree GenericScoreboard HealthStatus HealthTree HeatMap HealthWorkloadScoreboard Resources RootCauseRanking ApplicationDetail ApplicationOverview ConfigurationOverview ApplicationOverview TagSelector None AdvancedHealthTree Alerts GenericScoreboard HealthStatus HealthTree HeatMap HealthWorkloadScoreboard Resources RootCauseRanking DataDistributionAnalysis Alerts GenericScoreboard HealthWorkloadScoreboard HeatMap MetricSelector RootCauseRanking GenericScoreboard GEO None ApplicationOverview TagSelector
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Providing Widgets 2 ApplicationOverview TagSelector
ApplicationOverview TagSelector
ApplicationOverview TagSelector
Table 6-1. Widget Interaction (Continued)

Receiving Widget HealthStatus Providing Widgets 1 AdvancedHealthTree Alerts GenericScoreboard HealthTree HealthWorkloadScoreboard HeatMap Resources RootCauseRanking HealthTree AdvancedHealthTree Alerts GenericScoreboard HealthStatus HealthWorkloadScoreboard HeatMap Resources RootCauseRanking HealthWorkloadScoreboard AdvancedHealthTree Alerts GenericScoreboard HealthStatus HealthTree HeatMap Resources RootCauseRanking HeatMap MashupCharts None AdvancedHealthTree Alerts GenericScoreboard HealthStatus HealthTree HealthWorkloadScoreboard HeatMap Resources RootCauseRanking MetricGraph AdvancedHealthTree Alerts GenericScoreboard HealthStatus HealthTree HealthWorkloadScoreboard HeatMap Resources RootCauseRanking MetricGraph(RollingView) AdvancedHealthTree Alerts GenericScoreboard HealthStatus HealthTree HealthWorkloadScoreboard HeatMap Resources RootCauseRanking Alerts GenericScoreboard HealthWorkloadScoreboard HeatMap MetricSelector RootCauseRanking Alerts GenericScoreboard HealthWorkloadScoreboard HeatMap MetricSelector RootCauseRanking MetricSelector ApplicationOverview TagSelector Providing Widgets 2 ApplicationOverview TagSelector
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Table 6-1. Widget Interaction (Continued)

Receiving Widget MetricSelector Providing Widgets 1 AdvancedHealthTree Alerts GenericScoreboard HealthStatus HealthTree HealthWorkloadScoreboard HeatMap Resources RootCauseRanking MetricSparklines AdvancedHealthTree Alerts GenericScoreboard HealthStatus HealthTree HealthWorkloadScoreboard HeatMap Resources RootCauseRanking MetricWeatherMap Resources None AdvancedHealthTree Alerts GenericScoreboard HealthStatus HealthTree HealthWorkloadScoreboard HeatMap RootCauseRanking RootCauseRanking AdvancedHealthTree Alerts GenericScoreboard HealthStatus HealthTree HealthWorkloadScoreboard HeatMap Resources TagSelector TopNAnalysis None ApplicationOverview TagSelector ApplicationOverview TagSelector ApplicationOverview TagSelector Alerts(seethenotebelow)) Alerts GenericScoreboard HealthWorkloadScoreboard HeatMap MetricSelector RootCauseRanking Providing Widgets 2
NOTEFortheResourceswidget,theAlertswidgetisinaseparateprovidercategory.Ifitisaprovider, selectingoneormorealertsdisplaystheresourcesforthosealerts.Youcanselectitinadditiontoany providingwidgetselectedfromtheothertwocategories.
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Modifying User Preferences

AnyusercanmanagetwouserpreferencesthroughthevCenter Operations Enterpriseinterface:thecolor schemevCenter Operations Enterpriseusesandwhethertodisplaytimesusingthetimezonewheretheuser islocatedorwherethevCenter Operations Enterpriseserverislocated.
Changing User Preferences

To change preferences 1 ClicktheUserPreferenceslinkatthetopofanyvCenter Operations Enterprisepage.TheManageUser AccountSettingswindowappears.
2 3 4
IntheSchemefield,selectthelightordarkdisplayscheme. IntheTimePreferencefield,selectBrowsertousethetimesettingsofyourcomputerorHosttosyncyour vCenter Operations EnterprisesessionwiththetimeonthevCenter Operations Enterpriseserver. ClickOK.
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7s
Widgets
ThissectiondescribesthevarioustypesofwidgetsyoucanviewonyourvCenter Operations Enterprise dashboards.Itcontainsthefollowingtopics:

WidgetOverviewonpage 80 AdvancedHealthTreeWidgetonpage 81 AlertsWidgetonpage 82 ApplicationDetailWidgetonpage 84 ApplicationOverviewWidgetonpage 85 ConfigurationOverviewWidgetonpage 86 DataDistributionAnalysisWidgetonpage 87 GenericScoreboardWidgetonpage 88 GEOWidgetonpage 90 HealthStatusWidgetonpage 91 HealthTreeWidgetonpage 92 HealthWorkloadScoreboardWidgetonpage 93 HeatMapWidgetonpage 94 MashupChartsWidgetonpage 98 MetricGraphWidgetonpage 100 MetricGraph(RollingView)Widgetonpage 102 MetricSelectorWidgetonpage 104 MetricSparklinesWidgetonpage 105 MetricWeatherMapWidgetonpage 106 ResourcesWidgetonpage 107 RootCauseRankingWidgetonpage 108 TagSelectorWidgetonpage 110 TopNAnalysisWidgetonpage 111
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Widget Overview
Widgetsarepanes,displayedondashboards,thatcontaincollectionsofrelatedinformationaboutoneormore resources.Howtoselectthewidgetstoviewoneachdashboardandgeneralproceduresformodifyingwidgets, suchaschangingawidgetsheight,aredescribedinDesigningYourWorkspaceonpage 65.Thischapter describeseachwidgettype,includingtheinformationitshows,theoptionsyouhavewhencustomizingitfor youruse,andyouroptionsforinteractingwithit. Thetablebelowgivesaverybriefdescriptionofeachtypeofwidget.Eachoneisdescribedindetaillaterin thischapter. Table 7-1. Available Widgets
Widget name AdvancedHealthTree Description SimilartoHealthTree,butincludesthehealthofthegrandchildrenoftheselected resource. Listsallalertsforallresourcesbeingmonitored Showsthehealthandalertcountsforeachtierinasingleselectedapplication, Showstheoverallhealthandhealthofeachtierforoneormoreapplications. Displaysstatisticsfortheoverallenvironmentbeingmonitoredby vCenter Operations Enterprise. Withinagiventimeperiod,showshowoftenametrichadaparticularvalue,asa percentageofallvalues.Cancomparepercentagesfortwotimeperiods. ShowsthelocationofresourcesthatyouhavegivenGeoLocationtagvaluesto. Displayshealthinformationforselectedresourcesorallresourceswithaselectedtag. Showsthehealthindicatorforaselectedresource,itsparentresourceanditschild resources. Displaysperformanceinformationofaselectedapplicationasaheatmap Bringstogetherdisparatepiecesofinformationforaresource,showingahealthchart, anomalycountgraph,andmetricgraphsforKPI.Thisismostoftenusedforan application. Graphicallydisplaystherecentperformanceofselectedmetrics Cyclesthroughselectedmetricsatanintervalyoudefine,showingonemetricgraphat atime.Miniaturegraphsforallselectedmetricsareshownatthebottomofthewidget; youcanclickanyonetoexpandit. DisplaysallmetricsfortheresourceselectedintheResourceswidget Graphicallyshowsthevaluescollectedforoneormoreselectedmetrics,overatime periodyouset. Useschangingcolorstoshowsthebehaviorofaselectedmetricovertimeformultiple resources. Listsallconfiguredresources. Showsthelikelyrootcausesforsymptomsforaselectedresource. Displaysvaluesforselectedmetrics(usuallykeyperformanceindicators),with colorcodingfordefinedvalueranges. Showscolorcodedhealthorworkloadscoresforselectedresources. Listsalldefinedresourcetags. Showsthetoporbottomfivemetricsorresourcesinvariouscategories,suchasthefive applicationswiththebestorworsthealthscore.
Alerts
ApplicationDetail ApplicationOverview ConfigurationOverview DataDistributionAnalysis Geo
HealthStatus
HealthTree HeatMap MashupCharts
MetricGraph
MetricGraph(RollingView)
MetricSelector MetricSparklines MetricWeatherMap
Resources
RootCauseRanking GenericScoreboard HealthWorkloadScoreboard TagSelector TopNAnalysis
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Widget Interaction
Manywidgetscanacceptinputfromoneormoreotherwidgets.Forexample,youcanconfiguretheMetric SparklineswidgetsoitshowsagraphforthemetricyouchooseintheMetricSelectorwidget.Thedescription foreachwidgetincludeswhatotherwidgetsitcanacceptselectionsfrominthismanner.Tousethisfeature, bothwidgetsmustappearonthesamedashboard,andyoumustdefinetheinteractionsbetweenthewidgets. HowtodothisisdescribedinWidgetInteractiononpage 74.
Advanced Health Tree Widget

TheAdvancedHealthTreewidgetshowsthesectionofyourresourcehierarchyaroundanyresourceyou select.ItissimilartotheHealthTreewidget,butalsoincludesinformationabouttheresourcesgrandchildren andindicatesthehealthofeachresourceitshows.Youcanselecttheresourcetoshowbyeditingthewidget orhaveitprovidedbytheAlerts,ApplicationOverview,HealthStatus,HeatMap,HealthTree,Resources, RootCauseRanking,GenericScoreboard,HealthWorkloadScoreboard,orTagSelectorwidget.
Thewidgetshowstheselectedresourceanditsparentandchildresources.Thecoloroftheiconforeach resourceindicatesitscurrenthealth.Italsoshowsthenumberofchildrenforeachchild,brokendownby currenthealthcolor.Forexample,itmayshowthatonechildresourcehasfivechildrenwithgoodhealth (green)andthreewithabnormalhealth(yellow). Youcanclickanyresourceshowntomakeitthecenterofthedisplayedrelationships.Youwillthenseeits parents,children,andgrandchildcount. Thetoolbaratthetopleftofthewidgetcontainstheseicons:

ZoomtofitChangesthesizeofthedisplayedresourceiconsforthebestpossiblefitinthewidget. PanClickthisbutton,thenclickanddragthehierarchytoseedifferentpartsofit. ImageMapTooltipWhenthisiconisselected,hoveringthemousepointeroveraresourceshowsits nameandcurrenthealth. ZoomtheviewClickthisicon,thendragtooutlineapartofthedisplayedhierarchy.Thedisplayzooms toshowjusttheoutlinedsection. ZoominZoomsinonthehierarchydisplay. ZoomoutZoomsoutonthehierarchydisplay. ResettoInitialResourceIfyouhavechangedthecentralresourceofthehierarchy,returnsthedisplay toit.Alsoresetstotheinitialdisplaysize. ResourceDetailToshowtheResourceDetailpageforaresource,selectitinthehierarchy,thenclick thisbutton.SeeTheResourceDetailPageonpage 48foradescriptionoftheResourceDetailpage.
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YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditAdvancedHealthTreeWidgetwindow. Thiswindowcontainstheseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. SelfProviderSelectOntoselecttheresourceontheEditwindow,orOfftoselectitintheproviding widget. RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. ResourcesTagsIntheListpane,selecttheresourcestoshowinthewidget.Bydefault,thelistincludes allresources.Youcanfilterthelistbyselectingoneormoretagvaluesontheleft.Ifyouselectmorethan onevalue,vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowstheserules:

Youcanalsonegativelyselecttheresourcestoshow.IfyouclicktheInvertResulticon,thelist willincluderesourceswhichdonotmatchthetagvaluesyouveselected.
Alerts Widget
TheAlertswidgetprovidesamoreconvenientwayofviewingandmanagingalertsthatcanalsobeviewed ontheAlertsOverviewwindow.Itlistsalertsforselectedresources.Youcandefinetheresourcestoshowby editingthewidgetortheycanbeprovidedbytheApplicationOverview,HealthStatus,HeatMap,Health Tree,AdvancedHealthTree,Resources,RootCauseRanking,GenericScoreboard,HealthWorkload Scoreboard,orTagSelectorwidget.Whenyoudoubleclickalistedalert,theAlertSummarywindowappears, displayingmoredetailedinformationaboutthealert,asdescribedinViewingSingleAlertsonpage 32. NOTEIfthewidgetisacceptingresourcesfromaprovidingwidget,itshowsalertsfortheprovidedresource anditsimmediatechildren,unlesstheresourceisanapplication.Forapplications,itshowsalertsforthe application,itstiers,andtheresourcesinthetiers.
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Thetoolbaratthetopofthewidgethasthesebuttons:
RSSFeedLetsyoureceiveRSSfeedsofissuedalertsinyourWebbrowser.Onlyalertswhichwould appearinthewidgetasitisconfiguredwillbeincluded.Forexample,ifthewidgetissettoshowalerts onlyforaparticularapplication,onlyalertsforthatapplicationwillbeincludedintheRSSfeed.Thedetail messageofanindividualalertwillappearasthefeedsheadline,and,dependingontheRSSclientyou use,detailspertainingtoallanomaliesrelatedtothatalertwillbeshowninthefeedsbody. ResetGridSortReturnsthegridtothedefaultsortorder(setontheEditAlertsWidgetpage)ifyou havechangeditwhileusingthewidget. ResetInteractionReturnsthewidgettoitsinitialconfiguredstate,undoinganyselectionsorfiltersyou havechangedwhileviewingit. FiltersAppearsonlyifyouhaveselectedatleastonefilterontheEditAlertsWidgetwindow.Clickthis buttontoshowthefilterscurrentlyselectedforthewidget. ColorizeSetsthebackgroundcolorforeachalertsrowbasedonitscriticality:redforcritical,orangefor immediate,yellowforwarning,orblueforinformation. CancelAlertCancelstheselectedalert.Youcancancelonlyonealertatatime.Youcandothisonlyif yourusernamehasadministrativeaccessrights. SuspendSuspendstheselectedalert(s).Youcanenterthenumberofminutesthealert(s)shouldbe suspended. SuppressSuppressestheselectedalert(s).Youcanenterthenumberofdaysthealert(s)shouldbe suppressed. TakeOwnershipTakesownershipoftheselectedalert(s). ReleaseOwnershipReleasesownershipoftheselectedalert(s).
YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditAlertsWidgetwindow.Thiswindow containstheseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. PaginationNumberSetsthenumberofalertsshownoneachpageofthewidget. RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. SelectwhichtagstofilterToshowalertsonlyforresourceswithcertaintagvalues,selectthetagvalues youwanttomonitor.Ifyouselectmorethanonevalue,vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowsthese rules:

Youcanalsonegativelyselecttheresourcestoshow.IfyouclicktheInvertResulticon,thelist willincluderesourceswhichdonotmatchthetagvaluesyouveselected. UnlikemostvCenter Operations Enterprisewidgets,thesetagvaluesareusedeveniftheresourcesto includealertsforarebeingprovidedbyanotherwidget.Ifyouselectaresourceintheprovidingwidget whichdoesnotmatchyourtagvalueselection,itsalertswillnotbelisted.
FilterByLimitsthealertsdisplayedinthewidgetaccordingtothefiltersyouspecify.Youcanfilterby anyofthecategorieslisted.Clickthecategory,thenselectthevaluestoinclude.IfyoufilterbyTime Range,youcanpickarangeinthedropdownlistorselectspecificdatesandtimesinFromDateandTo Date.Ifyouspecifymultiplefilters,analertmustmeetthemalltobelisted. SortDataBySetsthedefaultsortorderforthealertsdisplayedinthewidget.Youcansortbyuptofour columnvalues,andbyanyofthestandardcolumnsexceptResourceIdentifier.
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Forfurtherinformationonalertsandanomalies,seeChapter 3.
Application Detail Widget

TheApplicationDetailwidgetshowsinformationforaselectedapplication.Youcandefinetheapplicationto showbyeditingthewidgetoritcanbeprovidedbytheApplicationOvervieworTagSelectorwidget.
Thetopofthewidgetdisplaysthenumberoftiers,resources,andmetricscontainedintheapplicationandthe numberofsmartalertsandclassicalertsontheapplicationitself(notchildresources).Foreachtierinthe application,thewidgetshows:

Iconsforthehealthofeachresourceinthetier Thetiername Themetricsparklineforthelast24hours Thetierscurrenthealthscore Thenumberofactivesmartalertsandclassicalertsforthetieritself
YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditWidgetwindow.Thiswindowcontains theseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. ModeEitherCompactorLarge.Thesameinformationisshowninbothmodes,butthecolumn arrangementisdifferent. SelfProviderSelectOntoshowinformationfortheapplicationselectedontheEditwindow,orOffto showitforonechosenintheApplicationOvervieworTagSelectorwidget. RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. SelectwhichtagstofilterIfSelfProviderisOn,selecttheapplicationtagvalueyouwanttomonitor.
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Application Overview Widget

TheApplicationOverviewwidgetlistseitherallapplicationsintheenterpriseorthoseyouselectwhenediting thewidget.
Foreachapplication,theApplicationOverviewwidgetshows:

Theapplicationname Agraphshowinghealthforthelast24hours Thecurrenthealthscore Iconsindicatingthecurrenthealthofeachtier. Thenumberofsmartalertsandclassicalertsfortheapplicationitself(notincludingalertsforchild resources)
YoucansearchforaparticularapplicationbyenteringallorpartofitsnameintheSearchfieldandclicking theSearchicon .Thelistchangestoshowjustapplicationsmatchingyourentry. DoubleclickanapplicationtoopentheApplicationDetailpageforit.SeeApplicationDetailsonpage 48for moreinformation. Ifyouareusingthiswidgetasaproviderforanotherwidgetonthedashboard,thePerform MultiSelectInteractioniconletsyouselectmultipleapplicationsfordisplayintheotherwidget.Touse it,firstselecttheapplicationsyouwant(holdtheCTRLkeywhileclickingapplicationsafterthefirst,orhold SHIFTandclicktoselectarange).Whenyouhavehighlightedallthedesiredapplications,clickPerform MultiSelectInteraction.Theotherwidgetwillreflectyourchoicesforexample,theAlertswidgetwould showalertsforallselectedapplications. YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditWidgetwindow.Thiswindowcontains theseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. TagFilterUsethistreeboxtodefinetheapplicationstoshowinthewidgetbyselectingoneormore applicationtagvalues.ItissimilartotheapplicationtagpaneintheApplicationsOverviewpage.The toolbarbuttonsletyoudothefollowing:

CollapseAllCollapsesallapplicationtagbranches. ExpandAllExpandsallapplicationtagbranches. DeselectAllUnselectsallapplicationtagsinthelist.
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Configuration Overview Widget

Thiswidgetdisplaysthecurrentuptimefunctionalstatusofconfiguredresourcesandapplicationsand collectedmetricsfortheenvironment.Youcanselecttheresourcestoshowbyeditingthewidgetorhavethem providedbytheAlerts,ApplicationOverview,HealthStatus,HealthTree,HeatMap,Resources,Advanced HealthTree,RootCauseRanking,GenericScoreboard,HealthWorkloadScoreboard,orTagSelectorwidget.
YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditWidgetwindow.Thiswindowcontains theseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. SelfProviderSelectOntoshowinformationfortheresourcetagsselectedontheEditwindow,orOff toshowitforonechoseninaprovidingwidgets. RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. ViewableDataChecktheboxesfortthedatayouwantthewidgettoinclude.Ifyouselectacategory (Resources,Metrics,Applications,Alerts,Analytics,orUsers),itselectsallboxesinthatcategory.Ifyou donotmakeanyselections,alldatawillappearinthewidget. SelectwhichtagstofilterIfSelfProviderisOn,selectthetagvaluetoshowinformationfor.
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Data Distribution Analysis Widget

TheDataDistributionAnalysiswidgetdisplaysagraphforeachselectedmetric,showingitsdatadistribution: howoftenithadaparticularvalue.Youcancomparevaluesofthemetricovertwotimeperiods:bydefault, thewidgetcomparesthelastsevendaystothelast30days.Youcandefinethemetricstoshowbyeditingthe widgetortheycanbeprovidedbytheAlerts,HeatMap,MetricSelector,RootCauseRanking,Generic Scoreboard,orHealthWorkloadScoreboardwidget.
Thexaxisofthegraphshowstherangeofreceivedvaluesforthemetricovertheselectedtimeperiod,from lowesttohighest.Theyaxisisthepercentageofthereceivedmetricsthathadthatvalue.Thegraphhastwo possiblemodes:

Indensitymode,thegraphshowshowoftenthemetrichadeachparticularvalue. Indistributionmode,thegraphshowsthepercentageprobabilitythatthemetricwasatorbelowthe xaxisvalue.Inthismode,theyaxisalwaysgoesfrom0to1andtherightedgeofthegraphalways reachesavalueof1,showingthatallreceivedreadingswereatorbelowthemaximumvalueindicated onthexaxis.Atanypointinthemiddleofthegraph,theyaxisvalueisthepercentageofcollectedvalues thatwereatorbelowthexaxisvalue(ortheprobabilitythatanyonecollectedvaluewasatorbelowthat value).
ClicktheDensityModeorDistributionModeicononthewidgettoolbartoswitchbetweenmodes. Onlyoneoftheseiconsisshownatatime. Ineithermode,whengraphingonlyonetimeperiod,thegraphcanincludeverticallinesatthe75,90,and/or 95%levels.Editthewidgettoaddorremovethepercentagelines. Tochangeeitherorbothtimeperiodsshownonthegraph,clicktheDateControlsicon.Inthetwo dropdownfieldsthatappear,selectthetimeperiodsyouwantthegraphstocover.Toshowonlyone timeperiod,selectNotSelectedinthesecondfield.ClicktheDateControlsiconagaintohidethedatefields. YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditWidgetwindow.Thiswindowcontains theseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. SelfProviderSelectOntoshowinformationforthemetricsselectedontheEditwindow,orOfftoshow itforonechosenintheMetricSelectorwidget. RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. 75thpercentileWhethertoincludealineonthegraphatthemetricvaluethat75%ofthevaluesare below. 90thpercentileWhethertoincludealineonthegraphatthemetricvaluethat90%ofthevaluesare below.

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95thpercentileWhethertoincludealineonthegraphatthemetricvaluethat95%ofthevaluesare below. ResourcesTagsToselectthemetricstoshowinthewidgetifSelfProviderissettoOn,selectthe resourcecontainingthemetricintheListpane.ThisdisplaysthemetricsforthatresourceintheMetric Selectorpane.Youcanfiltertheresourcelistbyselectingoneormoretagvaluesinthelistontheleft.If youselectmorethanonetagvalue,vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowstheserules:


MetricSelectorAfterselectingaresource,doubleclickthemetricstoappearinthewidget. SelectedMetricsShowsthemetricsyouhaveselectedtoappearinthewidget.
Generic Scoreboard Widget

TheGenericScoreboardwidgetdisplaysthecurrentvalueforeachmetricyouselect.Eachmetricdisplaysin aseparatebox;thecoloroftheboxisdeterminedbythevalueofthemetric;youdefinethevaluesforeach colorwhenyoueditthewidget.Itcannotacceptmetricselectionsfromanotherwidget;youmustdefinethe metricsbyeditingthewidget.
Ifyouhoverthecursoroverabox,itwillshowthesourceresourceandmetricforthedata. YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditGenericScoreboardWidgetwindow.This windowcontainstheseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. SelfProviderThisfieldisnotused.Thewidgetisalwaysaselfprovider. RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. BoxHeightIfLayoutmodeissettoFixedSize,theheight,inpixelsofeachmetricbox. LayoutModeSelectFixedSizetodefinetheheightforeachmetricboxinBoxHeight,orFixedViewto havevCenter Operations Enterprisesizetheboxessoallmetricsfitinthedisplayedwidget.
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BoxColumnsNumberofboxestoincludeineachrow,from210.IfLayoutModeissettoFixedView, vCenter Operations Enterprisewillchangetheboxwidthasneededtofitthismanycolumnsinthe widgetwidth. LabelSizePointsizetouseforthelabelofeachmetricbox.vCenter Operations Enterprisewilldecrease thisifneededtofitthelabelintheboxwidth. ValueSizePointsizetouseforthevalueineachmetricbox.vCenter Operations Enterprisewill decreasethisifneededtofitthevalueintheboxwidth. ResourcesTagsToselectthemetricstoshowinthewidget,selecttheresourcecontainingthemetric intheListpane.ThisdisplaysthemetricsforthatresourceintheMetricSelectorpane.Youcanfilterthe resourcelistbyselectingoneormoretagvaluesinthelistontheleft.Ifyouselectmorethanonetagvalue, vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowstheserules:

MetricSelectorAfterselectingaresource,doubleclickthemetricstoappearinthewidget. NOTEThiswidgetdoesnotworkwithstringmetrics.
SelectedMetricsShowsthemetricsyouhaveselectedtoappearinthewidget,intheordertheywill appear.Youcandraganddropmetricsinthislisttochangethedisplayorder.Foreachmetric,youshould set:

BoxLabelThetextlabeltoincludeintheboxforthismetric. MeasurementUnitThistextwillappearafterthemetricvalueinthebox. ValuerangesDefinesthevaluerangesforeachboxcolorforthismetric.Youmustdefineeitheran ascendingordescendingsetofrangesfromgreenthroughred. Foranascendingrange,enterthehighestvaluethatshouldbegreeninGreenRange.InYellow Range,entertheGreenRangevalue,adash,andthehighestYellowRangecolor.InOrangeRange, enterthehighestYellowRangevalue,adash,andthehighestOrangeRangevalue.InRedRange, repeatthehighestOrangeRangevalue.Allvalueshigherthanthiswillbered.Forexample,you couldenterthissetofvalues:

Green 50 Yellow 5075 Orange 75100 Red 100
Foradescendingrange,reversethis.Forexample:
Green 1000 Yellow 5001000 Orange 250500 Red 250
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GEO Widget
IfyourinstallationassignsvaluestotheGEOLocationresourcetag,theGEOwidgetshowswhereyour resourcesarelocatedonaworldmap.ItisverysimilartotheGEOtabpageoftheEnvironmentOverview page.YoucandefinetheresourcestoshowbyeditingthewidgetortheycanbeprovidedbytheTagSelector orApplicationOverviewwidget.
Youcanmovethemapandzoominoroutusingthecontrolsthatappearonthemap.Theiconsateachlocation showthehealthofeachresourcewiththatGEOLocationtagvalue. YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditWidgetwindow.Thiswindowcontains theseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. SelfProviderSelectOntoshowinformationfortheresourcetagvaluesselectedontheEditwindow,or Offtoshowitfortagvalueschoseninthedefinedprovidingwidget. RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. SelectwhichtagtoshowToshowonlyresourceswithcertaintagvalues(inadditiontotheirGEO Locationvalue),selectthetagvaluesyouwanttoinclude.Ifyouselectmorethanonevalue, vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowstheserules:

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Health Status Widget

TheHealthStatuswidgetshowsthehealthscorea0100rankingdeterminedby vCenter Operations Enterpriseforeachresourcebasedonpredeterminedmetricsforselectedresources.You canselecttheresourcetoshowbyeditingthewidgetorhaveitprovidedbytheAlerts,ApplicationOverview, HealthTree,HeatMap,Resources,AdvancedHealthTree,RootCauseRanking,GenericScoreboard, HealthWorkloadScoreboard,orTagSelectorwidget.
Foreachresource,thewidgetincludesthecurrenthealthscoreandagraphshowinghowthehealthhas changedovertime.Toseedetailedinformationforaresource,doubleclickitsgraph.ThisopenstheResource Detailpage,whichisdescribedinTheResourceDetailPageonpage 48. IfvCenter Operations Enterprisewasnotreceivingmetricsforaresourceataparticulartime,itcannot calculateahealthscoreforthattime.Thisshowsonthegraphasascoreof1.Thiscouldmeanthatcollection wasturnedofffortheresource,orthattherewasaproblemgatheringdata. YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditHealthWidgetwindow.Thiswindow containstheseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. SelfProviderSelectOntoshowhealthfortheresourcesselectedontheEditwindow,orOfftoshow onlythosechosenintheResourcesorTagSelectorwidget. ModeSetswhetherthewidgetshowshealthfortheselectedresources,theirchildren,ortheirparents. WhenChildrenorParentsisselected,healthfortheselectedresourcesthemselvesisnotshown. RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. OrderbySetswhetherthelistisorderedbyhealthscoreorresourcename,andwhethertheorderis ascendingordescending. PaginationNumberSetsthenumberofresourcesshownoneachpageofthewidget. PeriodLengthSetstheamountoftimeshownonthehealthgraphforeachresource. SelectwhichtagtofilterTodefinetheresourcestoshowinthewidget,selectthetagvaluesyouwant tomonitor.Ifyouselectmorethanonevalue,vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowstheserules:
Ifyouselectmorethanonevalueforthesametag,thewidgetincludesresourcesthathaveeither value. Ifyouselectvaluesfortwoormoredifferenttags,thewidgetincludesonlyresourcesthathaveall theselectedvalues.
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Health Tree Widget

TheHealthTreewidgetshowsthesectionofyourresourcehierarchyaroundanyresourceyouselect.As describedinResourcesonpage 12,anadministratorcancreatecontainerresourceswhichgroupother resourcestogetherforcombinedtracking.Thiswidgetshowsallthecontainerswhichholdtheresourceyou select(itsparentresources),and,ifitisacontainer,alltheresourcesitcontains(itschildresources).Youcan selecttheresourcetoshowbyeditingthewidgetorhaveitprovidedbytheAlerts,ApplicationOverview, HealthStatus,HeatMap,Resources,AdvancedHealthTree,RootCauseRanking,GenericScoreboard, HealthWorkloadScoreboard,orTagSelectorwidget.
UnlessyouareinPanorZoomtheviewmode,hoveringthepointeroveraresourceshowsitsnameand currenthealth.Toshiftthedisplaytoshowtheparentsandchildrenofanyresourceshowninthewidget, doubleclickit. IfthereisasectionintheTagFilterpaneoftheEditdialogboxforthewidget(seebelow),whenthewidget firstappearsonlyparentandchildresourcesmatchingtheselectedtagvaluesareshown.Ifyoudoubleclick aresourcetoshowitsparentsandchildren,itignoresthetagfilterandshowsallofitsparentsandchildren. Youcandoubleclicktheoriginalresourcetoturnoffthefilterandshowallitsparentsandchildren. NOTETheiconswhichrepresenteachresourcekindarechosenbyanvCenter Operations Enterprise administrator.SeethevCenter Operations EnterpriseInstallationandAdministrationGuideformoreinformation. Thetoolbaratthetopleftofthewidgetcontainstheseicons:

ZoomtofitChangesthesizeofthedisplayedresourceiconsforthebestpossiblefitinthewidget. PanClickthisbutton,thenclickanddragthehierarchytoseedifferentpartsofit. ImageMapTooltipIfPanorZoomtheviewisselected,selectthisicontoleavethatmodeand returntoshowingaresourcesnameandcurrenthealthwhenyouhoverthemousepointeroverit. ZoomtheviewClickthisicon,thendragtooutlineapartofthedisplayedhierarchy.Thedisplay zoomstoshowjusttheoutlinedsection. ZoominZoomsinonthehierarchydisplay. ZoomoutZoomsoutonthehierarchydisplay. ResettoInitialResourceIfyouhavechangedthecentralresourceofthehierarchy,returnsthe displaytoit.Alsoresetstotheinitialdisplaysize. ResourceDetailToshowtheResourceDetailpageforaresource,selectitinthehierarchy,then clickthisicon.SeeTheResourceDetailPageonpage 48foradescriptionoftheResourceDetail page.
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ShowAlertsToseethealertsforaresource,selectitinthehierarchy,thenclickthisicon.Thislists thealertsinapopupwindow.YoucandoubleclickanalertinthelisttoseeitsAlertSummary page,asdescribedonpage 32. FilteringToseethesettingscurrentlybeingusedforthewidget,includingthemetricbeingshown, clickthisicon.
YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditHealthTreeWidgetwindow.Thiswindow containstheseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. SelfProviderSelectOntoselecttheresourceontheEditwindow,orOfftoselectitintheproviding widget.IfSelfProviderisOn,thenameofthecurrentlyselectedresourcedisplaysnexttothefield. RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. ResourceSelectionSelecttheresourcetoshowinthewidgetifSelfProviderisOn.Tomakeiteasierto findtheresourceyouwant,youcantypeallorpartofitsnameintheSearchfield,thenclicktheiconnext toit.Onlyresourcesmatchingyourentrywillbelisted. TagFilterThispaneletsyoufiltertheparentandchildresourcesthatappearinthewidget.Onlyparents andchildrenmatchingyourselectionherewillbeshownbydefault.Toshowallparentsandchildrenof theselectedresource,donotselectanytagvalue. Ifyouselectmorethanonetagvalue,vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowstheserules:

Ifyouselectmorethanonevalueforthesametag,resourcesthathaveeithervaluewillbeshown. Ifyouselectvaluesfortwoormoredifferenttags,onlyresourcesthathavealltheselectedvalueswill beshown.
Youcanalsonegativelyselecttheresourcestoshow.IfyouclicktheInvertResulticon,thewidget willincludeparentsandchildrenwhichdonotmatchthetagvaluesyouveselected. Asmentionedabove,thetagfilteraffectsonlytheoriginaldisplayinthewidget.Ifyoudoubleclicka resource,itturnsoffthefilterandshowsallparentandchildresources.
Health-Workload Scoreboard Widget

TheHealthWorkloadScoreboardwidgetshowsthehealthorworkloadscoreofselectedresources.Theicons foreachresourcearecolorcoded,fromgreenforbestperformance(100forhealthor0forworkload)toredfor worst(0forhealthor100forworkload).TheresourcestoincludeinthewidgetcanbeprovidedbytheAlerts, HealthStatus,HealthTree,AdvancedHealthTree,HeatMap,Resources,GenericScoreboard,orRootCause Rankingwidget,oryoucandefinethemusingtheEditHealthWorkloadScoreboardWidgetwindow.
TheworkloadscoreappliesonlytospecificresourcesmonitoredthroughtheVMWareadapter.Ifyou configurethewidgettoshowworkloadforresourceswhichdonothavetheworkloadmetric,thoseresources willhaveblueicons.
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YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditHealthWorkloadScoreboardWidget window.Thiswindowcontainstheseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. SelfProviderSelectOntoselecttheresourcesontheEditwindow,orOfftoselectthemintheproviding widget. RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. ImageTypeSelecttheimagetoshowforeachresource. MetricSetsthemetrictoshowfortheselectedresources.SelectHealthorWorkload.Ifyouselect Workload,selecttheattributetousefortheworkloadscore.Iftheattributeyouselectisnotcollectedfor anyofthelistedresources,thatresourcewillalwaysshowblue(unknown).Youcanfiltertheattributelist bytypingpartoftheattributenameandpressingENTERtolistonlymatchingattributes. ResourcesTagsIntheListpane,selecttheresourcestoshowinthewidget.Bydefault,thelistincludes allresources.Youcanfilterthelistbyselectingoneormoretagvaluesontheleft.Ifyouselectmorethan onevalue,vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowstheserules:

Heat Map Widget

TheHeatMapwidgetdisplaysgraphicalindicatorsofthecurrentvalueoftwoselectedattributesforthe resourcesbelongingtothetagvaluesyouselect.Youmustselecttheresourcestoshowbyeditingthewidget; itdoesnotacceptselectionsfromanotherwidget.Becauseyoucanconfigurethewidgetinsomanywaysto showdifferentcombinationsofdata,youcansavemultiplesettingsforit,asdescribedbelow.Youcanthen selecttheconfigurationtoshowusingtheConfigurationfieldatthetopofthewidget.Thewidgetwillnot showanydatauntilyouhaveconfiguredit.
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Inmostcases,youcanselectonlyfrominternallygeneratedattributeswhichdescribethegeneraloperationof theresource,suchashealthortheactiveanomalycount.However,selectingasingleresourcekindallowsyou toselectanymetricforthatresourcekind. Thewidgetishighlyconfigurable.Ithastwobasicmodes:
Ingeneralmode,itdisplaysacoloredrectangleforeachselectedresource.Thesizeoftherectangle indicatesthevalueofoneselectedattribute.Thecoloroftherectangleindicatesthevalueofanother selectedattribute. Ininstancemode,eachrectanglerepresentsasingleinstanceoftheselectedmetricforaresource(a resourcemayhavemultipleinstancesofthesamemetric).Therectanglesareallthesamesize;thecolor variesbasedontheinstancevalue.Youcanuseinstancemodeonlywhenyouselectasingleresourcekind.
Ineithermode,therectanglescanbegroupedaccordingtoanytagtypeyouselect,and.youcanselectthecolor rangetouse.Bydefault,greenindicatesalowvaluewhileredindicatesthehighendofthevaluerange.You canchangethehighandlowvaluestoanydesiredcolors,andsetthecolortouseforthemidpointoftherange. Youcanalsochoosetosetthevaluestouseforeitherendofthecolorrange,oryoucanlet vCenter Operations Enterprisedefinethembasedontherangeofvaluesfortheattributebeingrepresented. Becausetherearesomanyoptionswhenconfiguringthiswidget,anexamplemayhelp.Supposeyouhavea numberofphysicalserversinmultipledatacenters,eachrunningmanyvirtualserverstosupportanumber offunctions.EachvirtualserverisaresourceinvCenter Operations Enterprisewithseveralattributesbeing collected.YoucouldconfiguretheHeatMapwidgetasfollows:

Showallresourceswitharesourcekindtagvalueofvirtualmachine. Grouptheresourcesbyphysicalserver,thenbydatacenter. Foreachresource,setthesizeofitsrectanglebasedonthenumberofcurrentanomaliesforthatresource, andthecolorbasedonthenumberofKPIbreaches.
Youwouldthenhaveawidgetdisplaytoshow,ataglance,whichvirtualmachinesareexhibitinganomalies, whetherthoseanomaliesareforKPI,andwhichphysicalserversthosevirtualmachinesresideon. Youmayneedtoexperimentandadjustthewidgetsettingsseveraltimesbeforeyougetthedisplaythatis mostusefultoyou. Whenyouplacethepointerovertherectangleforaresource,itdisplaystheresourcename,itsgroupbyvalues (forexample,ifyouaregroupingbytierandapplication,thetierandapplicationitbelongsto),andthecurrent valuesofthetwoattributesbeingtracked.ClickShowSparklineonthepopupwindowtoseeasmall sparklineofthemetricbeingtrackedbytheheatmapcolor. SelectaresourceandclicktheResourceDetailicontoshowtheResourceDetailpagefortheresource. SeeTheResourceDetailPageonpage 48formoreinformation. IftheHeatMapwidgetissetasaprovidertoanotherwidget,suchastheMetricGraphwidget,doubleclick arectangletoselectthatresourcefortheotherwidget.Ifthewidgetisinmetricmode,doubleclickinga rectangleselectstheresourcethatmetricisforandprovidesthatresourcetothereceivingwidget.SeeWidget Interactiononpage 74formoreaboutprovidingandreceivingwidgets.
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Toconfigurethewidget,clicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditHeatMapsWidget window,asshownbelow.YoucancreateandsavemultipleconfigurationsforthewidgetusingtheEdit window.
TheEditwindowcontainstheseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. GroupbySelectthetagtouseforfirstlevelgroupingoftheresources.Ifanyoftheselectedresources doesnothaveavalueforthistag,itwillappearinagroupcalledOther. RelationalGroupingCheckthisboxtohavethewidgetgroupingfollowthehierarchydefinedin vCenter Operations Enterpriseorintheadapter.Whenthisischecked,aresourcewillappearinagroup boxonlyifitisachildresourceofthegroupbyresourceaccordingtotheresourcehierarchy. ThenbySelectthetagtousetoseparatetheresourcesintosubgroups.Ifanyoftheselectedresources doesnothaveavalueforthistag,itwillappearinasubgroupcalledOther. ModeSelectGeneraltopickanindividualinstanceofametricforeachresourceandtrackonlyit. SelectInstancetotrackallinstancesofametricforaresource,withaseparaterectangleforeachone.If youchooseInstance,youmustselectaResourceKind,andtheSizeByandColorBylistsarereplaced byasingleAttributeKindslist.Thosefieldsaredescribedbelow.
ResourceKindTotrackmetricsonlyforresourcesofaparticularkind,selecttheresourcekindhere.If youselectInstancemode,youmustselectaresourcekind.
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ConfigurationThesefieldsletyousave,update,anddeleteconfigurationsforthewidget.Youmust saveaconfigurationbeforeyoucanuseit.
Tosaveaconfiguration,makeyourselectionsinalltheotherfields,thenclicktheCapturenew configurationicon.TypeanamefortheconfigurationandclickOK. Toupdateaconfiguration,selectitinthelistunderConfiguration.Makeyourchanges,thenclick Updateselectedconfiguration. Todeleteaconfiguration,selectitinthelistunderConfiguration,thenclickDeleteselected configuration.
ColorsDeterminesthecolorsdisplayedintheheatmap.Clickeachofthethreesmallblocksunderthe colorbartosetthecolorforlow,middle,andhighvalues,respectively.Thebarwillshowthecolorrange usedforintermediatevalues. Ifdesired,youcanalsosetthevaluestomatchthehighandlowendofthecolorrange.Ifyouleavethe MinValueandMaxValuefieldsblank,vCenter Operations Enterprisewillmapthehighestandlowest valuesfortheColorBymetrictotheendcolors.Ifyousetaminimumormaximumvalue,anymetricat orbeyondthatvaluewillbeshownintheendcolor.
SizeByThislistappearsonlyinGeneralmode.Selecttheattributetousetosetthesizeoftherectangle foreachresource.Resourceswithhighervaluesforthisattributewillhavelargerareasofthewidget display.Youcanalsoselectfixedsizerectangles. ColorByThislistappearsonlyinGeneralmode.Selecttheattributetousetodeterminethecolorofthe rectangleforeachresource.Thecolorwillvarybetweenthecolorsyouhavesetbasedonthevalueofthis attribute. NOTEInmostcases,theattributelistinSizeByandColorByincludesonlymetricsthataregenerated byvCenter Operations Enterprise,becauseallresourceshavethesemetrics.Ifyouselectaresourcekind, thelistshowsallattributesdefinedfortheresourcekind,withtheinternallygeneratedmetriclist collapsed.Inthiscase,toselectaninternallygeneratedmetric,clicktheplussignnextto vCenter Operations EnterpriseGeneratedtoexpandthelist.
AttributeKindsThislistappearsonlyinInstancemode.Selecttheattributetousetodeterminethecolor oftherectangleforeachresource.Thecolorwillvarybetweenthecolorsyouhavesetbasedonthevalue ofthisattribute. SelectwhichtagstofilterTodefinetheresourcestoshowinthewidget,selectthetagvaluesyouwant tomonitor.Ifyouselectmorethanonevalue,vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowstheserules:
Asdiscussedabove,ifyouselectbothaResourceKindandoneormoretagvalues,onlyresourcesofthat kindandmeetingthetagfilterareshown. NOTEIfyoumakechanges,thenclickOKtoclosetheEditHeatMapWidgetwindow.withoutsavingthe newconfiguration,vCenter Operations Enterpriseasksyoutoconfirmthatyoudonotwanttosaveyour changes.
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Mashup Charts Widget

TheMashupChartswidgetshowsthesameinformationastheMashuptaboftheAlertDetailspage.It displaysuptothreetypesofchartshowingdifferentaspectsofthebehavioroftheselectedresource.Youcan selecttheresourcetoshowbyeditingthewidget,orhaveitprovidedbytheAlerts,ApplicationOverview, HealthStatus,HeatMap,Resources,AdvancedHealthTree,RootCauseRanking,GenericScoreboard, HealthWorkloadScoreboard,orTagSelectorwidget.Bydefault,thechartscoverthepastsixhours.
TheMashupChartswidgetcontainsthefollowingcharts.
Ahealthchartfortheresource.Thechartcaninclude(basedontheLayerssetting)eachalertduringthe timeshown.Clickanalerttoseemoreinformation,ordoubleclickittoopentheAlertSummarypagefor it.TheAlertSummarypageisdescribedonpage 32. Ananomalycountgraphfortheresource.Thisisverysimilartotheanomalygraphshownbythe CrossSiloAnalysisfeature(seeCrossSiloAnalysisonpage 51).Thegraphshowsthenumberof anomaliesfortheresourceanditschildrenattheindicatedtime.Foranapplication,italsoshowsthe countforeachtierinastackedchart.Aredlinemarksthenoisethresholdfortheresourceananomaly counthigherthanthisindicatesa90%probabilityofaproblemandtriggersanearlywarningalert. MetricgraphsforanyoralloftheKPIforanyresourcelistedasarootcauseresource.Foranapplication, thiswillbetheapplicationandanytierswhichcontainrootcauses.YoucanselecttheKPItoincludeby clickingChartControls,KPIs.AnyshadedareasonagraphindicatetheKPIwasviolatingitsthreshold duringthattime.Clickthetopleftoftheshadedareatoseedetailsabouttheanomaly.
Theanomalycountandmetricgraphsreflectuptofivelevelsofresources(theselectedresourceandfourchild levels). Topickwhichchartstoview,clickChartControlsatthetopofthewidget.Youcanselect:

ShowChartstoselectwhichtypesofgraphstoinclude. Layerstoselectwhattypesandsubtypesofalertstoshowonthemetricgraph.Youcanalsochooseto havethegraphshowchangeevents.Changeeventsareuserdefinednotificationssentto vCenter Operations EnterpriseusingthevCenter Operations EnterpriseOpenAPI. ShowinStackedModechangestheAnomalyCountGraphtobeasinglestackedgraphshowing anomaliesforallselectedresources. ResourcesletsyouselecttheresourcestoincludeintheAnomalyCountGraph. KPIstoselecttheKPItoincludemetricgraphsfor.
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Themaximumandminimumpointsonthelinechartareindicatedinthekeyofthegraph.Thetoolbaratthe topofthiswidgetcontainsthesebuttonstoletyoudetermineexactlywhateachgraphshows:
ZoombyXWhenselected,zoomingthegraphaffectstheXaxis.YoucanselectbothZoombyX andZoombyYatthesametime.ZoomtheViewmustbeselectedforzoomingtowork. ZoombyYWhenselected,zoomingthegraphaffectstheYaxis.YoucanselectbothZoombyX andZoombyYatthesametime.ZoomtheViewmustbeselectedforzoomingtowork. ZoomtoFitChangesallgraphstoshowtheentiretimeperiodandvaluerange. ZoomtheViewWhenselected,dragginginagraphzoomsthegraphtoshowjusttheselected area.TheexactbehaviorisdeterminedbytheZoombyX,ZoombyY,andZoomAllGraphs settings. PanWhenselected,dragginginthegraphchangesthetimeperiodshown;itdoesnotzoomthe graph. PointValuesClickthisicon,thenplacethepointeroveragraphedKPIdatapointtoseeitstime andexactvalue.Youcanshowvaluesonlyiftheselectedtimeperiodis24hoursorless. DateControlsSelectthetimeperiodtoshowonthegraphs.Youcaneitherselectaperiodinthe topboxorenterastartdateandtimeandenddateandtimeinthefieldsbeneathit.
YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditMashupChartsWidgetwindow.This windowcontainstheseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. SelfProviderSelectOntoshowgraphsfortheresourceselectedontheEditwindow,orOfftoshow onechosenintheprovidingwidget. RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. ResourcesTagsIntheListpane,selecttheresourcestoshowinthewidgetifSelfProviderissettoOn. Bydefault,thelistincludesallresources.Youcanfilterthelistbyselectingoneormoretagvaluesonthe left.Ifyouselectmorethanonevalue,vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowstheserules:

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Metric Graph Widget

Thiswidgetdisplaysagraphoftherecentperformance(andpredictedfutureperformance)ofametric.You canselectthemetricstoshowbyeditingthewidget,havethemprovidedbytheMetricSelectorwidget,or selectaresourceintheAlerts,HealthStatus,HeatMap,HealthTree,AdvancedHealthTree,RootCause Ranking,GenericScoreboard,HealthWorkloadScoreboard,orResourceswidgettoseeitstopmetrics.The numberofmetricsshownisdeterminedbytheimportantmetricscountsetbyan vCenter Operations Enterpriseadministrator.
Themaximumandminimumpointsonthelinechartareindicatedinthekeyofthegraph.Thetoolbaratthe topofthiswidgetcontainsthesebuttonstoletyoudetermineexactlywhateachgraphshows:
SplitGraphsWhentwoorthreetimeperiodsareselected,showsthevaluesforeachperiodona differentgraph. YAxisDisplaysorhidestheYaxisscale. MetricGraphHidesorshowsthelineconnectingthedatapointsonthegraph. TrendLineShowsorhidesthetrendline.Thetrendlinefiltersoutmetricnoisealongthe timelinebyplottingeachdatapointrelativetotheaverageofitsadjoiningdatapoints. DynamicThresholdsShowsorhidesthedynamicthresholdforeachmetricforthelast24hours. ShowEntirePeriodDynamicThresholdsShowsorhidedynamicthresholdsfortheentiretime periodofthegraph. AnomaliesHidesorshowsanomaliesonthegraph.Whenshown,timeperiodswhenthemetric isviolatingathresholdareshaded;thecolorindicatesthecriticalityoftheviolation.Youcanclick thetopleftcorneroftheshadedareatodisplaydetailsaboutthatanomaly. ShowDataPointTipsRetrievesthemetricreadingsforthegrapheddatapoints.Youcanthenuse ShowDataValuestoseethevalues,ifdesired.Thisisnotdoneautomaticallyasretrievingthe valuesifyoudonotwanttoseethemisaneedlessuseofresources. ZoombyXWhenselected,zoomingthegraphaffectstheXaxis.YoucanselectbothZoombyX andZoombyYatthesametime.ZoomtheViewmustbeselectedforzoomingtowork. ZoombyYWhenselected,zoomingthegraphaffectstheYaxis.YoucanselectbothZoombyX andZoombyYatthesametime.ZoomtheViewmustbeselectedforzoomingtowork. ZoomtoFitChangesallgraphstoshowtheentiretimeperiodandvaluerange. ZoomtoDynamicThresholdsChangestheYaxisofthegraphstomatchthedynamicthreshold ofthemetric. CompressGraphsShortenstheYaxisofallgraphssotheytakeuplessverticalspacewhile showingthesamedata. ZoomAllGraphsWhenselected,zoomingonegraphchangesallgraphstomatch.Zoomthe Viewmustbeselectedforzoomingtowork.
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ZoomtheViewWhenselected,dragginginagraphzoomsthegraphtoshowjusttheselected area.TheexactbehaviorisdeterminedbytheZoombyX,ZoombyY,andZoomAllGraphs settings. PanWhenselected,dragginginthegraphchangesthetimeperiodshown;itdoesnotzoomthe graph. ShowDataValuesAfterclickingShowDataPointTipstoretrievethedata,clickthisicon,then placethepointeroveragrapheddatapointtoseeitstimeandexactvalue.Youcanshowvalues onlyiftheselectedtimeperiodis24hoursorless. AutoRefreshTurnsautorefreshonoroff. DateControlsSelectuptothreetimeperiodstoshowonthegraph.Forthefirstperiod,selecta valueinthetopboxorenterastartdateandtimeandenddateandtimeinthefieldsbeneathit.To graphmultipleperiods,selectthefirstperiod,thenselectwhichpreviousperiodtocompareittointhe second(andthird,ifdesired)setoffields.Allperiodsmustbethesamelength.Ifyousetastartdateand timeforthesecondorthirdperiod,vCenter Operations Enterprisefillsintheendtimeautomatically. NOTEFormosttimeperiods,vCenter Operations Enterprisewillincludepredictedvaluesforthenear future.Forexample,ifyouselectthelasthour,vCenter Operations Enterprisewillalsoshow15minutes intothefuture;ifyouselectthelastday,vCenter Operations Enterprisewillpredictfourhoursintothe future,andsoon.Periodslongerthan30daysdonotshowanyfuturetime.Ifauserdefinedtimeperiod includestimeinthefuture,vCenter Operations Enterprisewillshowpredictedvaluesforthedefined futureperiod.
GenerateDashboardCreatesanewdashboardcontainingjusttheMetricGraphwidget,in selfprovidermode,showingthesamemetricsascurrentlydisplayed.Youarepromptedtoenter thenametogivethenewdashboard. RemoveAllRemovesallgraphsfromthewidget.
Eachofthebuttonsaffectsallmetricgraphsshown.Eachgraphhasatoolbaratthetopright,affecting onlythatgraph.Itincludesthesebuttons:
DataSourcePlacethemousepointeroverthisicontoseethenameofthedatasource(adapterinstance) forthismetric.Forsupermetrics,thiswillsayvCenter Operations Enterprise. ShowCorrelatedMetricsAppearsonlyifvCenter Operations Enterprisehasdeterminedthatthe behaviororanomaliesofothermetricsarecorrelatedtothisone.Opensapopupwindowshowingthe correlatedmetrics,includingtheresource,themetricname,andthepercentageofcorrelation.Youcan alsodisplayacolumnshowingthetypeofcorrelation,eitherAnomaly(themetricsanomaliesare correlated)orBehavior(themetricsbehavioriscorrelated).Ifthewidgetisnotinselfprovidermode,you canselectacorrelatedmetrictoaddittothewidgetdisplay. SaveaChartSnapshotDownloadsthecurrentgraphimageasaPNG(PortableNetworkGraphics)file, whichyoucandisplayorsave. SaveaFullscreenSnapshotDownloadsthecurrentgraphimageasafullpagePNG(PortableNetwork Graphics)file,whichyoucandisplayorsave. NOTEForbothsnapshots,thedefaultfilenamecontainstheresource,attributegroup,andmetricname.
DownloadtabseparateddataDownloadsthedatapointscurrentlyshownonthegraphtoa tabseparated.csvfile.Eachfileincludestheresourcenameandmetricnameand,foreachvalue,dateand timeofthecollectedmetric,thevalue,andthelowerandupperboundsofdynamicthresholds.Youare giventhechoicetoopenorsavethefile. MoveDownMovesthegraphdownonepositioninthewidget. MoveUpMovesthegraphuponepositioninthewidget. CloseRemovesthegraphfromthewidget.
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YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditMetricGraphWidgetwindow.This windowcontainstheseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. SelfProviderSelectOntoshowgraphsforthemetricsselectedontheEditwindow,orOfftoshowonly thosechosenintheprovidingwidget. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. ResourcesTagsToselectthemetricstoshowinthewidgetifSelfProviderissettoOn,selectthe resourcecontainingthemetricintheListpane.ThisdisplaysthemetricsforthatresourceintheMetric Selectorpane.Youcanfiltertheresourcelistbyselectingoneormoretagvaluesinthelistontheleft.If youselectmorethanonetagvalue,vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowstheserules:


Forfurtherinformationonattributes,seethevCenter Operations EnterpriseInstallationandAdministrationGuide
Metric Graph (Rolling View) Widget

TheMetricGraph(RollingView)widgetisverysimilartotheMetricGraphwidget,exceptthatitshowsafull chartforonlyoneoftheselectedmetricsatatime.Thebottomofthewidgetshowsminiaturegraphsofthe otherselectedmetrics.Youcanclickanyminiaturegraphtoseethefullgraphforthatmetric,orsetthewidget torotatethroughallselectedmetricsatanintervalyoudefine.Youcanselectthemetricstoshowbyediting thewidget,havethemprovidedbytheMetricSelectorwidget,orselectaresourceintheAlerts,HealthStatus, HeatMap,HealthTree,AdvancedHealthTree,RootCauseRanking,GenericScoreboard,HealthWorkload Scoreboard,orResourceswidgettoseeitstoptenmetrics.
Themaximumandminimumpointsonthelinechartareindicatedinthekeyofthegraph.Thetoolbaratthe topofthiswidgetcontainsthesebuttonstoletyoudetermineexactlywhatthegraphshows:

YAxisDisplaysorhidestheYaxisscale. MetricGraphHidesorshowsthelineconnectingthedatapointsonthegraph. TrendLineShowsorhidestrendline.Thetrendlinefiltersoutmetricnoisealongthetimeline byplottingeachdatapointrelativetotheaverageofitsadjoiningdatapoints.

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DynamicThresholdsShowsorhidesthedynamicthresholdforthelast24hours. ShowEntirePeriodDynamicThresholdsShowsorhidesdynamicthresholdsfortheentiretime periodofthegraph. AnomaliesHidesorshowsanomaliesonthegraph.Whenshown,timeperiodswhenthemetric isviolatingathresholdareshaded;thecolorindicatesthecriticalityoftheviolation. ShowDataPointTipsRetrievesthemetricreadingsforthegrapheddatapoints.Youcanthenuse ShowDataValuestoseethevalues,ifdesired.Thisisnotdoneautomaticallyasretrievingthe valuesifyoudonotwanttoseethemisaneedlessuseofresources. ZoombyXWhenselected,zoomingthegraphaffectstheXaxis.YoucanselectbothZoombyX andZoombyYatthesametime.ZoomtheViewmustbeselectedforzoomingtowork. ZoombyYWhenselected,zoomingthegraphaffectstheYaxis.YoucanselectbothZoombyX andZoombyYatthesametime.ZoomtheViewmustbeselectedforzoomingtowork. ZoomtoFitChangesthegraphtoshowtheentiretimeperiodandvaluerange. ZoomtoDynamicThresholdsChangestheYaxisofthegraphtomatchthedynamicthreshold ofthemetric. ZoomtheViewWhenselected,dragginginthegraphzoomsthegraphtoshowjusttheselected area.TheexactbehaviorisdeterminedbytheZoombyX,ZoombyY,andZoomAllGraphs settings. PanWhenselected,dragginginthegraphchangesthetimeperiodshown;itdoesnotzoomthe graph. ShowDataValuesAfterclickingShowDataPointTipstoretrievethedata,clickthisicon,then placethepointeroveragrapheddatapointtoseeitstimeandexactvalue.Youcanshowvalues onlyiftheselectedtimeperiodis24hoursorless. DateControlsSelectthetimeperiodtoshowonthegraph.Youcaneitherselectaperiodinthe topboxorenterastartdateandtimeandenddateandtimeinthefieldsbeneathit. NOTEFormosttimeperiods,vCenter Operations Enterprisewillincludepredictedvaluesforthenear future.Forexample,ifyouselectthelasthour,vCenter Operations Enterprisewillalsoshow15minutes intothefuture;ifyouselectthelastday,vCenter Operations Enterprisewillpredictfourhoursintothe future,andsoon.Periodslongerthan30daysdonotshowanyfuturetime.Ifauserdefinedtimeperiod includestimeinthefuture,vCenter Operations Enterprisewillshowpredictedvaluesforthedefined futureperiod.
YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditMetricGraphWidgetwindow.This windowcontainstheseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. SelfProviderSelectOntoshowgraphsforthemetricsselectedontheEditwindow,orOfftoshowonly thosechosenintheprovidingwidget. RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. AutoTransitionIntervalEnteravalueheretohavethemainchartcyclethroughallselectedmetrics. Thegraphwillswitchafterthenumberofsecondsyouenterhere. ShowChartToolbarSelectwhethertoincludethetoolbaronthewidgetdisplay.
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ResourcesTagsToselectthemetricstoshowinthewidgetifSelfProviderissettoOn,selectthe resourcecontainingthemetricintheListpane.ThisdisplaysthemetricsforthatresourceintheMetric Selectorpane.Youcanfiltertheresourcelistbyselectingoneormoretagvaluesinthelistontheleft.If youselectmorethanonetagvalue,vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowstheserules:


Forfurtherinformationonattributes,seethevCenter Operations EnterpriseInstallationandAdministrationGuide.
Metric Selector Widget

TheMetricSelectorwidgetdisplaysattributepackagesforoneormoreresourcesyouveselectedintheAlerts, HealthStatus,HeatMap,HealthTree,RootCauseRanking,GenericScoreboard,HealthWorkload Scoreboard,orResourceswidget.Expandeachattributegrouptoviewitsmetrics.Ifthewidgetisshowing metricsforonlyoneresource,metricswhicharecurrentlyexhibitinganomaliesarecoloredyellow.
Ifyouhavemultipleresourcesselectedintheprovidingwidget,andwantthelisttoshowonlymetrics whichalloftheresourcehave,clicktheShowCommonMetricsicon.Clickitagaintolistallmetricsfor theresources.Thisiconappearsonlywhentherearemultipleresourcesselected. SelectoneormoremetricsandclicktheMovetoGraphicontodisplaythemintheMetricGraph widget.DoubleclickinganyattributealsodisplaysitintheMetricGraphwidget. Bydefault,thelistshowsalldefinedmetricsthathaveeverbeencollectedforthelistedresources.To showonlymetricswhicharecurrentlybeingcollectedfortheresources(andnotthosewhichwere collectedinthepastbutarenotnow),clicktheShowMetricsCollectingicon.Clickitagaintoshowall metrics. Tofindaparticularmetricgroup,metricinstance,ormetric,typeallorpartofitsnameintheSearchfield, selectthetypeofvalueyouaresearchingfor,andclicktheSearchicon. YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditWidgetwindow.Theonlyoptiononthis windowisWidgettitle.Thisletsyouchangethedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar.
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Metric Sparklines Widget

TheMetricSparklineswidgetshowssimplegraphsshowingthevalueoftheselectedmetric(s)overtime.You canuseittogetaquickviewofthetrendsinKPI.Youcanselectthemetricstoshowbyeditingthewidget, havethemprovidedbytheAlerts,MetricSelector,orHealthWorkloadScoreboardwidget,orselectaresource intheAlerts,HealthStatus,HeatMap,HealthTree,AdvancedHealthTree,RootCauseRanking,Generic Scoreboard,HealthWorkloadScoreboard,orResourceswidgettoseeitstoptenmetrics.Ifallmetricsshown areforoneresourceprovidedbyoneofthesewidgets,theresourcenameappearsatthetoprightofthe widget.
YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditMetricSparklinesWidgetwindow.This windowcontainstheseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. SelfProviderSelectOntoshowsparklinesforthemetricsselectedontheEditwindow,orOfftoshow onlythosechosenintheMetricSelectorwidget. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. ResourcesTagsToselectthemetricstoshowinthewidgetifSelfProviderissettoOn,selectthe resourcecontainingthemetricintheListpane.ThisdisplaysthemetricsforthatresourceintheMetric Selectorpane.Youcanfiltertheresourcelistbyselectingoneormoretagvaluesinthelistontheleft.If youselectmorethanonetagvalue,vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowstheserules:


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Metric Weather Map Widget

TheMetricWeatherMapwidgetgivesagraphicaldisplayofthechangingvaluesofasinglemetricformultiple resourcesovertime.Itusescolorediconstorepresenteachvalueofthemetric.Eachiconlocationrepresents themetricvalueforparticularresource.Thecoloroftheiconchangestoshowchangesinthevalueofthe metric.Watchinghowthismapchangescangiveyouapictureofhowtheperformanceofthemetricvaries overtimefordifferentresources.
Thedisplaydoesnotshowtherealtimeperformanceofthemetrics.Youchoosethetimeperiodforittocover, howfastthemaprefreshes,andtheintervalbetweenthereadingsitshows.Forexample,youcouldhavethe widgetplaythemetricvaluesoverthelastday,refreshingeveryhalfsecond,witheachchangerepresenting fiveminutesworthofmetricvalues. Toseewhatresourceanyiconrepresents,clickittodisplayahyperlinkoftheresourcename.ClicktheXnext tothelinktoremoveit.ClickthehyperlinktodisplaytheResourceDetailpagefortheresource.SeeThe ResourceDetailPageonpage 48formoreinformation. Tostoporstartthedisplay,clickthepause/playiconatthetopleftofthewidget.Thissettingissaved,soifyou leavethewidgetdisplayandreturn,itwillbeinthesamestate. Toseethesettingscurrentlybeingusedforthewidget,includingthemetricbeingshown,clickthe Filteringiconatthetopleftofthewidget. YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditMetricWeatherMapWidgetwindow.This windowcontainstheseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. ImageRedrawRateHowoftenthewidgetgetsnewmetricdataandupdatesthedisplaywithit.Thisis thesameastheWidgetRefreshIntervalforotherwidgets. MetricHistorySelectthetimeperiod(fromtheprevioushourtothelast30days)fortheweathermap tocover. MetricSampleIncrementTheintervalbetweenthemetricreadingsthewidgetuses.Forexample,ifyou setthistooneminuteandtheMetricHistorytoonehour,thewidgetwouldhaveatotalof60readings foreachmetric. GroupbyIfyouwantthewidgettogrouptheresourcesbytagvalue,selectthetagtogroupthemby. SortbyChoosetosortthemetricsshownonthewidgetbyResourcenameorMetricvalue. FrameTransitionIntervalHowfasttheiconschangetoshoweachnewvalue.Youcanentereither betweenframesorthenumberofframespersecond(fps). StartoverdelayThenumberofsecondsforthedisplaytoremainstaticwhenitreachestheendofthe MetricHistoryperiod(themostcurrentreadings),beforetistartsoveragainfromthebeginning.
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Chapter 7 Widgets
ColorsDeterminesthecolorsdisplayedintheweathermap.Clickeachofthethreesmallblocksunder thecolorbartosetthecolorforminimum,middle,andmaximumvalues,respectively.Thebarwillshow thecolorrangeusedforintermediatevalues. Ifdesired,youcanalsosetthevaluestomatchthehighandlowendofthecolorrange.Ifyouleavethe MinValueandMaxValuefieldsblank,vCenter Operations Enterprisewillmaptheactualminimumand maximumvaluesofthemetricoverthetimeperiodtotheendcolors.Ifyousetaminimumormaximum value,anymetricatorbeyondthatvaluewillbeshownintheendcolor.
ResourcesTagsUsethispanetoselectthemetrictoshowinthewidget.Selectaresourcetaginthelist onthelefttodisplayitsresourcesinthecenterlist.Selectaresourceinthecenterlisttoshowitsmetrics intheMetricSelectorontheright.Selectthemetrictoshowinthewidget.
Resources Widget
TheResourceswidgetlistsconfiguredresources.Youcanselecttheresourcestoshowbyeditingthewidget, orhavethemprovidedbytheAlerts,ApplicationOverview,HealthStatus,HealthTree,AdvancedHealth Tree,HeatMap,RootCauseRanking,GenericScoreboard,HealthWorkloadScoreboard,orTagSelector widget.YoucanconfiguretheResourceswidgetasasourceformanyotherwidgets,soclickingaresourcewill changetheinformationdisplayedinthosewidgets.
YoucansearchforresourcesbyenteringallorpartoftheresourcenameorkindintheSearchfieldand clickingtheSearchicon. Thetoolbaratthetopleftofthiswidgetcontainsfivebuttons:

ResetGridSortReturnsallcolumnsortingtothedefaultsettings. ResetInteractionReturnsthewidgettoitsinitialconfiguredstate,undoinganyselectionsorfiltersyou havechangedwhileviewingit. ResourceDetailDisplaystheResourceDetailpagefortheselectedresource.Formoreinformation,see TheResourceDetailPageonpage 48. PerformMultiSelectInteractionToselectmultipleresources,clickthefirstone,thenholdtheCTRL keywhileclickingtheothers(orholdSHIFTandclicktoselectarange).Whenyouhavehighlightedall thedesiredresources,clickthisbutton. ShowFilterIfyouarefilteringtheresourcelistbyresourcetag,healthstatus,orcollectionstatus,click thisicontoseethefiltersettings.
YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditResourcesWidgetwindow.Thiswindow containstheseoptions:

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WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. PaginationnumberThenumberofresourcesdisplayedoneachpage.
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ModeSetswhetherthewidgetshowsselectedresources,theirchildren,ortheirparents.WhenChildren orParentsisselected,theselectedresourcesthemselvesarenotshown.Thisistruewhetheryouselectthe resourcesbyeditingthiswidgetorhavethemprovidedbyanotherwidget. RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. SelectwhichtagstofilterTodefinetheresourcestoshowinthewidget,selectthetagvaluesyouwant tomonitor.Ifyouselectmorethanonevalue,vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowstheserules:
FilterByLimitstheresourcesdisplayedtothefiltersyouspecify.Youcanfilterbyhealthstatus(good, abnormal,degraded,bad,orunknown)andcollectionstatus(notcollecting,starting,collecting,stopping, updating,failed,collectordown,configurationinvalid,acceptingdata,notreceivingdata,in maintenance,inmanualmaintenance). NOTEYourselectionsinSelectwhichtagstofilterandFilterByaretakenintoaccountevenwhen anotherwidgetisprovidingresourcestotheresourceswidget.Iftheresourceprovidedbythesource widgetdoesnotmeetthefiltercriteriayouveselected,itisnotshown.
SortDataBySortstheresourcesdisplayedinthewidget.Youcansortbyanyofthecolumnsyoucan displayinthewidget.
Root Cause Ranking Widget

TheRootCauseRankingwidgetgivesaninstantviewoftheprobablecausesofhealthdegradationforthe selectedresource.Itshowsinformationaboutmetricsonrelatedresourceswhich vCenter Operations Enterprisehasdeterminedcontributedtoalertsontheresource,includingthepercentage likelihoodthateachisacause,basedonnumberofsymptomsandwhentheyoccurredrelativetothealert.
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Chapter 7 Widgets
Youcanviewtherootcausesintwomodes:
SymptomShowsthelikelyrootcausecontainerresources,rankedbytheanalyticalalgorithmonthe containerresource.Youcandoubleclickanyresourcetoseethesymptomgroups,rankedbypercentage ofpossibleresourcesexhibitingsymptomsinthegroup,anddoubleclickanygrouptoseethetopfive individualsymptoms,rankedbypercentageofpossibleresourcesexhibitingthesymptom.Doubleclick asymptom(orselectitandclickShowBarDetails)toopenapopupwindowshowingdetailed informationaboutit.Thisisthedefault. Whenviewingindividualsymptoms,athinverticalbarinthehorizontalbarforthesymptomshows whenthatanomalybegan.Ifthelightbulbicontotherightofthesymptombarappearslit,thesymptom isstillactive.
ResourceListstheindividualrootcauseresources,rankedbynumberofanomalies.Doubleclicka resource(orselectitandclickShowBarDetails)tolisttheindividualanomalies. NOTEAchangeeventsymptommayincludedifferenttypesofevents,withdifferentmessages.Ifallthe changeeventsforasymptomareofthesametype,themessageisshowntotherightofthesymptombar (ifitdoesnotfit,hoveroverittoseethefullmessage).Ifthesymptomincludesdifferentmessages,the textshownisMultipleChangeEvents.
TheresourcestoincludeinthewidgetcanbeprovidedbytheAlerts,ApplicationOverview,HealthStatus, HealthTree,AdvancedHealthTree,HeatMap,Resources,GenericScoreboard,HealthWorkloadScoreboard, orTagSelectorwidget,oryoucandefinethemusingtheEditRootCauseRankingWidgetwindow. NOTEIftheresourcesarebeingprovidedbytheHealthStatuswidget,andyouclickatapointinthepaston thehealthscoregraph,foraresource,RootCauseRankingwillshowrootcausesasofthetimeyouclicked. Thetoolbaratthetopofthiswidgetcontainsthesebuttons:

AutoRefreshRefreshesthewidgetdata. AnomaliesActivityPeriodSelectAllAnomaliestoshowallcurrentlyactiveanomalies,orselect atimeperiodtoshowanomalieswhichwereactiveatsomepointduringthepreceding2,4,or6 hours.Then,clicktheGoicon. ShowBarDetailsOpensanewwindowshowingdetailedinformationaboutthethreshold violationsthatcontributedtotheselectedrootcause.Thisisthesameasdoubleclickingthe symptom. PerformInteractionShowsthefirstfivealarmingmetricsfortheresourceoftheselected symptomineithertheMetricGraphorMetricSparklineswidget.Oneofthosewidgetsmustbe includedinthedashboardandbesettoreceivedatafromtheRootCausewidgetforthisfeaturetowork. SeeWidgetInteractiononpage 74forinformationaboutsettingonewidgettoreceivedatafrom another. ChangeModeSwitchesbetweenResourcemodeandSymptommode.
Youcandoubleclickanydisplayedrootcausesymptomtoopenapopupwindowlistingtheindividual thresholdviolationsthatcomprisethesymptom.YoucanthenclicktheCopytoClipboardbuttonto copythelisttotheclipboard.Forexample,youmightwanttodothisifyouareopeningaproblemticketfor thealert,orsendinganemailmessageaboutit. ToseetheDynamicDashboardforarootcauseresource,selectitinthepopupwindow,thenclickthe DynamicDashboardbutton.SeeTheDynamicDashboardonpage 38foradescriptionofthe DynamicDashboardpage. YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditRootCauseRankingWidgetwindow.This windowcontainstheseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. SelfProviderSelectOntoshowhealthforresourcesselectedontheEditwindow,orOfftoshowonly thosechosenintheHealth,Resources,orTagSelectorwidget.

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RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. BarsCountThenumberofrootcausebarstoshowonthewidgetatonce. BarsShowWhethertoshowbarsforSymptomsorResources.Ifyouselectresources,youcanchoose howmanyresources(bars)todisplay. TagFilterThisboxissimilartothetagpaneintheApplicationsOverviewscreen.Buttonsletyoufilter byapplicationtags,includingthefollowing:

CollapseAllCollapsesallapplicationtagbranches. ExpandAllExpandsallapplicationtagbranches. DeselectAllUnselectsallapplicationtagsfromthelist.
Tag Selector Widget

TheTagSelectorwidgetlistsalldefinedresourcetagsandtagvalues.Youcanselectoneormoretagvaluesin thiswidgettochangetheinformationshownintheAlerts,ConfigurationOverview,HealthStatus,RootCause Ranking,orHealthTreewidget.
Ifyouselectmorethanonevalue,vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowstheserules:

Ifyouselectmorethanonevalueforthesametag,itincludesresourcesthathaveeithervalue. Ifyouselectvaluesfortwoormoredifferenttags,itincludesonlyresourcesthathavealltheselected values.
Youcanalsonegativelyselectthetagvalues.IfyouclicktheInvertResulticon,onlyresourceswhich donotmatchthetagvaluesyouveselectedareincluded. Thetoolbaratthetopleftcontainsfourbuttons:

CollapseAllCollapsesallexpandedtagbranches. ExpandAllExpandsalltagbranches. DeselectAllClearsanyselectedtagvalues. PerformMultiSelectInteractiontoselectmultipletagvalues,clickthefirstone,thenholdtheCTRL keywhileclickingtheothers(orholdSHIFTandclicktoselectarange).Whenyouhavehighlightedall thedesiredvalues,clickthisbutton.
IfyouclicktheEditbutton,theonlyoptionontheEditTagSelectorWidgetwindowletsyouchangethe displaynameofthewidget.
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Chapter 7 Widgets
Top-N Analysis Widget

TheTopNAnalysiswidgetliststhetopfive(oranothernumberyouselect)itemsofatypeyouselect,suchas thefivemetricsshowingthehighestvolatilityorthefivemost(orleast)healthytiersinanapplication.Seeing theextremeperformersinanycategorycanbehelpfulinassessingtheoverallperformanceofyour environment.ThewidgetisverysimilartotheTopnAnalysisfeatureontheForensicsmenu,whichis describedinTopNAnalysisonpage 54.
Youcanselecttheresourcesormetricsforthewidgettoconsiderbyeditingthewidget,orhaveresources providedbytheApplicationOvervieworTagSelectorwidget.Toselectwhattypeofinformationtohave shown,editthewidget,asdescribedbelow. Thetoolbaratthetopleftofthiswidgetcontainsthreebuttons:

AutoRefreshRefreshesthewidgetdata. ResourceDetailDisplaystheResourceDetailpagefortheselectedresource.Formoreinformation,see TheResourceDetailPageonpage 48.ItdoesnotworkinMetricmode. ShowFilterClickthisicontoseethesettingscurrentlybeingusedbythewidget.
YoucanclicktheEditbuttononthewidgettoolbartoopentheEditTopNAnalysisWidgetwindow.This windowcontainstheseoptions:

WidgettitleThedisplaynameofthewidget,asshowninthetitlebar. SelfProviderSelectOntoselecttagsormetricsontheEditwindow,orOfftoselecttheminthe providingwidget. RefreshWidgetContentSetsthewidgettorefreshafterthetimeperiodsetinWidgetRefreshInterval. WidgetRefreshIntervalHowoftentorefreshthewidgetcontentifRefreshWidgetContentisOn. PeriodLengthHowfarbackintothepastthewidgetwilllookatdata. BarCountBydefault,thewidgetshowsthetopfiveitemsinthecategoryyouselect.Youcanchange thatto10or15,orselectUserDefinedandtypeanydesirednumberinthefieldtotheright. WidgetModeTodisplayitemsrelatedtoresources,selectTag.Todisplayitemsrelatedtospecific metrics,selectMetric.Thischangesthecategoriesyoucanselectfromandwhetheryouselectaresource tagoraspecificmetricforthewidgettoexamine. NOTESinceMetricmoderequiresyoutoselectaspecificmetric,itwillnotgiveanyresultsifthewidget isacceptingresourcesfromtheApplicationOvervieworTagSelectorwidget.
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CategorySelectionThisarealiststhevariouscategoriesyoucanhavethewidgetshowinformationfor. ThelistsaredifferentforTagmodeandMetricmode.Youcanselectonlyonecategoryatatime. TagSelectionUsethispanetoselecttheresourcetag(inTagmode)orthespecificmetric(inMetric mode)forthewidgettoconsiderwhenbuildingitslist.InTagmode,justselectthetagvaluetouse.In Metricmode,selectaresourcetagtodisplayitsResourceKindsinthecenterlist.Selectaresourcekind toshowitsmetricsintheMetricslist,thenselectthemetrictouse.Toshowonlymetricssharedbyall resourcesofthatkind,clicktheShowCommonMetricsiconatthetopofthelist. NOTESomeoftheautomaticallyassignedvCenter Operations Enterprisetagsarenotshowninthetag list,astherewouldbenoreasontobaseatopNanalysisonthosetags.
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Generating Reports
Inthissection,wediscusshowtogeneratereportsinvCenter Operations Enterprise.Thissectioncontainsthe followingtopics:

PreparingtoRunaReportonpage 113 UploadingaReportImageonpage 113 PerformanceCorrelationReportonpage 113 BehaviorCorrelationReportonpage 115 AnomalyCorrelationReportonpage 115
Preparing to Run a Report

TheReportsmenuanditssubmenusallowyoutorunavarietyofreports,including:

PerformanceCorrelation BehaviorCorrelation AnomalyCorrelation
Youcanconfiguretheparametersforeachreport,includingthetimeperioditcovers. Youcanalsochangetheimageshownatthetopofeachreportyourunbyuploadingyourowndesiredimage. NOTEvCenter Operations Enterpriseauditreports,availablethroughtheAdminmenu,aredescribedinthe vCenter Operations EnterpriseInstallationandAdministrationGuide.
Uploading a Report Image

Atanytime,youcansetalogotouseforaheaderoneachreportyourun.Todoso,followthesesteps: 1 2 3 4 FromtheReportsmenu,selectAdvanced,UploadDefaultReportImage.TheUploadDefaultReport Imagepageappears. ClicktheBrowsebutton.ThisopenstheFindUploaddialogbox. Selecttheimagefiletouse.Youcanusea.gif,.jpeg,or.bmpfile.ClickOpen. ClickUpload.Theimageyouselectedwillbeshownatthetopofeachreportyougenerate.
Performance Correlation Report

ThePerformanceCorrelationreportlistsresourceswhosebehaviorcorrelatestothebehaviorofotherselected resources.Youselecttwo(ormore)resourcetagsandvCenter Operations Enterprisecomparestheresources belongingtothosetags,lookingforresourceswhosemetricsandanomaliesindicatecorrelations.
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To run a Performance Correlation report 1 FromtheReportsmenu,selectCorrelation,PerformanceCorrelationReport.ThePerformance CorrelationReportpageappears.
InScope1andScope2,selecttheresourcetagstocomparemetricsfor.Youcanselectmorethanonetag valueineachfield.Ifyouselectmorethanonevalue,vCenter Operations Enterprisefollowstheserules:
Ifyouselectmorethanonevalueforthesametag,theselectionincludesresourcesthathaveeither value. Ifyouselectvaluesfortwoormoredifferenttags,theselectionincludesonlyresourcesthathaveall theselectedvalues.
AlltagsselectedinScope1willbecomparedtoalltagsselectedinScope2. 3 4 5 6 EnteraCorrelationcutoffpercentage,from50to100.Thedefaultissettogeneratereportsforallmetrics withacorrelationof70%ormore. InCustomHeading,youcantypeanidentifyingheaderforthereport.Itwillappearonthereportdirectly beneaththetitle. IntheSelectReportTypefield,choosewhethertodisplaythereportinHTMLformatinanewbrowser windoworasa.pdffile. ClickSubmit.Anewwindowappears,displayingallcorrelatedanomalies.
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Chapter 8 Generating Reports
Behavior Correlation Report

TheBehaviorCorrelationreportshowsthedetailsofcorrelatedmetricsbetweentwochosenresourcesand theirassociatedsymptoms. To run a Behavior Correlation report 1 FromtheReportsmenu,selectCorrelation,BehaviorCorrelationReport.TheBehaviorCorrelation Reportpageappears.
2 3 4
InResource1andResource2,selectthetworesourcestocomparemetricsfor. EnteraCorrelationcutoffpercentage,from50to100.Thedefaultissettogeneratereportsforallmetrics withacorrelationof70%ormore. TogenerateareportonlyforcorrelationsbetweendefinedKPIandothervCenter Operations Enterprise metrics,ChecktheOnlyKeyIndicatorsbox.Thisisthedefault.Clearthecheckboxtoinclude correlationsthatdonotincludeKPI. InCustomHeading,youcantypeanidentifyingheaderforthereport.Itwillappearonthereportdirectly beneaththetitle. IntheSelectReportTypefield,choosewhethertodisplaythereportinHTMLformatinanewbrowser windoworasa.pdffile. ClickSubmit.Anewwindowappears,displayingallcorrelatedmetrics.
5 6 7
Anomaly Correlation Report

TheAnomalyCorrelationreportshowsthedetailsofcorrelatedanomaliesbetweentwochosenresources. To run an Anomaly Correlation report 1 FromtheReportsmenu,selectCorrelation,AnomalyCorrelationReport.TheAnomalyCorrelation Reportpageappears.
2 3
InResource1andResource2,selectthetworesourcestocompareanomaliesfor. EnteraCorrelationcutoffpercentage,from50to100.Thedefaultistoincludeallanomalieswitha correlationof70%ormore.

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ToincludeonlycorrelatedanomaliesbetweendefinedKPIandothervCenter Operations Enterprise metrics,ChecktheOnlyKeyIndicatorsbox.Thisisthedefault.Clearthecheckboxtoincludeanomalies thatdonotincludeKPI. InAdditionalCustomHeading,youcantypeanidentifyingheaderforthereport.Itwillappearonthe reportdirectlybeneaththetitle. IntheReportTypefield,choosewhethertodisplaythereportinHTMLformatinanewbrowserwindow orasa.pdffile. ClickSubmit.Anewwindowappears,displayingcorrelatedanomaliesforthetworesources.
5 6 7
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Index
A
adding dashboard templates 71 dashboards 67 administrative alerts 25 Advanced Health Tree widget 81 Alert Watch List 30 modifying 31 alerts 13, 24, 82 abnormality 25 administrative 25 assigning 40 canceling 30 classic 25 criticality 26 displaying fingerprint details 37 early warning 25 filtering list 29 KPI DT breach 25 KPI HT breach 25 KPI prediction 25 non-KPI DT breach 25 notification 25 overview 23 owning 40 releasing 40 responding to 39 root cause 14 smart 25 system 25 types and subtypes 25 viewing lists 26 watch list 30 Alerts Overview page 26, 29 canceling alerts 30 changing columns 27 filtering list 29 modifying list 27 Alerts widget 82, 83 anomalies 13, 23 for KPI 24 Anomaly Correlation report 115 Application Detail page 48 Application Detail widget 84 Application Overview page 47 Application Overview widget 85
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applications 12, 43 fingerprints 56 listing 47 viewing details 48 viewing Dynamic Dashboard 38, 48 assigning alerts 40 attribute packages 13 attributes 13 dynamic thresholds and hard thresholds 24 in super metrics 13 KPI 24 audit reports 113 automatic dashboard switching 69
B
Behavior Correlation report 115 breadcrumbs 12 business services see applications
C
canceling alerts 30 changing dashboards 68 widgets 73 classic alerts 25 cloning dashboards 68 color scheme, selecting 78 Configuration Overview widget 86 containers 12 copying dashboards 68 creating dashboard templates 71 dashboards 67 criticality of alerts 26 Cross-Silo Analysis 16 Cross-Silo Analysis page 51, 52 customizing widgets 72
D
dashboards 65, 71, 73 adding 67 adding to Home page 20 changing tab order 69 cloning 68 creating 66 creating templates 71
117
default 10 defining widget interaction 74 deleting templates 71 determined by group 10 editing 68 hiding and showing widgets 73 modifying 66 on Home page 9 rotating 69 sharing 70 templates 20, 66, 67, 71 Data Distribution Analysis widget 87 deleting 71 dashboard templates 71 dashboards 71 widgets 74 displaying alert lists 26 application details 48 application list 47 Dynamic Dashboard 38, 48 resource details 47 resource health 47 Dynamic Dashboard page 38, 48 dynamic thresholds anomalies 23 for KPI 24 violations 23
Top-N Analysis 54 Top-N Analysis widget 111 Forensics menu 16, 51
G
Generic Scoreboard widget 88 GEO widget 90
H
header, defining for reports 113 health 15 displaying for resources 47 Health Tree widget 92 Health-Workload Scoreboard widget 93 Heat Map widget 94 hiding widgets 73 Home page 9, 20, 67 changing tab order 69
I
interaction between widgets 74 chart 75 interface overview 9 Internally generated metrics 15
K
Key Performance Indicator see KPI KPI 13, 24 and fingerprints 56 DT breach alerts 25 HT breach alerts 25 KPI HT breach alerts 25 KPI prediction alerts 25
E
early warning alerts 25 Edit a Tab page 68 Edit Widget window 73 editing dashboards 68 widgets 73 Environment Overview page 44
L
listing alerts 26 applications 47 resources 44 logo, defining for reports 113
F
filtering alert list 29 Fingerprint Alert Details page 37 fingerprints 16, 56 displaying infomration for prediction alert 37 library 16 manual 59 forensic analysis 16 forensics Cross-Silo Analysis 51, 52 fingerprints 56 overview 51 Problem Fingerprint Library 56
M
Manage User Account Settings window 78 manual fingerprints 59 Mashup Charts widget 98 menus, list of 11 Metric Graph (Rolling View) widget 102 Metric Graph widget 100 Metric Selector widget 104 Metric Sparklines widget 105 Metric Weather Map widget 106
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Index
metrics 13 alerts and anomalies 23 internally generated 15 super metrics 13 modifying widgets 72 modifying widgets 72
S
sharing dashboards 70 showing widgets 73 smart alerts 25 sparklines 105 super metrics 13 system alerts 25
N
notification alerts 25
T
tabs 65 and dashboards 9 changing order 69 tags 12 automatic tagging 12 using to display resource health 47 values 12 templates for dashboards 71 creating 71 deleting 71 selecting 67 thresholds 13 dynamic see dynamic thresholds tiers 12 Top-N Analysis 16 Top-N Analysis page 54 Top-N Analysis widget 111
O
owning alerts 40
P
Performance Correlation report 113 Problem Fingerprint Library page 56 product overview 9 providing widgets 74
R
receiving widgets 74 releasing alerts 40 removing dashboards 71 widgets 74 report builder 113 reports Anomaly Correlation 115 audit 113 Behavior Correlation 115 defining header for 113 Performance Correlation 113 resizing widgets 73 resources 43 applications 12 defined 12 displaying details 47 displaying health 47 health 15 listing 44 listing on widget 107 super metrics 13 tags see tags tiers 12 viewing Dynamic Dashboard 38, 48 Resources widget 107 responding to alerts 39 root causes 14 RSS feed of alerts 83
U
Upload Default Report Image page 113 user interface breadcrumbs 12 Home page 9 menus 11 navigation 12 overview 9 user preferences, changing 78 users, changing preferences 78
V
viewing alert lists 26 application details 48 application list 47 Dynamic Dashboard 38, 48 resource details 47 resource health 47
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W
weather map 106 widgets 65 adding to a dashboard 68 Advanced Health Tree 81 Alerts 83 Application Detail 84 Application Overview 85 Configuration Overview 86 Data Distribution Analysis 87 defined 11 deleting 74 Generic Scoreboard 88 GEO 90 Health Tree 92 Health-Workload Scoreboard 93 Heat Map 94 hiding and showing 73 interaction 74, 81 interaction chart 75 list of 80 Mashup Charts 98 Metric Graph 100 Metric Graph (Rolling View) 102 Metric Selector 104 Metric Sparklines 105 Metric Weather Map 106 modifying 72, 73 on dashboards 10 overview 80 providing 74 receiving 74 resizing 73 resources 107 Top-N Analysis 111
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VMware vCenter Operations Enterprise Users Guide

vCenter Operations Enterprise 1.0

VMware vCenter Operations Enterprise Users Guide

VMware, Inc. 3401 Hillview Ave. Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com

1 IntroducingvCenter Operations Enterprise 9

vCenter Operations Enterprise Users Guide

ViewingApplicationInformation 47 TheApplicationList 47 ApplicationDetails 48 TheResourceDetailPage 48

ResourcesWidget 107 RootCauseRankingWidget 108 TagSelectorWidget 110 TopNAnalysisWidget 111

vCenter Operations Enterprise Users Guide

About This Book

ThevCenterOperationsEnterpriseUsersGuidedescribeshowtouseVMware vCenter Operations Enterprise tomonitortheperformanceofyourenterprisetodiagnoseandpreventproblems.

VMware Technical Publications Glossary

VMware vCenter Operations Enterprise Documentation

vCenter Operations Enterprise Users Guide

Technical Support and Education Resources

Online and Telephone Support

VMware Professional Services

Introducing vCenter Operations Enterprise

ThissectionintroducesyoutovCenter Operations Enterprise,itsuserinterface,andsomekeytermsand concepts.Itdiscussesthefollowingtopics:

ProductOverviewonpage 9 ThevCenter Operations EnterpriseUserInterfaceonpage 9 TheConceptsofvCenter Operations Enterpriseonpage 12

The vCenter Operations Enterprise User Interface

The Home Page

vCenter Operations Users Guide

Eachdashboardcontainsoneormorewidgets;eachwidgetshowsacollectionofrelateddata.Youcanview anydashboardbyclickingitstab.Youcanconfigurewidgetsanddashboardstoshowthedatayouwantin thecombinationsyouwant.

Chapter 1 Introducing vCenter Operations Enterprise

The Menu Bar

vCenter Operations Users Guide

The Concepts of vCenter Operations Enterprise

Chapter 1 Introducing vCenter Operations Enterprise

Attributes and Metrics

Alerts and Anomalies

vCenter Operations Users Guide

TheAlertsOverviewpagelistsalertsvCenter Operations Enterprisehasgenerated.Youcanfilterthealertlist toshowonlycertaintypesofalerts,orbyothercriteria.

Chapter 1 Introducing vCenter Operations Enterprise

Thenumberrangesshownarethedefaults;anadministratorcanchangethemsothat,forexample,green indicatesascoreabove80insteadof75. AnywheretheresourceislistedinvCenter Operations Enterprise,youcanseethehealthscore,theindicator, orboth.TheHealthwidgetbelowdisplaysthehealthscoreforeachtierofanapplication.

vCenter Operations Users Guide

Helpingyoutoisolateproblems.vCenter Operations Enterprisenarrowsthenumberofpossible silos/tiersinwhichtheproblemmayhaveoccurred,soyoucanfindandresolveitmorequickly. Capturingtheprecursorstoproblemsforrootcauseanalysis. Notifyingyouofproblemsbeforetheyoccur,enablingyoutosolveproblems.

Getting Started with vCenter Operations Enterprise

ThissectionshowsyouhowtogetvCenterOperationsEnterpriseupandrunning.Itdoesnotprovide indepthinformation;itwalksyouthroughsettinguptheminimumconfigurationrequiredtodiscover resources,begincollectingdata,andviewinitialresults. Thissectioncontainsthefollowingtopics:

GettingStartedOverviewonpage 17 GettingStartedOverviewonpage 17 ViewingDashboardsonpage 19 ViewingAlertsonpage 19 ModifyingYourHomePageonpage 20

Getting Started Overview

Loggingon Viewingdashboards Viewingalertinformation Designingdashboardstoshowthedatayouwant

vCenter Operations Enterprise Users Guide

Chapter 2 Getting Started with vCenter Operations Enterprise

vCenter Operations Enterprise Users Guide

To view an alert list and information 1 FromtheAlertsmenu,selectAlertsOverviewtoopentheAlertsOverviewpage.

TheAlertSummarypageshowsthereasonforthealert,theresourceitisfor,itsimpactontheresource, anditslikelyrootcauses.Forevenmoreinformation,youcanclicktheTroubleshootbuttonatthetopof thepage. Formoreinformationaboutalerts,pleaseseeChapter 3.

Modifying Your Home Page

Chapter 2 Getting Started with vCenter Operations Enterprise

To add a preconfigured dashboard to your Home page 1 OntheHomepage,clicktheAdd(+)button.TheAddaTab:PickaTemplatepageappears.

vCenter Operations Enterprise Users Guide

ThissectioncoversthealertingfunctionalityofvCenter Operations Enterprise.Itcontainsthefollowing topics:

IntroductiontoAlertsandAnomaliesonpage 23 AboutAlertsonpage 24 ViewingAlertListsonpage 26 ViewingSingleAlertsonpage 32 RespondingtoAlertsonpage 38

Introduction to Alerts and Anomalies

vCenter Operations Enterprise Users Guide

ThescreenshotbelowshowstheMetricGraphwidgetforametric.Theshadedgrayareashowsthedynamic thresholdforthemetricaslongasthevaluestaysinthatareaitisperformingnormally.Theyellowareas indicateoutofrangevalueswhichgeneratedanomalies.

KPI and Alerts

IftheKPIviolatesaninternallycalculateddynamicthreshold,vCenter Operations Enterprisesendsa SmartKPIBreachalert. IftheKPIviolatesauserdefinedhardthreshold,vCenter Operations EnterprisesendsaClassicKPI Breachalert.

SmartAlertAsmartalertistriggeredwhenaninternallycalculatedvalue,eitheracorrelatedprediction offuturebehaviororadynamicthresholdbreachonaKPI,indicatesthatthereisorsoonwillbea problem.Smartalertsdonotdependonanyuserdefinedvaluesexceptwhichmetricshavebeen designatedKPI.Smartalertshavethreesubtypes:

ClassicAlertsAclassicalertisanalertthatcouldbegeneratedbyclassicmonitoringsoftware;itrelies onuserenteredhardthresholds,notvCenter Operations Enterprisedynamicthresholdsorother advancedcalculations.Classicalertshavethreesubtypes:

AdministrativeAlertsAnadministrativealertindicatesaproblemwithvCenter Operations Enterprise itself,themonitoringsoftwareitiscollectingdatafrom,ortheenterprisenetwork.Administrativealerts havetwosubtypes:

vCenter Operations Enterprise Users Guide

Viewing Alert Lists