ESX and vCenter Alarms

 Definition

An Alarms is a notification that are activated in response to an event, a set of conditions, or the state of an inventory object. An alarm definition consists of the following elements in the vSphere Client:

· Name and description - Provides an identifying label and description.

· Targets - Defines the type of object that is monitored.- VM\ DataSore\N\W etc.

· Alarm Rules - Defines the event, condition, or state that triggers the alarm and defines the notification severity. It also defines operations that occur in response to triggered alarms.

· Last modified - The last modified date and time of the defined alarm.

 Alarm categories –

Alarms have the following severity levels:

· Normal – green - Status is Good. The health of the object is Normal

· Warning – yellow - Status is Warning – The Object experiencing Some Problem

· Alert – red – Status is Critical – The Object is either not Functioning Properly or will stop Functioning Soon.

· Unknow – Gray – Unknow – No Data is available for this Alert

 

Event Types

Event Type	Description
Error	Indicates that a fatal problem has occurred in the system and terminates the process or operation.
Warning	Indicates that there is a potential risk to the system which needs to be fixed. This event does not terminate the process or operation.
Information	Describes that the user or system operation is completed successfully.
Audit	Provides important audit log data which is crucial for the security framework. The audit log data includes information about what is the action, who did it, when it occurred, and the IP address of the user. You can learn more about this in the vSphere Security guide

Create Custom Alarm in vCenter

Monitoring the infrastructure is always the important task for IT team to manage all the resources well.

If we are using the vSphere Virtual Infrastructure then also we have to monitor VM’s , Hosts, vCenter’s, so to monitor the virtual infra VMware provides the Alarms which are used to notify users about specific events, Conditions & state of objects in the vCenter.

vCenter comes with many Pre-configured alarms to monitor our infra but in case we need to monitor our infra according to our requirements then we can also create custom alarms which will notify us in case of events , conditions & states.

Alarms helps IT Team to manage the virtual infrastructure & to identify the issues & problems related to virtual machines, Hosts, Cluster, Virtual Switches etc.

So let’s see how to create our own custom alarm to monitor the vCenter objects.

We can create Custom Alarm for a wide range of inventory object:

· Virtual Machine

· Hosts

· Clusters

· Datastores

· Network

· Distributed Switch

· Distributed Port Group

Step 1:

Login to vCenter Server using vSphere Web Client.

Choose the vCenter Server.

Click on Monitor Tab.

Click Alarm Definitions.

Here we can see that many already configured alarms are provided by default.

But we are creating our custom alarm so click on Green plus icon to create new alarm.

Step 2:

Provide the Name & Description for Alarm.

In the Monitor Drop Down , we can specify object which we want to monitor.

Distributer Port Group, Data stores Cluster, Vcenter Servers.

I am going with Virtual Machines you can choose the one according to your requirement

We can have option to create alarm for specific conditions or specific events.

You can also Enable Alarm at the time of creation by checking Box “Enable Alarm”.

Click Next to proceed.

Step 3:

Here we have to specify the conditions for which Alarm should be generated.

So for adding the condition click on Green Plus icon.

After adding the condition click on condition to choose the which trigger you want to use.

You can also specify the conditions for warnings & critical.

click Next for continue.

 

Step 4:

Now We have to configure Action for your alarm.

Click on Green Plus icon to add new action.

After action is added you can choose the Action & choose from drop down whether you want to Enable Notification , Email alert etc.

We can also set the Values for Warning, Critical as shown.

You can either use it to generate Action once or it will be repeat process.

So after adding action. Click Finish to save & close the Alarm.

 

 

Now we have successfully created alarm. Test Created alarm.

Check below Screenshot for Alarm i have created & Tested.

 

Now we have successfully created & configured Alarm. we can create & configure alarms for any environment monitoring as much as we want.

Datastore Alarm

Acknowledge Triggered Alarms

After acknowledge an alarm in the vSphere Client, its alarm actions are discontinued. Alarms are not cleared or reset when acknowledged.

Acknowledging an alarm lets other users know that you are taking ownership of the issue. For example, a host has an alarm set to monitor CPU usage. It sends an email to an administrator when the alarm is triggered. The host CPU usage spikes, triggering the alarm which sends an email to the host's administrator. The administrator acknowledges the triggered alarm to let other administrators know the problem is being addressed, and to prevent the alarm from sending more email messages. The alarm, however, is still visible in the system.

Procedure

· Right-click the alarm in the Alarms panel and select Acknowledge.

· Acknowledge the alarm in the Monitor tab.

1. Select an inventory object in the object navigator.

2. Click the Monitor tab.

· Click Issues and Alarms, and click Triggered Alarms.

· Select an alarm and select Acknowledge.

Reset Triggered Event Alarms

An alarm triggered by an event might not reset to a normal state if vCenter Server does not retrieve the event that identifies the normal condition. In such cases, reset the alarm manually in the vSphere Client to return it to a normal state.

Procedure

· Right-click an alarm in the Alarms sidebar pane and select Reset to green.

· Reset triggered alarms in the Monitor tab.

1. Select an inventory object.

2. Click the Monitor tab.

3. Click Issues and Alarms, and click Triggered Alarms.

4. Select the alarms you want to reset.

Use Shift+ left-click or CTRL+ Left-click to select multiple alarms is supported in the vSphere Client.

5. Right-click an alarm and select Reset to Green.

 

References: Monitoring Events, Alarms, and Automated Actions (vmware.com)