VMware vCenter plugin

An on-prem data source uses a relay agent to connect SquaredUp to a data source running on your internal network.

A relay agent is installed on a server on your internal network, and has access to your data source.

Using a relay agent means that you don't need to open your firewall to allow access.

If you are adding a plugin marked as On-Prem, you will need a relay agent that can access the server hosting your on-prem data source. You do not need a relay agent for cloud plugins.

If you have already created a relay agent in SquaredUp that can access this data source, then you can skip this step and choose the agent group you want to use while Configuring the data source.

You can install an agent on either Windows or Linux:

• Configuring an agent (Windows platforms)
• Configuring an agent (Linux platforms)

By default, the following URL is used to connect to ESX or ESXi, and vCenter:

• ESX or ESXi: https://{manager-address}/sdk/vimService.wsdl
• vCenter: https://{manager-address}/sdk/vimService.wsdl

The URL can vary in your environment if the administrator of the ESX box or vCenter changed the configuration of the API. For example, if the HTTP protocol is used instead of the HTTPS one.

Ensure that the vSphere Web Services SDK is set up and verify if the given URL is valid. To check if the URL can be accessed, paste it to the Web browser. If the URL cannot be accessed, check the setup of the URL in the vCenter settings. To do this, go to vCenter Server Settings > Advanced Settings and see the setting of the VirtualCenter.VimApiUrl parameter. If the URL cannot be reached, consult your VMware administrator.

Authentication and authorization govern access. vCenter Single Sign-On supports authentication, which means it determines whether a user can log in to vSphere components at all. Each user must be authorized to view or manipulate vSphere objects.

vCenter Server allows fine-grained control over authorization with permissions and roles. When you assign a permission to an object in the vCenter Server object hierarchy, you specify which user or group has which privileges on that object. To specify the privileges, you use roles, which are sets of privileges.

Privileges can be assigned to a user or group by selecting an object, such as a virtual machine or a vCenter Server system, and assigning a role on that object for the user or group.

The SquaredUp Relay was tested with the ReadOnlyUsers group, which inherits the Read-Only role.If another group is used, objects may or may not be visible to users based on how the group was defined and the roles it inherits.Please consult your VMware administrator for more information.

An agent's status is shown in SquaredUp Settings > Relay as a green tick, amber exclamation mark, red cross or gray question mark. Hovering over the status will show information about the last connection.

If the agent status is not green:

1. Check that the agent service is running (in Services on the server running the agent).
2. Check that the API key is correct. In SquaredUp you can see the last 4 digits of the API key in Settings > Relay and compare this with what's in the appsettings.json file in the agent folder /agent/transient/logs. If necessary, you can edit the agent and click Regenerate API Key to get a new key, then copy that into the appsettings.json file.
   
   How to find the agent folder location or Service name in Properties

   Look at the Properties of the SquaredUp Cloud Agent service:

   1. On the server running the agent, open Services
   2. Scroll down to the SquaredUp Cloud Agent in the list
   3. Right-click on the SquaredUp Cloud Agent service and then Properties
      Here you can see the Service name, Display name and Path to the agent folder.
   4. The Log On tab shows you which account the service is logging on with. (Needed for the SCOM and CSV plugins)
      

   5. You can also start or stop the service from the General tab.

3. Check the agent logs for any connectivity errors. Support may ask you to change the LogLevel from Information to Debug in the appsettings.json file.
4. Check SquaredUp for any reported outages: https://squaredup.statuspage.io/

vCenter Server systems and hosts use data counters to query for statistics. A data counter is a unit of information relevant to a given inventory object or device.

Each counter collects data for a different statistic in a metric group. For example, the disk metric group includes separate data counters to collect data for disk read rate, disk write rate, and disk usage.

Statistics for each counter are rolled up after a specified collection interval. Each data counter consists of several attributes that are used to determine the statistical value collected.

For a complete list and description of performance metrics, see the vSphere API Reference.

Collection levels determine the number of counters for which data is gathered during each collection interval. Collection intervals determine the time period during which statistics are aggregated, calculated, rolled up, and archived in the vCenter Server database.

Together, the collection interval and collection level determine how much statistical data is collected and stored in your vCenter Server database.

Your VMware administrator controls these settings.

Collection intervals determine the duration for which statistics are aggregated, calculated, rolled up, and archived.

Together, the collection interval and collection level determine how much statistical data is gathered and stored in your vCenter Server database.

Each collection interval has a default collection level that determines the amount of data gathered and which counters are available for display in the charts. Collection levels are also referred to as statistics levels.

Data streams standardize data from all the different shapes and formats your tools use into a straightforward tabular format.

While creating a tile you can tweak data streams by grouping or aggregating specific columns.

Depending on the kind of data, SquaredUp will automatically suggest how to visualize the result, for example as a table or line graph.

Data streams can be either global or scoped:

• Global data streams are unscoped and return information of a general nature (e.g. "Get the current number of unused hosts").
• A scoped data stream gets information relevant to the specific set objects supplied in the tile scope (e.g. "Get the current session count for these hosts").

See Data Streams for more information.