Using the Capacity Page to Asses and
Optimize Capacity
The
capacity page in
VMware Aria
Operations
offers
a comprehensive view of resource utilization, allocation, trends, and forecasts, allowing
administrators to make informed decisions about resource provisioning, performance
optimization, and future growth.To open the Capacity page, click
Capacity
under Optimize
in the left
menu. Or, from the Launchpad, click Capacity
under Pillars of
Operations. Click View
in the Capacity
card. How Optimize Capacity Works
The Capacity Optimization and Reclaim
features are tightly integrated functions that allows you to assess workload status
in data centers across your environment. You can determine time remaining until CPU,
memory, or disk space resources run out and realize cost savings when underutilized
VMs can be reclaimed and deployed where needed.
When you open the Capacity page, graphical
representations of all the data centers and custom data centers in your environment
appear. VMware Cloud on AWS data centers has a unique icon to differentiate it from
the other data centers.
By default, they are shown in order of time
remaining, beginning from the upper left, where the most constrained data centers
appear. To review the status of a data center, click the graphic. The page refreshes
to display the following data:
- Time Remaining
- Time Remaining specifies which clusters are most constrained and displays the criticality of the cluster.
- Optimization Recommendations
- VMware Aria Operationsshows you the number of reclaimable VMs and the associated cost savings. ClickView Reclaimable VMsto navigate to theReclaimpage.
- Cluster Utilization
- Cluster Utilization displays an interactive graph that shows time remaining by component. You can explore the demand percentage over time by CPU, memory, and disk space or by the most constrained component. By default, the data displayed is for the Demand model. If you have configured the Allocation model, then you can also see the CPU, memory, and disk space time remaining model based on the overcommit ratios that you have set in the policy.Click theEditicon to modify the criticality threshold, risk level, and allocation model. These changes affect the selected cluster's policy. Hence, any change that you make here, affects all the clusters under the same policy.Set theShow HistoryandShow Forecastvariables to create the slice of time in which you want to see time-remaining data. The vertical axis of the graph shows the total capacity being used by the current amount of CPU, memory, or disk space respectively. The bold, black line across the top of the graph depicts the historical value of usable capacity. The horizontal axis is the timeline. Vertical lines in the graph are labeled at the bottom of each line. The first vertical dotted line on the left marks the projection calculation start point. The next line is the current date - now. The third vertical marks the date the resource runs out. If a resource has little time remaining, the current date and the date that time runs out may be the same.
VMware Aria
Operations
can make recommendations for increasing time
remaining based on the data it receives and these recommendations appear at the
bottom of the screen. You might see two options: Option 1 shows what you can achieve
by reclaiming resources. Option 2 shows the results of adding capacity. If you choose to reclaim resources, you can
run that process immediately by clicking
RECLAIM RESOURCES
.
To see the details or choose additional options before running a reclaim action,
review the information provided in the Optimization
Recommendations
pane and then click VIEW RECLAIMABLE VMS
to go to the Reclaim
page. Option | Description |
|---|---|
Select a
datacenter | Select a data center
from the carousel across the top of the page. Information about
the datacenter is displayed below. |
ALL DATACENTERS
| X | Toggle: click ALL
DATACENTERS on the upper right when you want to
switch the view to a filtered list of all data centers. Click
X to return to a carousel view of data centers.
|
View: | Filter results to include data centers, custom
data centers, or both. This option appears if you select ALL
DATACENTERS on the upper right. |
Group BY: | Filter results by criticality (least time
remaining data centers/custom data centers listed first) or by the
vCenter Server to which each data center belongs. This option
appears if you select ALL
DATACENTERS on the upper right. |
Sort by: | Options (Options appear
if you select ALL
DATACENTERS on the upper right):
|
Select
datacenter or ADD NEW CUSTOM DATACENTER | Options (options appear
if you select ALL
DATACENTERS on the upper right):
|
Time Remaining | Appears when you select a
data center or custom data center from the top of the screen. Gives overview of
cluster status, including how many are at:
"Critical" can indicate a
resource contention, imbalance, or other stress condition.
Thresholds you set in the policies define what is critical. |
Optimization Recommendations | Lists potential cost
savings by reclaiming unused resources. Indicates if workloads
can be optimized across clusters. VIEW
RECLAIMABLE VMS - displays the Reclaim screen, where you can research and run
potential VM reclamation actions. VIEW
OPTIMIZATION - displays the Workload
Optimization screen, where you can optimize
workloads based on your policy settings. |
Cluster
Utilization and Time Remaining | Overall view of cluster
health in the selected data center. You can select a cluster
from the list to display information about that cluster, or use
the options to sort and filter results. The options you select
dictate the data displayed in the graph. Sort by:
Demand model is
always on and is the default. Filter : search field. Show History
for : The period before forecasting begins (does
not impact the forecast calculation). Show Forecast
For : The forecast period. How is the
criticality determined? Displays the criticality
threshold you set for this type of object in the Policies
Library. Cluster
Time Remaining Settings : Click the
Edit icon to edit the default policy
for the selected cluster. Change the criticality threshold, risk
level, allocation model and capacity buffer. Applying these
changes affects all objects in the policy. For more information,
see Configuring Policies in the VMware Aria
Operations Configuration
Guide |
Time Remaining graph | Data shows current and
trending resource usage and pinpoints when a given cluster is
projected to run out of CPU, memory, or disk space based on the
allocation or demand model (default). VMware Aria
Operations takes into account the business hours
which you set in the current policy. |
Legend | Displays a legend of the colours in the time
remaining graph. Click on any one of the legends to toggle its
display in the chart. |
Recommendations | Option 1: Reclaim Resources. Shows resources that can
be reclaimed to increase time remaining for the selected
cluster. RECLAIM
RESOURCES - displays the Reclaim screen, where you can research and run
potential VM reclamation actions. Shows resources that can
be added to increase time remaining. |
You might see that a data center or
cluster is labeled optimized when it has few or no days remaining before CPU,
memory, or disk space is predicted to run out. The seemingly odd assessment is
due to optimization and time remaining being two different measures of data
center and cluster health. A data center can be running at optimum based on
policy settings for balance and consolidation, yet be almost out of resources.
It is important to consider both measures when managing your environment.