Neat tool to monitor a single ESX server

Discussion in 'Virtual and Cloud Computing' started by zebulebu, Oct 23, 2008.

  1. zebulebu

    zebulebu Terabyte Poster

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    Now I know anyone using ESX will be wondering why to bother monitoring ONE of the ESX hosts, but for people just starting out with ESX this little utility could be really useful. I've installed it at home and have it sitting on my desktop monitoring one of my hosts - its really, really useful and allows me to see exactly, at a glance, where any resource usage problems are occuring - not just on the host, but on individual VMs as well.

    You need to delve into the console and edit the snmp config, but that shouldn't be too difficult (took me about two minutes with vi). I find it much more reliable and accurate than VMWare's native performance monitoring, and it even beats my own monitoring software (ServersCheck). Of course, there's a catch - its limited to one ESX host - but for anyone running a test lab this could be really useful. Props to SolarWinds!

    [​IMG][​IMG]
     
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  2. nugget
    Honorary Member

    nugget Junior toady

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    Thanks for the feedback zeb. I saw this and installed it today but I still have to configure the snmp settings to allow it to connect.
     
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  3. zebulebu

    zebulebu Terabyte Poster

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    As a handy pointer, you need to edit snmpd.conf, start the snmp service and set it to automatically start up when the server boots.

    Here's what I did:

    (1) SSH into the host and su to root
    (2) Open up /etc/snmp/snmpd.conf with vi and edit it by adding two lines - one for your trap and one for your community, e.g.
    trapsink 192.168.1.1 (replace with IP of your monitoring server)
    trapcommunity esx (replace with community string you desire)
    (3) Start the snmpd service - start snmpd service
    (4) Make sure the service is set to start up when the host boots - chkconfig snmpd on

    Robert's your father's brother - it should start sending to your configured host. If its not working, check your ESX firewall - UDP 161 and 162 may need opening (listed as 'SNMP Server' in the security settings in VIC)
     
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  4. nugget
    Honorary Member

    nugget Junior toady

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    Thanks zeb, much appreciated. I'll let you know how it goes. :thumbleft
     
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    WIP: MCSA, 70-622,680,685
  5. nugget
    Honorary Member

    nugget Junior toady

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    Hi zeb. Just a quick question. Which .conf file do I edit? I have 3 to choose from,

    snmpd.conf
    snmpd.conf.esx
    snmpd.conf.orig

    I take it the .orig is a copy of the original and it seems that both of the other 2 also have the same configuration. Just wanted to make sure.
     
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  6. zebulebu

    zebulebu Terabyte Poster

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    'snmpd.conf' is definitely the one you want
     
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  7. nugget
    Honorary Member

    nugget Junior toady

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    Thanks mate.
     
    Certifications: A+ | Network+ | Security+ | MCP (270,271,272,290,620) | MCDST | MCTS:Vista
    WIP: MCSA, 70-622,680,685
  8. nugget
    Honorary Member

    nugget Junior toady

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    Okay, I got it working. Looks great and very handy too.

    Thanks zeb.
     
    Certifications: A+ | Network+ | Security+ | MCP (270,271,272,290,620) | MCDST | MCTS:Vista
    WIP: MCSA, 70-622,680,685

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