vSAN VMKernel Test

A VMkernel network adapter provides network connectivity for hosts and handles the standard system traffic of vSphere vMotion, IP storage, Fault Tolerance, vSAN, and others. Every host that participates in a vSAN cluster should be configured with a VMkernel adapter to handle the vSAN traffic. Smooth traffic flow through the VMkernel adapter is vital for seamless vSAN traffic among the hosts. If high packet loss is noticed on the traffic through VMkernel adapter, it is necessary for the administrators to identify the VMkernel adapter through which maximum packets have been lost. The vSAN VMKernel test helps in this regard!

By continuously monitoring the VMkernel adapters configured on the hosts, administrators can track the traffic through each adapter and quickly identify the virtual port that is handling the maximum amount of traffic in terms of multicast packets, broadcast packets etc. Administrators can figure out the VMkernel adapter that is dropping the maximum number of packets upon transmission and reception. To enable the exchange of data in the vSAN cluster, you must provide a VMkernel network adapter for vSAN traffic on each host.

Note:

This test is applicable only for the vSAN enabled clusters in the VMware vCenter server.

Target of the test : A VMware vCenter server

Agent deploying the test : An internal agent

Outputs of the test : One set of results for every host:VMkernel Network Adapter pair.

Configurable parameters for the test
Parameter Description

Test Period

How often should the test be executed.

Host

The host for which this test is to be configured.

Port

Refers to the port at which the specified host listens to.

VC User and VC Password

To connect to vCenter and extract metrics from it, this test should be configured with the name and password of a user with Administrator or Virtual Machine Administrator privileges to vCenter. However, if, owing to security constraints, you are not able to use the credentials of such users for test configuration, then you can configure this test with the credentials of a user with Read-only rights to vCenter. For this purpose, you can assign the ‘Read-only’ role to a local/domain user to vCenter, and then specify name and password of this user against the VC User and VC Password text boxes. The steps for assigning this role to a user on vCenter have been detailed in the Creating a Special Role on vCenter and Assigning the Role to a New User topic under the eG Monitoring Capabilities -> Virtualization and Containers -> Virtualization Technologies -> VMware vSphere ESX node sequence in the eG Enterprise documentation portal Monitoring VMware Infrastructures . 

vCenter servers terminate user sessions based on timeout periods. The default timeout period is 30 mins. When you stop an agent, sessions currently in use by the agent will remain open for this timeout period until vCenter times out the session. If the agent is restarted within the timeout period, it will open a new set of sessions. If you want the eG agent to close already existing sessions on vCenter before it opens new sessions, then, instead of the ‘Read-only’ user, you can optionally configure the VC User and VC Password parameters with the credentials of a user with permissions to View and Stop Sessions on vCenter. For this purpose, you can create a special role on vCenter, grant the View and Stop Sessions privilege (prior to vCenter 4.1, this was called the View and Terminate Sessions privilege) to this role, and then assign the new role to a local/domain user to vCenter. The steps for assigning this role to a user on vCenter have been detailed in the Creating a Special Role on vCenter and Assigning the Role to a New User topic under the eG Monitoring Capabilities -> Virtualization and Containers -> Virtualization Technologies -> VMware vSphere ESX node sequence in the eG Enterprise documentation portal Monitoring VMware Infrastructures . 

Confirm Password

Confirm the password by retyping it in this text box.

SSL

By default, the vCenter server is SSL-enabled. Accordingly, the SSL flag is set to Yes by default. This indicates that the eG agent will communicate with the vCenter server via HTTPS by default.

Webport

By default, in most virtualized environments, vCenter listens on port 80 (if not SSL-enabeld) or on port 443 (if SSL-enabled) only. This implies that while monitoring vCenter, the eG agent, by default, connects to port 80 or 443, depending upon the SSL-enabled status of vCenter – i.e., if vCenter is not SSL-enabled (i.e., if the SSL flag above is set to No), then the eG agent connects to vCenter using port 80 by default, and if vCenter is SSL-enabled (i.e., if the ssl flag is set to Yes), then the agent-vCenter communication occurs via port 443 by default.  Accordingly, the Webport parameter is set to default by default. 

In some environments however, the default ports 80 or 443 might not apply. In such a case, against the Webport parameter, you can specify the exact port at which vCenter in your environment listens, so that the eG agent communicates with that port for collecting metrics from vCenter.
Measurements made by the test
Measurement Description Measurement Unit Interpretation

Throughput during reception

Indicates the VMkernel Network Adapter Throughput Inbound.

MB/sec

 

Throughput during transmission

Indicates the VMkernel Network Adapter Throughput Outbound.

MB/sec

 

Packets per second during reception

Indicates the VMkernel Network Adapter Inbound Packets Per Second.

Packets/sec

 

Packets per second during transmission

Indicates the VMkernel Network Adapter Outbound Packets Per Second.

Packets/sec

 

Packets loss during reception

Indicates the percentage of VMkernel Network Adapter Inbound Packets Loss Rate.

Percent

 

Packets loss during transmission

Indicates the percentage of VMkernel Network Adapter Outbound Packets Loss Rate.

Percent