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

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

  • Continuous optimization automatically creates a new CDC in vRealize Operations Manager.

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

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

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

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

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

  • vRealize Automation application intent and the constraints defined in vRealize Automation are honored during any optimization rebalance or relocation operations.
  • vRealize Operations Manager placement tags cannot be applied to vRealize 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 vRealize Operations Manager cycle attempts to relocate the remainder as is usual for vRealize Operations Manager. Such a partially completed optimization causes no negative effect in vRealize Automation.