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Knowledge Base

VMware Skyline Frequently Asked Questions (55928)

Last Updated: 3/15/2024Categories: InformationalTotal Views: 184829Language:
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Purpose

This article provides answers to frequently asked questions about VMware Skyline, VMware Skyline Collector and VMware Skyline Advisor.

Resolution

VMware Skyline Advisor Pro Questions

Q.  Who will be eligible to use Advisor Pro?
A. Advisor Pro will be available to customers and partners with active Production and Premier Support, VMware Success 360 and VMware Aria Universal Suite (vRealize Cloud Universal) subscriptions at no additional cost.

Q.  What products will Advisor Pro support?
A. Advisor Pro will support vSphere, NSX Data Center for vSphere (NSX-V), NSX Data Center (NSX-T), vSAN, Aria Operations (vROps), Aria Automation (vRA), Aria Suite Lifecycle (LCM), Horizon and VMware Cloud Foundation.

Q.  What new features will be available in Advisor Pro?
A. Please read the Skyline Advisor Pro announcement blog to review the new capabilities.

Q.  How will I activate Advisor Pro?
A. Once Advisor Pro is available, log in to Skyline Advisor and follow the steps on screen. Current customers will ensure all their Skyline Collectors are upgraded to the latest version. If they have auto-update enabled, their Collectors will update automatically. Once the update is complete, they will automatically access Skyline Advisor Pro. New Skyline customers will download and install the latest version of Skyline Collector and then access Advisor Pro. That’s it!

Q.  Will my Skyline Advisor data and settings be retained in Advisor Pro?
A. Yes, all data and settings are retained upon activating Advisor Pro.

Q.  Will Skyline Advisor Pro collect the same types and amounts of data as Advisor?
A. Yes, please reference the Skyline data collection examples document.

Q.  What cloud services will be used to analyze the data in Skyline Advisor Pro?
A.  Data will be transmitted to a secure backends located in the United States. Data may reside within VMware maintained data centers or within AWS hosted services managed by VMware employees. For further details, please review the VMware Support Services Sub-processor List.

Q.  Will Advisor Pro replace Advisor?
A. Eventually, Skyline Advisor will sunset and be replaced by Advisor Pro. Activate today to receive exclusive benefits of Advisor Pro.

Q. Why am I not seeing new Operational Summary reports?
A. On August 25, 2022, the Operational Summary Report was officially entering the first phase of retirement where no new reports would be created.  In mid-October 2022, the final phase will complete removing OSR functionality from Skyline. Until mid-October 2022, the reports will be available in the OSR Library for download.  Alternatively, Premier Services customers have access to Success 360 Insights Reporting which replaces OSR functionality.  For more information on the Success 360 Insights reporting, please check out the VMware Skyline Product Documentation.

Q.  Are there any restrictions to what is available within Skyline Advisor Pro?
A. All eligible customers can view all their proactive findings and recommendations within Skyline Advisor Pro. VMware Success 360 and Premier Services can create and view Success 360 Proactive Insights Reports.  TAM customers can unlock additional Health Check reporting and other product insights.

General Questions

Q.  What is VMware Skyline?
A.  VMware Skyline is a proactive self-service support technology available to customers with an active Production Support or Premier Services contract.  Skyline automatically and securely collects, aggregates and analyzes customer specific product usage data to proactively identify potential issues and improve time-to-resolution.

Q.  How does VMware Skyline work?
A.  The VMware Skyline Collector is a standalone virtual appliance that automatically and securely collects product usage data. Product usage data includes configuration, feature and performance data.

Product usage data collected by the Skyline Collector, and sent to VMware, is analyzed. The analysis of this data is then presented to you within Skyline Advisor. You access Skyline Advisor via VMware Cloud Services, using a Customer Connect username and password.

Q.  How do you manage the VMware Skyline Collector?
A.  The VMware Skyline Collector installation and configuration is simple and usually takes no more than 30 minutes to complete. Once complete, ongoing administration is minimal. The Skyline Collector has two interfaces, the Collector administrative user interface, and the Virtual Appliance Management Interface (VAMI).

Skyline Collector administrative user interface - https://Skyline_Collector_FQDN_or_IP_Address
Skyline Collector VAMI - https://Skyline_Collector_FQDN_or_IP_Address:5480
* The Skyline Collector VAMI is not available in Skyline Collector version 2.7 and later.

Q.  How do I get started?
A.  You can get started with VMware Skyline here: VMware Skyline Get Started. This wizard will walk you through creating a Cloud Services Organization for Skyline (if-needed), downloading and installing the Skyline Collector, registering your Skyline Collector with your Cloud Services Organization, and accessing Skyline Advisor.

Premier Services and/or Success 360 customers should notify their Support Account Manager (SAM) that they intend to install, or have already installed the Skyline Collector. Installing Skyline enables an enhanced level of customer support that Premier Services can provide to you, in addition to all the current benefits of Premier Services.

For more information about VMware Skyline, please see the VMware Skyline Homepage .

Q.  How much does Skyline cost?
A.  The proactive support capabilities provided by Skyline are available to customers who have an active Production Support, Premier Services, Success 360, or Aria Universal Suite at no additional cost.

Q.  Do all support entitlement levels receive the same functionality with Skyline?
A.  See KB Article 79286 to view the features and functionality available within Skyline Advisor, based upon your support entitlement (Production or Premier).

Q.  What product information is being collected today.
A.  Today, we analyze product usage data from VMware vSphere, NSX Data Center for vSphere (NSX-V), NSX Data Center (NSX-T), vSAN, Horizon View, Aria Operations (vROps), and VMware Cloud Foundation.

vSAN Support Insight, included in-product for vSAN 6.6, provides enhanced visibility into your vSAN environment, allowing Technical Support  Engineers (TSEs) to quickly diagnose issues in vSAN environments and reduce the time-to-resolution during troubleshooting. Right now, vSAN Support Insight does not require the Skyline Collector, rather is enabled within the release of vSAN 6.6. For more information, visit the vSAN Support Insight page.

For examples of product usage data collected by Skyline, please see KB Article 71071 .

Q. Can VMware Skyline be deployed in large VMware environments?
A. VMware recommends an incremental rollout of Skyline in large VMware environments. You can start by attaching a single vCenter Server to the Skyline Collector.  You can attach additional products to the same Skyline Collector incrementally.

There is no configuration maximum for number of products per Skyline Collector.

If you have geographically-disperse environments, we recommend deploying a Skyline Collector in each geographic location.  VMware aggregates information collected from multiple Skyline Collectors within Skyline Advisor.

See the Skyline Planning and Deployment Guide for more details regarding how to architect Skyline.

If you have additional questions about VMware Skyline, please talk to your VMware Account Team. Premier Services / Success 360 customers, or talk to your Support Account Manager (SAM).  If you have a Technical Account Manager (TAM), you can talk to that individual regarding VMware Skyline.

Q.  Can different email address domains register Skyline Collectors under same Entitlement Account (EA) number.
A. Yes. VMware Skyline is now part of VMware Cloud Services. This enables customers to segment the proactive findings generated by Skyline based upon a user-created Organization. The VMware Skyline Get-Started page provides a wizard that walks a customer through creating an Organization within VMware Cloud Services, downloading the Skyline Collector, installing the Skyline Collector, migrating existing Skyline Collectors, and logging into Skyline Advisor. Skyline Collector 2.x is required as part of introducing VMware Skyline within VMware Cloud Services.

To review the Entitlement Account details associated with your Customer Connect account, please see:  https://kb.vmware.com/kb/2006983

Q. Why does Skyline make recommendations that require features not available in all versions of a product?
A. Product license information is not included within the product usage data collected by Skyline. Therefore, Skyline is unaware of what version of a product you are utilizing. Some Skyline Findings are based upon VMware Validated Design Decisions, such as enabling Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) and High Availability (HA). However, DRS and HA are features only available in certain versions of VMware vSphere.

Because Skyline is unaware of your product license version, and some Findings recommend the utilization of features only available in certain versions of a product, Skyline may make a recommendation that is not available within your licensed version of a product. In this instance, we recommend you Hide the Finding, using the Hide Findings feature within Skyline Advisor.

Q. Is Skyline available to Basic Support Customers?
A. No, Skyline is not available to Basic Support customers. A customer with only Basic support will be able to onboard to Skyline Advisor and enter a limited mode state.  Limited mode will allow the customer to activate TAM Reports or add a support entitlement to Production or VMware Success 360.  For more information about the limited mode experience reference KB79286 .

Data Privacy and Security Questions

Q.  What is the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP)?
A. For details regarding the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP), please the VMware CEIP overview page.

Note: VMware Skyline participates in the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) Enhanced participation level. The Enhanced participation level includes all data types under the Standard participation level, plus product logs.

Q.  What types of Product Usage data is collected?
A.  See the VMware Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP) overview page for details regarding product usage data.

To see additional examples of the product usage data collected by Skyline, please see KB Article 71071.

Q.  Does Skyline collect personally identifiable information (PII)?
A.  During the collection of VMware product usage data, where personally identifiable is known to reside, the Skyline Collector has been instrumented to remove such information, so that it is not collected and transmitted to the Skyline data service remotely.

Q.  What will the Product Usage data be used for?
A.  The purposes for which VMware uses product usage data is described on VMware's Customer Experience Improvement Program website.

Q.  How is customer data protected?
A.  We have implemented reasonable technical, administrative and organizational safeguards given the nature of the information collected. Access to the data via Skyline services is maintained using a least privilege model. All VMware employees must receive training and obtain certification for responsible use and handling of product usage data collected via Skyline.

Q.  Is the data encrypted?
A.  There are two data methods of data collection within Skyline. The first, product usage data, is collected to provide proactive findings, recommendations, and inventory. The second are support bundles which are collected and transmitted via Skyline Log Assist, as-part of troubleshooting an issue within an open Support Request with VMware Global Support Services (GSS).

Product usage data collected by the Skyline Collector is transferred to VMware using TLS 1.2 cipher suite TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384. The product usage data that is transferred to Skyline's storage platform is encrypted-at-rest.

Support bundles collected by the Skyline Collector, via Skyline Log Assist, are transferred to VMware's Technical Support systems using TLS 1.2 cipher suite TLS_ECDHE_RSA_WITH_AES_256_GCM_SHA384. The support bundles are not stored within the Skyline storage platform.

If a customer is utilizing an SSL inspection proxy, then the proxy determines the encryption method used to encrypt product usage data, and support bundles collected, in-transit.

Q.  Where is the data center(s) located where VMware Skyline information is stored?
A.  Data is transmitted to a secure backends located in the United States. Data may reside within VMware maintained data centers or within AWS hosted services managed by VMware employees.

Q. Is VMware Skyline impacted by the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?
A. VMware is subject to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and complies with GDPR as applicable. VMware's Privacy Notices available at https://www.vmware.com/help/privacy.html provide notice regarding VMware's data protection and privacy practices.

Q. Does Skyline collect information that identifies an individual?
A. There are two methods of data collection within Skyline. One to deliver proactive analytics, and the other for reactive support using the Skyline Log Assist.

Product Usage Data collection - Skyline collects product usage data from any supported VMware product you have configured within the Skyline Collector. This data collection occurs silently in the background at regular intervals. The Skyline Collector specifically removes any fields that are known to identify an individual such as a username or email address of an end user. Such information is not sent out of your network to Skyline's storage platform.

Skyline Log Assist feature - Skyline's Log Assist feature assists users by automating the creation and transfer of product support bundles relating to specific Support Requests a user has open with VMware's Technical Support teams. Skyline does not alter any information contained within a VMware support bundle which may include information that could identify an individual such as end-user device names and IP addresses. Log Assist requires the Skyline user to select which support bundle(s) to collect and will not automatically collect such information without a user acknowledging the action. The data transmitted by the Log Assist feature and used in connection with the Support Request will be archived as per the standard VMware technical support processes and procedures.

Customers should not enter personal data or sensitive personal data (or any other information that may allow an individual to be identified) when naming systems such as ESXi hosts, virtual machines, or dashboards.

Q.  Who owns and manages the data?
A.  By participating in the Customer Experience Improvement Program (CEIP), VMware owns and manages the product-specific usage data. This information enables VMware to improve its products and services, identify and help fix problems, advise you on how to best deploy and use our products, and to provide enhanced technical support. For example, this information will enable a proactive product deployment discussion with your VMware account team or VMware Technical Support to help resolve your issues.

Note: VMware Skyline participates in the CEIP Enhanced participation level.

Q.  Who has access to the data?
A.  Data is accessible to VMware employees who perform customer support and engagement. Data can be shared across VMware teams to enable cross-product correlation and analysis. VMware employees are required to complete Product Usage Data Training and receive management approval before being able to access the data.

Q.  Can VMware Skyline view the workload of my virtual machines?
A.  No, Skyline does not look at the details of the workload within the Guest Operating System (OS) of virtual machines.

Q. Are penetration tests performed by a 3rd-party on a regular basis?
A.  Yes, internal and third-party penetration testing is completed as part of VMware's standard release review process. VMware utilizes trained and experienced internal Information Security staff as well as third-parties to periodically perform full penetration testing of critical systems and applications. VMware Information Security makes every effort to have third-party testing performed annually. Findings from penetration testing are handled in the same manner as vulnerabilities as discussed above. Penetration test results are considered VMware Private/Protected information and are not shared outside of the organization.

In order to achieve more meaningful test results, VMware uses both white and gray box testing. A gray box approach is a mixture of black box and white box testing. White box testing means that all the source code will be made available and black box testing means that the actual penetration test will be performed without any source code access. The gray box method enables the vendor performing the penetration test to have source code available to assist with penetration testing. This results in a more robust set of tests because the consultants can achieve deeper and broader access since they spend less time breaking into targeted assets. The third-party vendors have signed NDA agreements with the company and are allowed access to view source code at approved VMware facilities to help with finding attack vectors.

Q.  Will VMware allow an external penetration test or physical onsite audit by a customer nominated third-party?
A.  VMware does not allow external penetration tests to be performed by customer nominated third-parties.

Q.  Does VMware conduct SAS70 Type-II/SSAE 16 SOC2/ISAE3402 or similar third-party audits.
A.  VMware Skyline has achieved SOC 2 certification. See the VMware Trust Center - Compliance webpage for more details.

Q.  Is VMware Skyline compliant with any Information Security standards?
A.  We are currently analyzing industry and customer requirements related to information security standards.

Q.  Does VMware utilize open source in the system?
A.  Yes.  The VMware Skyline Collector runs on Photon OS.  You can find details about Photon OS here. You can view the VMware Skyline Collector open source license and open source disclosures here .

Q.  How can customers review the data collected?
A.  VMware Global Support Services (GSS) will provide formatted data to the customer within Skyline Advisor.  The product usage data collected by the Skyline Collector will not be provided to the customer.

Q.  Does VMware have technical control capabilities to enforce data retention policies?
A.  Yes.  There is a 13-month retention policy on the product usage data collected by VMware Skyline.

For additional information related to data privacy and security, please see the following resources:

VMware Skyline Consensus Assessments Initiative Questionnaire (CAIQ) - Cloud Security Alliance

VMware Skyline Data Collection Examples

VMware Trust and Assurance

Skyline Collector Questions

Q.  What are the resource requirements of the Skyline Collector virtual appliance?
A.  2 vCPU, 8 GB Memory, 87.1 thick-provisioned disk space, 1.1 thin-provisioned disk space.

Q.  What permissions does the Skyline Collector require to collect product usage data of VMware products?
A.  See Product Account Permissions within the Skyline Planning and Deployment Guide for the user account privileges required to collect product usage data.

For certain products, Skyline Log Assist requires additional privileges above those required to collect product usage data. See VMware Knowledge Base Article 59661 for Skyline Log Assist privilege requirements.

Q.  What are the network connectivity requirements for Skyline?
A.  Please refer to the VMware Skyline Collector Installation Guide for the network connectivity requirements of the Skyline Collector.  For more information, please see VMware Skyline Documentation.

Q. Does Skyline Collector support SSL intercepting proxies?
A. Skyline Collector officially does not test SSL intercepting proxies as part of the normally supported architectures. SSL intercepting proxies may or may not work with Skyline collector.

Q.  Can VMware provide the networking architecture requirements for the Skyline Collector and required/optional product endpoints?
A.  Yes.  Please refer to the VMware Skyline Documentation for networking architecture requirements.

Q.  How do I install the VMware Skyline Collector?
A. Visit the VMware Skyline Get-Started page. This wizard will walk you through creating a Cloud Services Organization for Skyline (if-needed), downloading and installing the Skyline Collector, registering your Skyline Collector with your Cloud Services Organization, and accessing Skyline Advisor.

Please see the VMware Skyline Documentation for more information.

Q.  Does the Skyline Collector use an authentication method?
A.  The Skyline Collector uses a username and password combination for authentication.

Q.  Does the Skyline Collector perform authentication in clear text?
A.  No.

Q.  How are user-level permissions managed?
A.  There is a single admin account for the Skyline Collector.

Q.  Does the Skyline Collector support the management of roles and access controls?
A.  No.

Q.  Does the Skyline Collector support integration with internal user management systems including Active Directory?  Does the Skyline Collector support integration with other IDM solutions?
A.  The Skyline Collector version 1.1.1 and above supports integration with Active Directory.  The Skyline Collector does not support any other IDM solutions at this time.

Q.  How are user permissions managed within the Skyline Collector?
A.  The default administrator account for access to the Skyline Collector User Interface is 'admin'.  The 'admin' account has the ability to enable Active Directory authentication.  Users who login using their Active Directory username and password will not be able to manage Active Directory authentication within the Skyline Collector.

Q.  Does the Skyline Collector store user details and/or is sensitive data encrypted?
A.  If using Active Directory authentication, usernames are stored within the Skyline Collector.  Usernames and passwords provided for access to product endpoints are stored on the appliance within encrypted java keystores.  The authentication of a user from the Skyline Collector to the Active Directory authentication server is encrypted.  This authentication is private to your environment and is not transmitted to VMware as part of the product usage data collection.

Q.  Does the product support encryption of the traffic through all system components (web, application, database)?
A.  Yes.

Q.  Does VMware Skyline utilize network encryption keys less than 128bit?
A.  No.

Q.  Does the Skyline Collector utilize SSLv3 or TLSv1.1 or lower?
A.  No.

Skyline Advisor Questions

Q.  What is Skyline Advisor?
A.  VMware Skyline Advisor is a self-service, customer-facing portal that allows customers to access proactive findings and recommendations on-demand. Skyline Advisor works in conjunction with Skyline Collector, the virtual appliance that collects product usage data from your VMware environment for analysis by VMware Skyline proactive support technology.

Q.  Who can use Skyline Advisor?
A.  Skyline is available to Production, Premier, VMware Success 360 and Aria Suite Universal (formerly vRealize Cloud Universal) customers. To adopt VMware Skyline, you must install the Skyline Collector. The Skyline Collector can be downloaded from Customer Connect.

Q.  Does Skyline Advisor provide additional functionality for Premier Services and VMware Success 360 customers?
A.  Yes. See KB Article 79286 for details regarding the features available within Skyline Advisor, based upon your support entitlement level.

Q.  Are there any restrictions to what is available within Skyline Advisor?
A.  All customers, both Production Support and Premier Services, can view all their proactive findings and recommendations within Skyline Advisor. For Production Support customers, this includes all Basic findings and recommendations. For Premier Services customers, this includes all Basic and Advanced findings and recommendations. Premier Services customers will continue to receive Proactive Insights Report for Success 360. The Proactive Insights Report for Success 360 will only contain Advanced findings and recommendations.

See KB Article 79286 for details regarding the features available within Skyline Advisor, based upon your support entitlement level.

Q.  How do customers access Skyline Advisor?
A.  Customers access Skyline Advisor from VMware Cloud Services.

Open a web browser and browse to VMware Cloud Services (https://cloud.vmware.com)

Log In with your username / password. You can use your Customer Connect email address and password to log in to VMware Cloud Services.

Click Console.

Select the Skyline Advisor service.

OR

Open a web browser and browse to Skyline Advisor (https://skyline.vmware.com/advisor)

Enter your Customer Connect email address and password in the VMware Cloud Services login page.

Q. I just installed and configured the Skyline Collector, why is Skyline Advisor blank, or showing inaccurate information?
A. Skyline requires ~48 hours to perform an initial analysis of the product usage data collected by the Skyline Collector. During this initial analysis period, the information displayed within Skyline Advisor may be blank, or display inaccurate environment details. Please wait 2-3 days for Skyline to perform the initial analysis before visiting Skyline Advisor to review inventory, proactive findings and recommendations, or utilize Log Assist for the uploading of support log bundles.

Q.  Is there additional functionality planned for Skyline Advisor in the future?
A.  Yes, we plan on adding additional features to Skyline Advisor in the future.

Skyline Log Assist Questions

Q.  What is Skyline Log Assist?
A.  Skyline Log Assist reduces customer effort needed to manually upload log files via Customer Connect or SFTP to enable VMware TSEs to solve technical issues. Manually uploading logs is a lengthy process that can take several hours or even days to complete. Skyline Log Assist streamlines this process by utilizing the Skyline Collector to perform the collection and sending of the log bundle, reducing the customer effort needed to complete these tasks manually.

Q.  What are the Skyline Log Assist requirements?
A.  A customer must have downloaded, installed and configured the Skyline Collector. The Skyline Collector must be attached to the product (vCenter Server, NSX Manager, Horizon Connection Server) for which support bundle collection and upload is desired. Skyline Log Assist cannot upload logs from a product NOT connected to a Skyline Collector.

Q.  How does Skyline Log Assist work?
A.  Customers will be able to proactively navigate their inventory within Skyline Advisor and associate logs to an open Service Request (SR). Skyline Collector will automatically generate, export and upload the log bundle to VMware. Alternatively, VMware Technical Support Engineers (TSEs) can proactively navigate through the customer’s inventory within Skyline Viewer and request for the appropriate log bundle. The customer will receive a notification of the log transfer request, with the ability to approve, or deny, the log transfer request. Additionally, customers can enable Auto-Approve within Skyline Log Assist. Enabling Auto-Approve will allow a VMware Technical Support Engineer (TSE) to retrieve log bundles as-needed, without customer intervention, for the purposes of troubleshooting an open Support Request (SR).

VMware Cloud Services for VMware Skyline Questions

Q.  Why did VMware Skyline move to VMware Cloud Services (CSP)?
A.  VMware Cloud Services provides customers with additional functionality, enabling them to organize their Skyline data by region, lines of business, departments, etc., as well as give the customer complete control over who can view their findings and recommendations within Skyline Advisor. This control is provided to the customer within the Identity and Access Management feature of VMware Cloud Services.

Q.  How do I access Skyline if I'm a new customer?
A.  If you are a new Skyline customer, you may visit  https://skyline.vmware.com/get-started/  to download and install Skyline Collector, and access Skyline Advisor via the Cloud Services Console.

Skyline TAM Insights Reports Questions

Q. What are TAM Reports?
A.  The Technical Account Management services are now able to deliver Health Checks and generate their metrics reports from Skyline. The Health Check reports are located under TAM Reports. TAMs will share the metric reports outside of Skyline.

Q. Who is eligible to view or receive Skyline TAM Reports?
A. Skyline TAM Reports will be available to Skyline Advisor Pro Customers with at minimum one active VMware Entitlement Accounts of Basic, Production, Premier, or Success 360 subscription.  In addition, an active TAM service engagements is required to enable the TAM Reports feature.

Q. Can the reports be created by someone other than the TAM?
A.  No, your Technical Account Manager can create the reports and deliver them in Advisor.

Q. What is the process if a customer needs a new Skyline Insights TAM Health Check Report?
If you are a TAM customer, reach out to your TAM to get onboarded to the TAM Report features. Once a TAM delivers a health check report, the report will be available in Skyline Advisor under TAM Reports located inside of Insights Reports.

Q. What is the report retention policy?
A.  TAM Report features will be retained in Skyline Advisor for 13 months.

Q. Does Skyline Insights Reports include hidden findings?
A.  No. At this time, the Health Check report only contains Health Check Findings.

Q. Will I be notified when a new TAM Reports are available?
A.  No.  Whenever there is a new report available, you will see a pulsating yellow dot next to Insights Report tab. The report card will have a new logo for the first 24 hours to see the new reports.

Q. TAM Reports have just activated, how quickly can I receive a Health Check Report?
A. There is a 24 to 48-hour turnaround time once the TAM Reports features are activated on Skyline.

Q. Where do I purchase a TAM?
A. Reach out to your Account Executive to learn more about TAM and the different options.  Also you can visit Technical Account Management Services.

Q. What do I need to activate TAM Reports on Skyline Advisor Pro?
A. First, onboard to Skyline Advisor if not already completed.   Once onboarded, the Skyline Administrator for the Cloud Services Organization must initiate the Activation within the TAM Reports page, located under Insights Reports.  After doing so, they must reach out to their TAM to complete the process.  It's recommended to share the Cloud Services Organization with your TAM.  Once activated, an email will be sent to inform the Skyline Administrators that activation has been completed. For more information on setting up Skyline TAM Insights Reports, please reference the VMware Skyline Product Documentation.

Q. How do I figure out if I have a VMware TAM?
A. Reach out to your Account Executive to learn more about TAM and the different options.  Also you can visit Technical Account Management Services.

Q. What products are supported with Skyline TAM Reports feature?
A. Health Check Reports can be generated for vSphere (including vSAN), Horizon, and NSX-V.

TAM metrics reports can be generated for vSphere, Horizon, and VMware Cloud Foundation.

We plan to expand the product coverage for the Health Check and TAM metrics reports over time.

Q. What happens to Health Checks and Data Exports if deactivation occurs?
A. Up to 13 months of reports and exports are retained.  If the customer or TAM reactivates, then reports will be available if they fall within the 13-month period.

Q. How do I get started with TAM Reports?
A. For more information on setting up Skyline TAM Insights Reports, please reference the VMware Skyline Product Documentation.

Q. Does VMware have technical control capabilities to enforce data retention policies?
A.  Yes.  There is a 13-month retention policy on the product usage data collected by VMware Skyline. For customers who choose to opt into the additional TAM Reports feature, Peer Insights are delivered as part of the TAM service and will retain data for 60 months.

Q. What are TAM Peer Insights?

A. TAM Peer Insights provide success strategies that use industry-specific best practices from leading organizations.  TAMs use these insights to help customers accelerate the time to value of VMware solutions, optimize operations, and keep pace with rapid technology changes.  For more information on TAM services, please visit www.vmware.com/go/tam.

Skyline Success 360 Insights Reports Questions

Q. What are VMware Success 360 Insights Reports?
A.  Success 360 Reports provide assessment of systems that have active findings or require an upgrade for the vCenter connected products. It also provides a recommendation of actions to take. The reports come in two forms, standard and custom, that allow flexibility in curating the content based on your different areas of your infrastructure or across a larger duration of time.

Q. Who is eligible to create and consume Success 360 Insights Reports?
A. Customers who have purchased VMware Success 360 or Premier Services are eligible for VMware Success 360 Insights reports. Any Skyline user will have the ability to create and consume the reports that are associated with the Skyline Organization entitled with either service.

Q. What are Standard vs Custom Reports?
A. Standard Reports are system-generated reports. These reports are automatically generated every 2 weeks.

Custom Reports are based on criteria defined by the creator and can be manually created at any time. The report card includes report type, date range, creation date, and author. These reports can be downloaded and shared.  For more information, please reference the VMware Skyline Product Documentation.

Q. What is the report retention policy?
A. Success 360 Reports are retained in Skyline Advisor Pro for 6 months. Success 360 reports can be run over the span of data available in Skyline, per data retention policies of 13 months.

Inventory Export Reports Questions

Q. What is the Inventory Export Reports?
A.  As a Skyline administrator, you have the capability to create and download Inventory Export Reports, providing you with the following benefits:

Understanding your current deployment through Skyline Advisor Pro

Obtaining specific configuration details about deployed products to optimize deployments

Identifying and eliminating unused or underutilized VMware products improves deployment efficiency.

Storing extracted reports in one place for easier retrieval of historical snapshots

To access Inventory Export Reports, go to Dashboard > Insights Reports > Inventory Export Reports. For more information, see Inventory Export Reports.

Q. Can Inventory Export be disabled for internal VMware users?
A. No, the Inventory Export can't be disabled for internal VMware employees.

Q. How often is the Inventory Export content refreshed?
A.  Inventory Export content is refreshed every 24 hours.  Inventory views in the UI are updated every 24 hours.

Q. Why don't I see license usage data for Aria Automation?
A.  Aria Automation version 8.13 or newer and the proper permissions are required to collect the information.  Refer to the documentation for more details on setup.

Q. Who can see Inventory Export Reports that are created?
A.  Only Skyline Administrators can see the reports created in Skyline Advisor Pro..

Q. Who can delete Inventory Export Reports that are created?
A.  Any Skyline Admins can delete the reports created in this view regardless of who created the report.

Q. Why do Inventory Export reports show for a previous collection date?
A.  The data that is used for Inventory Export reports refreshes daily.  Any report generated will be looking at the previous day unless you run a report after the job completes for the current day.  The collected date inside the reports will show the date in which data is reported on.

For initial onboarding and/or new collectors being added to the Skyline service, there's a 24-48 hour wait period allowing sufficient time for data collection into the Skyline Advisor Pro service and for the daily refresh to pick up the new data.

Collector and product endpoint health is important to ensure proper data collection occurs for reporting.

Workaround

https://docs.vmware.com/en/VMware-Skyline-Advisor/services/user-guide/GUID-9CE1A2DA-16A3-43C5-BCAF-08B731F160EE.html

Related Information

To learn more about VMware Skyline, please see one of the following resources:

VMware Skyline

VMware Skyline Get-Started

VMware Service Usage Data Program

Skyline Community (VMTN)

VMware Support Insider / Support Experience Blog Articles

Detectable by VMware SkylineTM

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