VMware vSphere is a centralized
management application. You can use the product to manage virtual machines and ESXi hosts centrally.
You can set up an integration with Netcool® Operations Insight® to receive
notifications created by VMware vSphere.
Before you begin
- You must have permission to run Python 3 on vCenter Server Appliance (VCSA) or PowerShell on Windows.
- You cannot apply the script in this procedure to multiple alarm definitions at a time. The path
to the script must be entered manually in the alarms.
The following event types are supported for this integration:
- All VMware alarms through the webhook connection.
Procedure
-
Click
.
-
Click New integration.
-
Go to the VMware vSphere tile and click
Configure.
-
Enter a name for the integration.
-
Click Download file to download and extract the
vmware-alarm-action-scripts-for-cem.zip file.
- Create the following directory:
- On Linux®/Photon OS: /root/cem
- On Windows: C:\cem
- Transfer and extract the package to /root/cem or
C:\cem.
Note:
To transfer the package to VCenter Server installed on Linux/Photon, you must first run the
chsh
command to set bash for the login
shell before you transfer the package. Example:
root@9 [ ~ ]# chsh
Changing the login shell for root
Enter the new value, or press ENTER for the default
Login Shell [/bin/appliancesh]: /usr/bin/bash
- For more information about creating an alarm in the vSphere client, see https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.7/com.vmware.vsphere.monitoring.doc/GUID-E30ED662-D851-4230-9AFE-1BBBC55C98D6.html.
- For more information about running a script or a command as an alarm action, see https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-vSphere/6.7/com.vmware.vsphere.monitoring.doc/GUID-AB74502C-5F01-478D-AF66-672AB5B8065C.html.
Note:
Identify the path to run Python 3 or cmd.exe in vCenter Server.
If the vCenter Server is running on Linux/Photon OS, you
can run 'which python' to get the path to Python 3. For example,
/usr/bin/python. Run /usr/bin/python --version
to verify that
it is Python 3.
If the vCenter Server is running on Windows, then you
must identify the path to cmd.exe. For example,
C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe.
- To send an alarm to event management, you must specify the following
code as an alarm action:
- Linux/Photon OS: /usr/bin/python
/root/cem/vmware-alarm-action-scripts-for-cem/sendEventToCEM.py
- Windows: C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe "/c
echo.|powershell -NonInteractive -File
c:\cem\vmware-alarm-action-scripts-for-cem\sendEventToCEM.ps1
Note:
You can specify /usr/bin/python
/root/cem/vmware-alarm-action-scripts-for-cem/sendEventToCEM.py --expirytime <time in
seconds> or C:\Windows\System32\cmd.exe "/c echo.|powershell -NonInteractive
-File c:\cem\vmware-alarm-action-scripts-for-cem\sendEventToCEM.ps1 --expirytime <time in
seconds> as an alarm action. This alarm action sends an alarm to CEM and, if there is
no further event, the CEM event is cleared after the --expirytime <time in
seconds>
. This alarm action is required if you cannot define the reset rule or reset the
alarms.
Repeat the alarm action as an interval under the alarm rule in the vCenter Server. Set the value
to less than the --expirytime
value. For example, repeat the action every 60
minutes until acknowledged or reset to green. Then, set the --expirytime
value to 14400 (14400 seconds is equivalent to 4 hours). This implementation is a workaround to a current VMware limitation.
-
Save the integration in event management. To start receiving notifications from VMware vSphere, verify that Enable event management from this
source is set to On..
What to do next
The same script can be used to clear the alarm. In VMware, go to and specify the path from step 10 in
the Run this field. Note: due to VMware limitations, this script does not always run.