vCenter Server Appliance
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.
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.
| Name | Description | Default | Required |
|---|---|---|---|
| update_every | Data collection frequency. | 5 | no |
| autodetection_retry | Recheck interval in seconds. Zero means no recheck will be scheduled. | 0 | no |
| url | Server URL. | yes | |
| timeout | HTTP request timeout. | 1 | no |
| username | Username for basic HTTP authentication. | yes | |
| password | Password for basic HTTP authentication. | yes | |
| proxy_url | Proxy URL. | no | |
| proxy_username | Username for proxy basic HTTP authentication. | no | |
| proxy_password | Password for proxy basic HTTP authentication. | no | |
| method | HTTP request method. | GET | no |
| body | HTTP request body. | no | |
| headers | HTTP request headers. | no | |
| not_follow_redirects | Redirect handling policy. Controls whether the client follows redirects. | false | no |
| tls_skip_verify | Server certificate chain and hostname validation policy. Controls whether the client performs this check. | false | no |
| tls_ca | Certification authority that the client uses when verifying the server’s certificates. | no | |
| tls_cert | Client TLS certificate. | no | |
| tls_key | Client TLS key. | no |
Examples
Basic
An example configuration.
jobs:
- name: vcsa1
url: https://203.0.113.1
username: admin@vsphere.local
password: password
Multi-instance
Note: When you define multiple jobs, their names must be unique.
Two instances.
jobs:
- name: vcsa1
url: https://203.0.113.1
username: admin@vsphere.local
password: password
- name: vcsa2
url: https://203.0.113.10
username: admin@vsphere.local
password: password
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:| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| green | All components in the appliance are healthy. |
| yellow | One or more components in the appliance might become overloaded soon. |
| orange | One or more components in the appliance might be degraded. |
| red | One or more components in the appliance might be in an unusable status and the appliance might become unresponsive soon. |
| gray | No health data is available. |
| unknown | Collector failed to decode status. |
Components Health:
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| green | The component is healthy. |
| yellow | The component is healthy, but may have some problems. |
| orange | The component is degraded, and may have serious problems. |
| red | The component is unavailable, or will stop functioning soon. |
| gray | No health data is available. |
| unknown | Collector failed to decode status. |
Software Updates Health:
| Status | Description |
|---|---|
| green | No updates available. |
| orange | Non-security patches might be available. |
| red | Security patches might be available. |
| gray | An error retrieving information on software updates. |
| unknown | Collector failed to decode status. |
This scope has no labels.
Metrics:
| Metric | Dimensions | Unit |
|---|---|---|
| vcsa.system_health_status | green, red, yellow, orange, gray, unknown | status |
| vcsa.applmgmt_health_status | green, red, yellow, orange, gray, unknown | status |
| vcsa.load_health_status | green, red, yellow, orange, gray, unknown | status |
| vcsa.mem_health_status | green, red, yellow, orange, gray, unknown | status |
| vcsa.swap_health_status | green, red, yellow, orange, gray, unknown | status |
| vcsa.database_storage_health_status | green, red, yellow, orange, gray, unknown | status |
| vcsa.storage_health_status | green, red, yellow, orange, gray, unknown | status |
| vcsa.software_packages_health_status | green, red, orange, gray, unknown | status |
Alerts
The following alerts are available:
| Alert name | On metric | Description |
|---|---|---|
| vcsa_system_health_warn | vcsa.system_health_status | VCSA overall system status is orange. One or more components are degraded. |
| vcsa_system_health_crit | vcsa.system_health_status | VCSA overall system status is red. One or more components are unavailable or will stop functioning soon. |
| vcsa_applmgmt_health_warn | vcsa.applmgmt_health_status | VCSA ApplMgmt component status is orange. It is degraded, and may have serious problems. |
| vcsa_applmgmt_health_crit | vcsa.applmgmt_health_status | VCSA ApplMgmt component status is red. It is unavailable, or will stop functioning soon. |
| vcsa_load_health_warn | vcsa.load_health_status | VCSA Load component status is orange. It is degraded, and may have serious problems. |
| vcsa_load_health_crit | vcsa.load_health_status | VCSA Load component status is red. It is unavailable, or will stop functioning soon. |
| vcsa_mem_health_warn | vcsa.mem_health_status | VCSA Memory component status is orange. It is degraded, and may have serious problems. |
| vcsa_mem_health_crit | vcsa.mem_health_status | VCSA Memory component status is red. It is unavailable, or will stop functioning soon. |
| vcsa_swap_health_warn | vcsa.swap_health_status | VCSA Swap component status is orange. It is degraded, and may have serious problems. |
| vcsa_swap_health_crit | vcsa.swap_health_status | VCSA Swap component status is red. It is unavailable, or will stop functioning soon. |
| vcsa_database_storage_health_warn | vcsa.database_storage_health_status | VCSA Database Storage component status is orange. It is degraded, and may have serious problems. |
| vcsa_database_storage_health_crit | vcsa.database_storage_health_status | VCSA Database Storage component status is red. It is unavailable, or will stop functioning soon. |
| vcsa_storage_health_warn | vcsa.storage_health_status | VCSA Storage component status is orange. It is degraded, and may have serious problems. |
| vcsa_storage_health_crit | vcsa.storage_health_status | VCSA Storage component status is red. It is unavailable, or will stop functioning soon. |
| vcsa_software_packages_health_warn | vcsa.software_packages_health_status | VCSA software packages security updates are available. |
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.ddirectory, usually at/usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/. If that’s not the case on your system, opennetdata.confand look for thepluginssetting under[directories].cd /usr/libexec/netdata/plugins.d/ -
Switch to the
netdatauser.sudo -u netdata -s -
Run the
go.d.pluginto 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