As a provider, you can forward the VMware Cloud Director Availability provider events notifications to a syslog server, to VMware Cloud Director, and or by using email delivery. All the delivery channels carry the same event information.

Since VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.6, by default the Cloud Director events checkbox is active for all event types.

For information about the events and notifications, see Events and notifications.

Prerequisites

  • Verify that VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.6.1 or later is deployed in the cloud site to be able to Set custom SMTP settings.
  • To use the email delivery channel for events notifications, verify that you configured the SMTP settings in VMware Cloud Director. For more information, see Configure the System Email Settings in the VMware Cloud Director Service Provider Admin Guide.

Procedure

  1. Log in to the management interface of the Cloud Director Replication Management Appliance.
    1. In a Web browser, go to https://Appliance-IP-Address/ui/admin.
    2. Select Appliance login or SSO login and enter the root or the single sign-on user credentials.
    3. Click Login.
  2. In the left pane, under Configuration click Events and Notifications.

    The Provider event notifications page opens.

    Note: To forward the provider events to the syslog server and to email, first you as a provider must configure these delivery channels. While not yet configured, the Syslog and the Cloud Director email check boxes display not configured and remain dimmed.
  3. As a provider, to configure the syslog server, under Receive notifications via the following channels next to Syslog click Configure.
    1. In the Syslog window, enter the syslog server address and the UDP port.
    2. To save the syslog configuration, click Apply.
  4. (Optional) To configure the email delivery channel under Receive notifications via the following channels next to Email choose one of the following configuration options:
    • To configure the SMTP server by using the VMware Cloud Director Provider Portal, next to Cloud Director Email click Configure in Cloud Director.
      VMware Cloud Director Availability reads the following SMTP server configuration from VMware Cloud Director:
      • SMTP server name is a required field to save the SMTP configuration.
      • Sender's email address is a required field to save the SMTP configuration.
      • Recipients, either explicit email addresses or, by default, the email addresses of all organization administrators.
      • Optionally, the Email subject prefix.
    • Alternatively, since version 4.6.1 to configure the SMTP settings directly, click Set custom SMTP settings. In the Configure Email Settings window, enter the following configuration details then click Apply.
    Option Description

    SMTP server name

    		 You must enter the IP or hostname of an operational SMTP server.

    SMTP server port

    		You must enter the TCP port of the SMTP server. By default, 25.

    SMTP server secure mode

    		 Optionally, select the SMTP encryption mode:
    • None, by default.
    • SSL
    • Start TLS

    SMTP authentication required

    		 Optionally, activate the required SMTP authentication, then you must enter:
    • User name
    • Password

    Sender's email address

    		You must enter the email address of the notifications sender.

    Email subject prefix

    		 Optionally, enter the subject of the email notifications.
    Recipients' email addresses You must enter one or multiple recipients that all receive the email notifications.
  5. Under Receive notifications for the following events configure the delivery channels for each event type.
    • (Optional) To configure all event types at once, click Quick Activate/Deactivate, then click Apply.
    • Alternatively, configure each event type by following the next steps:
    1. Under the User Activities section, to configure each event type click Edit then to save the settings click Apply.
      Event type Activity triggers Notifications delivery channels
      Replications Activities on the following pages in the left pane:
      • Incoming Replications
      • Recovery Plans
      • and Start/Stop events for replication tasks
      		 Select the delivery channels:
      • Syslog
      • Cloud Director events
      • Cloud Director email
      Configuration Activities on the following pages in the left pane:
      • Settings
      • Peer Sites
      • Policies
      • SLA Profiles
      • L2 Stretch
      		 Select the delivery channels:
      • Syslog
      • Cloud Director events
      • Cloud Director email
      System Activities on the following pages in the left pane:
      • Datastores > Evacuate
      • Support Bundles
      • Backup Archives
      • and Start/Stop events for System tasks
      		 Select the delivery channels:
      • Syslog
      • Cloud Director events
      • Cloud Director email
      Reports Activities on the Reports page in the left pane. Select the delivery channels:
      • Syslog
      • Cloud Director events
      • Cloud Director email
      Session Activities related to users sessions:
      • Login
      • Logout
      • Login to peer site
      • Logout of peer site
      		 Select the delivery channels:
      • Syslog
      • Cloud Director events
      • Cloud Director email
    2. Under the Monitoring Events section, configure the following two monitoring event types.
    3. Next to Service connectivity and monitoring, click Edit, then to save the settings click Apply.
      Option Description
      Events types

      vCenter Server Lookup service connectivity, database connectivity, certificate expiration, administrative remote access, SSH activation, and others.

      Receive notifications via the following channels
      Select the notifications delivery channels:
      • Syslog
      • Cloud Director events
      • Cloud Director email
      Connectivity poll interval The time interval between polls for connectivity issues. By default, 30 seconds.
      Configuration poll interval The time interval between polls for configuration issues. By default, 1 day.
      Certificate expiry threshold The time before a certificate expires to start forwarding events. By default, 30 days prior.

      Policy compliance poll interval

      		 The time interval between polls for policy compliance issues. By default, 60 minutes.
    4. Next to Replication errors and warnings, click Edit, then to save the settings click Apply.
      Option Description
      Events types

      Any replication errors and RPO violations.

      Receive notifications via the following channels
      Select the notifications delivery channels:
      • Syslog
      • Cloud Director events
      • Cloud Director email

      Poll interval

      		 The time interval between polls for replication issues. By default, 5 minutes.

      RPO violation threshold time

      Only forward events for RPO violation time above this threshold. 0 forwards events for any RPO violation. By default, 30 minutes.

      RPO violation threshold count

      Only forward events for RPO violations count above this threshold. 0 forwards any number of replications with an RPO violation. By default, 0.
  6. (Optional) To configure the time before forwarding an event again while the condition is still active, under the Monitoring Events section next to Monitoring events forwarding time, click Edit.
    1. In the Notification settings window, under Monitoring events forwarding time enter the forwarding time.
      By default, Monitoring events forwarding time is 24 hours.
    2. To save the configuration for events notifications reposting, click Apply.

Results

VMware Cloud Director Availability starts forwarding the events notifications by using the selected delivery channels.

What to do next

You can monitor VMware Cloud Director Availability by using the syslog server, VMware Cloud Director, or your email client.

You can also subscribe for a weekly summary email. For more information, see Subscribe for weekly summary email.