VMware vSphere PowerPack Release Notes version 308

Version 308 of the "VMware: vSphere Base Pack" PowerPack updates the PowerPack to be Python 3-compatible, adds support for VMware 8.x, updates numerous Dynamic Applications, and addresses multiple issues.

  • Minimum Required SL1 Version: 11.3.0

  • Minimum Required VMware vSphere PowerPack Version: 215

CAUTION: Upgrading from versions of this PowerPack prior to 215 may cause some VMware collections to stop working or cause outages. It is recommended to first upgrade to version 215 of the PowerPack before upgrading to this release.

Before You Install or Upgrade

Ensure that you are running version 11.3.0 or later of SL1 before installing "VMware: vSphere Base Pack" PowerPack version 308.

For details on upgrading SL1, see the relevant SL1 Platform Release Notes.

Additionally, if you are upgrading from a previous version, you might need to take the following actions depending on which version of the PowerPack you currently have installed:

  • If you are upgrading from a version prior to 303, then you must manually remove these Dynamic Applications, which were removed in that version:

  • VMware: RetrieveServiceContent Metadata Performance

  • VMware: InventoryCountPerformance

  • VMware: InventoryCacheMetaPerformance

  • VMware: PerfMetadataPerformance

  • VMware: QuickStatsCache

  • VMware: QuickStatsCacheMetaPerformance

  • VMware: Remove Session Cookies

  • VMware: Performance Counter Lookup Configuration

For instructions on deleting Dynamic Applications, see the section on "Performing Other Tasks in the Dynamic Application Manager Page " in the Dynamic Application Developmentmanual.

  • If you are upgrading from a version prior to 304, then you must delete an obsolete snippet (ResourcePoolResourceAllocation) from the "VMware: ResourcePool Performance" Dynamic Application, as it can cause fail events. In addition, you must also delete the following collection objects from the "VMware: ResourcePool Performance" Dynamic Application:

  • CPU Limit

  • CPU Max Usage (Mhz)

  • CPU Reservation

  • CPU Shares

  • Memory Limit

  • Memory Max Usage (Bytes)

  • Memory Reservation

  • Memory Shares

For instructions on deleting Collection Objects, see the section on "Performing Bulk Actions on Collection Objects" in the Dynamic Application Development manual.

Installation Process

If you are currently using the Dynamic Applications in this PowerPack to monitor devices, collection errors might occur for one or two polling cycles during the installation of a new version. To prevent collection errors during an upgrade, you can optionally disable collection for monitored devices before performing the following steps and re-enable collection after the upgrade.

To install this PowerPack:

  1. Search for and download the PowerPack from the PowerPacks page (Product Downloads > PowerPacks & SyncPacks) at the ScienceLogic Support Site.
  2. In SL1, go to the PowerPacks page (System > Manage > PowerPacks).
  3. Click the Actions menu and choose Import PowerPack. The Import PowerPack modal appears.
  4. Click Browse and navigate to the PowerPack file from step 1.
  5. Select the PowerPack file and click Import. The PowerPack Installer modal displays a list of the PowerPack contents.
  6. Click Install. The PowerPack is added to the PowerPack Manager page.

Upgrade Process

NOTE: You must have VMware: vSpherePowerPack version 215 or higher installed to perform this upgrade.

By default, installing a new version of a PowerPack will overwrite all content in that PowerPack that has already been installed on the target system. You can use the Enable Selective PowerPack Field Protection setting in the Behavior Settings page (System > Settings > Behavior) to prevent the new version of the PowerPack from overwriting local changes for some commonly customized fields.

To upgrade the PowerPack, perform the following steps:

  1. Familiarize yourself with the Known Issues for this release.
  2. See the Before You Install or Upgrade section. If you have not done so already, upgrade your system to the 11.3.0 or later release.
  3. Disable collection for all VMware vCenter devices.

For instructions on disabling collection for devices, see the section on "Bulk Actions in the Device Management Page " in the Device Managementmanual.

  1. Go to the Support Site and download version 308 of the PowerPack to a local computer.
  2. Go to the PowerPack Manager page (System > Manage > PowerPacks). Click the Actions menu and choose Import PowerPack. Import the PowerPack. For details on importing PowerPacks, see the chapter on Installing a PowerPack in the PowerPacks manual.
  3. Click the Install button. For details on installing PowerPacks, see the chapter on Installing a PowerPack in the PowerPacks manual.

  4. A new execution environment is available in this version of the PowerPack. However, the old environment will not be deleted. Users should remove the old execution environment after upgrading from VMware v215. To do this, go to System > Customize > ScienceLogic Libraries > Actions > Execution Environments and filter on 'VMware'. There will be multiple environments shown. Delete the environment that has an Env GUID of "0B01D6E38C4EB3E11BA0EBC67B22A23E".

  5. A new execution environment is available in this version of the PowerPack. However, the old environment will not be deleted. Users should remove the old execution environment after upgrading to VMware v308+. To do this, go to System > Customize > ScienceLogic Libraries > Actions > Execution Environments and filter on 'VMware'. There will be multiple environments shown. Delete the "VMware: vSphere Base Pack NEW" environment.
  6. Delete the "VMware: Performance Cache" Dynamic Application.

For instructions on deleting Dynamic Applications, see the section on "Performing Other Tasks in the Dynamic Application Manager Page " in the Dynamic Application Development manual.

  1. Remove or disable the "DatastoreClusterPerf" snippet from the "VMware: Datastore Cluster Storage Performance" Dynamic Application.
  2. Remove or disable the "DatastoreStorage" snippet from the "Vmware: Datastore Storage Performance" Dynamic Application.
  1. Manually align the "VMware: Bulk Purge Config" Dynamic Application with the VMware vCenter root device.

For instructions on manually aligning a Dynamic Applications, see the section on "Manually Aligning a Dynamic Application to a Device" in the Device Management manual.

  1. Re-enable collection for all VMware vCenter devices.
  2. See the manual Monitoring VMware for instructions on using the new PowerPack.

If you upgrade to version 308 of the PowerPack, and devices are present that should not be, see the section on "Purging Inventory Cache for a VMware vCenter Device" in the Monitoring VMware manual.

Enhancements and Issues Addressed

The following enhancements and addressed issues are included this release of the "VMware: vSphere Base Pack":

  • Updated the PowerPack to be Python 3 compatible.

  • Added support for Vmware v8.x

  • Updated the "VMware: Datastore Storage Performance" Dynamic Application to collect missing metrics for "Storage I/O Control Aggregate IOPs" and "Storage I/O Control Normalized Latency".

  • Removed the "VMware: Performance Cache" Dynamic Application from the PowerPack.

  • The "VMware: ComponentCount Configuration" Dynamic Application is now disabled by default.

  • Updated the "VMWare: Reset Session" Dynamic Application to be automatically aligned during guided discovery.

  • Corrected The "VMware: Host CPU Aggregate Usage Has Returned to Normal" Alert to reference the correct event policy.

  • Added the new "Vmware: Bulk Purge Config" Dynamic Application to automatically purge multiple vCenters.

  • The following collection objects, presentation objects, and snippets were removed from the "VMware: Datastore Cluster Storage Performance" Dynamic Application:

    • Collection Objects:

      • Virtual Disk Average Read Latency

      • Virtual Disk Average Write Latency

      • Virtual Disk Index

      • Virtual Machine Observed Read Latency

      • Virtual Machine Observed Write Latency

      • VM Index

    • Presentation Objects:

      • Virtual Disk Average Read Latency

      • Virtual Disk Average Write Latency

      • Virtual Machine Observed Latency

    • Removed the "DatastoreClusterPerf" snippet.

Upon upgrading to version 308 of the PowerPack, the items listed above should be removed unless you would like to keep historical data. If you want to keep historical data, these items should be disabled.

  • Addressed an issue that caused multiple errors when running the "VMware: Reset Session" Dynamic Application. (Support Case: 00336047)

  • Addressed an issue that caused a run book automation policy to be applied to DCM Trees that were not VMware devices. As part of the fix for this issue, a dynamic device group was created and added to the policy settings so the automation policy will only run on topology change events for hosts, and not for all topology change events. (Support Case: 00303804)

  • Addressed an issue that prevented host state changes from reflecting on the device in SL1. As part of this fix, the availability component identifier was removed so that child device availability does not affect cluster data collection. (Support Case: 00377633)

  • Addressed an issue that prevented new virtual machines from being added to the virtual machine list in datastores.

  • Addressed an issue that caused incorrect or incomplete processing of managed device updates.

  • Removed the "DatastoreStorage" snippet from the "VMware: Datastore Storage Performance" Dynamic Application.

    This snippet must be manually deleted once you have upgraded to version 308 of the VMware PowerPack.

Known Issues

Please see the requirements and limitations that apply to specific functionality in the "VMware: vSphere Base Pack" PowerPack in Monitoring VMware Systems.

The following known issue affects version 308 of the of the "VMware: vSphere Base Pack" PowerPack:

  • After upgrading, component devices may report as "Unavailable" while a session reset takes place. These devices should return as the inventory is rebuilt.

The length of time that devices are unavailable depends on the size of the vCenter you are running. For example: For a vCenter of 12,000 devices or less, this length of time should not exceed 2 hours. ScienceLogic recommends you file a Support case if devices remain unavailable for longer than 2 hours.