VMware Monitoring

Skip Prerequisites, Web and LPAR2RRD tabs in case of configuring Virtual Appliance, Docker or a Container

HW sizing


Consider usage of our brand new full-stack infrastructure monitoring tool XorMon as LPAR2RRD replacement.
It brings a new level of infrastructure monitoring by relying on a modern technology stack.
In particular, reporting, exporting, alerting and presentation capabilities are unique on the market.

Follow installation procedure for your operating system platform
VMware monitoring diagram

Create a user in the vCenter

    create user lpar2rrd@vsphere.local with read-only role

  • Newer vCenters:
    Login to the vCenter. Choose the hamburger menu from the top left and choose Administration.
    Then create your "lpar2rrd" user (Note: screenshots use "xormon" user).
    VMware monitoring: vCenter user setup

    Then assign the user the read only role. You must check "Propagate to children".
    VMware monitoring: vCenter user setup

    Then when setting up in LPAR2RRD ensure you use the account xormon@vsphere.local

  • Older vCenters:
    It must be the global one (like below lpar2rrd user in xorux.com domain)
    VMware monitoring: user rights

    Assign xormon user read-only role
    VMware monitoring: user rights 1


  • Allow access from the LPAR2RRD host to vCenter on port 443 TCP (https).
    You can test it via command line like below or during connection test from the UI. 
    perl /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/bin/conntest.pl <vCenter-host> 443  
  Connection to <vCenter-host> on port "443" is ok
  • Installation of VMware Perl SDK (not needed in LPAR2RRD v7.90+)

Configuration

  • Continue by define VMware hosts (vCenter) in the UI:
    http://your_web_server/lpar2rrd/
    Add credentials for every vCenter if it is not managed by the vCenter
    Settings ➡ VMware ➡ New ➡ place credentials (username in format: lpar2rrd@your_domain)
    Test vCenter connection via "Test" button.

    VMware install

  • Run "Connection test" for each added vCenter to assure that it is ok

  • When you use Virtual Appliance then use "run data load" button and wait a bit.
    Your vcenter appears in a few minutes after Ctrl-F5 (browser refresh). That is all!

  • When you do not use Virtual Appliance then run ./load.sh which starts collecting of VMware data 
    cd /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd
./load.sh
  • You should see VMware hosts in the UI when load.sh finishes (reload the UI in the browser via Ctrl-F5)

Troubleshooting

  • If you get "Server version unavailable" during connection test or during manual connection then: 
    cd /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd
. etc/lpar2rrd.cfg
$PERL vmware-lib/apps/connect.pl --server <server name> --username "lpar2rrd"
  Server version unavailable at 'https://vcenter01:443/sdk/vimService.wsdl' at /lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/vmware-lib/apps/..//VMware/VICommon.pm line 734.
    1. Make sure firewall does not blocked the traffic in layer 7

    2. If above is is not the case or did not help then follow these procedures

  • Data is not being collected with this error in error.log 
    more /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/logs/error.log
Thu Feb 18 10:49:01 2016: vmware name: vcenter01 has not array of hosts ?!? : 
...
    The reason is that user you have configured for retrieving data from the vCenter probably has not read access to whole vCenter and it cannot access all required perf counters.
    Consult user rights setup with your vCenter administrator.

  • Test vCenter connection from the command line:
    1. With entering password manually: 
      cd /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd
. etc/lpar2rrd.cfg
$PERL vmware-lib/apps/connect.pl --server <vCenter host> --username "lpar2rrd@your_domain" --password "XXXXX"
    Connection Successful
    Server Time : 2016-08-02T06:58:26.355767Z
    2. By using saved password already: 
      $PERL vmware-lib/apps/connect.pl --server <vCenter host> --username "vCenter read only user" --credstore .vmware/credstore/vicredentials.xml
      You should get the same answer with no password request.
      Use the same hostname and username as defined in LPAR2RRD VMware Configuration.

  • In case of a problem check our forum or contact us via support@lpar2rrd.com



OS agent is add-on feature for monitoring from operating system level.
It is monitoring CPU, memory utilization, paging, LAN and SAN traffic on all adapters.
It requires the OS agent deployment to every monitored VM.
The agent is written in Perl and calls basic OS commands to obtain required statistics like vmstat, iostat.

OS agent architecture

Additional information about the OS agent:

Prerequisites

  • Perl
  • Opened TCP communication between each VM and LPAR2RRD server on port 8162.
    Connections are initiated from VM side.
  • Additional disk space on LPAR2RRD server (about 40MB per each monitored VM)
  • Create preferable dedicated user lpar2rrd on each VM with minimum rights 
    # useradd -c "LPAR2RRD agent user" -m lpar2rrd

OS agent installation (client)

  • Get the latest OS agent from download page

  • Linux installation under root
    # rpm -Uvh lpar2rrd-agent-5.00-0.noarch.rpm
# rpm -qa|grep lpar2rrd-agent
  lpar2rrd-agent-5.00-0
  • Solaris x86 installation under root: 
    # gunzip lpar2rrd-agent-5.00-0.solaris-i86pc.tar.gz
# tar xf lpar2rrd-agent-5.00-0.solaris-i86pc.tar
# pkgadd -d .
  The following packages are available:
  1  lpar2rrd-agent     LPAR2RRD OS agent 5.00
                        (i86pc) 5.00
 ...
    Solaris upgrade under root: 
    # pkgrm lpar2rrd-agent
# pkgadd -d .
  • Schedule its run every minute from the crontab on every VM.
    This line must be placed into lpar2rrd crontab: 
    # su - lpar2rrd
crontab -e 
* * * * * /usr/bin/perl /opt/lpar2rrd-agent/lpar2rrd-agent.pl <LPAR2RRD-SERVER> > /var/tmp/lpar2rrd-agent.out 2>&1
    Replace <LPAR2RRD-SERVER> by hostname of your LPAR2RRD server.

  • You might need to add lpar2rrd user into /etc/cron.allow (Linux) or /var/adm/cron/cron.allow (AIX) if 'crontab -e' command fails
    Allow it for lpar2rrd user as root user. 
    # echo "lpar2rrd" >> /etc/cron.allow

LPAR2RRD server (daemon)

  • Edit etc/lpar2rrd.cfg and set following (if it is not already set): 
    vi /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/etc/lpar2rrd.cfg

LPAR2RRD_AGENT_DAEMON=1
  • The daemon is started when load.sh starts 
    ./load.sh
  Starting LPAR2RRD daemon on port:8162
  ...
  • Assure it is running and listening on port 8162: 
    ps -ef|grep lpar2rrd-daemon
  lpar2rrd 10617010 1 0 Mar 16 - 0:00 /usr/bin/perl -w /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/bin/lpar2rrd-daemon.pl
netstat -an| grep 8162
  tcp4  0  0  *.8162   *.*   LISTEN
  • OS agent data graphs will appear in the UI, use Ctrl-F5 to refresh your web browser

Troubleshooting

  • Client (agent) side:
    • Test if communication through the LAN is allowed. 
      telnet  <LPAR2RRD-SERVER> 8162
  Connected to 192.168.1.1   .
  Escape character is '^]'.
      This is ok, exit either Ctrl-C or ^].

    • Check following agent files:
      data store: /var/tmp/lpar2rrd-agent-*.txt
      error log: /var/tmp/lpar2rrd-agent-*.err
      output log: /var/tmp/lpar2rrd-agent.out

    • run the agent from cmd line: 
      /usr/bin/perl /opt/lpar2rrd-agent/lpar2rrd-agent.pl -d <LPAR2RRD-SERVER>
  ...
  Agent send     : yes : forced by -d 
  Agent send slp: sending wait: 4
  OS/HMC agent working for server: <LPAR2RRD-SERVER>
  store file for sending is /var/tmp/lpar2rrd-agent-<LPAR2RRD-SERVER>-lpar2rrd.txt
      It means that data has been sent to the server, all is fine
      Here is example when the agent is not able to sent data : 
      /usr/bin/perl /opt/lpar2rrd-agent/lpar2rrd-agent.pl -d <LPAR2RRD-SERVER>
  ...
  Agent send     : yes : forced by -d 
  Agent send slp: sending wait: 1
  OS/HMC agent working for server: <LPAR2RRD-SERVER>
  store file for sending is /var/tmp/lpar2rrd-agent-<LPAR2RRD-SERVER>-lpar2rrd.txt
  Agent timed out after : 50 seconds /opt/lpar2rrd-agent/lpar2rrd-agent.pl:265
      It means that the agent could not contact the server.
      Check communication, port, above telnet example, DNS resolution of the server etc.

  • Server side:
    • test if the daemon on LPAR2RRD server is running, and checking the logs 
      ps -ef|grep lpar2rrd-daemon
  lpar2rrd 10617010 1 0 Mar 16 - 0:00 /usr/bin/perl -w /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/bin/lpar2rrd-daemon.pl
cd /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd
tail logs/error.log-daemon
tail logs/daemon.out
  new server has been found and registered: Linux (lpar=linuxhost01)
  mkdir : /lpar2rrd/data/Linux/no_hmc/linuxhost01/
      It means that new OS agent has been registered from linuxhost01 (Linux stand-alone example)

    • Test if OS agent data is being stored on the LPAR2RRD server and have actual timestamp: 
      cd /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd
ls -l data/<server name>/*/<VM name>/*mmm
  -rw-r--r-- 2 lpar2rrd staff  7193736 Mar 17 16:16 data/<server name>/no_hmc/<VM name>/cpu.mmm
  -rw-r--r-- 2 lpar2rrd staff  7193736 Mar 17 16:16 data/<server name>/no_hmc/<VM name>/lan-en1.mmm
  -rw-r--r-- 2 lpar2rrd staff 10790264 Mar 17 16:16 data/<server name>/no_hmc/<VM name>/mem.mmm
  -rw-r--r-- 2 lpar2rrd staff  7193736 Mar 17 16:16 data/<server name>/no_hmc/<VM name>/pgs.mmm
  -rw-r--r-- 2 lpar2rrd staff  7193736 Mar 17 16:16 data/<server name>/no_hmc/<VM name>/san-vscsi0.mmm
  -rw-r--r-- 2 lpar2rrd staff  3597208 Mar 17 16:16 data/<server name>/no_hmc/<VM name>/san_resp-vscsi0.mmm
find data -name mem.mmm -exec ls -l {} \;
  ...
  • In case of a problem check our forum or contact us via support@lpar2rrd.com.
    We would need this data for start of troubleshooting.

Notes

    You will not need to upgrade LPAR2RRD agents regularly with each LPAR2RRD upgrade.
    Read release notes if that is necessary.
    Check OS agent upgrade steps.

Install LPAR2RRD server (all under lpar2rrd user)

  • Download the latest LPAR2RRD server
    Upgrade your already running LPAR2RRD instance.

  • Install it: 
    # su - lpar2rrd
tar xvf lpar2rrd-7.XX.tar
cd lpar2rrd-7.XX
./install.sh
cd /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd
  • Make sure all Perl modules are in place
    cd /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd
. etc/lpar2rrd.cfg; $PERL bin/perl_modules_check.pl
    If there is missing "LWP::Protocol::https" then check this docu to fix it

  • Enable Apache authorisation 
    su - lpar2rrd
umask 022
cd /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd
cp html/.htaccess www
cp html/.htaccess lpar2rrd-cgi
  • Schedule to run it from lpar2rrd crontab (it might already exist there)
    crontab -l | grep load.sh
    Add if it does not exist as above 
    crontab -e

# LPAR2RRD UI
0,30 * * * * /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/load.sh > /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/load.out 2>&1
    Assure there is just one such entry in crontab.

  • You might need to add lpar2rrd user into /etc/cron.allow (Linux) or /var/adm/cron/cron.allow (AIX) if 'crontab -e' command fails
    Allow it for lpar2rrd user as root user. 
    # echo "lpar2rrd" >> /etc/cron.allow
  • Initial start from cmd line: 
    cd /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd
./load.sh
  • Go to the web UI: http://<your web server>/lpar2rrd/
    Use Ctrl-F5 to refresh the web browser cache.

Troubleshooting

  • If you have any problems with the UI then check:
    (note that the path to Apache logs might be different, search apache logs in /var) 
    tail /var/log/httpd/error_log             # Apache error log
tail /var/log/httpd/access_log            # Apache access log
tail /var/tmp/lpar2rrd-realt-error.log    # STOR2RRD CGI-BIN log
tail /var/tmp/systemd-private*/tmp/lpar2rrd-realt-error.log # STOR2RRD CGI-BIN log when Linux has enabled private temp
  • Test of CGI-BIN setup 
    umask 022
cd /home/lpar2rrd/lpar2rrd/
cp bin/test-healthcheck-cgi.sh lpar2rrd-cgi/
    go to the web browser: http://<your web server>/lpar2rrd/test.html
    You should see your Apache, LPAR2RRD, and Operating System variables, if not, then check Apache logs for connected errors