5.7

Identifying the Cause
Consider these items to help find and isolate the cause of a problem:
n
The symptoms that appear in vCenter Operations Manager. For example, what are the Workload, Faults,
and Anomalies scores?
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The population affected. Which objects are experiencing the symptoms?
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The time frame of the problem. Is it temporary or long-term?
Addressing the Cause
After you understand the cause, you can take appropriate action in the virtual environment to fix the problem.
Typically, remediation involves shifting or adding resources in the environment.
Troubleshooting a Help Desk Problem
Use the vCenter Operations Manager Search feature to find an object that a user is having problems with.
If you receive a notice that a user is experiencing a problem with their environment, you can use the
vCenter Operations Manager Search feature to find the object that is causing the problem. For example, a user
might be experiencing performance problems with a virtual machine.
You can search for any object in the virtual environment, including groups of objects created in
vCenter Operations Manager.
Procedure
1 In the Search text box in the upper right of the page, type all or part of the object name.
You can search using any fragment of the object's name, for example, Storage. The resulting list might
display Storage3-ESX41, Storage5-ESX41U1, and the like.
A list of objects that match your search criteria appears as you type. The list is limited to the first 10
matching items.
2 In the list of matching objects, find the object you are searching for and click it.
The object is highlighted in the Inventory pane and the Dashboardtab is updated.
3 On the Dashboard tab, check the badge scores and colors, especially the Health badge for the object and
the Alert Volume chart for the object.
4 Navigate to the Workload, Anomalies, and Faults badges under the object's Health badge, and examine
alert notifications, to determine the cause of the user's problem.
Troubleshooting an Alert
Use the Alert Volume graph or the alert icons to begin investigating one or more alerts.
The vCenter Operations Manager Dashboard displays alert information in the Alert Volume chart under the
Health badge, and in the alert icons on the far right. The chart shows the number and type of alerts that occurred
over the past week, and the icons show the type and number of alerts that are currently active.
Procedure
1 Examine the Alert Volume chart to see if a pattern exists over the past seven days.
A pattern can indicate an ongoing problem.
2 Navigate to the Alerts tab by clicking the Alert Volume chart or clicking an alert icon.
VMware vCenter Operations Manager Getting Started Guide
36 VMware, Inc.