Incorrect Hardware Status Alarm triggers in vCenter Server

Products

• VMware vCenter Server

Issue/Introduction

This KB article highlights the drawback in the current alarm design.

In vCenter Server only one alarm is defined for a group on a host. Each group can have multiple sensors, and each sensor can have multiple statuses. Therefore, the final state of the alarm depends on the order in which vCenter Server receives the state changes.

Due to this drawback, alarms can be falsely triggered or un-triggered. This might cause false user alerts or remove the correct alerts from vCenter Server.

Environment

VMware vCenter Server 6.0.x

Resolution

Use the following steps to view the correct hardware status on a host:

1. Log into vSphere Web Client.
2. Select a suitable host.
3. Navigate to Monitor > Hardware Status > Sensors, to view the status of the sensors.