VMware ESXi computer system sensor

The VMware ESXi computer system sensor discovers VMware ESXi servers.

The VMware ESXi computer system sensor discovers VMware ESX servers, which support VMware API.

Sensor uses VMware API for discovery. VMware API is available on all ESXi servers and on ESX 3.x, ESX 4.x versions. Sensor is not using ssh console.

Sensor name that is used in the GUI and logs

VmwareESXiComputerSystemSensor

Elements discovered by the sensor

For Virtual Machines and for ESX server, the sensor discovers the same data as VirtualCenter sensor. It cannot discover objects, which are higher in configuration tree than ESX, for example Clusters, Datacenters. Datastores are discovered with very limited data, with name only.

ESX Serial number can be discovered in two ways, either via VMware API like all other data or via CIM API.

Prerequisites

VMware API must be present and enabled on ESX server.

Security issues

To discover the ESX server, you must set read-only permissions for the Agile Service Manager service account.

Connection to servers with SSL

The VMware ESXi computer system sensor can connect to servers with SSL in two modes - the default mode and a new mode.
The default mode
The default mode does not fully verify the certificate of a server. This mode allows connection even if the certificate is self-signed, expired or with an invalid host name. It rejects connection when other problems are found, like certificate chaining error. The default mode can be used with the default VMware certificates.
The new mode
The new mode fully verifies the certificate of a server. You can enable this mode by setting the strictCertificateCheck configuration property to true. When this mode is enabled, only valid certificates signed by trusted certificate authorities are accepted.
Importing self-signed certificates to Agile Service Manager
By setting the strictCertificateCheck property to true, you can connect with self-signed certificates. You must first import such a certificate to Agile Service Manager. Though self-signed certificates are trusted certificates, their validity is still verified.
To import such certificates, complete the following steps:
  1. Open the /dist/osgi/plugins/com.ibm.cdb.discover.sys.vmware.vmwarecommon_* directory, where * is the version number of the sensor.
  2. Run the following command:
    java -cp lib/vmwarecommon.jar com.ibm.cdb.discover.sys.vmware.VmCertificateCollector ip:port
    where ip is the IP address of the VMware ESXi computer system sensor host, and port is the SSL port of that host.

Model objects created

The sensor creates the following model objects:
  • net.IpInterface
  • net.L2Interface
  • process.CPUResourcePool
  • process.MemoryResourcePool
  • process.NetworkAdapterResourcePool
  • relation.AllocatedTo
  • relation.DonatedTo
  • sys.CPU
  • sys.vmware.VMWareDataStore
  • sys.unix.UnixFileSystem
  • sys.NFSFileSystem
  • sys.Memory
  • sys.vmware.VMWareVirtualSwitch
  • sys.vmware.VMWarePortGroup
  • sys.darwin.Darwin
  • sys.darwin.DarwinUnitaryComputerSystem
  • sys.dos.Dos
  • sys.dos.DosUnitaryComputerSystem
  • sys.DNSResolveEntry
  • sys.FileSystem
  • sys.freebsd.FreeBSD
  • sys.freebsd.FreeBSDUnitaryComputerSystem
  • sys.linux.Linux
  • sys.linux.LinuxUnitaryComputerSystem
  • sys.Memory
  • sys.netware.Netware
  • sys.netware.NetwareUnitaryComputerSystem
  • sys.OperatingSystem
  • sys.sun.Solaris
  • sys.sun.SunSPARCUnitaryComputerSystem
  • sys.UnitaryComputerSystem
  • sys.vmware.VmwareESX
  • sys.vmware.VmwareUnitaryComputerSystem
  • sys.windows.WindowsComputerSystem
  • sys.windows.WindowsOperatingSystem