Deployment architecture

The following diagram explains the typical deployment architecture for VMware vCenter Server monitoring:

The following procedure details the deployment process for the VMware vCenter Server monitoring:

1. On the recommended hardware, install BMC PATROL Agent version 9.0.10 or later and BMC PATROL for VMware vSphere version 3.2.00 or later. See System-requirements to identify the total number for BMC PATROL Agents required for monitoring VMware vCenter Server.

   Note

   BMC does not recommend enabling BMC ProactiveNet Integration Service when you install BMC PATROL Agent and BMC PATROL for VMware vSphere. When BMC PATROL for VMware vSphere connects to VMware vCenter Server for the first time, it collects all the inventory data. This operation typically takes a long time and needs resources from the computer that has BMC PATROL Agent installed, so BMC recommends disabling integration with BMC ProactiveNet Integration Service until BMC PATROL for VMware vSphere successfully discovers the inventory for the first time.

2. Tune your BMC PATROL Agent. For more information, see Tuning BMC PATROL Agent.

3. Configure BMC PATROL for VMware vSphere to monitor VMware vCenter Server by following the steps mentioned in Configuring BMC PATROL for VMware vSphere.

   Note

   If multiple BMC PATROL Agents are required to monitor the VMware vCenter Server, configure object filtering on each agent appropriately as mentioned in Object filtering for load balancing.

4. Verify whether BMC PATROL Agent is collecting data by using the classic or PATROL7 console. This is a critical step. After you integrate BMC PATROL Agent with
   BMC ProactiveNet Integration Service, it is difficult to take any corrective action on the computer that has BMC PATROL Agent installed. Run the VSM_psl.psl script
   and verify the number of instances discovered by BMC PATROL Agent. Ensure that it is within the scalability guidelines.For information about the VSM_psl.psl script, see the Self-Help document ID KA392120 in the BMC Knowledge Base.

5. On the recommended hardware, install BMC ProactiveNet Integration Service.

   Note

   If you have to install multiple BMC PATROL Agents to monitor large VMware vCenter Server, BMC recommends you to install equal number of BMC ProactiveNet Integration Services. Every BMC PATROL Agent must be integrated with a dedicated BMC ProactiveNet Integration Service.

6. Tune and configure BMC ProactiveNet Integration Service. For more information about tuning the integration service, see Configuring BMC ProactiveNet Integration Service.

   Note

    If you have configured BMC ProactiveNet Integration Service for failover, apply the same changes on the other BMC ProactiveNet Integration Services.

7. Configure the BMC PATROL Agent to connect with the BMC ProactiveNet Integration Service by setting the integrationServices variable. 
   For example:
   "/AgentSetup/integration/integrationServices" = {REPLACE="tcp:integrationServiceHostName:3183" }

8. Add BMC ProactiveNet Remote Agent to BMC ProactiveNet Server by using the BMC ProactiveNet Administration Console and create BMC PATROL Adapter manually.

   Note

   Allow the adapter to automatically synchronize the data, and do not add any other adapter until the synchronization is complete. The approximate time taken for a large VMware vCenter Server (with 2500 VMs) is about an hour. Also, BMC ProactiveNet Server takes longer time (usually a couple of hours) to build the hierarchy.