[receiver/vcenter] The function of disabling metrics does not work

[fisherdept]

Component(s)

receiver/vcenter

Describe the issue you're reporting

I'am used grafana alloy, component otelcol.receiver.vcenter. The function of disabling metrics does not work.

My config:

otelcol.receiver.vcenter "vc16" {
	endpoint            = "https://vc16.local"
	username            = "test@vsphere.local"
	password            = sys.env("VC_16")
	collection_interval = "15s"
	metrics {
            vcenter.cluster.vsan.congestions {enabled = false}
            vcenter.cluster.vsan.latency.avg {enabled = false}
            vcenter.cluster.vsan.operations {enabled = false}
            vcenter.cluster.vsan.throughput {enabled = false}
            vcenter.host.vsan.cache.hit_rate {enabled = false}
            vcenter.host.vsan.congestions {enabled = false}
            vcenter.host.vsan.latency.avg {enabled = false}
            vcenter.host.vsan.operations {enabled = false}
            vcenter.host.vsan.throughput {enabled = false}
            vcenter.vm.vsan.latency.avg {enabled = false}
            vcenter.vm.vsan.operations {enabled = false}
            vcenter.vm.vsan.throughput {enabled = false}
        }

	tls {
		insecure_skip_verify = true
	}

	output {
		metrics = [otelcol.processor.batch.default.input]
	}
}

Debug output:
{"ts":"2025-03-10T07:40:00.495224042Z","level":"info","msg":"couldn't determine UUID necessary for vSAN metrics for cluster VC16-CL","component_path":"/","component_id":"otelcol.receiver.vcenter.vc16"}

[github-actions]

Pinging code owners:

• receiver/vcenter: @schmikei @StefanKurek

See Adding Labels via Comments if you do not have permissions to add labels yourself.

[StefanKurek]

@fisherdept Hello. Have you tried using the OTEL Collector Contrib directly to verify that the issue is with the collector and not with Grafana's Alloy?

[fisherdept]

@StefanKurek
Hello!
Yes of course. I originally used to, the error in the logs is similar. I tried grafana alloy in the hope that it would disappear.

[crobert-1]

The log message is coming from here.

@fisherdept can you clarify what you mean by "disabling metrics does not work"? Are you seeing the disabled metrics going through the collector to an exporter, or are you referring to the log message? Something else?

[fisherdept]

@crobert-1
The log message creates a lot of noise, especially if me collect metrics from multiple vcenter. I assumed that if you disable the problematic VSAN metrics, the noisy log issue would disappear.
In fact, the problem remains.

[StefanKurek]

So I think an option would be to possibly make some sort of config check up front to see if every single VSAN metric is disabled, and then skip all VSAN related code. Or better yet, check for "groups" of fully disabled VSAN metrics (Cluster, Host, or VM) and disable the related parts. Not sure how common it is to do something like this, as going forward it would be important to add any possibly new VSAN metrics into these checks.

[crobert-1]

Not sure how common it is to do something like this, as going forward it would be important to add any possibly new VSAN metrics into these checks.

I did something similar with the SQL server receiver. As you mentioned, the challenge is making sure it's updated when new metrics are added. The best way to ensure it's not missed is probably adding a test that fails when metrics are added to ensure the checks are properly updated. (I'm not sure how exactly that would work for this component.)

[fisherdept]

@StefanKurek
Hello! Can you tell me if there is any news?

[fish0373]

I have same problem.
My vCenter vSAN is not enabled.
I think this message should be warning, not info.
I tried to disable about vSAN metrics, but this message still showing.
alloy-1 | ts=2025-04-08T07:40:58.696569981Z level=info msg="couldn't determine UUID necessary for vSAN metrics for cluster Cluster" component_path=/ component_id=otelcol.receiver.vcenter.vcenter

[github-actions]

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Pinging code owners:

• receiver/vcenterreceiver: @schmikei @StefanKurek

See Adding Labels via Comments if you do not have permissions to add labels yourself.