Install and configure the Content Pack for VMware Dashboards and Reports

Perform the following high-level steps to install and configure the Content Pack for VMware Dashboards and Reports:

1. Install and configure Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics.
2. Install the content pack.
3. Enable data model acceleration.

Prerequisites

• Install and configure the IT Service Intelligence (ITSI) or IT Essentials Work (ITE Work) in your environment. See About Splunk ITSI in the Install and Upgrade Manual, or Install IT Essentials Work in the Overview of Splunk IT Essentials Work manual.
• The Content Pack for VMware Dashboards and Reports integrates with a vCenter Server and the hypervisors it manages. Use a supported version of VMware vCenter Server to manage hypervisors:
  • Environments with Windows-based vCenter and/or Linux-based vCenter Server Appliance are supported.
  • ESXi servers that are not managed through vCenter are not supported.

Install and configure the Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics

The content pack depends on data collected by the Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics. You can configure the Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics by deploying it on the required components.

You can also create the DCN machine by deploying Splunk OVA for VMware Metrics in the virtualization environment.

• See Deploy a Data Collection Node with the Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics.
• See Deploy a Data Collection Scheduler with the Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics.

The following table shows the installation locations for the add-on components:

Package	Component	Search head	Indexer	Scheduler	Data Collection Node (DCN)
Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics	Splunk_TA_VMware_inframon			x	x
	SA-Hydra-inframon			x	x
	SA-VMWIndex-inframon		x
	Splunk_TA_esxilogs	x	x
	Splunk_TA_vcenter	x	x

The Splunk_TA_esxilogs and Splunk_TA_vcenter packages are not used in the Content Pack for VMware Dashboards and Reports.

Install the content pack

To install the Content Pack for VMware Dashboards and Reports, you have to install the Splunk App for Content Packs. To install the Splunk App for Content Packs in your environment, see the Install the Splunk App for Content Packs.

The Content Pack for VMware Dashboards and Reports contents are automatically installed and running once you install the Splunk App for Content Packs on the search head where you installed ITSI or IT Essentials Work.

Enable data model acceleration

The acceleration of the data models "VMwareInventory" is disabled by default. Enable acceleration for this data model to populate the data on dashboards packaged in the content pack. You must be an admin to enable data acceleration or change the acceleration period. Complete the following steps on the search head to enable the acceleration of the VMwareInventory data model:

1. In Splunk Web, go to Settings > Data Models.
2. From the App list, select IT Service Intelligence (ITSI) or IT Essentials Work or to see the data models defined and used by the content pack.
3. Click Edit next to the data model you want to enable acceleration for.
4. Select Edit Acceleration.
5. Check Accelerate.
6. Select the summary range to specify the acceleration period. The default summary range is 1 month.
7. Click Save.

Next step

The Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics collects limited performance metrics and inventory fields using the default configuration. There are additional available performance metrics and inventory fields that you must enable in order to display data in all dashboard panels. To see the dashboard metric list and inventory fields and to learn the steps to configure additional metrics and fields, see Configure Data Collection for Content Pack for VMware Dashboards and Reports .