vcstat

vcstat is a VMware vSphere input plugin for Telegraf that gathers status and basic stats from vCenter using govmomi library (in a similar way to govc *.info commands). You may use this input in parallel with Telegraf's vsphere input to complement the performance metrics it collects. With vcstat input's data you may be able to detect when a node goes from green to red, an HBA goes from link-up to link-down, to know the number of ports used by a Distributed Virtual Switch or create a basic capacity dashboard.

Compatibility

Latest releases are built with a govmomi library version that supports vCenter 7.0 and 8.0 (probably also work with 6.5 and 6.7). Use telegraf v1.14 or above so that execd input is available.

Configuration

• Download the latest release package for your platform.

• Edit vcstat.conf file as needed. Example:

[[inputs.vcstat]]
  ## vCenter URL to be monitored and its credential
  vcenter = "https://vcenter.local/sdk"
  username = "user@corp.local"
  password = "secret"
  ## requests timeout. Here 0s is interpreted as the polling interval
  # timeout = "10s"

  ## Optional SSL Config
  # tls_ca = "/path/to/cafile"
  ## Use SSL but skip chain & host verification
  # insecure_skip_verify = false

  ## optional alias tag for internal metrics
  # internal_alias = ""
  ## Max number of objects to gather per query
  # query_bulk_size = 100
  ## number of intervals to skip esxcli commands for not responding hosts
  # intervals_skip_notresponding_esxcli_hosts = 20

  ## Filter clusters by name, default is no filtering
  ## cluster names can be specified as glob patterns
  # clusters_include = []
  # clusters_exclude = []

  ## Filter hosts by name, default is no filtering
  ## host names can be specified as glob patterns
  # hosts_include = []
  # hosts_exclude = []

  ## Filter VMs by name, default is no filtering
  ## VM names can be specified as glob patterns
  # vms_include = []
  # vms_exclude = []

  #### you may enable or disable data collection per instance type ####
  ## collect cluster measurement (vcstat_cluster)
  # cluster_instances = true
  ## collect datastore measurement (vcstat_datastore)
  # datastore_instances = false
  ## collect host status measurement (vcstat_host)
  # host_instances = true
  ## collect host firewall measurement (vcstat_host_firewall)
  # host_firewall_instances = false
  ## collect host graphics measurement (vcstat_host_graphics)
  # host_graphics_instances = false
  ## collect host bus adapter measurement (vcstat_host_hba)
  # host_hba_instances = false
  ## collect host network interface measurement (vcstat_host_nic)
  # host_nic_instances = false
  ## collect host services measurement (vcstat_host_service)
  # host_service_instances = false
  ## collect network distributed virtual switch measurement (vcstat_net_dvs)
  # net_dvs_instances = true
  ## collect network distributed virtual portgroup measurement (vcstat_net_dvp)
  # net_dvp_instances = false
  ## collect virtual machine measurement (vcstat_vm)
  # vm_instances = false

• Edit telegraf's execd input configuration as needed. Example:

## Gather vSphere vCenter status and basic stats
[[inputs.execd]]
  command = ["/path/to/vcstat_binary", "--config", "/path/to/vcstat.conf"]
  signal = "STDIN"

You can optionally tell vcstat the input's interval by adding -poll_interval the_interval parameters to the command. By default it expects 1m interval. If you want 30s interval configure it like this:

## Gather vSphere vCenter status and basic stats
[[inputs.execd]]
  interval = "30s"
  command = ["/path/to/vcstat_binary", "--config", "/path/to/vcstat.conf", "--poll_interval", "30s"]
  signal = "STDIN"

Metric timestamp precision will be set according to the polling interval, so it will usually be 1s.

• Restart or reload Telegraf.

Quick test in your environment

• Edit vcstat.conf file as needed (see above)

• Run vcstat with --config argument using that file.

/path/to/vcstat --config /path/to/vcstat.conf

• Wait for 1 minute or press enter. You should see lines like those in the Example output below.

• Note that vcstat will escape querying not connected hosts and also skip hosts for intervals_skip_notresponding_esxcli_hosts intervals if they don't respond to esxcli commands or that response takes longer than interval

Example output

vcstat_vcenter,vcenter=vcenter.local name="VMware vCenter Server",num_datacenters=1i,ostype="linux-x64",version="6.5.0" 1653060681000000000
vcstat_datacenter,dcname=MyDC,moid=datacenter-2,vcenter=vcenter.local num_datastores=51i,num_hosts=8i,num_networks=32i,num_clusters=1i 1653060681000000000
vcstat_cluster,clustername=MyCluster-01,dcname=MyDC,moid=domain-c121,vcenter=vcenter.local num_cpu_cores=152i,total_cpu=342248i,total_memory=1648683421696i,effective_cpu=299032i,status="green",status_code=0i,num_vms=26i,num_hosts=8i,num_effective_hosts=8i,num_cpu_threads=304i,effective_memory=1502236i 1653060681000000000
vcstat_host,dcname=MyDC,clustername=MyCluster-01,esxhostname=myesxi01.local,moid=host-706,vcenter=vcenter.local connection_state_code=0i,memory_size=206110695424i,num_cpus=16i,num_datastores=2i,cpu_freq=2199i,status="green",status_code=0i,reboot_required=false,in_maintenance_mode=false,connection_state="connected",num_vms=2i 1653060681000000000
vcstat_host_graphics,address=0000:3b:00.0,clustername=MyCluster-01,dcname=MyDC,device=NVIDIA\ A40,esxhostname=myesxi01.local,vcenter=vcenter.local memory="9",temperature="29",cpu="3",driver="510.84.01" 1653060681000000000
vcstat_host_graphics,address=0000:a1:00.0,clustername=MyCluster-01,dcname=MyDC,device=NVIDIA\ A40,esxhostname=myesxi01.local,vcenter=vcenter.local driver="510.84.01",memory="11",temperature="28",cpu="5" 1653060681000000000
vcstat_host_firewall,dcname=MyDC,clustername=MyCluster-01,esxhostname=myesxi01.local,vcenter=vcenter.local defaultaction="DROP",enabled=true,loaded=true 1653060681000000000
vcstat_host_hba,dcname=MyDC,clustername=MyCluster-01,device=vmhba0,driver=lpfc,esxhostname=myesxi01.local,vcenter=vcenter.local status="link-n/a",status_code=1i 1653060681000000000
vcstat_host_nic,dcname=MyDC,clustername=MyCluster-01,device=vmnic0,driver=ntg3,esxhostname=myesxi01.local,vcenter=vcenter.local link_status="Down",link_status_code=2i 1653060681000000000
vcstat_host_esxcli,dcname=MyDC,clustername=MyCluster-01,esxhostname=myesxi01.local,moid=host-706,vcenter=vcenter.local  responding_code=0i,response_time_ns=109185876i 1653060681000000000
vcstat_host_service,dcname=MyDC,clustername=MyCluster-01,esxhostname=myesxi01.local,key=ntpd,vcenter=vcenter.local label="NTP Daemon",policy="on",required=false,running=true 1653060681000000000
vcstat_host_service,dcname=MyDC,clustername=MyCluster-01,esxhostname=myesxi01.local,key=vpxa,vcenter=vcenter.local label="VMware vCenter Agent",policy="on",required=false,running=true 1653060681000000000
vcstat_net_dvs,dcname=MyDC,dvs=DSwitch-E1,moid=dvs-e1,vcenter=vcenter.local num_hosts=1i,num_standalone_ports=0i,status="green",status_code=0i,num_ports=421i,max_ports=2147483647i,pnic_capacity_ratio_for_reservation=1i 1653060682000000000
vcstat_net_dvp,dcname=MyDC,dvp=DSwitch-E1-DVUplinks-e1,moid=dvportgroup-e1,uplink=true,vcenter=vcenter.local status="green",status_code=0i,num_ports=16i 1653060682000000000
vcstat_datastore,dcname=MyDC,dsname=DS_Departement1,moid=datastore-725,type=VMFS,vcenter=vcenter.local accessible=true,capacity=2198754820096i,freespace=730054262784i,uncommitted=20511i,maintenance_mode="normal" 
vcstat_vm,clustername=MyCluster-01,dcname=MyDC,esxhostname=myesxi01.local,moid=vm-4524,vcenter.local,vmname=vmserver01 status="green",status_code=0i,consolidation_needed=false,max_cpu_usage=11972i,num_eth_cards=1i,num_vdisks=2i,connection_state_code=0i,max_mem_usage=8589934592i,num_vcpus=4i,power_state_code=0i,template=false,connection_state="connected",memory_size=8589934592i,power_state="poweredOn" 1653060683000000000
internal_vcstat,vcenter=vcenter.local,vcstat_version=0.1.10 sessions_created=1i,gather_time_ns=1764839000i,notresponding_esxcli_hosts=0i 1653060683000000000

Metrics

See Metrics

Build Instructions

Download the repo

$ git clone git@github.com:tesibelda/vcstat.git

build the "vcstat" binary

$ go build -o bin/vcstat cmd/main.go

(if you're using windows, you'll want to give it an .exe extension)

$ go build -o bin\vcstat.exe cmd/main.go

If you use go-task execute one of these

$ task linux:build
$ task windows:build

Author

Tesifonte Belda (https://github.com/tesibelda)

Support and assitance

Reach out to the maintainer at one of the following places:

• GitHub issues
• Contact options listed on this GitHub profile

If you want to say thank you or/and support active development of vcstat:

• Add a GitHub Star to the project.
• Write interesting articles about the project on Dev.to, Medium or your personal blog.

Disclaimer

The author and maintainers are not affiliated with VMware. VMware is a registered trademark or trademark of VMware, Inc.

License

The MIT License (MIT)