Improve VMware vCenter data collection performance

This topic discusses how to improve the performance of the vCenter server when you see performance issues during data collection.

You can limit the processing (reduce the memory and CPU load) on the vCenter server during data collection when you see performance issues with your vCenter server. How performance data is collected in the Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics is specified in the inframon_ta_vmware_collection.conf file. The parameter perf_format_type is set to one of two modes:

• CSV mode - The response from the ESXi host when collecting performance data is parsed by vCenter. Performance data is collected by the Splunk App for VMware, from vCenter, by default, using csv mode.
• Normal mode - The response from the ESXi host when collecting performance data is parsed by the data collection nodes. This reduces the load on vCenter.

To change modes, edit a local version of etc/apps/Splunk_TA_vmware_inframon/default/inframon_ta_vmware_collection.conf and change the value of perf_format_type to normal. The data collection node now handles processing of performance data.

Disable performance data collection of Specific VMware Entity

You can disable the performance data collection for the specific entity type, such as Host, VM, or Cluster, of the vCenter server using the perf_entity_denylist parameter in the inframon_ta_vmware_collection.conf file.

Follow these steps to disable the performance data collection for a specific entity type:

1. On Scheduler, open Splunk_TA_vmware_inframon/local/ directory, if present.
2. Open the inframon_ta_vmware_collection.conf file.
3. Add the below parameter to the stanza of vCenter server for which you want to disable the data collection:

   perf_entity_denylist = <comma-separated list of type of entity whose data should be disabled>
   

   For example, if you want to disable the performance data collection for all the virtual machines of vcenter1, add the following property and value to the [vcenter1] stanza:

   perf_entity_denylist = VirtualMachine
   

   If you want to disable more than one vCenter entity, use a comma-separated value. For example, if you want to disable the performance data collection for host, VM, and cluster entity types present on vcenter1, use the following parameter and value under the [vcenter1] stanza:

   perf_entity_denylist = HostSystem, VirtualMachine, ClusterComputeResource