ESXi 5 Monitoring Question

[sandra_syd]

Hi,

We need to implement increased ESX monitoring for VMware cluster (16 ESX hosts), via Veeam & SCOM, but since vCenter is collecting the attributes data first - my question is:

• Is vCenter capable of collecting monitoring attributes values at 20sec intervals ?
• If yes, how big database and vCenter scpecs would need to be (approx, high level) ?

Thank you.

[abhilashhb]

The minimum it can do is per minute. That's what is seen on the UI atleast.

When you actually change the statistics level, it will tell you the estimated DB size. Goto vCenter>Administration>vCenter Server settings and check it as shown below

[vfk]

Hello, vCenter real-time performance charts are every 20 seconds,  statistics are rolled up and pulled into database for historical retention, and the roll-up stats the minimum is 60 seconds.  In general, vCenter proxies the performance charts for the last 30min directly from esxi hosts, this is to reduce the load on the database.  The ESXi hosts keeps 30min worth of performance locally.

vCenter 5.x - VMware vSphere 5.1 - slight older documentation but very much still relevant VMware vSphere 4 - ESX and vCenter Server

[sandra_syd]

Thank you all - they are correct answers, but just to confirm - from suggested documentation:

• Real-time data collection – An ESXi Server collects data for each performance counter every 20 seconds and maintains that data for one hour.

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Historical data rollup – A vCenter Server collects data from all of the hosts that the vCenter Server manages. The PerformanceManager defines performance intervals that specify time periods for performance data rollup, a methodology for combining data values. The server stores the rolled up performance counter data in the vCenter database. And then : performance interval Data object (PerfInterval) which defines the time interval between collection events, the collection level, and the time period that the data will be stored on the Server. ■ ESXi Servers define a built-in performance interval that specifies data collection every 20 seconds for each performance counter. ESXi Servers also define a single historical interval (PerformanceManager.historicalInterval) that defines  aggregate performance data. This system-defined performance interval specifies aggregate data collection every 300 seconds for each counter. You cannot modify the performance intervals on an ESXi Server. So just on 60 sec - roll-up to db - doesn't it say 300 sec ? - or that is something different (also on screen shot of UI there is 5min but can not see 1min) ? Thanks a lot.

[sandra_syd]

Thank you very much.

Just to confirm - from suggested documentation:

• Real-time data collection – An ESXi Server collects data for each performance counter every 20 seconds and maintains that data for one hour.

■

Historical data rollup – A vCenter Server collects data from all of the hosts that the vCenter Server manages. The PerformanceManager defines performance intervals that specify time periods for performance data rollup, a methodology for combining data values. The server stores the rolled up performance counter data in the vCenter database. And then : performance interval Data object (PerfInterval) which defines the time interval between collection events, the collection level, and the time period that the data will be stored on the Server. ■ ESXi Servers define a built-in performance interval that specifies data collection every 20 seconds for each performance counter. ESXi Servers also define a single historical interval (PerformanceManager.historicalInterval) that defines  aggregate performance data. This system-defined performance interval specifies aggregate data collection every 300 seconds for each counter. You cannot modify the performance intervals on an ESXi Server. Questions: So just on 60 sec - roll-up to db - doesn't it say 300 sec ? - or that is something different (also on screen shot of UI (previous answer) there is 5min but can not see 1min) ? Also - are the both settings per vCenter (for all ESX hosts managed) or it can be set per one of the ESX clusters managed ? Thanks a lot.