VMware vRealize Operations Management Pack for vSphere Replication 8.6 Release Notes

vSphere Replication 8.6 | 11 OCT 2022 | Build 20555483 vRealize Operations Manager 8.6.4 | 09 AUG 2022 | Build 20232488 VMware vRealize Operations Management Pack for vSphere Replication 8.6 | 11 OCT 2022 | Build 20534620 Check for additions and updates to these release notes.

What's New

The vRealize Operations Management Pack for VMware vSphere Replication 8.6 provides the following new features:

• Support for VMware vRealize Operations 8.6.4.

• New metrics for the vSphere Replication:

  • vSphere Replication Management Server pair connection status – checks if а specific vSphere Replication Management Server is paired and connected.

  • Observability enhancement - based on the new vSphere Replication Server events, improves the overall observability and troubleshooting capabilities of the product.

  • vSphere Replication Management Server pair check – checks for a specific vSphere Replication Management Server pair.

  • RPO violation metric as percentage (%) of time - calculates a virtual machine's RPO violation time for a specific period of time and reports the time in RPO violation for all virtual machines.

About the VMware vRealize Operations Management Pack for VMware vSphere Replication 8.6

The VMware vRealize Operations Management Pack for VMware vSphere Replication 8.6 allows VMware administrators to monitor the health and current status of their underlying vSphere Replication environment in VMware vRealize Operations Manager. By using the vRealize Operations Management Pack for VMware vSphere Replication 8.6, you can explore replication details per VM, such as direction of replication, replication status, and Recovery Point Objective (RPO) violations. You can also monitor replication metrics, such as transferred bytes, last instance sync points, last sync duration, and last sync size.

By using the pack, you get visibility on replication settings such as RPO, multiple points in time (MPIT), quiescing, and network compression. In addition, you see alarms when vSphere Replication health or a replication status is in Error state, or if there is an RPO violation. The vRealize Operations Management Pack for vSphere Replication 8.6 release runs with VMware vRealize Operations Manager 8.6. For more information on interoperability with earlier or later releases of VMware vRealize Operations Manager, see the VMware Product Interoperability Matrices.

You can download the vRealize Operations Management Pack for vSphere Replication 8.6 from the download page.

Installation and Configuration

The VMware vRealize Operations Management Pack for VMware vSphere Replication 8.6 software requires VMware vRealize Operations Manager 8.3, and vSphere Replication 8.6. For information on installing VMware vRealize Operations Manager 8.6, see Installing vRealize Operations Manager in the vRealize Operations Manager documentation. For information on installing vSphere Replication 8.6, see Installing and Uninstalling vSphere Replication in the VMware vSphere Replication documentation.

The VMware vRealize Operations Management Pack for vSphere Replication 8.6 software is distributed as PAK file. You install and configure the management pack by using the vRealize Operations Manager interface.

1. Log in to vRealize Operations Manager.

2. Select Administration > Solutions > Repository in the left pane.

3. Click Add a Management Pack.

4. Navigate to the vrAdapterPak-8.6.x.pak​ file and click Upload. When the PAK file is uploaded, click Next.

5. Read and agree to the end-user license agreement. Click Next to install the management pack.

6. Review the installation progress, and click Finish when the installation completes.

After the installation completes you must configure the VMware vRealize Operations Management Pack for vSphere Replication 8.6 so that vRealize Operation Manager can collect data from the target system. The minimum role required to collect data is the VRM replication viewer. For more information on roles and permissions, see vSphere Replication Roles and Permissions.

1. Select Administration, then Solutions > Other Accounts in the left pane.

2. Click Add account.

3. Select vSphere Replication Adapter.

4. Enter the required information and click Add .

   Note: User name and password are case-sensitive.

Caveats and Limitations

• Transferred bytes (MB) metric for Virtual Machines displays data only for outgoing replications. Data for incoming replications is displayed at 0.

  Transferred bytes (MB) metric for VRMS Site includes data only for outgoing replications.

• For the RPO Violations Count, Transferred Bytes (per VM) and Transferred Bytes (per site) metrics, the granularity of the statistical data depends on the rrd-updater-interval parameter. The parameter is defined in the /opt/vmware/hms/conf/hms-configuration.xml configuration file. This parameter controls the interval, at which the statistical data is saved. By default, the value is set to 5 minutes, but it can be changed if needed.

Network Port

VMware vRealize Operations Management Pack for vSphere Replication uses port 8043 (protocol HTTPS) to connect to the vSphere Replication Management Server.

Known Issues

• New - LWD and NFC throughput related metrics do not display any data

  When you copy files to a VM that is configured for a replication, the LWD and the NFC total number of bytes metrics properly display the network traffic. However, the LWD and the NFC throughput related metrics do not display any data in time, and show zeroes.

  Workaround: None.

• The Topology Graph widget does not load

  If you are using the vRealize Operations Management pack for vSphere Replication with vRealize Operations 8.2 or later, when you open the dashboard for the vSphere Replication Summary, the Topology Graph widget does not load.

  Workaround: This is an issue with the widget in vRealize Operations Manager 8.2 and later. Edit the widget without making any changes. That refreshes the widget and it will start working.

• You cannot upgrade from vRealize Operations Management Pack for VMware vSphere Replication 8.2.0.1 or earlier

  If you are using vRealize Operations 8.0 or later, the upgrade process from vRealize Operations Management Pack for VMware vSphere Replication 8.2.0.1 or earlier is not supported.

  If you are using vRealize Operations 7.6 or earlier, the upgrade process from vRealize Operations Management Pack for VMware vSphere Replication 8.2 or earlier is not supported.

  Workaround: Uninstall the vRealize Operations Management Pack for VMware vSphere Replication and install the latest supported version of the vRealize Operations Management Pack for VMware vSphere Replication.

• Using the vRealize Operations administration page for upgrade of management packs is not supported

  Installing updates from the Software Updates pane of the vRealize Operations administration page is not supported for management pack due to a known issue with not updating the visual elements. The issue is fixed in VMware Aria Operations 8.12.

  Workaround: Use the standard vRealize Operations UI to upgrade the management pack.

  1. From the left menu click Data Sources>Integrations, and then click the Repository tab.

  2. On the Repository tab, click Add/Upgrade.