topic Re: VMware integration vs. VMware (remote monitoring) extension in Extensions

VMware integration vs. VMware (remote monitoring) extension

andre_vdveen — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 13:07:51 GMT

Hi,

Why should clients move away from the integrated VMware monitoring and go to the extension option?
Does anyone have the pros and cons between the two?
Will the built-in integration be sunset at some point?

Re: VMware integration vs. VMware (remote monitoring) extension

Mike_L — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 14:21:12 GMT

That's a great question!

The new remote extension supports all the features of extension framework 2.0, such as ActiveGate groups and settings 2.0 security policies. It also supports more metrics, such as vsan and alarms raised by vcenter. We're also continuously adding features to it, such as linking the entity model with that one of ontap.

On the negative side, it isn't yet as native when it comes to Davis support. Davis will not follow the root cause detection from the host to the metrics of the new extension. This is still planned. Also, it's consuming custom metrics/DDUs as it is a regular extension.

As for sunsetting the built-in integration. This message might change so take it with a grain of salt: There is currently no plan for doing that for Dynatrace Managed. For Dynatrace SaaS we're currently discussing timelines internally and will share it once it is final.

Re: VMware integration vs. VMware (remote monitoring) extension

chuck_preecs — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 14:45:34 GMT

For those on Managed - we were excited about this extension since it could get us the vmware alerts that we can only see in vrops right now. Unfortunately, that part of the data is pushed into Grail. The rest of the metrics provided does give us greater visibility into the ESXi hosts we didn't have previously.

Re: VMware integration vs. VMware (remote monitoring) extension

Mike_L — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 18:07:05 GMT

No part of the data is dependent on Grail. Non-metric data is sent in using events and logs, and can be used without Grail. The included dashboard uses DQL, but the data would be available using regular non-Grail views.

Re: VMware integration vs. VMware (remote monitoring) extension

chuck_preecs — Tue, 02 Jul 2024 19:06:29 GMT

I see there has been a significant extension update since we tried this in May. We'll upgrade and try it out. Thanks!

Re: VMware integration vs. VMware (remote monitoring) extension

AlvinPeterson — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 00:03:22 GMT

Buyer Beware!

The VMware (Remote Monitoring) extension delivers on all promises made in the documentation. It's impressive. The comment above about it consuming custom metrics should not be taken lightly. Give careful consideration to what feature sets you enable. This extension alone increased our total custom metric consumption 4x. Consumption chart attached 😉

~Alvin

Re: VMware integration vs. VMware (remote monitoring) extension

Bill_Demsky — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 11:25:37 GMT

I am finding that the vmware.info metric used for many tiles on the dashboard for the remote extension doesn't have dimensions needed to support the query for the dashboard tile. Is there some configuration that I am not setting, or is this a problem with the dashboard or the extension? I have found other metrics with the dimensions needed to have the tiles provide the info, but it would be better if the dashboard worked with the queries included. Examples of the tiles are in the Currently Monitoring section the Clusters, vCenters, Datacenters tiles use the vmware.info.host_info that doesn't have any dimensions in my configuration.

Re: VMware integration vs. VMware (remote monitoring) extension

Mike_L — Wed, 02 Apr 2025 13:14:05 GMT

I had a quick chat with the developer, his best guess is that you have a different version activated, compared to the monitoring configurations. If that's not the case, please open a support ticket.

Re: VMware integration vs. VMware (remote monitoring) extension

Bill_Demsky — Fri, 04 Apr 2025 10:55:55 GMT

thanks, opened a case and support found that the metric was obsolete, and the dashboard is getting updated.

Re: VMware integration vs. VMware (remote monitoring) extension

36Krazyfists — Wed, 08 Apr 2026 20:59:56 GMT

Where are the VSAN metrics in the VMWare Remote Monitoring extension? In the initial release notes, it mentions that it contains them, but I've looked through all of the metrics and did a Ctrl-F on the extension documentation page and can't find the term "vsan" anywhere.

Re: VMware integration vs. VMware (remote monitoring) extension

nelcaps — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 15:41:53 GMT

We plan to sundown our vMware environments in about 2 years. In the interim -- I want to downgrade to just BASIC vMware monitoring using the "Integration" or Classic vMware monitoring. We think it is enough for our needs as we simply need to monitor the ESXi hosts and the VMs (majority of those do not have OneAgent). The DILEMMA we're facing is HOW to monitor % Memory Utilization as the Metric Keys for {builtin} only have memory.consumed for both hypervisor/host and VM/Guest.

Is there a way to find the amount of memory allocated to Host or VM so metrics can be created to calculate %MEMORY Utilization?