Recently when trying to browse through statistics within vCenter, a colleague was confused why many of the metrics were not shown when trying to look at historical data. This can be explained by the default behavior of vCenter and how it collects the data.

In the standard configuration, vCenter is not setup to keep all of this information due to the size of the data. However, this can be viewed and changed via Administration->vCenter Server Settings->Statistics:

 

There are four statistics levels:

  • Level 1: This level includes the basic metrics – Average Usage for CPU, Memory, Disk and Network; System Uptime, System Heartbeat and vSphere DRS metrics. Statistics for devices are not included at this level.
  • Level 2: This level includes all metrics for CPU, Memory, Disk and Network counters (average, summation, and latest rollup types – maximum and minimum rollup types are excluded); System Uptime, System Heartbeat and vSphere DRS metrics. Statistics for devices are not included at this level.
  • Level 3: This level includes all metrics (including devices) for all counter groups (average, summation and latest rollup types – maximum and minimum rollup types are excluded).
  • Level 4: This level includes all metrics supported by vCenter Server.

As these settings are modified, the ‘Estimated space required’ will adjust, so the database can be properly sized.