The set of performance metrics in vSphere is open ended. Metrics may be added or removed in new releases and the set of available metrics may vary depending hardware, as well as what plugins and add-on products are installed. Therefore, providing a definitive list of available metrics is difficult. The metrics listed below are the most commonly available as of vSphere 6.5.
For a complete list of metrics available from vSphere and the units they measure in, please reference the VMWare Product Documentation or the VMWare Performance Manager Documentation
To list the exact set in your environment, please use the govc tool available here
To obtain the set of metrics for e.g. a VM, you may use the following command:
govc metric.ls vm/*cpu.demandEntitlementRatio.latest
cpu.usage.average
cpu.ready.summation
cpu.run.summation
cpu.system.summation
cpu.swapwait.summation
cpu.costop.summation
cpu.demand.average
cpu.readiness.average
cpu.maxlimited.summation
cpu.wait.summation
cpu.usagemhz.average
cpu.latency.average
cpu.used.summation
cpu.overlap.summation
cpu.idle.summation
cpu.entitlement.latest
datastore.maxTotalLatency.latest
disk.usage.average
disk.read.average
disk.write.average
disk.maxTotalLatency.latest
mem.llSwapUsed.average
mem.swapin.average
mem.vmmemctltarget.average
mem.activewrite.average
mem.overhead.average
mem.vmmemctl.average
mem.zero.average
mem.swapoutRate.average
mem.active.average
mem.llSwapOutRate.average
mem.swapout.average
mem.llSwapInRate.average
mem.swapinRate.average
mem.granted.average
mem.latency.average
mem.overheadMax.average
mem.swapped.average
mem.compressionRate.average
mem.swaptarget.average
mem.shared.average
mem.zipSaved.latest
mem.overheadTouched.average
mem.zipped.latest
mem.consumed.average
mem.entitlement.average
mem.usage.average
mem.decompressionRate.average
mem.compressed.average
net.multicastRx.summation
net.transmitted.average
net.received.average
net.usage.average
net.broadcastTx.summation
net.broadcastRx.summation
net.packetsRx.summation
net.pnicBytesRx.average
net.multicastTx.summation
net.bytesTx.average
net.bytesRx.average
net.droppedRx.summation
net.pnicBytesTx.average
net.droppedTx.summation
net.packetsTx.summation
power.power.average
power.energy.summation
rescpu.runpk1.latest
rescpu.runpk15.latest
rescpu.maxLimited5.latest
rescpu.actpk5.latest
rescpu.samplePeriod.latest
rescpu.runav1.latest
rescpu.runav15.latest
rescpu.sampleCount.latest
rescpu.actpk1.latest
rescpu.runpk5.latest
rescpu.runav5.latest
rescpu.actav15.latest
rescpu.actav1.latest
rescpu.actpk15.latest
rescpu.actav5.latest
rescpu.maxLimited1.latest
rescpu.maxLimited15.latest
sys.osUptime.latest
sys.uptime.latest
sys.heartbeat.latest
virtualDisk.write.average
virtualDisk.read.average
cpu.corecount.contention.average
cpu.usage.average
cpu.reservedCapacity.average
cpu.usagemhz.minimum
cpu.usagemhz.maximum
cpu.usage.minimum
cpu.usage.maximum
cpu.capacity.provisioned.average
cpu.capacity.usage.average
cpu.capacity.demand.average
cpu.capacity.contention.average
cpu.corecount.provisioned.average
cpu.corecount.usage.average
cpu.usagemhz.average
disk.throughput.contention.average
disk.throughput.usage.average
mem.decompressionRate.average
mem.granted.average
mem.active.average
mem.shared.average
mem.zero.average
mem.swapused.average
mem.vmmemctl.average
mem.compressed.average
mem.compressionRate.average
mem.reservedCapacity.average
mem.capacity.provisioned.average
mem.capacity.usable.average
mem.capacity.usage.average
mem.capacity.entitlement.average
mem.capacity.contention.average
mem.usage.minimum
mem.overhead.minimum
mem.consumed.minimum
mem.granted.minimum
mem.active.minimum
mem.shared.minimum
mem.zero.minimum
mem.swapused.minimum
mem.consumed.average
mem.usage.maximum
mem.overhead.maximum
mem.consumed.maximum
mem.granted.maximum
mem.overhead.average
mem.shared.maximum
mem.zero.maximum
mem.swapused.maximum
mem.vmmemctl.maximum
mem.usage.average
mem.active.maximum
mem.vmmemctl.minimum
net.throughput.contention.summation
net.throughput.usage.average
net.throughput.usable.average
net.throughput.provisioned.average
power.power.average
power.powerCap.average
power.energy.summation
vmop.numShutdownGuest.latest
vmop.numPoweroff.latest
vmop.numSuspend.latest
vmop.numReset.latest
vmop.numRebootGuest.latest
vmop.numStandbyGuest.latest
vmop.numPoweron.latest
vmop.numCreate.latest
vmop.numDestroy.latest
vmop.numRegister.latest
vmop.numUnregister.latest
vmop.numReconfigure.latest
vmop.numClone.latest
vmop.numDeploy.latest
vmop.numChangeHost.latest
vmop.numChangeDS.latest
vmop.numChangeHostDS.latest
vmop.numVMotion.latest
vmop.numSVMotion.latest
vmop.numXVMotion.latest
cpu.usagemhz.average
cpu.cpuentitlement.latest
cpu.usagemhz.minimum
cpu.usagemhz.maximum
cpu.capacity.entitlement.average
cpu.capacity.usage.average
cpu.capacity.demand.average
cpu.capacity.contention.average
cpu.corecount.provisioned.average
cpu.corecount.contention.average
disk.throughput.usage.average
disk.throughput.contention.average
mem.capacity.contention.average
mem.overhead.average
mem.consumed.average
mem.granted.average
mem.active.average
mem.shared.average
mem.zero.average
mem.swapped.average
mem.vmmemctl.average
mem.capacity.provisioned.average
mem.capacity.entitlement.average
mem.capacity.usage.average
mem.mementitlement.latest
mem.compressed.average
mem.compressionRate.average
mem.decompressionRate.average
mem.overhead.minimum
mem.consumed.minimum
mem.granted.minimum
mem.active.minimum
mem.shared.minimum
mem.zero.minimum
mem.swapped.minimum
mem.vmmemctl.maximum
mem.overhead.maximum
mem.consumed.maximum
mem.granted.maximum
mem.active.maximum
mem.shared.maximum
mem.zero.maximum
mem.swapped.maximum
mem.vmmemctl.minimum
net.throughput.usage.average
net.throughput.contention.summation
power.power.average
power.energy.summation
cpu.corecount.contention.average
cpu.usage.average
cpu.reservedCapacity.average
cpu.usagemhz.minimum
cpu.usagemhz.maximum
cpu.usage.minimum
cpu.usage.maximum
cpu.capacity.provisioned.average
cpu.capacity.usage.average
cpu.capacity.demand.average
cpu.capacity.contention.average
cpu.corecount.provisioned.average
cpu.corecount.usage.average
cpu.usagemhz.average
disk.throughput.contention.average
disk.throughput.usage.average
mem.decompressionRate.average
mem.granted.average
mem.active.average
mem.shared.average
mem.zero.average
mem.swapused.average
mem.vmmemctl.average
mem.compressed.average
mem.compressionRate.average
mem.reservedCapacity.average
mem.capacity.provisioned.average
mem.capacity.usable.average
mem.capacity.usage.average
mem.capacity.entitlement.average
mem.capacity.contention.average
mem.usage.minimum
mem.overhead.minimum
mem.consumed.minimum
mem.granted.minimum
mem.active.minimum
mem.shared.minimum
mem.zero.minimum
mem.swapused.minimum
mem.consumed.average
mem.usage.maximum
mem.overhead.maximum
mem.consumed.maximum
mem.granted.maximum
mem.overhead.average
mem.shared.maximum
mem.zero.maximum
mem.swapused.maximum
mem.vmmemctl.maximum
mem.usage.average
mem.active.maximum
mem.vmmemctl.minimum
net.throughput.contention.summation
net.throughput.usage.average
net.throughput.usable.average
net.throughput.provisioned.average
power.power.average
power.powerCap.average
power.energy.summation
vmop.numShutdownGuest.latest
vmop.numPoweroff.latest
vmop.numSuspend.latest
vmop.numReset.latest
vmop.numRebootGuest.latest
vmop.numStandbyGuest.latest
vmop.numPoweron.latest
vmop.numCreate.latest
vmop.numDestroy.latest
vmop.numRegister.latest
vmop.numUnregister.latest
vmop.numReconfigure.latest
vmop.numClone.latest
vmop.numDeploy.latest
vmop.numChangeHost.latest
vmop.numChangeDS.latest
vmop.numChangeHostDS.latest
vmop.numVMotion.latest
vmop.numSVMotion.latest
vmop.numXVMotion.latest
datastore.numberReadAveraged.average
datastore.throughput.contention.average
datastore.throughput.usage.average
datastore.write.average
datastore.read.average
datastore.numberWriteAveraged.average
disk.used.latest
disk.provisioned.latest
disk.capacity.latest
disk.capacity.contention.average
disk.capacity.provisioned.average
disk.capacity.usage.average