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SpherifyerVirtualization Platform Reporting, Audit and Planning Tool

vCenter reports without PowerCLI, with history.

Anyone who wants to know how the VMware environment is doing clicks through the vSphere Client object by object or maintains PowerCLI scripts and Excel lists. Spherifyer queries vCenter regularly, summarizes all datacenters per view, evaluates them with recommendations and keeps every state.

Explore Spherifyer Documentation
01ContentsWhat the report shows

The whole VMware environment in one view.

The vSphere Client shows the current state, object by object. A report needs to do something else: all VMs, datastores and hosts side by side, filtered and sorted, with what stands out. And tomorrow it should still know what things looked like yesterday.

Spherifyer stores every collection run in its own database. The user actions from vCenter, that is who changed what and when, are kept too, after vCenter has purged its events.

VMs
All VMs in one table to filter and sort, with network adapters (port group, VLAN, MAC, IP addresses) and guest disks. Filters for VMs in several networks and disconnected adapters.
Datastores
Usage, provisioning, latency and time to full per datastore. More: monitor datastore usage.
Hosts
CPU, RAM and network per host, the VMs on it and the VMs with the highest CPU ready time.
Topology
vCenter, datacenters, clusters and hosts as a tree, plus which VM is in which VLAN, per distributed switch.
Audit
Warnings with recommendations, including checks from the vSphere Security Configuration Guide: lockdown mode, NTP, syslog, shell timeout, SSH, VM hardware, emulated NICs, connected CD drives. Plus VMware Tools and user actions.
Planning
Capacity per cluster, failure simulation, reclamation and license requirements. More: capacity planning.
02AccessRead-only, directly through the vSphere API

No PowerCLI, no scripts, no write access.

Spherifyer talks directly to the vCenter’s vSphere API. It needs neither PowerShell nor PowerCLI and no agent on the hosts. A user with the “Read-only” role is enough, because Spherifyer never changes anything in vCenter.

Operation
A single program for Windows or Linux on your own server, as a service. Operated in the browser, in German and English.
Interval
Every hour by default, freely configurable, for example every 30 minutes.
History
90 days by default, unlimited if you like. Analysis from 30 days to more than 2 years.
Data
Stay on your server. Externally Spherifyer only talks to www.wedigo.net for license and updates.
API
An HTTP API returns all values for your own analyses.
03SetupYour first report in a few minutes
  1. 01

    Create a user

    A user in vCenter with the “Read-only” role, assigned at the top and propagated to child objects.

  2. 02

    Start Spherifyer

    Place the program on a server and install it as a service.

  3. 03

    Enter vCenter

    Enter address and credentials in the browser, choose the interval.

  4. 04

    Analyze

    After the first collection run all views are ready; the history grows with every run.

04FAQFrequently asked questions about vCenter reports

Does Spherifyer need PowerCLI?

No. Spherifyer talks directly to the vCenter’s vSphere API and needs neither PowerShell nor PowerCLI. It runs on Windows and Linux.

Which permissions does Spherifyer need in vCenter?

Read-only. Create a dedicated user, give it the “Read-only” role at the very top of vCenter and tick “Propagate to children”. Spherifyer never changes anything in vCenter.

How long is the data kept?

90 days by default, configurable up to unlimited. The user actions from vCenter are kept just as long, regardless of when vCenter purges its events.

Can I process the data myself?

Yes, through the HTTP API. It returns the values the dashboard shows, for your own scripts and analyses.

Is this also available for Proxmox?

Support for Proxmox VE via the Proxmox Datacenter Manager is in development, see Spherifyer and Proxmox. One license will then cover both platforms.