Nutanix Collector User Guide v4 - 0

Collector 4.
Collector User Guide

December 15, 2021
Contents
Overview.......................................................................................................................... 3
How to run Collector..................................................................................................4

Running Nutanix Collector (Desktop Application)...................................................................................... 4
(Optional) Creating a Desktop Shortcut..........................................................................................................4
Finding the Collector Version...............................................................................................................................5
Data Collection..............................................................................................................6
Collecting Data with Collector (Desktop Application)...............................................................................6
Collecting ONTAP CIFS shares Data with Collector.................................................................................. 17
Collecting Performance Data for Hyper-V....................................................................................................23
Uploading the Collector Output to Nutanix Sizer..................................................................................... 27
Output Sheets Generated by Collector..........................................................................................................27
Output Sheets Generated by Collector for ONTAP.................................................................................. 36
Nutanix Collector Compatibility Matrix............................................................ 42
Troubleshooting..........................................................................................................43
Copyright...................................................................................................................... 48
OVERVIEW
Nutanix Collector collects the cluster, host, and VM level statistics such as usage data of
the allocated resources from your AHV, ESXi, Hyper-V clusters. In case of ONTAP, Nutanix
Collector collects cluster, nodes, volumes, CIFS shares, and QoS from your ONTAP CIFS shares
clusters. You can upload the data generated from Nutanix Collector into Nutanix Sizer. The data
collected by using Nutanix Collector helps you accurately gather your datacenter requirements
and helps in improving the estimates or recommendations generated by Nutanix Sizer. These
estimates and recommendations give you a better understanding of the usage of the resources
than the manual estimates.
Collector | Overview | 3

HOW TO RUN COLLECTOR
You can run Nutanix Collector as a desktop application and create a desktop shortcut.
Note: Ensure that the system on which you run Nutanix Collector has network access to vCenter
Server or Prism Central and Prism Element or Hyper-V or ONTAP CIFS shares hosts.
Running Nutanix Collector (Desktop Application)

About this task
Perform the following procedure to download and run the Nutanix Collector desktop
application.
Procedure
1. On the Nutanix portal, go to Downloads > Collector to download the Nutanix Collector
desktop application package.
2. Unzip the package in a folder of your choice on your local computer.
3. Go to the folder where you have saved the package and click the package to launch the
application.
(Optional) Creating a Desktop Shortcut

About this task
Perform the following procedure to create a desktop shortcut of the Nutanix Collector desktop
application.
Procedure
1. Go to the directory or folder where you have saved the Nutanix Collector package.
2. (Linux only) Do the following to create a desktop application on a Linux system.
a. Right-click the application icon and select the Make link option.
A replica of the Nutanix Collector icon with an arrow appears.
b. Copy the replica to the desktop.
3. (Windows only) Do the following to create a desktop application on a Windows machine.
a. Right-click the Nutanix Collector icon.

b. Click Send to and then select Desktop (Create Shortcut).
You can now directly access the Nutanix Collector application from your desktop.
4. (macOS only) Do the following to create a desktop application on a macOS machine.

Drag and drop the application to the macOS dock.
Note: You might have to provide the Download program from unauthorized developer
permission to the application.
Collector | How to run Collector | 4

Finding the Collector Version
About this task
Perform the following procedure to find the Collector version you have installed:
Procedure
1. Open the Collector application.
2. Click Application > About Collector.

Result: The About Collector window displays the Nutanix-Collector version.
Collector | How to run Collector | 5

DATA COLLECTION
Collecting Data with Collector (Desktop Application)
About this task
To initialize data collection from your AHV, ESXi, and Hyper-V, you must connect to Prism,
vCenter Server, or Hyper-V host respectively. After Nutanix Collector establishes a connection,
data collection is initialized. Once the collection is completed, Nutanix Collector generates a
collection zip file. The Zip file can be uploaded in the Collector Portal to analyze the data and
share the same with others. You can also export the data to Sizer from the Collector Portal.
Nutanix Collector also allows you to export the data to an xlsx file.
Nutanix Collector enables you to collect information from either of the following.
• Prism Central or Prism Element.

• A single entity (datacenter or cluster) or all the entities registered to a vCenter Server.
• Hyper-V hosts in a single cluster.
Note: Ensure the following pre-requisites are met for Hyper-V:
• PoweShell version 5.1 and later on the target hosts.

• In case of more than one host on the cluster, the cluster should be managed by a
Failover Cluster Manager.
• In case of remote connection, ensure the following:
• PowerShell remote is to be enabled.

• WinRM service is running.
• Firewall allows for communication over port 5985/5986.
• The user is the domain administrator.
• Negotiate authentication protocol is enabled for remote collection.
• Proxy servers should not block Collector while connection is being established
with the remote cluster.
• ONTAP CIFS shares - For details, see the Collecting ONTAP CIFS Shares Data with Collector
topic.
Perform the following procedure to connect and initialize data collection:
Procedure
1. Do one of the following.
» Go to the folder or directory where you have saved the Nutanix Collector package.
» Go to the desktop if you have created a shortcut.
2. Double-click the package to launch the application.
Collector | Data Collection | 6

3. Do the following on the Home screen.
a. From the drop-down menu, select the instance of Prism, vCenter Server, Hyper-V, or
ONTAP CIFS Shares that you want to start the collection of data from.
Figure 1: Nutanix Collector Home Screen - Drop down menu
Note: In case of Hyper-V, there are two options Hyper-V (Local) and Hyper-V (Remote).
We highly recommend that you run this on a Hyper-V host and choose the Hyper-V
(Local) option unless the Hyper-V hosts are running Windows Core edition.
b. In the IP address or name field, do one of the following.
» Type the IP address or host name of vCenter Server if you want to collect information
from all the hosts in the ESXi cluster.
» Type the IP address or host name of the single host from which you want to collect
information.
» Type the IP address or host name of the Prism Element from which you want to
collect information.
» Type the IP address or host name of the Prism Central from which you want to collect
information.
» Hyper-V (Local) collection uses localhost as the default IP address, and no input is
needed.

Figure 2: Collector Home Screen - Hyper-V (Local) - Recommended
» Type the IP address or host name of one of the Hosts which is a part of the cluster of
Hyper-V hosts that you want to collect information.
Note: In case of entering the Hyper-V (Remote) host name, we do not require the
FQDN (fully qualified domain name). The tool expects only the host name.
Example of FQDN: hostmachine-01.network.domain.com
Hostname: hostmachine-01
c. The Port field, is automatically populated with the default ports of Prism, vCenter Server,
or Hyper-V.
Note: The default ports for Prism, vCenter Server, and Hyper-V (Remote) are 443, 9440,
and 5986 respectively. If the port number is different in your setup, you can change the
port number. Port number is not applicable for Hyper-V (Local).
d. In the Username field, type the user name of the user account that you want Nutanix
Collector to use to access vCenter Server, a single ESXi host, or a Prism instance (Prism
Central or Prism Element). In case of Hyper-V cluster with multiple hosts, you need to
be a domain administrator or a member of the domain administrator group. Hyper-V

local does not need username and password but you need to login into the host as the
domain administrator.
Note: For Hyper-V cluster with multiple hosts you will need the domain admin user
credentials and for single node Hyper-V cluster you can provide either the domain admin
or the local admin credentials.
e. In the Password field, type the password of the user account you specified in the
preceding step. Hyper-V local does not need any password to be given as input.
f. Click Connect.
Figure 3: Nutanix Collector Home Screen
Figure 4: Collector Home Screen - Drop Down Menu

After Nutanix Collector establishes the connection all the clusters and/or datacenters are
displayed.
4. Select the datacenter, cluster, ESXi host, or the Prism instance, or the Hyper-V cluster for
which you want to collect data and click Collect.
Figure 5: Datacenter or Cluster Hierarchy
The Loading screen displays the progress of the data collection.
Note: Wait for the process to complete as it takes some time.
After data collection is complete, you are directed to the Output screen.

5. (Optional) In the Loading screen, click Cancel if you want to stop the data collection before
it is complete.
Figure 6: Nutanix Collector Loading Screen
6. Once the collection is complete a zip file is created with all the information that is gathered
by Nutanix Collector.
Note: In the case of Hyper-V, the collection file does not contain performance metrics unless
user has explicitly requested performance metrics through the "Collect Performance Data"
option.
7. The Output screen displays a summary of the collected metrics for the datacenters or
clusters you have selected.
The Clusters Summary tab displays the configuration details and performance metrics of
the clusters including CPU, Memory and Raw Storage details - both total and consumed
metrics. It also includes - Read:Write Ratio and Estimated Daily Usage which is calculated
based on the IOs on all the vDisks. The Performance data tab displays the VM utilization,

CPU utilization and memory utilization, disk usage rate, and network usage rate of the last 7
days of the cluster.
Figure 7: Nutanix Collector Output Screen (Clusters Summary tab)
After you click the Host Summary tab, select the host for which you want to view
the details from the drop-down list. The Host Summary tab displays the details and
performance data of the last 7 days of the host you selected. You can see the performance
data of the CPU, memory, and disk usage of the host. In case of Prism clusters, you can also
view the type and quantity of HDD and SSD attached.
Figure 8: Nutanix Collector Output Screen (Host Summary tab)
On VMs Summary tab, VM Summary includes the number of powered on and powered
off VMs, and the guest OS running on these VMs. The data in the graphs are bucketized
and the bucketization can be based on the Median, Average, or Percentile values. The
VM Summary tab also includes a "sample donut graph" for the VM Provisioning Status
and other additional features. This is a non-functional instance displayed for reference.
This feature is available only on Collector Portal. You can use this feature by going to the

Collector Portal using the Go to Collector Portal hyperlink provided below the sample
graph or the Go to Portal option on the top right corner of the screen.
Figure 9: Nutanix Collector Output Screen (VMs Summary tab)
Note: The performance graphs shown in the three tabs in the above image would appear
empty by default for Hyper-V collection as Collector does not collect performance data
unless explicitly initiated. Collector also collects performance metrics but the user needs to
explicitly initiate it.
Figure 10: Collector Portal and Nutanix Community Link
8. (Optional) If you want to change the selection of datacenters or clusters, in the left pane
of the Output screen, select the datacenters or clusters for which you want to view or
download the data to xlsx, and click Apply.
Note: In case of Hyper-V, the cluster selection is disabled as Hyper-V collections are always
initiated on a per-cluster basis.
The details in the summary section of the Output screen are updated with the data for
the selected entities. You can then click Save output as .XLSX to save and download the
collected data for the updated selection.
9. (Optional) To rerun data collection, do one of the following.
» In the Rerun on drop-down list, select Different Clusters to collect data from different
datacenters or clusters registered with the same vCenter Server or Prism instance.
» In the Rerun on drop-down list, select Another instance to close the existing Collector
instances and re-open the Nutanix Collector Home Screen.

10. (Optional) To view the disk usage rate and network usage rate of a shorter duration, you
can click the time frame in which you want to view data and drag across the graph.
Figure 11: Nutanix Collector Disk Usage Rate Screen
Figure 12: Nutanix Collector Network Usage Rate Screen
11. You can optionally generate, save, and download an .XLSX file using Save output as .XLSX .
The downloaded excel sheet includes data of only the selected entities (datacenters or
clusters) and the data is available only in the selected type of calculation (Median, Average,

or Percentile). The output that Collector generates has multiple sheets, with data related to
each of these entities as listed below.
• vDataCenter
• vCluster
• vHosts
• vInfo
• vCPU
• vMemory
• vDisk
• vPartition
• vSnapshot
• vSwitch
• vNICs
• vPort
• vNetwork
• vMutlipath
• vLicense
• vmList
• Metadata
When you click the Save output as .XLSX button, a pop-up screen appears with an option
to mask the sensitive information gathered by the Collector. Click Yes, Mask and Save only

if you want to hide and save the sensitive information in the excel sheet or click No, skip
masking.
Figure 13: Nutanix Collector Mask Sensitive Information
The fields that are masked with respect to each entity in the excel sheet are as follows.
• Cluster Name
• Host IP
• Host Name
• VM Name
• Disk Name
• Snapshot Name
• Snapshot File
• Host
• Switch Name
• Port Group
• vSwitch
• Network
• Adapter
• Disk
• License Name
• License Key
12. (Optional) Show Collection file (.ZIP) points you to a zip file with all data from the
collection run in an encrypted format. The zip file is saved and can be used to recreate
visualizations and generate excel output from the Collector Portal.
13. (Optional) Go to portal opens a browser window to collector.nutanix.com where the

collection zip files can be uploaded and saved for future utilization.
Note: Collector Portal has added functionality to view all VMs details and collaboration
options. For more information, see the Nutanix Collector Portal User Guide.

Collecting ONTAP CIFS shares Data with Collector
About this task
To initialize data collection from your ONTAP CIFS shares clusters, you must connect to the
ONTAP CIFS shares host. After Nutanix Collector establishes a connection, the data collection
is initialized. Once the collection is completed, Nutanix Collector generates a collection zip file.
Nutanix Collector also allows you to export the data to an xlsx file.
Note:
• ONTAP CIFS shares is currently supported only on Windows instance of Collector.

• Collector supports Clustered Data ONTAP version 8.3 and later.
• ONTAP 7-mode is not supported.
Perform the following procedure to connect and initialize data collection:
Procedure
1. Do one of the following.
» Go to the folder or directory where you have saved the Nutanix Collector package.
» Go to the desktop if you have created a shortcut.
2. Double-click the package to launch the application.

3. Do the following on the Home screen.
a. From the drop-down menu, select the ONTAP CIFS shares.
Figure 14: Home Screen - Drop down menu - ONTAP CIFS shares
b. In the IP address or name field, type the IP address or host name of the ONTAP CIFS
shares from which you want to collect information.
Figure 15: Home Screen - ONTAP CIFS shares

c. The Port field, is automatically populated with the default ports.
d. In the Username field, type the user name of the user account that you want Nutanix
Collector to use to access the ONTAP CIFS shares host.

Note: Users with read-only privileges and having access to the cluster through ONTAP
interface will be able to pull the data from ONTAP systems.
e. In the Password field, type the password of the user account you specified in the
preceding step.
f. Click Connect.
After Nutanix Collector establishes the connection the ONTAP cluster is displayed.
4. Select the ONTAP CIFS shares host for which you want to collect data and click Collect.
Note: You can only collect data for only one ONTAP CIFS cluster at a time.
Figure 16: Collector Cluster Selection Screen
The Loading screen displays the progress of the data collection.
Note: Wait for the process to complete as it takes some time.
After data collection is complete, you are directed to the Output screen.

5. (Optional) In the Loading screen, click Cancel if you want to stop the data collection before
it is complete.
Figure 17: Nutanix Collector Loading Screen
6. Once the collection is complete, a zip file is created with all the information that is gathered
by Nutanix Collector.

7. The Output screen displays a summary of the collected metrics for the cluster you have
selected.
The Summary tab displays the Capacity, Data Efficiency, and CIFS Shares and Performance
Levels details.
Figure 18: Collector ONTAP CIFS shares Output Screen - Summary tab
The Capacity pane provides the values and percentage details for the following:
• Total Provisioned Capacity - Total Capacity (in TiB) provisioned in the cluster for all the
volumes used to create the CIFS Shares.
• Total Used Capacity - Total Used Capacity (in TiB) in the cluster from all the volumes
used to create CIFS Shares.
Figure 19: Capacity Pane
The Data Efficiency pane provides the ratio of data efficiency achieved with the following:
• Compression: Data compression on a volume used to create CIFS Shares to achieve

storage efficiency.
• Deduplication: Eliminates the duplicate copies of data on a volume used to create CIFS
Shares to achieve storage efficiency.
• Total Savings: Total Space saved through storage efficiency technologies.

Figure 20: Data Efficiency Pane
The CIFS Shares and Performance Levels pane displays the number of File Shares and
provides Performance Level breakup both percentage wise and in form of a donut chart.
The breakup provides performance levels for 6 pre-defined levels and 1 custom level.
Figure 21: CIFS Shares and Performance Levels Pane
8. (Optional) To rerun data collection, do one of the following.
» In the Rerun on drop-down list, select Different Cluster to collect data from different
datacenters or clusters registered with the same ONTAP CIFS shares instance.
» In the Rerun on drop-down list, select Another instance to close the existing Collector
instances and re-open the Nutanix Collector Home Screen.
9. You can optionally generate an .XLSX file using Save output as .XLSX . The output that
Collector generates has multiple sheets, with data related to each of the following entities
(Details provided in "Output Sheets Generated for ONTAP" section):
• Summary
• Nodes
• Volumes (used to create CIFS Shares)
• CIFS shares
• QOS
• Metadata
Note: The option Mask Sensitive Information is not enabled for the output sheet that
Collector generates for ONTAP.
10. (Optional) Show Collection file (.ZIP) points you to a zip file with all data from the
collection run in an encrypted format.

11. (Optional) Go to portal opens a browser window to collector.nutanix.com.
Note: The Apply button is grayed out for ONTAP CIFS shares as you can collect data only
for 1 cluster at a time.
Collecting Performance Data for Hyper-V

Unlike vCenter, Prism or NetApp ONTAP, performance collection is not initiated by default for
Hyper-V clusters. By default, Collector only collects the Hyper-V configuration information and
generates the Collection zip file. If you want to collect performance data of the Hyper-V cluster
you need to manually initiate the performance data collection using the Collect Performance
Data button.
Figure 22: Collector Performance Data
In the case of Hyper-V, the performance collection is not historical performance data but the
live collection ranging from 1 to 7 days.
Note: Hyper-V (Local) mode is the recommended option for performance collection. Since the
performance collection runs over 1 to 7 days, Hyper-V (Remote) might end up in connectivity
issues during performance collection and hence the recommendation is to use Hyper-V (Local)
mode. If you are running Windows Core Operating System, use Hyper-V (Remote) mode through
a virtual machine to avoid connectivity issues.
Selecting time duration for performance collection

Once you try to initiate performance Collection, you would be asked to select the duration
for which the performance data needs to be collected. The possible options are 1 day, 3 days,
5 days, or 7 days. The frequency of data collection depends on the duration of performance
collection. The below table provides the frequency and data points:
Table 1:
Duration of Frequency of Data Collection Data points over the duration

Performance Collection
1 day 5 minutes 288
3 days 10 minutes 432

Note: Depending on the configuration of the cluster and the frequency of performance
collection, there might be instances where the Collector might miss a few data points in between.
Figure 23: Collector Performance Data Duration Selection
Select the duration over which you would like to collect the performance data and click Done.
Note: For a seamless collection experience, make sure that the system remains connected
at all times during the process. Hyper-V (Local) is the recommended option when initiating
performance data collection.
Checking the Progress of Performance Data Collection

Once the performance Data collection is initiated, you can check the progress of the collection
using the progress bar. You can also see the estimated remaining time next to the progress bar.
Figure 24: Performance Data Progress Bar
For additional information you can click info icon.

Figure 25: Performance Data Start and End Time
Click info icon to display the start time and end time of the collection along with the frequency
of data collection.
Note: When the performance collection is in progress, the options rerun and Collect Performance
Data are disabled.
As and when the performance data points are received, the performance data would start
populating in the performance charts under Cluster Summary, Host Summary, and VM summary
as shown below:
Figure 26: Performance Data - Cluster Summary
Figure 27: Performance Data - Hosts Summary

Figure 28: Performance Data - VM Summary
Once the performance data collection is complete, the Collector generates another Collection
file, the new collection file contains both configuration and performance data as opposed to the
initial Collection file which had only the configuration information.
To view the Collection file, click on the Show Collection file (.ZIP) button.
Figure 29: Performance Data - Show Collection file (.ZIP)
To stop the performance collection midway, you can use the Stop Performance Collection
option.
Once you click the Stop Performance Collection button, you would be warned about the action
they are about to take.

Figure 30: Performance Data - Stop Collection Notification
Once you click Stop Collection, the Collector would generate the Collection file with the config
and the performance data already collected. You can view the Collection file by clicking Show
Collection file (.ZIP) button.
Note: After stopping performance collection, you need to restart the application to initiate
performance collection.
Uploading the Collector Output to Nutanix Sizer
About this task

You can upload the Collector output (Excel file) to Nutanix Sizer to obtain accurate sizing
information of the custom workloads you want to run on Nutanix platforms. You can either
follow the steps shown below or do it through Collector Portal using the Export to Sizer option.
For more information, see the Collector Portal User Guide.
Perform the following to upload the Collector output to Sizer.
Procedure
1. Log on to Sizer.
2. Click Create New Scenario.
3. After you create the scenario, click the menu next to the scenario name and choose Import
Workloads.
4. On the next window that appears, click Upload File and upload the output file.
Output Sheets Generated by Collector

Collector generates output in the Excel (.xlsx) format as shown in the following figure:

Figure 31: Collector Output - Excel
Each Excel output includes the following sheets (except ONTAP CIFS shares):
• vDataCenter
• vCluster
• vHosts
• vInfo
• vCPU
• vMemory
• vDisk
• vPartition
• vSnapshot
• vSwitch
• vNICs
• vPort
• vNetwork
• vMultipath
• vLicense
• vmList
• Metadata
Each sheet includes various attributes (data points) displayed in columns. Following is the
description of attributes of each sheet.
Note:

• For Hyper-V, the vSnapshot, vSwitch, vNics, vPort, vNetwork, vMultipath, and
vLicense sheets are not collected.
• The stats cover a period of 7 days for vCenter and Prism. For Hyper-V, it dependents
on the user selection during performance collection.
Table 2: vDataCenter
Attribute Description
Moid The unique identifier of the datacenter
Name The name of the datacenter
Table 3: vCluster
Datacenter The datacenter of the cluster.
Moid The unique identifier of the cluster.
Cluster Name The name of the cluster.
CPU Usage % The 95th percentile value of the CPU usage

(in percentage).
Memory Usage % The 95th percentile value of the memory

usage (in percentage).
95th Percentile Disk Throughput (KBps) The 95th percentile value of the disk
throughput.
95th Percentile IOPS The 95th percentile value of the IOPS.
95th Percentile Number of Reads The 95th percentile value of the number of
read operations.
95th Percentile Number of Writes The 95th percentile value of the number of
write operations.
Table 4: vHosts
Cluster The cluster that the host is part of
Moid The unique identifier of the host
Host IP The IP address of the host
Host Name The name of the host
Model The model of the host hardware

NICs The number of NICs attached to the host
BIOS The BIOS version of the host
Vendor The vendor of the host hardware
CPUs Number of physical CPUs in the host
VMs Number of VMs in the host
CPU Model The details of the host CPU model
CPU Cores The number of total physical cores of the host
CPU Speed The speed of the CPU (in MHz)
Cores per CPU Number of cores for each CPU in the host
Memory Size Host memory (in GiB)
CPU Usage The 95th percentile value of the CPU usage

(in %)
Memory Usage The 95th percentile value of the memory

usage (in %)
95th Percentile Disk Throughput (KBps) The 95th percentile value of the disk
throughput
95th Percentile IOPS The 95th percentile value of the IOPS
Read operations
Write operations
Table 5: vInfo
VM Name Name of the VM
VM Sizing Enabled, if the VM is considered for sizing or

else Disabled.
Power State The current state of the VM (PoweredOn or

PoweredOff).
Snapshot Size (MiB) The size of the snapshot created for the VM.
Guest OS The guest OS running on the VM
Target cluster The target cluster in Sizer while sizing
Workload Type The workload type of the target VM (Server

Virtualization or VDI)

Template Displays True if the VM is a Template or else

False
95th Percentile IOPS The 95th percentile value of the IOPS
Read operations
Write operations
Datacenter Name The datacenter that the VM is part of
Cluster Name The cluster that the VM is part of
Host Name The host that the VM is part of
MOID The VM identifier
UUID The unique identifier of the VM
Host MOID The host identifier that the VM is part of
Table 6: vCPU
VM Name The name of the VM whose performance

metrics are collected

PoweredOff).
vCPUs The number of vCPUs of the VM
Max CPU (MHz) The maximum CPU speed of the VM
Overall CPU (MHz) The overall CPU utilization at the collection

instance of the VM
Peak % The peak utilization of the CPU of VMs
Average % The average utilization of the CPU of VMs
Median % The median utilization of the CPU of VMs
Custom Percentile % The Custom percentile that you specify
95th Percentile % (recommended) The 95th percentile value of the utilization of

CPU of VMs (in %)
Template Displays True if the VM is a Template else

False

MOID The identifier of the VM
Table 7: vMemory
VM Name The name of the VM whose performance

metrics are collected

PoweredOff).
Size (MiB) The size of memory of the VM
Peak % The peak utilization of the memory of VMs
Average % The average utilization of the memory of VMs
Median % The median utilization of the memory of VMs
Custom Percentile % The percentile utilization of the memory of

VMs
95th Percentile % (recommended) The 95th percentile value of the utilization of

memory of VMs

False
Table 8: vDisk
VM Name The name of the VM
Disk Name The name of the disk
Capacity (MiB) Storage capacity of the disk in MiB
Thin Provisoned Displays True if the VM is thin provisioned and

False if the VM is thick provisioned

Table 9: vPartition
VM Name The name of the VM

PoweredOff).
Path The path of the partition (ex:/

vm_ctrl/.acropolis/vmdisk)
Consumed (MiB) Storage consumed
Capacity (MiB) Partition capacity

False
Table 10: vSwitch
Host The name of the host where the vSwitch is

defined.
Switch Name The name of the vSwitch. (upto 32

characters)
Ports Count The number of ports that the virtual switch is

configured to use.
Available Ports Count The number of ports available on this virtual

switch.
Note: Use this property when attempting

to implement admission control for new
services attached to virtual switches.

Cluster Name The name of the cluster the host is attached

to.
Datacenter Name The name of the data center the host is part
of.
Table 11: vNICs
Host Name of the host
Network Device The device name of the physical network

adapter.
Drivers The associated driver for the NIC.
Link speed (MB) NIC throughput speed.
Cluster Name The name of the cluster the host is attached

to.
of.
Table 12: vPort
Host Name of the host.
Port Group Name of the port group.
VLAN The VLAN ID for ports using the port group.

Collector supports the following values.
• 0: Specifies that the port group is not

associated with a VLAN.
• 1 to 4094: Specifies a VLAN ID for the port
group.
• 4095: Specifies that the port group
must use trunk mode, allowing the guest
operating system to manage its own VLAN
tags.
vSwitch The identifier of the virtual switch on which

this port group is located.
Cluster Name The name of the cluster the VM is a part of.
of.

Table 13: vNetwork
VM Name Name of the VM.
Network Name of the network connected to this

adapter.
Adapter Name of the network adapter.
vSwitch The identifier of the virtual switch.
Template Specifies if this is a template or not.
Annotation Contains the description of the virtual

machine.
Host Name The name of the host the VM is part of.
Cluster Name The name of the cluster the VM is part of.
Datacenter Name The data center the VM is part of.
VM ID The unique identifier of the VM.
Table 14: vLicense
Name The license name
Used The licenses used
Total Total available licenses
Expiry Date The end date of the license
License Key The key for the corresponding license

(available in administrator login only)
Cost Unit Unit of the license (per core, per CPU, per
server, or per VM).
Features Lists the features available with each of the

licenses
Table 15: vmList
VM Name Name of the VM.
VM Sizing Enabled, if the VM is considered for sizing or

else Disabled.

PoweredOff).

vCPUs The number of vCPUs of the VM.
Max CPU (MHz) The maximum CPU speed of the VM.
Memory (MiB) The total memory of the VM.
Thin Provisioned Displays True if the VM is thin provisioned and

False if the VM is thick provisioned.
Capacity (MiB) Storage capacity of the disk in MiB.
Consumed (MiB) Storage consumed (in MiB)
Target Cluster The target cluster in Sizer while sizing.
Guest OS The guest OS running on the VM.
Template Displays True if the VM is a Template or else

False.
Host The IP address of the host that the VM is part

of.
Cluster Name The name of the cluster that the VM is part of.
Datacenter Name The name of the datacenter that the VM is

part of.
Table 16: Metadata
Hypervisor The targeted hypervisor type.
Connection Mode The type of connection being used. Local or

Remote mode in case of Hyper-V and Prism
Element or Prism Central in case of Prism
Port The port being used.
Platform The Operating system on which Collector is

run.
Collection Version The Collector version being used.
Note: The performance columns in the output excel would appear empty for Hyper-V collection
if the Collection zip file does not contain performance data.
Output Sheets Generated by Collector for ONTAP

Collector generates output in the Excel (.xlsx) format as shown in the following figure:

Figure 32: Collector Output - Excel
Each Excel output includes the following sheets:
• Summary
• CIFS Share Info
• Volume Info
• QOS
• Nodes
• Metadata
Each sheet includes various attributes (data points) displayed in columns. Following are the
descriptions of attributes of each sheet.
Table 17: Summary
Cluster Name Name of the Data ONTAP cluster
Total Provisioned Capacity (TiB) Total Capacity provisioned (in TiB) in the
cluster for all the volumes used to create the
CIFS Shares
Total Free Capacity (TiB) Total Free Capacity remaining (in TiB) in the
cluster from all the volumes used to create
CIFS Shares
Total Used Capacity (TiB) Total Used Capacity (in TiB) in the cluster
from all the volumes used to create CIFS
Shares
Total Logical Used (TiB) Total Space Used by applications or users (in
TiB) without accounting for space efficiency
provided by Compression and Deduplication.

Deduplication Savings (%) Percentage of total space saved with

deduplication
Deduplication Ratio Deduplication ratio across all volumes within

the cluster which are used to create CIFS
Shares
Compression Savings (%) Percentage of total space in the cluster saved

due to compression.
Compression Ratio Compression ratio across all volumes within

Shares
Total Savings (%) Percentage of total space saved in the cluster

through storage efficiency technologies
Total Savings Ratio Total Savaings Ratio across all volumes within
Shares
CIFS Volume Count Total number of volumes used to create CIFS

shares within the Data ONTAP cluster.
CIFS Share Count Total number of CIFS shares within the Data
ONTAP cluster.
Table 18: CIFS Share Info
Share Name Name of the CIFS Share.
Share Path The file system path used to share the CIFS
Share.
Share Volume The volume name that the share is associated

with.
Max Connection to Share Maximum number of simultaneous

connections allowed to the CIFS Share.
Share Access Control Level Access Control Levels (ACLs) associated with
the CIFS Share.
Home Directory True, if the share is configured as part of the

CIFS home directory or else False.
SVM (vServer) SVM or vServer associated with the QoS

policy.

Table 19: Volumes Info
Volume Name Name of the Volume within the Data ONTAP

cluster
Total Provisioned Capacity (TiB) Total Capacity provisioned (in TiB) for the
volume.
Total Free Capacity (TiB) Total Free Capacity remaining (in TiB) in the
volume.
Total Used Capacity (TiB) Total Used Capacity (in TiB) in the cluster
from all the volumes used to create CIFS
Shares
Total Logical Used (TiB) Total Space Used by applications or

users (TiB) without accounting for space
efficiency due to Compression, Deduplication,
Compaction, etc.
Total Snapshot Reserved (TiB) Total Space (in TiB) set aside for snapshot
copies of the volume.
Performance Level Performance level associated with the volume

based on the QoS policy.
Deduplication Savings (TiB) Total Space saved (in TiB) through

deduplication.
Deduplication Savings (%) Percentage of total space saved through

deduplication.
Deduplication Ratio Deduplication ratio of the volume.
Compression Savings (TiB) Total Space saved (in TiB) through

compression
Compression Savings (%) Percentage of total space through

compression.
Compression Ratio Compression ratio of the volume.
Total Savings (TiB) Total Space saved (in TiB) through storage
efficiency technologies
Total Savings (%) Percentage of total space saved through

storage efficiency technologies.
Total Savings Ratio Total Savings Ratio of the volume.
Backup Policy Name Name of the backup policy associated with

the volume.
Backup Status Status of the backup. True, if enabled or

protected through backup, else False.
Backup Frequency Frequency associated with the backup policy

defined for the volume.

Retained Snapshots Number of snapshots retainted for the

volume.
SVM (vServer) SVM or vServer associated with the volume.
Note: All volume related data and metrics only consider the volumes used to create CIFS Shares.
Table 20: QoS Info
Policy Group Name Name of the QoS policy.
Policy Group Class Type of the QoS - user-defined, system-

defined, etc.
Max Throughput Maximum throughput defined by this QoS

policy.
Is Shared True, if the QoS policy is shared, else False.
# of Workloads Number of workloads using this QoS policy.
Policy UUID UUID of the QoS policy.
vServer or SVM SVM or vServer associated with the QoS

policy.
Table 21: Nodes
Node Name Name of the node within the Data ONTAP

cluster
Node UUID UUID of the node
Is Healthy Health of the node. If True, the cluster is

healthly else it is not.
Model Model number of the node.
Serial Number Serial number of the node.
CPU ID The CPU ID of the node.
CPU Speed (MHz) The CPU Speed (in MHz) of the node.
# of Processors The number of processors.
Type The node category.
Memory (MB) The node memory.
Uptime Total time since the node has been up.

Vendor The hardware vendor of the node.
Product Version The version of ONTAP running on the node.
Location The physical location of the node.
Table 22: Metadata
NetApp Version The NetApp version being used.
Collection Mode The ONTAP type being used - Generally

Clustered Data ONTAP as ONTAP 7-mode is
not supported.
Platform The Operating system on which Collector is

run.
Collector Version The Collector version being used.

NUTANIX COLLECTOR COMPATIBILITY
MATRIX
The following tables provide the Collector compatibility details.
Table 23: Nutanix Collector Supported Version Matrix
Operating System Supported Versions

Windows Windows 7, 8, 8.1, 10, Windows Server 2016,
and Windows Server 2012 R
Linux Ubuntu 20.04
macOS X - High Sierra 10.14 and later
Table 24: Nutanix Collector Target Instance Compatibility Matrix
Hypervisor Type Target Instance

AHV Nutanix AOS (Prism) 5.8.1 and later
ESXi vSphere 6.0, 6.5, and 6.7
Hyper-V Windows Server 2016 and above (or Windows
server with PowerShell 5.1 or above)
NetApp ONTAP Clustered Data ONTAP 8.3 or later.
Collector | Nutanix Collector Compatibility Matrix | 42

TROUBLESHOOTING
Common Troubleshooting Steps
The following troubleshooting tips can help you resolve a few common issues that can occur
when you are using Nutanix Collector.
Hyper-V (Remote) connection failure:

While using Hyper-V (Remote) specifically for hosts running Windows Core OS edition, in case
collector is unable to establish connection to the host machine, the following troubleshooting
tips can help you resolve a few common issues that can occur when you are using Nutanix
Collector for Hyper-V.
While using collector for Hyper-V remote, if connection fails, this screen should appear:
Figure 33: Hyper-V Remote Connection Failure
The possible reasons could be:

1. The username or password are not that of the domain administrator in the setup. Try logging
in with domain administrator credentials.
2. IP address should be just the host name not the FQDN (fully qualified domain
name).example of FQDN: hostname-01.network.domain.com.
3. Some other reasons like the services are not running as expected and these can be verified
using the precheck script.
Collector | Troubleshooting | 43

Precheck script for collector Hyper-V
When you see the error screen and click on the highlighted precheck script hyperlink, the link
will open the downloads directory and the folder precheck should appear within that you will
find a readme.txt file and ntnxcollector_precheck.ps1 file. The ntnxcollector_precheck.ps1 file
should be used to run the prechecks.
Note: You must run the precheck script as an Administrator.
Steps to run the precheck-script for Hyper-V:

1. The precheck script present in the folder should be executed on the Hyper-V host-machine
which Collector failed to connect and fetch the data from.
It helps in finding out the issues while connecting Collector tool to a Hyper-v host in Remote
collection mode.
2. The precheck tool runs all the checks to make sure that all the preconditions that collector
requires to run smoothly are in place.
3. Usage:
Right click on the ntnxcollector_precheck.ps1 script and choose Run with PowerShell as an
Admin user.
OR
1. Open PowerShell as an Admin user.
2. Run the script: /path/to/script/ntnxcollector_precheck.ps1
4. Interpreting the output:
The script will display if the necessary conditions are met or not with a corresponding
SUCCESS/FAILURE message.
Example:
SUCCESS: WinRM service is available
FAILURE: WSMan service is unavailable
5. Once the issues are resolved, Collector can be used to connect to the host.
Figure 34: Running Collector Precheck

vCenter Server / ESXi / Prism Connection Failures
If Nutanix Collector fails to connect to vCenter Server, appropriate error messages are
displayed in the terminal window or the Home screen of the desktop application. To
troubleshoot connection failures, ensure the following.
• IP address or host name of vCenter Server, the ESXi host, or Prism is correct.
Note: When running on Prism, use the PC/PE Admin credentials.
• Credentials (user name and password) of the user account that you want Nutanix Collector
to use to access vCenter Server, the ESXi host, or Prism are correct.
Figure 35: Connection Failure - Credentials Error Message

• No firewall or proxy server restrictions are set up.

• Collector executable files are not flagged or deleted by firewall or anti-virus settings.
Figure 36: Connection Failure - Collector Executable Error Message
Data Collection Failures

If data collection failures occur, an error stack trace is displayed in the terminal window.
Alternatively, you can download the ntnxcollector.log file.
To download the ntnxcollector.log file from the desktop application of Nutanix Collector, click
Download log file in the error message that appears.

Figure 37: Download log file
You can share the error stack trace or ntnxcollector.log file with the support team to
troubleshoot the issue further at our Sizer-Collector community.

COPYRIGHT
Copyright 2021 Nutanix, Inc.
Nutanix, Inc.
1740 Technology Drive, Suite 150
San Jose, CA 95110
All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual
property laws. Nutanix and the Nutanix logo are registered trademarks of Nutanix, Inc. in the
United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other brand and product names mentioned herein
are for identification purposes only and may be trademarks of their respective holders.
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Collector 4.

Collector User Guide

How to run Collector..................................................................................................4

Nutanix Collector Compatibility Matrix............................................................ 42

Collector | Overview | 3

Running Nutanix Collector (Desktop Application)

2. Unzip the package in a folder of your choice on your local computer.

(Optional) Creating a Desktop Shortcut

2. (Linux only) Do the following to create a desktop application on a Linux system.

3. (Windows only) Do the following to create a desktop application on a Windows machine.

a. Right-click the Nutanix Collector icon.

4. (macOS only) Do the following to create a desktop application on a macOS machine.

Collector | How to run Collector | 4

1. Open the Collector application.

2. Click Application > About Collector.

Collector | How to run Collector | 5

• Prism Central or Prism Element.

Note: Ensure the following pre-requisites are met for Hyper-V:

• PoweShell version 5.1 and later on the target hosts.

• PowerShell remote is to be enabled.

1. Do one of the following.

2. Double-click the package to launch the application.

Collector | Data Collection | 6

Figure 1: Nutanix Collector Home Screen - Drop down menu

b. In the IP address or name field, do one of the following.

Collector | Data Collection | 7

Collector | Data Collection | 8

Figure 3: Nutanix Collector Home Screen

Figure 4: Collector Home Screen - Drop Down Menu

Collector | Data Collection | 9

Figure 5: Datacenter or Cluster Hierarchy

The Loading screen displays the progress of the data collection.

Note: Wait for the process to complete as it takes some time.

Collector | Data Collection | 10

Figure 6: Nutanix Collector Loading Screen

Collector | Data Collection | 11

Figure 7: Nutanix Collector Output Screen (Clusters Summary tab)

Figure 8: Nutanix Collector Output Screen (Host Summary tab)

Collector | Data Collection | 12

Figure 9: Nutanix Collector Output Screen (VMs Summary tab)

Figure 10: Collector Portal and Nutanix Community Link

9. (Optional) To rerun data collection, do one of the following.

Collector | Data Collection | 13

Figure 11: Nutanix Collector Disk Usage Rate Screen

Figure 12: Nutanix Collector Network Usage Rate Screen

Collector | Data Collection | 14

Collector | Data Collection | 15

Figure 13: Nutanix Collector Mask Sensitive Information

13. (Optional) Go to portal opens a browser window to collector.nutanix.com where the

Collector | Data Collection | 16

• ONTAP CIFS shares is currently supported only on Windows instance of Collector.

Perform the following procedure to connect and initialize data collection:

1. Do one of the following.

2. Double-click the package to launch the application.

Collector | Data Collection | 17

a. From the drop-down menu, select the ONTAP CIFS shares.

Figure 15: Home Screen - ONTAP CIFS shares

Collector | Data Collection | 18

Figure 16: Collector Cluster Selection Screen

The Loading screen displays the progress of the data collection.

Note: Wait for the process to complete as it takes some time.

Collector | Data Collection | 19

Figure 17: Nutanix Collector Loading Screen