vCenter Server provides a list of default alarms, which monitor the operations of vSphere inventory objects. You only need to set up actions for these alarms.

Some alarms are stateless. vCenter Server does not keep data on stateless alarms and neither computes nor displays their status. Stateless alarms cannot be acknowledged or reset. Stateless alarms are indicated by an asterisk next to their name.

Table 1. Default vSphere Alarms
Alarm Name Description
Host connection and power state Monitors the power state of the host and whether the host is reachable.
Host CPU usage Monitors host CPU usage.
Host memory usage Monitors host memory usage.
Virtual machine CPU usage Monitors virtual machine CPU usage.
Virtual machine memory usage Monitors virtual machine memory usage.
Datastore usage on disk Monitors datastore disk usage.
Note: This alarm controls the Status value for datastores in vSphere Web Client. If you disable this alarm, the datastore status is displayed as Unknown.
Virtual machine CPU ready Monitors virtual machine CPU ready time.
Virtual machine total disk latency Monitors virtual machine total disk latency.
Virtual machine disk commands canceled Monitors the number of virtual machine disk commands that are canceled.
Virtual machine disk reset Monitors the number of virtual machine bus resets.
License inventory monitoring Monitors the license inventory for compliance.
License user threshold monitoring Monitors whether a user-defined license threshold is exceeded.
License capacity monitoring Monitors whether a license capacity is exceeded.
The host license edition is not compatible with the vCenter Server license edition Monitors the compatibility of the vCenter Server and host license editions.
Host flash capacity exceeds the licensed limit for vSAN Monitors whether the flash disk capacity on the host exceeds the limit of the vSAN license.
Expired vSAN license Monitors the expiry of the vSAN license and the end of the evaluation period.
Errors occurred on the disk(s) of a vSAN host Default alarm that monitors whether the host disks in the vSAN cluster have errors.
Timed out starting Secondary VM * Monitors whether starting a secondary virtual machine has timed out.
No compatible host for Secondary VM Monitors the availability of compatible hosts on which a secondary virtual machine can be created and run.
Virtual machine Fault Tolerance state changed Monitors changes in the Fault Tolerance state of a virtual machine.
Virtual Machine Fault Tolerance vLockStep interval Status Changed Monitors changes in the Fault Tolerance Secondary vLockStep interval.
Host processor status Monitors the host processors.
Host memory status Monitors host memory usage.
Host hardware fan status Monitors host fans.
Host hardware voltage Monitors host hardware voltage.
Host hardware temperature status Monitors the temperature status of the host hardware.
Host hardware power status Monitors the host power status.
Host hardware system board status Monitors the status of host system boards.
Host battery status Monitors the battery status of hosts.
Status of other host hardware objects Monitors other host hardware objects.
Host storage status Monitors host connectivity to storage devices.
Host IPMI System Event Log status Monitors the capacity of the IPMI system event log.
Host Baseboard Management Controller status Monitors the status of the Baseboard Management Controller.
Host error * Monitors host error and warning events.
Virtual machine error * Monitors virtual machine error and warning events.
Host connection failure * Monitors host connection failures.
Unmanaged workload detected on SIOC-enabled datastore Monitors the unmanaged I/O workload on a SIOC-enabled datastore.
Thin-provisioned volume capacity threshold exceeded Monitors whether the thin provisioning threshold on the storage array exceeds for volumes backing the datastore.
Datastore capability alarm Monitors the change in the capability status for volumes backing the datastore.
VASA provider disconnected Monitors the changes in the connection state of VASA providers.
VASA Provider certificate expiration alarm Monitors whether VASA provider certificates are getting close to their expiry date.
VM storage compliance alarm Monitors the virtual disk compliance with the object-based storage.
Datastore compliance alarm Monitors wether the virtual disk on the datastore complies with the object-based storage.
Refreshing CA certificates and CRLs for a VASA provider failed Monitors whether the refreshing of CA certificates and CRLs for some of the VASA providers has failed.
Insufficient vSphere HA failover resources Monitors the sufficiency of failover cluster resources required for vSphere High Availability.
vSphere HA failover in progress Monitors the failover progress of vSphere High Availability.
Cannot find vSphere HA primary agent Monitors whether vCenter Server is able to connect to a vSphere High Availability primary agent.
vSphere HA host status Monitors the host health status reported by vSphere High Availability.
vSphere HA virtual machine failover failed Monitors whether a failover operation that uses vSphere High Availability failed.
vSphere HA virtual machine monitoring action Monitors whether vSphere High Availability has restarted a virtual machine.
vSphere HA virtual machine monitoring error Monitors whether vSphere High Availability failed to reset a virtual machine.
vSphere HA VM Component Protection could not power off a virtual machine Monitors whether vSphere High Availability VM Component Protection cannot power off a virtual machine with an inaccessible datastore.
License error * Monitors license errors.
Health status changed * Monitors changes to service and extension health status.
Virtual machine component protection restart error Monitors whether the vSphere HA VM Component Protection fails to restart a virtual machine.
Storage DRS recommendation Monitors Storage DRS recommendations.
Storage DRS is not supported on a host Monitors and alerts when Storage DRS is not supported on a host.
Datastore cluster is out of space Monitors whether a datastore cluster runs out of disk space.
Datastore is in multiple datacenters Monitors whether a datastore in a datastore cluster is visible in more than one data center.
vSphere Distributed Switch VLAN trunked status Monitors changes in vSphere Distributed Switch VLAN trunked status.
vSphere Distributed Switch MTU matched status Monitors changes in vSphere Distributed Switch MTU matched status.
vSphere Distributed Switch MTU supported status Monitors changes in vSphere Distributed Switch MTU supported status.
vSphere Distributed Switch teaming matched status Monitors changes in vSphere Distributed Switch teaming matched status.
Virtual Machine network adapter reservation status Monitors changes in the reservation status of a virtual machine network adapter.
Virtual machine Consolidation Needed status Monitors changes in the virtual machine Consolidation Needed status.
Host virtual flash resource status Monitors the Flash Read Cache resource status on the host.
Host virtual flash resource usage Monitors the Flash Read Cache resource usage on the host.
Registration/unregistration of a VASA vendor provider on a vSAN host fails Default alarm that monitors whether the registration or unregistration of a VASA vendor provider on a vSAN host fails.
Registration/unregistration of third-party IO filter storage providers fails on a host Default alarm that monitors whether vCenter Server fails to register or unregister third-party IO filter storage providers on a host.
Service Control Agent Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the VMware Service Control Agent.
Identity Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the Identity Management Service.
vSphere Web Client Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the vSphere Web Client.
ESX Agent Manager Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the ESX Agent Manager.
Message Bus Config Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the Message Bus Configuration Service.
Cis License Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the License Service.
Appliance Management Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the Appliance Management Service.
Inventory Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the Inventory Service.
vCenter Server Health Alarm Monitors the health status of vCenter Server.
Database Health Alarm Monitors the database health status.

When database space reaches 80%, vCenter Server displays a warning event.

When database space reaches 95%, vCenter Server displays an error event and shuts down. You can clean up the database, or increase database storage capacity, and start vCenter Server.

The alarm is triggered only for PostgreSQL and Microsoft SQL Server database health issues, and does not work with Oracle databases.

Data Service Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the Data Service.
RBD Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the vSphere Auto Deploy Waiter.
vService Manager Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the vService Manager.
Performance Charts Service Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the Performance Charts Service.
Content Library Service Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the VMware Content Library Service.
Transfer Service Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the VMware Transfer Service.
VMware vSphere ESXi Dump Collector Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the VMware vSphere ESXi Dump Collector Service.
VMware vAPI Endpoint Service Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the VMware vAPI Endpoint Service.
VMware System and Hardware Health Manager Service Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the VMware System and Hardware Health Manager Service.
VMware vSphere Profile-Driven Storage Service Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the VMware vSphere Profile-Driven Storage Service.
VMware Common Logging Service Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the VMware Common Logging Service.
VMware vFabric Postgres Service Health Alarm Monitors the health status of the VMware vFabric Postgres Service.
ESXi Host Certificates Update Failure Status Monitors whether the update of the ESXi host certificates failed.
ESXi Host Certificate Status Monitors the certificate status of an ESXi host.
ESXi Host Certificate Verification Failure Status Monitors whether the verification of an ESXi host certificate failed.
vSphere vCenter Host Certificate Management Mode Monitors changes in the certificate management mode of vCenter Server.
Root Certificate Status Monitors whether a root certificate is getting close to its expiration date.
GPU ECC Uncorrected Memory Alarm Monitors the GPU ECC uncorrected memory status.
GPU ECC Corrected Memory Alarm Monitors the GPU ECC corrected memory status.
GPU Thermal Condition Alarm Monitors the GPU Thermal condition status.
Network connectivity lost Monitors the network connectivity on a virtual switch.
Network uplink redundancy lost Monitors network uplink redundancy on a virtual switch.
Network uplink redundancy degraded * Monitors network uplink redundancy degradation on a virtual switch.
VMKernel NIC not configured correctly * Monitors incorrectly configured VMkernel NICs.
Cannot connect to storage * Monitors host connectivity to a storage device.
Migration error * Monitors whether a virtual machine cannot be migrated or relocated, or is orphaned.
Exit standby error Monitors whether a host cannot exit standby mode.
Table 2. Deprecated vSphere Alarms
Alarm name Description
Cannot connect to network Monitors the network connectivity on a virtual switch.
IPv6 TSO not supported Monitors whether the IPv6 TSO packets sent by the guest operating system of a virtual machine are dropped.
SRM Consistency Group Violation Datastore cluster has datastores that belong to different SRM consistency groups.
Virtual machine high availability error Monitors High Availability errors on a virtual machine.
Cluster high availability error * Monitors High Availability errors on a cluster.
Health status monitoring Monitors changes in the overall health status of vCenter Server components.
Pre-4.1 host connected to SIOC-enabled datastore Monitors whether a host running ESX/ESXi 4.1 or earlier is connected to a SIOC-enabled datastore.
Host service console swap rates Monitors host service console memory swap rates.