Observability options using Red Hat OpenShift with VMware vSphere concepts
When your infrastructure is finally up and running with a new tool, it’s time to keep it running smoothly. In this resource we will learn how to access common observability features in Red Hat OpenShift, and what each of the Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization observability menu options mean for VMware vSphere admins.
What will you learn?
- How OpenShift menu and features map to ones you may know from VMware
What do you need before starting?
- VMware vSphere 8.0 or higher (as referenced in this path)
- Red Hat OpenShift 4.18 (as referenced in this path)
Observability feature mapping chart
This section addresses commonly used observability features in VMware and how they map to deploying, managing, and maintaining virtual machines in OpenShift.
| Feature | VMware | OpenShift |
Notification/Alarm on Triggers | Custom alarm provides rules definition on events, condition or state triggers, severity levels can be set | OpenShift Observability provides rules definition. Severity levels can be set and have discrete actions for each level. |
| Variety of Notifications Targets | Custom Alarm provides for emails and SNMP traps configuration as well as script execution | Alertmanager provides default handlers for email, webhook, and several 3rd party apps including Slack, PagerDuty, and MSTeams (See Notes for full list) |
| Event logging | Provides a per-VM advanced option to Enable logging to a log file called vmware-n.log | Vector/Loki/Logging Console plugin has replaced the traditional Elasticsearch/Fluentd/Kibana stack to provide greater insights and better observability |
| Log Shipping | Host logs can be shipped from vCenter to alternate locations/3rd party logging apps | Vector multi log forwarder feature supports multiple Red Hat and 3rd party logging applications |
Menu mapping chart
This section addresses what the OpenShift Virtualization observability menu selection items mean from a VMware vSphere perspective. As noted in previous resources, OpenShift is conceptually different in select areas from VMware to achieve the same or similar items.These instances will be marked as “N/A” in the list below.
| OpenShift Virtualization menu | VMware comparable | Explanation |
| Alerting | Task and Events | Shows list of events |
| Metrics | Task and Events | Show performance data for VMI/pods |
| Dashboards | Performance > Overview/Advance | Performance dashboards |
| Target | Integration Access with account/passwords | List of services that can be monitored |
Congratulations! You have successfully walked through common features and options within OpenShift as they may compare to VMware vSphere.
