How to generate more than 1 hour of performance statistics in vSphere Client 4.0?

[josie888]

We have installed a trial version of vSphere ESX 4.0 (on Intel 8 CPU with Fedora Core 12) and vSphere Client (on Windows Vista 32-bit), and found it only provides 1 hour of performance stats. Then applied a valid license, it still only generates 1 hour of CPU charting and log files. Anyone else has this problem?

The performance log files are exported from vSphere Client thru either: a) File -> Report -> Performance (saved as .xls file for all the VMs of the host), or b) right click on the individual VM -> Report Performance... (for the individual VM). Either way, the outputed .xls files only contains the past hour's CPU, Memory, Storage, Network and Disk statistics.

Also, the "Charting Options" on the Performance tab does not let you change the time span either, even though there are options for "Last ". They are disabled. Please see screen shot.

Please help. Thanks!

[golddiggie]

To go beyond the one hour limit, you need to have a vCenter Server in the mix, that you manage the ESX/ESXi host with. Then, you'll have the canned time frames, of realtime, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 1 year, and then 'custom' which can be set for whatever time window you want.

VMware VCP4

Consider awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers.

[ShaneWendel]

goldiggie is right. You'll also need vCenter or some other 3rd-party montoring system (like Solarwinds) database that can poll the server and maintain a history.

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Shane Wendel

VCP: vSphere 4

VCP: VI3

[golddiggie]

You might be able to retain the reports with a combination of solutions such as vMA and a syslog server... Just means a decent amount of work to get it all set up, and then to convert the data into graphs and such...

VMware VCP4

Consider awarding points for "helpful" and/or "correct" answers.

[maishsk]

This is unsupported but you can generate up to 36 hours of statistics of a host

Here is how:
Maish

Virtualization Architect & Systems Administrator

[cchesley]

There are some free tools out there that will let you get this information from the ESX host without having vCenter. VKernel's SnapshotMyVM can get a week's worth of data from hosts or vCenter and will export the data into xml so it can be manipulated. We also have other free tools that will help you find VMs and monitor hosts and VMs. the free tools are here:

http://www.vkernel.com

[josie888]

Thanks everyone for the helpful answers! Don't think my employer has the budget to buy an vCenter. At this point, the simplest way would be to babysit the vSphere Client and save the hourly statistics hour-by-hour, while I am doing VMware Ready load+duration tests. :((

SnapshotMyVM is a neat little tool, the UI is easy to use. However, I have encountered the following problem at Step 4 (Collecting Data), should I pursuit the answer with vKernal.com? It is able to read the cluster of VMs, but fail to read the performance data. Suspect it may need vCenter as well? Thanks cchesley!

Output fromSnapshotMyVM, Step 4 UI:

Collecting data from "Node2":

VM Settings...OK

Host Settings...OK

Average Load...FAILED - Can't get vm performance parameters

Collecting data from "Node1":

VM Settings...OK

Host Settings...OK

Average Load...FAILED - Can't get vm performance parameters

Collecting data from "Switch":

VM Settings...OK

Host Settings...OK

Average Load...FAILED - Can't get vm performance parameters

Collecting data from "App1":

VM Settings...OK

Host Settings...OK

Average Load...FAILED - Can't get vm performance parameters

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Done! Please click Next to continue

[josie888]

Hi Maishsk,

Thanks for your answer! Sounds very easy to do.

However, when trying it, I can't find the file " /etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml", nor the "/etc/vmware" directory. I am looking at all 4 VMs in the cluster thru the vSphere's Client's Console UI, as well as thru an SSH shell to all 4 VMs. Wondering if the file locations have changed between ESX 3.5 and ESX 4.0? I am using the latter. Thanks again!

[maishsk · Accepted solution]

The configuration is done on the host itself, not on the VM's
Maish

Virtualization Architect & Systems Administrator

[josie888]

Make sense! It got to be on the VMware console itself. I am new to VMware software, have been hearing about this mysterious VMware Service Console and all the magic you can do on it, s.a. esxtop. Per your pointer, finally found these 2 articles on how to get to it using ALT+F1. Trying it now, and then can tweak the config file for collecting longer performance stats.

http://www.virtualizationadmin.com/articles-tutorials/vmware-esx-articles/general/how-to-access-the-...

http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/ESXi_enable_SSH.php

Then will try http://www.vm-help.com/esx/esx3i/extending_performance_data.php

Thanks ! And will let you know how it goes!

[josie888]

Yes, this works! We are able to change the /etc/vmware/hostd/config.xml and now the Performance Tab on the vSphere Client shows 24 hours of stats. This is exactly what I need. Thanks so much, !

[cchesley]

The failed errors you are seeing happen when you collect from an ESX host for VMs that are not powered on. You can collect the information from vCenter for powered off VMs, or you can exlude those from your reporting when collecting from an ESX host.

Glad you like to free tool!

Christopher

[josie888]

Yes, it was indeed the case. Thanks!