Integrating vCenter with Alertmanager using VMware Event Broker Appliance (VEBA)
In this blog post, we will explore how to integrate vCenter with Alertmanager using the VMware Event Broker Appliance (VEBA). We will use the event raised when a VM is violating an affinity rule as an example. By leveraging VEBA’s event-driven automation capabilities and Alertmanager’s alert handling features, we can create a powerful solution for monitoring and alerting in our vCenter environment.
Background
———-
Alertmanager is an open-source tool for handling alerts. It is heavily integrated with Prometheus, but it can also handle alerts from other sources. Alertmanager integrates with a lot of third-party solutions for ticket creation, messaging, and more. VEBA, on the other hand, is a VMware event broker appliance that allows us to create “functions” linked to events. These functions can run scripts that integrate with pretty much anything.
Use Case
———
Our use case is to integrate vCenter events with Alertmanager. We want to trigger Alertmanager alerts based on events processed by VEBA. Alertmanager will handle the alerts and provide features such as grouping alerts into a single notification, suppressing notifications based on other alerts, and silencing alerts based on filters.
Combining Alertmanager and VEBA
———————————–
To combine Alertmanager and VEBA, we will use the V2 /alerts endpoint in Alertmanager to post alerts. The schema model for how alerts need to be formatted and which properties need to be included is as follows:
“`json
{
“labels”: {
“name”: “My Alert”,
“vm”: “my-vm”,
“host”: “my-host”,
“cluster”: “my-cluster”
},
“annotations”: [],
“timestamp”: “2023-02-17T14:30:00Z”,
“labels”: {
“alertmanager.org/name”: “My Alert”
}
}
“`
We will create a Knative service in VEBA that will forward events to Alertmanager. The service will be deployed as a Knative construct and will use a Docker image. We will also add a label to the service to show it in the VEBA UI.
Deploying the Service
———————–
To deploy the service, we will create a Docker file and a Knative service resource. Here is an example of the Docker file:
“`sql
FROM python:3.9-slim
WORKDIR /app
COPY requirements.txt .
RUN pip install -r requirements.txt
COPY . .
RUN chmod +x app.py
CMD [ “python”, “app.py” ]
“`
This Docker file will install the required packages, copy the current directory to the container, and set the command to run the `app.py` script.
Here is an example of the Knative service resource:
“`yaml
apiVersion: networking.knative.dev/v1alpha1
kind: Service
metadata:
name: alertmanager-forwarder
spec:
selector:
matchLabels:
app: alertmanager-forwarder
ports:
– name: http
port: 80
targetPort: 8080
– name: grpc
port: 8081
targetPort: 8082
service:
type: ClusterIP
“`
This Knative service resource will select the `alertmanager-forwarder` label, expose ports `http` and `grpc`, and use the `ClusterIP` service type.
Creating Triggers
——————-
To create triggers for the events we want to forward to Alertmanager, we will use the VEBA UI. Here is an example of a trigger:
“`yaml
apiVersion: networking.knative.dev/v1alpha1
kind: Trigger
metadata:
name: drs-fault-trigger
spec:
selector:
matchLabels:
app: alertmanager-forwarder
events:
– eventType: “drsSoftRuleViolationEvent”
“`
This trigger will select the `alertmanager-forwarder` label, and forward the `drsSoftRuleViolationEvent` event to the Knative service.
Stitching Things Together
—————————
Now that we have created the Knative service, triggers, and the Docker file, we can deploy everything to the VEBA cluster. Here are the steps to deploy:
1. Create a secret for the Alertmanager URL.
2. Deploy the Docker image to a container registry.
3. Create the Knative service resource.
4. Create the trigger resources.
5. Deploy the service to the VEBA cluster.
Here is an example of the secret:
“`yaml
apiVersion: v1
kind: Secret
metadata:
name: alertmanager-url
type: Opaque
data:
base64EncodedBytes:
“`
Here is an example of the Docker image deployment:
“`bash
docker push /:
“`
Here is an example of the Knative service resource creation:
“`yaml
apiVersion: networking.knative.dev/v1alpha1
kind: Service
metadata:
name: alertmanager-forwarder
spec:
selector:
matchLabels:
app: alertmanager-forwarder
ports:
– name: http
port: 80
targetPort: 8080
– name: grpc
port: 8081
targetPort: 8082
service:
type: ClusterIP
“`
Here is an example of the trigger resource creation:
“`yaml
apiVersion: networking.knative.dev/v1alpha1
kind: Trigger
metadata:
name: drs-fault-trigger
spec:
selector:
matchLabels:
app: alertmanager-forwarder
events:
– eventType: “drsSoftRuleViolationEvent”
“`
Conclusion
———-
In this tutorial, we have deployed a Knative service that forwards events to Alertmanager. We have also created triggers for the events we want to forward. The service and triggers are deployed to the VEBA cluster using Knative. This allows us to forward events from VEBA to Alertmanager, enabling us to use Alertmanager to monitor and alert on events in our Kubernetes cluster.