Hardware vCommunity Management Pack for VCF Operations

We recently released the vCommunity Management Pack for VCF Operations covering several use cases including ESXi Host Advanced System Settings, ESXi Host Packages, ESXi Host Licensings, ESXi NIC Status, VM Advanced Parameters, VM Options, VM SCSCI Controller Types, Windows Services, and Windows Events. The vCommunity Management Pack and these use cases were covered in detail by this blog series:

• vCommunity Management Pack for VCF Operations

• vCommunity Management Pack for VCF Operations Part 2

• vCommunity Management Pack for VCF Operations Part 3

• vCommunity Management Pack for VCF Operations Part 4

Today we are announcing the Hardware vCommunity Management Pack for VCF Operations which Broadcom TAM Onur Yuvseven has developed. The initial release will support Dell EMC PowerEdge Servers (leveraging the Redfish API on the iDRAC), pulling dozens of metrics and properties as well as events. The Management Pack includes 5 Dashboards, 8 Views, 14 Alerts, and 19 Symptoms. The Dashboards look like this.

The Management Pack itself can be downloaded here. Once downloaded it will install like any other Management Pack. You will then create an Adapter Instance (or several if you'd prefer) which will look something like this.

There are several requirements:

• Physical Server Config File - list of Dell EMC Server FQDNs/IPs. You can create your Config Files in Operations - Configurations - Management Pack Configurations - User Defined. Format should be like this.

• Credential - iDRAC Redfish API credential (read only) and Dell TechDirect Client ID/Secret (if you'd like Warranty information)

• Collector/Group - you must use a Cloud Proxy

• Dell iDRAC Log Monitoring - level of iDRAC events you'd like to collect (or Disabled if you don't want them)

• Dell Warranty Checker - warranty checker toggle (Enable/Disable)

• Dell TechDirect URL - Dell TechDirect URL the Adapter Instance will query for warranty information

• Maximum worker threads for data collection - default is 200

• Maximum worker threads for ping request - default is 100

• Adapter Mode - Server Monitoring or PING Only

• Adapter Memory Limit (MB) - max Memory the Adapter Instance will use

After installation, assign the Custom Group Dell EMC Servers to Policy Hardware vCommunity Policy. This will enable all Alert Definitions.

The vCommunity Management Pack will create a new Object Type called Physical

Server.

We collect dozens of metrics and properties against the server itself, but also batteries, power supplies, fans, and more. Additionally, we've included a bonus Dashboard (Dell EMC Server Details), which you can use as the Physical Server Summary Page if you'd like. To configure this Dashboard as the Physical Server Summary Page do this. Once done, it'll look like this.

The vCommunity Hardware Management Pack also includes Alerts as shown here:

Two key properties we capture and Alert on are Physical Disk Predicated Media Life Remaining and Warranty Remaining, so administrators can stay ahead of the maintenance.

There will be more to come here, including relationships to ESXi Hosts and support for additional hardware platforms. Download and start using today!