You can assess the cost of running your applications and VMs from your private cloud on VMware Cloud on AWS. vRealize Business for Cloud calculates and displays the cost of running your applications and virtual machines on VMware Cloud on AWS with similar configurations in your private cloud.

Prerequisites

You must have defined applications or business services from Business Management > Consumption > Applications to select the applications or business services.

Procedure

  1. Log in to vRealize Business for Cloud as an administrator.
    • https://vRealize_Automation_host_name/vcac/org/tenant_URL (for the vRealize Automation integrated setup)
    • https://vRealize_Business_for_Cloud_host_name/itfm-cloud (for the vRealize Business for Cloud standalone setup)
  2. Click Business Management.
  3. Expand What-If Analysis.
  4. Select VMware Cloud on AWS.
    By default, Scenario Name is populated with current date (Scenario _DD_MMM_YYYY). You can modify this value.
  5. Select the defined applications or virtual machines (VMs) for which you want to perform a comparative analysis.
    From Select
    Select Application Your application or business service.

    If you have not defined any application or business service, click Define Applications (Business Services) to define an application.

    Select Virtual Machines The VMs using the following filters:
    • Select Datacenter
    • Select Cluster
    • Select Virtual Machines
    Number of Failures to Tolerate Default value is 1. This value is used to calculate the available storage capacity.
    Failure Tolerance Method Default value is RAID-5. This value is used to calculate the available storage capacity.

    The Number of Failures to Tolerate and Failure Tolerance Method options determine the available storage capacity of the VMware Cloud on AWS host.

    The raw capacity of a host is 14.3 TB and the raw capacity of host excluding cache is 10.7 TB, the following are the probable configurations that are applied to the raw capacity of 10.7 TB.
    • If Number of Failures to Tolerate is 1 and Failure Tolerance Method is RAID-1, then usable capacity is 50% of raw capacity.
    • If Number of Failures to Tolerate is 2 and Failure Tolerance Method is RAID-1, then usable capacity is 33% of raw capacity.
    • If Number of Failures to Tolerate is 1 and Failure Tolerance Method is RAID-5 or 6, then usable capacity is 75% of raw capacity.
    • If Number of Failures to Tolerate is 2 and Failure Tolerance Method is RAID-5 or 6, then usable capacity is 67% of raw capacity.

    Then, the effective usable capacity of each host is derived by applying the standard vSAN Metadata overhead and the slack (25%) on top of available capacity.

    You can also perform the selection in the following combinations:
    • Applications and individual virtual machines.
    • Applications or individual virtual machines.
    The applications and VMs that you have selected appear below the selection that you have made.
  6. Click Run Scenario.
    You can see the comparative cost based on the utilization of the selected applications or virtual machines for both your private cloud and VMware Cloud on AWS.
    Private Cloud VMware Cloud on AWS
    • Allocated Capacity shows the CPU, memory, and storage allocated for your private cloud.
    • Actual Utilized Capacity shows the CPU, memory, and storage utilized by your applications and VMs.
    • Standard utilization is calculated at 15% CPU and 75% memory use.
    • Lesser standard utilization cost than actual utilization indicate that your private cloud utilization can be improved.

    Total cost per month for private clouds is a sum of all the VM costs selected for the assessment. This cost is projected for a full month. To make this cost more relevant, you must modify the cost drivers by entering custom values to match your infrastructure.

    • Shows the number of hosts required on VMware Cloud on AWS for the migration. Your first purchase includes a minimum of four hosts.
    • The actual utilized capacity of each host is shown with a blue color fill.
    • Total cost is derived by multiplying the effective monthly purchase cost for each host by the number of required hosts.
    • Required CPU and memory are calculated based on utilization.
    • Required storage is calculated based on allocated capacity in your private cloud.

    Total cost per month for VMware Cloud on AWS is computed based on the used capacity of the VMware Cloud on AWS host in placing the selected workload capacity. The computation factors in the cost of all the three resources (CPU, RAM, and storage). Though the recommendation for hosts and the used percentage is derived based on the constrained resource, the total cost per month is computed considering all three resources (usage of CPU, memory, and allocated storage).Total cost per month indicates how well all the three resources(CPU, memory, and storage) are being used as a fraction of purchase cost. If you observe a high percentage of utilized capacity for the hosts (more blue portion of the host) but low total cost per month, it indicates an imbalanced use of resources.

  7. (Optional) To modify the reserved capacity, click Edit Required Capacity on the VMware Cloud on AWS pane and move the sliders of the following values:
    • Compute
    • Memory
    The total cost for the migration is adjusted based on the changes you have made. For example, if you select 25% as reserved capacity for the memory of a host with 512 GB RAM , then the system considers the host capacity to be 75% (384 GB).
  8. (Optional) To edit the hybrid loyalty discount, click Edit under Total Cost Per Month and enter the discount percentage.
    Apply the discount percentage only if you have a valid discount available.
    The discount is applied only to the 1-year and 3-year subscription plans. The discount is not applicable for the on-demand plan.
  9. (Optional) To modify the scenario:
    1. Click Edit Scenario besides the scenario_name.
    2. Modify the value of Scenario Name.
    3. If necessary, modify the selected applications and virtual machines.
    4. Click Run Scenario.
  10. (Optional) To export the migration assessment, click EXPORT TO CSV.
    The assessment is saved as a vmc_migrations_export_current date.csv file.