Continuous disk space alerts for /storage/archive Guest File System in Aria Operations

Products

• VCF Operations/Automation (formerly VMware Aria Suite)

Issue/Introduction

Please view this article to understand the nature of the archive file system:
"File system /storage/archive is low on storage space" warning in vCenter Server Appliance 6.7/7.x/8.x

Symptoms:

• You are receiving the following alert for your vCenter Server Appliance's /storage/archive partition:

One or more guest file systems of the virtual machine are running out of disk space. Check the symptom details to identify the affected guest file system

Environment

VMware Aria Operations 8.x

Resolution

To exclude the /storage/archive file system from triggering the alert, perform the following steps.

1. Create Custom Symptom Definitions for Critical and Warning Level that Excludes /storage/archive

1. Log in to Aria Operations with an administrative level user account 
2. Navigate to Operations > Configurations > Symptom Definitions.
3. Click the Click here to apply filters button (funnel icon)
   • Type Guest file system space in the Name: field
   • Type Virtual Machine in the Object Type: field
   • Click Apply
4. Click the vertical three dots button next to the Guest file system space usage at critical level symptom and select Clone.
   • Change the name of the cloned copy of the symptom as desired to identify it as a custom critical level symptom
   • Expand Advanced Settings and check the box Evaluate on instance Metrics.
   • Expand Guest File System on the right and then expand /storage/archive.
     
     Note: If /storage/archive cannot be found, click the Select Specific Object button and filter for a vCenter Server Appliance VM then click Select
     
     
   • Under the /storage/archive/ filesystem, drag the Partition Utilization (%) metric over so it appears under the list of excluded metric instances.
   • Click Save.
5. Highlight the symptom definition you just created and click the vertical 3 dots button and select Clone.
   • Change the name of the cloned copy of the symptom as desired to identify it as a custom warning level symptom
   • Change the Critical drop down to Warning.
   • Change the Numeric value to 90.
   • Click Save.

2. Create a Custom Alert that Uses the Custom Symptom Definitions

1. Navigate to Operations > Configurations > Alert Definitions
2. Click the Click here to apply filters button (funnel icon)
   • Type guest file systems in the Name: field
   • Type Virtual Machine in the Object Type: field
   • Click Apply
3. Click the vertical three dots button next to the One or more virtual machine guest file systems are running out of disk space alert definition and select Clone.
   • Change the name of the cloned copy of the alert as desired to identify it as a custom alert definition
   • Click the Remove Symptom button (X icon) next to the two original symptoms for Guest file system space usage at critical level & Guest file system space usage at warning level.
   • Click the Symptoms tab in the right panel and filter for the symptoms created in steps 1.d and 1.e.
   • Drag the new symptoms to the left box that says Drag and drop metric to specify its condition or symptom into your alert here to create a new set.
   • Click Create

3. Create a New Policy to Disable the OOTB Alert and Symptoms and Enable the Custom Alert and Symptoms

1. Navigate to Configure > Policies > Policy Definition.
2. Note the name of the policy with a D in the priority column
3. Click Add
4. Name the policy as desired to indicate it is a custom policy
5. Select the policy noted in step 3.b in the Inherit From: field.
6. Click Create Policy
7. Click Alerts and Symptoms
8. Click the Alert Definitions tab if it is not automatically selected
9. Type Virtual Machine in the Select Object Type field and select Virtual Machine from under vCenter
10. Type guest file systems in the Type here to apply filters box and press Enter
11. Click the State drop down for the One or more virtual machine guest file systems are running out of disk space alert and select Deactivated.
12. Filter for the alert definition created in step 2.c
13. Click the State drop down and select Activated (Enabled on older versions) for the custom Alert
14. Click the Symptom Definitions tab
15. Type Virtual Machine in the Select Object Type field and select Virtual Machine from under vCenter
16. Type guest file system space in the Type here to apply filters box and press Enter
17. Click the State drop down for the Guest file system space usage at critical level & Guest file system space usage at warning level symptoms and select Deactivated.
18. Filter for the symptom definitions created in steps 1.d and 1.e
19. Click the State drop down and select Activated (enabled on older versions) for both custom symptoms
20. Click Save
21. Click Close (X icon in top right corner)

4. Create a Custom Group for the vCenter Objects and Apply the Custom Policy

1. Navigate to Operations > Configurations and click Custom Groups
2. Click Add to create a new Custom Group
3. Name the custom group as desired
4. Select Environment in the Group Type field
5. Select the custom policy created in step 3.c in the Policy field
6. Under Define Membership Criteria, select Object Name, then Contains, and enter your vCenter Server Appliance name(s).
7. Click the Preview button to ensure the group membership has populated
8. Click Create

5. Validate the Change

1. Search for your vCenter Server Appliance in the Aria Operations inventory and navigate to the Summary page
2. Hover your cursor over the POLICY icon in the top right corner
3. Validate that the policy created in step 3 is the policy shown
4. If the wrong policy is shown, navigate to Configure > Policies > Policy Definition
5. Click the vertical three dots button and select Reorder Policies
6. Configure the Policy order as desired (see Policies)