Administration Guide › Using Rules and Actions › Configuring Data Collection › Configure Data Collection for a Virtual Resource

Configure Data Collection for a Virtual Resource

You can configure data collection for virtual platforms and the virtual resources created and managed on those platforms. Use this procedure when you want to configure specific virtual machines or other resources to collect data at an interval that differs from the default for the data center. You can also select metrics to monitor, set threshold values for individual metrics and include metrics in overall utilization.

You can configure data collection for the following virtual platform objects:

• vCenter Server
• vCenter Data Center
• vCenter ESX Server
• vCenter Virtual Machine
• Hyper-V
• Microsoft Clusters
• Microsoft Cluster Nodes
• IBM PowerVM Server
• IBM Logical Partition
• Solaris Zones Server
• Solaris Zone

To configure data collection for a virtual resource

1. Click Resources, and open the Explore pane.
2. Expand the Data Center or MS Cluster Service folder, then any subfolder, and select the object that you want to configure.

   Subtabs for that object appear in the right pane.

   Note: If you select a top-level folder (such as VMware vCenter Server) or an object for which no data is collected (such as a vCenter cluster), you must select the specific object contained within the folder or object for which to configure data collection.

   Note: If you select MS Cluster Service as the top-level folder, then you see clusters and their nodes.

3. Right-click and select Policy, Configure Server Metrics Collection.

   Note: If you select the top-level folder for Solaris Zones, the Hardware Class column in the System section always shows the value Other.

4. Select the metrics that you want to monitor from the Available Metrics section and then click the down arrow.

   The metrics you select move to the Selected Metrics to Collect section.

   Note: If you disable the default metrics (CPU and memory) and enable others, you will not see an overall utilization until you modify the thresholds of the newly selected metrics.

5. Click Save to apply the selected metrics.
6. Right-click the resource, and select Policy, Configure Collection Settings.
7. Complete the following fields in the Collection Setting section:

   Use Default

   Specifies the data center level as the default when selected. If you leave the check box cleared, the values that you specify are used instead.

   Data recording interval (seconds)

   Defines how often the data is collected and stored in the Performance DB.

   Default: 300 seconds

   Note: CA Technologies recommends that for every 1000 machines in your monitored environment, increase the data recording interval by 300 seconds.

   Daily roll-up data retention (days)

   Specifies how long to store the average of the daily data in the Performance DB.

   Maximum: 365

   Default: 365

   Polled data retention (days)

   Defines how long to store the polled data in the Performance DB. Consider the number of managed systems, services, and metrics collected when defining this number. The stored polled data objects accumulate over time and can impact performance. If performance issues arise, decrease the number of retention days.

   Default: 10 days

8. Click Save to save your settings.

   Note: The default thresholds are used. If you want to modify thresholds, you must do this separately.