# Hyper-converged Infrastructure (HCI) Monitoring

## Hyperconverged Infrastructure Software

Hyperconverged infrastructure solutions help you to manage a hyperconverged infrastructure environment. You can manage the various hypervisors in your network and allocate resources, manage storage systems and control the virtual machines linked to the hypervisor. Hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) technology abstracts and pools the underlying resources, then dynamically allocates them to applications running in VMs.

## Monitor Hyper-converged Infrastructure (HCI) with OpManager

Hyperconverged infrastructure has eliminated the need for hardware defined data centers that are becoming complicated, expensive and difficult to manage. With networks constantly evolving, it is important for organizations to stay responsive and scalable to meet the changing needs and demands of the business.

Nutanix pioneered hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) technology, and has continued to evolve the platform. In Nutanix HCI, a collection of nodes is called a cluster and each HCI node in a cluster operates a hypervisor. The HCI management feature operates as a separate virtual machine on every node and is designed to scale resources when new nodes are added. This is called the Nutanix Prism and it allows easy, simplified HCI management from a single view and eliminates the need for separate management solutions for servers, storage, and virtualization. By monitoring the Prism using OpManager, you can monitor all the elements grouped under the specific HCI. HCI requires a minimum of three nodes to maintain high availability. Nutanix also offers a custom hyperconverged infrastructure (HCI) software to manage a HCI environment. The Nutanix HCI software provides a basic interface to monitor HCI.

OpManager is a comprehensive Hyper converged infrastructure monitoring software that uses basic SNMP to monitor HCI. It helps you to monitor various important metrics like bandwidth, latency and CPU usage of your HCI and gives you an option to drill down to the specifics. OpManager offers alarm notifications (SMS and email), and provides color coded alarms to help you detect and troubleshoot the root cause of network bottlenecks. Take control of your network by setting thresholds and generate graphs to analyze trends over a specific time-period using OpManager.

### Implementing Hyperconverged Infrastructure:

- HCI integrates with your existing infrastructure. Protect and optimize existing investments without modifying the network.
- Set up and configure hardware in minutes and be more responsive to changing business needs.
- Eliminate manual processes and manage computing and storage resources with a single IT team.
- Reduce data center scaling costs with HCI which is designed for simplicity and scalability and manage remote locations using centralized controls.

## Hyper Convergence Infrastructure (HCI) performance management

**OpManager** comes bundled with over 9000 device templates which carry the initial configurations to classify the devices into the pre-defined categories and to associate monitors to them. OpManager's predefined device-specific performance monitors help you instantly monitor a particular parameter of your devices or interfaces and also gives you the option to drill down on specifics. The monitoring interval for availability can also be defined to reduce the usage of system resources. You can apply configurations in bulk across multiple devices with the help of device templates.

![Nutanix Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Software - ManageEngine OpManager](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/images/Nutanix-hyperconverged-infrastructure-monitoring-OpManager.png)

For in-depth hyper converged infrastructure performance for Nutanix devices, OpManager offers the following pre-defined monitors out-of-the-box:

| Monitor | Function |
|---|---|
| IO Bandwidth | Monitor the input/output bandwidth of Nutanix HCI |
| IO Latency | Monitor input/output latency of Nutanix HCI |
| VM Write IO Per Second | Monitor VM write for input/output operations |
| VM Read IO Per second | Monitor VM read for input/output operations |
| VM Memory Usage | Monitor memory usage for VMs |
| VM CPU Usage | Monitor CPU usage for VMs |
| VM CPU Count | Monitor number of cores for VMs |
| Cluster wide IO bandwidth in Kbps | Monitor input output bandwidth in Kbps across the cluster* |
| Cluster wide average latency | Monitor average latency across the cluster |
| Cluster wide average IOPS | Monitor average IOPS** across the cluster. |
| Cluster Total Storage Capacity | Monitor the total storage capacity across the cluster. |

\* Cluster - A group of hosts is referred to as a cluster.  
\** IOPS - (Input/Output Operations Per Second) is a common performance measurement used to benchmark computer storage devices like [HDDs and SSDs](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/tech-topics/hdd-vs-ssd.html), and storage area networks (SAN).

## HCI Fault Management using OpManager

OpManager allows you to configure thresholds for the various monitors and you can receive alerts when the thresholds are violated. The alerts can be configured to be sent to your phone as a SMS or via email. This helps you to monitor your network on the go. You can generate the data as a report using OpManager. The data can also be viewed as a graph for a particular time-period.

![Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) Fault Management - ManageEngine OpManager](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/images/hyperconverged-monitoring-fault-management-OpManager.png)

## The future of Hyperconverged infrastructure management with OpManager

OpManager will extend support for extensive HCI monitoring using APIs in the coming months. Take a look at the functionality and enhancements in the road-map for hyper-converged infrastructure monitoring:

- Discovering a Nutanix cluster will automatically discover the hosts and VMs and display their relationship by placing them on a map.
- You can add the Nutanix 'Prism Central' to automatically discover all the clusters mapped under the HCI device. This will give you a detailed network map of each and every virtual machines in the organization managed by the HCI irrespective of the number of nodes.
- You can view the severity (alarms) of individual VMs in the map. The alarms are color-coded and each level of severity will be displayed with individual colors.

We'd love to hear from you on what metrics you'd like to monitor in a hyperconverged infrastructure environment to ensure optimum performance and maximum visibility for your network. Share your valuable feedback [here](https://www.manageengine.com/network-monitoring/roadmap.html?featureID=27).

## FAQ

### What is Hyper-converged Infrastructure (HCI)?

Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) integrates computing, storage, and networking into a single, software-driven platform. Unlike traditional setups with distinct servers, storage networks, and storage devices, HCI unifies these components into a distributed, modular system. This approach allows for greater scalability, simplified management, and a more agile, cost-effective infrastructure solution.

### Why is hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) monitoring important?

Hyperconverged Infrastructure (HCI) boosts efficiency by leveraging virtualized storage systems and intelligent network management, enabling faster data retrieval and smoother application performance. By ensuring that data and processing units remain in close alignment, HCI reduces delays and accelerates task execution, delivering optimized workload performance.

### How does hyper converged infrastructure (HCI) monitoring work?

HCI monitoring tracks the health, performance, and usage of compute, storage, and network resources in real-time. It provides centralized visibility to detect issues, optimize workloads, and ensure system uptime. Key features include resource monitoring, performance analysis, health checks, and alerts. Tools like ManageEngine OpManager enable proactive issue detection and efficient capacity planning for seamless HCI management.

### What are the benefits of using HCI monitoring solution?

- **Centralized Monitoring:** View compute, storage, and network in one dashboard.
- **Proactive Alerts:** Get real-time notifications for issues.
- **Performance Optimization:** Improve workload efficiency and reduce delays.
- **Resource Utilization:** Avoid overuse or underuse of resources.
- **Capacity Planning:** Forecast resource needs and scale easily.
- **Reduced Downtime:** Detect and fix issues quickly to ensure uptime.

### What is the difference between HCI & CI?

The key distinction between HCI and CI lies in how infrastructure is managed. HCI takes convergence a step further by creating a fully software-defined data center (SDDC). It enhances resource utilization, boosts IT agility, and allows for centralized management through a single interface, eliminating the complexities associated with traditional converged infrastructure.

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