Nagios XI – Monitoring VMware

The Industry Standard in IT Infrastructure Monitoring

Purpose
This document describes how to use Nagios XI to monitor VMware ESX, ESXi, vSphere, and vCenter Server. This document will show
you how to monitor virtual machines (VMs) deployed on these products.

Target Audience
This document is intended for use by Nagios administrators who are familiar with VMware's virtualization products and know how to
install and configure software on Linux servers.

Requirements
You must be running Nagios XI 2009R1.2 or later to use this documentation.

Installation Overview
In order to monitor VMware with Nagios XI, you will need to:

• Install the VMware Perl SDK on the Nagios XI server

• Install the Nagios::Plugins Perl library on the Nagios XI server
• Install the Nagios XI VMware Wizard

Installing the SDK

We are unable to pre-bundle the VMware Perl SDK with Nagios XI due to the license terms, so you will need to download and install
the SDK on the Nagios XI server yourself. You can download the VMware Perl SDK from VMware's website at the following address:

http://communities.vmware.com/community/developer/forums/vsphere_sdk_perl

Download the SDK file using a graphical web browser (so that you can accept the terms), then you can transfer it to the Nagios XI
server via SFTP. For this you can use Putty(sftp), Filezilla, or your favorite transfer program.

Upload the SDK to the Nagios XI machine's /tmp directory and execute the following commands to install the SDK (the name of the
SDK tarball may differ for you):

cd /tmp
tar xzf VMware-vSphere-SDK-for-Perl-4.0.0-161974.x86_64.tar.gz
cd vmware-vsphere-cli-distrib/
./vmware-install.pl

Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation of the SDK.

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Revision 1.0 – June, 2010
 Nagios XI – Monitoring VMware
Installing the Nagios::Plugins Perl Library
The Nagios plugin for monitoring VMware uses a special Nagios::Plugins Perl library. You will need to install this library before
continuing. To install the library, run the following commands when logged in to the Nagios XI machine as the root user:

wget http://assets.nagios.com/downloads/nagiosxi/packages/perl-Nagios-Plugin-0.33-2.noarch.rpm

yum install -yq perl-Class-Accessor perl-Config-Tiny perl-Math-Calc-Units perl-Params-Validate

rpm -Uvh perl-Nagios-Plugin-*.rpm

Installing the VMware Wizard

A configuration wizard has been created in order to make the job of monitoring VMware servers and guests with Nagios XI easier. You
can find the wizard and instructions for installing wizards at:

http://exchange.nagios.org/directory/Addons/Configuration/Configuration-Wizards/VMware-Wizard/details

You will need to install the wizard in Nagios XI by using the Upload option on the monitoring wizard administration screen.

Once you install the wizard in Nagios XI, it will be available to users when they run the monitoring
wizard.

Nagios Enterprises, LLC US: 1-888-NAGIOS-1 Web: www.nagios.com Page 2

P.O. Box 8154 Int'l: +1 651-204-9102 Email: sales@nagios.com
Saint Paul, MN 55108 Fax: +1 651-204-9103
USA
Revision 1.0 – June, 2010