Configuring VMware vCenter Observer jobs

You configure VMware vCenter Observer jobs to dynamically load data from the VMware vCenter REST interface.

Before you begin

Important: The VMware vCenter Observer supports the on-premise VMware vCenter versions 6.5, 6.7 and 7.0.3.

Ensure you have the VMware vCenter service details to hand, such as username, password, SSL TrustStore and URL.

The VMware vCenter Observer is installed as part of the core installation procedure.

About this task

The VMware vCenter Observer job extracts VMware vCenter resource information via REST. The Observer loads and updates the resources and their relationships within the Agile Service Manager core topology service.

You define and start the following job.
VMware vCenter Observer job (full topology load)
Run this job whenever you need VMware vCenter topology data refreshed.
By default, these jobs are one-off, transient jobs that perform a full upload of all requested topology data as soon as they are triggered.
You can also run these jobs (again) manually from the Observer UI, or schedule them to run at set times when configuring them.
The VMware vCenter Observer loads the following resources and their relationship into the Agile Service Manager core topology service:
  • ESXi / ESX Hosts
  • Virtual Machines
  • VNICs
  • Storage

Procedure

To configure and run VMware vCenter Observer jobs

  1. On the Observer jobs page, perform one of the following actions:
    To edit an existing job
    Open the List of options overflow menu next to the job and click View & edit.
    To create a new job
    Click Add a new job + and select the VMware vCenter Observer tile.
  2. Enter or edit the following parameters, then click Save to save your job and begin retrieving information:
    Table 1. VMware vCenter Observer Load job parameters
    Parameter Action Details
    Unique ID Enter a unique name for the job. Required
    vCenter password Enter the password to authenticate with. Required. Use plain text.
    vCenter API URL Specify the API URL of the VMware vCenter endpoint (including port and version). Required. Usually in the following format: https://[hostname or IP address]/rest
    HTTPS trustStore file name Specify the trustStore file name.
    Tip: You can use the observer name (<observer>.jks) for example vmvcenter.jks.
    		 Required. For both on-prem and OCP, provide the JKS name, and the observer will then create the JKS file accordingly.
    trustStore file password

    Specify the trustStore password to decrypt the HTTPS trustStore file.

    		 Required. Use plain text.
    Data center name Specify the data center in which the VMware vCenter instance runs. Required. If more than one, list them (comma-separated).
    vCenter username Specify the username to connect as, or listen to. Required
    vCenter certificate Specify a certificate by name to load into the trustStore.
    Required. For more information, see Configuring observer job security.
    On-prem
    Create and store the certificate in the ASM_HOME/security directory.
    OCP
    Obtain the authentication certificate using OpenSSL and store it as a secret.
    Certificate validation Choose whether SSL validation is on or off. Turning SSL validation off will use HTTPS without host verification. Optional
    vCenter host's name regex to discover Specify an exact match or a regular expression match for a host's name in order to discover all its virtual machines. Optional
    Proxy Host Specify the proxy host to connect to. Optional
    Proxy Port Specify the proxy port, defaults to 8080. Optional
    Proxy Username Specify the proxy user name to connect to. Set for basic auth proxy. Optional
    Proxy Password Specify the password for the proxy user (if the Proxy Username parameter has been specified). Optional. Use plain text.
    Proxy Secure Specify whether to connect to the proxy in secure mode. Set to 'true' for HTTPS proxy. Optional. The default is 'false'.
    Connection and read timeout Enter the time at which the connection and read actions time out. Optional. Must be a value greater than 0 (zero), and the default is 5000 (5 seconds).
    Connection retry times Set the connection retry times. Optional. The default value is 5.
    Retry after delay (milliseconds) Set the time delay before trying to reconnect (in milliseconds). Optional. The default value is 1000.
    Access scope

    Enter text to provide a scope for the resources.

    Access scope can help map alerts to resources when resources in different scopes share the same parameters, such as matchTokens.

    		 Optional.
    Tip: You can define access scope for locations, project names, namespaces, etc.
    Generate debug support file
    Set the optional Generate debug support file parameter to 'True' in order to capture the output of the next scheduled job run as a file. This file will be stored with an observer's log files and can be used to debug observer issues, for example at the request of your designated Support team, or while using a test environment. For one-off jobs (that is, Load jobs), this parameter reverts to 'False' after the next completed run. To examine the output produced, you can load the generated debug file using the File Observer. The file is saved to the following locations:
    On-prem
    $ASM_HOME/logs/<obs>-observer/
    On OCP
    /var/log/itsm/<obs>-observer
    		 Optional
    Observer job description Enter additional information to describe the job. Optional
    Job schedule

    Specify when the job should run, and whether it should run at regular intervals.

    By default the job runs immediately, and only once.

    Optionally you can specify a future date and time for the job to run, and then set it to run at regular intervals after that.

    Optional. Transient (one-off) jobs only.

    If you set a job schedule, the run intervals must be at least 90 seconds apart, and if you set them at less than 15 minutes, a warning is displayed, as the frequency can impact system performance.
    SSL requirements: To acquire SSL certificates and build SSL truststores, use the relevant instructions in the following section: Configuring observer job security

What to do next

Run this job whenever you need VMware vCenter topology data refreshed.