VMware Aria Operations 8.17.1

8.18 8.17.1 8.16 8.14 8.12
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Adding Outbound Notification Plug-Ins in
VMware Aria Operations

You add outbound plug-in instances so that you can notify users about alerts or capture alert data outside of
VMware Aria Operations
.
You can configure one or more instances of the same plug-in type if you need to direct alert information to multiple target systems.
The Automated Action plug-in is activated by default. If automated actions stop working, check the Automated Action plug-in and activate it if necessary. If you edit the Automated Action plug-in, you only need to provide the instance name.

Add a Standard Email Plug-In for
VMware Aria Operations
 Outbound Alerts

You add a Standard Email Plug-In so that you can use Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) to email
VMware Aria Operations
 alert notifications to your virtual infrastructure administrators, network operations engineers, and other interested individuals.
Ensure that you have an email user account that you can use as the connection account for the alert notifications. If you choose to require authentication, you must also know the password for this account.
  1. From the left menu, click
    Configure
    Alerts
    , and then in the right pane, click
    Outbound Settings
    .
  2. Click
    Add
    , and from the
    Plug-In Type
     drop-down menu, select
    Standard Email Plugin
    .
    The dialog box expands to include your SMTP settings.
  3. Enter an
    Instance Name
    .
    This is the name that identifies this instance that you select when you later configure notification rules.
  4. Configure the SMTP options appropriate for your environment.
    Option
    Description
    Use Secure Connection
    Activates secure communication encryption using SSL/TLS. If you select this option, you must select a method in the
    Secure Connection Type
     drop-down menu.
    In
    vRealize Operations Manager
    , the Standard Email Plugin always uses the 'starttls' command when you select the
    Use Secure Connection
     checkbox and select
    TLS
     as the
    Secure Connection Type
    .
    Requires Authentication
    Activates authentication on the email user account that you use to configure this SMTP instance. If you select this option, you must provide a password for the user account.
    SMTP Host
    URL or IP address of your email host server.
    SMTP Port
    Default port SMTP uses to connect with the server.
    Secure Connection Type
    Select either SSL/TLS as the communication encryption method used in your environment from the drop-down menu. You must select a connection type if you select Use Secure Connection.
    In
    vRealize Operations Manager
    , the Standard Email Plugin always uses the 'starttls' command when you select the
    Use Secure Connection
     checkbox and select
    TLS
     as the
    Secure Connection Type
    .
    Sender Email Address
    Email address that appears on the notification message.
    Sender Name
    Displayed name for the sender email address.
    Credential Type
    Select the
    Credential Type
     from the list. If your Endpoint URL does not need any authentication, then select
    No Credential
     from the
    Credential Type
     list.
    Credential
    Add or edit the
    Credential
     details. Click the plus icon to enter the details of the new credentials in the
    Create New Credential
     pane, and click
    Save
    .
    This field appears only when you select
    Basic Authentication
     as the
    Credential Type
    .
    Starting
    VMware Aria Operations
     8.14, you could only view, add, modify, or delete credentials that you created or were assigned to you. You could view unassigned credentials only if you had the required permissions. When you upgrade to
    VMware Aria Operations
     8.16.1, you can deactivate the
    Credential Ownership Enforcement
     option from Global Settings to be able to modify credentials created and owned by others. For more information, see List of Global Settings.
    Receiver Email Address
    Receiver's email address.
  5. Click
    Save
    .
  6. To start the outbound alert service for this plug-in, select the instance in the list and click
    Activate
     on the toolbar.
This instance of the Standard Email Plug-In for outbound SMTP alerts is configured and running.
Create notification rules that use the Standard Email Plug-In to send a message to your users about alerts requiring their attention. See User Scenario: Create a VMware Aria Operations Email Alert Notification.

Add a Log File Plug-In for
VMware Aria Operations
 Outbound Alerts

You add a Log File plug-in when you want to configure
VMware Aria Operations
 to log alerts to a file on each of your
VMware Aria Operations
 nodes. If you installed
VMware Aria Operations
 as a multiple node cluster, each node processes and logs the alerts for the objects that it monitors. Each node logs the alerts for the objects it processes.
Ensure that you have write access to the file system path on the target
VMware Aria Operations
 nodes.
All alerts are added to the log file. You can use other applications to filter and manage the logs.
  1. From the left menu, click
    Configure
    Alerts
    , and then in the right pane, click
    Outbound Settings
    .
  2. Click
    Add
    , and from the
    Plug-In Type
     drop-down menu, select
    Log File
    .
    The dialog box expands to include your log file settings.
  3. In the
    Alert Output Folder
     text box, enter the folder name.
    If the folder does not exist in the target location, the plug-in creates the folder in the target location. The default target location is:
    /usr/lib/vmware-vcops/common/bin/
    .
  4. Click
    Save
    .
  5. To start the outbound alert service for this plug-in, select the instance in the list and click
    Activate
     on the toolbar.
This instance of the log file plug-in is configured and running.
When the plug-in is started, the alerts are logged in the file. Verify that the log files are created in the target directory as the alerts are generated, updated, or canceled.

Add a Network Share Plug-In for
VMware Aria Operations
 Reports

You add a Network Share plug-in when you want to configure
VMware Aria Operations
 to send reports to a shared location. The Network Share plug-in supports only SMB version 2.1.
Verify that you have read, write, and delete permissions to the network share location.
  1. From the left menu, click
    Configure
    Alerts
     and then click the
    Outbound Settings
     tile.
  2. From the
    Outbound Settings
     page, click the
    Outbound Settings
    tab, and then click
    Add
    .
  3. From the
    Plug-In Type
     drop-down menu, select
    Network Share Plug-in
    .
    The dialog box expands to include your plug-in instance settings.
  4. Enter an
    Instance Name
    .
    This is the name that identifies this instance that you select when you later configure notification rules.
  5. Configure the Network Share options appropriate for your environment.
    Option
    Description
    Domain
    Your shared network domain address.
    User Name
    The domain user account that is used to connect to the network.
    Password
    The password for the domain user account.
    Network share root
    The path to the root folder where you want to save the reports. You can specify subfolders for each report when you configure the schedule publication.
    You must enter an IP address. For example,
    \\
    IP_address
    \ShareRoot
    . You can use the host name instead of the IP address if the host name is resolved to an IPv4 when accessed from the
    VMware Aria Operations
     host.
    Verify that the root destination folder exists. If the folder is missing, the Network Share plug-in logs an error after 5 unsuccessful attempts.
  6. Click
    Test
     to verify the specified paths, credentials, and permissions.
    The test might take up to a minute.
  7. Click
    Save
    .
    The outbound service for this plug-in starts automatically.
  8. To stop an outbound service, select an instance and click
    Deactivate
     on the toolbar.
This instance of the Network Share plug-in is configured and running.
Create a report schedule and configure it to send reports to your shared folder.

Sample Log File Plug-In Output

Here is a sample log file plug-in output.
AlertId :: 9fb52c9c-40f2-46a7-a005-01bf24ab75e6

AlertStatus :: Active

AlertControlState :: Open

AlertGenerateTime :: Wed May 06 06:26:05 UTC 2020 (UTC = 1588746365585)

AlertUpdateTime :: Wed May 06 06:26:05 UTC 2020 (UTC = 1588746365585)

AlertMessage :: 9027

AlertSummaryLink :: https://10.27.82.96/ui/index.action#/object/all/1b852a3c-bbdf-41df-a64d-b40af9673b89/alertsAndSymptoms/alerts/9fb52c9c-40f2-46a7-a005-01bf24ab75e6

AlertType :: Storage - Performance

AlertCriticality :: 4

AffectedResourceId :: 1b852a3c-bbdf-41df-a64d-b40af9673b89

AffectedResourceName :: JNJ_6nodes_Large_HA_4_10.27.83.44

AffectedResourceKind :: VirtualMachine

AffectedResourceParentsNames :: 
 VM Entity Status:PoweredOn:all
 DistributedVirtualPortgroup:VM-Network-VLAN-820
 VM Entity Status:PoweredOn:vc_evn-hs1-vc.company.com
 VMFolder:Discovered virtual machine
 HostSystem:evn1-hs1-0808.company.com

AffectedResourceAdapterInstanceResourceName :: 
 CompanyAdapter Instance:vc_evn-hs1-vc.company.com

AlertOwner :: 

Anomalies :: 
 VirtualMachine:JNJ_6nodes_Large_HA_4_10.27.83.44 - [virtualDisk:Aggregate of all instances|totalWriteLatency_average] - HT above 30.5647619047619 > 25
 VirtualMachine:JNJ_6nodes_Large_HA_4_10.27.83.44 - [virtualDisk:Aggregate of all instances|totalWriteLatency_average] - HT above 30.5647619047619 > 15
 VirtualMachine:JNJ_6nodes_Large_HA_4_10.27.83.44 - [virtualDisk:Aggregate of all instances|totalWriteLatency_average] - HT above 30.5647619047619 > 30

Health :: 
4.0
Risk :: 
2.0
Efficiency :: 
1.0
KPIFiring :: 

AlertTrigger :: 
 Resource                                        	 Message Info                  	 Alarm Reason	 Probability            	 Prediction Time        	
 VirtualMachine:JNJ_6nodes_Large_HA_4_10.27.83.44	 HT above 30.5647619047619 > 30	 HT above    	 Unable to retrive value	 Unable to retrive value	

AlertRootCause :: 
null
AlertRootCauseDetails :: null

AlertName :: Virtual machine disk I/O write latency is high

AlertDescription :: 
Virtual machine disk I/O write latency is high

Add an SNMP Trap Plug-In for
VMware Aria Operations
 Outbound Alerts

You add an SNMP Trap plug-in when you want to configure
VMware Aria Operations
 to log alerts on an existing SNMP Trap server in your environment.
Ensure that you have an SNMP Trap server configured in your environment, and that you know the IP address or host name, port number, and community that it uses.
You can provide filtering when you define a Notification using an SNMP Trap destination.
  1. From the left menu, click
    Configure
    Alerts
    , and then in the right pane, click
    Outbound Settings
    .
  2. Click
    Add
    , and from the
    Plug-In Type
     drop-down menu, select
    SNMP Trap Plugin
    .
    The dialog box expands to include your SNMP trap settings.
  3. Enter an
    Instance Name
    .
  4. Configure the SNMP trap settings appropriate to your environment.
    Option
    Description
    Destination Host
    IP address or fully qualified domain name of the SNMP management system to which you are sending alerts.
    Port
    Port used to connect to the SNMP management system. Default port is 162.
    Community
    Text string that allows access to the statistics. SNMP Community strings are used only by devices that support SNMPv1 and SNMPv2c protocol.
    Username
    User name to configure SNMP trap settings in your environment. If the user name is specified, SNMPv3 is considered as the protocol by the plugin.
    If left blank, SNMPv2c is considered as the protocol by the plugin.
    SNMP uses User Datagram Protocol (UDP) as its transport protocol.
    Authentication Protocol
    Authentication algorithms available are SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512.
    Authentication Password
    Authentication password.
    Privacy Protocol
    Privacy algorithms available are AES192, AES256.
    Privacy Password
    Privacy password.
    Engine ID
    Engine ID serves as an identifier for the agent. It is used with a hashing function to generate localized keys for authentication and encryption of SNMP v3 messages.
    It is mandatory to specify the Engine ID when configuring the SNMP Trap plugin. If you do not add the Engine ID and save the SNMP Trap plugin instance, the field is auto-generated the next time you edit the settings.
  5. Click
    Test
     to validate the connection.
    The Community and Username options are mutually exclusive. Define either one of them to avoid an error. If you add a user name, you can optionally define the Authentication Protocol and Authentication Password followed by the Privacy Protocol and Privacy Password. The privacy protocol and its password cannot be defined independent of the authentication protocol and its password.
This instance of the SNMP Trap plug-in is configured and running.
When the plug-in is added, configure notifications for receiving the SNMP traps.

Add a Service-Now Notification Plug-In for Outbound Alerts

You add a Service-Now Notification plug-in when you want to integrate Service Now ticketing system with
VMware Aria Operations
. Service Now creates an incident whenever an alert is triggered in
VMware Aria Operations
.
Ensure that you have log in credentials for Service-Now.
Ensure that you are assigned with IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) role in Service Now.
Using Service-Now Notification Plug-In you can send alert notifications to the Service Now ticketing system to create incidents. The incident includes information like the Caller, Category, Subcategory, Business Service, and other attributes related to alerts.
  1. From the left menu, click
    Configure
    Alerts
    , and then in the right pane, click
    Outbound Settings
    .
  2. Click
    Add
     and from the
    Plug-In Type
     drop-down menu, select
    Service-Now Notification Plug-in
    .
    The dialog box expands to include your plug-in instance settings.
  3. Enter an
    Instance Name
    .
  4. Enter the Service Now URL.
    https://dev22418.service-now.com/
  5. Enter a value for the Connection Count.
    The connection count represents the maximum number of open connections allowed per node in
    VMware Aria Operations
    .
  6. Select your
    HTTP Proxy
    .
  7. Select the
    Credential Type
     from the list.
    If your Endpoint URL does not need any authentication, then select
    No Credential
     from the
    Credential Type
     list.
  8. Add or edit the
    Credential
     details. Click the plus icon to enter the details of the new credentials in the
    Create New Credential
     pane, and click
    Save
    . This field appears only when you select
    Basic Authentication
     as the
    Credential Type
    .
    When you upgrade to the latest version of
    VMware Aria Operations
    , all credentials get unassigned. The
    VMware Aria Operations
     administrator must assign the credentials from the
    Orphan and Unassigned
     page. For more information, see the topic, Managing Orphaned and Unassigned Content.
  9. To verify the specified paths, credentials, and permissions, click
    Test
    .
  10. Click
    Save
    .
This instance of the Service-Now Notifications plug-in is configured and running.
When the plug-in is added, configure notifications for creating incidents in Service-Now ticketing system.

Notifications - Add a Slack Plugin for Outbound Notifications

You can add a Slack plug-in to forward alerts and configure multiple notification rules with different slack channels. The Slack plug-in allows you to receive pre-formatted alert details with alert fields and helps you run
VMware Aria Operations
 using alert links to troubleshoot further.
  1. From the left menu, click
    Configure
    Alerts
    , and then in the right pane, click
    Outbound Settings
    .
  2. Click
    Add
     and from the
    Plugin Type
     drop-down menu, select
    Slack Plugin
    .
    The dialog box expands to include your plug-in instance settings.
  3. Enter an
    Instance Name
    .
  4. Enter a value for the
    Connection Count
    .
    The connection count represents the maximum number of open connections allowed per node in
    VMware Aria Operations
    .
  5. Select your
    HTTP Proxy
    .
  6. To verify the specified paths, credentials, and permissions, click
    Test
    .
  7. Click
    Save
    .
This instance of the Slack plugin is configured and running.
When the plugin is added, configure notifications for different slack channels.

Add a Webhook Notification Plugin for Outbound Instance

You can integrate Webhook with any endpoint REST API and configure outbound payload.
Ensure that you have login credentials for Webhook.
  1. From the left menu, click
    Configure
    Alerts
    , and then in the right pane, click
    Outbound Settings
    .
  2. Click
    Add
     and from the
    Plugin Type
     drop-down menu, select
    Webhook Notification Plugin
    .
    The dialog box expands to include your plugin instance settings.
  3. Enter an
    Instance Name
    .
  4. Enter the Webhook URL.
    For notifications that reference webhook outbound instances, the URL that you enter here serves as a base URL that is combined with the endpoint URL suffix defined in related webhook payload templates.
  5. Enter a value for the
    Connection Count
    .
    The connection count represents the maximum number of open connections allowed per node in
    VMware Aria Operations
    .
  6. Select your
    HTTP Proxy
    .
  7. Select the
    Credential Type
     from the list.
    If your Endpoint URL does not need any authentication, then select
    No Credential
     from the
    Credential Type
     list.
  8. Add or edit the
    Credential
     details. Click the plus icon and enter the details of the new credentials in the right pane, and click
    Save
    .
    When you upgrade to the latest version of
    VMware Aria Operations
    , all credentials get unassigned. The
    VMware Aria Operations
     administrator must assign the credentials from the
    Orphan and Unassigned
     page. For more information, see the topic, Managing Orphaned and Unassigned Content.
    The fields in the
    Create New Credential
     pane appear based on the
    Credential Type
     you select.
    Credential Type
    Fields
    Basic Authentication
    Enter the Name, User Name, and Password.
    Bearer Token
    Enter the Name of the credential and the Token.
    OAuth Authentication
    Enter the following details:
    • Name: Enter a name for the authentication.
    • Grant Type: Select either
      Client Credentials
       or
      Password Credentials
      .
    • Authentication URL: Enter the URL from where the access token can be retrieved.
    • Client ID: Enter the client ID for the authentication URL.
    • Client Secret: Enter the client secret for the authentication URL.
    • User Name: Enter the user name for the authentication URL.
      This field appears only when the grant type is
      Password Credentials
      .
    • Password: Enter the password for the authentication URL.
      This field appears only when the grant type is
      Password Credentials
      .
    • Scope: Enter the labels to specify the access token. The labels specify the permissions that the access tokens will have.
    • Send Credentials: Select either
      In auth header
       or
      In body
      .
      • In auth header: Sends the Client ID and Client Secret in the header.
      • In body: Sends the Client ID and Client Secret in the payload body.
      This field appears only when the grant type is
      Client Credentials
      .
    • Access Token Path: Enter your access token path.
    • Validity Token Path: To keep track of when the token is going to expire, enter the validity token path and select the format from the drop-down list. You can choose one of the following formats:
      • Second
      • Milisecond
      • Absolute Time
    • Header Name: Enter a header name. By default, the header name is 'Authorization'.
    • Prefix: Enter a prefix. By default, the prefix is 'Bearer'.
    • HTTP Proxy: Select your HTTP Proxy.
    Certificate
    Enter the following details:
    • Name: Enter the name of the certificate.
    • Certificate: Enter the certificate in the X.509 format.
    • Certificate Key: Enter the private key. The formats supported are Open SSL, PKCS1, and PKCS8
    API Key
    Enter the Name, API Key, and the API Value.
  9. To verify the specified paths, credentials, and permissions, click
    Test
    .
    • The
      Test
       feature does not currently support the Custom Templates. If the template contains a custom headers, the test might fail.
  10. Click
    Save
    .
This instance of the Webhook Notification plugin is configured and running.

Sample Email Alert

Here is a sample email for a newly created alert.
Alert Definition Name: Node is experiencing swapping due to memory pressure
Alert Definition Description: Node is experiencing swapping due to memory pressure
Object Name : VMware Aria Operations Node-VMwareAria Cluster Node
Object Type : vC-Ops-Node
Alert Impact: risk
Alert State : warning
Alert Type : Application
Alert Sub-Type : Performance
Object Health State: info
Object Risk State: warning
Object Efficiency State: info
Control State: Open
Symptoms:
SYMPTOM SET - self
Symptom Name
Object Name
Object ID
Metric
Message Info
Node swap usage at Warning level
VMware Aria Operations
 Node-VMware Aria Cluster Node
50ec874a-2d7d-4e78-98b1-afb26fd67e58
Swap|Workload
59.183 > 30.0
 

Recommendations:
Notification Rule Name: rule1
Notification Rule Description:
Alert ID : badc2266-935d-4fb9-8594-e2e71e4866fc
VCOps Server - VMwareAriaClusterNode

Alert details(link)

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