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wnet114
Contributor
Contributor

Chargeback manager not collecting any external network traffic stats from vCloud

I'm having some real trouble with Chargeback Manager talking to vShield Manager with vCloud director.

All the VM stats collect ok in Chargeback manager except for external network statistics. These always show zero in any report ran.

I have confirmed all servers (vShield, vCenter Server, vCloud, Chargeback Manager, DB server) are all running UTC with synchronised time. Everything else functions flawlessly.

Chargeback Manager's vShield data collector shows the following every 10 minutes when it goes to collect network stats:

\collected_logs\vCenter-CB-TroubleshootInfo-2014-05-26-06-19\Troubleshoot\vCenter-CB-Other\vShield Manager DataCollector-Embedded-logs\logs\VSM-DC.log

INFO [CbmPerformaceStatsJob] [vsm.CbmPerformaceStatsJob] 3931: No networks found for processing during current cycle for job :: CbmPerformaceStatsJob 

INFO [CbmPerformaceStatsJob] [vsm.CbmPerformaceStatsJob] 3931: No edges found for processing during current cycle for job :: CbmPerformaceStatsJob

When I go to run a report:

2014-05-23T05:32:52.713+0000 FATAL [cbmBurstableBillingJob] [utils.CbServerPropertyHandler] 2871: Mandatory property {name:External Network Receive, category:vcloud} is either not defined or empty. 

2014-05-23T05:32:52.713+0000 ERROR [cbmBurstableBillingJob] [vsm.VsmDcUtils] 2871: Failed to get numeric value for computing resouce id :: null, for key :: External Network Receive 

2014-05-23T05:32:52.718+0000 FATAL [cbmBurstableBillingJob] [utils.CbServerPropertyHandler] 2876: Mandatory property {name:External Network Transmit, category:vcloud} is either not defined or empty. 

2014-05-23T05:32:52.719+0000 ERROR [cbmBurstableBillingJob] [vsm.VsmDcUtils] 2877: Failed to get numeric value for computing resouce id :: null, for key :: External Network Transmit

It seems to me that vShield is not recording external network stats.

I have VM's in vCloud director that have direct external IP Addresses (windows VM's that have external IP's assigned directly to them) and I am not running any vShield Edge gateways. I do also have a CSR1000V with an external IP. All the stats for these VM's except for network traffic show flawlessly.

I have gone through the troubleshooting here http://www.vmware.com/pdf/cbm_bp_ts_guide_2_5_0.pdf and addressed the following:

1. Time is set correctly across the servers

2. Database user is correct and pulling other stats without problems

3. I am using the vShield admin account, which connects without fault

I do not have vShield App installed on any hosts, I just have my vShield manager sitting on a separate cluster (with access to the VMK ports on the vDS that connects the hosts). Is this possibly something to do with how vShield Manager has been set up? Can Chargeback Manager even read external network stats if I am not using a vShield Edge gateway?

Your thoughts would be appreciated Smiley Happy


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9 Replies
rcporto
Leadership
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Check if this KB article helps: When attempting to run a Chargeback report, external network traffic statistics always show 0 (20107...

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Richardson Porto
Senior Infrastructure Specialist
LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/richardsonporto
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wnet114
Contributor
Contributor

Not getting that error in my vCloud-DC.log unfortunately Smiley Sad

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wnet114
Contributor
Contributor

Now that I've done some more testing, it doesn't appear to be reporting internal network traffic either! Any network related traffic statistic just reports zero.

I am running VCenter as a VM in the cluster, with the internal postgresql database if it makes a difference?

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Nivetha
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi,

If the report is being generated on VC Hierarchy other than vCD Hierarchy in Chargeback, then the values populated for “External Network” will be 0. Since “Network Received and Transmitted” information comes from VCenter and “EXTERNAL Network Transmit, Receive” information comes from vCloud VSM.

Below are the steps to verify certain things before generating the report in CBM:

1. Make sure, the correct pricing model is selected, the default CBM pricing model will not work for vCD report generation.

2. Please do check the type of the “Network Edge” created in vCloud. CBM can charge for vms that are connected only to “routed network or a vapp network”

3. Make sure the external network property type of the vshield edge gateway used is of type "ROUTED".

4. To create ROUTED Org VDC Networks, follow the below steps

      a.Home -> Manage organization VDCs, double click any Org VDC

      b.Go to “Org VDC Networks” tab, create a new “Organization VDC Network” by choosing “Create a routed network by connecting to an existing gateway”

         Make sure to select this option, only then the vms can be charged in CBM.

5. Do create a custom billing policy and later a pricing model in the below mentioned way.

      a.Create a custom billing policy with the below rules:

        external network transmit = usage;

        external network receive = usage;

        other resources = usage or allocation (depending on the requirement);

      b.Create a custom pricing model with the above created billing policy.

        Set the needed base rates for the required parameters in the “Base Rates” tab of pricing model creation.

      c.Generate the report on the vCD hierarchy (i.e) over the Org vCD that gets created in CBM as soon as vCD is linked with CBM. Select the pricing model created in step 2 (b).


Let us know, how it works.

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wnet114
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Hi Nivetha,

Thanks for the reply.

1 - I have created a separate pricing model

2/3 I am not using a vShield Edge gateway

4. As mentioned, I am assigning IP addresses directly to virtual machines so I am not using edge gateways. I am using the Cisco CSR1000V and then directly connecting it to an external network in vCloud

So you are saying you cannot use chargeback manager to measure external network traffic without using vShield Edge? So I can't monitor external network traffic of a VM that is directly connected to the internet?

If this is the case, I am happy to simply generate network transmitted/received reports for this particular network rather than external network reports, however ALL my CBM reports are showing zero for any network related report?


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Nivetha
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi wnet,

"So you are saying you cannot use chargeback manager to measure external network traffic without using vShield Edge? So I can't monitor external network traffic of a VM that is directly connected to the internet? "

Yes, the "vShield Edge" routed network is needed to monitor the external traffic, otherwise CBM cant charge the networks that are directly connected to internet.

"If this is the case, I am happy to simply generate network transmitted/received reports for this particular network rather than external network reports, however ALL my CBM reports are showing zero for any network related report?"

As mentioned, the "Network Received and Network Transmitted" information comes from VCenter.

We require the VC stats level to be set to 3, so that we receive data for the below items:

  • Disk Read
  • Disk Write
  • Network Transmitted
  • Network Received

Below is the KB article to set up the stat level.

KB article: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=2010099&sl...



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wnet114
Contributor
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OK so I have set the stat level to 3 on vCenter, and I am still not getting any network information. I also get all 0's for the combined network send & recieve, which that KB said should already be working fine?

Other stats (vCPU, Memory usage) record correctly - Just network stats that are all blank... Smiley Sad

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wnet114
Contributor
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I have just changed the report billing policy to Actual Usage, and I see the network transmitted/received stats now - However the stats for the actual networks still come up as blank? (So it shows transmitted/recieved traffic per VM, but in the same VDC under the network that the traffic was transmitted/received on it shows 0's)

Is this normal behavior? Is there any way to get reports per-network? If not, why does Chargeback show them, if they can not be monitored in any way?

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Nivetha
VMware Employee
VMware Employee

Hi wnet,

"So it shows transmitted/recieved traffic per VM, but in the same VDC under the network that the traffic was transmitted/received on it shows 0's"

--> Yes it would show as 0, since that network is a VDC network, as mentioned earlier to charge any vCloud related networks in CBM its necessary to set up the network property type of the vshield edge gateway as "ROUTED". Since the network details of VDC comes from vShield and not from vCenter.


"Is this normal behavior? Is there any way to get reports per-network?"

--> Yes its the normal behavior.  Since the details of VDC networks can be known only via vShield.

We can set up a vShield Routed edge gateway to monitor them in CBM, which would generate reports-per network.

NOTE: EXTERNAL Network Transmit / Receive are only the applicable checkboxes to be used for generating the reports for Networks.

Network Transmit/Receive - Represents internal network which is applicable only for vm's, since they get the input from vCenter.

EXTERNAL Transmit/Receive - Represents external network which is applicable for all networks that are created in vCloud Director.

"If not, why does Chargeback show them, if they can not be monitored in any way?"

--> Its possible for CBM to monitor them if you would set up the network type as mentioned in post#4.

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