Virtualization Manager Data Collector Requirements
VMware
For Virtualization Manager data collection, VMware Tools (VM Tools) must be installed to enable collection of key properties of a VM Guest, such as the IP address, host name, mount points, disk path, available space on VM guest volumes, and guest operating system of the VM. Whenever data collection cannot retrieve a host name, a VM Guest will not be treated as a host in the Inventory and Virtualization Manager reports will not be populated with host details. For example, a host name may not be available in the following situations: the VM may be down, VM Tools may not be installed on the VM Guest, or a VM template may have been collected.
The VMware Data Collector uses the VMware Infrastructure SDK to make XML API calls over HTTP to retrieve data from ESX servers. The VMware Data Collector is multi-threaded, enabling it to poll up to five vCenters in one polling cycle.
VMware requires the following access for data collection:
1. View-only VMware User ID that has a role with the following privileges:
• Read-Only
• Browse Datastore
Note: Permissions can be granted to an existing local account or domain/AD user.
2. Assign the user to the root-level folder permissions of vSphere.
The administrator user who provisions the read-only role for collection must be an administrator at the root level, not just at a data center or other level. If multiple vCenters are available for administration in the client (Linked Mode), that administrator user must be provisioned at the root level for each vCenter Server from which data is collected.
3. Port 443 must be open. Data collection uses HTTPS without certificate validation for encrypted connections. This allows the use of a self-signed certificate on the VMware server.
Creating a VMware Read-Only User
Permissions can be granted to an existing local account or domain/AD user. The following VMware user-creation steps are required only if you do not want to grant permissions to an existing user. Refer to the information specific to Virtualization Manager data collection for a detailed procedure for the following steps.
1. In VMware, clone a read-only role and create a Virtualization Manager Group role.
2. Add the Browse Datastore permission and add it to the root-level folder.
3. Create a User and assign it to the Virtualization Manager Group.
Microsoft Hyper-V
• The collector must have WMI network access to the Hyper-V servers. User credentials must allow access to the root\cimv2, root\virtualization\v2 and root\MSCluster WMI namespaces.
• The Data Collector Service that is initially installed uses the Local System as the Log in account. Sometimes this account does not have permissions to run remote WMI commands. You should instead change the Service configuration to use a Log in account that has Local Administrative privileges.
• The collector uses a PowerShell script that uses WMI to communicate with the Hyper-V, and makes a number of read-only calls to gather the information. PowerShell script execution needs to be enabled on the system running this script. The version of PowerShell on the system must be 5.0 or above.
• A full collection path to Hyper-V server attached SAN or NAS storage requires that Host Resource collection be run first against the Hyper-V servers.
• WMI uses DCOM for networking. DCOM dynamically allocates port numbers for clients. DCOM’s service runs on port 135 (a static port) and any client communicating with a host connects on this port. The DCOM service allocates the specific port for the WMI service.
To set up a fixed port for WMI, see http:// msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb219447%28VS.85%29.aspx.