Continuous optimization using VMware Aria Operations

When you add the VMware Aria Automation adapter in VMware Aria Operations, VMware Aria Operations automatically creates a new custom datacenter (CDC) for VMware Aria Automation based workloads.

With continuous optimization, you take advantage of workload rebalancing and relocation, and use VMware Aria Automation with VMware Aria Operations beyond initial workload placement. As virtualization resources move or come under heavier or lighter load, VMware Aria Automation provisioned workloads can move as needed.

• Continuous optimization automatically creates a new CDC in VMware Aria Operations.

  There is one new CDC for each VMware Aria Automation vSphere cloud zone.

• The newly created CDC contains every VMware Aria Automation managed cluster associated with the cloud zone.
  Note: Do not manually create a mixed CDC of VMware Aria Automation and non- VMware Aria Automation clusters.
• You use VMware Aria Operations to run continuous optimization for the newly created VMware Aria Automation based CDC.
• Workloads can only be rebalanced or relocated within the same cloud zone or CDC.
• Optimization never creates a new VMware Aria Automation or VMware Aria Operations placement violation.
  • If you have existing placement violations, optimization can fix VMware Aria Operations operational intent issues.
  • If you have existing placement violations, optimization cannot fix VMware Aria Operations business intent issues.

    For example, if you used VMware Aria Operations to manually move a virtual machine to a cluster that doesn't support your constraints, VMware Aria Operations doesn't detect a violation nor try to resolve it.

• This release obeys operational intent at the CDC level. All member VMware Aria Automation clusters are optimized to the same settings.

  To set a different operational intent for clusters, you must configure them in separate VMware Aria Automation CDCs, associated with separate vSphere cloud zones. Having different test and production clusters might be one example situation.

• VMware Aria Automation application intent and the constraints defined in VMware Aria Automation are honored during any optimization rebalance or relocation operations.
• VMware Aria Operations placement tags cannot be applied to VMware Aria Automation provisioned workloads.

In addition, scheduled optimization involving multiple machines is supported. Regularly scheduled optimizations are not all-or-nothing processes. If conditions interrupt machine movement, successfully relocated machines stay relocated, and the next VMware Aria Operations cycle attempts to relocate the remainder as is usual for VMware Aria Operations. Such a partially completed optimization causes no negative effect in VMware Aria Automation.