Introduction

In virtual infrastructures, especially in large data centers, ensuring high availability and eliminating single points of failure is crucial. Microsoft addresses this need with Failover Clustering technology, which can be implemented in a Hyper-V environment. This allows multiple Hyper-V hosts or nodes to take over the workload if one host fails, ensuring service continuity.

Although Hyper-V primarily manages resources at the physical machine level, Microsoft Failover Clustering provides protection for virtual machines by minimizing downtime during failures. Failover Clustering operates alongside Hyper-V, offering enhanced resilience. It uses its dedicated Failover Cluster Manager for administration, allowing streamlined management of clustered nodes and ensuring virtual machine availability in the event of host failure.

Key Use cases

Discovery Use cases

• It discovers the Windows Hyper-V Cluster components.
• Publishes relationships between resources to have a topological view and ease of maintenance.

Monitoring Use cases

• Provides metrics related to job scheduling time and status etc.
• Concern alerts will be generated for each metric to notify the administrator regarding the issue with the resource.

Supported Target Versions

Prerequisites

• OpsRamp Classic Gateway (Linux) version 15.0.0 or later.
• OpsRamp NextGen Gateway version 15.0.0 or later.

  Note

  We recommend using the latest Gateway version for full coverage of recent bug fixes and enhancements.
• Ensure the Hyper-V cluster or standalone server and all applicable nodes are accessible from the Gateway.
• Open TCP port 22 for PowerShell over SSH.

Configure OpenSSH

OpenSSH is the only supported connection method for Windows Failover Cluster monitoring. Run the following commands in an elevated Windows PowerShell session.

Pre-checks

Check whether OpenSSH Server is installed:

Get-WindowsCapability -Online -Name OpenSSH.Server*

Check the SSH service:

Get-Service sshd

Install OpenSSH Server

Install OpenSSH Server if it is not already installed:

Add-WindowsCapability -Online -Name OpenSSH.Server~~~~0.0.1.0

Start the SSH service

Start-Service sshd
Set-Service sshd -StartupType Automatic

Open TCP port 22

New-NetFirewallRule `
  -Name "Allow-SSH-Port-22" `
  -DisplayName "Allow SSH Port 22" `
  -Protocol TCP `
  -Direction Inbound `
  -LocalPort 22 `
  -Action Allow `
  -Profile Domain,Private,Public

Configure SSH access

Open the SSH configuration file as an administrator:

notepad C:\ProgramData\ssh\sshd_config

Configure password authentication and permit the monitoring user:

PasswordAuthentication yes
AllowUsers <ssh-username>

Set Windows PowerShell as the default SSH shell:

Set-ItemProperty `
  -Path "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\OpenSSH" `
  -Name DefaultShell `
  -Value "$PSHOME\powershell.exe"

Restart the SSH service and confirm that it is running:

Restart-Service sshd
Get-Service sshd

Validate SSH connectivity

From the OpsRamp Gateway, run:

ping <IP-address-or-hostname>
telnet <IP-address-or-hostname> 22
ssh <username>@<IP-address-or-hostname>

After connecting, verify the active shell:

$PSVersionTable.PSVersion

The SSH connection must succeed, and PowerShell must be configured as the default shell.

Required Account Privileges

Configure the monitoring account on the target cluster and every applicable node. Execute all commands in an elevated PowerShell session (Run as Administrator).

1. Add the user to the Performance Monitor Users group

The user must be a member of the Performance Monitor Users group to collect performance counter metrics.

net localgroup "Performance Monitor Users" /add "<user>"

2. Add the user to the Hyper-V Administrators group

The user must be added to the Hyper-V Administrators local group on every Hyper-V node.

Option 1: Using PowerShell (Recommended)

Add a domain user:

Add-LocalGroupMember -Group "Hyper-V Administrators" -Member "DOMAIN\username"

Add a local user:

Add-LocalGroupMember -Group "Hyper-V Administrators" -Member "username"

Verify group membership:

net localgroup "Hyper-V Administrators" | Select-String "<username>"

Option 2: Using Computer Management (GUI)

1. Click Start, select Run, type lusrmgr.msc, and click OK.
2. Navigate to Local Users and Groups > Groups.
3. Open the Hyper-V Administrators group.
4. Right-click Hyper-V Administrators and select Properties.
5. Click Add.
6. Enter the user account name and click Check Names.
7. Click OK, then Apply, then OK.
8. Close the Properties window and restart Windows to ensure the changes take effect.

Note: If the non-administrator user is not a member of the Hyper-V Administrators group, virtual machine discovery, virtual switch discovery, and monitoring operations will not function correctly in OpsRamp.

3. Grant remote WMI read-only permissions

To grant remote WMI read-only access, perform the following steps on each monitored system:

1. Press Windows Key + R, type wmimgmt.msc, and press Enter.
2. In the left pane, right-click WMI Control (Local) and select Properties.
3. Navigate to the Security tab.
4. Expand Root and select CIMV2.
5. Click Security.
6. Click Add, enter the non-administrator user account, and click OK.
7. Select the user and grant only these permissions:
   • Enable Account (allows local read access)
   • Remote Enable (allows remote read access)
8. Click Advanced.
9. Select the user and click Edit.
10. Set Applies to as This namespace and subnamespaces.
11. Click OK, then Apply, and close all WMI management windows.

4. Grant remote WMI read-only permissions for storage

To grant remote WMI read-only access, perform the following steps on each monitored system:

1. Press Windows Key + R, type wmimgmt.msc, and press Enter.
2. In the left pane, right-click WMI Control (Local) and select Properties.
3. Navigate to the Security tab.
4. Expand Root > Microsoft > Windows, and select Storage.
5. Click Security.
6. Click Add, enter the non-administrator user account, and click OK.
7. Select the user and grant only these permissions:
   • Enable Account (allows local read access)
   • Remote Enable (allows remote read access)
8. Click Advanced.
9. Select the user and click Edit.
10. Set Applies to as This namespace and subnamespaces.
11. Click OK, then Apply, and close all WMI management windows.

Note: If storage-related discovery or monitoring is not working as expected, the non-admin user should be provided with local administrator privileges. This ensures complete visibility and enables successful end-to-end discovery and monitoring.

5. Grant read-only Failover Cluster access

The domain user must be granted read-only access to the failover cluster:

Grant-ClusterAccess -User "<domain\user>" -ReadOnly

For monitoring services like Windows Cluster Service, Windows domain users must be members of the Local Administrators group, as the integration uses the win32_Service class to fetch details. Refer to Get-CimInstance.

If the non-administrator monitoring account cannot retrieve Windows service information because of insufficient permissions, follow these steps to grant read/query access without adding the account to the Local Administrators group.

Refer to Enable Windows Service Monitoring Permissions

Summary of Required Permissions

The non-administrator user must have the following privileges:

• Membership in the Performance Monitor Users group.
• Membership in the Hyper-V Administrators group on all Hyper-V nodes.
• Remote WMI read-only access to the Root\CIMV2 & Root\Microsoft\Windows\Storage namespace and subnamespaces.
• Read-only access to the failover cluster.

Hierarchy of Windows Hyper-V Cluster

For Windows Hyper-V Cluster, Hierarchy is as follows
• Windows HyperV Cluster
  • Windows HyperV Server
    • Windows HyperV Virtual Switch
    • Windows HyperV Host Disk
    • Windows HyperV Guest VM
  • Windows HyperV Cluster Role
  • Windows HyperV Cluster Shared Volume
  • Windows HyperV Cluster Disk
For Windows Hyper-V Standalone Server, Hierarchy is as follows
• Windows HyperV Server
  • Windows HyperV Virtual Switch
  • Windows HyperV Host Disk
  • Windows HyperV Guest VM

Supported Metrics

Default Monitoring Configurations

Windows-hyper v-cluster has default Global Device Management Policies, Global Templates, Global Monitors and Global Metrics in OpsRamp. You can customize these default monitoring configurations as per your business use cases by cloning respective Global Templates and Global Device Management Policies. We recommend doing this activity before installing the application to avoid noise alerts and data.

1. Default Global Device Management Policies

   You can find the Device Management Policy for each Native Type at Setup > Resources > Device Management Policies. Search with suggested name in global scope. Each Device Management Policy follows below naming convention:

   {appName nativeType - version - Mode}

   Ex: windows-hyperv-cluster Windows HyperV Cluster - 1 - Cluster(i.e, appName = windows-hyperv-cluster, nativeType =Windows HyperV Cluster, version = 1, Mode = Cluster)

2. Default Global Templates

   You can find the Global Templates for each Native Type at Setup > Monitoring > Templates. Search with suggested names in global scope. Each template follows below naming convention:

   {appName Mode nativeType 'Template' - version}

   Ex: windows-hyperv-cluster Cluster Windows HyperV Cluster Template - 1 (i.e, appName = windows-hyperv-cluster , nativeType = Windows HyperV Cluster, version = 1, Mode = Cluster)

3. Default Global Monitors

   You can find the Global Monitors for each Native Type at Setup > Monitoring > Monitors. Search with suggested name in global scope. Each Monitors follows below naming convention:

   {monitorKey appName nativeType - version}

   Ex: Windows HyperV Cluster Monitor windows-hyperv-cluster Windows HyperV Cluster 1 (i.e, monitorKey = Windows HyperV Cluster Monitor, appName = windows-hyperv-cluster , nativeType = Windows HyperV Cluster , version= 1)

Configure and Install the Windows HyperV Cluster Integration

1. To select your client, navigate to All Clients, and click the Client/Partner dropdown menu.
   Note: You may either type your client’s name in the search bar or select your client from the list.
2. Navigate to Setup > Account. The Account Details screen is displayed.
3. Click Integrations. The Installed Integrations screen is displayed with all the installed applications.
   Note: If you do not have any installed applications, you will be navigated to the Available Integrations and Apps page with all the available applications along with the newly created application with the version.
4. Click + ADD on the Installed Integrations page. Note: Search for the integration either by entering the name of the integration in the search bar or by selecting the category of the integration from the All Categories dropdown list.
5. Click ADD in the Windows HyperV Cluster application.
6. In the Configuration page, click + ADD. The Add Configuration page appears.
7. Enter the following BASIC INFORMATION:

8. CUSTOM ATTRIBUTES: Custom attributes are the user-defined data fields or properties that can be added to the preexisting attributes to configure the integration.

Note: The custom attribute that you add here will be assigned to all the resources that are created by the integration. You can add a maximum of five custom attributes (key and value pair).

9. In the Native Types section, select the native types to be discovered.

10. In the DISCOVERY SCHEDULE section, select recurrence pattern to add one of the following patterns:

    • Minutes
    • Hourly
    • Daily
    • Weekly
    • Monthly

11. Click ADD.

12. Now the configuration is saved and displayed on the configurations page after you save it. From the same page, you may Edit and Remove the created configuration..

13. Click NEXT.

14. In the Installation page, select an existing registered profile, and click FINISH.

The application is now installed and displayed on the Installed Integration page. Use the search field to find the installed application.

Modify the Configuration

• See Modify an Installed Integration or Application article.

  Note: Select the Windows HyperV Cluster application.

View the Windows HyperV Cluster Details

1. Navigate to Infrastructure > Search > Virtualization > Windows HyperV Cluster. The search result is displayed.
2. Click anywhere in the row. A slide-out appears displaying the resource summary. It also has the Overview, Related Resources, and Custom Attributes tabs.

3. Click the resource name. The resources details screen is displayed.
4. Click the ATTRIBUTES tab to view the discovery details.

View resource metrics

To confirm Windows HyperV Cluster monitoring, review the following:

• Metric graphs: A graph is plotted for each metric that is enabled in the configuration.
• Alerts: Alerts are generated for metrics that are configured as defined for integration.

5. Click the METRICS tab to view the metric details for Windows HyperV Cluster.

Resource Filter Input keys

Windows HyperV Cluster resources are filtered and discovered based on the following keys.

Note: You can filter the resources with the discoverable keys only.

Supported Alert Custom Macros

Customise the alert subject and description with below macros then it will generate alert based on customisation.

Risks, Limitations & Assumptions

• The integration can manage critical/recovery failure alerts for the following two scenarios when the user activates App Failure Notifications in the settings:
  • Connectivity Exception
  • Authentication Exception
• Application will not send any duplicate/repeat failure alert notification until the already existing critical alert is recovered.
• Using metrics for monitoring the resources and generating alerts when the threshold values are breached.
• Application cannot control monitoring pause/resume actions based on above alerts.
• This application supports both Classic Gateway and NextGen Gateway.
• Not supported with Cluster Gateway.
• The Template Applied Time will only be displayed if the collector profile (Classic and NextGen Gateway) is version 18.1.0 or higher.
• For a Windows HyperV cluster, If Standalone Mode is selected part of configuration, only Windows HyperV Server will get created/updated. Windows HyperV Cluster wont be discovered and will get deleted if already exists.
• Latest snapshot metric support from gateway version 14.0.0.
• Component level thresholds can be configured on each resource level.
• For successful discovery, the integration configuration must include an FQDN that the gateway can resolve.
• In Windows Hyper-V Server, the following legacy network metrics are populated exclusively for Gen1 virtual machines that have a legacy NIC configured as the primary adapter:
  • windows_hyperv_server_LegacyNetworkAdaptersFramesSentPerSec
  • windows_hyperv_server_LegacyNetworkAdaptersBytesDropped
  • windows_hyperv_server_LegacyNetworkAdaptersBytesSentPerSec
  • windows_hyperv_server_LegacyNetworkAdaptersBytesReceivedPerSec

Version History