How to monitor ESXi hosts using PRTG

This article explains how to monitor ESXi hosts using PRTG, the monitoring software tool of choice for SystemAdmins, by using of course the SNMP protocol. This is how I proceeded:

1. Configure SSH in the hosts
2. Configure SNMP in the ESXi hosts
3. Configure "Credentials for SNMP devices" in PRTG
4. Add sensors in PRTG to the ESXi host device
5. Suppress Warning in the ESXi host

1. Configure SSH in the hosts

If you are using vCenter to manage your hosts, logon to it then highlight the host you want to configure >> Configure tab >> System >> Services >> And configure both "ESXi Shell" and "SSH" services to "Start and stop with host", and then start them. As long as your root password is complex and secure, it is good to have those services always running, you'll never know when you may need to ssh to the host in case of emergencies

2. Configure SNMP in the ESXi hosts

SSH to your hosts and run these commands, changing the IP address (on my example 192.168.0.130) to that of your local PRTG and the community name (on my example MyPublicName)  to that of your choice

esxcli system snmp set --targets=192.168.0.130@161/public

esxcli system snmp set --communities MyPublicName

esxcli system snmp set --enable true

esxcli system snmp test

Once you have run the above, execute the following and ensure that the output shows what you want:

esxcli system snmp get

3. Configure "Credentials for SNMP devices" in PRTG

Visit the Settings of the folder or group in PRTG where you have put the host, and configure the SNMP credentials community string with your own wording

4. Add sensors in PRTG to the ESXi host device

And this is it, now on you PRTG system, add the sensors listed on the picture below and wait for the SNMP protocol to do its magic, they should all become green in a few seconds

5) Suppress Warning in the ESXi host

Because previously we enabled the ESXi Shell and the SSH services on the host, the vCenter now will complain about that. Just visit the host and click on "Suppress Warning"

If you are presented with the message: "This host is potentially vulnerable to issues described in CVE-2018-3646, please refer to https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/55636 for details and VMware recommendations. KB 55636 ", do as follows (as per recommended on the KB article):

Visit the Host >> Configure tab >> System, Advanced System Settings and click on "Edit", then search for the string "Hyper" and set the "VMkernel.Boot.hypertreadingMitigation" to "true". After that, yes, you will need to reboot the host

Hope all this help

If you have enjoyed reading this article aboutHow to monitor ESXi hosts using PRTG, you might like this other one too:

• Configure ESXi host for multi vlans on a cisco switch https://www.nazaudy.com/configure-esxi-host-for-multi-vlans-on-a-cisco-switch

References

• https://kb.vmware.com/s/article/55636