vSphere provides tools like vCenter, ESXTOP, and PowerCLI to monitor the performance of CPU, memory, network, and storage. Key metrics include CPU and memory usage, network packet drops, storage latency, and swap rates. Issues like oversubscription, capacity limitations, and configuration errors can be identified by watching for saturated resources, dropped packets, and high latency or queueing. External monitoring of physical infrastructure can also provide useful visibility.