VMware vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack™ 1 · VMware vRealize ® Operations Federation Management Pack™ The vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack document

VMware vRealize® OperationsFederation Management Pack™ 1.0

vRealize Operations Manager

VMware vRealize®

Operations Federation Management Pack™ 1.0

2 VMware, Inc.

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Contents

VMware vRealize® Operations Federation Management Pack™ 5

1 Introduction 7

2 Sizing and Collection Time Interval Considerations 9

3 Install vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack 11

4 Configure vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack 13

Configuration File in Federation MP 14Locate Configuration File 14Best Practices for Configuration File Management 15

5 Federation Management Pack Dashboards 17

Getting Started - Federation Dashboard 17Infrastructure Capacity 20Infrastructure Configuration 22SDDC Health and Configuration 23

6 Customizing Icons in vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack 25

Customize Icons 25

Index 27

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VMware vRealize® Operations FederationManagement Pack™

The vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack document provides information about the federationfeature that is introduced in vRealize Operations Manager.

Intended AudienceThis information is intended for anyone who wants to install the federation feature to manage distributeddeployments of vRealize Operations Manager instances.

VMware Technical Publications GlossaryVMware Technical Publications provides a glossary of terms that might be unfamiliar to you. For definitionsof terms as they are used in VMware technical documentation, go to http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

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http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs

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Introduction 1With vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack you can unify your multi-sitevRealize Operations Manager deployment into a single pane of glass. You can instantiate a deployment ofvRealize Operations Manager with the capability of receiving key metrics for specified objects from othervRealize Operations Manager deployment in your environment.

The management pack allows you to unlock the following use cases:

n Provide a summary of performance, capacity, and configuration to Senior Executives and VirtualInfrastructure Administrators across all your vSphere environments.

n Provide a unified view of events triggered across the virtual environments into a single pane formaking it easier for NOC or Helpdesk to initiate action.

n Ability to create a data warehouse where user selected set of metrics can be stored for data archivingand report use cases.

n Ability to provide summarized views of health and configuration of your Software Defined data centerstack. This includes core applications such as VMware vCenter Server, VMware NSX, and VMwarevSAN. The solution also covers the management applications such as vRealize Operations Manager,vRealize Log Insight, vRealize Automation, vRealize Business, and VMware Site Recovery Manager.

ArchitectureThe vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack follows a simple server-client architecture. Thismanagement pack is installed on the vRealize Operations Manager instance, which you have identified asyour unified single pane of glass instance. It is highly recommended that this instance is only used forfederation. After you deploy vRealize Operations Manager, you can use the management pack configurationpage to add your existing vRealize Operations Management instances to point to this federated instance.

When configuring the management pack, enter the name of a configuration file that stores the informationabout the objects and metrics to be fetched from your existing vRealize Operations Manager instances intothe newly deployed federated instance.

Example: You can plan your architecture to apply the capabilities ofvRealize Operations Federation Management Pack.

ACME Corp a Global Manufacturing company has virtual environments spanning across the globe to meettheir regional business requirements. They are leveraging the VMware Software Defined data center toprovide key IT services to line of business. They have an SDDC footprint in Singapore, London,Johannesburg, and San Jose. As a part of their Capacity Management and Performance Troubleshootingrequirements they are leveraging vRealize Operations Manager to help their Operations and Procurementteams. They currently have an instance of vRealize Operations Manager deployed at each of these data

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center locations. ACME Corporation is looking to leverage thevRealize Operations Federation Management Pack to create a single pane of glass across all the data centerlocations. They want to leverage this single pane for their operations, capacity procurement, and seniorexecutives to provide them with a unified view of their IT landscape. As their London data center has thelargest footprint and low latency connectivity to other data centers, they want to host this unified instance intheir London data center

Based on the mentioned requirements, ACME Corp has deployed a new instance ofvRealize Operations Manager with the Federation Management pack using the following deploymentarchitecture:

Logical Architecture of the vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack for ACME Corp.

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Sizing and Collection Time IntervalConsiderations 2

The vRealize Operations Manager instance hosting the federation management pack should be sized justlike any other vRealize Operations Manager instances.

For more information, see the KB article 2150421. The following are the best practices.n Out-of-the-box, vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack collects data for objects such as ESXi

hosts, clusters, datacenters, datastores, and so on. Virtual machine data is not collected. Based on this,most of the environments can be monitored with one Extra Large Node.

n The federation instance of vRealize Operations Manager should be used only for collecting data fromthe federation MP. No other MP on this vRealize Operations Manager instance should be configured tocollect from any other data sources.

n If you add new objects and metrics to an existing deployment of your federationvRealize Operations Manager instance, ensure to run the sizing calculator to meet the sizingrequirements.

n With vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack, you can either collect data directly from childvRealize Operations Manager instances or use a remote collector to optimize the collection process. Thedefault collection cycle of vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack is 5 minutes. This timeinterval works accurately for a centralized vRealize Operations Manager collecting data from otherchild vRealize Operations Manager instances that are located within a short distance. You can also use aremote collector for data collection. Otherwise, when centralized vRealize Operations Manager collectsdata directly without a remote collector and latency is long, you can set the collection interval to 15minutes. This ensures data collection without any gaps.

n As most of the federation use cases are met by collecting data for objects other than virtual machinesfrom your environment, it is recommended to avoid the collection of virtual machine data as thisdrastically increases the sizing requirement for the federation instance in a large-scale environment.

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http://kb.vmware.com/kb/2150421

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InstallvRealize Operations FederationManagement Pack 3

The vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack requires a dedicated instance ofvRealize Operations Manager on which this solution is installed. The dedicated instance applies themanagement pack to communicate to your other vRealize Operations Manager instances in yourenvironment to collect key metrics.

Prerequisites

n Download the vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack PAK file from VMware Marketplace.

n Verify that you have at least one vRealize Operations Manager node deployed to install the federationmanagement pack.

n It is recommended to install the VMware SDDC Management Health Solution on the childvRealize Operations Manager instances, to get a federated view of the health of all the SDDC core andmanagement applications installed across your environment.

Procedure

1 Log in to the vRealize Operations Manager with administrator privileges.

2 In the menu, click Administrator, and then in the left pane, click Solutions.

3 On the Solutions, click the plus sign.

4 Browse to locate the temporary folder and select the PAK file.

5 Click Upload.

The upload might take several minutes.

6 Read and accept the EULA, and click Next.

7 When the Federation Management pack is installed, click Finish.

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ConfigurevRealize Operations FederationManagement Pack 4

You can configure adapter instances and add the vRealize Operations Manager instances you want tomonitor.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have installed vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack.

Procedure

1 From the Solutions list, select vROps Federation Adapter.

2 Click the gear icon to edit an object.

3 Enter the display name of the adapter.

4 Enter the source vRealize Operations Manager host name or IP address.

Note You can either use the host name of IP address of the master node of your childvRealize Operations Manager deployment or use the Load Balancer Virtual IP or DNS Name. Use ashort name and do not use FQDN.

5 Enter the federation_config in the Configuration File Name.

federation_config is the default configuration file shipped with the management pack. For moreinformation, see “Configuration File in Federation MP,” on page 14.

6 Enter the Credential details.

7 Click Save Settings.

8 Repeat the steps from step 1 through step 7 for multiple instances of vRealize Operations Manager.

9 You can view the collection status of all the multiple instances of vRealize Operations Manager underthe solution page.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n “Configuration File in Federation MP,” on page 14

n “Locate Configuration File,” on page 14

n “Best Practices for Configuration File Management,” on page 15

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Configuration File in Federation MPWhen you configure a federation adapter instance, you must specify a config file. The config file specifieswhat kind of information an adapter instance must collect. Out-of-the-box, the federation MP is shippedwith config file named as federation_config.

The config file retrieves the following information.

n Resources

n Metrics

n Properties

For example, if you want the adapter to collect information like host system and CPU metrics of that object,then this information needs to be defined in the config file. When these parameters are added, then theadapter instance starts collecting information pertaining to the required specification. The changes arereflected in the config file only when the adapter instance is restarted.

Types of config files used in thevRealize Operations Federation Management Pack

Default Config File vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack contains a default configfile. The vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack dashboards arebased on these config files. The default config file contains information ofvCenter to host level and not VM level. The config file also providesinformation of vCenter operation adapter objects,VMware SDDC Health Solution adapter, andVMware Site Recovery Manager adapter.

Heterogeneous ConfigFile

You are not limited to using the same config file for all adapter instanceswhen you are configuring multiple adapter instances for a separate child ofvRealize Operations Manager instance. You can collect different data fromdifferent child vRealize Operations Manager instances. You can havedifferent level of information in different config files.

Locate Configuration FileThe default file has pre-defined objects and metrics, which are collected from the childvRealize Operations Manager instances.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have installed the Federation MP on your environment.

Procedure

1 Login to vRealize Operations Manager as an Admin.

2 In the menu, click Administration, and in the left pane click Configuration > Metric Configurations.

3 Under Metric Configurations, expand ReskndMetric.

You can see the newly installed federation_config file in the list.

4 You can view the content of this file by selecting this file from the list.

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Best Practices for Configuration File ManagementFollow certain best practices to ensure optimal performance of thevRealize Operations Federation Management Pack.

n Do not modify the out-of-the-box shipped configuration file. Create a file, copy the content of the out ofthe box file and make additions to this new file.

n Do not remove objects or metrics included in the out-of-the-box configuration file as it impacts thecontent of the out-of-the-box dashboards.

n Once you have created a configuration file, it is required to stop the collection on the federationmanagement pack, change the configuration file name field to reflect the newly created file and start thecollection again. The federation adapter will now start collecting the additional objects and metrics.

n Version control the configuration files with proper naming conventions and version numbers.

n Avoid adding objects and metrics which are not required to be collected.

n Test your newly created configuration file with a test instance of child vRealize Operations Managerinstance before applying it to your production systems.

n The collection of federated metrics from child vRealize Operations Manager monitored by federationmanagement pack is not managed in policies. The addition and removal of metrics and properties ismanaged directly inside the configuration file. Only the metrics and properties configured in thefederation config file are collected. The collection of configured metrics and properties can be disabledand re-enabled from policy.

Chapter 4 Configure vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack

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Federation Management PackDashboards 5

The vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack caters to certain out-of- the-box use cases, which aredelivered through dashboards. After installation and configuration of the management pack, you can accessthese out-of- the-box dashboards.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have installed vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack solution. See Chapter 3,“Install vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack,” on page 11 for information on installing.

Procedure

1 To access the dashboards, in the left pane of the VMware vRealize Operations Manager, clickDashboards.

2 Click Federation to view all dashboards.

3 From the dashboard list, select Getting Started- Federation dashboard in the list of all the dashboardsand associated use cases.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n “Getting Started - Federation Dashboard,” on page 17

n “Infrastructure Capacity,” on page 20

n “Infrastructure Configuration,” on page 22

n “SDDC Health and Configuration,” on page 23

Getting Started - Federation DashboardThe Getting Started - Federation dashboard displays the catalog of federation dashboards and the federationdeployment map.

You can step through the multiple categories under federation page to cater to specific use cases. Thedeployment map on this page provides a topology of your Federation Deployment with colors depicting thecurrent health and collection status.

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Figure 5‑1. Getting Started - Federation Dashboard

Infrastructure OperationsThe Getting Started page provides access to the following OOTB categories. The infrastructure categorycaters to Senior Executives and NOC users by providing them an operations summary and alerts. Thedashboards under this category are.

n Operations Summary

n Alerts Overview

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Operations Summary DashboardThe Operations Overview dashboard provides a count of your infrastructure inventory objects across all thevRealize Operations Manager instances being monitored by thevRealize Operations Federation Management Pack. It provides you the overall alert volume in theseenvironment, along with a summarized view of health and capacity of the vSphere clusters in yourenvironment.

Figure 5‑2. Operations Summary Dashboard

Alerts OverviewThe Alerts Overview dashboard provides the alerts page of vRealize Operations Manager. On this page, youcan not only view the alerts triggered on your vRealize Operations Manager federation instance, but alsoview the alerts triggered in your child vRealize Operations Manager instances.

The overview page includes all the alerts triggered on the vRealize Operations Manager instance and is notdependent on the objects you are monitoring from the child vRealize Operations Manager instance.

This page can help your NOC teams to have a single pane for all the alerts across your environments. Toview the details of a specific alert, click on that alert to get directed to the childvRealize Operations Manager instance where the alert was originally triggered for troubleshootingpurposes.

Chapter 5 Federation Management Pack Dashboards

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Figure 5‑3. Alerts Overview

Infrastructure CapacityThe Infrastructure Capacity category caters to Senior Executives and NOC users by providing them anoverview of overall capacity and reclamation opportunities.

The following dashboards are under the Infrastructure Capacity:

n Capacity Summary

n Capacity Optimization

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Capacity Summary DashboardThe Capacity Summary Dashboard provides you with a summary of the total physical capacity availableacross all your environments being monitored by multiple instances of vRealize Operations Manager. Thedashboard also provides you a list view of all your clusters across your environment with details aroundinventory, capacity and utilization of those clusters. You can export this list into a CSV file for reportingpurposes.

Figure 5‑4. Capacity Summary Dashboard

Capacity Optimization DashboardThe Capacity Optimization dashboard provides you a quick view of resource optimization opportunitieswithin your virtual infrastructure. This dashboard is focused on improving the efficiency of your multipleinstances of vRealize Operations Manager environment by reducing the wastage of resources.

Figure 5‑5. Capacity Optimization Dashboard


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Infrastructure ConfigurationInfrastructure Configuration category caters to Senior Executives and virtual infrastructure admin byproviding them the summary of ESXi Host and cluster configurations.

The dashboards under Infrastructure Configuration category are:

n vSphere Cluster Configuration

n vSphere Host Configuration

vSphere Cluster Configuration DashboardThe vSphere Cluster Configuration dashboard provides a quick overview of your vSphere clusterconfigurations from various instances of vRealize Operations Manager. The dashboard highlights the areasthat are important in delivering performance and availability to your virtual machines.

Figure 5‑6. vSphere Cluster Configuration Dashboard

The dashboard also highlights if there are vSphere clusters which are not configured for DRS, HighAvailability (HA), or admission control to avoid any resource bottlenecks or availability issues when a hostfails. The heat map in this dashboard helps you to identify if you have hosts where vMotion was not enabledas this may not allow the VMs to move from or to that host. This may cause potential performance issues forthe VMs on that host if the host gets too busy.

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vSphere Host Configuration DashboardThe vSphere Host Configuration dashboard provides an overview of your ESXi host configurations, anddisplays inconsistencies so that you can take corrective action.

Figure 5‑7. vSphere Host Configuration Dashboard

The dashboard also measures the ESXi hosts against the vSphere best practices and indicates deviations thatcan impact the performance or availability of your virtual infrastructure. Although you can view this type ofdata in other dashboards, in this dashboard you can export the ESXi configuration view and share it withother administrators.

SDDC Health and ConfigurationThis category caters to Senior Executives and virtual infrastructure admin by providing them the summaryof health and configuration of the SDDC Management Stack.

Health & Configuration dashboard is available under the SDDC Health and Configuration category.

Health and Configuration DashboardThis dashboard provides health of all the SDDC components. The federation adapter monitors and displaysthe health of vCenter Server, vRealize Operations Manager health, vRealize Automation and other stackcomponents.

Note Verify to install and configure the SDDC health adapter installed on the childvRealize Operations Manager instances to display the health and configuration information in thisdashboard.


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Figure 5‑8. Health and Configuration Dashboard

This dashboard provides information of summary of the number of SDDC components, applications,deployments and its health status. The SDDC instances and Issue count widget in the dashboard displaysdetailed information of which object requires an immediate attention and from which instance the issue hasoccurred. When you click on the particular vRealize Operations Manager child instance, you can drill downto analyze the root cause of an issue.

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Customizing Icons in vRealizeOperations Federation ManagementPack 6

Every object or adapter in your environment has an icon representation. You can customize how the iconappears.

You can customize the appearance of the icons for your federation objects.

Customize IconsEvery object or adapter in your environment has an icon representation. You can customize how the iconappears. You can use familiar or customized icons from vCenter Server, VMware vSAN,vRealize Operations Management Pack for NSX for vSphere or VMware SDDC Management Health MPadapter for the federation objects.

Prerequisites

If you want to add new icons, then verify that you have an icon on your local machine.

Procedure

1 In the menu, click Administration, and then in the left pane, click Configuration > Icons

2 Select the adapter type from the Adapter type drop-down.

3 Select the Object type and then click the Assign Default Icons

4 To assign default icons for a selected object type, click Yes.

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Index

Aaccessing 17alerts 19

Bbest practice 15

Ccapacity optimization 21capacity summary 21config file 14configuration file 14customize icons 25

Ggetting started 17glossary 5

Hhealth and configuration 23

Iinstalling 11intended audience 5

Ooperations summary 19

Sserver object 13

Ttime interval 9

Vvsphere cluster configuration 22vsphere host config 23

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VMware vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack™ 1 · VMware vRealize ® Operations Federation Management Pack™ The vRealize Operations Federation Management Pack document

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