You can add vCenter Servers as data source to vRealize Network Insight.

Multiple vCenter Servers can be added to vRealize Network Insight to start monitoring data.

Prerequisites

  • The predefined roles in the vCenter server must have the following privileges assigned at root level that need to be propagated to the children roles:
    • System.Anonymous
    • System.Read
    • System.View
    • Global.Settings
  • Following vCenter Server privileges are required to configure and use IPFIX:
    • Distributed switch: Modify and Port configuration operation
    • dvPort group: Modify and Policy operation
      Note: IPFIX is supported on the following VMware ESXi versions:
      • 5.5 Update 2 (Build 2068190) and later
      • 6.0 Update 1b (Build 3380124) and later
      • VMware VDS 5.5 and later
  • To identify the VM to VM path, you must install VMware tools on all the VMs in the data center .
To know more about roles in vCenter, see the vSphere Security guide.

Procedure

  1. Click Add vCenter.
  2. Click Add new source and customize the options.
    Option Action
    Collector VM Select a collector VM from the drop-down menu.
    Note: You can add maximum 10 vCenter Server per collector.
    IP Address/FQDN Enter the IP address or fully qualified domain name of the vCenter Server.
    Note: You must add the data source using either IP address or FQDN. Do not add the data source using both IP address and FQDN.
    Username Enter the user name with the following privileges:
    • Distributed Switch: Modify
    • dvPort group: Modify
    Password Enter the password for vRealize Network Insight software to access the vCenter Server system.
  3. Click Validate.

    If the number of VMs discovered exceeds the capacity of the platform or a collector node or both, the validation fails. You will not be allowed to add a data source until you increase the brick size of the platform or create a cluster.

    The specified capacity for each brick size with and without flows is as follows:
    Brick Size VMs State of Flows
    Large 6k Enabled
    Large 10k Deactivated
    Medium 3k Enabled
    Medium 6k Deactivated
  4. Select Enable Netflow (IPFIX) on this vCenter to enable IPFIX.
    For more information on IPFIX, see the Enabling IPFIX Configuration on VDS and DVPG section.
    Note: If you enable IPFIX in both vCenter and VMware NSX Manager, vRealize Network Insight automatically detects and removes flow redundancies by disabling IPFIX on few of the DVPGs for the associated vCenter.
  5. Add advanced data collection sources to your vCenter Server system.
  6. Click Submit to add the vCenter Server system.
    The vCenter Server systems appear on the homepage.