Installation guide

Table Of Contents
Working with Performance Statistics 22
You can configure how statistics are collected and archived for your vCenter Server system. This determines
the data available in the performance charts, which you use to monitor and troubleshoot performance in your
environment.
This chapter includes the following topics:
n
“Statistics Collection for vCenter Server,” on page 267
n
“Statistics Collection for Microsoft Windows Guest Operating Systems,” on page 274
n
“vCenter Server Performance Charts,” on page 275
n
“Monitoring and Troubleshooting Performance,” on page 279
Statistics Collection for vCenter Server
You can collect statistical data for all managed objects in your vCenter Server system. Statistical data consists
of CPU, memory, disk, network, system, and virtual machine operations metrics.
Table 22-1 lists each metric group and describes the type of data collected.
Table 22-1. Metric Groups
Metric group Description
CPU CPU utilization per host, virtual machine, resource pool, or compute resource.
Memory Memory utilization per host, virtual machine, resource pool, or compute resource. The value obtained is
one of the following:
n
For virtual machines, memory refers to guest physical memory. Guest physical memory is the amount
of physical memory presented as a virtual-hardware component to the virtual machine, at creation
time, and made available when the virtual machine is running.
n
For hosts, memory refers to machine memory. Machine memory is the random-access memory (RAM)
that is installed in the hardware that comprises the ESX/ESXi system.
Disk Disk utilization per host, virtual machine, or datastore. Disk metrics include input/output (I/O)
performance (such as latency and read/write speeds), and utilization metrics for storage as a finite
resource.
Network Network utilization for both physical and virtual network interface controllers (NICs) and other network
devices, such as the virtual switches (vSwitch) that support connectivity among all components (hosts,
virtual machines, VMkernel, and so on).
VMware, Inc. 267