table of contents - vmware...lab guidance note: it will take roughly 75 minutes to complete this...

Table of ContentsLab Overview - HOL-2015-01-SDC - VMware Skyline ........................................................ 2

Lab Guidance .......................................................................................................... 3Module 1 - Immediate Results with Proactive Findings (15 Minutes).................................9

Overview............................................................................................................... 10Student Check-In................................................................................................... 13Proactive Findings ................................................................................................. 19Conclusion............................................................................................................. 35

Module 2 - Getting Started with Skyline (15 Minutes) ..................................................... 36Overview............................................................................................................... 37Hands-on Labs Interactive Simulation: Cloud Services Org Creation ....................40Hands-on Labs Interactive Simulation: Configuring a Skyline Collector ................41Conclusion............................................................................................................. 42

Module 3 - Explore the Capabilities of VMware Skyline (30 Minutes) ..............................43Overview............................................................................................................... 44Student Check-In................................................................................................... 45Dashboard............................................................................................................. 51Inventory............................................................................................................... 59Proactive Findings ................................................................................................. 66OSR Library ........................................................................................................... 67Conclusion............................................................................................................. 69

Module 4 - Log Assist and Support Capabilities (15 Minutes)..........................................70Overview............................................................................................................... 71Student Check-In................................................................................................... 72Log Assist .............................................................................................................. 78Hands-on Labs Interactive Simulation: Log Assist................................................. 88Conclusion............................................................................................................. 89

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Lab Overview -HOL-2015-01-SDC -

VMware Skyline

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Lab GuidanceNote: It will take roughly 75 minutes to complete this lab. The modules areindependent of each other so you can start at the beginning of any moduleand proceed from there. You can use the Table of Contents to access anymodule of your choosing.

The Table of Contents can be accessed in the upper right-hand corner of theLab Manual.

VMware Skyline, developed by VMware Global Services, is a proactive supporttechnology available to customers with an active Production Support or Premier Servicescontract. Skyline automatically and securely collects, aggregates and analyzes customerspecific product usage data to proactively identify potential issues and improve time-to-resolution.

Skyline proactive support helps avoid problems before they occur and reduces the timespent on resolving active support requests. With just a few clicks, increase teamproductivity and the overall reliability of VMware environments. Skyline proactivelysupports vSphere, vSAN, NSX, vROps and Horizon 7 with solution tagging for VxRail andVMware Validated Designs.

Lab Module List:

• Module 1 - Immediate Results with Pro-active Findings (15 minutes) (Basic) Inthis module, you will utilize the Proactive Findings feature of Skyline to rapidlyidentify and resolve issues that are currently affecting the monitoredenvironment.

• Module 2 - Getting Started with Skyline (15 minutes) (Basic) This interactivesimulation will walk you through the deployment and initial configuration ofVMware Skyline.

• Module 3 - Explore the Capabilities of VMware Skyline (30 minutes) (Basic) In thismodule, you will step through the various sections of the Skyline User Interfaceand explore the features and capabilities of the platform.

• Module 4 - Log Assist and Support Capabilities (15 minutes) (Basic) In thismodule, you will explore the Log Assist functionality of Skyline in additional toworking with the Live Support capability of the platform.

Lab Captains:

• Module 1 - 4: Paul Irwin, Staff Solution Architect, US

This lab manual can be downloaded from the Hands-on Labs Document site found here:

http://docs.hol.vmware.com

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http://docs.hol.vmware.com

This lab may be available in other languages. To set your language preference and havea localized manual deployed with your lab, you may utilize this document to help guideyou through the process:

http://docs.hol.vmware.com/announcements/nee-default-language.pdf

Location of the Main Console

1. The area in the RED box contains the Main Console. The Lab Manual is on the tabto the Right of the Main Console.

2. A particular lab may have additional consoles found on separate tabs in the upperleft. You will be directed to open another specific console if needed.

3. Your lab starts with 90 minutes on the timer. The lab can not be saved. All yourwork must be done during the lab session. But you can click the EXTEND toincrease your time. If you are at a VMware event, you can extend your lab timetwice, for up to 30 minutes. Each click gives you an additional 15 minutes.Outside of VMware events, you can extend your lab time up to 9 hours and 30

minutes. Each click gives you an additional hour.

Alternate Methods of Keyboard Data Entry

During this module, you will input text into the Main Console. Besides directly typing itin, there are two very helpful methods of entering data which make it easier to entercomplex data.

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http://docs.hol.vmware.com/announcements/nee-default-language.pdf

Click and Drag Lab Manual Content Into Console ActiveWindow

You can also click and drag text and Command Line Interface (CLI) commands directlyfrom the Lab Manual into the active window in the Main Console.

Accessing the Online International Keyboard

You can also use the Online International Keyboard found in the Main Console.

1. Click on the Keyboard Icon found on the Windows Quick Launch Task Bar.

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Click once in active console window

In this example, you will use the Online Keyboard to enter the "@" sign used in emailaddresses. The "@" sign is Shift-2 on US keyboard layouts.

1. Click once in the active console window.2. Click on the Shift key.

Click on the @ key

1. Click on the "@ key".

Notice the @ sign entered in the active console window.

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Activation Prompt or Watermark

When you first start your lab, you may notice a watermark on the desktop indicatingthat Windows is not activated.

One of the major benefits of virtualization is that virtual machines can be moved andrun on any platform. The Hands-on Labs utilizes this benefit and we are able to run thelabs out of multiple datacenters. However, these datacenters may not have identicalprocessors, which triggers a Microsoft activation check through the Internet.

Rest assured, VMware and the Hands-on Labs are in full compliance with Microsoftlicensing requirements. The lab that you are using is a self-contained pod and does nothave full access to the Internet, which is required for Windows to verify the activation.Without full access to the Internet, this automated process fails and you see this

watermark.

This cosmetic issue has no effect on your lab.

Look at the lower right portion of the screen

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Please check to see that your lab is finished all the startup routines and is ready for youto start. If you see anything other than "Ready", please wait a few minutes. If after 5minutes your lab has not changed to "Ready", please ask for assistance.

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Module 1 - ImmediateResults with ProactiveFindings (15 Minutes)

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OverviewWelcome to Module-1 of the Skyline Hands-On lab.

In this module we highlight one of the key capabilities of VMware Skyline, the ProactiveFindings feature. You will explore the various findings identified by Skyline for allmonitored environments along with the details of each.

VMware Skyline - Solution Overview

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How does Skyline work?

VMware Skyline follows a Collect, Listen and Analyze approach to proactively monitorthe environment. This approach in turn provides timely, actionable information to aidyou in avoiding potential un-scheduled downtime to parts of your VMware environment.

How do I get access to VMware Skyline?

VMware Skyline is available to all customers with Production or Premier support. Somecapabilities are only available to customers with Premier level support.

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1. Currently supported products include VMware vSphere, VMware NSX-v, VMwarevSAN, Horizon and vRealize Operations Manager.

2. Additional benefits include a designated support team, direct access to senior-level technical support engineers, assistance with multi-vendor troubleshootingand onsite support services (MCS, HCS and CGS only).

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Student Check-InThis article will provide guidance on how to gain access to VMware Cloud Services. Youwill locate the Student Check-In page, search for your email address and then use aprovided My VMware account for the VMware Cloud Services login.

Screen Resolution

In order to ensure the best possible experience with this lab, you will need to changethe default screen resolution on the Hands-on Labs Main Console Desktop.

1. On the Main Console desktop, right click and select the screen resolution optionfrom the menu list.

2. Select the 1280 x 768 resolution option.3. Click Apply when prompted to save.

Open Student Check-In Web Page

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Open Chrome Browser

1. On top of browser click Student Check-In2. This will navigate to https://checkin.hol.vmware.com

Search and Validate

1. Enter your email address used to login and start the lab2. Click Search3. Click the My VMware account provided e.g [email protected]

When prompted, VMware1! will be the password

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Capacity Limits

If you searched for your email address and this response is returned please END yourlab and try again later. Each student is assigned a cloud services organization (org).When your lab started, all these orgs were in use.

VMware Cloud Services Sign-In

1. In some cases, you may need to copy and re-paste the pre-populated emailaddress back into the address field to have the NEXT button highlighted.

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2. The VMware Cloud Services portal also gives you the option to translate betweenEnglish and Japanese languages. Look for the dropdown and select your preferredlanguage. In most cases, this should already be ENGLISH

3. Then click NEXT to continue.

1. Enter password: VMware1!2. Cick SIGN IN

After logging in:

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1. Click the drop down in the right hand corner where your login name is.2. Make sure that the Organization name listed is Skyline Hands-On Lab.3. Click on the main part of the scree to close the menu.

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Select Skyline Advisor

This is the Console landing page which provides navigation to all VMware Cloud servicesyou have subscribed to as well as those you have not.

In this lab, only Skyline Advisor will be available to open.

1. Click on Skyline Advisor to open

You now have access to VMware Skyline until this lab expires or ends. Enjoy!

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Proactive FindingsAfter successfully authenticating to the Skyline Advisor console you will find yourself onthe Dashboard tab of the Skyline Hands-On Labs Organization. You will explore theProactive Findings capabilities of VMware Skyline Advisor

The account you are using to access VMware Skyline has Premier Support enabled. Assuch, you will have access to all Skyline functions such as OSR which is not available foraccounts with Production level support.

Proactive Findings Tab

1. Select the Proactive Findings tab.

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Muted Findings Tab

1. Under the Proactive Findings tab on the main section of the UI, select the MutedFindings sub-tab.

Clear Muted Findings

The Muted Findings section displays all the items that have been hidden from view forvarious reasons. Due to the way that this particular Hands-on Lab environment has beenarchitected and to ensure a consistent experience for all, we need to ensure that anydiscovered muted items are unmuted.

1. Place a check mark in the UNSELECT ALL option.2. With all the findings cards selected, click the UNMUTE FINDINGS option.

There may not be any items listed under Muted Findings. If this is the case, you mayproceed on to the next step.

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Confirmation

1. Click UNMUTE on the confirmation dialog box.

Findings Tab

1. Select the Findings Tab

Findings Overview

The Findings Tab displays all identified issues, known bugs and misconfigurationsdiscovered within the environment that VMware Skyline is monitoring. These issues aredisplayed, by default, in a card style format. The display can be changed to a list basedview to allow for more findings to be viewed in a single page.

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1. Select either the Card or List view option

Search Capabilities

VMware Skyline has a very powerful search capability. You will use the search function tonarrow down the displayed findings to a specific type of problem we are looking for.

The lead Virtualization Admin for your company is concerned that a number of your ESXihosts may be susceptible to the Purple Screen of Death due to a recently discoveredbug.

1. In the search bar, type in "psod" and hit the return key.

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With the search filter applied, you will see that we have significantly reduced thenumber of displayed findings to include only those that contain "psod" or purple screenof death in the description or finding ID.

Card Overview

Each card displays information specific to an identified known issue and contains someimportant information. Let's take a few minutes to explore the details from one of thecards.

1. Finding ID: The Finding ID is specific to a known issue that has been identifiedwithin the monitored environment. It contains an abbreviated description of theissue along with the KB article number that relates to the problem. The Finding IDis also searchable as we demonstrated in the previous step when we searchedonly for ID's that contained PSOD in the description. Also included is anindication of the severity of this specified problem.

2. Affected Objects: The Affected Objects section lists how many objects withinthe monitored environment are currently impacted by this specific know issue.

3. Category: Lists the specific object category in which this finding resides.4. Finding Type: Lists one of 3 categories in which the findings have been grouped

into. (Upgrade/Patch, Configuration or Troubleshooting)5. Risk: This highlights the potential impact to the affected object if no action is

taken to resolve the issue.6. Recommendations: This section lists the recommended fix or fixes to mitigate

the issue.

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Click on the first card listed to open it and to view additional information.

Card Details

Clicking on the card opens the finding to display additional details regarding the issue.

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1. The Recommendations section has expanded details that lists not only the KBarticle that describes the problem in more detail, but also lists the details on thecorrective actions that should be taken to resolve the issue.

Affected Objects

At the bottom of the page is an expanded view of all objects affected by this specificissue.

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1. The Source Name identifies the monitored product or environment where theaffected object resides

2. The Object Name identifies the affected object by it's FQDN. In this case theobject is an ESXi host.

3. Object Type identifies the type of object affected.4. Summary provides additional information regarding the affected object including

the current software version, the build number and in some cases a briefdescription of the expected symptoms.

Export Findings

The Export button on the right side of the page allows you to export the details from theaffected object section into a CSV file. This is particularly helpful if there are a largenumber of affected objects and you need to manipulate the information to identifyspecific groups of impacted objects.

Another reason may be to utilize that exported list as an input source for some kind oforchestration tool to help automate the remediation of the problem.

1. Click the Export button to export the current list of affected objects to a CSV file.

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Back to Findings

1. Click the back button to return to the Findings view.

Filtering Objects

On the left side of the page you will see a Filters section. The filter allows you to reduceor customize the displayed findings based on specified criteria.

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Objects Filter

1. Expand the arrows to the left of the vcenter01.core.hypervizor.com object.Continue expanding the tree until the 3 ESXi Hosts are visible.

2. Place a Check mark next to the esx02-s1.core.hypervizor.com ESXi host3. Click Apply

Applied Objects Filter View

The filter settings have now been applied to all findings. Only the cards or entries thatmatch or are related to the object you specified in the filter pane will be visible.

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1. In this case only findings that relate to esx02-s1.core.hypervizor.com aredisplayed. This includes not only host related issues, but issues relating to objectsthat reside on that host including storage objects, vSwitches and virtualmachines.

2. Click the Clear All button when you are done viewing the list of filtered entries.

Severity Filter

1. On the left side of the page, expand the Severity Filter.2. Place a check mark next to Moderate3. Click Apply

Applied Severity Filter View

The filter settings have now been applied to all findings.

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1. In this case only findings that have a severity rating of Moderate are displayed.This includes all issues from all objects being monitored.


Category Filter

The Category Filter View allows you to specify the object categories you wish to view.

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1. On the left side of the page, expand the Category Filter.2. Place a check mark next to Storage3. Click Apply

Applied Category Filter View


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1. In this case all findings that are related to Storage, regardless of severity rating,are displayed. Scroll through the list of displayed results.


Finding Types Filter

The Finding Type Filter View allows you to specify the Issue Type category you wish toview.

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1. On the left side of the page, expand the Finding Types Filter.2. Place a check mark next to Patches / Upgrades3. Click Apply

Applied Finding Types View


1. In this case all findings that are related to Patches / Upgrades, regardless ofseverity rating or Category are displayed. Scroll through the list of displayedresults.


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You may combine any number of the filter options together to refine your search criteriaeven further. Take some time to experiment with various combinations of filters as wellas the different view options. (Card view or List view.)

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ConclusionYou've finished Module 1!

Congratulations on completing Module 1. You should now have a good understanding ofhow the Proactive Findings view in Skyline Advisor gives you immediate visibility intothe overall stability of all monitored objects and environments.

Based on your interests, please proceed to any module below:

• Module 2: Getting Started with Skyline (15 minutes)• Module 3: Explore the Capabilities of VMware Skyline (30 minutes)• Module 4: Log Assist and Support Capabilities (15 minutes)

How to End Lab

If you prefer to end your lab now, you can click on the END button; otherwise continueto the next module.

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Module 2 - GettingStarted with Skyline (15

Minutes)

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In this module you will explore the installation and configuration process required to getVMware Skyline deployed to your on-premise environment.

Due to time constraints and the inherent limitations of the Hands-on Labs environment,this module is delivered through two click through, interactive simulations.

Cloud Services Architecture: Single Organization

The following image depicts a typical Skyline implementation.

A customer has created a Cloud Services Organization and they have deployed theSkyline Collector virtual appliance, and registered it with their Cloud ServicesOrganization.

A vCenter Server and NSX Manager have been added to the Skyline Collector. ProactiveFindings and Recommendations will be created for this vCenter Server and NSX Managerand will be visible within Skyline Advisor.

Customers can control who has access to view these Proactive Findings andRecommendations using Identity & Access Management within VMware Cloud Services.

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Cloud Services Architecture: Multi-Organization

If a customer has multiple teams, lines of business, or companies that share a commonsupport entitlement with VMware but want to organize data or limit data visibility acrossthose lines, they can create multiple Cloud Services Organizations.

In the example below, Acme and Rainpole both share a support entitlement withVMware (Premier Support). However, Acme system administrators should not seeRainpole environment information, and vice versa. In this instance, Acme and Rainpolehave both created their own Cloud Services Organization. They each deploy a SkylineCollector, and attach the respective products that they manage to the Skyline Collector.

The combination of the Cloud Services Organization, and the Skyline Collector helps toorganize data in a way the customer prefers.

Acme system administrators can only see proactive findings and recommendations thatimpact their environment and Rainpole system administrators can only see proactivefindings and recommendations that impact their environment.

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Environment inventory details such as Hosts and Clusters, Networks and Storage detailsare also only visible to each respective team. This architecture maintains any securityboundaries that would exist within an organization with respect to viewing VMwareinventory details.

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Hands-on Labs Interactive Simulation:Cloud Services Org CreationThis part of the lab is presented as a Hands-on Labs Interactive Simulation. This willallow you to experience steps which are too time-consuming or resource intensive to dolive in the lab environment. In this simulation, you can use the software interface as ifyou are interacting with a live environment.

1. Click here to open the interactive simulation. It will open in a new browserwindow or tab.

2. When finished, click the “Return to the lab” link or simply close the browser tab inwhich the simulaiton is running to continue with this lab.

The lab continues to run in the background. If the lab goes into standby mode, you canresume it after completing the module.

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http://docs.hol.vmware.com/hol-isim/hol-2020/hol-isim-player.htm?isim=CSP%20Organization%20Creation-HOL-HOLProduction.htm

Hands-on Labs Interactive Simulation:Configuring a Skyline CollectorThis part of the lab is presented as a Hands-on Labs Interactive Simulation. This willallow you to experience steps which are too time-consuming or resource intensive to dolive in the lab environment. In this simulation, you can use the software interface as ifyou are interacting with a live environment.


2. When finished, click the “Return to the lab” link or simply close the browser tab inwhich the simulaiton is running to continue with this lab.


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http://docs.hol.vmware.com/hol-isim/hol-2020/hol-isim-player.htm?isim=skyline_collector.htm


Congratulations on completing Module 2. You should now have a solid understanding ofhow VMware Skyline is deployed and configured.


• Module 1: Proactive Findings (15 minutes)•• Module 4: Log Assist and Support Capabilities (15 minutes)

How to End Lab


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Module 3 - Explore theCapabilities of VMwareSkyline (30 Minutes)

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In this module, you will explore some of the additional information and reportingcapabilities available to you with VMware Skyline.

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Screen Resolution





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Open Chrome Browser


Search and Validate



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Capacity Limits




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After logging in:

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DashboardIf you recently completed another module in this lab, you may find that your currentview is not the main Dashboard page.

1. If this is the case, please click the Dashboard tab on the top left side of thescreen.

Account Information

The panel located on the top left side of the dashboard page provides information aboutyour current account. Information displayed includes the following.

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1. The Organization Name2. Account Type: This could be either Premier or Production level.3. Account ID: This is a unique Identifier and maps directly to the Organization ID

within the VMware Cloud Services Portal4. EA Number: You EA or Enterprise Agreement number should this be available.

Environment

The Environment panel, displays information about all the VMware Solutions that arecurrently being monitored. As you can see, VMware Skyline supports monitoring thefollowing VMware products.

• vCenter Server• ESXi Hosts• Virtual Machines• vRealize Operations Manager• Horizon• NSX-V

Also displayed is a time stamp of the last analysis that was performed across allmonitored products. Any new additions or updates to the inventory could take up to 48hours to populate within VMware Skyline.

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1. If you click on the SHOW INVENTORY button, you will be taken to the Inventorypage where you can view additional information regarding the products andobjects that are being monitored.

Select the Dashboard Tab

Navigate back to the Dashboard tab. We will explore the Inventory section in greaterdetail later in this module.

Collectors

The Collectors panel displays the number of active and inactive collectors that aresending information to VMware Skyline. Module-2 of this lab shows the deployment andconfiguration of the collector.

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1. Click on the SHOW COLLECTOR DETAILS button

Findings

Navigate back to the Dashboard tab.

The Findings panel displays the total number of findings from all monitored solutions.Also displayed is a breakdown of findings based on the severity of the identifiedproblem.

CRITICAL - These are issues that could cause downtime, significant performancedegradation, corruption of data or pose a security risk.

MODERATE - These are issues that could typically impact usability of the environmentbut would not cause service interruption. An example here could be vSphere Web Clientissues, Plug-in issues etc.

TRIVIAL - These are issues that have a low impact to the environment

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Category

The Category panel displays findings from all monitored solutions, broken down into thespecific category areas affected by the identified problem.

There are 6 categories.

• Network• Compute• Security• Storage• End User Compute• Operations Management

1. Clicking on the SHOW ALL FINDINGS button will take you to the ProactiveFindings page which was covered in Module 1 of this lab.

Log Assist

Due to the inherent limitations of the Hands-On labs environment, we are unable toprovide real-time Log Assist information in the lab itself. Please be aware thatinformation displayed in the manual will be different to what you see in your labenvironment.

This step in the manual is informational only.

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The Log Assist section of the Dashboard displays a summary of all previous log transfersusing Skyline Log Assist. The total number of log transfers is displayed, along withnumber of log transfers for each status, such as Completed or Requested.

Clicking on the Show Details button enables you to view the Log Library whichcontains details about all previous log transfer requests.

Updates

The Updates panel on the main Dashboard page provides a number of useful links toadditional information relating to Skyline. This information includes:

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• Release notes for the current version of Skyline Advisor• Official VMware Skyline documentation• VMware Support Experience Blog

Support Requests

Due to the inherent limitations of the Hands-On labs environment, we are unable toprovide real-time Support Request information in the lab itself. Please be aware thatinformation displayed in the manual will be different to what you see in your labenvironment.

This step in the manual is informational only.

The Support Requests section of the Dashboard displays all Support Requests opened bythe currently logged-in user.

All support requests with a status other than Closed will be visible. These supportrequests will appear with an option to upload a log bundle to Skyline Log Assist.

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By clicking on the Show all Support Requests button, you have the ability to viewadditional details about each support request including the VMware Technical SupportEngineer assigned to the case, the current status of the SR, the severity and adescription of the problem.

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InventoryIn this section, you will explore the Inventory tab of the VMware Skyline User Interface.

1. Click the Inventory tab

Inventories Pane

On the left side of the Inventory Tab user interface is the Inventories pane. This windowallows you to navigate through and browse details of the various objects and solutionsbeing monitored.

The Hosts and Clusters menu item lists all vCenter Instances and their associatedclusters and hosts.

1. Under the vSphere section, click the Hosts and Cluster menu item.

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Hosts and Cluster Details

1. Click the arrows on the left to expand the inventory tree in the main consolewindow.

Inventory Details

With the inventory tree expanded you are able to see additional details for all host andcluster objects underneath the source product, in this case vCenter, being monitored bySkyline.

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1. Version information is displayed for all listed objects.2. Build numbers display the currently deployed build version for a particular

product.3. Add-ons lists any VMware add-on components included with the particular

product. (eg. vSAN)4. Solution Tags identifies if the particular inventory object is part of a VVD

deployment or vCF deployment.

Networking

The next menu item is Networking. This inventory view lists all portgroups andportgroup types associated with the monitored product.

On the left side of the page, select the Networking menu item.

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Expand Networking

1. Click the arrows on the left to expand the Network inventory tree in the mainconsole window

Network Details

With the inventory tree expanded you are able to see additional details for all virtualswitch and portgroup objects below the source product being monitored by Skyline.

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1. The Name column identifies the name of the various objects as displayed withinvCenter

2. ID lists the object ID. This will be either portgroup ID or virtual switch IDdepending on the object type.

3. Type identifies the type of object. This will be either Distributed or Standard portgroup or Distributed or Standard switch.

Storage

The next sub-menu item is Storage. This inventory view lists all known storage typestypes associated with the monitored product.

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1. On the left side of the page, select the Storage menu item.

Expand Storage

1. Click the arrows on the left to expand the Storage inventory tree in the mainconsole window.

Storage Details

With the inventory tree expanded you are able to see additional details for all attacheddatastore objects below the source product being monitored by Skyline.

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1. The Name column identifies the name of the various objects and Datastores asdisplayed within vCenter

2. Filesystem Type lists the underlying filesystem of the storage. This could be NFS,iSCSI or vSAN.

3. Type identifies the type of object.

Additional Menu Items

You will notice that there are additional menu items available under the inventory treeon the left side of the page. In addition to vSphere, Skyline supports the monitoring ofNSX-V, vRealize Operations Manager and Horizon View environments. Select eachof these additional menu items in turn to explore the objects and information availablefor each.

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Proactive FindingsProactive Findings were covered in Module-1 of this lab.

1. If you would like to review Module-1 again you can click on the Proactive FindingsTab.

Click on the link below to be taken to the manual page for Proactive Findings.

Module-1: Proactive Findings

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OSR LibraryThe OSR Library Tab is only visible to customers who have a Premier SupportSubscription. Customers with regular production level support will not have access tothe report capabilities of Skyline.

1. Click on the OSR Library Tab

Report List View

Report entries are identified by their name, the date that the report was run and thetype of report. Standard or Custom.

A Standard report is generated by the system automatically every 2 weeks and containsa summary of all objects monitored at the time the report ran. The status of objects aregrouped according to severity.

A Custom report can only be generated by VMware and will contain information specificto particular objects and severity.

Work with your Support Account Manager for creating a Custom OSR, based upon aspecific criteria. An example would be all security risks for a particular vCenter Server.

Reports can be downloaded either as a single doc file or as a zip file which will alsoinclude a csv file that includes details for each finding.

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Navigate to Desktop

1. Navigate to the desktop of the Control Center and open the folder namedReports

2. Open the document named OSR_Skyline_Hands_On_Lab.pdf

Explore the Report

1. A new tab will open in the Chrome browser displaying an example of a SkylineOperational Summary Report. Feel free to read though the report. When you aredone, you can close the tab to return to the Skyline console.

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Congratulations on completing Module 3. You should now have a solid understanding ofhow to navigate and utilize the in-depth functionality of VMware Skyline Advisor for allmonitored and supported VMware solutions.


• Module 1: Proactive Findings (15 minutes)•• Module 4: Log Assist and Support Capabilities (15 minutes)

How to End Lab


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Module 4 - Log Assist andSupport Capabilities (15

Minutes)

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In this module we shift gears and focus more on the reactive type of support providedby VMware GSS. This module allows you to explore some of the log gatheringcapabilities of VMware Skyline along with the interactive live chat capability.

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Screen Resolution





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Open Chrome Browser


Search and Validate



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Capacity Limits




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After logging in:

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Log AssistUp to this point we have been focusing on and exploring the pro-active issue avoidancecapabilities of Skyline. We are now going to shift gears by exploring the re-activecapabilities of the platform. This section focuses primarily on log retrieval and logshipping when opening a Service Request and engaging VMware GSS.

1. Click on the Log Assist Tab on the main screen2. Select the Initiate Log Transfer sub-tab.

Log Transfer Tab - Step 1 of 2

The Initiate Log Transfer section is where you begin the process of gathering logs fromaffected objects within your environment. Also included, and part of step-1 is the abilityto verify that the Skyline service account has the appropriate permissions within themonitored environments to pull the various log files.

Permission checks occur automatically behind the scenes once a day however you mayinitiate a manual check at anytime if permission adjustments are necessary to permitlog file gathering.

Additional information regarding the required permissions for each monitored solutioncan be found by following the link to the referenced KB article in the description.

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Expand Inventory

1. Expand the inventory tree of the vcenter01.core.hypervizor.com server todisplay all of the ESXi hosts that are currently being monitored.

Inventory Tree Details

With the inventory tree expanded we now see some additional information regardingthe various monitored Datacenter objects.

In addition to the Version and Build number of the objects we also see the followinginformation.

1. Privileges - Indicates whether the Skyline Service account has the appropriaterights for log collect for the specified object

2. Connectivity - Indicates the whether the object is accessible.3. Add-ons - Displays any additional add-on solutions that may be running on the

selected object.4. Collector Name - Displays the name of the collector responsible for the specified

object. In large organizations, there may be multiple collectors pulling informationfrom the various VMware solutions within the environment.

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Re-Validate

Should permission changes be required to allow the Skyline Service to pull theappropriate logs from the identified object you can manually invoke a re-validation ofthe object.

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1. Select the object in the inventory2. Click the RE-VALIDATE button.

Confirmation

You will see a notification informing you that the re-validation process has started andmay take some time to complete.

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1. Click OK to continue

Search Option

As mentioned in an earlier module, the Skyline Advisor has a very powerful searchcapability which allows you to search for any object or group of objects. The value ofthis search capability becomes really apparent if the inventory contains a large numberof monitored objects.

1. Within the Search bar, type in ESX03.2. If the inventory view was not expanded, the search result will expand and

highlight the discovered objects based upon your search parameters.

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Select Objects

1. Select the objects you would like to export files from2. Click Next on the right of the main page to continue.

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Support Request Error

PLEASE READ. You will see a notification indicating that there are no support requestsfor this account and there will be no results displayed. This behavior is expected and isdue to a limitation of the Hands-on Labs environment and the accounts we are using tointeract with Skyline.

Support Request

The following step in the manual will not reflect what you are seeing in your lab. Thedisplayed image in the manual depicts an example of what you would see in aproduction deployment of VMware Skyline.

In order to ship log files via Skyline, you will need to ensure that there is already aService Request open under the account of the person who is currently logged into theSkyline service. After selecting the objects as mentioned in the previous step andclicking next, you will be presented with a list of currently open Support Requests.

1. Select the Support Request that corresponds to the log files you are shipping.2. Select the Initiate Log Transfer button on the right side of the page to begin

the process of attaching and shipping the logs from the selected inventoryobjects.

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The process of shipping the logs can take some time as the request needs to be sentfrom the Skyline Advisor service to the on-premises Skyline Collector, which willgenerate and export the log bundle from the specified objects, send it to VMware, andassociate it within the selected Support Request.

Log Transfer Requests


The Log Transfer Requests tab is where you can view all of the log transfers that havebeen requested by VMware Support. VMware TSE's (Technical Support Engineers) havethe ability to request log bundles from specific objects in the inventory as part of aSupport Request.

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As the customer, you have the ability to automatically approve these requests, or haveeach request appear in the queue until approved manually by someone from yourorganization.

All log bundle requests that require an approval will expire after 6 hours by default if notapproved.

Log Library


The Log Library tab provides you with a complete audit trail of all Log transfer requeststhat have taken place along with information such as who initiated the request, the SRthat the log bundle was attached to and when the request was initiated.

The VMware Skyline Demo user listed below is indicative of a customer accountrequesting a log bundle. All other accounts listed are VMware Support personal.

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1. Notice the different icon's depicted next to the name of the person who initiatedthe request.

Entry Details


Selecting a log bundle entry from the list will provide you with additional informationregarding the log transfer request.

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Hands-on Labs Interactive Simulation:Log AssistThis part of the lab is presented as a Hands-on Labs Interactive Simulation. This willallow you to experience steps which are too time-consuming or resource intensive to dolive in the lab environment. In this simulation, you can use the software interface as ifyou are interacting with a live environment.


2. When finished, click the “Return to the lab” link or simply close the browser tab inwhich the simulation is running to continue with this lab.


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http://docs.hol.vmware.com/hol-isim/hol-2020/hol-isim-player.htm?isim=hol-2015-m4-SkylineHOL-LogAssist.htm

ConclusionYou've finished Module 4 and completed the VMware Skyline Hands on Lab!

Congratulations on completing Module 4. You should now have a solid understanding ofthe Log assist and support capabilities provided by VMware Skyline for all monitored andsupported VMware solutions.


• Module 1: Proactive Findings (15 minutes)•• Module 3: Explore the Capabilities of VMware Skyline (30 minutes)

How to End Lab

To end your lab click on the END button.

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ConclusionThank you for participating in the VMware Hands-on Labs. Be sure to visithttp://hol.vmware.com/ to continue your lab experience online.

Lab SKU: HOL-2015-01-SDC

Version: 20191028-175456

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http://hol.vmware.com/

table of contents - vmware...lab guidance note: it will take roughly 75 minutes to complete this...

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