VMware Skyline

Skyline: Avoid Issues and Streamline Resolution

As support requirements continue to change for IT organizations, deploying technology like Skyline will become increasingly mission critical for CIOs and IT managers.

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Proactive Technical Support Beyond Break/Fix

VMware Skyline expects the unexpected in your environment, turning high-pressured challenges into opportunities to shine.

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Overview

Skyline proactive support helps you avoid problems before they occur and reduces the time spent on resolving active support requests. With just a few clicks you can increase team productivity and the overall reliability of your VMware environments. And, it’s included in your active Production Support or Premier Services subscription. With Skyline, you’ve got control, and we’ve got your back. Take the Pressure Off IT: Download a free white paper to learn more about using proactive IT to help speed digital transformation.

Products and Solutions Supported

Currently Skyline provides proactive findings and recommendations for vSphere, NSX, vSAN, vRealize Operations and Horizon. Additionally, Skyline identifies VxRail and VMware Validated Designs solution deployments. Skyline and Dell EMC SupportAssist (SAE) have joined forces, enabling the best proactive support experience for customers running Dell hardware and VMware software. As a first step toward tighter integration between Skyline and SAE, Skyline users are prompted to download and install SAE, and SAE users are prompted to download and install Skyline.

Data Privacy and Security

You can rest assured knowing that we take privacy and security seriously; VMware Skyline is committed to a strong privacy program. Product usage data is transferred to VMware over an encrypted channel and stored in a secure, U.S.-based VMware repository, operated by VMware. You can review our privacy policy here.

Feature and Functionality Highlights

Using the self-service VMware Skyline Advisor portal, access your VMware inventory, proactive findings, recommendations and risks if no action is taken. You can segment Skyline data by region, lines of business, departments, etc. and manage user access permissions in the VMware Cloud Services Console. Premier Services customers have additional functionality available to them within Skyline Advisor, including the ability to access and download executive summary reports and more powerful findings and recommendations. From within Skyline Advisor, access Skyline Log Assist, which automatically (with your permission) uploads support log bundles to VMware Tech Support. This eliminates the time-consuming process of manually gathering and uploading log files that VMware Technical Support Engineers (TSEs) use to solve customers’ technical issues. VMware TSEs will request the logs needed to assist with troubleshooting. You approve the request in Skyline Advisor and the requested logs are automatically uploaded to VMware Support. Likewise, you can choose to proactively push log files to VMware Support using Log Assist within Skyline Advisor. VMware Skyline Collector is a virtual appliance installed on-premises which automatically and securely collects product usage data and support log bundles.

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Customer Testimonials

Allegis

“Skyline makes the business safer.”

- Matt Szewczyk, Compute and Storage Team Lead

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Match

“Skyline has been a force multiplier for us. It helps us have a smaller, but mighty team.”

– Henry Lin, Lead Systems Admin

Sky

“I really like how VMware listens to our feedback and uses it to make future enhancements.”

- James Cruickshank, Platform Engineer

Avera Health

“Log Assist helps speed time to resolution.”

- Justin Bartling, Senior Systems Engineer

City of Sioux Falls

“I’m a fan of the Skyline interface, and Log Assist is a big time-saver.”

- Brandon Morris, System Administrator

PSS Industrial Group

“I review the Skyline proactive Findings on a regular basis and share them on the IT department dashboard that our entire office can view. We remediate potential issues and as a result, we rarely have any technical problems. We also use Log Assist to upload our support log files and streamline support request resolution: our Technical Support Engineer receives the logs and can start troubleshooting right away.”

- Vince Wood, IT System Engineer

FAQs

General Questions

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What is VMware Skyline?

VMware Skyline, developed by VMware Global Services, is a proactive 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.

How do you manage the VMware Skyline Collector?

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. Data is transferred to VMware over an encrypted channel and stored in secure VMware facilities. Customer data is stored within the Collector for a brief amount of time. VMware analyzes and reports on the information collected as part of your VMware support subscription.

How does VMware Skyline work?

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. The Collector also listens for changes and events which are streamed to VMware in near real-time.

Analytics are based on a robust rules and machine-learning engine. The rules engine is where an ever-growing library of support intelligence, product knowledge and logic are stored to analyze inbound streams of product information.

VMware will use the data collected by Skyline to proactively identify potential issues and perform research analysis for service requests to improve the overall stability and reliability of your VMware environment.

How do I get started?

At VMworld US 2018, we announced general availability of Skyline for all Production Support and Premier Services customers, in English. Eligible customers can download the Skyline Collector within My VMware. You can get started with VMware Skyline here: VMware Skyline Get Started.

Premier Services customers should notify their Support Account Manager (SAM) or Support Account Engineer (SAE) 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.

Visit the VMware Skyline homepage for more information.

Skyline Community

Get answers to your technical Skyline questions, access how-to guides and network with your peers in this expert-moderated community.