To start with, we are going to launch our vRealize Operations Custom UI, which is https://(vRealize Operations host)/vcops-custom/. At the end of the screen, you are going to click on the + tab after the last dashboard to edit a new dashboard tab. For our new dashboard, we are going to supply a Tab name and select the 1 Column layout. Next, we are going to drag over two Resource widgets onto our new dashboard tab.
In order for us to focus on a specific subset of virtual machines and hosts that make up our application, we need to create an application grouping. Click on Environment and then select Application Overview. To add a new application, click on the button with the green + symbol.
On the Edit Application Screen, you are going to want to create a new Tier and give it a name; you will notice in my diagram below I called my tier Management Operation Tier, which includes 4 resources.
Just below Tiers, you are going to expand Resource Kind under Resource-Tags and select Virtual Machine. In the List tab, you are going to search for your virtual machines, then drag them to the Tier Resources window just above. Follow the same process for the Host Systems you want included in your application tier. In my instance, I have included one Host System and three Virtual Machines, which are listed under the Managed Operations Tier Resources. Finally, you are going to want to name your Application and click on the Save button.
Now I have an application group, this enables me to select this collection as a resource tag when working with my widgets.
We are going to want to repeat the previous process, but this time we are going to create an Application Tier called Managed Applications VMs Tier and only include the virtual machines. We will use this application group for our Application Details widget at the end.
Now we are going to edit our first widget by clicking on the gear icon on the widget, you can find it in the image below.
On the Edit Resources widget, we are going to input the following information:
- Supply a Widget title
- Pagination number: 100
- Mode: Self
- Refresh Widget Content: On
- Widget Refresh Interval: 30 seconds
- Auto Select First Row: Off
- Select Application (full set) and then your new Application Tier under the Tags Filter
- Select Resource Kinds and then Host Systems under the Tags Filter
- Order By: Name
On the Additional Column, you are going to want to select Add/Remove. This will bring you to a screen where you can pick the specific metrics you want to monitor in the environment. For my host environment, under Resource Kinds I selected Host Systems and then selected six metrics. In the Selected Metrics screen, it lists a variety of metrics that I want to monitor for CPU, Memory, and Network.
By default, your new widget is going to include two columns - Health and ID. To remove these two items from the widget select the down arrow, got down to Columns, and then uncheck any of the columns you do not want included in the view.
Now we are going to edit our second widget, which is going to include the critical metrics we need to monitor our virtual machines by clicking on the gear icon on the widget.
On the Edit Resources widget, we are going to input the following information:
- Supply a Widget title
- Pagination number: 100
- Mode: Children
- Refresh Widget Content: Off
- Widget Refresh Interval: 30 seconds
- Auto Select First Row: Off
- Select Application (full set) and then your new Application Tier under the Tags Filter
- Select Resource Kinds and then Virtual Machine under the Tags Filter
- Order By: Name
Like before, on the Additional Column box, you are going to want to select Add/Remove. This will bring you to a screen where you can pick the specific metrics you want to monitor for your virtual machines. There is a little bit of a trick for adding virtual machine metrics. In most organizations, you are going to have thousands of virtual machines, unfortunately you cannot filter down to a subset of those virtual machines under the Resource Kinds when you go to pick your metrics. When you click on virtual machine under Resource Kind, it will clock for a period of time and then eventually time-out. However, you can use the Host Systems metrics under Resource Kinds, which provides the same counters. For my virtual machines, under Resource Kinds I selected Host Systems and then selected seven monitoring metrics.
You should now have dashboard that shows the host resources on the top and the virtual machine resources on the bottom in the dashboard.
We are going to connect our virtual machine Resource widget to our host systems Resource widget. This provides a dynamic view into the environment. When clicking on a host system in the above window frame, it will display the virtual machines associated with the host in the below window.
The proceeding image shows the Interactions hyperlink from the main dashboard. This will bring you to the Configure Widget Interactions screen.
The Configure Widget Interaction screen allows you to select a provider widget for a receiving widget. In other words, the receiving widget will only contain the child objects and metrics data for the parent object selected in the Providing Widget. For instance, for our dashboard we are going to pick Host Resources for the provider of the Receiving Widget – Click above to see VM usage.
This has established the connection between the two widgets, now when I select a host system from the top window, only the associated virtual machines with that host show in the bottom window.
I want to add one final widget to my dashboard. On Dashboard Tools in my browser, I am going to select Edit. I am going to scroll down until I find Application Detail on the left hand side of the screen, and then drag it over to my Tab layout.
To configure the Application Detail widget, we are going to select the following information:
- Enter a Widget title
- Mode: Compact
- Self Provider: On
- Refresh Widget Content: On
- Widge Refresh Interval: 30 seconds
- Select Application (full set) and then your Managed Application VMs under the Tags Filter
- Double click the Management Application VM Tier under the List tab
- The Management Application VM Tier should show under Selected Resources, and then click OK.
Clearly in the end, you have a comprehensive dashboard that provides a tremendous amount of value by displaying the host metrics you have selected, the virtual machine metrics, and the application details. This is a great portal to use when you are troubleshooting a specific issue in the environment.
