Does Vmware probe checks the availability of the host?

Products

• DX Unified Infrastructure Management (Nimsoft / UIM)

Issue/Introduction

We have enabled vmware monitoring. We need to know if the ESX host is not pinging or pingable, whether the vmware probe will generate an alert or not, or do we need to add it to net_connect for ping monitoring/availability monitoring?

Cause

- guidance

Environment

Release : 9.1.0

Component : vmware 7.14HF3

Resolution

The vmware probe does not currently include an Availability metric. Here is what I would recommend:

Reachability
1. Use net_connect ping monitoring for Reachability

Availability
2. Use net_connect Service monitoring for Availability, e.g., availability of an 'application:port,' e.g., HTTP port 80, HTTPS port 443, vmware CIM port 5989, etc. - whichever is expected to be available on the ESXi Host. Configure a new service name and port if its not already included in the probe. For advanced configuration, you can configure and send a specific command and configure and expect a specific response, but that is optional.

Also please make sure you select "Force Service check" so that the service monitoring is performed even if the node does not respond to ping.

References
vmware - Introduction to HTTP Access
https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-50/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.vmware.wssdk.pg.doc_50%2FPG_ChB_Using_MOB.20.2.html

vmware ports (ESXi version-specific)
https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/2039095