Discrepancy between 'Summary|Number of vMotions' and 'Number of VM Operations|vMotion|Total vMotions' metrics in Aria Operations

Products

• VCF Operations

Issue/Introduction

In VMware Aria Operations, vMotion counts at the Cluster level may appear inconsistent when comparing different metrics. Specifically, the values for Summary|Number of vMotions and Number of VM Operations|vMotion|Total vMotions often do not align for the same time interval.

Environment

• VMware Aria Operations 8.x
• VMware vCenter Server 8.x

Cause

This discrepancy is expected behavior due to fundamental differences in how each metric is sourced, filtered, and aggregated:

• Data Source:
  • Number of vMotions: Derived from vCenter Events.
  • Total vMotions: Derived from vCenter Tasks.
• Collection Interval:
  • Number of vMotions: Published every 5 minutes (real-time snapshot).
  • Total vMotions: Accumulated and published every 30 minutes.
• Filtering & Logic:
  • Number of vMotions: Evaluates the Source Host. The metric only counts if the host the VM is leaving belongs to the cluster.
  • Total vMotions: Evaluates the Destination Host. The metric only counts if the host the VM lands on belongs to the cluster.

Resolution

To reconcile these metrics, perform manual verification in the vSphere Client using the specific logic for each metric:

1. Summary|Number of vMotions (Event-Based)

• Interval: 5-minute polling window.
• Criteria: Only counts the "Hot migrating" event type (live compute vMotion). This excludes Storage vMotion (SVMotion), cold migrations (powered-off VMs), and migration completion events.
• Validation:
  1. Navigate to Cluster > Monitor > Events.
  2. Filter for "Hot migrating".
  3. Count events where the Source Host is a member of the cluster.

2. Number of VM Operations|vMotion|Total vMotions (Task-Based)

• Interval: 30-minute accumulation window.
• Criteria: Counts the "Migrate virtual machine" task type (includes DRS-initiated migrations). The task must have a "Completed" status.
• Validation:
  1. Navigate to Cluster > Monitor > Tasks.
  2. Filter for "Migrate virtual machine" with status "Completed".
  3. Count tasks where the Destination Host is a member of the cluster.