Managing and Monitoring Data Collection > Virtualization Manager Data Collector Policy
  
Version 9.2.00
Virtualization Manager Data Collector Policy
VMware Data Collection offers two options for collecting data:
• Collect data from vSphere (formerly vCenter) and/or
• Collect data from specific ESX servers that are not managed by vSphere
When you create a Data Collection policy, you can specify host names and/or IP addresses or range of addresses. In addition, you can enter a comma-separated list of any combination of host names and addresses to be probed.
Prerequisites: A Data Collector must exist in the Portal, to which you will add Data Collector Policies. For specific prerequisites and supported configurations, see the APTARE StorageConsole Certified Configurations Guide.
 
 
1. Click Add and select VMware.
2. Configure the VMware Data Collector policy.
Field
Description
Sample Value
Collector Domain
The domain of the collector to which the collector backup policy is being added. This is a read-only field. By default, the domain for a new policy will be the same as the domain for the collector. This field is set when you add a collector.
 
Policy Domain
The Policy Domain is the domain of the policy that is being configured for the Data Collector. The Policy Domain must be set to the same value as the Collector Domain. The domain identifies the top level of your host group hierarchy. All newly discovered hosts are added to the root host group associated with the Policy Domain.
Typically, only one Policy Domain will be available in the drop-down list. If you are a Managed Services Provider, each of your customers will have a unique domain with its own host group hierarchy.
To find your Domain name select Admin > Hosts and Domains > Domains.
 
ESX/Virtual Center Server*
One or more IP addresses or host names to probe. Comma-separated addresses or IP ranges are supported. The VMware Data Collector is multi-threaded enabling it to poll up to five vCenters in one polling cycle. If the server requires an SSL certificate, refer to Adding a Certificate to the Java Keystore for instructions.
192.168.0.1-250, 192.167.1.10, myhost
User ID*
The view-only VMware user ID that has a role with the following privileges: Read-Only and Browse Datastore.
 
Password*
The password associated with the User ID.
 
ESX Servers to Exclude
Enter one or more ESX server names or IP addresses. Comma-separated names/addresses or IP ranges are supported.
 
Inventory
By default, this probe collects data from VMware using the defined schedule.
For performance reasons, this collection only gathers file information from datastores associated with VMs in the VM inventory.
To capture all datastore file information including the files associated with VMs in the inventory, select the check box: Collect all files on datastore. For additional information, see Datastore Collection.
Click the clock icon to create a schedule. Every Minute, Hourly, Daily, Weekly, and Monthly schedules may be created. Relative schedules are relative to when the Data Collector is restarted. Advanced use of native CRON strings is also available.
Examples of CRON expressions:
*/30 * * * * means every 30 minutes
*/20 9-18 * * * means every 20 minutes between the hours of 9am and 6pm
*/10 * * * 1-5 means every 10 minutes Mon - Fri.
*/30 * * * *
Datastore Collection
For performance reasons, the default VMware data collection only captures VM file information from datastores associated with VMs in the inventory. Check Collect all files on datastore to perform a complete scan and capture all datastore file information including the files associated with VMs in the inventory. Enabling this feature my increase collection time by several hours. For additional information, see Datastore Collection.
 
Performance
Click the check box to activate performance collection. Click the clock icon to create a schedule.
 
Datastore Collection
By default, Inventory collection only captures information about the files referenced by a collected virtual machine (VM files), and only using the information available without directly contacting the datastore. Examples of large files that will not be collected during the default Inventory collection are .iso files (such as, DVD images) and disk images (.vmdk) that are not attached to any collected VM. Data collection runtime is reduced when using the default Inventory collection, but only files for VMs in the inventory are collected. Therefore, a considerable amount of consumed space in the datastore may not be captured. Choose the option: Collect all files on datastore to gain visibility into the storage that is not associated with a VM.
When you check Collect all files on datastore, a more detailed collection is performed by scanning the datastore to discover files that are resident on the datastore, but that are not associated with a VM in the inventory. This option, although it may impact performance, finds files that may be invisible to VMware, but that are consuming space on the datastore. For example, a VM may have been removed without deleting files from the datastore. Similarly, log files or user-stored files may be taking up space not apparent from the VM inventory’s perspective. To reduce the impact on performance, choose the Inventory option, which captures file information using only the information available from the VM inventory, without directly contacting the datastore.