vCenter / vRealize Operations Manager Dashboard Repository

This page is a repository of the all the vCenter Operations Manager and vRealize Operations Manager Dashboards. I will continue to add new dashboards to this page from myself and other community members. Feel free to use any of the dashboards in your environment and leave a comment below with your feedback:



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NSX LOAD-BALANCER MONITORING DASHBOARD

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Dashboard Name     :       NSX Load balancer Moniroting Dashboard
Author                      :       Luciano Gomes
Short Description     :       This dashboard helps with monitoring NSX Load Balancer Services.
Version Supported    :      vROps 6.x, NSX Management Pack 3.x
Product Version        :      Advanced / Enterprise Edition
Installation Guide     :      http://virtual-red-dot.info/sample-dashboards-to-monitor-nsx-load-balancers/

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CLUSTER MANAGEMENT DASHBOARD

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Dashboard Name     :       Cluster Management Dashboard
Author                      :       Scott Norris
Short Description     :       This dashboard provides the various key components of a vSphere Cluster in a Single Pane of Glass.
Version Supported    :      vROps 6.x
Product Version        :      Advanced / Enterprise Edition
Installation Guide     :      http://www.virtualiseme.net.au/index.php/vrops-cluster-dashboard-step-by-step-how-too/

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PERFORMANCE & CAPACITY DASHBOARD

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Dashboard Name    :       Performance & Capacity Dashboard
Author                        :       Sunny Dua
Short Description    :       A hybrid dashboard which would help you gauge the Capacity & Measure the performance of your virtual infrastructure from a single pane.
Version Supported    :       vROps 6.x
Product Version         :       Advanced / Enterprise Edition
Installation Guide      :       http://vxpresss.blogspot.sg/2015/11/creating-capacity-performance.html

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EXCESSIVE VM IOPS DASHBOARD

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Dashboard Name    :       Excessive VM IOPS Dashboard

Author                        :       Iwan Rahabok

Short Description    :       With this dashboard, one can easily find a VM which is doing excessive amount of IOPS in your Virtual Infrastructure at any given point of time.

Version Supported    :       vROps 6.x

Product Version         :       Advanced / Enterprise Edition

Installation Guide      :      http://virtual-red-dot.info/follow-up-on-duncans-blog-on-indonesiancloud/

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HELP-DESK DASHBOARD

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Dashboard Name      :       Help Desk Dashboard
Author                        :       Sunny Dua
Short Description      :       This dashboard can be ideally used by your level 1 team to quickly understand the infrastructure areas which could be a performance bottleneck for a virtual machine.
Version Supported    :       vROps 6.x
Product Version         :       Advanced / Enterprise Edition
Installation Guide     :       http://vxpresss.blogspot.sg/2015/10/using-help-desk-dashboard-to-simplify.html

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VIRTUAL SAN HARDWARE MONITORING DASHBOARD

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Dashboard Name      :       VSAN Monitoring Dashboard
Author                        :       Sunny Dua
Short Description      :       Monitor the key hardware components of VSAN by using this dashboard. This uses the VSAN management pack a.k.a. MPSD.
Version Supported    :       vROps 6.x, MPSD
Product Version         :       Advanced / Enterprise Edition
Installation Guide     :       http://vxpresss.blogspot.in/2015/09/monitoring-vsan-hardware-using-vrealize.html

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DATASTORE UTILIZATION DASHBOARD

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Dashboard Name      :       Datastore Utilization Dashboard
Author                        :       Sunny Dua
Short Description      :       Monitor the space utilization of your datastores and the virtual machines using the space on those datastores.
Version Supported    :       vROps 6.x
Product Version         :       Advanced / Enterprise Edition
Installation Guide     :       http://vxpresss.blogspot.in/2015/07/monitor-datastores-using-datastore.html

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CLUSTER CAPACITY DASHBOARD

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Dashboard Name      :       One Click Cluster Capacity Dashboard
Author                        :       Sunny Dua
Short Description      :       Quickly see the key capacity of each of your ESXi Clusters by a click of a button.
Version Supported    :       vROps 6.0.x
Product Version         :       Advanced / Enterprise Edition
Installation Guide     :       http://vxpresss.blogspot.in/2015/04/the-return-of-one-click-cluster.html

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CRICKET WORLD CUP DASHBOARD

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Dashboard Name      :       Cricket World Cup Dashboard
Author                        :       Sunny Dua

Short Description   :   This dashboard is for having some fun with the dashboard feature of vCOps/vROps. You can build out a dashboard out of any webpage using this dashboard.

Version Supported    :       vCOps 5.x, vROps 6.x
Product Version         :       Advanced / Enterprise Edition
Installation Guide     :       http://vxpresss.blogspot.in/2015/02/catching-up-with-world-cup-cricket-2015.html

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VIRTUAL DATA-CENTER CAPACITY DASHBOARD

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Dashboard Name      :       Virtual Datacenter Capacity Dashboard
Author                        :       Sunny Dua

Short Description   :   This dashboard helps you to look at capacity and performance metrics of your virtual datacenter. This provides you a holistic view of the environment.

Version Supported    :       vCOps 5.x
Product Version         :       Advanced / Enterprise Edition
Installation Guide     :       http://vxpresss.blogspot.in/2014/10/creating-one-click-datacenter-capacity.html

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VIRTUAL DESKTOP INFRASTRUCTURE DASHBOARD

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Dashboard Name      :       VDI Dashboard
Author                        :       Sunny Dua

Short Description   :   This one-click high-level dashboard gathers the most important metrics in a typical VDI environment.  In the event of a production outage, this type of dashboard can be of monumental value.

Version Supported    :       vCOps 5.x, V4H Adapter
Product Version         :       Advanced / Enterprise Edition
Installation Guide     :       http://vxpresss.blogspot.in/2014/09/building-vdi-custom-dashboard-and.html

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CLUSTER UTILIZATION DASHBOARD

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Dashboard Name      :       Cluster Utilization Dashboard
Author                        :       Sunny Dua
Short Description      :       Gives you a single page view of the Utilization of all your vSphere Clusters being monitored by vCenter Operations Manager
Version Supported    :       vCOps 5.x
Product Version         :       Advanced / Enterprise Edition
Installation Guide     :       http://vxpresss.blogspot.in/2014/04/part-1-creating-cluster-utilization.html

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ONE CLICK CLUSTER CAPACITY DASHBOARD

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Dashboard Name      :       One Click Cluster Capacity Dashboard
Author                        :       Sunny Dua
Short Description      :       Quickly see the key capacity of each of your ESXi Clusters by a click of a button.
Version Supported    :       vCOps 5.x
Product Version         :       Advanced / Enterprise Edition
Installation Guide     :       http://vxpresss.blogspot.in/2014/03/part-1-creating-one-click-cluster.html

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FAULT METRIC DASHBOARD

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Dashboard Name      :       Fault Metric Dashboard
Author                        :       Sunny Dua
Short Description      :       This dashboard can be used to track faults with Virtual Machines, ESXi Hosts & Datastores along with the Key Metrics associated with those objects.
Version Supported    :       vCOps 5.x
Product Version         :       Advanced / Enterprise Edition
Installation Guide     :       http://vxpresss.blogspot.sg/2013/10/creating-vcenter-operations-manager.html

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DATASTORE USAGE DASHBOARD

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Dashboard Name      :       Datastore Usage%
Author                        :       Sunny Dua
Short Description      :       Provides a heatmap of all the datastores being monitored by vCenter Operations Manager. This will help you monitor the space remaining on the datastores in your virtual environment.
Version Supported    :       vCOps 5.x
Product Version         :       Advanced / Enterprise Edition
Installation Guide     :       http://vxpresss.blogspot.in/2013/05/part-1-using-vcops-super-metrics-custom.html

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Using a Help Desk Dashboard to Simplify Operations With vRealize Operations Manager!

This post is a resultant of our VMworld 2015 content which we ( me and Iwan Rahabok) have been brewing since the mid of this year. Without taking any credit, I must say that all the content which we presented in various events such as architect bootcamps, VMworld and recently at the VMware APJ Tech Summit was the brainchild of my awesome buddy & colleague Iwan Rahabok.

Post these events, a lot of people have reached out to help them with development of dashboards which can help them effectively use vRealize Operations in there environments. With this post I would share a basic dashboard which can help you with day 2 day operations especially around performance troubleshooting in an organized manner.

We call it the help desk dashboard which can be ideally used by your level 1 team to quickly understand the infrastructure areas which could be a performance bottleneck for a virtual machine.

Let me quickly show you the dashboard and then I will help you build this in your vROps instance:

It's a simple yet effective dashboard and here are a few USE CASES where you can use the dashboard:-

Use Case 1 -  Quickly search for an affected VM & look at the Key Performance Indicators to get a direction for further troubleshooting (CPU, RAM, DISK, NETWORK etc.)

Use Case 2 - Quickly review the utilization of a VM for a past few days to months in case you have a request for resource addition such as CPU or Memory expansion.

Use Case 3 - This can also help the VM Right-Sizing Efforts as you can easily pull out the statistics around CPU or RAM utilization going back in Time and share the same with the app owners to get approvals on right-sizing.

Here are the key metrics which can be viewed with a click of a button in this dashboard:-

• CPU Usage %
• CPU Contention %
• Memory Usage %
• Memory Contention %
• Network Workload %
• Virtual Disk Latency (ms) aggregate for all disks in the VM

Well, if this interests you then let's see how we can get this dashboard. To begin with go ahead and download the following file by clicking on the link below. This is the original export of the dashboard which we will import later:-

Click here - HELPDESK-DASHBOARD EXPORT


Let's start building the dashboard now:-

1- Login to vRealize Operations with a user who has privileges to create a new dashboard.

2- Click on the Content tab and click on Manage Metric Config in the inventory window (you need vROps 6.0.1 or later versions for you to see this option. 

3- Under Manage Metric Config, click on ResKndMetric directory and click on the + Sign to create a new XML named - vmperf.xml

Paste the following xml code in blue color on the right pane and click on Save. A screenshot follows to guide you.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8" standalone="yes"?>
<AdapterKinds>
   <AdapterKind adapterKindKey="VMWARE">
      <ResourceKind resourceKindKey="VirtualMachine">
         <Metric attrkey="cpu|usage_average" label="" unit="%" yellow="85" orange="90" red="95" />
         <Metric attrkey="cpu|capacity_contentionPct" label="" unit="%" yellow="15" orange="20" red="30" />

         <Metric attrkey="mem|usage_average" label="" unit="%" yellow="85" orange="90" red="95" />
         <Metric attrkey="mem|host_contentionPct" label="" unit="%" yellow="15" orange="20" red="30" />

         <Metric attrkey="net|workload" label="" unit="%" yellow="85" orange="90" red="95" />
         <Metric attrkey="virtualDisk:Aggregate of all instances|totalLatency" label="" unit="ms" yellow="20" orange="30" red="40" />
         <Metric attrkey="virtualDisk:Aggregate of all instances|commandsAveraged_average" label="" unit="IOPS" yellow="10000" orange="30000" red="40000" />
         <Metric attrkey="diskspace|snapshot" label="" unit="" yellow="1" orange="2" red="3" />
      </ResourceKind>
   </AdapterKind>
   <AdapterKind adapterKindKey="bbb">
   </AdapterKind>
</AdapterKinds>

4- Now let's import the dashboard file which we downloaded before. Click on Content -> Dashboards - > Settings Button -> Import Dashboards. 

5- Select the HELPDESKDB.json file you downloaded earlier and click on OK to import the dashboard.

The above step would create the dashboard for you. Let us quickly share the dashboard as well.


6- Under the Dashboards Tab, Click on the settings button again and click on Share Dashboards.

7 - Now select the newly created HELPDESK Dashboard and drag & drop it on the groups with whom you want to share the same.

By now, you should have your dashboard ready to use. Please do let me know as to how you are using this dashboard in your environment in the comments sections..

Till then.. Do not forget to SHARE & SPREAD THE KNOWLEDGE!! 

Using Custom Reports To Publish Dashboards in vRealize Operations 6.1

As I am exploring vRealize Operations 6.1, I am unearthing the goodness of the new features which are introduced with this release. One of the biggest feature for me which the product delivers now is the new enhanced reporting feature. This reporting feature allows you to import a Custom Dashboard into a report. Yes you read it right!!

This was the single biggest ask by many of my customers for whom, I would create a custom dashboard. While the dashboards are priceless from a perspective of real time monitoring with the widgets such as Heat-maps, Health Widgets etc, the customers always wanted to have a feature where in they could automatically send out a report with the dashboard included to higher management or application users via email.

While the reporting engine in vRealize Operations 6.0.x is by far amazing, with 6.1 the solution also allows you to import a Dashboard into a Custom Report as publish them as reports. 

Without further-ado let's have a quick look as to how you can do this:

1- Let's say this is the dashboard which you want to publish in a Custom Report. This is a cluster capacity dashboard.

2- Click on Content - > Reports to open the report engine.

3- Click on the "+" sign under Report Templates to add a new Report.

4- Provide a Name and Description to begin with.

5- As a next step, you have the option to either add a VIEW or a DASHBOARD to the Report. Here is a drop-down which shows both the options.

6- Select Dashboard and now you will be able to see all the dashboards which you have in your vROps instance under Data Type. You can see the Cluster Capacity Dashboard here.

7- You need to DRAG & DROP this dashboard on the right pane to incorporate the same in the report.

8- On the next screen you have the option of selecting the report formats and the layout.

8- Finally you can customize the layout by adding images, footers etc and then save the report template.

9- You can see the new report we just created. Highlight the same an click on RUN button to execute the report.

10- You need to now select the Object on which you have to run the report. In this case, it would be a cluster and click on OK for the report to execute.

11- Once the report is processed, click on the Generated Reports Tab, and then click on the PDF link to down the report.

12- Once you open the PDF, you will see the cluster capacity dashboard in the report.

And that's it! You can schedule this report and send out to recipients automatically via email, or also dump it on a file share if you wish to.

Hope this helps you to use this FANTASTIC feature of custom reporting to meet the reporting needs of your business.

Do not forget to SHARE & SPREAD THE KNOWLEDGE!! 

Configuring vRealize Suite 6.0 for Backup and Restore by Using Symantec NetBackup 7.6

Just wanted to quickly post about a great whitepaper which was recently released by VMware. The whitepaper is titled "Configuring vRealize Suite 6.0 for Backup and Restore by Using Symantec NetBackup 7.6" and as the same suggests it s a prescriptive guide which can be used to backup all the components of vCloud Suite 6.0.

This has been developed by engineers working in engineering and field organization of VMware and it provides you some great insights on how you can plan to plan the recover-ability of the vCloud Suite Management stack.

Some of the areas which the white paper covers are:-

• Backup & Restore Procedures for all the vCloud Suite components such as:

• vRealize Automation 6.2
• vRealize Orchestrator 6.0
• vRealize Operations Manager 6.1
• vRealize Log Insight 2.5 & 3.0
• vRealize Business 6.1
  
• Backup and Restore Sequences

• Backup Policies for vCloud Suite 6.0 components in Netbackup 7.6

The paper is available for public consumption and you can download the same here.

vRealize Suite Product Documentation

vRealize Suite Getting Started Guide	View	Download
Configuring vRealize Suite 6.0 for Backup and Restore by Using Symantec NetBackup 7.6	View	Download

Share & Spread the knowledge!

Catching up with World Cup Cricket 2015 using vRealize Operations Manager 6.0

This post was first published on VMware Management Blog by me as a contributor to that blog. Posting it here for my readers as well!

This post is to add a little FUN to how we use the VMware Management solutions in our day to day lives in our workplaces. We know the power of vRealize Operations Manager that allows us to capture structured and unstructured data from literally any object in your datacenter which understands the computer language, run smart analytics on this data and then give you some meaningful output based on which you can take some intelligent decisions which would help IT and ultimately your business. While all this helps IT to keep the lights on, I thought about using the same solutions to bring in some FUN in the daily life of the IT admin.