Users Guide

Understanding Events And Alarms for Hosts
You can edit events and alarms settings from the OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter within Manage > Settings tab.
From here you can select the Event Posting Level, enable Alarms for Dell Hosts, or Restore Default Alarms. You can configure
events and alarms for each vCenter or all at once for all registered vCenters.
There are four event posting levels.
Table 5. Event Posting Level Descriptions
Event Description
Do not post any Events Do not have the OpenManage Integration for VMware
vCenter forward any events or alerts into related vCenters.
Post all Events Post all events, including informal events, that the
OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter receives from
managed Dell hosts into related vCenters.
Post only Critical and Warning Events Posts only events with either Critical or Warning criticality into
related vCenters.
Post only Virtualization-Related Critical and Warning Events Post Virtualization related events received from hosts into
related vCenters. Virtualization related events are those that
Dell has selected to be most critical to hosts running virtual
machines.
When you configure your events and alarms, you can enable them. When enabled, critical hardware alarms can trigger the
OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter to put the host system into a maintenance mode, and in certain cases, migrate
the virtual machines to another host system. The OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter forwards events received from
managed Dell hosts, and creates alarms for those events. Use these alarms to trigger actions from vCenter, like a reboot,
maintenance mode, or migrate. For example, when a dual power supply fails and an alarm is created, the resulting action is to
migrate the virtual machine on that machine to a new one.
A host enters or leaves maintenance mode only as when you request it. If the host is in a cluster when it enters maintenance
mode, you are given the option to evacuate powered-off virtual machines. If this option is selected, each powered-off virtual
machine is migrated to another host, unless there is no compatible host available for the virtual machine in the cluster. While in
maintenance mode, the host does not allow deployment or power-on of a virtual machine. Virtual machines that are running on
a host entering maintenance mode need to be either migrated to another host or shut down, either manually or automatically by
VMware Distributed Resource Scheduling (DRS).
Any hosts outside of clusters, or in clusters without VMware Distributed Resource Scheduling (DRS) enabled, could see
virtual machines being shut down due to a critical event. DRS continuously monitors usage across a resource pool and
intelligently allocates available resources among virtual machines according to business needs. Use clusters with DRS configured
in conjunction with Dell Alarms to make sure that virtual machines are automatically migrated on critical hardware events. Listed
in the details of the on screen message are any clusters on this vCenter instance that may be impacted. Confirm that the
clusters are impacted before enabling Events and Alarms.
If you ever need to restore the default alarm settings, you can do so with the Reset Default Alarm button. This button is
a convenience to restore the default alarm configuration without uninstalling and reinstalling the product. If any Dell alarm
configurations have been changed since install, those changes are reverted using this button.
NOTE:
The OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter pre-selects the virtualization-related events that are the
essential to hosts successfully running virtual machines. Dell host alarms are disabled by default. If Dell alarms are enabled,
the clusters should use the VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler to make sure that the virtual machines that send
critical events are automatically migrated.
Topics:
• Understanding Events And Alarms for Chassis
• Configuring Events And Alarms
• Viewing the Data Retrieval Schedules for Inventory and Warranty
10
60 Understanding Events And Alarms for Hosts