VMware vSphere and Sensu Integration
Powerful performance with an easy integration, powered by Telegraf, the open source data connector built by InfluxData.
This is not the recommended configuration for real-time query at scale. For query and compression optimization, high-speed ingest, and high availability, you may want to consider VMware vSphere and InfluxDB.
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Powerful Performance, Limitless Scale
Collect, organize, and act on massive volumes of high-velocity data. Any data is more valuable when you think of it as time series data. with InfluxDB, the #1 time series platform built to scale with Telegraf.
See Ways to Get Started
Input and output integration overview
The VMware vSphere Telegraf plugin provides a means to collect metrics from VMware vCenter servers, allowing for comprehensive monitoring and management of virtual resources in a vSphere environment.
This plugin writes metrics events to Sensu via its HTTP events API, enabling seamless integration with the Sensu monitoring platform.
Integration details
VMware vSphere
This plugin connects to VMware vSphere servers to gather a variety of metrics from virtual environments, enabling efficient monitoring and management of virtual resources. It interfaces with the vSphere API to collect statistics regarding clusters, hosts, resource pools, VMs, datastores, and vSAN entities, presenting them in a format suitable for analysis and visualization. The plugin is particularly valuable for administrators who manage VMware-based infrastructures, as it helps to track system performance, resource usage, and operational issues in real-time. By aggregating data from multiple sources, the plugin empowers users with insights that facilitate informed decision-making regarding resource allocation, troubleshooting, and ensuring optimal system performance. Additionally, the support for secret-store integration allows secure handling of sensitive credentials, promoting best practices in security and compliance assessments.
Sensu
This plugin writes metrics events to Sensu via its HTTP events API. Sensu is a monitoring system that enables users to collect, analyze, and manage metrics from various components in their infrastructure. The plugin facilitates the integration of Telegraf, a server agent for collecting and reporting metrics, with the Sensu monitoring platform. Users can configure settings such as backend and agent API URLs, API keys for authentication, and optional TLS settings. The plugin’s core functionality is centered around sending metric events, including check and entity specifications, to Sensu, allowing for comprehensive monitoring and alerting. The API reference provides extensive details about the events and metrics structure, ensuring users can efficiently leverage Sensu’s capabilities for observability and incident response.
Configuration
VMware vSphere
[[inputs.vsphere]]
vcenters = [ "https://vcenter.local/sdk" ]
username = "[email protected]"
password = "secret"
vm_metric_include = [
"cpu.demand.average",
"cpu.idle.summation",
"cpu.latency.average",
"cpu.readiness.average",
"cpu.ready.summation",
"cpu.run.summation",
"cpu.usagemhz.average",
"cpu.used.summation",
"cpu.wait.summation",
"mem.active.average",
"mem.granted.average",
"mem.latency.average",
"mem.swapin.average",
"mem.swapinRate.average",
"mem.swapout.average",
"mem.swapoutRate.average",
"mem.usage.average",
"mem.vmmemctl.average",
"net.bytesRx.average",
"net.bytesTx.average",
"net.droppedRx.summation",
"net.droppedTx.summation",
"net.usage.average",
"power.power.average",
"virtualDisk.numberReadAveraged.average",
"virtualDisk.numberWriteAveraged.average",
"virtualDisk.read.average",
"virtualDisk.readOIO.latest",
"virtualDisk.throughput.usage.average",
"virtualDisk.totalReadLatency.average",
"virtualDisk.totalWriteLatency.average",
"virtualDisk.write.average",
"virtualDisk.writeOIO.latest",
"sys.uptime.latest",
]
host_metric_include = [
"cpu.coreUtilization.average",
"cpu.costop.summation",
"cpu.demand.average",
"cpu.idle.summation",
"cpu.latency.average",
"cpu.readiness.average",
"cpu.ready.summation",
"cpu.swapwait.summation",
"cpu.usage.average",
"cpu.usagemhz.average",
"cpu.used.summation",
"cpu.utilization.average",
"cpu.wait.summation",
"disk.deviceReadLatency.average",
"disk.deviceWriteLatency.average",
"disk.kernelReadLatency.average",
"disk.kernelWriteLatency.average",
"disk.numberReadAveraged.average",
"disk.numberWriteAveraged.average",
"disk.read.average",
"disk.totalReadLatency.average",
"disk.totalWriteLatency.average",
"disk.write.average",
"mem.active.average",
"mem.latency.average",
"mem.state.latest",
"mem.swapin.average",
"mem.swapinRate.average",
"mem.swapout.average",
"mem.swapoutRate.average",
"mem.totalCapacity.average",
"mem.usage.average",
"mem.vmmemctl.average",
"net.bytesRx.average",
"net.bytesTx.average",
"net.droppedRx.summation",
"net.droppedTx.summation",
"net.errorsRx.summation",
"net.errorsTx.summation",
"net.usage.average",
"power.power.average",
"storageAdapter.numberReadAveraged.average",
"storageAdapter.numberWriteAveraged.average",
"storageAdapter.read.average",
"storageAdapter.write.average",
"sys.uptime.latest",
]
datacenter_metric_include = [] ## if omitted or empty, all metrics are collected
datacenter_metric_exclude = [ "*" ] ## Datacenters are not collected by default.
vsan_metric_include = [] ## if omitted or empty, all metrics are collected
vsan_metric_exclude = [ "*" ] ## vSAN are not collected by default.
separator = "_"
max_query_objects = 256
max_query_metrics = 256
collect_concurrency = 1
discover_concurrency = 1
object_discovery_interval = "300s"
timeout = "60s"
use_int_samples = true
custom_attribute_include = []
custom_attribute_exclude = ["*"]
metric_lookback = 3
ssl_ca = "/path/to/cafile"
ssl_cert = "/path/to/certfile"
ssl_key = "/path/to/keyfile"
insecure_skip_verify = false
historical_interval = "5m"
disconnected_servers_behavior = "error"
use_system_proxy = true
http_proxy_url = ""
Sensu
[[outputs.sensu]]
## BACKEND API URL is the Sensu Backend API root URL to send metrics to
## (protocol, host, and port only). The output plugin will automatically
## append the corresponding backend API path
## /api/core/v2/namespaces/:entity_namespace/events/:entity_name/:check_name).
##
## Backend Events API reference:
## https://docs.sensu.io/sensu-go/latest/api/events/
##
## AGENT API URL is the Sensu Agent API root URL to send metrics to
## (protocol, host, and port only). The output plugin will automatically
## append the correspeonding agent API path (/events).
##
## Agent API Events API reference:
## https://docs.sensu.io/sensu-go/latest/api/events/
##
## NOTE: if backend_api_url and agent_api_url and api_key are set, the output
## plugin will use backend_api_url. If backend_api_url and agent_api_url are
## not provided, the output plugin will default to use an agent_api_url of
## http://127.0.0.1:3031
##
# backend_api_url = "http://127.0.0.1:8080"
# agent_api_url = "http://127.0.0.1:3031"
## API KEY is the Sensu Backend API token
## Generate a new API token via:
##
## $ sensuctl cluster-role create telegraf --verb create --resource events,entities
## $ sensuctl cluster-role-binding create telegraf --cluster-role telegraf --group telegraf
## $ sensuctl user create telegraf --group telegraf --password REDACTED
## $ sensuctl api-key grant telegraf
##
## For more information on Sensu RBAC profiles & API tokens, please visit:
## - https://docs.sensu.io/sensu-go/latest/reference/rbac/
## - https://docs.sensu.io/sensu-go/latest/reference/apikeys/
##
# api_key = "${SENSU_API_KEY}"
## Optional TLS Config
# tls_ca = "/etc/telegraf/ca.pem"
# tls_cert = "/etc/telegraf/cert.pem"
# tls_key = "/etc/telegraf/key.pem"
## Use TLS but skip chain & host verification
# insecure_skip_verify = false
## Timeout for HTTP message
# timeout = "5s"
## HTTP Content-Encoding for write request body, can be set to "gzip" to
## compress body or "identity" to apply no encoding.
# content_encoding = "identity"
## NOTE: Due to the way TOML is parsed, tables must be at the END of the
## plugin definition, otherwise additional config options are read as part of
## the table
## Sensu Event details
##
## Below are the event details to be sent to Sensu. The main portions of the
## event are the check, entity, and metrics specifications. For more information
## on Sensu events and its components, please visit:
## - Events - https://docs.sensu.io/sensu-go/latest/reference/events
## - Checks - https://docs.sensu.io/sensu-go/latest/reference/checks
## - Entities - https://docs.sensu.io/sensu-go/latest/reference/entities
## - Metrics - https://docs.sensu.io/sensu-go/latest/reference/events#metrics
##
## Check specification
## The check name is the name to give the Sensu check associated with the event
## created. This maps to check.metadata.name in the event.
[outputs.sensu.check]
name = "telegraf"
## Entity specification
## Configure the entity name and namespace, if necessary. This will be part of
## the entity.metadata in the event.
##
## NOTE: if the output plugin is configured to send events to a
## backend_api_url and entity_name is not set, the value returned by
## os.Hostname() will be used; if the output plugin is configured to send
## events to an agent_api_url, entity_name and entity_namespace are not used.
# [outputs.sensu.entity]
# name = "server-01"
# namespace = "default"
## Metrics specification
## Configure the tags for the metrics that are sent as part of the Sensu event
# [outputs.sensu.tags]
# source = "telegraf"
## Configure the handler(s) for processing the provided metrics
# [outputs.sensu.metrics]
# handlers = ["influxdb","elasticsearch"]
Input and output integration examples
VMware vSphere
-
Dynamic Resource Allocation: Utilize this plugin to monitor resource usage across a fleet of VMs and automatically adjust resource allocations based on performance metrics. This scenario could involve triggering scaling actions in real time based on CPU and memory usage metrics collected from the vSphere API, ensuring optimal performance and cost-efficiency.
-
Capacity Planning and Forecasting: Leverage the historical metrics gathered from vSphere to conduct capacity planning. Analyzing the trends of CPU, memory, and storage usage over time helps administrators anticipate when additional resources will be needed, avoiding outages and ensuring that the virtual infrastructure can handle growth.
-
Automated Alerting and Incident Response: Integrate this plugin with alerting tools to set up automated notifications based on the metrics gathered. For example, if the CPU usage on a host exceeds a specified threshold, it could trigger alerts and automatically initiate predefined remediation steps, such as migrating VMs to less utilized hosts.
-
Performance Benchmarking Across Clusters: Use the metrics collected to compare the performance of clusters in different vCenters. This benchmarking provides insights into which cluster configurations yield the best resource efficiency and can guide future infrastructure enhancements.
Sensu
-
Real-Time Infrastructure Monitoring: Utilize the Sensu plugin to send performance metrics from various servers and services directly to Sensu. This real-time data flow enables teams to visualize infrastructure health, track resource usage, and receive immediate alerts for any anomalies detected. By centralizing monitoring through Sensu, organizations can create a holistic view of their systems and respond swiftly to issues.
-
Automated Incident Response Workflows: Leverage the plugin to automatically trigger incident response workflows based on the metrics events sent to Sensu. For example, if CPU usage exceeds a defined threshold, the Sensu system can be configured to alert the operations team, which can then initiate automated remediation processes, reducing downtime and maintaining system reliability. This integration allows for proactive management of system resources.
-
Dynamic Scaling of Resources: Use the Sensu plugin to feed metrics into an auto-scaling system that adjusts resources based on demand. By tracking metrics like request load and resource utilization, organizations can automatically scale their infrastructure up or down, ensuring optimal performance and cost efficiency without manual intervention.
-
Centralized Logging and Monitoring: Combine the Sensu with logging tools to send logs and performance metrics to a centralized monitoring system. This comprehensive approach allows teams to correlate logs with metric events, providing deeper insights into system behavior and performance, which aids in troubleshooting and performance optimization over time.
Feedback
Thank you for being part of our community! If you have any general feedback or found any bugs on these pages, we welcome and encourage your input. Please submit your feedback in the InfluxDB community Slack.
Powerful Performance, Limitless Scale
Collect, organize, and act on massive volumes of high-velocity data. Any data is more valuable when you think of it as time series data. with InfluxDB, the #1 time series platform built to scale with Telegraf.
See Ways to Get Started
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