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PRTG Manual: VMware Virtual Machine (SOAP) Sensor

The VMware Virtual Machine (SOAP) sensor monitors a virtual machine (VM) on a VMware host server using the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).

For a detailed list and descriptions of the channels that this sensor can show, see section Channel List.

Sensor in Other Languages

Dutch: VMware Virtuele Machine (SOAP)
French: VMware machine virtuelle (SOAP)
German: VMware Virtual Machine (SOAP)
Japanese: VMware 仮想マシン（SOAP）
Portuguese: Máquina virtual VMware (SOAP)
Russian: Виртуальная машина VMware (SOAP)
Simplified Chinese: VMware 虚拟机 (SOAP)
Spanish: Máquina virtual VMware (SOAP)

Remarks

Consider the following remarks and requirements for this sensor:

Remark	Description
Performance impact	This sensor has a very high performance impact. We recommend that you use no more than 50 of this sensor on each probe.
.NET 4.7.2 or later	This sensor requires .NET 4.7.2 or later from Microsoft on the probe system. In a cluster, install it on every cluster node. If the framework is missing, you cannot create this sensor. For more information, see the Knowledge Base: Which .NET version does PRTG require?
Windows Server	We recommend Windows Server 2016 on the probe system for best performance of this sensor.
Credentials	This sensor requires credentials for VMware/XenServer in the settings of the parent device. Enter a user with sufficient access rights to obtain statistics (read-only usually works).
Parent device	We recommend that you use vCenter as parent device. If the monitored VM changes the host server via vMotion, PRTG can still continue monitoring. The sensor can monitor VMware ESXi server as of version 5.2.
VMs	For VMware virtual machines, disk usage channels are only available as of virtual hardware version 8. PRTG requests a full list of all VMs configured on the target device (also those that do not run). Because of this, it might take a few seconds before the dialog appears.
IPv6	This sensor supports IPv6.
Knowledge Base	Knowledge Base: I cannot add VMware sensors because of "wrong" password although it is correct. What can I do? Knowledge Base: Why are my VMware sensors not working after upgrading to VCSA 6.5 U1?

Settings on VMware Host System

If you set up this sensor on different probes (for example, when using remote probes or when running a failover cluster), you might need to change the settings of your VMware host so that it accepts more incoming connections. Otherwise, you might get connection timeouts when running plenty of VMware sensors with a short scanning interval.

For more information, see the Knowledge Base: How can I increase the connection limit on VMware systems? PE121.

Basic Sensor Settings

The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:

esxservervmsensor

For more information about basic sensor settings, see section Sensor Settings.

VMware Virtual Machine Settings

Setting	Description
Managed Object Identifier (MOID)	The managed object identifier (MOID) of the VM that this sensor monitors.
Powered-Off VM Handling	Define how the sensor reacts to VMs that are powered off: Alarm when VM is powered off (default): Change to the Down status if the VM is powered off. If the sensor is in the Down status, it does not record any data in any of its channels. Ignore powered off state: Do not change to the Down status if the VM is powered off. The sensor reports zero values instead.
Result Handling	Define what PRTG does with the sensor result: Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result. Store result: Store the sensor result and the last response in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file names are Result of Sensor [ID].txt and Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites these files with each scanning interval. This option is not available when the sensor runs on the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance. In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.

Setting

Description

Managed Object Identifier (MOID)

The managed object identifier (MOID) of the VM that this sensor monitors.

Powered-Off VM Handling

Define how the sensor reacts to VMs that are powered off:

Alarm when VM is powered off (default): Change to the Down status if the VM is powered off.

If the sensor is in the Down status, it does not record any data in any of its channels.

Ignore powered off state: Do not change to the Down status if the VM is powered off. The sensor reports zero values instead.

Result Handling

Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:

Discard result (default): Do not store the sensor result.
Store result: Store the sensor result and the last response in the \Logs\sensors subfolder of the PRTG data directory on the probe system. The file names are Result of Sensor [ID].txt and Result of Sensor [ID].Data.txt. This setting is for debugging purposes. PRTG overwrites these files with each scanning interval.

This option is not available when the sensor runs on the hosted probe of a PRTG Hosted Monitor instance.

In a cluster, PRTG stores the result in the PRTG data directory of the master node.

Sensor Display

Setting	Description
Primary Channel	Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, PRTG displays the last value of the primary channel below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor. You can set a different primary channel later by clicking below a channel gauge on the sensor's Overview tab.
Graph Type	Define how this sensor shows different channels: Show channels independently (default): Show a graph for each channel. Stack channels on top of each other: Stack channels on top of each other to create a multi-channel graph. This generates a graph that visualizes the different components of your total traffic. You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings).
Stack Unit	This setting is only visible if you select Stack channels on top of each other above. Select a unit from the list. PRTG stacks all channels with this unit on top of each other. By default, you cannot exclude single channels from stacking if they use the selected unit. However, there is an advanced procedure to do so.

Setting

Description

Primary Channel

Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, PRTG displays the last value of the primary channel below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.

You can set a different primary channel later by clicking below a channel gauge on the sensor's Overview tab.

Graph Type

Define how this sensor shows different channels:

Show channels independently (default): Show a graph for each channel.
Stack channels on top of each other: Stack channels on top of each other to create a multi-channel graph. This generates a graph that visualizes the different components of your total traffic.
You cannot use this option in combination with manual Vertical Axis Scaling (available in the channel settings).

Stack Unit

This setting is only visible if you select Stack channels on top of each other above.

Select a unit from the list. PRTG stacks all channels with this unit on top of each other. By default, you cannot exclude single channels from stacking if they use the selected unit. However, there is an advanced procedure to do so.

Inherited Settings

By default, all of these settings are inherited from objects that are higher in the hierarchy. We recommend that you change them centrally in the root group settings if necessary. To change a setting for this object only, click under the corresponding setting name to disable the inheritance and to display its options.

For more information, see section Inheritance of Settings.

Channel List

Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the target device, the available components, and the sensor setup.

Channel	Description
CPU Ready (Percent)	The CPU readiness (%)
CPU Usage	The CPU usage This channel is the primary channel by default.
Datastore Total Read Latency	The datastore total read latency
Datastore Total Write Latency	The datastore total write latency
Disk Read	The disk read speed
Disk Usage	The disk usage
Disk Write	The disk write speed
Downtime	In the channel table on the Overview tab, this channel never shows any values. PRTG uses this channel in graphs and reports to show the amount of time in which the sensor was in the Down status.
Memory Active	The active memory
Memory Consumed	The consumed memory
Memory Consumed (Percent)	The memory consumed (%)
Network Received	The received bytes
Network Transmitted	The transmitted bytes
Network Usage	The total network usage
Power	The average host power usage