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vCenter Server Appliance

Plugin: go.d.plugin Module: vcsa

Overview

This collector monitors health statistics of vCenter Server Appliance servers.

This collector is supported on all platforms.

This collector supports collecting metrics from multiple instances of this integration, including remote instances.

Default Behavior

Auto-Detection

This integration doesn't support auto-detection.

Limits

The default configuration for this integration does not impose any limits on data collection.

Performance Impact

The default configuration for this integration is not expected to impose a significant performance impact on the system.

Metrics

Metrics grouped by scope.

The scope defines the instance that the metric belongs to. An instance is uniquely identified by a set of labels.

Per vCenter Server Appliance instance

These metrics refer to the entire monitored application.

See health statuses
Overall System Health:
StatusDescription
greenAll components in the appliance are healthy.
yellowOne or more components in the appliance might become overloaded soon.
orangeOne or more components in the appliance might be degraded.
redOne or more components in the appliance might be in an unusable status and the appliance might become unresponsive soon.
grayNo health data is available.
unknownCollector failed to decode status.

Components Health:

StatusDescription
greenThe component is healthy.
yellowThe component is healthy, but may have some problems.
orangeThe component is degraded, and may have serious problems.
redThe component is unavailable, or will stop functioning soon.
grayNo health data is available.
unknownCollector failed to decode status.

Software Updates Health:

StatusDescription
greenNo updates available.
orangeNon-security patches might be available.
redSecurity patches might be available.
grayAn error retrieving information on software updates.
unknownCollector failed to decode status.

This scope has no labels.

Metrics:

MetricDimensionsUnit
vcsa.system_health_statusgreen, red, yellow, orange, gray, unknownstatus
vcsa.applmgmt_health_statusgreen, red, yellow, orange, gray, unknownstatus
vcsa.load_health_statusgreen, red, yellow, orange, gray, unknownstatus
vcsa.mem_health_statusgreen, red, yellow, orange, gray, unknownstatus
vcsa.swap_health_statusgreen, red, yellow, orange, gray, unknownstatus
vcsa.database_storage_health_statusgreen, red, yellow, orange, gray, unknownstatus
vcsa.storage_health_statusgreen, red, yellow, orange, gray, unknownstatus
vcsa.software_packages_health_statusgreen, red, orange, gray, unknownstatus

Alerts

The following alerts are available:

Alert nameOn metricDescription
vcsa_system_health_warn vcsa.system_health_statusVCSA overall system status is orange. One or more components are degraded.
vcsa_system_health_crit vcsa.system_health_statusVCSA overall system status is red. One or more components are unavailable or will stop functioning soon.
vcsa_applmgmt_health_warn vcsa.applmgmt_health_statusVCSA ApplMgmt component status is orange. It is degraded, and may have serious problems.
vcsa_applmgmt_health_crit vcsa.applmgmt_health_statusVCSA ApplMgmt component status is red. It is unavailable, or will stop functioning soon.
vcsa_load_health_warn vcsa.load_health_statusVCSA Load component status is orange. It is degraded, and may have serious problems.
vcsa_load_health_crit vcsa.load_health_statusVCSA Load component status is red. It is unavailable, or will stop functioning soon.
vcsa_mem_health_warn vcsa.mem_health_statusVCSA Memory component status is orange. It is degraded, and may have serious problems.
vcsa_mem_health_crit vcsa.mem_health_statusVCSA Memory component status is red. It is unavailable, or will stop functioning soon.
vcsa_swap_health_warn vcsa.swap_health_statusVCSA Swap component status is orange. It is degraded, and may have serious problems.
vcsa_swap_health_crit vcsa.swap_health_statusVCSA Swap component status is red. It is unavailable, or will stop functioning soon.
vcsa_database_storage_health_warn vcsa.database_storage_health_statusVCSA Database Storage component status is orange. It is degraded, and may have serious problems.
vcsa_database_storage_health_crit vcsa.database_storage_health_statusVCSA Database Storage component status is red. It is unavailable, or will stop functioning soon.
vcsa_storage_health_warn vcsa.storage_health_statusVCSA Storage component status is orange. It is degraded, and may have serious problems.
vcsa_storage_health_crit vcsa.storage_health_statusVCSA Storage component status is red. It is unavailable, or will stop functioning soon.
vcsa_software_packages_health_warn vcsa.software_packages_health_statusVCSA software packages security updates are available.

Setup

Prerequisites

No action required.

Configuration

File

The configuration file name for this integration is go.d/vcsa.conf.

You can edit the configuration file using the edit-config script from the Netdata config directory.

cd /etc/netdata 2>/dev/null || cd /opt/netdata/etc/netdata
sudo ./edit-config go.d/vcsa.conf

Options

The following options can be defined globally: update_every, autodetection_retry.

Config options
NameDescriptionDefaultRequired
update_everyData collection frequency.5no
autodetection_retryRecheck interval in seconds. Zero means no recheck will be scheduled.0no
urlServer URL.yes
timeoutHTTP request timeout.1no
usernameUsername for basic HTTP authentication.yes
passwordPassword for basic HTTP authentication.yes
proxy_urlProxy URL.no
proxy_usernameUsername for proxy basic HTTP authentication.no
proxy_passwordPassword for proxy basic HTTP authentication.no
methodHTTP request method.GETno
bodyHTTP request body.no
headersHTTP request headers.no
not_follow_redirectsRedirect handling policy. Controls whether the client follows redirects.falseno
tls_skip_verifyServer certificate chain and hostname validation policy. Controls whether the client performs this check.falseno
tls_caCertification authority that the client uses when verifying the server's certificates.no
tls_certClient TLS certificate.no
tls_keyClient TLS key.no

Examples

Basic

An example configuration.

Config
jobs:
- name: vcsa1
url: https://203.0.113.1
username: [email protected]
password: password

Multi-instance

Note: When you define multiple jobs, their names must be unique.

Two instances.

Config
jobs:
- name: vcsa1
url: https://203.0.113.1
username: [email protected]
password: password

- name: vcsa2
url: https://203.0.113.10
username: [email protected]
password: password

Troubleshooting

Debug Mode

Important: Debug mode is not supported for data collection jobs created via the UI using the Dyncfg feature.

To troubleshoot issues with the vcsa collector, run the go.d.plugin with the debug option enabled. The output should give you clues as to why the collector isn't working.

  • Navigate to the plugins.d directory, usually at /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/. If that's not the case on your system, open netdata.conf and look for the plugins setting under [directories].

    cd /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/
  • Switch to the netdata user.

    sudo -u netdata -s
  • Run the go.d.plugin to debug the collector:

    ./go.d.plugin -d -m vcsa

Getting Logs

If you're encountering problems with the vcsa collector, follow these steps to retrieve logs and identify potential issues:

  • Run the command specific to your system (systemd, non-systemd, or Docker container).
  • Examine the output for any warnings or error messages that might indicate issues. These messages should provide clues about the root cause of the problem.

System with systemd

Use the following command to view logs generated since the last Netdata service restart:

journalctl _SYSTEMD_INVOCATION_ID="$(systemctl show --value --property=InvocationID netdata)" --namespace=netdata --grep vcsa

System without systemd

Locate the collector log file, typically at /var/log/netdata/collector.log, and use grep to filter for collector's name:

grep vcsa /var/log/netdata/collector.log

Note: This method shows logs from all restarts. Focus on the latest entries for troubleshooting current issues.

Docker Container

If your Netdata runs in a Docker container named "netdata" (replace if different), use this command:

docker logs netdata 2>&1 | grep vcsa

Do you have any feedback for this page? If so, you can open a new issue on our netdata/learn repository.