The interval breakdown feature is located in the View widget. This feature is very useful when you would like to see a metric or property at a certain point in time. For example the growth of VMs in the past 6 months. You can choose to display the results in hours, days, weeks, month, quarter, and a year.  To download this dashboard that has already been created with an included graph, just click here

6-Month VM and Host Growth detailed View

The following guide will show you how to use the Interval breakdown feature to create a 6-Month VM and Host Growth of your entire environment

1. First we will need to create the dashboard.  Click on Dashboards > Actions >
   Create Dashboard
2. Add a name (Example: Company Name – VM Monthly Growth)
3. Under Widget List, drag and drop a view widget to the right side
4. Click on Save, you should now be able to see your dashboard
5. Click on the Pencil icon on the View widget
6. Enter Total VMs by Month for the title and turn on Self Provider. This allows us to select an object below.

   

7. Hit the dropdown below Select Object and then select All Objects
8. Expand vCenter Adapter > vSphere World and then select vSphere World (This ensures we include everything in the vCenter Adapter regardless of how many vCenters are in the environment). Then click on to add a new view
9. Give it a Name

   

10. Click on Presentation and then select List
    
11. Under Subjects, Hit the dropdown and select vCenter Adapter >
    vSphere World 
12. Under Data, select Summary > Total Number of VMs metric by double clicking on it till it shows up on the right side. Also add Summary > Total Number of Hosts

    

13. Click on Group By tab and check the box Add interval breakdown column
14. Since we want 6 months of past history, click on Time Settings and change the Relative Date Range to 6 Months
15. Now go back to Data tab in the middle
16. Configure the following
    1. Select Interval Breakdown and Change the Metric Label to Month. Change Sort Order to Descending
    1. Select Summary|Total Number of VMs and Change the Metric Label to Total VMs
    1. Select Summary|Total Number of Host and Change the Metric Label to Total Hosts
17. Click on Save and then Save again. You should now see a 6 month history of VM and Host Growth by months

The following guide is an updated guide for vRealize Operations Manager 6.6 and above. This guide will show you how to lock down Group accounts to see only dashboards that we want them to see when they login. This means they won’t see the Alerts, Environment, Home, and Administration pages. The reason why we would want to lock everything down is because giving users access to more than they need will cause more questions than answers. For example, the Storage Team should only see storage dashboards while the Monitoring Team (NOC) should only see monitoring dashboards when they login. This guide is unique in that it also shows you how to allow the user group to login remotely, view custom groups, and to be able to access the View widget as well.

1. Click on Administration > Access Control > Roles à + Sign
   

   

    

2. Provide a Name and Description and click on OK

   

    

3. Configure Permissions
   1. Select the Role we created earlier
   2. Click on the Pencil Icon next to Permissions

       

4. Expand Administration and make sure only Login Interactively is checked. This allows the user to login to vROPS remotely.

1. Expand Dashboard > Dashboard Management and check the View Dashboard List box and View Dashboard Page. This allows a user to view Dashboards.

    

2. Expand Views Management and check the Render box. This allows a user to view the View widget. If this is not checked you will get an Internal Server Error on the view widget.

    

3. Expand Environment > Inventory Trees and check Container. This allows your users to view custom groups (just in case you are using them).

    

4. Click on Update to save the settings

    

5. Now we need to assign a User Group to our role. Click on User Groups tab and select the group we want to assign to the role and click on the icon
6. Click on Next
   

    

7. Click on Objects
   

    

8. Configure the following
   1. Change Select Role to Dashboard Users
   2. Check the box Assign this role to this group
   3. Select the objects you want to allow the User Group to have access to
   4. Click on Finish
      

Sharing out Dashboard

The Next steps are we need to select specific dashboards to share out to our Groups

1. Go to Dashboards à Actions à Manage Dashboards

   

    

2. Click on Share Dashboards

   

    

3. Select the dashboard you want to share out and drag it to the group you want to share it out to on the left side.

   

    

4. Click on Save when completed
5. Since we want to allow our user groups to see only specific dashboards we assign to them we will need to clear everything in the Everyone group to prevent conflicts. If any dashboard is assigned in the Everyone group, all groups will see those dashboards by default! Note that every time you install a new vROPS Adapter it will come with a lot of vendor dashboards that are shared out to everyone by default.

   Select Everyone and select all the dashboards on the right side and click on the icon.    

6. Click on Save to update the settings. You should now be able to login as a user in the group and only see dashboards assigned to that user group. (Note: If you see a Home Screen Error message once logged in, you will need to update to 6.6 update 1 for a fix)

In this guide I will show you how to change your default summary page for specific Object Types (Virtual Machine, Host System, Datastore, etc). This tip is super useful for those who would like to change their default summary pages to the dashboards that I’ve already shared out on my blog. You can download the dashboards below. Thanks to VMware employee Jim Condit for making me aware of this hidden gem feature of vROPS. Happy New Year everyone.

Datastore Troubleshooting Dashboard

1. In vROPS, click on Dashboards > Actions > Manage Dashboards

   

    

2. Click on the settings dropdown and select Manage Summary Dashboards

Search for the object type you would like to change the summary page for in the filter box and then select the object list from the results below

Next click on the Assign a dashboard in the top left corner to override the default settings

 

 

Search and select the dashboard you would like to replace it with and click on OK

 

Notice the default dashboard now has change to the dashboard you have chosen. Click on Save

 

 

You can test it by searching for a specific datastore and selecting it from the menu

 

Notice how the Summary page now has changed to the dashboards we have selected

 

If you are using my dashboards from this website. Make sure you enable Auto Select First Row in the Object selector so that it selects the Object automatically each time. A minor bug that I discovered is every time you update the dashboard you will have to follow the steps in this guide again to update the changes. Make sure you set it back to default and then change the dashboard again.

In this guide we will show you how to install and configure vRealize Operations Compliance Pack for PCI. This guide can also be repeated for the HIPAA compliance as well. The vRealize Operations Compliance Pack for PCI provides Alerts, Policies, and Reports to validate the
vSphere resources against the PCI 3.2 hardening guide. The following resources are being validated using this content:
– vCenter
– ESXi Host
– Virtual Machine
– Distributed Port Group
– Distributed Virtual Switch

Download Adapters from VMware Solution Exchange

1. Open a browser and go to https://marketplace.vmware.com. Here customers can gain access to the management packs that have been uploaded to the community repository.
2. Check the box next to vRealize Operations Management Packs

   

3. Select vRealize Operations Compliance Pack for PCI
4. Once you click on the link for the management pack, you are directed to the details page for that MP.  You are provided with an Summary, Tech Specs, Support, Resources and Reviews.  Click on Login to Try to download the adapter.

   

5. Save the file

   

Installing Adapters for vROPs

1. Login to vROPS and click on Administration > Solutions >
   

   

2. Click on Browse

   

3. Browse for your file we just downloaded and click on Open

   

4. Click on Upload
5. Once the upload is complete click on Next
6. Accept the terms and click on Next

1. Wait till the install is complete and then click on Finish. You should now see the content pack listed

Configure the PCI Compliance Adapter

After the MP has been installed, you need to configure the adapter by enabling the Alert Definitions in policies

1. Click on Administration > Policies, look for your default policy by seeing which policy has the D to the left of it.

   

2. Click on Policy Library > Your Default Policy >
   
   

1. Click on Alert / Symptom Definitions and then type in pci dss in the filter box. Now you should only see PCI compliance alerts
2. Change the State to Local for each one and then click on Save
3. Wait about 15 minutes and you should see some results under Analysis > Compliance when you select a VM, Host, vSwitch, or vCenter object.

In this example we will create an alert that sends out an alert and email notification every time a Virtual Machine is off when it is not supposed to be. This alert is customized to not alert on any Virtual Machine that is already powered off.

Note: If you are running vROPS 8.2 and above.  Use the following guide instead http://www.vmignite.com/2020/11/download-vm-uptime-dashboard-for-vrops-8-2/

1. 1. Click on Content > Alert Definitions >

      

   2. Provide a Name and optional Description

      

   3. Select Base Object Type and then Select vCenter Adapter > Virtual Machine from the dropdown

      

   4. Select Alert Impact

      

   5. Customize the alert

1. Click on Add Symptom Definitions

   

2. We want an alert that tell us whenever a Virtual Machine is Powered Off. However, we don’t want it to alert us on VMs that are already Powered Off such as Templates.  To avoid this we will add some custom symptoms to make this alert more creditable. Click on the sign to add a new custom symptom.

   

3. Select the Base Object Type as Virtual Machine and then double click on the metric Summary|Power Off Time Percent (%) till it displays on the right side

   

4. Since a VM that is in production should have an uptime of at least 90% of the time, we can create a Symptom that eliminates any Virtual Machine that has always been powered off the majority of the time. Filter the following as shown below:
5. Now let’s add another metric to let us know when the Virtual Machine is Powered Off. Add the System|Powered ON metric to the right

   

6. Fill out the symptom just like below. Make sure to adjust the Advanced settings as well.

   

7. Click on Save
8. Now less drag our new alert to the right side and make sure All rule is applied.

   

9. Next click on Add Recommendations

   

10. Let’s add a custom recommendation with the option to power on the VM manually without logging into vCenter. Click on the to add a new recommendation

    

11. Fill out a good description and add the Power On VM Action from the dropdown. Click on Save.

    

12. Save the new Alert
13. We should now be getting alerts every time a Virtual Machine is Powered Off that should be Powered On.

    

14. Notice that we also have an option to power on the VM

    

To Send out an email notification

1. Go to Content > Notifications >
   

   

2. Provide a Name and choose Standard Email Plugin under Method and then select your Email Instance or add a new one

   

3. Add email address (group recommended) under Recipients and fill out the rules you want applied
   

   
   

4. Under Filtering Criteria, since we want this alert to apply to all VMs, select Object Type > Virtual Machines as the Scope

   

5. Next we need to find the Alert Definition that we created in the previous steps, select Alert Definition as the Notification Trigger

   

6. Then search and select our Alert Definition

   

7. Then select the Criticality

   

8. Click on Save when completed. You will now receive an email whenever a Virtual Machine is down.

Below are some vRealize Operations Manager configurations settings that I setup on a daily basis at customer’s sites. We cover all the basic settings and also optional settings that might come in handy based on a certain need.

Adding a vCenter Instance

1. Click on Administration > Solutions

   

2. Select VMware vSphere and click on the configure button

   

3. Complete the Adapter Settings
   1. Enter a Name
   2. Enter a vCenter Server
   3. Enter the credentials to the vCenter Server
   4. Click on Test Connection and verify that the connection is successful

   

4. Click on Manage Registrations – this step registers vROPs to vCenter so that you can see badge scores in vCenter Web Client

   

5. Check the box Use collection credentials and click on Register

   

6. Click the sign on the left side to add an any additional vCenter Instance

   

How to Enable Actions

The vCenter Python adapter allows you to do Action commands from the vROPs interface to quickly remediate issues without the use of logging into vCenter

1. Under Administration > Solutions > vCenter Adapter under vCenter Actions click on Enable

   

How to edit vCenter Monitoring Goals

Monitoring goals allows you to change some specific policies settings which can also be found under Administration > Policies

1. Click on Definite Monitoring Goals
2. Edit the settings and click on Save when completed. Click on Learn More if you learn more about the setting you are modifying.

Configuring Active Directory with vRealize Operations Manager

The following steps allows you to integrate Active Directory into vRealize Operations Manager

1. Click on Administration > Authentication Sources > + Icon
2. Configure the settings and click on Test and then OK when completed

Configuring SMTP Email Settings

The following allows you sync your Email server with vRealize Operations Manager. This can be later used for emailing alerts and for emailing reports.

1. Click on Administration à Outbound Settings > + Sign
2. Select Standard Email Plugin

   

3. Configure the settings and click on Test and then Save when done

   

Configuring NTP Settings

Time settings is really important in vRealize Operations Manager. Make sure your NTP is setup correctly.

1. Click on Administration à Cluster Management
2. Select the Node (1) you want to set NTP for and click on Action > Network Time Protocol Settings

   

3. Enter NTP Server and click on Add and then click on OK when finished

   

Changing vROPs Global settings

To manage how vRealize Operations Manager retains data, keeps connection sessions open, and other settings, you can modify the values for the global settings. These system settings affect all users.

With global settings, you set times to delete objects, set timeouts, store historical data, use dynamic threshold and capacity calculations, and determine how vCenter Server users log in. For automated actions, you can select whether to allow actions to be triggered from alert recommendations automatically.

1. Click on Administration > Global Settings >
   
2. Modify the settings you want to change and click on OK.

   Here are some important Global settings.

   1. Session Timeout – changes how long vROPs will log out of the application once being idle for the set amount of time
   2. Time Series Data – Number of months that you want to retain the collected and calculated metric data for the monitored objects

      

Changing the Background Color

vRealize Operations Manager allows you to change the background color to light (default) and to a darker color.

1. Click on <Username> > User Preferences in the top right corner
2. Change the Color scheme to Dark and click on OK

   

3. You should now have a darker vROPs

   

Integrate with Log Insight

The latest update on this is written here http://www.vmignite.com/2017/03/vrops-6-5-how-to-integrate-log-insight-with-vrops/

There were many questions on how to view the latest Virtual Machines created in vCenter using vRealize Operation Manager. The following guide will show you how to get a list of this information using two different ways.  If you would like to skip this step and just download the dashboard completely just go here.

1. First we need to create a new dashboard. Go to Home > Actions > Create Dashboard

   

2. Enter a Name and then click on Widget List

   

3. Select Object List and drag it to the right until it displays on the right side. Then click on Save

   

4. Now we need to configure our Object List. Click on the pencil icon on the Object List

   

5. Since we want to it to display Virtual Machines only we will need to add a filter to the list. Under Select which tags to filter expand Object Types
   

• Select Virtual Machine and click on Save. This will now filter it to only display a list of Virtual Machine

  

• Next we need to clean everything up and display only the Creation Time. Click on the dropdown next to Name and the select Columns. Uncheck everything and make sure Name and Creation Time are the only ones selected.

  

• Notice how you only see the VM name and the Creation Time displayed now. Next we will need to sort it by the latest creation time. Click the dropdown next to Creation Time and select Sort Descending.

  

• By default it will show the last 50 Virtual Machines that were created. Drag the Object list and make it longer to display more Virtual Machines.
• Another way and the easiest way to view them without creating a dashboard is to go to Administration > Inventory Explorer and then expand Recently Added Objects and select the last few days you want to see. You will also need to filter it to view the Creation Time and sort it by descending just like we did in the above steps.