System Monitoring and Reporting

This chapter contains the following sections:

Dashboard

In Cisco UCS Director, you can enable the Dashboard option in the user interface. On the Dashboard screen, you can add important, or frequently accessed report widgets. If you have enabled the Dashboard option, then this is the first window that you see when you log in to the user interface. After enabling the Dashboard, you can create additional dashboards, and delete them when you no longer need them. For more information, see Creating Additional Dashboards and Deleting a Dashboard.

Enabling the Dashboard

Procedure

Step 1

On the header, click the user icon, and choose Edit My Profile.

Step 2

On the Edit My Profile screen, scroll down to the Dashboard section.

Step 3

Check Enable Dashboard.

Step 4

Click Save.

When you log out and log in, the first screen that you see is the Dashboard.

Step 5

Click Close to view the Dashboard immediately.

What to do next

If there are no widgets on the Dashboard, you can access any summary report in the user interface, and select Add to Dashboard.

Creating Additional Dashboards

Before you begin

You should have enabled the Dashboard in the user interface.

Procedure

Step 1

Log into Cisco UCS Director user interface.

The default Dashboard screen is displayed.

Step 2

Click the down arrow displayed next to the default dashboard name and choose Create Dashboard.

Step 3

Enter the name of the dashboard.

Step 4

Click Submit.

Deleting a Dashboard

You cannot delete the default dashboard.

Procedure

Step 1

Log into Cisco UCS Director user interface.

The default Dashboard screen is displayed.

Step 2

Click the drop-down list to view the list of dashboards that you have created.

Step 3

Click the X mark displayed next to the dashboard name.

Step 4

Confirm that you want to delete the dashboard.

Adding Report Widgets

Before you begin

You must be logged in to the appliance to complete this task.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose the desired option and navigate to the summary report you want to add to your dashboard.

For example, if you want to add a VM-related summary report, choose Virtual > Compute and then click Summary.

Step 2

On the Summary screen, scroll down to the report that you want to add to your dashboard.

Step 3

In the upper right corner of the report, click Settings and then choose Add to Dashboard.

Refreshing Widget Data

After enabling the Dashboard option, you can set a refresh interval to the widgets on this page. Automatic refresh can occur at intervals from a minimum of 5 minutes to a maximum of 60 minutes.

The Automatic Refresh button on the dashboard should be set to ON to configure the interval.

Summary

The Summary screen allows you to manage system inventory. It gives you access to a wide array of tabular, graphical, and map reports, and also helps in managing inventory lifecycle actions.

Each report is displayed as a widget. Reports can be hidden through customization.

Viewing Virtual Machine, Cloud, and System Summary Information

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Virtual > Compute.

Step 2

On the Compute page, click Summary.

All information is displayed in the form of tables, graphs, and charts.

Customizing Summary Report Widgets

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Virtual > Compute.

Step 2

On the Compute page, click Summary.

Step 3

Click the reports drop-down icon to display the available reports.

Step 4

Click and drag a widget onto the Dashboard.

Step 5

From the Show more reports drop-down list, check the name of the report that you want to add.

Inventory Management

You can monitor the system inventory using the Dashboard. The Dashboard displays the entire system level infrastructure information for administrative management.

Accessing System Inventory Details

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Virtual > Compute.

Step 2

On the Compute page, choose the cloud.

Step 3

Choose any of the options to view detailed information.

Following is a list of some of the report options visible for each cloud:

  • Summary

  • Polling

  • VDCs

  • Clusters

  • Host Nodes

  • Resource Pools

  • VMs

  • VM Action Requests

  • Events

  • Assessment

  • Application Categories

  • Data Centers

  • SRM Sites

Resource Pools

The Resource Pools screen shows resource details at the host node level. These details include the CPU configured reservation, CPU limit, CPU used, and memory used.

Accessing Resource Details

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Virtual > Compute.

Step 2

On the Compute page, choose the cloud.

Step 3

On the Compute page, click Resource Pools.

All the resource pools for the selected cloud are displayed. You can select a resource pool and click View Details to view detailed information of each resource pool.

Clusters

If a pod includes clusters, then the Clusters screen displays all the cluster-related information.

Accessing Clusters

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Virtual > Compute.

Step 2

On the Compute page, choose the cloud.

Step 3

On the Compute page, click Clusters.

All clusters available in the selected cloud accounts are displayed. You can select a specific cluster, and click View Details.

Images

The Images screen displays all available image IDs and their details. These images include guest OS, CPU, memory, and storage provisioned. You can use these image IDs to provision new virtual machines (VMs). If you are a group administrator, or an MSP administrator, then the Images screen displays images that have been assigned to your group.

If you select a specific VMware cloud account, and click Images, you can assign images to groups or to individual users. Images assigned to a particular group or user are displayed when administrators of the relevant group log in to the system.

Accessing Images

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Virtual > Compute.

Step 2

On the Compute page, choose the cloud.

Step 3

On the Compute page, click Images.

A list of images associated with the selected clouds is displayed. You can select a specific image and click View Details.

Assigning VM Images to Users or Groups

As an administrator, you can assign specific VM images to users or groups. The assignments filter the images that are displayed when you perform VM provisioning tasks, such as creating catalogs.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Virtual > Compute.

Step 2

On the Compute page, choose the cloud.

Step 3

On the Compute page, click Images.

Step 4

Click the row with the image that you want to assign to a group.

Step 5

Click Assign Image to Group.

Step 6

On the Assign Image to Group screen, expand the Group ID field, and check the names of the groups to which you want to assign the image.

Step 7

To assign an image to individual users, complete the following fields:

Name

Description

Assign to Users check box

Check to assign the image to specific users.

User field

Expand this field to check the names of users to whom you want to assign the image.

Step 8

Click Submit.

Host Nodes

The Host Nodes screen displays all physical host nodes that are available in the infrastructure. The screen lists details such as the ESX/ESXi version installed, active VMs, and power status.

Accessing Host Nodes

Before you begin

You must be logged in to the appliance to complete this task.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Virtual > Compute.

Step 2

On the Compute page, click Host Nodes.

Step 3

Click the row with the host node that you want view, and click View Details.

Virtual Machines (VMs)

The VMs screen displays all the VMs and VM-specific details for the chosen cloud.

Accessing VMs

Procedure

Step 1

On the menu bar, choose Virtual > Compute.

Step 2

On the Compute page, click VMs.

All virtual machines for all cloud accounts are displayed. You can perform additional tasks on these VMs such as launching VM client or powering off VMs. For more information, see Managing VM Actions.

Accessing Group Level VMs

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Organizations > Virtual Resources.

Step 2

On the Virtual Resources page, choose the user group.

Step 3

On the Virtual Resources page, click VMs.

All virtual machines for the selected group are displayed. You can perform additional tasks on these VMs such as launching VM client or powering off VMs. For more information, see Managing VM Actions.

Topology

The Topology screen displays VMware cloud topology. There are four view mode types: Hierarchical, Concentric, Circular, and Force Directed. Depending on the mode, you can adjust the item spacing, distance, radius, rigidity, and force distance.

Accessing Topology Types

Before you begin

You must be logged in to the appliance to complete this task.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Virtual > Compute.

Step 2

On the Compute page, choose the cloud.

Step 3

On the Compute page, click Topology.

Step 4

Choose Hostnode-Datastore Topology or Hostnode-VM Topology.

Step 5

Click View Connectivity.

The topology appears in a new window.

Note

 

Not all of the topology types are displayed.

Assessment

The Assessment screen displays assessment reports such as cloud readiness, and virtualization best practices for a cloud account.

Accessing Assessments

Before you begin

You must be logged in to the appliance to complete this task.

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Virtual > Compute.

Step 2

On the Compute page, choose the cloud.

Step 3

On the Compute page, click Assessment.

Step 4

From the drop-down list, choose a report type to filter the report.

Reports

Cisco UCS Director can help you monitor virtual infrastructure and system resources. It displays a wide variety of reports that provide insight into how the system is performing

Following are the types of reports:

  • Tabular reports for system information, including overview, host nodes, new VMs, and deleted VMs.

  • Bar and pie graph comparisons, including VMs active versus inactive, and CPU provisioned versus capacity.

  • Trend graphs about system resources, including CPU trends, memory trends, and VM additions and deletions.

  • Other reports include Top 5 reports at the group, VDC, host node, and VM levels. The Top 5 reports focus on groups with the highest number of VMs, groups with the greatest CPU usage, VDCs with the highest number of VMs, and host nodes with the greatest CPU usage.

  • Map reports, displaying the system resource information in the form of heat maps or color-coded maps.

Additional trend reports are available for certain accounts (for example: KVM accounts). Trend reports display data over a selected time frame.

Accessing Reports

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Virtual > Compute.

Step 2

On the Compute page, choose the cloud.

Step 3

Click the name of the report that you want to view (Map, Top 5, or More Reports).

Diagnostic System Messages

The Cisco UCS Director performs system audits and displays diagnostic system messages to help you quickly assess issues and take necessary actions to prevent potential outages and ensure system stability. For example, when the VM count on a standalone setup is about to reach its maximum allowed limit, the system shows the severity level as 'WARNING' and provides a recommendation to switch to a multinode setup.

Viewing Diagnostic System Messages

Procedure

Click System Messages icon.

The Diagnostic System Messages window opens, displaying the following details:

  • Severity: Level of importance or impact of an issue. This can be one of the following:

    • OK

    • CRITICAL

    • WARNING

    • NOTICE

    • ERROR

  • Category: Classification of the item.

  • Item: Part of the Cisco UCS Director system for which the audit was performed.

  • Description: Provides information about the audit result.

  • Recommendation: Provides actions to resolve or mitigate the reported issue.

  • Audit Time: The time when the audit was performed.

Compatibility Matrix Information

You can view detailed information about various hardware and software components, including operating systems, compatible with Cisco UCS Director.

Viewing Compatibility Matrix Information

Procedure

Step 1

Choose Administration > Compatibility Matrix.

The Compatibility Matrix window opens.

Step 2

Select the folder category for the required hardware or software components.

The related details are displayed in the following areas:

  • Component

  • Certified Model

  • Supported Model

  • Certified Software Version

  • Supported Software Version

Step 3

To view the compatibility matrix details for Operating Systems, expand the Virtualization - Operating System Support folder, select the entry, and then click View OS Support Information.

Step 4

Select the folder category for the required Operating Systems.

The related details are displayed in the following areas:

  • Operating System

  • Versions

  • Legacy-BIOS

  • UEFI

  • vMedia Support

  • Third Party Server

Note

 

You can also access the latest Compatibility Matrix Guide by clicking the Launch Compatibility Matrix Guide icon under the Compatibility Matrix area.