VMware: Installing the new Performance Charts plugin

These are the steps, you need to do, before you can install the Performance Charts plugin. Step one is one of the most important steps. I forgot to copy the files and the install gave me a nice “Access Denied” error.

1. Copy the VirtualCenter 2.5 Update 4 build to the VirtualCenter Server system.
2. If you are upgrading to VirtualCenter 2.5 Update4, stop the VMware Infrastructure Web Access service before upgrading the VirtualCenter.
3. Install or ugrade to VirtualCenter 2.5 Update 4 and start the VMware Infrastructure Web Access service.
4. Dowload Java SE Development Kit 6u11, and install JDK 1.6.
5. Configure the environment variables:
   1. Right-click My Computer and click Properties.
   2. In the Advanced tab, click Environment Variables.
   3. In the System variable list, select Path and click Edit.
   4. In Variable value, enter C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_11\bin\
      If an older version of JRE is present, run the following command in the command window:
      set path=C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_11\bin\;%path%

   5. In the System variable list, select JAVA_HOME and click Edit.
      If JAVA_HOME does not exist, click New and in the Variable name, enter JAVA_HOME.

   6. In Variable value, enter C:\Program Files\Java\jdk1.6.0_11\bin\

   7. Log out and log back in to the VirtualCenter Server.

To install the Performance Overview plug-in:

1. In the command window of VirtualCenter Server system, go to the vpx/perfCharts folder, the location where the Performance Overview plug-in is available.
   If you are using the ZIP file, go to the bin\perfCharts folder.
2. Run install.bat <VirtualCenter_Username> <VirtualCenter_Password>

Download and Install the plugin:

After the install activate the plugin via the installed tab.

In the VI Client you’ll notice a new tab called Performance Overview. Here some screenshots from a host:

And here is one screenshot from a VM:

Source: KB1008296