<%NUMBERING1%>.<%NUMBERING2%>.<%NUMBERING3%> PRTG Manual: VMware Host Hardware Status (SOAP) Sensor

The VMware Host Hardware Status (SOAP) sensor monitors the hardware status of a VMware host server using the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP). It gives you a general status overview of the host.

i_round_blueThe sensor also shows any states other than normal in the sensor message.

VMware Host Hardware Status (SOAP) Sensor

VMware Host Hardware Status (SOAP) Sensor

i_square_cyanFor a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.

Sensor in Other Languages

  • Dutch: VMware Host Hardware Status (SOAP)
  • French: VMware statut du matériel du serveur hôte (SOAP)
  • German: VMware Hostserver Hardware-Zustand (SOAP)
  • Japanese: VMware ホストハードウェアの状態(SOAP)
  • Portuguese: Status do hardware de host VMware (SOAP)
  • Russian: Состояние аппаратных средств узла VMware (SOAP)
  • Simplified Chinese: VMware 主机硬件状态 (SOAP)
  • Spanish: Estado de hardware host VMware (SOAP)

Remarks

  • This sensor requires Microsoft .NET 4.7.2 or later on the probe system.
  • This sensor requires credentials for VMware/XenServer in the settings of the parent device. Ensure that you enter a user with sufficient access rights to obtain statistics (read-only usually works).
  • The parent device must be a VMware ESXi server version 5.2 or later. We recommend that you do not use this sensor on your vCenter. Reliable hardware information can only be provided when this sensor is created on your physical host server as parent device.
  • We recommend Windows Server 2012 R2 on the probe system for best performance of this sensor.
  • This sensor supports the IPv6 protocol.
  • This sensor has a medium performance impact.
  • This sensor only shows items that report an actual status, so you might see more "sensors" in your vSphere client than the number of states available in the channels of this sensor

Detailed Requirements

Requirement

Description

.NET 4.7.2 or later

This sensor requires .NET 4.7.2 or later to be installed on the probe system (on every cluster node, if on a cluster probe).

i_round_redIf the framework is missing, you cannot create this sensor.

i_square_cyanFor more information, see the Knowledge Base: Which .NET version does PRTG require?

Settings on VMware Host System

If you set up this sensor on different probes (for example, when using remote probes or when running a failover cluster), you might need to change the settings of your VMware host so that it accepts more incoming connections. Otherwise, you might get connection timeouts when running plenty of VMware sensors with a short scanning interval.

i_square_cyanFor details about this setting, see the Knowledge Base: How can I increase the connection limit on VMware systems? PE121.

Add Sensor

The Add Sensor dialog appears when you manually add a new sensor to a device. It only shows the settings that are required to create the sensor. You can change nearly all settings on the sensor's Settings tab after creation.

i_round_blueThe settings that you select in the Add Sensor dialog are valid for all sensors that you create when you finish the dialog.

VMware Host Settings

Setting

Description

Host Servers

Select the host servers that you want to monitor. PRTG creates one sensor for each host server that you select.

i_round_blueEnable check boxes in front of the respective lines to select the items. Use the check box in the table header to select all items or to cancel the selection. In large tables, use the search function in the upper-right corner.

Basic Sensor Settings

Click the Settings tab of a sensor to change its settings.

Basic Sensor Settings

Basic Sensor Settings

Setting

Description

Sensor Name

Enter a name to identify the sensor.

Parent Tags

Shows tags that the sensor inherits from its parent device, parent group, and parent probe.

i_round_blueThis setting is for your information only. You cannot change it.

Tags

Enter one or more tags. Confirm each tag with the Spacebar key, a comma, or the Enter key. You can use tags to group objects and use tag-filtered views later on. Tags are not case-sensitive. Tags are automatically inherited.

i_round_blueIt is not possible to enter tags with a leading plus (+) or minus (-) sign, nor tags with parentheses (()) or angle brackets (<>).

i_round_blueFor performance reasons, it can take some minutes until you can filter for new tags that you added.

The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:

  • esxserverhosthealthsensor

Priority

Select a priority for the sensor. This setting determines the position of the sensor in lists. The highest priority is at the top of a list. Choose from the lowest priority (i_priority_1) to the highest priority (i_priority_5).

i_round_blueUsually, a sensor connects to the IP Address/DNS Name of the parent device. See the device settings for details. For some sensors, you can explicitly define the monitoring target in the sensor settings.

VMware Host Settings

VMware Host Settings

VMware Host Settings

Setting

Description

Managed Object Identifier (MOID)

Shows the managed object identifier of the host that this sensor monitors.

i_round_bluePRTG shows this value for reference purposes only. If you need to change this value, add the sensor anew.

Known Warnings

Enter one or more warning messages from the VMware host that you want to ignore. Use semicolons (;) as separators, for example, Power Supply 7;Power Supply 8. Enter a string or leave the field empty.

i_round_blueWarning messages that you enter do not affect the sensor status.

i_round_redWe strongly recommend that you use this filter for known issues only. For example, for states that systems return because of errors in the vendors' CIM extensions. Because of this, the sensor might never show the Up status although the vSphere client does not show any warnings.

Known Errors

Enter one or more error messages from the VMware host that you want to ignore. Use semicolons (;) as separators, for example, Power Supply 7;Power Supply 8. Enter a string or leave the field empty.

i_round_blueError messages that you enter do not affect the sensor status.

i_round_redWe strongly recommend that you use this filter for known issues only. For example, for states that systems return because of errors in the vendors' CIM extensions. Because of this, the sensor might never show the Up status although the vSphere client does not show any errors.

Handling of Unknown States

Define the sensor behavior when the vSphere client reports unknown states:

  • Show unknown states (default): Show unknown states in the status message and set the sensor to the Warning status.
  • Do not show unknown states: Do not show unknown states in the status message and do not change the sensor status.

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

  • Discard result: Do not store the sensor result.
  • Store result: Store the last sensor result in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file names are Result of Sensor [ID].txt and Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites these files with each scanning interval.

i_podThis option is not available when the sensor runs on the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance.

i_round_blueIn a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.

Sensor Display

Sensor Display

Sensor Display

Setting

Description

Primary Channel

Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, the last value of the primary channel is always displayed below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.

i_round_blueYou can set a different primary channel later by clicking b_channel_primary below a channel gauge on the sensor's Overview tab.

Graph Type

Define how different channels are shown for this sensor:

  • Show channels independently (default): Show a graph for each channel.
  • Stack channels on top of each other: Stack channels on top of each other to create a multi-channel graph. This generates a graph that visualizes the different components of your total traffic.
    i_round_redYou cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings).

Stack Unit

This setting is only visible if you enable Stack channels on top of each other as Graph Type. Select a unit from the list. All channels with this unit are stacked on top of each other. By default, you cannot exclude single channels from stacking if they use the selected unit. However, there is an advanced procedure to do so.

Inherited Settings

By default, all of these settings are inherited from objects that are higher in the hierarchy. We recommend that you change them centrally in the root group settings if necessary. To change a setting for this object only, click b_inherited_enabled under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance and to display its options.

i_square_cyanFor more information, see section Inheritance of Settings.

Scanning Interval

Scanning Interval

Scanning Interval

i_square_cyanFor more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Scanning Interval.

Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window

i_round_blueYou cannot interrupt the inheritance for schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. The corresponding settings from the parent objects are always active. However, you can define additional schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. They are active at the same time as the parent objects' settings.

Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window

Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window

i_square_cyanFor more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window.

Access Rights

Access Rights

Access Rights

i_square_cyanFor more information, see section Root Group Settings, section Access Rights.

Channel List

i_round_blueWhich channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.

Channel

Description

Alert States

The total number of items in the alert status as the vSphere client reports

Downtime

In the channel table on the Overview tab, this channel never shows any values. PRTG uses this channel in graphs and reports to show the amount of time in which the sensor was in the Down status in percent.

Normal States

The total number of items in the normal status as the vSphere client reports

i_round_blueThis channel is the primary channel by default.

Unknown States

The total number of items in the unknown status as the vSphere client reports

Warning States

The total number of items in the warning status as the vSphere client reports

More

i_square_blueKnowledge Base

I cannot add VMware sensors because of "wrong" password although it is correct. What can I do?

Why are my VMware sensors not working after upgrading to VCSA 6.5 U1?

Which .NET version does PRTG require?

How can I increase the connection limit on VMware systems? PE121

What security features does PRTG include?

Monitoring VMware ESXi 5.5 does not work. What can I do?

For which sensor types do you recommend Windows Server 2012 R2 or later and why?

For more information about sensor settings, see the following sections: