Integration of Custom vCenter Alarms with VMware Aria Operations

Products

• VCF Operations

Issue/Introduction

Standard integration between vCenter Server and VMware Aria Operations does not natively support the ingestion or propagation of custom-defined vSphere alarms.

While Aria Operations processes standard object metrics, properties, and predefined native vSphere events, custom alarms are not automatically visible in the Aria Operations alert console.

Cause

Aria Operations utilizes a specific integration adapter for vCenter that is limited to a hardcoded schema of native events and metrics; it does not dynamically discover the user-defined custom alarm objects within the vCenter database.

Resolution

To propagate custom alarms into Aria Operations for audit and compliance tracking, VMware Aria Operations for Logs (formerly Log Insight) must be utilized as an intermediary integration point:

1. Configure Log Forwarding: Ensure the vCenter Server is configured to forward all events and syslogs to the VMware Aria Operations for Logs cluster.

2. Define Log Query: Within Aria Operations for Logs, perform a search to identify the specific log string generated when the custom "VM Clone" alarm or event is triggered.

3. Create Log Alert: - Create a new Alert based on the identified log query.

   • Set the threshold to trigger immediately upon the occurrence of the event.

4. Enable Aria Operations Integration:

   • In the Alert's notification settings, select the option to "Send to Aria Operations".

   • Map the alert to the corresponding Virtual Machine or vCenter object.

5. Validation: Initiate a VM clone to trigger the custom alarm in vCenter. Verify that the log entry is captured in Aria Operations for Logs and that a corresponding alert is subsequently generated in the Aria Operations UI.