Using Vi-Sdk For Detail Discovery - VMware VCENTER APPLICATION DISCOVERY MANAGER 6.1.1 User Manual

VMware Infrastructure Discovery Flow
Table 5‐5 describes the typical flow for VMware Infrastructure discovery.
Table 5-5. VMware Infrastructure Discovery Flow
Step
1 Passive discovery
(not mandatory)
2 Detail discovery
3 Application
pattern creation
(optional)
4 Virtual
Collector/vCollec
tor deployment
(optional)

Using VI-SDK for Detail Discovery

ADM includes the VI‐SDK protocol as an option when creating Detail Discovery policies. VI‐SDK is a VMware
proprietary API used by third‐party applications to query a VMware model, control VMware Infrastructure's
behavior, and receive notifications of changes in the VMware Infrastructure environment. It also allows its
user to discover, configure, and monitor all aspects of VMware ESX Server and Virtual Center.
VMware, Inc.
Description
A passive discovery policy is created from the
Manage > Passive Discovery page.
A detail discovery policy is created from the
Detail Discovery > Policies page.
When entering the protocol type during detail
discovery policy creation, use any or all of the
following protocols:
 SSH/SNMP on the ESX Server included in
the VMware Infrastructure deployment.
 WMI on the host running VirtualCenter.

VI‐SDK on any or all of the VMware ESX
Servers and hosts running VirtualCenter.
After performing passive or detail discovery,
you might decide that you want ADM to
automatically detect instances of VMware
Infrastructure environments in your network.
To do this, create an application pattern from
the Manage > Application Pattern
Definitions page.
Virtual machines running on the same
physical host communicate with each other
without going out to the network. Since ADM
listens to network traffic, it will not have
visibility into this communication. In this case,
the vCollector must be deployed.
Chapter 5 Discovery
Results
Since the VMware Infrastructure is discovered
passively, this will be only a partial discovery.
You will be able to view the following
information:
 The VMware Infrastructure environment
as a whole, the ESX Servers and services
(VirtualCenter, Virtual Infrastructure
Client).

Connections between ESX Servers and
VirtualCenter.

The clients that are managing
VirtualCenter (that is, Virtual
Infrastructure Client, web browser).
 Connections between Virtual
Infrastructure Client and VirtualCenter,
all labeled with VMware's proprietary
protocol, VMDB.
 Third‐party software integrated with
VMware Infrastructure.
 Virtual machines.
The VMware Infrastructure is discovered fully.
You will be able to view additional
information that was discovered after passive
discovery:

Detailed configuration information of all
ESX Servers and services (VirtualCenter),
including configuration information and
license information.

For each ESX Server, all the virtual
machines defined on it, including the
detailed hardware configuration
information for each virtual machine.
ADM automatically detects instances of
VMware Infrastructure environments in your
network and will populate the MDR with the
relevant data.
Details on vCollector deployment is found in
the VMware vCenter Application Discovery
Manager Version 6.0 vCollector Installation and
Configuration Guide.
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