Configure data collection for the Content Pack for VMware Dashboards and Reports

The Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics collects limited performance metrics and inventory fields using the default configuration. These metrics are used to populate the dashboard views that ship with the content pack.

There are additional performance metrics and inventory fields that are not collectetd by default. You can make configurattions that enable the add-on to collect these additional metrics and fields. These additional metrics and fields can then be presented across the dashboard panels.

Follow these high-level steps to configure additional data collection for the content pack dashboards:

1. Review the additional available performance metrics.
2. Review the additional available inventory fields.
3. Configure additional performance metrics or inventory fields for collection.

Additional available performance metrics

Performance metrics collected by the Splunk Add-on for VMware are used to populate the dashboards in the content pack. Many metrics are collected by default, but other metrics require configuration for collection.

To review a complete list of performance metrics available with the Splunk Add-on for VMWare Metrics, see Performance metrics reference for the Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics.

Performance metrics collected by default

The following performance metrics are collected by default by the Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics:

Dashboard name	Entity name	Metric in the .conf file	Indexed field
Home	Virtual Machine	cpu.average.usage.percent mem.average.usage.percent cpu.summation.ready.millisecond	vsphere.vm.cpu.usage vsphere.vm.mem.usage vsphere.vm.cpu.ready
Home	Host Systems	mem.average.vmmemctl.kiloBytes mem.average.llSwapUsed.kiloBytes cpu.average.usage.percent	vsphere.esxihost.mem.vmmemctl vsphere.esxihost.mem.llSwapUsed vsphere.esxihost.cpu.usage
Cluster Detail	Virtual Machine	mem.average.vmmemctl.kiloBytes mem.average.swapped.kiloBytes mem.average.overhead.kiloBytes mem.average.consumed.kiloBytes mem.average.usage.percent cpu.average.usage.percent cpu.average.usagemhz.megaHertz	vsphere.vm.mem.vmmemctl vsphere.vm.mem.swapped vsphere.vm.mem.usage vsphere.vm.mem.overhead vsphere.vm.mem.consumed vsphere.vm.cpu.usage vsphere.vm.cpu.usagemhz
Host System Detail	Host Systems	cpu.average.usage.percent mem.average.vmmemctl.kiloBytes mem.average.usage.percent	vsphere.esxihost.cpu.usage vsphere.esxihost.mem.vmmemctl vsphere.esxihost.mem.usage
Capacity Forecasting	Virtual Machine	disk.average.usage.kiloBytesPerSecond	vsphere.vm.disk.usage
Capacity Forecasting	Host Systems	cpu.average.usage.percent mem.average.usage.percent	vsphere.esxihost.cpu.usage vsphere.esxihost.mem.usage
Capacity Planning for Clusters - CPU Headroom	Virtual Machine	cpu.average.usagemhz.megaHertz	vsphere.vm.cpu.usagemhz
Capacity Planning for Clusters - Memory Headroom	Virtual Machine	mem.average.consumed.kiloBytes mem.average.overhead.kiloBytes	vsphere.vm.mem.consumed vsphere.vm.mem.overhead
Capacity Planning (Clusters)	Virtual Machine	cpu.average.usagemhz.megaHertz mem.average.consumed.kiloBytes mem.average.overhead.kiloBytes	vsphere.vm.cpu.usagemhz vsphere.vm.mem.consumed vsphere.vm.mem.overhead
Capacity Planning (Hosts)	Host Systems	cpu.average.usage.percent mem.average.usage.percent	vsphere.esxihost.cpu.usage vsphere.esxihost.mem.usage

Performance metrics that require configuration

The following performance metrics are not collected by default by the Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics, and must be configured in order to be collected:

Dashboard name	Required configuration	Additional information
Host System Detail	Entity name: Host Systems Metrics in .conf file: mem.average.llSwapIn.kiloBytes mem.average.llSwapOut.kiloBytes	Indexed fields: vsphere.esxihost.mem.llSwapIn vsphere.esxihost.mem.llSwapOut
Host System Detail	Additional metrics must be enabled to populate the line chart.	See, Host System - Metrics that can be collected in the Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics manual.
Virtual Machine Detail	Additional metrics must be enabled to populate the line chart.	See, Virtual Machine - Metrics that can be collected in the Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics manual.
Performance of Hosts and VMs	Additional metrics must be enabled to populate the line chart.	See, Host System - Metrics that can be collected and Virtual Machine - Metrics that can be collected in the Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics manual.
Proactive Monitoring	Additional metrics must be enabled to populate the topology tree.	See, Host System - Metrics that can be collected and Virtual Machine - Metrics that can be collected in the Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics manual.

Additional available inventory fields

Inventory fields collected by the Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics are used to populate the dashboards in the content pack. Many fields are collected by default, but other fields require configuration for collection.

To review a complete list of inventory fields available with the Splunk Add-on for VMWare Metrics, see Inventory fields reference for the Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics.

Inventory fields collected by default

The following table lists the inventory fields that are collected by default by the Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics:

Dashboard name	Entity type	Metric in .conf file collected by default
Home	Datastore	summary
	Hierarchy	runtime.host parent
Cluster Detail	Host Systems	name parent datastore
	Datastore	summary info
	Hierarchy	runtime.host name parent
Host System Detail	Virtual Machine	summary.runtime.powerState summary.runtime.host
	Host Systems	name parent
	Datastore	summary info
	Hierarchy	runtime.host name parent
Virtual Machine	Virtual Machine	datastore layoutEx.file name summary.runtime.powerStatesummary.runtime.host resourceConfig storage.perDatastoreUsage
Datastore Detail	Virtual Machine	name layoutEx.file storage.perDatastoreUsage summary.runtime.host
	Datastore	info summary vm
Proactive Monitoring	Virtual Machine	name summary.runtime.powerStatesummary.runtime.host resourceConfig
	Host Systems	name parent
	Hierarchy	runtime.host name parent

Inventory fields that require configuration

The following table lists the inventory fields that are require configuration for collection by the Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics:

Dashboard name	Entity type	Metric in .conf file requires configuration
Cluster Detail	Host Systems	summary.overallStatus summary.quickStats.overallCpuUsage summary.quickStats.overallMemoryUsage summary.hardware.cpuMhzsummary.hardware.memorySize summary.hardware.numCpuCores summary.hardware.vendor summary.hardware.model summary.hardware.numNics summary.hardware.cpuModel summary.hardware.numCpuPkgs summary.hardware.numCpuThreads summary.host config.hyperThread vm
Host System Detail	Host Systems	summary.overallStatus summary.quickStats.overallCpuUsage summary.quickStats.overallMemoryUsage summary.hardware.cpuMhz summary.hardware.memorySize summary.hardware.numCpuCores summary.hardware.vendor summary.hardware.model summary.hardware.numNics summary.hardware.cpuModel summary.hardware.numCpuPkgs summary.hardware.numCpuThreads summary.host config.hyperThread vm
Virtual Machine	Virtual Machine	config.guestFullName guest.toolsStatus config.hardware.numCPU config.hardware.numCoresPerSocket config.hardware.memoryMB summary.runtime.maxCpuUsage summary.runtime.maxMemoryUsage summary.quickStats.overallCpuUsage summary.quickStats.guestMemoryUsage
Proactive Monitoring	Virtual Machine	config.guestFullName guest.toolsStatus config.hardware.numCPU config.hardware.numCoresPerSocket config.hardware.memoryMB
	Host Systems	summary.overallStatus summary.quickStats.overallCpuUsage summary.quickStats.overallMemoryUsage summary.hardware.cpuMhz summary.hardware.memorySize summary.hardware.numCpuCores summary.hardware.vendor summary.hardware.model summary.hardware.numNics summary.hardware.cpuModel summary.hardware.numCpuPkgs summary.hardware.numCpuThreads summary.host config.hyperThread

Configure additional performance metrics or inventory fields for collection

To configure additional performance metrics or inventory fields, follow these steps:

1. Stop the scheduler from the Collection Configuration page of Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics on the Data Collection Scheduler (DCS) machine.
2. Stop the Splunk server on the DCS machine.
3. On the DCS machine, open or create a local copy of the inframon_ta_vmware_template.conf file in the $SPLUNK_HOME/etc/apps/Splunk_TA_vmware_inframon/local/ directory.
4. Append the performance metrics or inventory fields that you want to configure in the [Global pool] stanza.
   1. Use the vm_metric_allowlist and vm_metric_denylist parameters in inframon_ta_vmware_template.conf file to filter the performance metrics you want to collect. To specify multiple metrics, separate the key-value pairs with a comma.
   2. Use the host_inv_fields, vm_inv_fields, and datastore_inv_fields parameters in inframon_ta_vmware_template.conf file to specify additional inventory fields you want to collect. To specify multiple inventory fields, separate the key-value pairs with a comma.
5. Start the Splunk server on the DCS machine.
6. Start the scheduler from the Collection Configuration page of Splunk Add-on for VMware Metrics on the DCS machine.

Example Global pool stanza

This example [Global pool] stanza collects the performance metrics and inventory fields for populating all the dashboards and reports.

[Global pool]
host_inv_fields = "config.hyperThread", "summary.hardware.cpuMhz", "summary.hardware.cpuModel", "summary.hardware.memorySize", "summary.hardware.model", "summary.hardware.numCpuCores", "summary.hardware.numCpuPkgs", "summary.hardware.numCpuThreads", "summary.hardware.numNics", "summary.hardware.vendor", "summary.host", "summary.overallStatus", "summary.quickStats.overallCpuUsage", "summary.quickStats.overallMemoryUsage", "vm"

vm_inv_fields = "config.guestFullName", "config.hardware.memoryMB", "config.hardware.numCoresPerSocket", "config.hardware.numCPU", "guest.toolsStatus", "summary.quickStats.guestMemoryUsage", "summary.quickStats.overallCpuUsage", "summary.runtime.maxCpuUsage", "summary.runtime.maxMemoryUsage"

host_metric_allowlist = "cpu.average.reservedCapacity.megaHertz", "cpu.average.totalCapacity.megaHertz", "cpu.average.demand.megaHertz", "cpu.average.usage.percent", "mem.average.reservedCapacity.megaBytes", "mem.average.totalCapacity.megaBytes", "mem.average.consumed.kiloBytes", "mem.average.swapinRate.kiloBytesPerSecond", "mem.average.swapoutRate.kiloBytesPerSecond", "datastore.average.read.kiloBytesPerSecond", "datastore.average.write.kiloBytesPerSecond", "datastore.average.numberReadAveraged.number", "datastore.average.numberWriteAveraged.number", "datastore.average.totalReadLatency.millisecond", "datastore.average.totalWriteLatency.millisecond", "mem.average.llSwapUsed.kiloBytes", "mem.average.vmmemctl.kiloBytes", "net.average.received.kiloBytesPerSecond", "net.average.transmitted.kiloBytesPerSecond", "net.summation.packetsRx.number", "net.summation.packetsTx.number", "power.average.power.watt", "hbr.average.hbrNetTx.kiloBytesPerSecond", "hbr.average.hbrNetRx.kiloBytesPerSecond", "cpu.average.usagemhz.megaHertz", "mem.average.overhead.kiloBytes", "mem.average.active.kiloBytes", "mem.average.shared.kiloBytes", "mem.average.compressed.kiloBytes", "mem.average.swapin.kiloBytes", "mem.average.swapout.kiloBytes", "cpu.average.reservedAllocation.percent", "cpu.average.unreservedAllocation.percent", "mem.average.reservedAllocation.percent", "mem.average.swapped.kiloBytes", "mem.average.usage.percent", "cpu.average.coreUtilization.percent", "cpu.average.latency.percent", "cpu.average.utilization.percent", "cpu.summation.costop.millisecond", "cpu.summation.idle.millisecond", "cpu.summation.ready.millisecond", "cpu.summation.run.millisecond", "cpu.summation.swapwait.millisecond", "cpu.summation.used.millisecond", "cpu.summation.wait.millisecond", "mem.average.activewrite.kiloBytes", "mem.average.compressionRate.kiloBytesPerSecond", "mem.average.decompressionRate.kiloBytesPerSecond", "mem.average.granted.kiloBytes", "mem.average.heap.kiloBytes", "mem.average.heapfree.kiloBytes", "mem.average.latency.percent", "mem.average.llSwapIn.kiloBytes", "mem.average.llSwapInRate.kiloBytesPerSecond", "mem.average.llSwapOut.kiloBytes", "mem.average.llSwapOutRate.kiloBytesPerSecond", "mem.average.lowfreethreshold.kiloBytes", "mem.average.sharedcommon.kiloBytes", "mem.average.swapused.kiloBytes", "mem.average.sysUsage.kiloBytes", "mem.average.unreserved.kiloBytes", "mem.average.zero.kiloBytes", "mem.latest.state.number", "disk.average.read.kiloBytesPerSecond", "disk.average.usage.kiloBytesPerSecond", "disk.average.write.kiloBytesPerSecond", "disk.latest.maxTotalLatency.millisecond", "datastore.latest.maxTotalLatency.millisecond", "power.average.powerCap.watt", "power.summation.energy.joule", "net.average.bytesRx.kiloBytesPerSecond", "net.average.bytesTx.kiloBytesPerSecond", "net.average.usage.kiloBytesPerSecond", "net.summation.broadcastRx.number", "net.summation.broadcastTx.number", "net.summation.droppedRx.number", "net.summation.droppedTx.number", "net.summation.errorsRx.number", "net.summation.errorsTx.number", "net.summation.multicastRx.number", "net.summation.multicastTx.number", "net.summation.unknownProtos.number", "rescpu.latest.actav15.percent", "rescpu.latest.actav1.percent", "rescpu.latest.actav5.percent", "rescpu.latest.actpk15.percent", "rescpu.latest.actpk1.percent", "rescpu.latest.actpk5.percent", "rescpu.latest.maxLimited15.percent", "rescpu.latest.maxLimited1.percent", "rescpu.latest.maxLimited5.percent", "rescpu.latest.runav15.percent", "rescpu.latest.runav1.percent", "rescpu.latest.runav5.percent", "rescpu.latest.runpk15.percent", "rescpu.latest.runpk1.percent", "rescpu.latest.runpk5.percent", "rescpu.latest.sampleCount.number", "rescpu.latest.samplePeriod.millisecond", "hbr.average.hbrNumVms.number", "storageadpater.latest.maxTotalLatency.millisecond", "storagepath.latest.maxTotalLatency.millisecond", "sys.latest.uptime.second"

vm_metric_allowlist = "cpu.latest.demandEntitlementRatio.percent", "cpu.average.usagemhz.megaHertz", "cpu.average.usage.percent", "cpu.summation.ready.millisecond", "mem.average.consumed.kiloBytes", "mem.average.granted.kiloBytes", "mem.average.vmmemctltarget.kiloBytes", "mem.average.vmmemctl.kiloBytes", "mem.average.active.kiloBytes", "mem.average.usage.percent", "datastore.average.totalReadLatency.millisecond", "datastore.average.totalWriteLatency.millisecond", "datastore.average.read.kiloBytesPerSecond", "datastore.average.write.kiloBytesPerSecond", "net.average.received.kiloBytesPerSecond", "net.average.transmitted.kiloBytesPerSecond", "net.summation.packetsRx.number", "net.summation.packetsTx.number", "power.average.power.watt", "mem.average.overhead.kiloBytes", "mem.average.shared.kiloBytes", "mem.average.compressed.kiloBytes", "mem.average.swapped.kiloBytes", "datastore.average.storage_committed.bytes", "datastore.average.storage_uncommitted.bytes", "datastore.average.storage_used_percent.percent", "disk.average.usage.kiloBytesPerSecond", "cpu.average.coreUtilization.percent", "cpu.average.demand.megaHertz", "cpu.average.latency.percent", "cpu.average.reservedCapacity.megaHertz", "cpu.average.totalCapacity.megaHertz", "cpu.average.utilization.percent", "cpu.latest.entitlement.megaHertz", "cpu.summation.costop.millisecond", "cpu.summation.idle.millisecond", "cpu.summation.maxlimited.millisecond", "cpu.summation.overlap.millisecond", "cpu.summation.run.millisecond", "cpu.summation.system.millisecond", "cpu.summation.swapwait.millisecond", "cpu.summation.used.millisecond", "cpu.summation.wait.millisecond", "mem.average.activewrite.kiloBytes", "mem.average.compressionRate.kiloBytesPerSecond", "mem.average.decompressionRate.kiloBytesPerSecond", "mem.average.entitlement.kiloBytes", "mem.average.heap.kiloBytes", "mem.average.heapfree.kiloBytes", "mem.average.latency.percent", "mem.average.llSwapIn.kiloBytes", "mem.average.llSwapInRate.kiloBytesPerSecond", "mem.average.llSwapOut.kiloBytes", "mem.average.llSwapOutRate.kiloBytesPerSecond", "mem.average.llSwapUsed.kiloBytes", "mem.average.lowfreethreshold.kiloBytes", "mem.average.overheadMax.kiloBytes", "mem.average.overheadTouched.kiloBytes", "mem.average.reservedCapacity.megaBytes", "mem.average.sharedcommon.kiloBytes", "mem.average.swapin.kiloBytes", "mem.average.swapinRate.kiloBytesPerSecond", "mem.average.swapout.kiloBytes", "mem.average.swapoutRate.kiloBytesPerSecond", "mem.average.swaptarget.kiloBytes", "mem.average.swapused.kiloBytes", "mem.average.sysUsage.kiloBytes", "mem.average.totalCapacity.megaBytes", "mem.average.unreserved.kiloBytes", "mem.average.zero.kiloBytes", "mem.latest.state.number", "mem.latest.zipped.kiloBytes", "mem.latest.zipSaved.kiloBytes", "disk.average.read.kiloBytesPerSecond", "disk.average.write.kiloBytesPerSecond", "disk.latest.maxTotalLatency.millisecond", "datastore.latest.maxTotalLatency.millisecond", "power.average.powerCap.watt", "power.summation.energy.joule", "net.average.bytesRx.kiloBytesPerSecond", "net.average.bytesTx.kiloBytesPerSecond", "net.average.usage.kiloBytesPerSecond", "net.summation.broadcastRx.number", "net.summation.broadcastTx.number", "net.summation.droppedRx.number", "net.summation.droppedTx.number", "net.summation.errorsRx.number", "net.summation.errorsTx.number", "net.summation.multicastRx.number", "net.summation.multicastTx.number", "net.summation.unknownProtos.number", "rescpu.latest.actav15.percent", "rescpu.latest.actav1.percent", "rescpu.latest.actav5.percent", "rescpu.latest.actpk15.percent", "rescpu.latest.actpk1.percent", "rescpu.latest.actpk5.percent", "rescpu.latest.maxLimited15.percent", "rescpu.latest.maxLimited1.percent", "rescpu.latest.maxLimited5.percent", "rescpu.latest.runav15.percent", "rescpu.latest.runav1.percent", "rescpu.latest.runav5.percent", "rescpu.latest.runpk15.percent", "rescpu.latest.runpk1.percent", "rescpu.latest.runpk5.percent", "rescpu.latest.sampleCount.number", "rescpu.latest.samplePeriod.millisecond", "sys.latest.osUptime.second", "sys.latest.uptime.second", "sys.summation.heartbeat.number"