VMware data collection planning and requirements

Except as modified by statements on this page, all Splunk Enterprise system requirements apply to Splunk App for Infrastructure (SAI) deployments. For more information, see System requirements for use of Splunk Enterprise on-premises.

To install everything, see Install VMware data collection add-ons and dependencies. The SAI package doesn't contain any of the VMware data collection components. The Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI) package contains all the VMware data collection components. The ITSI package contains the VMware data collection components because VMware data collection and monitoring in SAI requires an ITSI license.

If you're collecting VMware vCenter Server data and migrate Python versions, you have to update your Data Collection Node configuration. For more information, see Update a Data Collection Node after migrating Python versions.

License requirements

To configure VMware integrations, you need an ITSI license. Include an ITSI license on every Data Collection Scheduler (DCS) you use to integrate a VMware vCenter Server or Data Collection Node (DCN) in the Splunk App for Infrastructure (SAI) and every search head you use to monitor entities. For more information about ITSI licenses, see ITSI license requirements in the Install and Upgrade Splunk IT Service Intelligence guide.

Version compatibility

Splunk Enterprise	VMware vSphere	VMware vCenter Server	VMware ESXi
7.2.x	6.0, 6.5, 6.7	6.0, 6.5, 6.7	6.0, 6.5, 6.7
7.3.x	6.0, 6.5, 6.7	6.0, 6.5, 6.7	6.0, 6.5, 6.7
8.0.x	6.0, 6.5, 6.7	6.0, 6.5, 6.7	6.0, 6.5, 6.7

Where to install VMware data collection components

This table provides the required install location for each VMware data collection component. You can forward data from a DCN either directly to an indexer or to an intermediary heavy forwarder. If you're running a single-instance deployment, the search head and indexer are on the same instance.

All of the VMware components are packaged in the vmware_ta_itsi parent directory of the Splunk IT Service Intelligence (ITSI) package you download from Splunkbase. You'll have to extract them from the directory and install them in the proper locations. For information about installing the components, see Install VMware data collection add-ons and dependencies.

Component	Data Collection Scheduler (DCS)	Data Collection Node (DCN)	Indexer	Notes
Splunk App for Infrastructure	X			Provides the UI for integrating VMware vCenter Servers and managing DCNs.
Splunk Add-on for Infrastructure			X	Handles props and transforms needed for indexed extractions. Also includes index creation for SAI.
Splunk_TA_vmware	X	X*		Runs a Python-based API data collection engine and performs field extractions for VMware data. *If you use the Splunk VMware OVA for ITSI to deploy a DCN, the DCN already has this component.
SA-Hydra	X	X*		Schedules data collection jobs on a scheduler, and runs worker processes on a DCN. *If you use the Splunk VMware OVA for ITSI to deploy a DCN, the DCN already has this component.
SA-VMWIndex			X	Creates indexes that store VMware data.
Splunk_TA_esxilogs		X*	X	Handles log data collection from ESXi hosts. *If you send syslog data to the DCN so the DCN forwards syslog data to the indexer tier.
Splunk_TA_vcenter		X*	X	Handles vCenter data. *If you send syslog data to the DCN so the DCN forwards syslog data to the indexer tier.

VMware indexes

VMWIndex creates these indexes.

Index	Description
vmware-perf-metrics	Stores metrics data from a vCenter Server.
vmware-inv	Stores inventory data from a vCenter Server.
vmware-taskevent	Stores task and event data from a vCenter Server.
vmware-vclog	Stores vCenter Server log data.
vmware-esxilog	Stores ESXi host log data.

Network port requirements

These are the ports you need to open to configure VMware data collection. The table includes the default Splunk ports. If you changed the Splunk ports, use those ports instead.

Sender	Receiver	Port	Description
Data Collection Node	Splunk indexer	9997	The Data Collection Node forwards data it collected from the vCenter Server using the API.
Data Collection Node	vCenter Server	443	The Data Collection Node communicates with the vCenter Server API to execute data collection tasks it receives from the Data Collection Scheduler.
Data Collection Scheduler	vCenter Server	443	The Data Collection Scheduler connects to the vCenter Server to confirm that the vCenter Server credentials are valid. It also uses this port to discover the number of managed ESXi hosts in the vCenter Server.
Data Collection Scheduler	Data Collection Node	8008	The Data Collection Scheduler allocates data collection jobs to the Data Collection Node.
VMware add-on in the ITSI package	Data Collection Node	8089	The add-on connects to the Data Collection Node on the Splunk management port. The default Splunk management port is listed.

Data Collection Node requirements and limits

Each Data Collection Node (DCN) runs worker processes to collect VMware data from vCenter Servers. You can run N - 1 worker processes, where N is the number of the DCN's available CPU cores, up to 30 worker processes. The DCN requires physical CPU cores, and can't benefit from simultaneous multithreading (SMT). Each worker process can manage up to 250 virtual machines and 10 ESXi hosts.

If you deploy a DCN manually, the operating system you use has to be CentOS 6 or 7.

With Splunk_TA_vmware version 1.1.0, you can use an SSL certificate with an encrypted private key for Splunk Enterprise 7.3.3, 7.3.4, and 8.0.1.

These are the Splunk platform and operating system requirements to run a DCN if you don't use the Splunk VMware OVA for ITSI:

Splunk Enterprise version	Operating system
7.2.x	CentOS 6, 7
7.3.x	CentOS 6, 7
8.0.x	CentOS 6, 7

These are the minimum DCN hardware requirements:

CPU	RAM	Disk
8-core CPU with a 2 GHz reservation	12 GB with a 1 GB reservation	12 GB storage capacity

These are the maximum ESXi hosts and virtual machines a single DCN can manage with the minimum DCN requirements:

ESXi host	Virtual machine
70	1,750

Data Collection Scheduler requirements

A DCS schedules jobs and manages DCNs that collect data from vCenter Servers. Deploy a Data Collection Scheduler (DCS) on a search head in a standalone search head environment. If you're deploying VMware data collection in a distributed search head environment, deploy a DCS on a dedicated Splunk Enterprise instance. You don't have to configure forwarding or receiving on the DCS. To deploy a DCS, see Deploy a Data Collection Scheduler.

Depending on the your VMware environment, you may want to deploy more than one DCS. For more information, see Deployment considerations.

These are the requirements to run a Data Collection Scheduler (DCS):

Splunk Enterprise version	Operating system
7.2.x	CentOS 6, 7
7.3.x	CentOS 6, 7
8.0.x	CentOS 6, 7

User account permissions

When you integrate a VMware vCenter Server on a DCS, you have to provide credentials for a user account associated with the vCenter Server on the DCS. The DCS uses the user account credentials to detect ESXi servers in the vCenter Server, and to poll metrics, task, event, and inventory data.

To collect vCenter performance metrics, the user account you provide on the DCS needs to have these permissions:

• System.Anonymous
• System.Read
• System.View

If you provide a user-defined role, it contains the System.Anonymous, System.Read, and System.View permissions even if you don't associate them with the role manually.

The following permissions are required to update the configuration and use Syslog Service on Esxi hosts:

• Global.Diagnostics
• Global.Licenses
• Global.Settings
• Host.Configuration.Change SNMP settings
• Host.Configuration.Hyperthreading
• Host.Configuration.Memory configuration
• Host.Configuration.Network configuration
• Host.Configuration.Power
• Host.Configuration.Security profile and firewall
• Host.Configuration.Storage partition configuration
• Sessions.View and stop sessions

Daily data volumes

These are rough estimates. Your daily volume may be more or less than the following volumes for each data type.

Data type	Data volume
vCenter Server logs	15 MB per host per day.
ESXi logs	135-235 MB per host per day.
ESXi Host API	17 MB per host per day.
VM API	18 MB per VM per day.