VMware Automation Policies

This section describes how to use the automation policies, automation actions, and custom action types found in the VMware Automation PowerPack.

Standard Automation Policies

The VMware Automation PowerPack includes a standard automation policy, shown in the following figure. This policy triggers an automation action that collects VMkernel logs and syslog, and an action that formats the output as HTML. All of the automation actions use the same custom action type, "Get VMware Diagnostic Logs", which is supplied in the PowerPack.

All of the standard automation policies are tied to included ScienceLogic SL1 events generated by the Dynamic Applications from the VMware: vSphere Base Pack PowerPack.

The following table shows the automation policy, its aligned events, and the automation action that runs in response to the events.

The aligned events are included as part of the VMware: vSphere Base Pack PowerPack and are not installed with the SL1 platform. You must install the PowerPack to obtain these events.

Automation Policy Name	Aligned Events	Automation Action
VMware Automation: Get VMKernel Log and Syslog	VMware: Datastore Utilization Has Exceeded Threshold VMware: Host CPU Aggregate Usage Has Exceeded Threshold VMware: Host CPU Instance Usage Has Exceeded Threshold VMware: Host Free Memory Has Dropped Below High Threshold VMware: Host Memory Usage Has Exceeded Threshold VMware: AlarmEmailFailedEvent VMware: AlarmScriptFailedEvent VMware: AlarmSnmpFailedEvent VMware: AlarmStatusChangedEventRed VMware: AlarmStatusChangedEventToRed VMware: com.vmware.vc.HA.DasHostCompleteDatastoreFailureEvent VMware: com.vmware.vc.HA.DasHostCompleteNetworkFailureEvent VMware: com.vmware.vc.vcp.VmDatastoreFailedEvent VMware: com.vmware.vc.vcp.VmNetworkFailedEvent VMware: esx.problem.apei.bert.memory.error.corrected VMware: esx.problem.apei.bert.memory.error.fatal VMware: esx.problem.apei.bert.memory.error.recoverable VMware: esx.problem.apei.bert.pcie.error.corrected VMware: esx.problem.apei.bert.pcie.error.fatal VMware: esx.problem.apei.bert.pcie.error.recoverable VMware: esx.problem.net.connectivity.lost VMware: esx.problem.net.dvport.connectivity.lost VMware: GeneralHostErrorEvent VMware: GeneralVmErrorEvent	Get VMware Diagnostic Logs

 

The following figure shows a VMware event with major criticality on the Events page. Click the [Actions] button () for an event, and select View Automation Actions to see the automation actions triggered by the events.

The results shown for this event, in the Event Actions Log, include the automation policy that ran (shown at the top of the following figure), along with the log files collected.

To learn more about which logs are collected by default for a given automation action, see Customizing Actions.

Although you can edit the automation policies described in this section, it is a best practice to use "Save As" to create a new automation policy, rather than to customize the standard automation policies.