PRTG Manual: VMware Host Hardware (WBEM) Sensor
The VMware Host Hardware (WBEM) sensor monitors hardware information of an ESXi server using Web-based Enterprise Management (WBEM).
The sensor can show the following, depending on the selected ESXi component:
- Health status
- Temperature
- Power
- Fan revolutions per minute (RPM)
- Battery voltage
Which channels the sensor actually shows might depend on the monitored device and the sensor setup.
- Dutch: VMware Host Hardware (WBEM)
- French: Matériel hôte VMware (WBEM)
- German: VMware Host Hardware (WBEM)
- Japanese: VMware ホストハードウェア(WBEM)
- Portuguese: VMware Hardware de host (WBEM)
- Russian: Аппаратные средства узла VMware (WBEM)
- Simplified Chinese: VMware 主机硬件 (WBEM)
- Spanish: Hardware de host VMware (WBEM)
- This sensor can have a high impact on the performance of your monitoring system. Use it with care. We recommend that you use no more than 50 sensors of this sensor type on each probe.
- This sensor requires that the CIM interface is enabled on the ESXi host. On ESXi 6.5 and later, you have to manually enable CIM.
- This sensor requires credentials for Linux/Solaris/macOS (SSH/WBEM) systems in the settings of the parent device.
- The parent device must be a VMware ESXi server version 5.2 or later.
- We recommend Windows 2012 R2 on the probe system for best performance of this sensor.
- This sensor has a high performance impact.
- This sensor uses lookups to determine the status values of one or more channels. This means that possible states are defined in a lookup file. You can change the behavior of a channel by editing the lookup file that the channel uses. For details, see section Define Lookups.
- See the Knowledge Base: Why are my VMware sensors not working after upgrading to VCSA 6.5 U1?
Requirement |
Description |
---|---|
Enabled CIM Interface on ESXi Host |
To access the ESXi host and retrieve monitoring data via WBEM, the CIM interface must be enabled on the ESXi host. On ESXi 6.5, CIM is disabled by default, so you have to manually activate it.
|
The Add Sensor dialog appears when you manually add a new sensor to a device. It only shows the setting fields that are required for creating the sensor. Therefore, you do not see all setting fields in this dialog. You can change (nearly) all settings in the sensor's Settings tab later.
Select the elements that you want to monitor. PRTG creates one sensor for each element that you select in the Add Sensor dialog. The settings you select are valid for all sensors that you create when you finish this dialog.
The following settings in the Add Sensor dialog differ in comparison to the sensor's Settings tab.
ESXi Server Elements
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Elements |
Select the hardware elements that you want to add a sensor for. You see a list with the names of all items that you can monitor. Add check marks in front of the respective lines to select the desired items. You can also use the check box in the table header to select all items or cancel the selection.
|
Click the Settings tab of a sensor to change its settings.
Usually, a sensor connects to the IP Address or DNS Name of the parent device on which you created the sensor. See the device settings for details. For some sensors, you can explicitly define the monitoring target in the sensor settings. See below for details on available settings.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Sensor Name |
Enter a meaningful name to identify the sensor. By default, PRTG shows this name in the device tree, as well as in alarms, logs, notifications, reports, maps, libraries, and tickets.
|
Parent Tags |
Shows tags that the sensor inherits from its parent device, parent group, and parent probe. This setting is shown for your information only and cannot be changed here. |
Tags |
Enter one or more tags. Confirm each tag with the Spacebar key, a comma, or the Enter key. You can use tags to group objects and use tag-filtered views later on. Tags are not case-sensitive. Tags are automatically inherited.
The sensor has the following default tags that are automatically predefined in the sensor's settings when you add the sensor:
|
Priority |
Select a priority for the sensor. This setting determines the position of the sensor in lists. The highest priority is at the top of a list. Choose from the lowest priority ( |
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Element |
Shows the ESXi element that this sensor monitors. Once you have created the sensor, you cannot change this value. It is shown for reference purposes only. If you need to change this value, add the sensor anew. |
Automatic Sensor Status |
Define if the sensor changes its status depending on the health status reading:
|
Result Handling |
Define what PRTG does with the sensor result:
|
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Primary Channel |
Select a channel from the list to define it as the primary channel. In the device tree, the last value of the primary channel is always displayed below the sensor's name. The available options depend on what channels are available for this sensor.
|
Graph Type |
Define how different channels are shown for this sensor:
|
Stack Unit |
This setting is only visible if you enable Stack channels on top of each other as Graph Type. Select a unit from the list. All channels with this unit are stacked 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. |
By default, all of the following settings are inherited from objects that are higher in the hierarchy. You should 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. You then see the options described below.
For more information, see section Inheritance of Settings.
Click to interrupt the inheritance.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Scanning Interval |
Select a scanning interval from the dropdown list. The scanning interval determines the amount of time that the sensor waits between two scans. Choose from:
|
If a Sensor Query Fails |
Select the number of scanning intervals that the sensor has time to reach and to check a device again if a sensor query fails. Depending on the option that you select, the sensor can try to reach and to check a device again several times before the sensor shows the Down status. This can avoid false alarms if the monitored device only has temporary issues. For previous scanning intervals with failed requests, the sensor shows the Warning status. Choose from:
|
Schedules, Dependencies, and Maintenance Window
You cannot interrupt the inheritance for schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. The corresponding settings from the parent objects are always active. However, you can define additional schedules, dependencies, and maintenance windows. They are active at the same time as the parent objects' settings.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
Schedule |
Select a schedule from the list. You can use schedules to monitor during a certain time span (days or hours) every week. Choose from:
|
Maintenance Window |
Select if you want to set up a one-time maintenance window. During a maintenance window, monitoring stops for the selected object and all child objects. They show the Paused status instead. Choose between:
|
Maintenance Begins |
This setting is only visible if you enable Set up a one-time maintenance window above. Use the date time picker to enter the start date and time of the one-time maintenance window. |
Maintenance Ends |
This setting is only visible if you enable Set up a one-time maintenance window above. Use the date time picker to enter the end date and time of the one-time maintenance window. |
Dependency Type |
Select a dependency type. You can use dependencies to pause monitoring for an object depending on the status of a different object. You can choose from:
|
Dependency |
This setting is only visible if you enable Select a sensor above. Click |
Dependency Delay (Sec.) |
This setting is only visible if you enable Select a sensor above. Define a time span in seconds for the dependency delay. After the master sensor for this dependency returns to the Up status, PRTG additionally delays the monitoring of the dependent objects by the time span you define. This can prevent false alarms, for example, after a server restart or to give systems more time for all services to start. Enter an integer value.
|
Click to interrupt the inheritance.
Setting |
Description |
---|---|
User Group Access |
Define the user groups that have access to the sensor. You see a table with user groups and group access rights. The table contains all user groups in your setup. For each user group, you can choose from the following group access rights:
|
KNOWLEDGE BASE
How do I enable the CIM interface on VMware ESXi 6.5?
For more information about sensor settings, see the following sections: