The following table lists the metrics that are gathered as output from vSphere checks. Entries indicated as Featured metrics are high-visibility metrics that are displayed in the Operator Workspace Metric tab after an alert is generated. These metrics provide the operator with additional information to help them further explore the specified issue.

Table 1. vsphere.metric-VirtualMachine metrics
Metric type Resource (name of specific database, where relevant) Units Metric type description
net.broadcastRx.summation network adapter packets Number of broadcast packets received.
net.broadcastTx.summation network adapter packets Number of broadcast packets transmitted.
net.bytesRx.average network adapter KiB Average amount of data received per second.
net.bytesTx.average network adapter KiB Average amount of data transmitted per second.
net.droppedRx.summation network adapter packets Number of received packets dropped.
net.droppedTx.summation network adapter packets Number of transmitted packets dropped.
net.multicastRx.summation network adapter packets Number of multicast packets received.
net.multicastTx.summation network adapter packets Number of multicast packets transmitted.
net.packetsRx.summation network adapter packets Number of packets received.
net.packetsTx.summation network adapter packets Number of packets transmitted.
net.received.average network adapter KiB Average rate at which data was received during the interval. This represents the bandwidth of the network.
net.transmitted.average network adapter KiB Average rate at which data was transmitted during the interval. This represents the bandwidth of the network.
net.usage.average (featured metric) network adapter KiB Network utilization (combined transmit- and receive-rates).
disk.maxTotalLatency.latest (featured metric) drive millisecond Highest latency value across all disks used by the host.
disk.read.average drive KiB Average number of kilobytes read from the disk each second.
disk.usage.average (featured metric) drive KiB Aggregated disk I/O rate.
disk.usage.maximum drive KiB Maximum disk I/O rate.
disk.usage.minimum drive KiB Minimum disk I/O rate.
disk.write.average drive KiB Average number of kilobytes written to the disk each second.
cpu.costop.summation cpu-core millisecond Time the virtual machine is ready to run, but is unable to run due to co-scheduling constraints.
cpu.demand.average cpu-core megahertz The amount of CPU resources a virtual machine would use if there were no CPU contention or CPU limit.
cpu.demandEntitlementRatio.latest cpu-core percent CPU resource entitlement to CPU demand ratio.
cpu.entitlement.latest cpu-core megahertz CPU resources devoted by the ESXi scheduler.
cpu.idle.summation cpu-core millisecond Total time that the CPU spent in an idle state.
cpu.latency.average cpu-core percent Percent of time the virtual machine is unable to run because it is contending for access to the physical CPU(s).
cpu.maxlimited.summation cpu-core millisecond Time the virtual machine is ready to run, but is not running because it has reached its maximum CPU limit setting.
cpu.overlap.summation cpu-core millisecond Time the virtual machine was interrupted to perform system services on behalf of itself or other virtual machines.
cpu.readiness.average cpu-core percent Percentage of time that the virtual machine was ready, but could not get scheduled to run on the physical CPU.
cpu.ready.summation cpu-core millisecond Milliseconds of CPU time spent in ready state.
cpu.run.summation cpu-core millisecond Time the virtual machine is scheduled to run.
cpu.swapwait.summation cpu-core millisecond CPU time spent waiting for swap-in.
cpu.system.summation cpu-core millisecond Amount of time spent on system processes on each virtual CPU in the virtual machine.
cpu.usage.average (featured metric) cpu-core percent Percentage of CPU capacity being used.
cpu.usagemhz.average cpu-core megahertz CPU usage, as measured in megahertz.
cpu.used.summation cpu-core millisecond Time accounted to the virtual machine. If a system service runs on behalf of this virtual machine, the time spent by that service (represented by cpu.system) should be charged to this virtual machine. If not, the time spent (represented by cpu.overlap) should not be charged against this virtual machine.
cpu.wait.summation (featured metric) cpu-core millisecond Total CPU time spent in wait state.The wait total includes time spent the CPU Idle, CPU Swap Wait, and CPU I/O Wait states.
cpu.usage.vcpus.average cpu-core percent Percentage of vcpus capacity being used.
cpu.utilization.average cpu-core percent Percentage of CPU capacity being used.
mem.active.average memory KiB Amount of memory that is actively used, as estimated by VMkernel based on recently touched memory pages.
mem.activewrite.average memory KiB Estimate for the amount of memory actively being written to by the virtual machine.
mem.compressed.average memory KiB Kilobytes of memory that have been compressed.
mem.compressionRate.average memory KiB Rate of memory compression for the virtual machine.
mem.consumed.average memory KiB Amount of host physical memory consumed by a virtual machine, host, or cluster.
mem.decompressionRate.average memory KiB Rate of memory decompression for the virtual machine.
mem.entitlement.average memory KiB Amount of host physical memory the virtual machine is entitled to, as determined by the ESX scheduler.
mem.granted.average memory KiB Amount of host physical memory or physical memory that is mapped for a virtual machine or a host.
mem.latency.average memory KiB Percentage of time the virtual machine is waiting to access swapped or compressed memory.
mem.llSwapInRate.average memory KiB Rate at which memory is being swapped from host cache into active memory.
mem.llSwapOutRate.average memory KiB Rate at which memory is being swapped from active memory to host cache.
mem.llSwapUsed.average memory KiB Space used for caching swapped pages in the host cache.
mem.overhead.average memory KiB Host physical memory consumed by the virtualization infrastructure for running the virtual machine.
mem.overheadMax.average memory KiB Host physical memory reserved for use as the virtualization overhead for the virtual machine.
mem.overheadTouched.average memory KiB Actively touched overhead host physical memory (KB) reserved for use as the virtualization overhead for the virtual machine.
mem.shared.average memory KiB Amount of guest physical memory that is shared with other virtual machines, relative to a single virtual machine or to all powered-on virtual machines on a host.
mem.usage.average (featured metric) memory percent Memory usage as percent of total configured or available memory.
mem.vmmemctl.average memory KiB Amount of memory allocated by the virtual machine memory control driver.
mem.vmmemctltarget.average memory KiB Target value set by VMkernal for the virtual machine's memory balloon size. In conjunction with vmmemctl metric, this metric is used by VMkernel to inflate and deflate the balloon for a virtual machine.
mem.zero.average memory KiB Memory that contains 0s only. Included in shared amount. Through transparent page sharing, zero memory pages can be shared among virtual machines that run the same operating system.
power.energy.summation power joule Total energy (in joule) used since last stats reset.
power.power.average power watt Current power usage.
sys.heartbeat.latest system number Number of heartbeats issued per virtual machine.
sys.osUptime.latest system seconds Total time elapsed, in seconds, since last operating system boot-up.
sys.uptime.latest system seconds Total time elapsed since last system startup.
virtualDisk.read.average virtual disk KiB Average number of kilobytes read from the virtual disk each second.
virtualDisk.write.average virtual disk KiB Average number of kilobytes written to the virtual disk each second.
rescpu.actav1.latest rescpu percent CPU active average over 1 minute.
rescpu.actav15.latest rescpu percent CPU active average over 15 minutes.
rescpu.actav5.latest rescpu percent CPU active average over 5 minutes.
rescpu.actpk1.latest rescpu percent CPU active peak over 1 minute.
rescpu.actpk15.latest rescpu percent CPU active peak over 15 minutes.
rescpu.actpk5.latest rescpu percent CPU active peak over 5 minutes.
rescpu.runav1.latest rescpu percent CPU running average over 1 minute.
rescpu.runav15.latest rescpu percent CPU running average over 15 minutes.
rescpu.runav5.latest rescpu percent CPU running average over 5 minutes.
rescpu.runpk1.latest rescpu percent CPU running peak over 1 minute.
rescpu.runpk15.latest rescpu percent CPU running peak over 15 minutes.
rescpu.runpk5.latest rescpu percent CPU running peak over 5 minutes.
rescpu.sampleCount.latest rescpu millisecond Group CPU sample count.
rescpu.samplePeriod.latest rescpu millisecond Group CPU sample period.
Table 2. vsphere.metric-Datacenter metrics
Metric type Resource (name of specific database, where relevant) Units Metric type description
vmop.numChangeDS.latest Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of datastore change operations for powered-off and suspended virtual machines.
vmop.numChangeHost.latest Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of host change operations for powered-off and suspended virtual machines.
vmop.numChangeHostDS.latest Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of host and datastore change operations for powered-off and suspended virtual machines.
vmop.numClone.latest Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of virtual machine clone operations.
vmop.numCreate.latest (featured metric) Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of virtual machine create operations.
vmop.numDeploy.latest Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of virtual machine template deploy operations.
vmop.numDestroy.latest (featured metric) Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of virtual machine delete operations.
vmop.numPoweroff.latest Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of virtual machine power off operations.
vmop.numPoweron.latest Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of virtual machine power on operations.
vmop.numRebootGuest.latest (featured metric) Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of virtual machine guest reboot operations.
vmop.numReconfigure.latest Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of virtual machine reconfigure operations.
vmop.numRegister.latest Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of virtual machine register operations.
vmop.numReset.latest Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of virtual machine reset operations.
vmop.numSVMotion.latest Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of migrations with Storage vMotion (datastore change operations for powered-on VMs).
vmop.numShutdownGuest.latest Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of virtual machine guest shutdown operations.
vmop.numStandbyGuest.latest Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of virtual machine standby guest operations.
vmop.numSuspend.latest Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of virtual machine suspend operations.
vmop.numUnregister.latest Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of virtual machine unregister operations.
vmop.numVMotion.latest (featured metric) Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of migrations with vMotion (host change operations for powered-on VMs).
vmop.numXVMotion.latest Virtual Machine Operations Counters Number Number of host and datastore change operations for powered-on and suspended virtual machines.
Table 3. vsphere.metric-Datastore metrics
Metric type Resource (name of specific database, where relevant) Units Metric type description
datastore.busResets.summation Datastore Number Number of SCSI-bus reset commands issued.
datastore.commandsAborted.summation Datastore Number Number of SCSI commands aborted.
datastore.datastoreIops.average Datastore Number Storage I/O Control aggregated IOPS.
datastore.datastoreMaxQueueDepth.latest Datastore Number Storage I/O Control datastore maximum queue depth.
datastore.datastoreNormalReadLatency.latest Datastore millisecond Storage DRS datastore normalized read latency.
datastore.datastoreNormalWriteLatency.latest Datastore millisecond Storage DRS datastore normalized write latency.
datastore.datastoreReadBytes.latest Datastore millisecond Storage DRS datastore bytes read.
datastore.datastoreReadIops.latest Datastore Number Storage DRS datastore read I/O rate.
datastore.datastoreReadLoadMetric.latest Datastore Number Storage DRS datastore metric for read workload model.
datastore.datastoreReadOIO.latest Datastore Number Storage DRS datastore outstanding read requests.
datastore.datastoreVMObservedLatency.latest Datastore microsecond The average datastore latency as seen by virtual machines.
datastore.datastoreWriteBytes.latest Datastore millisecond Storage DRS datastore bytes written.
datastore.datastoreWriteIops.latest Datastore Number Storage DRS datastore write I/O rate.
datastore.datastoreWriteLoadMetric.latest Datastore Number Storage DRS datastore metric for write workload model.
datastore.datastoreWriteOIO.latest Datastore Number Storage DRS datastore outstanding write requests.
datastore.maxTotalLatency.latest Datastore millisecond Highest latency value across all datastores used by the host.
datastore.numberReadAveraged.average Datastore Number Average number of read commands issued per second to the datastore.
datastore.numberWriteAveraged.average Datastore Number Average number of write commands issued per second to the datastore during the collection interval.
datastore.read.average (featured metric) Datastore KiB Rate of reading data from the datastore.
datastore.siocActiveTimePercentage.average (featured metric) Datastore percent Percentage of time Storage I/O Control actively controlled datastore latency.
datastore.sizeNormalizedDatastoreLatency.average Datastore microsecond Storage I/O Control size-normalized I/O latency.
datastore.throughput.contention.average Datastore millisecond Average amount of time for an I/O operation to the datastore or LUN across all ESX hosts accessing it.
datastore.throughput.usage.average Datastore KiB The current bandwidth usage for the datastore or LUN.
datastore.totalReadLatency.average Datastore millisecond Average amount of time for a read operation from the datastore.
datastore.totalWriteLatency.average Datastore millisecond Average amount of time for a write operation from the datastore.
datastore.unmapIOs.summation Datastore Number Number of Unmap operations.
datastore.unmapSize.summation Datastore Number Total UnMap size.
datastore.write.average (featured metric) Datastore KiB Rate of writing data to the datastore.
disk.busResets.summation disk Number Number of SCSI-bus reset commands issued.
disk.capacity.latest disk KiB Configured size of the datastore.
disk.capacity.contention.average disk KiB The amount of storage capacity overcommitment for the entity, measured in percent.
disk.capacity.provisioned.average disk KiB Provisioned size of the entity.
disk.capacity.usage.average disk KiB The amount of storage capacity currently being consumed by or on the entity.
disk.commands.summation disk Number Number of SCSI commands issued.
disk.commandsAborted.summation disk Number Number of SCSI commands aborted.
disk.commandsAveraged.average disk Number Average number of SCSI commands issued per second.
disk.deltaused.latest disk KiB Storage overhead of a virtual machine or a datastore due to delta disk backings.
disk.deviceLatency.average disk millisecond Average amount of time it takes to complete an SCSI command from physical device.
disk.deviceReadLatency.average disk millisecond Average amount of time it takes to complete read from physical device.
disk.deviceWriteLatency.average disk millisecond Average amount of time to write from the physical device.
disk.kernelLatency.average disk millisecond Average amount of time spent by VMkernel to process each SCSI command.
disk.kernelReadLatency.average disk millisecond Average amount of time spent by VMkernel to process each SCSI read command.
disk.kernelWriteLatency.average disk millisecond Average amount of time spent by VMkernel to process each SCSI write command.
disk.maxQueueDepth.average (featured metric) disk Number Maximum queue depth.
disk.maxTotalLatency.latest disk millisecond Highest latency value across all disks used by the host.
disk.numberRead.summation disk Number Number of disk reads during the collection interval.
disk.numberReadAveraged.average disk Number Average number of read commands issued per second to the datastore.
disk.numberWrite.summation disk Number Number of disk writes during the collection.
disk.numberWriteAveraged.average disk Number Average number of write commands issued per second to the datastore.
disk.provisioned.latest disk KiB Amount of storage set aside for use by a datastore or a virtual machine. Files on the datastore and the virtual machine can expand to this size but not beyond it.
disk.queueLatency.average disk millisecond Average amount of time spent in VMkernel queue (per SCSI command).
disk.queueReadLatency.average (featured metric) disk millisecond Average amount of time spent in the VMkernel queue per SCSI read command.
disk.queueWriteLatency.average disk millisecond Average amount of time spent in the VMkernel queue per SCSI write command.
disk.read.average disk KiB Average number of kilobytes read from the disk each second.
disk.scsiReservationCnflctsPct.average disk Number Number of SCSI reservation conflicts for the LUN as a percent of total commands during the collection interval.
disk.scsiReservationConflicts.summation disk Number Number of SCSI reservation conflicts for the LUN during the collection interval.
disk.throughput.contention.average disk millisecond Average amount of time for an I/O operation to the datastore or LUN across all ESX hosts accessing it.
disk.throughput.usage.average disk KiB The current bandwidth usage for the datastore or LUN.
disk.totalLatency.average (featured metric) disk millisecond Average amount of time taken during the collection interval to process a SCSI command issued by the guest OS to the virtual machine.
disk.totalReadLatency.average disk millisecond Average amount of time taken to process a SCSI read command issued from the guest OS to the virtual machine.
disk.totalWriteLatency.average disk millisecond Average amount of time taken to process a SCSI write command issued by the guest OS to the virtual machine.
disk.unshared.latest disk KiB Amount of space associated exclusively with a virtual machine.
disk.usage.average (featured metric) disk KiB Aggregated disk I/O rate.
disk.used.latest disk KiB Amount of space actually used by the virtual machine or the datastore. May be less than the amount provisioned at any given time, depending on whether the virtual machine is powered-off, whether snapshots have been created or not, and other such factors.
disk.write.average disk KiB Average number of kilobytes written to the disk each second.
Table 4. vsphere.metric-ESX_Server metrics
Metric type Resource (name of specific database, where relevant) Units Metric type description
cpu.coreUtilization.average  (featured metric) cpu-core percent CPU utilization of the corresponding core (if hyper-threading is enabled) as a percentage.
cpu.reservedCapacity.average cpu-core megahertz Total CPU capacity reserved by virtual machines.
cpu.totalCapacity.average cpu-core megahertz Total CPU capacity reserved by and available for virtual machines.
datastore.maxTotalLatency.latest datastore millisecond Highest latency value across all datastores used by the host.
hbr.hbrDiskReadLatency.average host-based replication millisecond Average Disk read latency.
hbr.hbrDiskStallLatency.average host-based replication millisecond Average Disk stall latency.
hbr.hbrNetRx.average host-based replication KiB Average amount of data received per second.
hbr.hbrNetTx.average host-based replication KiB Average amount of data transmitted per second.
hbr.hbrNumVms.average host-based replication Number Number of powered-on virtual machines running on this host that currently have host-based replication protection enabled.
mem.heap.average memory KiB VMkernel virtual address space dedicated to VMkernel main heap and related data.
mem.heapfree.average memory KiB Free address space in the VMkernel main heap.Varies based on number of physical devices and configuration options.
mem.llSwapIn.average memory KiB Amount of memory swapped-in from host cache.
mem.llSwapOut.average memory KiB Amount of memory swapped-out to host cache.
mem.lowfreethreshold.average memory KiB Threshold of free host physical memory below which ESX/ESXi will begin reclaiming memory from virtual machines through ballooning and swapping.
mem.reservedCapacity.average memory MiB Total amount of memory reservation used by powered-on virtual machines and vSphere services on the host.
mem.sharedcommon.average memory KiB Amount of machine memory that is shared by all powered-on virtual machines and vSphere services on the host.
mem.state.latest memory KiB One of four threshold levels representing the percentage of free memory on the host.
mem.swapin.average memory KiB Amount of memory swapped-in from disk.
mem.swapinRate.average memory KiB Rate at which memory is swapped from disk into active memory.
mem.swapout.average memory KiB Amount of memory swapped-out to disk.
mem.swapoutRate.average memory KiB Rate at which memory is being swapped from active memory to disk.
mem.swapused.average memory KiB Amount of memory that is used by swap. Sum of memory swapped of all powered on VMs and vSphere services on the host.
mem.sysUsage.average memory KiB Amount of host physical memory used by VMkernel for core functionality, such as device drivers and other internal uses. Does not include memory used by virtual machines or vSphere services.
mem.totalCapacity.average memory KiB Total amount of memory reservation used by and available for powered-on virtual machines and vSphere services on the host.
mem.unreserved.average memory KiB Amount of memory that is unreserved. Memory reservation not used by the Service Console, VMkernel, vSphere services and other powered on VMs user-specified memory reservations and overhead memory.
mem.vmfs.pbc.capMissRatio.latest  (featured metric) memory percent Trailing average of the ratio of capacity misses to compulsory misses for the VMFS PB Cache.
mem.vmfs.pbc.overhead.latest memory KiB Amount of VMFS heap used by the VMFS PB Cache.
mem.vmfs.pbc.size.latest memory MiB Space used for holding VMFS Pointer Blocks in memory.
mem.vmfs.pbc.sizeMax.latest memory MiB Maximum size the VMFS Pointer Block Cache can grow to.
mem.vmfs.pbc.workingSet.latest memory TiB Amount of file blocks whose addresses are cached in the VMFS PB Cache.
mem.vmfs.pbc.workingSetMax.latest memory TiB Maximum amount of file blocks whose addresses are cached in the VMFS PB Cache.
net.errorsRx.summation  (featured metric) network adapter Number Number of packets with errors received.
net.errorsTx.summation  (featured metric) network adapter Number Number of packets with errors transmitted.
net.unknownProtos.summation network adapter KiB Number of frames with unknown protocol received.
power.powerCap.average power watt Maximum allowed power usage.
rescpu.maxLimited1.latest rescpu percent Amount of CPU resources over the limit that were refused, average over 1 minute.
rescpu.maxLimited15.latest rescpu percent Amount of CPU resources over the limit that were refused, average over 15 minutes.
rescpu.maxLimited5.latest rescpu percent Amount of CPU resources over the limit that were refused, average over 5 minutes.
storageAdapter.maxTotalLatency.latest  (featured metric) storage adapter millisecond Highest latency value across all storage adapters used by the host.
storagePath.maxTotalLatency.latest  (featured metric) storage adapter millisecond Highest latency value across all storage paths used by the host.