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# 5 Monitor VMware with Zabbix

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#### Introduction

This page walks you through the steps required to start basic monitoring of VMware.

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**Who this guide is for**

This guide is designed for new Zabbix users and contains the minimum set of steps required to enable basic monitoring of VMware.
If you are looking for deep customization options or require more advanced configuration, see the [Virtual machine monitoring](/manual/vm_monitoring) section or the [Configuration](/manual/config) section of Zabbix manual.

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**Prerequisites**

Before proceeding with this guide, you need to [download and install](https://www.zabbix.com/download) Zabbix server and Zabbix frontend according to the instructions for your OS.

Depending on your environment, some steps in this guide may slightly differ.
This guide is based on an environment running Ubuntu.

It is assumed that VMware is already configured.
This guide does not cover the configuration of VMware.

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#### Configure Zabbix server

To monitor VMware, the *vmware collector* Zabbix processes need to be enabled.
For more information on how VMware monitoring is performed, see [Virtual machine monitoring](/manual/vm_monitoring#data-collection).

1\. Open the Zabbix server configuration file.

```bash
vi /etc/zabbix/zabbix_server.conf
```

2\. Locate and set the [`StartVMwareCollectors`](/manual/appendix/config/zabbix_server#startvmwarecollectors) parameter in Zabbix server configuration file to `2` [or more](/manual/vm_monitoring#configuration) (the default value is `0`).

```ini
### Option: StartVMwareCollectors
#       Number of pre-forked vmware collector instances.
#
# Mandatory: no
# Range: 0-250
# Default:
# StartVMwareCollectors=0

StartVMwareCollectors=2
```

3\. Restart Zabbix server.

```bash
systemctl restart zabbix-server
```

Once the *vmware collector* processes have been started, move on to the next step.

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#### Configure Zabbix frontend

1\. Log into Zabbix frontend.

2\. [Create a host](/manual/config/hosts/host) in Zabbix web interface:

- In the *Host name* field, enter a host name (for example, "VMware environment").
- In the *Templates* field, type or select the "VMware FQDN" (or "VMware") template.
For more information on these templates, see [Virtual machine monitoring](/manual/vm_monitoring#ready-to-use-templates).
- In the *Host groups* field, type or select a host group (for example, a new host group "VMware").

![](../../../assets/en/manual/guides/vmware_host.png){width="600"}

- In the *Macros* tab, set the following host macros:
    - {$VMWARE.URL} - VMware service (vCenter or ESXi hypervisor) SDK URL (https://servername/sdk)
    - {$VMWARE.USERNAME} - VMware service user name
    - {$VMWARE.PASSWORD} - VMware service {$VMWARE.USERNAME} user password

![](../../../assets/en/manual/guides/vmware_macros.png){width="600"}

3\. Click the *Add* button to create the host. This host will represent your VMware environment.

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#### View collected metrics

Congratulations! At this point, Zabbix is already monitoring your VMware environment.

Depending on the configuration of your VMware environment, Zabbix may [discover](/manual/vm_monitoring#discovery) and then create hosts for the discovered entities.
Note that the discovery and creation of hosts can also be [executed manually](/manual/config/items/check_now), if necessary.

To view created hosts, navigate to the [*Data collection → Hosts*](/manual/web_interface/frontend_sections/data_collection/hosts) menu section.

![](../../../assets/en/manual/guides/vmware_discovered_hosts.png){width="600"}

To view collected metrics, navigate to the [*Monitoring → Hosts*](/manual/web_interface/frontend_sections/monitoring/hosts) menu section and click *Latest data* next to the created "VMware environment" host or one of the hosts that were created for the discovered entities.

![](../../../assets/en/manual/guides/vmware_monitored_hosts.png){width="600"}

This action will open a list of all the latest metrics collected from the selected host.

![](../../../assets/en/manual/guides/vmware_latest_data.png){width="600"}

Note that some items have no data and the *Not supported* state.
This is because Zabbix cannot find valid [performance counters](/manual/vm_monitoring/vmware_keys#footnotes) on the specific datastore, as it is not enabled in the VMware environment being monitored.

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#### Set up problem alerts

Zabbix can notify you about a problem with your infrastructure using a variety of methods.
This guide provides basic configuration steps for sending email alerts.

1\. Navigate to [*User settings → Profile*](/manual/web_interface/user_profile), switch to the *Media* tab and [add your email](/manual/installation/quick_guides/basic_config/login#adding-user).

![](../../../assets/en/manual/quickstart/new_media.png){width="600"}

2\. Follow the guide for [Receiving a problem notification](/manual/installation/quick_guides/basic_config/notification).

Next time, when Zabbix detects a problem, you should receive an alert via email.

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#### See also

- [Creating an item](/manual/config/items/item) - how to start monitoring additional metrics.
- [Problem escalations](/manual/config/notifications/action/escalations) - how to create multi-step alert scenarios
  (e.g., first send message to the system administrator, then, if a problem is not resolved in 45 minutes, send message to the data center manager).
- [Virtual machine monitoring](/manual/vm_monitoring#ready-to-use-templates) - additional information about VMware monitoring (data collection process, server configuration options, troubleshooting guidance, etc.).
- [VMware monitoring item keys](/manual/vm_monitoring/vmware_keys) - a full list of VMware metrics that can be monitored using Zabbix.
- Template [*VMware*](https://git.zabbix.com/projects/ZBX/repos/zabbix/browse/templates/app/vmware) - additional information about the *VMware* template.
- Template [*VMware FQDN*](https://git.zabbix.com/projects/ZBX/repos/zabbix/browse/templates/app/vmware_fqdn) - additional information about the *VMware FQDN* template.

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