ESXi/VM Monitoring

[stevefxp]

Hello all,

I have read soo much about how to monitor ESXi servers and VMs but it all seems a bit confusing. Ideally i would like to monitor the server independently of the VMs but i see no real way with the templates that exist.

I could use the template for the hypervisor, that auto discovers the VMs, and then just add the Zabbix agent to the vms for OS monitoring. Doing that doesn't explain why there seems to be a standalone VMware Guest template.

Dazed and confused!

[irontmp]

Hello all,

I have read soo much about how to monitor ESXi servers and VMs but it all seems a bit confusing. Ideally i would like to monitor the server independently of the VMs but i see no real way with the templates that exist.

I could use the template for the hypervisor, that auto-discovers the Social Media Marketing Agency Dublin, and then just add the Zabbix agent to the vms for OS monitoring. Doing that doesn't explain why there seems to be a standalone VMware Guest template.

Dazed and confused!

Hi, I have not been able to find documentation explaining how to get my vcenter monitored… I have added it but am getting the messages [special_vsphere] Version: unknown, OS: unknown, Missing monitoring data for check plugins for the appliance, and this message for the esxi hosts: 22 unmonitored services (esx_vsphere_hostsystem_cpu_usage:1 … this message is longer than posted here. What are the steps to add the vcenter and esxi hosts? The id is not an issue. Thanks!

[stevefxp]

Hi, I have not been able to find documentation explaining how to get my vcenter monitored… I have added it but am getting the messages [special_vsphere] Version: unknown, OS: unknown, Missing monitoring data for check plugins for the appliance, and this message for the esxi hosts: 22 unmonitored services (esx_vsphere_hostsystem_cpu_usage:1 … this message is longer than posted here. What are the steps to add the vcenter and esxi hosts? The id is not an issue. Thanks!

Try using the VMware template. I believe that will work with vCenter, your ESXi servers, and your VMs.

[cyber]

Doing that doesn't explain why there seems to be a standalone VMware Guest template.

It is not really a standalone. That vmware guest tempate is added (by default) to discovered hosts (via host prototype )...
If you start with vmware monitoring, you only attach one template to your vCenter (URL in template macros). It should then discover your clusters and datastores etc... those are also prototyped and get next template automatically. And from there on, your VM-s are discovered, which get that guest vm template from prototype.

[stevefxp]

It is not really a standalone. That vmware guest tempate is added (by default) to discovered hosts (via host prototype )...
If you start with vmware monitoring, you only attach one template to your vCenter (URL in template macros). It should then discover your clusters and datastores etc... those are also prototyped and get next template automatically. And from there on, your VM-s are discovered, which get that guest vm template from prototype.

So there really is no way to independently add ESXi hosts and VMs. You add the ESXi host and then the VMs are auto discovered.

[StefTresMan]

There is, i did this exact set-up and made a post about it. In stead of the Vcenter template, use the hypervisor template. It will take the metrics from your host without populating VMs.

Check this thread:

https://www.zabbix.com/forum/zabbix-troubleshooting-and-problems/440456-esxi-7-0-3-template-vmware-hypervisor

[cyber]

You can always disable VM discovery and use the rest of the templates... From monitoring point of view it is more intresting what goes o inside those VM-s (using agent), than what ESX sees...