When you configure a project, you add cloud zones. You can define the resource limits for each cloud zone, allowing you to conserve resources where needed.

The possible limits include the number of instances, memory, and CPUs.

vSphere storage limits

For vSphere cloud zones only, you can configure storage limits for deployed resources that are based on vSphere VM templates and content library items. Storage limits consider the actual capacity for thick and thin resource provisioning so that you cannot over-provision using thin provisioning. First class disks and vSphere independent disks are also considered in the storage limits. Storage limits do not apply to OVA/OVF templates that are outside of the content library.

The storage limits are evaluated when you request a deployment and when you make changes to the deployment using the resize disk, resize boot disk, remove disk, and the update count actions. Like initial provisioning, thick and thin provisioning are considered to prevent over-provisioning. These storage limits do not apply to other resource types such as AWS, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud Platform.

As you add each zone and apply limits, don't limit the project resources so narrowly that the members cannot deploy their cloud templates.

When your users submit a deployment request, the zones are evaluated to determine which zones have the resources to support the deployment. If more than one zone supports the deployment, then the priority is evaluated and the workload is placed on the one with the higher priority, which is the lowest integer.

Ignore powered off VMs when evaluating usage for limits

In addition to setting limits for cloud zones in the project, you can also configure the limits to ignore powered off VMs when calculating memory and CPU usage. This property affects the deployment process and day 2 power on and off actions.

For example, when you add a cloud zone to a project, you apply a limit of 5120 MB memory and 5 CPUs. You then deploy a templates that consume the amount and reach the limit. The next deployment fails. However, you know that two of the VMs are powered off and you want to ignore the usage of the powered off VMs and deploy an additional template. You can set a global property for you organization that ignores powered off machines with determining resource usage.

To ignore powered off VMs, you can set a global property.

  1. To add the property, go to https://your_automation_URL/iaas/api/swagger/ui/#/Property/patchConfigurationProperty.
  2. Click Try it out.
  3. For the value, enter true.
  4. For the key, enter NEGLECT_POWERED_OFF_VMS_RESERVATION.
  5. Click Execute.

To reset the property, set the value to false. If you turn off the property after using the capabilities, the you might see some of your deployments exceeding the limits.

When you turn the property on and off, VMware Aria Automation recalculates the CPU, memory, storage, and instance count usage.

For more information about capacity management, see How to manage infrastructure capacity for VMware Aria Automation.