vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide vCenter Chargeback 1.0.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at: http://www.vmware.com/support/ The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates. If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to: docfeedback@vmware.com Copyright © 2009 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws.
Contents About This Book 7 1 Introduction to vCenter Chargeback 9 What Is Chargeback? 9 Chargeback Solution for Virtualized Environments 9 Overview of vCenter Chargeback 10 2 Installing vCenter Chargeback 13 System Requirements 13 Hardware Requirements 13 Software Requirements 14 Operating Systems 14 Database Management Systems 14 Web Browsers 14 VMware vCenter Server 14 Prerequisites for vCenter Chargeback 14 Pre‐Installation Checklist 16 Install vCenter Chargeback 17 Basic Installation or First‐Time I
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Manage License 39 Replace License 40 Delete License 40 Manage Report Template 40 Manage Attributes 42 Add Attribute 42 Delete Attribute 42 Manage System Health Thresholds 43 4 Authenticating and Managing Users, Roles, and Permissions 45 Users 45 Create User 45 Modify User 47 Delete User 47 Permissions 47 Permission Types 48 Global Permissions 48 Hierarchy Permissions 48 Cost Permissions 48 Reporting Permissions 48 Role‐Based Access Control Permissions 48 Permissions to Acce
Contents 6 Creating and Configuring a Cost Model 63 vCenter Chargeback Cost‐Related Elements 63 Chargeable Computing Resource 63 Base Rate 64 Rate Factor 64 Fixed Cost 64 Billing Policy 64 Cost Model 65 Cost Template 66 Manage Cost Models 66 Create a Cost Model 66 Modify a Cost Model 67 Delete a Cost Model 68 Manage Fixed Costs 68 Create a Fixed Cost 68 Modify a Fixed Cost 69 Delete a Fixed Cost 70 Manage Cost Templates 70 Create a Cost Template 70 Modify a Cost Template 72 Delete a Cost Template 72 Config
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Utilities 86 Troubleshooting Utility 86 Database Password Change Utility 87 Database Management Scripts 88 Generic Scripts 88 Space Calculation Scripts 88 Data Purging and Restoring Scripts 89 Troubleshooting 91 Unable to Send Report Through Email 92 Storage Syncing Job Fails 92 Unable to use Custom SSL Certificates 92 Unable to View the vCenter Chargeback Plug‐In in the VI Client 92 Report Does not Display the Memory Usage Value and the Corresponding Cost 93 Report Does not
About This Book The vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide provides information about configuring and using the chargeback solution for a virtualized environment. Intended Audience This book is intended for anyone who wants to install, upgrade, or use vCenter Chargeback. The information in this book is written for experienced Windows or Linux system administrators who are familiar with virtual machine technology and datacenter operations.
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1 Introduction to vCenter Chargeback 1 Before you install and start using the vCenter Chargeback application, an understanding of what chargeback is and chargeback solution for a virtualized environment would be helpful. This chapter provides a quick overview of the vCenter Chargeback application.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide A chargeback solution for a virtualized environment defines a hierarchy with different types of entities such as departments, divisions, business units, cost centers, physical servers, virtual machines, and so on. For each entity type, a cost model is defined that determines the rate for each unit of a resource utilized. The chargeback solution determines the resource usage either using by utilization‐based metering or allocation‐based metering of virtual machines.
Chapter 1 Introduction to vCenter Chargeback vCenter Chargeback retrieves the resource usage and allocation information for each virtual machine from the vCenter Server database through the data collector. The data collector replicates this information in the vCenter Chargeback database. vCenter Chargeback uses this information from the vCenter Chargeback database along with the cost model and chargeback cost calculation formulas to generate the cost reports.
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2 Installing vCenter Chargeback 2 This chapter includes the following topics: “System Requirements” on page 13 “Prerequisites for vCenter Chargeback” on page 14 “Install vCenter Chargeback” on page 17 “Upgrade vCenter Chargeback” on page 23 “Starting the vCenter Chargeback Application” on page 23 “Downloading and Installing Data Collector” on page 24 “Upgrade the Data Collector” on page 26 “Deploying vCenter Chargeback as a Virtual Appliance” on page 26 “Uninstalling vC
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Software Requirements Other than an operating system, you must have a database management system and a Web browser installed to run and access vCenter Chargeback. This section lists the supported operating systems, database management systems, Web browsers, and vCenter Server releases.
Chapter 2 Installing vCenter Chargeback After you create the vCenter Chargeback database, you must also create a database user to access this database. Ensure that the database user has the privileges to create and delete schema, as well as read from and write to the database. You must provide the details of this vCenter Chargeback database and database user when installing vCenter Chargeback. The installer will use these details to create the database schema and objects.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Pre-Installation Checklist The checklist provided in Table 2‐1 helps you ensure that you have all the required information and have performed the necessary pre‐install tasks. Table 2-1. vCenter Chargeback Pre-Install Checklist Item Requirement Checked Hardware Configuration CPU 2.0GHz or faster Intel or AMD x86 processor RAM 3.0 GB or more Disk space Minimum 1.1 GB; Recommended 2.
Chapter 2 Installing vCenter Chargeback Install vCenter Chargeback This section covers the following installation scenarios: “Basic Installation or First‐Time Installation” on page 17 “Cluster Installation” on page 19 “Basic Installation Using Existing Database Schema” on page 21 You must first download the installer file, vCenter-CB-1.0.1-.zip, and extract the content of this ZIP file to the machine on which you want to install the application.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide SQL Authentication Mode: This option is applicable only for SQL Server databases. For an SQL Server database, the authentication type can be either SQL Server Authentication or Windows Authentication. Database Username: The name of the database user. The database user must have privileges to create and delete schema, as well as read from and write to the database.
Chapter 2 Installing vCenter Chargeback Cluster Installation When you install the vCenter Chargeback application for the first time on a machine, a load balancer is also installed. The existence of the load balancer enables you to have more than one instance of the vCenter Chargeback application running, with each instance accessing the same vCenter Chargeback database. These vCenter Chargeback instances form a cluster. All user requests are routed through the load balancer.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Database Username: The name of the database user. The database user must have privileges to create and delete schema, as well as read from and write to the database. If you select Windows Authentication for SQL Authentication Mode, you must provide the Windows user account name. The user name must be of the form DomainName\UserName. Also, the user must have the Log on as a service permission. Database Password: Password for the user name that you have provided.
Chapter 2 Installing vCenter Chargeback To add an application instance to a cluster 1 In a command‐line window, enter the following command: cd /vCenter-CB-Tools/load-balancer/bin/ here, is the complete folder path provided during the vCenter Chargeback installation.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide SQL Authentication Mode: This option is applicable only for SQL Server databases. For an SQL Server database, the authentication type can be either SQL Server Authentication or Windows Authentication. Database Username: The name of the database user. The database user must have privileges to create and delete schema, as well as read from and write to the database.
Chapter 2 Installing vCenter Chargeback Upgrade vCenter Chargeback You can upgrade an existing vCenter Chargeback instance to a newer or the latest version. You must first download the installer file, vCenter-CB-1.0.1-.zip, and extract the contents of this ZIP file to the machine on which you want to install the application. If you try to run the installer from a shared location on the network, the installer might fail.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide VMware vCenter Chargeback DataCollector ‐ Embedded: Starting this service starts the Data Collector instance that was installed along with the vCenter Chargeback application. VMware vCenter Chargeback DataCollector ‐ Individual: Starting this service starts the Data Collector instance that was installed individually (in this case, the name of the instance is DataCollector) and not with the application.
Chapter 2 Installing vCenter Chargeback 5 Provide the path for the installation directory, and click Next. Ensure that the installation directory path has at least one directory (for example, C:\vCenterChargeback10\) and does not point to just a drive (for example, C:\). If the specified installation directory exists, ensure that it is empty. If the specified installation directory does not exist, the installer will create the directory.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Upgrade the Data Collector After upgrading the vCenter Chargeback instance, you can also upgrade the data collector instances. You can download the data collector installer from the vCenter Chargeback application. To download the installer 1 Log in to the upgraded vCenter Chargeback application. 2 Click the Settings tab. 3 Click Data Collectors. 4 Click the Download Data Collector link. 5 In the download dialog box, click Save File. The installer (vCenter-CB-DC.
Chapter 2 Installing vCenter Chargeback 6 Provide a name for the virtual machine, and click Next. 7 Select the ESX Server host or resource pool on which the virtual machine should be deployed, and click Next. 8 Select the required data store, and click Next. 9 Review the information displayed on the summary screen, and click Finish. 10 VI Client starts importing the virtual appliance. Click OK. 11 After the import is complete, power on the virtual machine.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Managing the vCenter Chargeback Virtual Appliance After the vCenter Chargeback virtual appliance is deployed and the virtual machine has booted, you can log in to the virtual machine using the following credentials: User name: root Password: vmware After you have logged in to the virtual machine, you can manage the Data Collector and Apache Tomcat services.
Chapter 2 Installing vCenter Chargeback You must also remove the instance name from the list of instances included in the worker.balancer.balance_workers parameter under the Define the LB worker section. For the previous example, the entry might be as follows: # Define the LB worker worker.balancer.type=lb worker.balancer.sticky_session = 1 worker.balancer.method=R worker.balancer.balance_workers=worker1,worker2,chargeTest,sample0 Delete the chargeTest entry from the list of instances.
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3 Configuring Administration Settings 3 After you install and run the application, log in to the application by using the administrative user account details provided during the installation. As an administrative user, you can perform various administrative tasks, such as configuring the LDAP and SMTP servers in the application and adding as well as updating vCenter Server information. To perform the administrative tasks described in this chapter, you must have the Super User role.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Configure the LDAP Server Setting You must configure the LDAP Server setting to enable Windows Active Directory users to access the application using their Windows Active Directory login credentials. vCenter Chargeback supports Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Active Directory and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Active Directory. To configure the LDAP server setting 1 In the Settings tab, click General. 2 Click Add in the LDAP Setting section.
Chapter 3 Configuring Administration Settings You can also remove an existing LDAP server and add a new one. To remove an LDAP server 1 In the Settings tab, click General. 2 Click Remove in the LDAP Setting section. A dialog confirming the action is displayed. 3 Click OK. IMPORTANT If you remove an LDAP server, the corresponding users and groups will also be deleted from the application.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide You can also remove an existing SMTP server and add a new one. To remove an SMTP server 1 In the Settings tab, click General. 2 Click Remove in the Email Setting section. A dialog confirming the action is displayed. 3 Click OK. Set Currency The default currency set in the application is US Dollar. To modify the currency setting 1 In the Settings tab, click General. 2 In the Currency Setting section, select the required currency from the Select Currency list.
Chapter 3 Configuring Administration Settings Manage vCenter Servers To determine the computing resources utilization for the virtual machines and calculate the total costs, you must first add the vCenter Server instances in your virtualized environment to the vCenter Chargeback application.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide vCenter Server View Type: The type of view to be used to display the entities in the vCenter Server hierarchy. This can be either Hosts and Clusters or Virtual Machines and Templates. These view types are same as the corresponding vCenter Server view types, and the entities in the vCenter Server hierarchy will be displayed in a similar manner. Once set, this option cannot be edited for the vCenter Server.
Chapter 3 Configuring Administration Settings Delete vCenter Server Information If you do not want to calculate costs and generate reports for the virtual machines managed by a vCenter Server, you can remove the vCenter Server from the vCenter Chargeback application. To remove a vCenter Server 1 In the Settings tab, click vCenter Servers. A table listing all the vCenter Servers is displayed. 2 Select the vCenter Server that you want to remove and click Delete.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Job Type: The type of the synchronization job. These are: Storage Syncing Job: The data collector obtains the storage information for all the virtual machines managed by the VirtualCenter Server or vCenter Server. Thin provisioning and linked clones are considered when calculating the storage utilization. The first run of this job might fail if the first run of the Inventory Syncing Job take more than 5 minutes to complete. In vSphere 4.
Chapter 3 Configuring Administration Settings Disable Data Collector After a data collector is installed, it is registered with the application and is enabled by default. You can disable this data collector from the application. To disable a data collector 1 In the Settings tab, click Data Collectors. A table listing all the data collectors registered with the application is displayed. 2 Select the data collector that you want to disable. 3 Click Disable.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Replace License You must replace an expired license with a valid license. You can also replace an existing valid license with another valid license. To replace an existing license 1 In the Settings tab, click License. A table listing the details of the license added to the application is displayed. 2 Click Replace. The Replace License screen is displayed. 3 Enter the license key and click Replace. The new license replaces the existing license.
Chapter 3 Configuring Administration Settings 4 Select an option from the Header Settings section to display the required information in the selected sub‐section. The available options are: Text: The text that you want the report header to contain. For example, the name of the organization. Image: An image that you want the header section to display. For instance, the company logo. Ensure that the image size does not exceed 1MB.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Manage Attributes An attribute provides additional information about an entity in an hierarchy. You can define an attribute in the application and then assign it to an entity. For example, you can create an attribute called Geo_location, and then assign it to various entities and set values indicating their geographic locations. To know more about assigning attributes to entities, see “Assign Attributes” on page 60.
Chapter 3 Configuring Administration Settings Manage System Health Thresholds You can set the response time limits for vCenter Chargeback, vCenter Chargeback database, vCenter Server, and vCenter Server database. The response time limits define the Normal, Warning, and Alert latency ranges. To set the response time limits 1 In the Settings tab, click System Health Thresholds. 2 In the vCenter Chargeback Server section, set the Normal Response Time Limit and the Alert Response Time Limit.
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4 Authenticating and Managing Users, Roles, and Permissions 4 vCenter Chargeback provides user management features that enable you to manage the various users and roles created in the application. The application defines some permissions and roles. In addition, it allows you to create roles and users as per your requirements.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide 3 Enter the following information: User Type: The user type must be Local. User Name: A unique user name to identify the user. The user name cannot exceed 255 characters in length. Password: A password to authenticate the user. The password must not exceed 24 characters in length. Confirm Password: Re‐enter the password. 4 (Optional) Select the Assign the Super User Role to the user option to grant the privileges defined in the Super User role to this user.
Chapter 4 Authenticating and Managing Users, Roles, and Permissions 4 Select the required group from the LDAP Groups section. You can search for a group by specifying the group name or a search string in the LDAP Groups section and clicking Search. The application searches all the Unique Name (sam account name in Windows Active Directory) and Common Name values in the Windows Active Directory and return all the groups that match the search string.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Permission Types The permissions defined in vCenter Chargeback can be classified under five categories. Global Permissions The Manage Admin Console permission is the only global permission defined in vCenter Chargeback. Users with this permission can perform various administrative tasks, such as add vCenter Servers to the application, manage licenses, manage data collectors, and configure LDAP and SMTP servers.
Chapter 4 Authenticating and Managing Users, Roles, and Permissions Permissions to Access User Interface Tabs On the product user interface, the tabs that a user can access depends on the role or permissions assigned to the user. Only users having the Super User role can access all the tabs and all the features available on each tab.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide 3 Select the user from the table listing the users. If any role has already been assigned to the user on the selected hierarchy, the same is displayed under Currently Assigned Role. You can select multiple users by holding down the CTRL key while selecting the required users. 4 Select the required role from the list under Set Role. NOTE You can set only a single role on a user for a hierarchy.
Chapter 4 Authenticating and Managing Users, Roles, and Permissions Revoke Roles and Permissions Assigned to a User Roles and permissions set on a user can be revoked as and when required. To remove the role assigned to a user 1 In the Users & Roles tab, click Permissions. A page listing all the users, their type, and whether the user is a Super User is displayed. The page also provides an option to select a hierarchy. 2 Select the required hierarchy from the list of hierarchies.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Report Viewer Entity Cost Manager Table 4‐1 lists these predefined roles and the permissions that have been set on them. . Table 4-1.
Chapter 4 Authenticating and Managing Users, Roles, and Permissions 4 Select the hierarchy and reporting permissions that you want to assign to the role. Ensure that you add the View Chargeback Hierarchy permission to each newly created role. Without this permission, a user cannot view any hierarchy and, therefore, cannot perform any task. NOTE The application allows you to assign only those permissions that are defined at the entity level of a hierarchy.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide To log in to the application 1 Open a Web browser and enter the application URL. The application URL should be of the following type: https://:/cbmui/ 2 3 Enter the following details on the login screen: User name: The user name of a user Password: Password for the user Login in to: The user type Click OK. On successful log in, the Getting Started tab of the application is displayed.
5 Managing Chargeback Hierarchies 5 vCenter Chargeback interacts with the vCenter Server to determine the utilization of the computing resources by various virtual machines that are created in the vCenter Server hierarchy. vCenter Chargeback enables you to create multiple chargeback hierarchies, which can be different from the vCenter Server hierarchies. A chargeback hierarchy is an organization of vCenter Server entities and vCenter Chargeback entities.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide 3 Select Custom Hierarchy (default). 4 Click Create. An empty chargeback hierarchy with the given name is created. To add entities to this hierarchy and manage the hierarchy, see “Manage a Chargeback Hierarchy” on page 57. Synchronize a Chargeback Hierarchy with a vCenter Server You can create a chargeback hierarchy and synchronize it with a vCenter Server. The created chargeback hierarchy will be same as the vCenter Server hierarchy.
Chapter 5 Managing Chargeback Hierarchies Format of the CSV File Starting with vCenter Chargeback 1.0.1, a new format for the entries in the CSV file is defined. This new format is as follows: , , , [[, ] [, , { | } ] ] In this format: UniqueId: A unique number to identify the entity. The UniqueId of the first entry in the file must be 1. ChildName: Name of the entity.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide View a Chargeback Hierarchy You can view all hierarchies created in the application from the Manage Hierarchy tab. To view a chargeback hierarchy 1 Click the Manage Hierarchy tab. 2 Select the chargeback hierarchy from the drop‐down list on the left pane of the page. The collapsed view of the chargeback hierarchy is displayed. The right pane provides various details about the selected hierarchy.
Chapter 5 Managing Chargeback Hierarchies You can undo an add operation by right‐clicking the newly added entity and selecting the Revert this add operation option. However, this option is not available on the entity if any further changes are made to the entity or to the chargeback hierarchy. Add a vCenter Chargeback Entity You can add vCenter Chargeback entities to a chargeback hierarchy to logically group vCenter Server entities in the hierarchy.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Delete an Entity from the Hierarchy You can delete the vCenter Server entities and vCenter Chargeback entities from a chargeback hierarchy. If you have added a vCenter Server entity to the chargeback hierarchy, you cannot remove any of its child entities without deleting the directly added vCenter Server entity from the chargeback hierarchy. To delete an entity from a chargeback hierarchy 1 Click the Manage Hierarchy tab.
Chapter 5 Managing Chargeback Hierarchies 3 Expand the hierarchy by clicking the plus sign (+) to the left of the hierarchy name. The first‐level entities in the hierarchy are displayed. You can view all the entities in the hierarchy by clicking the plus sign to the left of the entities that have sub‐entities. 4 Right‐click the entity to which you want to assign attributes and select Manage Attributes from the pop‐up menu. The Assign Attributes screen is displayed.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide 3 Expand the hierarchy by clicking the plus sign (+) to the left of the hierarchy name. The first‐level entities in the hierarchy are displayed. You can view all the entities in the hierarchy by clicking the plus sign to the left of the entities that have sub‐entities. 4 Right‐click the virtual machine whose cost has to be shared and select Manage cost sharing from the pop‐up menu.
6 Creating and Configuring a Cost Model 6 This chapter includes the following topics: “vCenter Chargeback Cost‐Related Elements” on page 63 “Manage Cost Models” on page 66 “Manage Fixed Costs” on page 68 “Manage Cost Templates” on page 70 “Configure Cost at the Entity Level” on page 72 vCenter Chargeback Cost-Related Elements This section introduces you to the cost‐related elements of vCenter Chargeback.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Base Rate Base rate is a global rate that you want to charge for a unit of chargeable computing resource used or allocated. For example: Chargeable Resource Unit Base Rate ($ per unit) CPU GHz‐Hour 0.0399 Memory GB‐Hour 0.0048 Network Received and Transmitted GB 0.0008 Storage GB‐Hour 0.0013 Disk Read and Write GB 0.0008 vCPU Count 0.
Chapter 6 Creating and Configuring a Cost Model CPU Reservation: This policy takes into account the CPU capacity reserved for a virtual machine. This reserved CPU capacity along with the actual utilization of other chargeable computing resources is used for calculating the total cost. Memory Reservation: This policy takes into account the memory capacity reserved for a virtual machine.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Cost Template A cost template consists of entity‐specific cost configuration details. These are rate factors for the chargeable computing resources, fixed costs, and custom fixed costs. You can set these values in a cost template and use the template to configure the costs at the entity level. Manage Cost Models vCenter Chargeback provides a default cost model called Default Chargeback Cost Model.
Chapter 6 Creating and Configuring a Cost Model 7 In the Base Rates tab, set the period for which the base rates will be effective. The default selection is Update from now onwards, indicating the base rates will be effective from the time of creation of the cost model till infinity. The other option is Update for the effective period. If you select this option, you must specify the start and end date of the period for which the base rates will be effective.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide 5 (Optional) In the Base Rates tab, modify the base rates for the chargeable computing resources and the effective duration. 6 Click Save to save all your changes. NOTE The name of the cost model and the start dates are mandatory information and do not have any default values. Delete a Cost Model You can remove invalid or unwanted cost models from the application. To delete a cost model 1 In the Manage Cost tab, click Cost Models.
Chapter 6 Creating and Configuring a Cost Model 4 In the Cost Details tab, set the period for which the cost will be effective. The default selection is Update from now onwards, indicating the defined cost will be effective from the time of creation of the fixed cost till infinity. The other option is Update for the effective period. If you select this option, you must specify the start and end date of the period for which the cost will be effective. You must enter the dates in the mm/dd/yyyy format.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide 6 Click Set. You can set more than one value and duration for different time periods by repeating Step 4, Step 5, and Step 6. 7 Click Save. The modified fixed cost is displayed in the table listing the fixed costs. You can view the modified cost details of the fixed cost by clicking the plus sign (+) in the Details column of the table. Delete a Fixed Cost You can delete invalid or unwanted fixed costs from the application.
Chapter 6 Creating and Configuring a Cost Model 4 Click the Rate Factors tab and set the rate factors for the following: CPU: The rate factor to be used for calculating the total cost for CPU usage per hour. Disk Read and Write: The rate factor to be used for calculating the total cost for disk read and write operations per hour. Disk Read: The rate factor to be used for calculating the total cost for disk read operations per hour.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Modify a Cost Template After a cost model is created, you can modify it as and when required. To modify a cost template 1 In the Manage Cost tab, click Cost Template. A table listing all the cost templates created in the application is displayed. 2 Select the cost template that you want to modify and click Edit. The Cost Template screen is displayed. 3 Modify the required information. You can edit generic information such as name and description in the General tab.
Chapter 6 Creating and Configuring a Cost Model View Cost Configuration of an Entity You can view entity‐specific cost configuration details in the Configure Cost tab. To view the cost configuration at the entity level 1 In the Configure Cost tab, click View Entity Cost Configuration. 2 Select a hierarchy from the list of hierarchies. 3 Expand the hierarchy and select the required entity. 4 Enter the time period for which you want to view the entity‐specific cost configuration details.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide 8 Select the Fixed Costs tab to apply the fixed costs on the entity. To add a fixed cost: a Select the required fixed cost from the Apply a Fixed Cost list. b Click Add. The fixed cost is added to the list of fixed costs displayed in the table. c (Optional) To apply this fixed cost to the immediate child entities of the selected entity, select the corresponding check box in the Distribute column of the table.
7 Generating Reports 7 After you have configured the application, created and configured chargeback hierarchies, and defined cost models, you can generate various cost reports and cost comparison reports.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Generate a Cost Report You can generate cost reports for an hierarchy and for individual entities in a hierarchy. To generate a cost report 1 In the Reports tab, click Create Reports. 2 Select the required chargeback hierarchy from the drop‐down list on the left pane of the page. The collapsed view of the chargeback hierarchy is displayed. You can expand the hierarchy by clicking the plus sign (+) to the left of the hierarchy name.
Chapter 7 Generating Reports 6 Show these columns in the usage table: This option is available only if the Show these details in report option is selected. Select this option to include the usage statistics in the report. You must also select the types of information that should be displayed in the usage table in the report. Show fixed cost in report: This option is available only if the Show these details in report option is selected.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide 5 6 Select the Cost Info tab and provide the following information: Include cost summary in report: Select this option to include the summary of the costs in the report. You must also select the type of cost summary to be reported. The cost summary can either be Basic (default) or Complete. A basic cost summary includes the cost summary for the entity and its immediate child in the report.
Chapter 7 Generating Reports Monthly: In this case, the reporting period is one month. You can select the date of the month starting from which the billing has to be done. You can also define a schedule policy that defines when the report has to be generated. For example, suppose you want to generate a report on the 5th of each month for the period from the 2nd of the previous month through the 1st of the current month.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Manage Report Generation Schedules You can perform the following actions on the report generation schedules: “Reschedule Report Generation” on page 80 “Remove a Schedule” on page 80 “Email a Scheduled Report” on page 81 Reschedule Report Generation A report generation schedule can be modified to define a new schedule. To change a report generation schedule 1 In the Reports tab, click Scheduled Reports.
Chapter 7 Generating Reports Email a Scheduled Report A scheduled report can be automatically sent through an email to the required recipients when the report gets generated. To email a scheduled report 1 In the Reports tab, click Scheduled Reports. A table listing all the reporting schedules created in the application is displayed. 2 Select the required schedule. 3 Click the mail icon above the table. The screen with the emailing details is displayed.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Schedule Report You can schedule report generation immediately after a report has been generated. To schedule a generated report 1 Click the scheduler icon above the generated report. The Schedule Report screen is displayed. 2 Enter the relevant values for the following scheduling parameters: Report Creation Time: When the report has to be generated. Recurrence Pattern: How often the report has to be generated.
Chapter 7 Generating Reports If you have chosen to view the report in the .pdf format, the report is opened for viewing. To save the file in the PDF format, click the save icon in the PDF viewer and save it on to the system. If you have chosen to view the report in the .csv format, an Opening .csv dialog is displayed. You can either chose to open the file with a supported application or save the file on the system.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide 3 Click the scheduler icon. The Schedule Report screen is displayed. 4 Enter the relevant values for the following scheduling parameters: Report Creation Time: When the report has to be generated. Recurrence Pattern: How often the report has to be generated. Range of Recurrence: Till when the report has to be generated periodically. To know more about these scheduling parameters, refer to “Scheduling Parameters” on page 78. 5 Click Schedule.
8 System Health, Utilities, and Troubleshooting 8 vCenter Chargeback interacts with various servers and databases. It also stores information about users and various components, such as hierarchies and entities. To ensure that the application and the corresponding components are working properly, one must monitor the health of the entire system periodically and should be able to troubleshoot the issues, if any.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide General Info: This section provides information about the number of vCenter Servers added to the application and the number of vCenter Chargeback hierarchies and entities created. It also displays the URL and port details for the SMTP and LDAP servers. This section displays the total number of CPUs of all the powered‐on ESX hosts that are currently added to the chargeback hierarchies defined in the application.
Chapter 8 System Health, Utilities, and Troubleshooting On Linux (vCenter Chargeback virtual appliance), run the following commands: cd /opt/vmware/cbm/vCenter-CB-Tools/troubleshooting/bin bash vCenter-CB-support.sh You must log in as root to successfully run this utility. 2 Provide the folder name and directory path where the generated logs have to be stored when prompted. 3 You can choose to collect the system event logs. On Windows the Application log and System log is collected.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide 2 3 Enter the following information: Existing password New password Confirmation of the new password Restart the vCenter Chargeback service and the data collector services. Database Management Scripts vCenter Chargeback provides SQL scripts that can help database administrators to manage the vCenter Chargeback database. These SQL scripts can be run by a database user with the required permissions from the SQL prompt.
Chapter 8 System Health, Utilities, and Troubleshooting spaceTablesData: This script returns the amount of space that can be retrieved by purging the cost, hierarchy, and report data that is older than the specified number of months. spaceStatsData: This script returns the amount of space that can be retrieved by purging the performance statistics data (from the CB_VC_PERFORMANCE_STAT table) that is older than the specified date and has the specified sample interval.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide The data purging scripts provided are: purgeCostData: This script removes the cost‐related data that is older than the specified number of months. The number of months is specified using the MONTHS_IN_HISTORY parameter in the Oracle script and the @MONTHS_IN_HISTORY parameter in the SQL Server script. You can set this parameter appropriately before running the script.
Chapter 8 System Health, Utilities, and Troubleshooting The data restoring scripts provided are: restoreTablesData: This script restores the data from the cost, hierarchy, and report related CSV files to the corresponding vCenter Chargeback database tables. In the SQL Server script, you must set the @ARCH_DIR parameter to the complete path of the folder in which the CSV files and the Schema.ini file are saved.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Unable to Send Report Through Email The probable reasons might be: The SMTP server is not configured. Check whether the SMTP server is configured on the application. The SMTP server is not reachable. Ensure that the SMTP server is reachable over the network. A third‐party application is blocking vCenter Chargeback from sending email. Ensure that no third‐party application, such as an anti‐virus application, is blocking vCenter Chargeback from sending emails.
Chapter 8 System Health, Utilities, and Troubleshooting The VI Client was open and connected to the vCenter Server when the application was registered with the vCenter Server instance. Restart the VI Client and connect to the vCenter Server. Accept the vCenter Chargeback SSL certificate. The plug‐in should now appear in the VI Client. You logged in to the VI Client by specifying the IP address of the vCenter Server as localhost.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Installer Throws the SQL Driver not Found Error If you are running the installer from a shared location on the network, the installer might fail with the following error: SQL driver not found. You must copy the installer files on to the local machine and then run the installer. A probable alternative is to map this shared location to a network drive and then run the installer.
Chapter 8 System Health, Utilities, and Troubleshooting Unable to Access the vCenter Chargeback Application Check whether all the relevant services are running.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide Changes to the vCenter Server Hierarchy Are Not Reflected in vCenter Chargeback Any changes made to the vCenter Server hierarchy can be viewed by clicking the refresh button next to the vCenter Server hierarchy in the vCenter Chargeback application. This refresh button is displayed only if there is a change in the vCenter Server hierarchy and the Hierarchy Manager tab is refreshed.
Index A archived reports delete 84 email 84 manage 83 reschedule 83 view 83 attributes add 42 assign 60 delete 42 manage 42 B base rate 64 billing policy 64 C chargeable computing resource 63 chargeback hierarchy about 55 add vCenter Chargeback entity 59 add vCenter Server entity 58 assign attributes 60 create 55 CSV file format 57 custom 55 delete entity 60 delete hierarchy 60 import from CSV file 56 manage 57 move entities 61 rename entity 59 sharing cost 61 synchronize with vCenter Server 56 view 58 v
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide prerequisites 14 using existing database schema 21 L LDAP Server configure 32 edit 32 remove 33 license key about 31 delete 40 manage 39 replace 40 M modify currency setting 34 modify log level 34 P permissions access UI tabs 49 cost type 48 global type 48 hierarchy type 48 modify at entity level 50 report type 48 revoke 51 role-based access control 48 R rate factor 64 report generation schedules email scheduled report 81 generate 79 manage 80 remove schedule 80 reschedu
Index V vCenter Chargeback about 9 deploying as virtual appliance 26 pre-installation checklist 16 prerequisites 14 starting the application 23 uninstall 28 virtualized environment solution 9, 10 vCenter Server Information add 35 delete 37 edit 36 Manage 35 virtual appliance configure 27 deploy 26 manage 28 VMware, Inc.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide 100 VMware, Inc.
