Problems passing alarms from VMs on ESX Server to SIM

[Gray_Troutman]

Hello all,

I've got an ESX server (running 3.0.2) and I can't seem to pass alarms from the VMs residing on it to my SIM. I am passing other traps from the ESX itself to the SIM with no problem. For instance, if a VM reboots or the ESX itself is rebooted or if I just send a test trap from the MUI, those all show up in the alerts section on the SIM. However, alarms that have been configured on the VMs (either under the VM itself or under Datacenters) do not get passed. I have an alarm configured as a test, it goes red if VM memory utilization goes above 50%, with the action "Send notification trap" . The alarm triggers successfully (showing up under "Triggered Alarms"), but I don't get an alert on the SIM. I seem to remember seeing a script somewhere that ties the VM SNMP to the ESX SNMP that needs to be run under ESX Service Console, but I can't find it now. Is that the answer or have I missed something? Any suggestions on where to start looking are appreciated.

Thanks,

Gray

[GBromage]

Hi Gray!

I've not looked at this myself, but it would seem to me that if the you define an alarm in VirtualCenter and configure it to send a trap, then the SNMP trap would be generated by the VC server, not the ESX host. Have you checked what the SNMP trap destination on your VC server's SNMP stack is?

Remember that an alarm in VC can also be generated at the Cluster or Datacenter level - an individual ESX host is not going to know about the "big picture" stuff like that. Since VC is the one that has the overall view, thats where the alert, and thus the trap, should be generated.

Hope that helps,

Greg

[Gray_Troutman]

The VC server is also the server running SIM. From the Virtual Infrastructure Client, I've gone into VirtualCenter Management Server Configuration and then SNMP. My Primary Receiver I left as "localhost" (which, implicitely, is also the SIM) and then, just as a test, I enabled Receiver 2 and set it to the actual name of the SIM box itself. Like I said, I'm getting some traps, for instance I know when a VM gets rebooted, I'm just not getting alarms, which is kind of weird. Are there separate mibs for the VM? I've configured VMWARE-ROOT-MIB.mib (which doesn't have any traps) and VMWARE-TRAPS-MIB.mib (which has five), are there more that I need to install?

[java_cat33]

Hi Gray - I have exactly the same problem as you (I've currently got a thread open for it too) however had no luck sorting it yet. When I do I will let you know!! :smileygrin:

Here's my thread incase you have missed anything.....

http://communities.vmware.com/message/783903

Good luck!

[Gray_Troutman]

Thanks for the info. We're upgrading to the latest PSP next Monday and, if that doesn't help, opening a case with VMware. I have a feeling that the problem is a disconnect somewhere between the settings in VC and the ESX Server. I've seen the following instructions (my notes are bolded):

Before getting the VMs to communicate with the CMS, the ESX host server should be configured to work with the CMS. First, enable the VMware SNMP sub-agent for the ESX host in question. Configure the sub-agent in the ESX server MUI (Management Users Interface) by selecting the Options tab (there is no options tab, maybe this was on an ESX server running v2.1...) and then selecting SNMP Configuration (but I do know where SNMP Configuration is in this version), under the heading VMware SNMP Subagent, enable both Status and VMware Traps (there’s nothing there for Status or Vmware). Once the sub-agent is configured, install and configure the IM Agents for ESX host (I can only find versions for for ESX 2.1, not 3.0.2, on the HP site). The agents are downloaded from hp.com as a tar ball. The tar ball must be installed on the ESX console and unpacked. Typing hpmgmt.sh install from the directory where the tar ball was unpacked starts the installation.

[java_cat33]

Thanks Gray - I just logged into the MUI now... yeah there's definitely no options tab is there.

[Gray_Troutman]

I found the solution. You have to have HP's Virtualization Management Software installed. After installing it, go into the SIM, go to Options, then scroll to Virtualization

Management -> Security -> VMware VirtualCenter Settings. Set the appropriate settings for your VirtualCenter Server. That's about it. After doing that, I started getting vpxdTraps in my event window that corresponded to the alarms I had created in VirtualCenter.

[java_cat33]

Thanks Gary - my understanding is that you have to purchase the Virtualization Management Pack. Is that correct?

[Gray_Troutman]

Yes, you can either purchase a single- or multi-server license. We're just using the single license version, as we only have the one VirtualCenter Server