otelcol.receiver.vcenter
EXPERIMENTAL: This is an experimental component. Experimental components are subject to frequent breaking changes, and may be removed with no equivalent replacement. To enable and use an experimental component, you must set the
stability.levelflag toexperimental.
otelcol.receiver.vcenter accepts metrics from a vCenter or ESXi host running VMware vSphere APIs and forwards it to other otelcol.* components.
Note
otelcol.receiver.vcenteris a wrapper over the upstream OpenTelemetry Collectorvcenterreceiver. Bug reports or feature requests will be redirected to the upstream repository, if necessary.
You can specify multiple otelcol.receiver.vcenter components by giving them different labels.
The full list of metrics that can be collected can be found in vcenter receiver documentation.
Prerequisites
This receiver has been built to support ESXi and vCenter versions:
- 8
- 7.0
A “Read Only” user assigned to a vSphere with permissions to the vCenter server, cluster, and all subsequent resources being monitored must be specified in order for the receiver to retrieve information about them.
Usage
otelcol.receiver.vcenter "<LABEL>" {
endpoint = "<VCENTER_ENDPOINT>"
username = "<VCENTER_USERNAME>"
password = "<VCENTER_PASSWORD>"
output {
metrics = [...]
}
}Arguments
You can use the following arguments with otelcol.receiver.vcenter:
| Name | Type | Description | Default | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
endpoint | string | Endpoint to a vCenter Server or ESXi host which has the SDK path enabled. | yes | |
username | string | Username to use for authentication. | yes | |
password | string | Password to use for authentication. | yes | |
collection_interval | duration | Defines how often to collect metrics. | "1m" | no |
initial_delay | duration | Defines how long this receiver waits before starting. | "1s" | no |
timeout | duration | Defines the timeout for the underlying HTTP client. | "0s" | no |
endpoint has the format <protocol>://<hostname>. For example, https://vcsa.hostname.localnet.
Blocks
You can use the following blocks with otelcol.receiver.vcenter:
| Block | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
output | Configures where to send received telemetry data. | yes |
debug_metrics | Configures the metrics that this component generates to monitor its state. | no |
metrics | Configures which metrics will be sent to downstream components. | no |
resource_attributes | Configures resource attributes for metrics sent to downstream components. | no |
tls | Configures TLS for the HTTP client. | no |
tls > tpm | Configures TPM settings for the TLS key_file. | no |
The > symbol indicates deeper levels of nesting.
For example, tls > tpm refers to a tpm block defined inside a tls block.
output
RequiredThe output block configures a set of components to forward resulting telemetry data to.
The following arguments are supported:
| Name | Type | Description | Default | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
logs | list(otelcol.Consumer) | List of consumers to send logs to. | [] | no |
metrics | list(otelcol.Consumer) | List of consumers to send metrics to. | [] | no |
traces | list(otelcol.Consumer) | List of consumers to send traces to. | [] | no |
You must specify the output block, but all its arguments are optional.
By default, telemetry data is dropped.
Configure the metrics, logs, and traces arguments accordingly to send telemetry data to other components.
debug_metrics
The debug_metrics block configures the metrics that this component generates to monitor its state.
The following arguments are supported:
| Name | Type | Description | Default | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
disable_high_cardinality_metrics | boolean | Whether to disable certain high cardinality metrics. | true | no |
disable_high_cardinality_metrics is the Alloy equivalent to the telemetry.disableHighCardinalityMetrics feature gate in the OpenTelemetry Collector.
It removes attributes that could cause high cardinality metrics.
For example, attributes with IP addresses and port numbers in metrics about HTTP and gRPC connections are removed.
Note
If configured,
disable_high_cardinality_metricsonly applies tootelcol.exporter.*andotelcol.receiver.*components.
metrics
| Name | Type | Description | Default | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
vcenter.cluster.cpu.effective | metric | Enables the vcenter.cluster.cpu.effective metric. | true | no |
vcenter.cluster.cpu.limit | metric | Enables the vcenter.cluster.cpu.limit metric. | true | no |
vcenter.cluster.host.count | metric | Enables the vcenter.cluster.host.count metric. | true | no |
vcenter.cluster.memory.effective | metric | Enables the vcenter.cluster.memory.effective metric. | true | no |
vcenter.cluster.memory.limit | metric | Enables the vcenter.cluster.memory.limit metric. | true | no |
vcenter.cluster.vm_template.count | metric | Enables the vcenter.cluster.vm_template.count metric. | true | no |
vcenter.cluster.vm.count | metric | Enables the vcenter.cluster.vm.count metric. | true | no |
vcenter.cluster.vsan.congestions | metric | Enables the vcenter.cluster.vsan.congestions metric. | true | no |
vcenter.cluster.vsan.latency.avg | metric | Enables the vcenter.cluster.vsan.latency.avg metric. | true | no |
vcenter.cluster.vsan.operations | metric | Enables the vcenter.cluster.vsan.operations metric. | true | no |
vcenter.cluster.vsan.throughput | metric | Enables the vcenter.cluster.vsan.throughput metric. | true | no |
vcenter.datacenter.cluster.count | metric | Enables the vcenter.datacenter.cluster.count metric. | true | no |
vcenter.datacenter.cpu.limit | metric | Enables the vcenter.datacenter.cpu.limit metric. | true | no |
vcenter.datacenter.datastore.count | metric | Enables the vcenter.datacenter.datastore.count metric. | true | no |
vcenter.datacenter.disk.space | metric | Enables the vcenter.datacenter.disk.space metric. | true | no |
vcenter.datacenter.host.count | metric | Enables the vcenter.datacenter.host.count metric. | true | no |
vcenter.datacenter.memory.limit | metric | Enables the vcenter.datacenter.memory.limit metric. | true | no |
vcenter.datacenter.vm.count | metric | Enables the vcenter.datacenter.vm.count metric. | true | no |
vcenter.datastore.disk.usage | metric | Enables the vcenter.datastore.disk.usage metric. | true | no |
vcenter.datastore.disk.utilization | metric | Enables the vcenter.datastore.disk.utilization metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.cpu.capacity | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.cpu.capacity metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.cpu.reserved | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.cpu.reserved metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.cpu.usage | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.cpu.usage metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.cpu.utilization | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.cpu.utilization metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.disk.latency.avg | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.disk.latency.avg metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.disk.latency.max | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.disk.latency.max metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.disk.throughput | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.disk.throughput metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.memory.capacity | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.memory.capacity metric. | false | no |
vcenter.host.memory.usage | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.memory.usage metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.memory.utilization | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.memory.utilization metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.network.packet.drop.rate | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.network.packet.drop.rate metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.network.packet.error.rate | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.network.packet.error.rate metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.network.packet.rate | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.network.packet.rate metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.network.throughput | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.network.throughput metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.network.usage | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.network.usage metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.vsan.cache.hit_rate | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.vsan.cache.hit_rate metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.vsan.congestions | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.vsan.congestions metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.vsan.latency.avg | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.vsan.latency.avg metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.vsan.operations | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.vsan.operations metric. | true | no |
vcenter.host.vsan.throughput | metric | Enables the vcenter.host.vsan.throughput metric. | true | no |
vcenter.resource_pool.cpu.shares | metric | Enables the vcenter.resource_pool.cpu.shares metric. | true | no |
vcenter.resource_pool.cpu.usage | metric | Enables the vcenter.resource_pool.cpu.usage metric. | true | no |
vcenter.resource_pool.memory.ballooned | metric | Enables the vcenter.resource_pool.memory.ballooned metric. | true | no |
vcenter.resource_pool.memory.granted | metric | Enables the vcenter.resource_pool.memory.granted metric. | true | no |
vcenter.resource_pool.memory.shares | metric | Enables the vcenter.resource_pool.memory.shares metric. | true | no |
vcenter.resource_pool.memory.swapped | metric | Enables the vcenter.resource_pool.memory.swapped metric. | true | no |
vcenter.resource_pool.memory.usage | metric | Enables the vcenter.resource_pool.memory.usage metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.cpu.readiness | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.cpu.readiness metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.cpu.time | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.cpu.time metric. | false | no |
vcenter.vm.cpu.usage | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.cpu.usage metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.cpu.utilization | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.cpu.utilization metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.disk.latency.avg | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.disk.latency.avg metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.disk.latency.max | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.disk.latency.max metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.disk.throughput | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.disk.throughput metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.disk.usage | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.disk.usage metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.disk.utilization | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.disk.utilization metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.memory.ballooned | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.memory.ballooned metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.memory.granted | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.memory.granted metric. | false | no |
vcenter.vm.memory.swapped_ssd | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.memory.swapped_ssd metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.memory.swapped | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.memory.swapped metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.memory.usage | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.memory.usage metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.memory.utilization | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.memory.utilization metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.network.broadcast.packet.rate | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.network.broadcast.packet.rate metric. | false | no |
vcenter.vm.network.multicast.packet.rate | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.network.multicast.packet.rate metric. | false | no |
vcenter.vm.network.packet.drop.rate | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.network.packet.drop.rate metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.network.packet.rate | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.network.packet.rate metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.network.throughput | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.network.throughput metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.network.usage | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.network.usage metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.vsan.latency.avg | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.vsan.latency.avg metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.vsan.operations | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.vsan.operations metric. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.vsan.throughput | metric | Enables the vcenter.vm.vsan.throughput metric. | true | no |
metric
| Name | Type | Description | Default | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
enabled | boolean | Whether to enable the metric. | true | no |
resource_attributes
| Name | Type | Description | Default | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
vcenter.datacenter.name | resource_attribute | Enables the vcenter.datacenter.name resource attribute. | true | no |
vcenter.cluster.name | resource_attribute | Enables the vcenter.cluster.name resource attribute. | true | no |
vcenter.datastore.name | resource_attribute | Enables the vcenter.cluster.resource_pool resource attribute. | true | no |
vcenter.host.name | resource_attribute | Enables the vcenter.host.name resource attribute. | true | no |
vcenter.resource_pool.inventory_path | resource_attribute | Enables the vcenter.resource_pool.inventory_path resource attribute. | true | no |
vcenter.resource_pool.name | resource_attribute | Enables the vcenter.resource_pool.name resource attribute. | true | no |
vcenter.virtual_app.inventory_path | resource_attribute | Enables the vcenter.virtual_app.inventory_path resource attribute. | true | no |
vcenter.virtual_app.name | resource_attribute | Enables the vcenter.virtual_app.name resource attribute. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.id | resource_attribute | Enables the vcenter.vm.id resource attribute. | true | no |
vcenter.vm.name | resource_attribute | Enables the vcenter.vm.name resource attribute. | true | no |
vcenter.vm_template.id | resource_attribute | Enables the vcenter.vm_template.id resource attribute. | true | no |
vcenter.vm_template.name | resource_attribute | Enables the vcenter.vm_template.name resource attribute. | true | no |
resource_attribute
| Name | Type | Description | Default | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
enabled | boolean | Whether to enable the resource attribute. | true | no |
tls
The tls block configures TLS settings used for a server. If the tls block
isn’t provided, TLS won’t be used for connections to the server.
The following arguments are supported:
| Name | Type | Description | Default | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
ca_file | string | Path to the CA file. | no | |
ca_pem | string | CA PEM-encoded text to validate the server with. | no | |
cert_file | string | Path to the TLS certificate. | no | |
cert_pem | string | Certificate PEM-encoded text for client authentication. | no | |
cipher_suites | list(string) | A list of TLS cipher suites that the TLS transport can use. | [] | no |
curve_preferences | list(string) | Set of elliptic curves to use in a handshake. | [] | no |
include_system_ca_certs_pool | boolean | Whether to load the system certificate authorities pool alongside the certificate authority. | false | no |
insecure_skip_verify | boolean | Ignores insecure server TLS certificates. | no | |
insecure | boolean | Disables TLS when connecting to the configured server. | no | |
key_file | string | Path to the TLS certificate key. | no | |
key_pem | secret | Key PEM-encoded text for client authentication. | no | |
max_version | string | Maximum acceptable TLS version for connections. | "TLS 1.3" | no |
min_version | string | Minimum acceptable TLS version for connections. | "TLS 1.2" | no |
reload_interval | duration | The duration after which the certificate is reloaded. | "0s" | no |
server_name | string | Verifies the hostname of server certificates when set. | no |
If the server doesn’t support TLS, you must set the insecure argument to true.
To disable tls for connections to the server, set the insecure argument to true.
If you set reload_interval to "0s", the certificate never reloaded.
The following pairs of arguments are mutually exclusive and can’t both be set simultaneously:
ca_pemandca_filecert_pemandcert_filekey_pemandkey_file
If cipher_suites is left blank, a safe default list is used.
Refer to the Go TLS documentation for a list of supported cipher suites.
The curve_preferences argument determines the set of elliptic curves to prefer during a handshake in preference order.
If not provided, a default list is used.
The set of elliptic curves available are X25519, P521, P256, and P384.
tpm
The tpm block configures retrieving the TLS key_file from a trusted device.
The following arguments are supported:
| Name | Type | Description | Default | Required |
|---|---|---|---|---|
auth | string | The authorization value used to authenticate the TPM device. | "" | no |
enabled | bool | Load the tls.key_file from TPM. | false | no |
owner_auth | string | The owner authorization value used to authenticate the TPM device. | "" | no |
path | string | Path to the TPM device or Unix domain socket. | "" | no |
The trusted platform module (TPM) configuration can be used for loading TLS key from TPM. Currently only TSS2 format is supported.
The path attribute is not supported on Windows.
Example
otelcol.example.component "<LABEL>" {
...
tls {
...
key_file = "my-tss2-key.key"
tpm {
enabled = true
path = "/dev/tpmrm0"
}
}
}In the above example, the private key my-tss2-key.key in TSS2 format will be loaded from the TPM device /dev/tmprm0.
Exported fields
otelcol.receiver.vcenter doesn’t export any fields.
Component health
otelcol.receiver.vcenter is only reported as unhealthy if given an invalid configuration.
Debug information
otelcol.receiver.vcenter doesn’t expose any component-specific debug information.
Example
This example forwards received telemetry data through a batch processor before finally sending it to an OTLP-capable endpoint:
otelcol.receiver.vcenter "default" {
endpoint = "http://localhost:15672"
username = "otelu"
password = "password"
output {
metrics = [otelcol.processor.batch.default.input]
}
}
otelcol.processor.batch "default" {
output {
metrics = [otelcol.exporter.otlp.default.input]
}
}
otelcol.exporter.otlp "default" {
client {
endpoint = sys.env("<OTLP_ENDPOINT>")
}
}Compatible components
otelcol.receiver.vcenter can accept arguments from the following components:
- Components that export OpenTelemetry
otelcol.Consumer
Note
Connecting some components may not be sensible or components may require further configuration to make the connection work correctly. Refer to the linked documentation for more details.



