SolarWinds VM Monitor

Introduction

SolarWinds VM Monitor allows IT administrators to continuously monitor VMware ESX servers and their virtual machines by providing realtime monitoring of VMware ESX health indicators.

For support, click to visit the SolarWinds VM Monitor Forum on Thwack.

Requirements
Installing and Running SolarWinds VM Monitor
Configuring SolarWinds VM Monitor
Using SolarWinds VM Monitor
Understanding CPU Load Values
Understanding Guest Memory

Requirements

Need	Item
Operating System	Install on a 32-bit or 64-bit edition of one of the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows XP SP3 Microsoft Windows Vista Microsoft Windows 7 Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Microsoft Windows Server 2008
.NET Framework	Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or later.
Hard Drive space	10MB

Installing and Running SolarWinds VM Monitor

You can modify the installation location and other settings using the SolarWinds VM Monitor setup program.

Note: The Windows user account used to install SolarWinds VM Monitor must have administrator rights.

To install SolarWinds VM Monitor:

Run the setup program (SolarWinds-VM-Monitor-v1.1.exe).
Complete the setup wizard, providing the appropriate information as necessary.

To run SolarWinds VM Monitor:

Start SolarWinds VM Monitor in the SolarWinds VM Monitor folder.

To start SolarWinds VM Monitor when Windows starts:

Right-click in the Taskbar Notification Area, and then check Start When Windows Starts.

Configuring SolarWinds VM Monitor

The first time you run the SolarWinds VM Monitor, you will need to set your server details and warning thresholds. Refer to the following setting descriptions to configure SolarWinds VM Monitor.

Note: Click Settings () to open the Settings window any time after initial startup.

ESX Server: Type the IP address or host name of the VMware ESX Server.
Username: Type the username used to log into your ESX server.
Password: Type the password used to log into your ESX server.
Test: Click the Test button to validate your login credentials.
CPU Utilization (% Used): Set these values to esablish your warning and critical thresholds for the server CPU load.
Memory (% Used): Set these values to esablish your warning and critical thresholds for the memory used by the server.
Show only running VMs: Hides virtual machines not currently running.
Minimize on Start: Minimize the application to the system tray at startup.
Window Opacity %: Set this value to the opacity level you want the VM Monitor window displayed at.
Use Defaults: Click the Use Defaults button to restore all VM Monitor settings to the factory defaults.

Using SolarWinds VM Monitor

The statuses of your monitored items are listed in the order of their urgency. Items in critical condition are listed first, followed by any items with warnings.

The following icons indicate the status of the VMware ESX Server.

Icon	Status Indicators
	Available
	Warning
	Critical
	Unknown

The following icons indicate the status of the virtual machines running on the ESX Server.

Icon	Status Indicators
	Powered On
	Suspended
	Powered Off
	Warning
	Critical

Understanding CPU Load Values

CPU load values reported by VM Monitor will differ from values reported via SNMP polling in other tools. This is due to the fact that Linux reports values related to kernel load where the VMware API will report what is more commonly accepted as actual CPU load.

Understanding Guest Memory

VMware ESX servers have a memory setting for each virtual machine. This value is the theoretical maximum amount of memory that the virtual machine can use. The ESX server then allocates a portion of physical RAM to be used by each virtual machine. This is typically a value much lower than the configured maximum. SolarWinds VM Monitor reports the Guest Memory value using the actual memory utilization as a percentage of the assigned memory.

For example, a VMware ESX server is setup with the follow parameters.

Assigned Memory to the Virtual Machine - 1 GB - As setup in VMware.
Virtual Machine Host Memory - 500 MB - Runtime physical memory allocated by ESX server.
Guest Memory - 250 MB - Runtime physical memory used by the virtual machine.
Guest Operating System Memory Utilization - 300 MB - Reported directly from the ESX server as the amount of memory it perceives to be using.

In this example, SolarWinds VM Monitor shows the virtual machine using 25% of its available memory, and the operating system running on the virtual machine reports 30%. However, the allocated physical memory utilization is 50%.

Legal

Copyright 1995-2011 SolarWinds, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. No part of this document may be reproduced by any means nor modified, decompiled, disassembled, published or distributed, in whole or in part, or translated to any electronic medium or other means without the written consent of SolarWinds. All right, title and interest in and to the software and documentation are and shall remain the exclusive property of SolarWinds and its licensors. SolarWinds Orion™, SolarWinds VM Monitor™, and SolarWinds Toolset™ are trademarks of SolarWinds. SolarWinds® and the SolarWinds logo are registered trademarks of SolarWinds. Microsoft Windows Server, Windows Vista, and Windows XP are registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and other countries. VMware is a registered trademark of VMware,Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other trademarks contained in this document and in the Software are the property of their respective owners.

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