Discovery for VMware vCenter
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- UpdatedAug 1, 2024
- 3 minutes to read
- Xanadu
- ITOM Visibility
Discovery can explore the VMware vCenter process running on a Windows or Linux host. IPv6 is supported for VCenter.
If a Windows or Linux server is running vCenter application, after creating the vCenter CI, a "Runs on" relationship to the Windows or Linux server host is created.
When a vCenter application is running on a dedicated vCenter appliance, "Runs on" relationship to the vCenter CI is not created.
Tested vCenter versions
- vCenter versions 7.0 and earlier
- vCenter appliance version 6.7 and earlier
- NameIP
- AddressMAC
- AddressDiscovery
- Source
See Data collected for VMware vCenter Server for a description of the VMware architecture and component relationships.
vCenter discovery process
After classifying vCenter, Discovery launches the VMware - vCenter Datacenters probe, which in turn launches specific probes that return information about ESX machines, virtual machines, and other vCenter objects. The vmapp port probe is also configured to launch the VMware - vCenter Datacenters probe.
VMWare credentials
Updating the CMDB with vCenter event collector
In addition to finding vCenter data through the standard discovery process, Discovery can also update the CMDB by detecting vCenter events through a MID Server extension called the vCenter event collector.
The event collector allows the CMDB to be updated with changes to virtual machines (VMs), in addition to the updates detected by Discovery. A change to a VM is sent as an event from the vCenter server to the vCenter event collector. When an event is received, the CMDB is updated accordingly. Full vCenter Discovery does not need to rerun. For some events, such as powered on and powered off events, Discovery does not need to run again at all. For most events, Discovery runs only on the necessary vCenter resource.For instructions on configuring vCenter events, see Configure and run the vCenter event collector extension.
VM deleted from vCenter
If the VM is deleted from vCenter, the cmdb_ci_vm_instance state changes to terminated and the Status field changes to retired.
CIs removed from vCenter
- When Discovery runs, it creates an audit record in the Components installed with CMDB Health table for the missing CI and marks the CI "stale".
- If the instance is configured to collect vCenter events, the system can also create a "stale" audit record for the CI in the CMDB Health Result [cmdb_health_result] table from the VmRemovedEvent event, without having to run Discovery.

You have the option of creating a CMDB remediation rule to automatically execute a remediation workflow that can, for example, delete stale CIs. For more information on stale CIs, see CMDB Health Metrics.
vCenter Discovery on Windows host
Windows credentials are not necessary for vCenter Discovery, when valid VMware credentials are used.
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Related Content
- ESXi server discovery
Discovery identifies and classifies information about ESXi servers and ESXi resource pools through the discovery of vCenter and not from the direct discovery of any ESXi servers.
- Standalone ESXi discovery
Standalone ESXi discovery supports discovery of individual ESXi servers that host virtual machines (VMs) and related components without a vCenter. Various CIs and relationships are discovered as part of a discovery schedule.
- VMware virtual machines
Discovery gathers information about virtual machines managed by vCenter.
- VM instance state and status fields
These tables represent the state and status of the cmdb_ci_vm_instance in various flows such as vCenter Discovery and vCenter Events and the Business Rules which are triggered.
- Datastore Discovery
A datastore is a storage object for virtual machines that are hosted on an ESXi server.