After you have configured cloud proxy and installed a product-managed Telegraf agent, configure a vCenter Server Cloud account (relevant only to VMs managed by the vCenter Server cloud account). You can manage the agents on all the target machines from the Manage Telegraf Agents page.

From the Manage Telegraf Agents page, you can:

  • Use the filter to easily find physical servers or VMs managed or unmanaged by the vCenter Server cloud accounts.
  • View data collected on all target machines.
  • Start, stop, and update agents on all target machines where the product-managed agent is installed. You can also discover and manage the services on each product-managed Telegraf agent that you install.
    Note: The maximum allowed application services count per target machine is 200.

Additionally, all the types of supported monitored object types such as Virtual Machine and Endpoint are consolidated in the Manage Telegraf Agents page so that you have visibility of the entire environment you are monitoring and can manage agents and monitor the content from one single page, depending on the agent you are using and type of the objects available. For more information about object types, see OS and Application Monitoring.

Telegraf Agents in VMware Aria Operations

For more information about Telegraf agents, see What Are The Different Types of Telegraf Agents in VMware Aria Operations?.

Note: Data collected from product-managed agents, open-source agents, and user-managed agents can be viewed from the Manage Telegraf Agents page. For objects that have open-source agents and user-managed Telegraf agents installed and running, you can only view data that is collected, you cannot install, uninstall, or manage the lifecycle of the agents.

Where You Manage the Agents

To manage the agents and application services, from the left menu, click Environment > Applications. From the Applications panel, click the Manage Telegraf Agents tab.

Note: In the table below, Vertical Ellipsis is applicable to single VM operations and Agent Actions is applicable to group actions.
Table 1. Options
Options Description
Agent Actions/Vertical Ellipsis > Install Installs the agents on the selected VM/s managed by the vCenter Server cloud account. Select the VM/s managed by the vCenter Server cloud account on which you want to install the agent, click Agent Actions/vertical ellipsis and then click Install. For more information, see Install an Agent from the UI.
Note:
  • Install from the UI is available only for VMs managed by the vCenter Server cloud account using the product-managed agent.
  • For Endpoint object types, product-managed agent install is not supported.
  • Install from the UI is not available for open-source agents and user-managed agents.
Agent Actions/Vertical Ellipsis > Uninstall Uninstalls the agent. Select the VM/s managed by the vCenter Server cloud account on which you want to uninstall the agent, click Agent Actions/vertical ellipsis and then click Uninstall. For more information, see Uninstall an Agent.
Note:
  • Uninstall from the UI is available only for VMs managed by the vCenter Server cloud account using the product-managed agent.
  • For Endpoint objects project-managed agent uninstall is not supported.
  • Uninstall from the UI is not available for open-source agents and user-managed agents.
Agent Actions Ellipsis/Vertical Ellipsis > Update Updates agents that are at a lower version. Select the VMs managed and unmanaged by the vCenter Server cloud account and physical servers on which you want to update the agent, click Agent Actions/vertical ellipsis and then click Update. After the agents are updated, the last operation status changes to Content Upgrade Success.
Note: You can use the Update option only for objects with a product-managed Telegraf agent installed and running.
Note: After you upgrade VMware Aria Operations and then update product-managed Telegraf agents that are running at an earlier version, there could be a data collection gap of a maximum of 2-3 collection cycles.
Agent Actions/Vertical Ellipsis > Start If you have temporarily stopped sending metrics to VMware Aria Operations, you can use the Start option to start data collection for the application service. Select the VMs managed and unmanaged by the vCenter Server cloud account and physical servers on which you want to start the agent and click Agent Actions/vertical ellipsis and then click Start.
Note: You can use the Start option only for objects with a product-managed Telegraf agent installed and running.
Agent Actions/Vertical Ellipsis > Stop During a maintenance period, you can temporarily stop sending application service metrics to VMware Aria Operations. Select the VMs managed and unmanaged by the vCenter Server cloud account and physical servers on which you want to stop the agent and click Agent Actions/vertical ellipsis and then click Stop.
Note: You can use the Stop option only for objects with a product-managed Telegraf agent installed and running.
Vertical Ellipsis > Go To Details

Displays the Summary tab of the selected VMs managed and unmanaged by the vCenter Server cloud account and physical servers.

Note: You can view the summary and details for objects with product-managed Telegraf agents, open-source Telegraf agents, and user-managed Telegraf agents installed and running.
Agent Actions > Activate Services Allows you to activate a service.
Note: You can only activate a service for objects with a product- managed Telegraf agent installed and running.
Note: Applicable for bulk actions.
Filter Filters the VMs managed and unmanaged by the vCenter Server cloud account and physical servers based on the name of the VM or the host name in the case of Endpoint type objects, the operating system it runs on, object type, agent type, agent status, the application service discovered, the last operation status, the power status of the VMs managed by the vCenter Server cloud account, and the agent version.
You can also view specific details from the options in the data grid.
Table 2. Data Grid Options
Option Description
Name Name of the virtual machine or host name in case of physical servers and VMs unmanaged by the vCenter Server cloud account.
Object Type There are four types of object types:
  • Virtual Machine: Includes only VMs managed by the vCenter Server cloud account.
  • Endpoint: Includes physical servers and VMs unmanaged by the vCenter Server cloud account.
    Note: The agent types supported by the Endpoint object type are: product-managed agent, open-source agent, and user-managed agent.
Operating System Operating system running on the target machine.
Agent Status Displays the status of the agent at the target machine.
  • Agent Running. Indicates that the agent is running.
    Note: Applicable only for product managed Telegraf agents.
  • Agent Stopped. Indicates that the agent has stopped.
  • Agent Unhealthy: Indicates that a component of the product-managed agent is not healthy.
  • Not Installed. Indicates that the agent is not installed.
Agent Type Types of agents:
  • Product-managed agent: Telegraf agent managed by VMware Aria Operations.
  • Open-source agent: Open source Telegraf agent.
  • User-Managed agent: Telegraf agent used to monitor physical servers.
    Note: The User-managed agent option is available only if you have upgraded from a previous version of VMware Aria Operations.
Last Operation Status
Status of the last operation.
Note: Applicable only for product-managed agents.
The possible values are:
  • No Operation
  • Install Success
  • Install Failed
  • Install In Progress
  • Start Success
  • Start Failed
  • Start In Progress
  • Stop Success
  • Stop Failed
  • Stop In Progress
  • Update Success
  • Update Failed
  • Update In Progress
  • Uninstall Success
  • Uninstall Failed
  • Uninstall In Progress
  • Download Success
State Power status of the VMs managed by the vCenter Server cloud account. The possible values are:
  • Powered On
  • Powered Off
    Note: Powered on and Powered Off status is applicable only for the Virtual Machine object type.
  • Unknown
Virtual IP Details Virtual IP configured on an application monitoring high availability activated collector group to which target machines will send data. For collector groups that are not activated for application monitoring high availability, the column will be empty.
Collector Group Displays the name of the collector group to which the cloud proxy mentioned in the Cloud Proxy column belongs.
Cloud Proxy You can see either:
  • The cloud proxy IP through which Telegraf agent management is performed and data is collected, or
  • For high availability activated collector groups, the IP address of the primary cloud proxy that is collecting data is displayed.
Agent Version Version of the agent. A gray dot is displayed if the target machine requires an update for product managed agents.
  • For product-managed agents: The version displayed is the same as the VMware Aria Operations version.
  • For open-source agents: The version displayed is the open source Telegraf agent version that you use.
vCenter Name Name of the vCenter Adapter cloud account to which that vCenter Server VMs resource belongs.
Note: The field is empty for Endpoint object types.
Collection State VMware Aria Operations Application Management cloud account collection state which monitors the VM.
Collection Status VMware Aria Operations Application Management cloud account collection status which monitors the VM.
Table 3. Status of Application Services
Icon Description
Green tick icon against the application service Indicates that the application service is activated and the application service instances are receiving data.
Red exclamation icon against the application service Indicates that the application service has been activated but there is a problem with data collection.

When there is more than one agent plugin of the same kind, and one of them is activated, but the other is not collecting data, a red exclamation icon is still displayed against the application service.
Red icon against the application service instance Indicates that there is an error in receiving data with an error message displayed after the name of the application service instance.
Gray question icon against the application service Indicates that the application services requires reactivation. The application service must be reactivated. For reactivation, see Activate an Application Service for more information
Gray pause icon against the application service instance Indicates that the application service instance has been stopped.
Blue icon with three horizontal dots against the agent plugin Indicates data is being received.
Progress status icon After you have added the parameters and activated the application service, the progress status is displayed until data collection starts.
To manage the agent, follow these steps:
  1. Install the agent.
    For more information, see Install an Agent from the UI.
    Note:
  2. Manage the application services on each agent.
    For more information, see Activate an Application Service.
    Note: You can manage application services only for objects with a product-managed Telegraf agent installed and running.

    For custom monitoring actions, see Custom Script, Activate Remote Checks, Monitor Windows Services, and Monitor Linux Processes.

  3. Stop and start the agents on the target machines.
    When you stop an agent, you cannot activate or deactivate a plugin. If the target machine is powered off or if you lose connection with cloud proxy, you cannot configure or activate a plugin.
    Note: You can stop and start agents only for objects with a product-managed Telegraf agent installed and running.
  4. Uninstall the agent.
    For more information, see Uninstall an Agent.
    Note: You can uninstall the agent from the UI only for managed vCenter Server VMs.
  5. Update agents that are at a lower version.