vROPS
bits & bobs
by vMan.ch
@vManDotCH
For Swiss German vMug - 08.06.2017
vRops Version 6.5.0.5097674
Build 5097674
Swiss German vMug - 08.06.2017
@vManDotCH / [email protected]
Topics
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Hints
Integrations / solutions
Custom Grouping
Applications
Alerting
Actions
Predictive DRS
Suite-API
Swiss German vMug - 08.06.2017
@vManDotCH / [email protected]
Hints
• vRops Self Health Dashboards
These dashboards are useful to troubleshoot issues with vRops… but are not
visible on the home screen by default… This is not a typical user dashboard
but more for the vRops admin…. if you need to troubleshoot / keep an eye on
vRops issues enable them in the Dashboards menu.
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• Sharing dashboards with groups
Sharing specific dashboard’s to a group of users. Let’s say an application team with several members has a
dashboard spécifique to their needs… You can share this dashboard with a vRops group!
Swiss German vMug - 08.06.2017
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• Creating new tabs under the dashboard list
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• External dashboards in vROPS
Let’s say your application teams already have dashboards in another tools
/portals… You can embed it into vROPS! Do this with the “Text Widget”.
In this example I will link to an external Tableau Dashboard.
Swiss German vMug - 08.06.2017
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Swiss German vMug - 08.06.2017
@vManDotCH / [email protected]
Swiss German vMug - 08.06.2017
@vManDotCH / [email protected]
• Custom metric configuration
In the past the metric configuration for custom dashboards etc… was not
simple because the GUI was just an empty box where you would create the
structure manually… but now the GUI helps with the structure!!
Swiss German vMug - 08.06.2017
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• Multiple data source’s for objects
In some cases when an object has multiple integrations / solutions collecting
data for it you will see the status GUI. Good to keep an eye out for the
collection status of all solutions to make sure data is being collected correctly.
Swiss German vMug - 08.06.2017
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Integrations / Solutions
Many solutions have been created by VMware or other vendors to integrate
data into vRops for that single pane of glass / end to end view.!! You can find
these over at Solutions Exchange.. (some will require licenses)
If a solution does not exist for your needs or you want to integrate your own
application metrics by creating or associating the data to new or existing
objects… it is possible but will require some dev work, it is simple enough
thanks to the Rest-API
Documentation at https://yourvRopsserver/suite-api/docs/rest/internal_index.html
Check out my blog http://vman.ch for an examples in Powershell
Swiss German vMug - 08.06.2017
@vManDotCH / [email protected]
Custom Grouping
In any tool having all object types monitored / reported on is not always
simple without metadata / grouping. In this example I will show you how to
create custom groups and populate them dynamically with objects using
custom properties from a CMDB as an example.
Custom property example here: http://vman.ch/vrops-suite-api-properties-import (NOTE!!! There is currently no way to delete custom properties via the
GUI, I have a solution by going to Postgres DB but perform it at your own risk. http://vman.ch/vrops-postgres-suite-api-remove-delete-custom-properties
Group creation via the API example here: http://vman.ch/vrops-suite-api-createcustomgroup
In this example I will create 2 new group types in the GUI as an
example before creating custom groups.
Swiss German vMug - 08.06.2017
@vManDotCH / [email protected]
• Creating a custom group
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You can have multiple conditions, for EXAMPLE a
all servers which belong to COSTCODE 99 and are
CRITICALITY LOW. (LIVE DEMO)
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Applications
• Creating Applications in vRops with multiple tiers will allow you to build
relationships between different objects that make up an application.
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Swiss German vMug - 08.06.2017
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Alerting
vROPS has multiple methods of alerting / exporting alarms or triggering other
systems.
Configure a “Standard Email Plugin” under Outbound Settings
Swiss German vMug - 08.06.2017
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Under Notification, create a new rule to which uses the Email Plugin
Configure the kinds of alerts required defining the Scope, in this example I will configure .
Object type: Virtual Machines
Impact: Health, Risk
Criticality: All types.
This will generate tickets for many types of alerts if you want to review which alerts would be in scope for this
you can use the GUI but sometimes that can be painful… so I wrote a script to extract to excel for easier
manipulation: http://vman.ch/vrops-suite-api-report-notifications-alarms
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• Below is an example for Scope: Application
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Further customization of the email can be performed using the suite API, I
have a post on my portal here for anyone interested: http://vman.ch/vropsnotifications-xml-templates
Standard Structure
Custom Structure
Swiss German vMug - 08.06.2017
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Actions
This section covers the Automated Actions that can be performed in vROPS
by users with the correct permissions.
For example an over sized VM can be shrunk, a VM with CPU or MEM stress
can be bumped up. If a VM is feeling contention it will suggest moving the VM
to another cluster.
Actions are performed in vRops and the Python adapter will trigger the tasks
in VC and report back the status.
A user with the correct permissions will be required in the vSphere vCenter
adapter, see the vRops documentation for the required role / permissions.
Swiss German vMug - 08.06.2017
@vManDotCH / [email protected]
You might want to have a set of
alternative credentials for the
Actions for security reasons and
that can be configured here:
Swiss German vMug - 08.06.2017
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Here is an alert with a Recommendation / Action
button.
Here is a VM with the possible actions from the
Menu
Live DEMO!
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Predictive DRS
This feature requires vSphere 6.5 and vRops 6.4 to work… and no its not the
same as “Intelligent Workload Placement with DRS” which came out in 6.2In short vRops will feed additional information to vCenter and make better
DRS decisions based on previous behaviour of the environment.
Here are some blog posts on the subject as its too much to write on one slide.
https://www.brianjgraf.com/2016/10/17/vsphere-6-5-drs-whats-new-part-2predictive-drs
https://blogs.vmware.com/management/2016/11/david-davis-vrealizeoperations-post-34-new-predictive-drs-vrealize-operations-6-4.html
Swiss German vMug - 08.06.2017
@vManDotCH / [email protected]
Suite-API
Swiss German vMug - 08.06.2017
@vManDotCH / [email protected]