Care Systems Analytics for Epic Users Guide...Care Systems Analytics for Epic Users Guide 4 VMware,...

Care Systems Analytics for Epic UsersGuide

VMware Management Pack for vCenter Operations Manager

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2 VMware, Inc.

Care Systems Analytics for Epic Users Guide

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VMware, Inc. 3

Contents

About This Book 5

Introduction to Care Systems Analytics for Epic 7Care Systems Analytics for Epic in vCenter Operations Manager 7

vCenter Operations Manager Features 8

vCenter Operations Manager Concepts 8

Collecting Data 8

Analyzing Data 9

Accessing Care Systems Analytics for Epic 10

Epic Components Monitored in Care Systems Analytics 11

Monitoring with Care Systems Analytics for Epic 13Log In to the vCenter Operations Management Custom User Interface 13

Monitor Day‐to‐Day Operations 13

Care Systems Analytics for Epic Dashboards 14

Epic Overall Health Dashboard 14

Epic Drilldown Dashboard 15

Epic Troubleshooting Dashboard 15

Epic Printing Health Dashboard 16

Review Overall Health Indicators 17

Troubleshoot Decreased Health 19

Advanced Working with Dashboard Widgets 23Custom Relationship Widget 23

Configure the Custom Relationship Widget 24

Application Detail Overview Widget 25

Configure the Application Detail Widget 26

Health Status Widget 26

Configure the Health Status Widget 26

Health Tree Widget 28

Configure the Health Tree Widget 28

Root Cause Ranking Widget 29

Configure the Root Cause Ranking Widget 30

Heat Map Widget 31

Configure the Heat Map Widget 32

Troubleshooting Tips 35

Advanced Troubleshooting 37View an Overview of Resource Health 37

Identify Health Problems for a Specific Resource 37

View Alerts on the Alerts Overview 8

Configure Alerts to Send Notifications 38

Send Alert Notifications to Users in Email Messages 39

Configure Email Alert Notifications 39

Configure Email Alert Handlers 39

Configure Attributes 40


4 VMware, Inc.

Create an Attribute Package 40

Create a Super Metric Package 40

Set Dynamic Thresholds 42

Create a Super Metric 42

Create Tiered Health Trees 43

Edit Widget Resource Interaction Files 44

Show Specific Resources in a Dashboard 45

VMware, Inc. 5

The Care Systems Analytics for Epic Users Guide describes how to use VMware vCenter Operations Manager to

monitor your Epic® system.

Intended AudienceThis information is intended for anyone who needs to use the Care Systems Analytics for Epic management

pack.

This information assumes you are experienced with vCenter Operations Manager, Epic®, and Epic System

Pulse. See VMware vCenter server and vCenter Operations Manager documentation at:

http://www.vmware.com/support/. See your Epic documentation, as needed.

VMware Technical Publications GlossaryVMware Technical Publications provides a glossary of terms that might be unfamiliar to you. For definitions

of terms as they are used in VMware technical documentation go to http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

Document FeedbackVMware welcomes your suggestions for improving our documentation. If you have comments, send your

feedback to [email protected].

Technical Support and Education ResourcesThe following sections describe the technical support resources available to you. To access the current version

of this book and other books, go to http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

Online and Telephone Support

To use online support to submit technical support requests, view your product and contract information, and

register your products, go to http://www.vmware.com/support.

Customers with appropriate support contracts should use telephone support for the fastest response on

priority 1 issues. Go to http://www.vmware.com/support/phone_support.

Support Offerings

To find out how VMware support offerings can help meet your business needs, go to

http://www.vmware.com/support/services.

About This Book


mailto:[email protected]



http://www.vmware.com/support/phone_support.html

http://www.vmware.com/support/services



6 VMware, Inc.

VMware Professional Services

VMware Education Services courses offer extensive hands‐on labs, case study examples, and course materials

designed to be used as on‐the‐job reference tools. Courses are available onsite, in the classroom, and live

online. For onsite pilot programs and implementation best practices, VMware Consulting Services provides

offerings to help you assess, plan, build, and manage your virtual environment. To access information about

education classes, certification programs, and consulting services, go to http://www.vmware.com/services.

http://www.vmware.com/services/

VMware, Inc. 7

1

VMware® Care Systems Analytics for Epic is an IT management solution designed for healthcare

organizations that use the Epic® platform. The solution extracts system information from the Epic System

Pulse server and integrates it with VMware vCenter™ Operations Manager™ to create a single view of system

performance across the electronic medical record (EMR) platform and supporting infrastructure.

Care Systems Analytics for Epic is a management pack for vCenter Operations Manager, an intelligent

operations management solution from VMware. The Epic solution improves visibility into the overall

performance of the Epic system‐from infrastructure to the point of care. It includes dashboards to visualize

and analyze performance indicators from the Caché environment, instances, hosts, Epic services on Windows

hosts (Print, Interconnect, Clarity, and Relay), and related infrastructure (physical and virtual). This

transparency increases collaboration across infrastructure, operations, and applications teams.

Care Systems Analytics for Epic in vCenter Operations ManagerVMware vCenter Operations Manager helps to reduce expensive and disruptive outages by providing greater

insight into application, database, and infrastructure metrics. It uses built‐in analytical widgets and patented

self‐learning techniques to help anticipate and prevent potential problems or quickly troubleshoot issues to

resolution.

Care Systems Analytics for Epic is a management pack that is installed in the vCenter Operations Manager.

Data collected from the EpicCare for EMR systemʹs Epic System Pulse monitor flows into the vCenter

Operations Manager.

Figure 1-1. Flow of Care Systems Analytics for Epic with Epic System Pulse data into vCenter Operations Manager.

Introduction to Care Systems Analytics for Epic 1


8 VMware, Inc.

vCenter Operations Manager Features

vCenter Operations Manager collects performance data from each object at every level of your virtual

environment, from individual virtual machines and disk drives to entire clusters and data centers. It stores and

analyzes the data, and uses that analysis to provide real‐time information about problems, or potential

problems, anywhere in your virtual environment.

vCenter Operations Manager works with existing VMware products to add the following functions:

Combines key metrics into single scores for environmental health and efficiency and capacity risk.

Calculates the range of normal behavior for every metric and highlights abnormalities. Adjusts the

dynamic thresholds as incoming data allows it to better define the normal values for a metric.

Presents graphical representations of current and historical states of your entire environment or selected

parts of it.

Figure 1-2. Sample vCenter Operations Manager Functions

vCenter Operations Manager ConceptsTo use the Care Systems Analytics for Epic you need to understand the basic functions of the vCenter

Operations Manager. See the VMware vCenter Operations Manager Getting Started Guide.

vCenter Operations Manager uses certain concepts that can help you understand the product, its interface, and

how to use it.

Collecting Data

vCenter Operations Manager collects several kinds of data for each inventory object. For example, for a virtual

machine, vCenter Operations Manager might receive data about free disk space, CPU load, and available

memory. The following is a list of common objects you can view or manipulate.

Resources ‐ Solutions adapters, when loaded in to vCenter Operations Manager, create a series of

constructs to support the types of data collected and stored by the adapter. Resources are created as

instances of the Resource Kind definition. For example, Resources of Resource Kind Virtual Machine would be vm123 or vm456.

Resource Tags ‐ A type of information, such as Application or GEO Location. Creating resource tags and

tag values makes it easier to find resources and metrics in vCenter Operations Manager. With resource

tags, you select the tag value assigned to a resource and view the list of resources that are associated with

that tag value.

NOTE Skip this section if you are already familiar with vCenter Operations Manager features and concepts.

VMware, Inc. 9

Chapter 1 Introduction to Care Systems Analytics for Epic

Resource Kind ‐ Solutions adapters, when loaded in to vCenter Operations Manager, create a series of

constructs to support the types of data collected and stored by the adapter. Resources Kinds are created

as definitions of object types. For example, a Resource Kind would be Virtual Machine or Host System.

Management Packs (Embedded Adapters) ‐ Gather and send information from resources to vCenter

Operations Manager for processing. These are Java components that run as plug‐ins in the Collector. They

actively connect to a data source and pull values from it.

Adapter Instance ‐ Defines the type of adapter to use to connect to a particular data source. It also defines

the information that is required to identify and access that data source. A vCenter Operations Manager

administrator must define an adapter instance for each data source that uses an embedded adapter. An

adapter instance definition typically includes the data access method and a host, port, and credential. The

exact information in a particular adapter instance definition depends on the type of adapter.

Attributes ‐ Solutions adapters, when loaded in to vCenter Operations Manager, create a series of

constructs to support the types of data collected and stored by the adapter. Attributes are created as

definitions of data types of data points that can be collected by vCenter Operations Manager. For example,

the definition of data type Epic Caché Host : % Free Memory would be an attribute.

Metric ‐ An instance of an attribute for a specific resource. For example, Virtual Machine vm123 % Free Memory is a metric. vCenter Operations Manager collects these metrics, which are stored as data points

with their associated value and timestamp.

Metric Value ‐ A single data point, which is representative of a specific Resource, specific Attribute,

specific timestamp and specific value.

Collect Cycle ‐ Each management pack has adapter instances defined to specify a data source to collect

from using that management packʹs capabilities. These adapter instances have a default data collection

interval of 5 minutes. This interval can be adjusted if necessary, however is not recommended.

Analyzing Data

The vCenter Operations Manager performs analysis on the data collected.

Dynamic Thresholds ‐ vCenter Operations Manager defines dynamic thresholds for every metric based

on the current and historical values of the metric. The normal range of values for a metric can differ on

different days at different times because of regular cycles of use and behavior. vCenter Operations

Manager tracks these normal value cycles and sets the dynamic thresholds accordingly. High metric

values that are normal at one time might indicate potential problems at other times. For example, high

CPU use on Friday afternoons, when weekly reports are generated, is normal. The same value on Sunday

morning, when nobody is at the office, might indicate a problem.

vCenter Operations Manager continuously adjusts the dynamic thresholds. The new incoming data

allows vCenter Operations Manager to better define what value is normal for a metric. The dynamic

thresholds add context to metrics that allows vCenter Operations Manager to distinguish between normal

and abnormal behavior.

Dynamic thresholds eliminate the need for the manual effort required to configure hard thresholds for

hundreds or thousands of metrics. More importantly, they are more accurate than hard thresholds.

Dynamic thresholds allow vCenter Operations Manager to detect deviations based on the actual normal

behavior of an object and not on an arbitrary set of limits.

The analytics algorithms take seven days to calculate the initial values for dynamic thresholds. Dynamic

thresholds appear as line segments under the bar graphs for use metrics on the Details page and on the

Scoreboard page. The length and the position of the dynamic threshold line segment depends on the

calculated normal values for the selected use metrics. Dynamic thresholds also appear as shaded gray

areas of the use metrics graphs on the All Metrics page.

NOTE For the purposes of this guide, the terms Management Pack and Adapter are used interchangeably

and the terms VMware Care Systems Analytics for Epic and VMware vCenter Operations

Management Pack for Epic are used interchangeably.


10 VMware, Inc.

Hard Thresholds ‐ Unlike dynamic thresholds, hard thresholds can be set to capture fixed metric values.

Several progressive levels of criticality can be defined using different fixed values. These values must be

set and maintained manually, however they can be helpful in highlighting best practices and known

absolute values.

Key Performance Indicators (KPI) ‐ vCenter Operations Manager defines attributes that are critical to the

performance of an object as key performance indicators. KPI are weighted more heavily in the calculations

that determine the health of an object. Graphs of KPI performance appear before other metrics in several

areas of the product.

Alerts and Faults ‐ vCenter Operations Manager generates alerts when events occur on the monitored

objects, when data analysis indicates deviations from normal metric values, or when a problem occurs

with one of the vCenter Operations Manager components.

Events that the vCenter Server publishes are the main source for faults. These events might originate in

the vCenter Server itself, or ESX servers might generate them and the vCenter Server publishes them

externally. Only a subset of vCenter events are considered as important for fault generation.

Accessing Care Systems Analytics for Epic

The Custom user interface for vCenter Operations Manager is used to access Care Systems Analytics for Epic.

It includes:

Dashboards ‐ The tabs near the top of the Home page are your dashboards. For example, Epic Overall

Health. The user groups to which you belong determine which dashboards are available to you. A

vCenter Operations Manager administrator assigns you to one or more user groups when he or she

creates your user account. You can switch to a different dashboard by clicking its tab or selecting it from

the Dashboards menu. You can click the Home tab at any time to return to your Home page.

Widgets ‐ The panes on a dashboard are called widgets. A widget is a collection of related information

about attributes, resources, applications, or the overall processes in your environment. Each dashboard

contains one or more widgets. For example, an Epic Overall Health dashboard might contain Epic

Hierarchy, Workflow Heat Map, and Key Metrics for Epic Resources widgets. If your user account has

the necessary access rights, you can customize dashboards and widgets.

Use the Dashboard tab for an overview of the performance and condition of your infrastructure.

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Chapter 1 Introduction to Care Systems Analytics for Epic

Figure 1-3. vCenter Operations Manager Custom User Interface with a Care Systems Analytics for Epic Dashboard

Epic Components Monitored in Care Systems AnalyticsThe Care Systems Analytics for Epic management pack provides the connections between the vCenter

Operations Manager and the Epic environment. The Epic environment includes:

Epic System Pulse ‐ Epicʹs tool for Epic application monitoring. It consolidates data collected from various

resources into a single data repository. The Care Systems Analytics for Epic management pack uses Epic

System Pulse to gather information about resources and metrics from the environment running Epic.

Caché ‐ The database that all transactions are processed on. This is represented using three resource types

in vCenter Operations Manager:

Caché Host ‐ Represents the host and reveals OS level metrics

Caché Instance ‐ Represents the database and reveals database metrics

Environment ‐ Represents the Epic Environment and reveals metrics about Workflows

Windows Services ‐ A few of the services comprising the Epic for EMR software run as Windows services.

These are represented using four resource types in vCenter Operations Manager:

Interconnect

Epic Print Service (EPS)

Epic Relay Service (Relay)

Windows Hosts ‐ The actual Windows machine hosting the above services and reveals OS level

metrics


12 VMware, Inc.

VMware, Inc. 13

2

vCenter Operations Manager, and the Care Systems Analytics for Epic installed on it, is managed using the

Administration Portal which is a Web console for configuration and management tasks. See VMware vCenter

Operations Manager Getting Started Guide for complete directions on using the interface.

Log In to the vCenter Operations Management Custom User InterfaceAccess to the Epic System Pulse monitoring data is through the vCenter Operation Management custom user

interface.

Prerequisites

Verify that the Care Systems Analytics for Epic is installed in your vCenter Operations Manager. See the

Care Systems Analytics for Epic Installation and Configuration Guide.

Verify that you are using a supported Web browser.

Procedure

1 In your Web browser, type the URL for the Custom user interface.

https://<UI-VM>/vcops-custom/

where <UI-VM> is the IP address or fully qualified host name of the UI VM in the vCenter Operations

Manager vApp.

2 Type your user name and password.

3 Click Login.

After you log in, the Home page appears in your browser window.

Monitor Day-to-Day OperationsMonitoring day‐to‐day operations involves evaluating the overall health of your enterprise and identifying

health problems for specific resources.

For each resource, vCenter Operations Manager determines a health score, which is a 0 to 100 ranking. One of

the ways that vCenter Operations Manager indicates the health of a resource is to show a colored indicator.

The color is based on the range of the health score.

Monitoring with Care Systems Analytics for Epic 2

NOTE If your session is inactive for 30 minutes, it times out and you must log in again.

Table 2-1. Default Health Color Ranges

COLOR RANGE

Green 76 to 100

Yellow 51 to 75

Orange 26 to 50


14 VMware, Inc.

Care Systems Analytics for Epic DashboardsCare Systems Analytics for Epic resource monitoring data is displayed in default Care Systems Analytics for

Epic dashboards.

Epic Overall Health Dashboard

The Epic Overall Health dashboard displays overall view of the hierarchy of Epic resources to detect

anomalies from the normal behavior assessed by the analytics engine. It shows details of key metrics and

health. This dashboard contains the following widgets.

Epic Hierarchy

Workflow Heat Map

Key Metrics for Epic Resources

Windows Machines Hierarchy

Key Metrics for Windows Resources

Figure 2-1. Epic Overall Health Dashboard Sample

Red 1 to 25

Blue Blue is shown when a metric value is unknown, or ʺ?ʺ, or a resource is currently not collecting data via the Management Packʹs adapter instance.

Table 2-1. Default Health Color Ranges

COLOR RANGE

NOTE It is recommended that vCenter Operations Manager administrators identify and mark resources that are

scheduled for regular maintenance. This ensures the vCenter Operations Manager does not generate an

unnecessary alert‐because it interprets changes in metrics, that occur during the scheduled maintenance, as an

anomaly.

VMware, Inc. 15

Chapter 2 Monitoring with Care Systems Analytics for Epic

Figure 2-2. Epic Overall Health Dashboard for Windows Machines Sample

Epic Drilldown Dashboard

Use the Epic Drilldown dashboard to quickly browse more than 280 Epic application‐specific metrics, ranging

from global references to average workflow times and workflow exception counts, to support correlations

between components. This dashboard contains the following widgets.

Epic Hierarchy

Metric Graph

Health Status

Metric Selector

Figure 2-3. Epic Drilldown Dashboard Sample

Epic Troubleshooting Dashboard

To reduce time to investigate and resolve issues, use the Epic Troubleshooting dashboard as a template to

create side‐by‐side views of Epic resources and underlying infrastructure belonging to non‐Epic resources,

such as VMware virtual machines. This dashboard contains the following widgets.

Epic Hierarchy

Epic Virtual Servers


16 VMware, Inc.

Health Status

Virtual Server Metric Selector

Epic Metric Selector

Epic Metric Graph

Virtual Machine Metric Graph

Figure 2-4. Epic Hierarchy Widget Sample

Double‐clicking any resource in the Epic Hierarchy (above) opens up the Health Status Detail widget (below).

Figure 2-5. Health Status Detail Widget Sample

Epic Printing Health Dashboard

The Epic Printing Health dashboard provides a view into all the Epic printing resources. This dashboard

contains the following widgets.

EPS Printing Health Status

EPS Printing Metric Graph

VMware, Inc. 17


Figure 2-6. Printing Health Dashboard Sample

Review Overall Health IndicatorsThe Overall Health dashboard provides visibility to the components in your environment.

Procedure

1 Select the Epic Overall Health dashboard tab.

2 View overall resource health. From the Epic Hierarchy widget, click the resource to view.


18 VMware, Inc.

3 Check application‐wide metrics in the Workflow Heat Map widget.

4 View the resource detail. Double‐click the resource in the Epic Hierarchy widget. A pop‐up displays the

health status detail widgets.

Check the health tree relationships in the Health Tree widget.

View the list of root cause options in the Root Cause Ranking widget. Expand the list.

5 View a root cause detail. Double‐click the root cause item. A pop‐up displays the resource details.

6 View a graph of the resource metrics. Click the graph icon in the pop‐up. A graph of resource activity is

displayed in the Metric Graph widget.

VMware, Inc. 19


7 View a graph of a metric from the Metric Selector widget. Expand the list and double‐click a metric. A

graph is added to the Metric Graph widget.

Troubleshoot Decreased HealthWhen a significant decrease in health of, particularly, a top level Epic component, begin troubleshooting from

the Overall Health widget.

Procedure

1 Select the Epic Overall Health dashboard tab.

2 View overall resource health. From the Epic Hierarchy widget, double‐click the resource with decreased

health (yellow, orange, or red color).

3 View the Root Cause Ranking widget. It can indicate anomalous metrics that might be causing degraded

health.


20 VMware, Inc.

4 Select specific symptoms to who details of anomalous metrics.

5 Select specific metrics to add to a metric graph.

6 View metrics that reflect symptoms. These can be analyzed and graphed for correlation.

VMware, Inc. 21


7 Use the metric selector to manually add metrics to graphs.

8 Continue to graph anomalies to examine the symptoms and identify the root cause for the decreased

health.

In the Health Status Details widget, anomalies are identified by yellow shading on the metric name in

the Metric Selector widget.


22 VMware, Inc.

VMware, Inc. 23

3

The Care Systems Analytics for Epic is integrated with multiple vCenter Operations Manager widgets. For

more advanced user who wants to understand deeper details of resource health, see the following sections

describe some of these widgets. For additional information on using vCenter Operations Manager, see the

VMware vCenter Operations Manager Getting Started Guide.

Custom Relationship WidgetThe Custom Relationship widget is a customizable widget that shows metric types for resource kinds that you

select. You specify the order in which the resource kinds appear in the widget display, set up metric mappings

for the resource kinds, define user interface labels, and set color range boundaries for each mapped metric.

Figure 3-1. Custom Relationship Widget

The toolbar at the top left of the widget contains icons for each configured metric type. You can click these icons

to change the widget display.

The selected resource kinds appear in the widget display in the configured hierarchical order. You can use the

SORT BY drop‐down menu to sort the resources of each resource kind by name or metric value. You can move

your mouse over a badge to see detailed metric information for a resource, or double‐click a badge to view the

resourceʹs Resource Detail page. Clicking a resource highlights the resourceʹs parent and child resources.

Advanced Working with Dashboard Widgets 3


24 VMware, Inc.

With the STATUS FILTER buttons at the top right of the widget, you can filter resources by resource state. In

large inventories, filtering resources by state can help you quickly find resources that have degraded

performance characteristics. A question mark (?) indicates an unknown metric and an X indicates an

unavailable resource.

Configure the Custom Relationship Widget

The Custom Relationship widget does not show any data until you configure it. You must select the metric

icons and resource kinds to show in the widget display, configure metric mappings for each selected resource

kind, and provide units of measure and color range boundaries for each mapped metric.

You can also configure other widgets to provide resources to the Custom Relationship widget. When you

select a resource in a providing widget, including resources that have resource kinds that are not configured

in the Custom Relationship widget, the Custom Relationship widget highlights the related resources.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have the necessary access rights to perform this task. Your vCenter Operations Manager

administrator can tell you which actions you can perform.

Open the Edit Widget window for the Custom Relationship widget.

Procedure

1 Select the metric type icons to show in the widget display.

2 In the Resource Kinds pane, select the resource kinds to show in the widget display.

The resource kinds that you select appear in the Selected Resource Kinds pane.

3 (Optional) Change the order of the resource kinds in the Selected Resource Kinds pane.

To reorder a resource kind, drag it to a new location in the list.

4 (Optional) Filter resources that have certain tag values.

a On the Selected Resource Kinds pane, click Select Tags next to the resource kind name.

b Select the tag values to filter in the Select which tags to filter list.

You can use icons on the toolbar at the top of the list to collapse, expand, and deselect all of the tags

in the list. When you click the Invert Result icon, the widget shows only resources that do not match

the tag values that you select.

When you select more than one value for the same tag, the widget shows resources that have either value.

When you select values for two or more tags, the widget shows only resources that have all of the values

that you select.

OPTION ACTION

Select a specific resource kind Double‐click the resource kind.

Select multiple resource kinds Press Ctrl+click to select multiple resource kinds or Shift+click to select a range of resource kinds.

Click the Perform Multi‐Select Interaction icon on the toolbar at the top of the Resource Kinds pane.

Select all resource kinds Click the Select All icon on the toolbar at the top of the Resource Kinds pane.

Click the Perform Multi‐Select Interaction icon on the toolbar at the top of the Resource Kinds pane.

Remove selected resource kinds

Click the Clear Selections icon.

VMware, Inc. 25

Chapter 3 Advanced Working with Dashboard Widgets

5 Configure a metric mapping for each resource kind.

a In the Selected Resource Kinds pane, click Edit Metrics Mapping next to the resource kind name.

b For each metric type icon in the Metrics Mapping pane, click the Select Metric link.

The Pick Metrics with Resource Kind dialog box appears.

c Select a metric in the Metric Selector with Resource Selection pane.

The resource kind is preselected. You can select only one metric per metric type icon.

The metric that you select appears in the Selected Metrics pane.

d In the Selected Metrics pane, type a label for the selected metric.

e Click Save to save your changes.

6 In the Metrics Mapping pane, set values for each metric type icon.

To enter a value, move your cursor to the text box under the column heading, double‐click in the text box,

and type the value.

You cannot edit the color boundaries for health‐related metrics, such as vCenter Operations Generated |

Self ‐ Health Score, in the Metrics Mapping pane. The color boundaries for these metrics are configured

for you when you save the widget configuration. vCenter Operations Manager obtains color range values

for health‐related metrics from global settings (select Admin > Global Settings).

7 Click OK to save the widget configuration.

Application Detail Overview WidgetThe Application Detail widget shows information for a selected application or other container resources that

have at least one child container resource. The top of the widget shows the number of containers, resources,

and metrics that the application or container resource contains and the number of Smart Alerts and classic

alerts on the application or container resource.

Figure 3-2. Application Detail Widget

For each container resource, the Application Detail widget shows the icons for the health of each resource in

that container, the container name, the metric sparkline for the last 24 hours, the containerʹs current health

score, and the number of active Smart Alerts and classic alerts for the container itself.

OPTION ACTION

Box Label Optional) Modify the label for the metric.

Measurement Unit Type the measurement unit that appears after the metric value.

Yellow Bound Type the highest or lowest value that should be yellow.

Orange Bound Type the highest or lowest value that should be orange.

Red Bound Type the highest or lowest value that should be red.


26 VMware, Inc.

The Application Detail widget shows only container resources that have at least one child container. It does

not show information for child resources.

Configure the Application Detail Widget

If the Application Detail widget is a self provider, you can select a tag value to monitor in the widget. You can

also configure the column arrangement in the widget.

You can also configure other widgets to provide an application or container resource to the Application Detail

widget.

Prerequisites

1 Verify that you have the necessary access rights to perform this task. Your vCenter Operations Manager


2 Open the Edit Widget window for the Application Detail widget.

Procedure

1 Set Self Provider to On to define applications in the widget configuration.

2 Select the tag value to monitor in the Select which tags to filter list.

You can use toolbar icons to collapse, expand, and deselect all tags in the list.

3 Use the Mode option to configure the Application Detail in Compact or Large mode.

The same information appears in both modes, but the column arrangement is different.


Health Status WidgetThe Health Status widget shows the health score for selected resources. You can also configure the widget to

show a custom metric and specify colors for metric ranges.

Health status is a 0 to 100 ranking that vCenter Operations Manager determines for each resource. For each

resource, the widget includes the current health score and a graph that shows how the health score has

changed over time. You can double‐click the graph for a resource to view the Resource Detail page for that

resource.

Figure 3-3. Health Status Widget

If vCenter Operations Manager does not receive metrics for a resource at a particular time, it cannot calculate

a health score for that time and it shows a score of ‐1 on the graph. A ‐1 score can occur if collection is turned

off for a resource or if vCenter Operations Manager encounters a data gathering problem.

Configure the Health Status Widget

You can filter the resources that the Health Status widget shows by editing the widget configuration. You can

also configure the widget to show a custom metric.

You can also configure other widgets to provide resources to the Health Status widget.

VMware, Inc. 27


Prerequisites



2 Open the Edit Widget window for the Health Status widget.

Procedure

1 Set Self Provider to On to define resources in the widget configuration.

2 Configure options to control the appearance of the resource display.

3 Select Health or Custom to specify whether the widget shows resource health or a custom metric.

You can search for a custom metric by typing the metric name in the text box next to Custom. When the

correct metric name appears, select it from the drop‐down menu. You can also open the drop‐down menu,

scroll through the list of available metrics, and select a metric. Pagination controls are provided at the

bottom of the drop‐down list.

4 If you configured a custom metric, configure metric ranges.

You can configure the ranges in ascending or descending order.

5 Select tag values in the Select which tags to show list to show only resources that have certain tag values

in the widget.

You can use icons on the toolbar at the top of the list to collapse, expand, and deselect all of the tags in the

list.

When you select more than one value for the same tag, the widget includes resources that have either

value. When you select values for two or more tags, the widget includes only resources that have all of the

selected values. When you click the Invert Result icon, the widget includes only resources that do not

match the tag values that you select.


OPTION DESCRIPTION

Mode Sets the widget mode:

Self The widget shows the selected resources.

Children The widget shows child resources.

Parents The widget shows parent resources.

If you select Children or Parents, the selected resources themselves do not appear in the widget, whether you select resources by editing the widget or the widget accepts resources from a providing widget.

Order By Sets whether the list is ordered by health score or resource name, and whether the order is ascending or descending.

Pagination Number Sets the number of resources that appear on each page of the widget.

Period Length Sets the amount of time that appears on the health graph for each resource.

OPTION DESCRIPTION

Yellow Bound Type the highest or lowest value that should be yellow.

Orange Bound Type the highest or lowest value that should be orange.

Red Bound Type the highest or lowest value that should be red.


28 VMware, Inc.

Health Tree WidgetThe Health Tree widget shows the section of your resource hierarchy around a resource that you select. The

widget shows all of the parent container resources that hold the resource. If you select a container resource,

the widget shows all of the child resources that the container holds.

Figure 3-4. Health Tree Widget

Unless you are in Pan or Zoom the view mode, you can point to a resource to show its name and current health.

You can double‐click a resource to shift the display to show its parents and children.

If you configure a filter tag for the Health Tree widget, only the parent and child resources that match the tag

appear in the widget. You can double‐click a resource to turn off the filter and show all of its parents and

children.

The toolbar at the top of the Health Tree widget contains icons that you can use to change the view.

Configure the Health Tree Widget

By default, the Health Tree widget includes all parent and child resources that match the selected resource.

You can edit the widget configuration to limit the parent and child resources that the widget shows.

You can also configure other widgets to provide a resource to the Health Tree widget.

Prerequisites



2 Open the Edit Widget window for the Health Tree widget.

Table 3-1. Health Tree Widget Toolbar Icons

ICON DESCRIPTION

Zoom to Fit Changes the size of the resource icons for the best possible fit in the widget.

Pan Click this icon and click and drag the hierarchy to show different parts of the hierarchy.

Image Map Tooltip Click this icon and point to a resource to show its name and current health.

Zoom the view Click this icon and drag to outline a part of the hierarchy. The display zooms to show only the outlined section.

Zoom in Zooms in on the hierarchy.

Zoom out Zooms out on the hierarchy.

Reset To Initial Resource

If you changed the central resource of the hierarchy, click this icon to return to the initial resource. Clicking this icon also resets the initial display size.

Resource Detail Select a resource and click this icon to show the Resource Detail page for the resource.

Show Alerts Select the resource in the hierarchy and click this icon to show alerts for the resource. Alerts appear in a pop‐up window. You can double‐click an alert to view its Alert Summary page.

Display Filtering Criteria

Shows the filtering settings for the widget in a pop‐up window.

VMware, Inc. 29


Procedure

1 Set Self Provider to On to define a resource in the widget configuration.

2 (Optional) To configure a fixed zoom level for resource icons in the widget display, set Auto Zoom To

Fixed Node Size to On and type an icon size, in pixels, in the Node Size (pixels) text box.

If your widget display contains many resources and you always need to use manual zooming, this feature

is particularly useful because it enables you to set the zoom level only once.

The widget shows resource icons at the pixel size that you configure. You can still click the Zoom to Fit

icon to change the size of the resource icons for the best possible fit in the widget. The fixed zoom level

feature is disabled by default.

3 Select the resource in the Resource Selection pane.

To find a specific resource, type all or part of the resource name in the Search text box and click the right

angle bracket (>).

The name of the resource that you select appears after Selected Resource.

4 (Optional) To limit the parent and child resources that the widget shows, select one or more tag values in

the Select which tags to filter pane.

You can use icons on the toolbar at the top of the pane to collapse, expand, and deselect all of the tags in

the list.

When you select more than one value for the same tag, the widget shows resources that have either value.

When you select values for two or more tags, the widget shows only resources that have all of the values

that you select. When you click the Invert Result icon, the widget shows only resources that do not match

the tag.


6 (Optional) To verify the filtering settings that you configured for the widget, click the Display Filtering

Criteria icon on the widgetʹs toolbar.

The filtering settings appear in a pop‐up window.

Root Cause Ranking WidgetThe Root Cause Ranking widget provides an instant view of the probable causes of health degradation for a

selected resource. The widget shows information about metrics on related resources that contributed to alerts

on the resources, including the percentage likelihood that the metric contributed to the cause. vCenter

Operations Manager bases the percentage likelihood on the number of symptoms and when the symptoms

occurred relative to the alert.

Figure 3-5. Root Cause Ranking Widget

You can view root causes in Symptom mode and Resource mode.


30 VMware, Inc.

Symptom mode ‐ Shows root cause information based on anomalies that occurred during the previous

six hours, unless a providing widget passes a different time period. You can double‐click a resource to see

the symptom groups ranked by percentage of possible resources that exhibit symptoms in the group. You

can double‐click a group to see the top five individual symptoms ranked by percentage of possible

resources that exhibit the symptom. You can double‐click a symptom, or select it and click Show Bar

Details, to open a pop‐up window that shows detailed information about the symptom. This is the default

mode.

Resource mode ‐ Shows root cause information based on anomalies that occurred during the previous

two hours. If a providing widget passes a different time period, it shows information for all anomalies

active in that time period. Double‐click a resource, or select it and click Show Bar Details, to list the

individual anomalies.

A change event symptom might include different types of events that have different messages. If all of the

change events for a symptom are the same type, the message appears to the right of the symptom bar. If the

message does not fit, you can point to the message to the see the full message. If the symptom include different

messages, Multiple Change Events appears.

The toolbar at the top of the Root Cause Ranking widget contains icons that you can use to view the graph.

You can double‐click a root cause symptom to open a pop‐up window that lists the individual threshold

violations that comprise the symptom. You can then click the Copy to Clipboard button to copy the list to the

clipboard. You might want to use this feature if you are opening a problem ticket or sending an email message

about the alert. To see the Dynamic Dashboard for a root cause resource, select it in the pop‐up window and

click the Dynamic Dashboard button.

Configure the Root Cause Ranking Widget

You can configure the Root Cause Ranking widget to show specific resources.

You can also configure other widgets to provide resources to the Root Cause Ranking widget.

Prerequisites



2 Open the Edit Widget window for the Root Cause Ranking widget.

Procedure

1 Set Self Provider to On to define resources in the widget configuration.

2 Select a Bars Show option to specify whether to show bars for symptoms or resources.

If you select Resources, you can choose how many bars to show.

NOTE If the Health Status widget provides resources to the Root Cause Ranking widget and you click at a point in

the past on the health score graph for a resource, the Root Cause Ranking widget shows root causes for the

time that you selected.

Table 3-2. Root Cause Ranking Widget Toolbar Icons

ICON DESCRIPTION

Auto Refresh Refreshes the widget data.

Show Bar Details Opens a new window that shows detailed information about the threshold violations that contributed to the selected root cause.

Perform Interaction Shows the first five alarming metrics for the resource of the selected symptom in either the Metric Graph or Metric Sparklines widget. You must include either the Metric Graph widget or the Metric Sparklines widgets on the dashboard and set it to receive data from the Root Cause widget to use this feature.

Change mode Switches between Resource mode and Symptom mode.

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3 Select the tag values to include in the Select which tags to filter list.

You can use icons on the toolbar at the top of the Select which tags to filter pane to collapse, expand, and

deselect all of the tags in the list.


value. When you select values for two or more tags, the widget includes resources that have all of the

selected values.


Heat Map WidgetThe Heat Map widget contains graphical indicators that show the current value of two selected attributes for

resources that belong to tag values that you select. In most cases, you can select only from internally generated

attributes that describe the general operation of the resources, such as health or the active anomaly count.

When you select a single resource kind, you can select any metric for that resource kind.

Figure 3-6. Heat Map Widget

The Health Map widget has a General mode and an Instance mode.

General mode ‐ The widget shows a colored rectangle for each selected resource. The size of the rectangle

indicates the value of one selected attribute. The color of the rectangle indicates the value of another

selected attribute.

Instance mode ‐ Each rectangle represents a single instance of the selected metric for a resource. A

resource can have multiple instances of the same metric. The rectangles are all the same size. The color of

the rectangles varies based on the instance value. You can use instance mode only if you select a single

resource kind.

In either mode, you can group the rectangles according to tag type and select the color range to use. By default,

green indicates a low value and red indicates the high end of the value range. You can change the high and

low values to any color and set the color to use for the midpoint of the range. You can also set the values to use

for either end of the color range, or let vCenter Operations Manager define the colors based on the range of

values for the attribute.

When you point to the rectangle for a resource, the widget shows the resourceʹs name, group‐by values, and

the current values of the two tracked attributes. You can click Show Sparkline in the pop‐up window to see a

small sparkline of the tracked metric by the heat map color. You can click the Resource Detail icon to show the

Resource Detail page for a selected resource.

If you configure the Heat Map widget as a provider to another widget, such as the Metric Graph widget, you

can double‐click a rectangle to select that resource for the widget. If the widget is in Metric mode,

double‐clicking a rectangle selects the resource associated with the metric and provides that resource to the

receiving widget.


32 VMware, Inc.

Configure the Heat Map Widget

The Heat Map widget contains graphical indicators that show the current value of two selected attributes for

resources that belong to tag values that you select.

You can configure the widget to show different combinations of data, and you can save multiple

configurations for the widget. You use the Configuration drop‐down menu on the toolbar at the top of the

Heat Map widget to select the widget configuration to use.

You can also configure other widgets to provide a resource to the Heat Map widget.

Prerequisites



2 Open the Edit Widget window for the Heat Map widget.

Procedure

1 Set Self Provider to On to define a resource in the widget configuration.

2 Select the tag to use for first‐level grouping of the resources from the Group By drop‐down menu.

If a selected resource does not have a value for this tag, it appears in a group called Other.

3 Select the tag to use to separate the resources into subgroups from the Then By drop‐down menu.

If a selected resource does not have a value for this tag, it appears in a subgroup called Other.

4 Select a Mode option.

5 If you selected General mode, select the attribute to use to set the size of the rectangle for each resource

in the Size By list and the attribute to use to determine the color of the rectangle for each resource in the

Color By list.

Resources that have higher values for the Size By attribute have larger areas of the widget display. You

can also select fixed‐size rectangles. The color varies between the colors you set based on the value of the

Color By attribute.

In most cases, the attribute lists include only metrics that vCenter Operations Manager generates. If you

select a resource kind, the list shows all of the attributes that are defined for the resource kind.

6 To track metrics only for resources of a particular kind, select the resource kind from the Resource Kinds

drop‐down menu.

7 If you selected Instance mode, select an attribute kind from the Attribute Kinds list.

The attribute kind determines the color of the rectangle for each resource.

8 Configure colors for the heat map.

a Click each of the small blocks under the color bar to set the color for low, middle, and high values.

The bar shows the color range for intermediate values. You can also set the values to match the high

and low end of the color range.

b (Optional) Type minimum and maximum color values in the Min Value and Max Value text boxes.

If you leave the text boxes blank, vCenter Operations Manager maps the highest and lowest values for the

Color By metric to the end colors. If you set a minimum or maximum value, any metric at or beyond that

value appears in the end color.

OPTION DESCRIPTION

Instance Track all instances of a metric for a resource with a separate rectangle for each metric.

General Pick an individual instance of a metric for each resource and track only that metric.

VMware, Inc. 33


9 To define the resources to show in the widget, select the tag values to monitor in the Select which tags to

filter list.

If you select a resource kind, the widget shows only resources of that kind that meet the tag filter

conditions.


value. When you select values for two or more tags, the widget includes only resources that have all of the

values that you select.

10 Click the Capture new configuration icon, type a name for the configuration, and click OK to save the

configuration.

You must save a Heat Map widget configuration before you can use it.

11 (Optional) Select the configuration from the Configuration drop‐down menu on the widgetʹs toolbar to

verify the Heat Map widget configuration.

Example: Heat Map Widget Configuration

Consider an environment that has these characteristics.

Multiple physical servers, in multiple data servers, that are running multiple virtual servers.

Each virtual server is defined as a resource in vCenter Operations Manager.

Each resource has several attributes for which vCenter Operations Manager collects data.

For this environment, the following Heat Map widget configuration shows at a glance which virtual machines

have anomalies, whether those anomalies are for KPIs, and on which physical servers the virtual machines

reside.

All resources that have a resource kind tag value of virtual machine are shown.

The resources are grouped by physical server and then by data center.

For each resource, the size of its rectangle is based on the number of current anomalies for that resource,

and the color of its rectangle is based on the number of KPI breaches.

What to do next

You can update a Heat Map widget configuration by selecting it from the Configuration drop‐down menu

and clicking the Update selected configuration icon. You can delete a configuration by selecting it from the

Configuration drop‐down menu and clicking the Delete selected configuration icon.


34 VMware, Inc.

VMware, Inc. 35

4

Review the following items for basic troubleshooting Care Systems Analytics for Epic integrated with vCenter

Operations Manager.

Default dashboard overwritten after update.

This is expected behavior, therefore, it is highly recommended that the vCenter Operations Manager

administrator clone and share the default dashboards with the Epic application team and other

individuals involved in the monitoring and management of the Epic application.

Do this immediately after completing vCenter Operations Management Pack for Epic installation.

This ensures that any changes to the configuration of the default dashboards for your environment

are not overwritten by updated default dashboards that might be downloaded as part of an update

to the vCenter Operations Management Pack for Epic.

Scheduled maintenance generates anomaly alerts.

This is expected behavior, therefore, it is recommended that vCenter Operations Manager

administrators identify and mark resources that are scheduled for regular maintenance. This

prevents the vCenter Operations Manager from generating an unnecessary alert‐because it interprets

changes in metrics that occur during the scheduled maintenance, as an anomaly.

Metrics do not display real time values.

This is expected behavior. The information in VMware Care Systems Analytics for Epic is updated

based on information in Epic System Pulse, which is refreshed every 5 minutes. Therefore the metrics

shown in dashboards are not in real time.

Initially non‐performance related alerts are displayed.

This is expected behavior. It takes 4‐6 weeks for vCenter Operations Manager to build dynamic (alert)

thresholds based on the normal behavior of your environment. Until the dynamic thresholds are built

with a sufficient base of monitoring data, you might see Alerts that indicate a deviation observed by

vCenter Operations Manager, but are not actual performance issues.

Inactive resources not collecting data.

When the vCenter Operations Management Pack for Epic is first installed, you might see several

resources in the Epic hierarchy that are no longer active in the Epic environment. These resources are

labeled with a blue color that indicates they are not collecting any data.

Have the Epic DBA remove inactive resources from the System Pulse SQL database. Once removed

from the database, these inactive resources are automatically removed from your Care Systems

Analytics dashboard.

View historical metric data in an HA environment.

The historical metric data for each component / resource in an HA environment is maintained

separately. or example, the Global References for PRD‐DB1 and PRD‐DB2 (where DB1 and DB2 are

HA failovers for each other) is maintained separately.

Troubleshooting Tips 4


36 VMware, Inc.

To view the current values of Global References (or any other metric for a given HA resource), select

the currently active resource.

Epic Hierarchy relationships not created after HA failover.

The relationships between the Epic Environment, Instance, and Host are automatically created in the

Epic Hierarchy in the Overall Health, Drilldown, and Troubleshooting dashboard. If your Epic

installation is deployed in a High Availability (HA) cluster environment, the relationship is not

automatically re‐created when the primary environment switches.

VMware, Inc. 37

5

The Care Systems Analytics for Epic integrated with vCenter Operations Manager provides additional

monitoring options. For more advanced users who want to configure additional widget based monitoring

actions, see the following sections. For additional information on using vCenter Operations Manager, see the

VMware vCenter Operations Manager Administration Guide: Custom User Interface.

View an Overview of Resource HealthYou can view a graphical representation of the health of all vCenter Operations Manager resources that have

a specific resource tag value on the Environment Overview page.

Procedure

1 Select Environment > Environment Overview to view the Environment Overview page.

2 Select one or more resource tag values in the left pane.

3 Click the Group tab.

The Group tab shows a colored icon that represents the current health of each resource that has the selected

tag value. If you point to a colored icon, a tooltip appears that describes the resource that the icon

represents.

Identify Health Problems for a Specific ResourceYou can use the Resource Detail page to identify health problems for a specific resource. For a global resource,

the Resource Detail page contains information about the current state of the resource, its metrics, and its place

in the resource tree. For a virtual resource, the Resource Detail page shows information about the main

performance characteristics, key metrics, and events for the virtual resource.

Procedure

1 Select Environment > Environment Overview.

2 (Optional) In the left pane, expand a resource tag and select a tag value that is assigned to the resource.

3 Selecting a tag value can shorten the resource list and make it easier to find a specific resource.

4 Select the resource on the List tab.

5 Click the Show Detail icon.

The Resource Detail page appears for the resource.

Advanced Troubleshooting 5

OPTION ACTION

View the health icons for any time in the past six hours

Move the slider at the bottom of the Group tab to the left. The slider moves in five‐minute increments.

View detailed information for a resource Click the icon for the resource and click the Show Detail icon on the toolbar.


38 VMware, Inc.

View Alerts on the Alerts Overview PageBy default, the Alerts Overview page shows alerts for all resources. You can filter the alert list by resource, alert

type and subtype, and alert status. You can also search for alerts generated for particular resources and during

a specific time period.

Procedure

1 Select Alerts > Alerts Overview.

2 (Optional) Filter the alert list.

3 (Optional) Click a column header and use the controls in the pop‐up menu to sort the alert list or add or

remove columns from the display.

Configure Alerts to Send NotificationsYou can use the vCenter Operations Manager advanced configuration options to configure email or text alert

notifications. This section provides a quick start for this task. For detailed information, see the ʺConfiguring

Alert Notificationsʺ chapter in the VMware vCenter Operations Manager Administrator Guide: Custom User

Interface.

vCenter Operations Manager generates an anomaly when a metric violates its threshold. If vCenter

Operations Manager determines that the current combination of anomalies indicates a real problem, it

generates an alert. An alert is a notification to inform you of an abnormal condition that might require

attention.

Alerts appear in the vCenter Operations Manager user interface on the Alerts Overview page, in the alert

watch list, and in the Alerts widget. When a vCenter Operations Manager administrator sets up the alert

notification feature, then users can find out about alerts even when they are not using vCenter Operations

Manager.

OPTION ACTION

Show alerts for resources that have a specific value

Select one or more resource tag values in the resource tag list. If you select more than one value for the same tag, the list includes resources that have either value. If you select values for two or more different tags, the list includes only resources that have all of the selected values.

Show alerts for resources that do not have a specific value

Select one or more resource tag values in the resource tag list and click the Invert Result icon. For example, if you select New York and London, alerts for all resources that are not in either city appear in the list.

Show alerts for resources that have a specific resource name or resource kind

Type a full or partial name in the Search text box and click the right angle bracket (>).

Show alerts for a specific time period

Select a date from the Start Date and End Date menus and click the right angle bracket (>).

Show alerts that have a specific type or subtype

Click one or more of the alert type icons at the top of the alert list. For example, click the Smart (Early Warning), Smart (KPI Breach), and Smart (KPI Prediction) icons to show all smart alerts.

Show alerts that have a specific status

Click one or more of the alert status icons at the top of the alert list. For example, click the Active Alerts icon and the Own Alerts icon to show the active alerts assigned to you.

Remove an alert type or alert status filter

Click the icon again to toggle it off.

Remove all resource filters Click the Deselect All icon at the top of the resource tag list.

VMware, Inc. 39

Chapter 5 Advanced Troubleshooting

Send Alert Notifications to Users in Email Messages

Procedure

1 Configure email alert notifications

Configuring email alert notifications involves adding filtering rules, defining email templates, and

configuring email alert notification settings. See the ̋ Configuring Email Alert Notificationsʺ section in the

VMware vCenter Operations Manager Administrator Guide: Custom User Interface.

2 Create an alert handler that sends alert notifications to an email filter.

See the ʺConfiguring and Modifying Alert Handler Notificationsʺ section in the VMware vCenter

Operations Manager Administrator Guide: Custom User Interface. Additional alert options include: SNMP

traps, log file entries, EMC Smarts SAM Global Console.

Configure Email Alert Notifications

Procedure

1 Prepare the emailFilter.xml file. This file includes <Templates> element, <SendFromEmail> general setting element, <FilterRule> element for setting alert conditions.

emailFilter.xml is an XML file that defines the filtering rules and template files to use for email alert

notifications. The file also contains general settings that apply to all email alert notifications.

After you edit the emailFilter.xml file, you must restart the email filter plug‐in instance in vCenter

Operations Manager to make your changes take effect.

2 Create or edit the email template file in text (.txt) or HTML (.html) format.

3 Add filtering rules.

4 Add an email template definition.

5 Configure general setting for email alert notifications.

Configure Email Alert Handlers

Prerequisites

Set up filtering rules, define email templates, and configure email alert notification settings.

Procedure

1 Select Admin > Configure Outbound Alert.

2 (Optional) Add an email alert handler instance.

a Click the Add Alert Handler icon.

b Select Email from the Outbound Alert Type drop‐down menu.

c Type a name for the alert handler instance in the Instance Name text box.

3 (Optional) Edit an email alert handler instance. Select the alert handler instance and click the Edit Alert

Handler icon.

You cannot change the outbound alert type.

IMPORTANT Do not edit emailFilter.xml directly unless you are familiar with XML structure and syntax.

A formatting mistake might prevent email alert notifications from working. If you edit

emailFilter.xml directly, make a backup copy of the file before you change it.


40 VMware, Inc.

4 Configure or modify the email alert handler settings.

5 Click Test to test the filter.

vCenter Operations Manager verifies that the SMTP host and port you specified are valid and checks the

syntax and data of the emailFilter.xml file.

6 Click OK to save your configuration.

vCenter Operations Manager starts the alert handler instance.

Configure AttributesConfigure attributes to define conditions for monitoring your resources.

Create an Attribute Package

An attribute package is a group of attributes that are related to a specific resource. When you assign an

attribute package to a resource, vCenter Operations Manager collects metrics for the attributes in the attribute

package.

These are used for setting dynamic thresholds and adding super metrics.

Procedure

1 Select Environment > Configuration > Attribute Packages.

2 Select Adapter Kind > Resource kind > Add New Attribute Package or Edit Selected Attribute Package.

When you add an attribute package, you set a collection interval, specify the attributes to collect for a

resource, configure the type of threshold to use for each attribute, and indicate which attributes are KPIs.

3 Select Advanced Configuration > Hard Thresholds for each attribute, as needed.

By default, vCenter Operations Manager uses dynamic thresholds for attributes. You can override this

behavior by setting hard thresholds for an attribute in an attribute package.

4 Select Advanced Configuration > Data Type for each attribute, as needed.

By default, vCenter Operations Manager recognizes the type of data that it receives for each attribute. You

can override this behavior by explicitly setting the data type for an attribute in an attribute package.

Create a Super Metric Package

You can combine different metrics by using mathematical formulas to define a super metric. Super metrics are

useful when you need to track combinations of metrics, either from a single resource or, more commonly, from

multiple resources. A super metric is a formula that contains a combination of one or more metrics for one or

more resources. A super metric package contains one or more super metrics.

Procedure

1 Design a Super Metric.

Because super metric formulas can be complex, design a super metric before you use the vCenter

Operations Manager user interface to create it. The key to creating a super metric that alerts you to the

right situations is knowing your own enterprise and your data.

a Determine the resources that are involved in the behavior to track.

b Determine the metrics to include in the super metric.

OPTION DESCRIPTION

SMTP_HOST Type the IP address of the SMTP server. The SMTP server delivers email messages to the recipients of the alert notifications.

SMTP_PORT Type the SMTP port number. The default value is 25.

VMware, Inc. 41


c Decide how to combine or compare the metrics.

d Decide where to assign the super metric.

2 Set Super Metric specifications.

A super metric formula can consist of one or more metric specifications. You can specify a particular

resource and metric, such as CPU use for Database Server 2, or you can specify a metric and use This

Resource, which indicates the resource to which the super metric is assigned.

Assign any package that contains the super metric only to resources for which the metric is collected. You

can combine specific resource metrics and This Resource metrics in the same formula.

3 Set Super Metric functions.

vCenter Operations Manager includes functions that you can use in super metric formulas. The functions

are either looping functions or single functions.

4 Build a Super Metric formula.

A super metric formula can include one or more metric specifications, super metric functions, arithmetic

operators (such as the plus or minus sign), and constants. You can enter any number of constants as part

of the formula.

There are several options for creating the super metric formula. These include:

Functions, selected from the Function menu.

Looping functions, defined in functN format.

Resource and metric, selected in the Resource and Metrics panes.

5 Add a Super Metric.

You create a super metric when only a combination of metrics can let you know if your systems are

behaving normally.

a Select Environment > Super Metrics > Super Metric Editor > Add New Super Metric.

b Define the formula for the super metric and verify it through Visualize Supermetric.

6 Add a Super Metric Package.

When you create a super metric package, you specify the metrics that it contains, configure threshold

characteristics for each super metric, and indicate which threshold violations should be considered KPIs.

If you include the same super metric in more than one package, you can set different characteristics for it

in each package.

a Select Environment > Advanced > Super Metrics > Super Metric Packages > Add New Attribute

Package.

b (Optional) Select Violation of the Upper Dynamic threshold is a Key Indicator, Violation of the

Lower Dynamic threshold is a Key Indicator, and/or Violation of the Hard threshold is a Key

Indicator and Select Criticality Level at which a Hard Threshold becomes Key Indicator.

7 Assign Super Metric packages.

You can assign a super metric package to any resource, regardless of whether any metrics from the

resource are used in the super metric package. In most cases, you assign each super metric package to a

related resource.

8 Export a Super Metric.

You can export a super metric from one vCenter Operations Manager instance and import it to another

vCenter Operations Manager instance.

a Select Environment > Super Metrics > Super Metric Editor.

b Select the super metric to export and click the Export icon.


42 VMware, Inc.

vCenter Operations Manager creates a super metric file, for example, SuperMetric.bin.

9 Import a Super Metric.

You can import a super metric that was exported from another instance of vCenter Operations Manager.

a Select Environment > Super Metrics > Super Metric Editor > Import.

b Click Browse, select the super metric file to import, and click Open.

c Click Import to import the super metric file.

Set Dynamic Thresholds

Setting dynamic thresholds is one of the configurable options in vCenter Operations Manager for handling

attributes. The combined dynamic threshold plug‐in provides faster and more accurate dynamic threshold

calculations by combining the information learned from all previous dynamic threshold algorithms.

The vCenter Operations Manager can collect several types of data for a single resource. Each type of data is

called an attribute in vCenter Operations Manager. For example, for a database server, it might receive data

on free disk space, CPU use, and the average response time for a database request.

A vCenter Operations Manager administrator creates attribute packages to tell vCenter Operations Manager

which attributes to track for your resources. See ʺConfiguring Attribute Packagesʺ chapter in the VMware

vCenter Operations Manager Administrator Guide: Custom User Interface.

By setting dynamic thresholds you tell the vCenter Operations Manager what metrics to monitor so it can

determine your normal range and activity behavior.

Procedure

1 Create attribute package. See “Create an Attribute Package” on page 40.

2 Create super metric package. See “Create a Super Metric Package” on page 40.

3 Enable dynamic threshold plug‐in.

This is disabled by default. See the VMware vCenter Operations Manager Administrator Guide for additional

information.

a Open the advanced.properties file in the vcenter-ops\user\conf\analytics directory.

b Set the useCombinedDTPlugin property to true.

For example: useCombinedDTPlugin = true

c Save your changes and close the advanced.properties file.

4 Restart the Analytics service.

Create a Super Metric

Setting super metrics is one of the configurable options in vCenter Operations Manager for handling

attributes.

vCenter Operations Manager can collect several types of data for a single resource. For example, for a database

server, it might receive data on free disk space, CPU use, and the average response time for a database request.

Each type of data is called an attribute in vCenter Operations Manager. A vCenter Operations Manager

administrator creates attribute packages to tell vCenter Operations Manager which attributes to track for your

resources. See ʺConfiguring Attribute Packagesʺ chapter in the VMware vCenter Operations Manager

Administrator Guide.

Procedure

1 Create attribute package. See “Create an Attribute Package” on page 40.

2 Create super metric package. See “Create a Super Metric Package” on page 40.

VMware, Inc. 43


3 Set a super metric, example:

a Select Environment > Super Metrics > Super Metric Editor.

b Click the Add New Super Metric icon.

c Type a name for the super metric in the Super Metric Name text box.

For example, Average CPU Use.

d Select avg from the Functions drop‐down menu.

e In the Resource Kinds pane, select the resource kind, or type all or part of the name of the resource

type for the transaction servers in the Search text box, for example, AppServ, and click the arrow next

to the text box.

The attributes for the resource kind appear in the Attribute Kinds pane.

f Double‐click the AvgCPUtil attribute.

The database ID of the resource and metric appear in the formula line at the top of the window.

g (Optional) To see the resource name and metric name, click below the formula line.

h Click OK to save the super metric.

i Add the super metric to an existing super metric package, or create a new super metric package.

j Assign the super metric package to the tier.

Create Tiered Health TreesYou can create a heat map and have a hierarchy in a custom widget with all resources, names, status health

tree shows relationship between resources. The basic procedure includes:

Create a dashboard

Add widgets to the dashboard

Add resources and tags

Procedure

1 Create a dashboard. Click the plus icon next to the dashboard tabs and enter a name or select Dashboards

> Add.

2 Build the dashboard by selecting widgets.

a Drag each widget from the left pane to the right pane. For example the widget, Health Tree.

b Select the number of columns to use on the dashboard from the Select Layout drop‐down menu.

c (Optional) To change the size of the columns, drag the divider bars under Drag to Change Layout.

d Type a name for the new dashboard in the Tab Name text box.

e Click OK.

The new dashboard is empty.

3 Alternatively, build the dashboard by using a dashboard template.

a Click the Create Dashboard Using Templates icon in the corner of the left pane to show the available

dashboard templates.

b Drag a dashboard template to the right side of the window. For example the widget, Health Tree.

c Select the number of columns to use on the dashboard from the Select Layout drop‐down menu.

d Type a name for the new dashboard in the Tab Name text box.

e Click OK.


44 VMware, Inc.

The new dashboard is empty.

4 Add content to the new dashboard for the widgets to display.

a Click the Edit Widget gear icon and select items to display in the dashboard.

b Select a Self Provider option to specify where the objects that the widget shows are defined.

This option is not available if the widget cannot receive data from other widgets.

c Select a Refresh Widget Content option to specify whether the widget refreshes data after a specific

time period. The default setting is Off.

d If you set Refresh Widget Content to On, type the refresh interval, in seconds, in the Widget Refresh Interval text box.

e Edit any remaining configuration options, if required.

For example, if you set Self Provider to On, you must define the objects that the widget shows.

f Click OK to save the widget configuration.

5 Add resources.

a Select Tags. These are groupings to filter what is seen in the widget.

b Select Resources and types.

c Select specific resources.

6 View a sample health tree.

A heath tree shows specific resources. The system automatically builds the hierarchy of parent and child

resources based on relationships in the adapter configuration.

a Select an Instance > Environment.

b Select a Resource Object.

7 Navigate through a health tree. Double‐click to show a resource with its parent and child relationships.

Edit Widget Resource Interaction FilesYou can add functions to a dashboard that all users can see and use. Applying these changes through the

Resource Interaction file affects all users and the display of all affected dashboards. For example, if you have

an external package or plug‐in for additional metrics you can add selecting it to a dashboard pull‐down menu.

See ʺUsing and Configuring Widgetsʺ chapter in the VMware vCenter Operations Getting Started Guide: Custom

User Interface.

Prerequisites

This procedure requires that you have permissions to access and modify files on the vCenter Operations

Manager virtual machine and the Epic System Pulse virtual machine.

Procedure

1 Review widget file specifications.

You customize a widget by editing its configuration options. Some widgets do not show data until you

configure them. The available configuration options vary depending on the widget type.

2 Configure a widget.

OPTION DESCRIPTION

On Define the objects that the widget shows in the widget configuration.

Off You configured, or plan to configure, one or more other widget to provide objects to the widget.

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By default, the Advanced Health Tree widget includes all parent and child resources that match the

selected resource. You can edit the widget configuration to limit the parent and child resources that the

widget shows.

3 Configure widget interactions.

You can also configure other widgets to provide a resource to an existing widget. When you configure

widget interaction, you specify the widget that provides the information, called the providing widget, to

the widget that shows the information, called the receiving widget.

Show Specific Resources in a DashboardYou can add different objects, such as hardware to resources, to the list shown in a widget. See ʺWorking with

Dashboardsʺ in the VMware vCenter Operations Manager Getting Started Guide: Custom User Interface.

Procedure

1 Click the Edit Widget gear icon and select items to display in the dashboard.

2 Select a Self Provider option to specify where the objects that the widget shows are defined.

3 This option is not available if the widget cannot receive data from other widgets.

4 Select a Refresh Widget Content option to specify whether the widget refreshes data after a specific time

period. The default setting is Off.

5 If you set Refresh Widget Content to On, type the refresh interval, in seconds, in the Widget Refresh Interval text box.

6 Edit any remaining configuration options, if required.

For example, if you set Self Provider to On, you must define the objects that the widget shows.

Many widgets can provide data to, and accept data from, other widgets. These relationships are called

widget interactions. Each widget can provide selected resource information to other widgets through the

resource ID or metric ID.


OPTION DESCRIPTION

On Define the objects that the widget shows in the widget configuration.

Off You configured, or plan to configure, one or more other widget to provide objects to the widget.


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