Workload metrics measure an object's demand for resources versus the actual capacity that the object can access. Use Workload values as an investigative tool when you are researching capacity constraints or evaluating the general state of objects in your environment.

Object Workload

The Workload tab present data about a single object as follows:

  • The Business Week Workload - this measure reflects the system's calculation of how much capacity an object demands over a time period. The analysis compares an object's overall average workload against its capacity for a six-week period, hour by hour. Results are color-coded to show different demand levels. See the color key that follows these descriptions.
  • Workload Breakdown - Data is given for the individual resources of the workload, for example, CPU and memory. The values are recalculated every five minutes.

Custom Group Workload

The Workload tab presents information for a custom group, for example vSphere World, differently from how it presents object data:

  • Current Workload Breakdown - the system presents workload constraints in several formats: pie chart, badges, bar chart, and grid. See the color key that follows these descriptions.
    Table 1. Custom Workload Breakdown
    Format Content
    Pie Chart Each slice of the pie represents the percentage of total workload being occupied by objects in a given state: normal, warning, critical, and so on. Point to a slice to make the percentage appear as a tool tip.
    Badges Each colored badge represents a state and includes the number of objects in a given state, for example, immediate (attention needed). You can toggle the data between the number of objects in a given state and the percentage of objects in a given state. A caption notes the total number of objects in the group.
    Bar chart A visual presentation of the percentage of all objects experiencing workload issues during that past four weeks.
    Grid All objects in the group are listed by name, object type, current level of criticality, and general issue description. You can click any object name to view the details for that object, including its Object Workload details.

Object State Color Key

Table 2. Object Workload States
Badge Color Description User Action
Icon for normal workload status. Workload on the object is not excessive. No attention required.
Icon for medium workload. Object is experiencing some high-resource workloads. Check and take appropriate action.
Icon for partially high workload. Workload on the object is approaching its capacity in at least one area. Check and take appropriate action as soon as possible.
Icon for excessive workload. Workload on the object is at or over its capacity in one or more areas. Act immediately to avoid or correct problems.
Icon for unknown workload status. No data is available.
Workload state icon for objects that are offline. Object is offline.

Here is a list of metrics by which the data in the Workload Tab is represented, for all interested object types.

Table 3. vCenter Server
Data Metric Name
CPU-Capacity CPU|Total Capacity
CPU-Demand CPU|Demand Without Overhead
CPU-Usage CPU|VM CPU usage
CPU-Reserved CPU|Reserved Capacity
CPU-Overhead CPU|Overhead
Memory-Capacity Memory|Total Capacity
Memory-Demand Memory|Machine Demand
Memory-Usage Memory|Host Usage
Memory-Reserved Memory|Reserved Capacity
Memory-Overhead Memory|ESX System Usage
Memory-Entitlement Memory|Usable Capacity
Table 4. Datacenter
Data Metric Name
CPU-Capacity CPU|Total Capacity
CPU-Demand CPU|Demand Without Overhead
CPU-Usage CPU|VM CPU usage
CPU-Reserved CPU|Reserved Capacity
CPU-Overhead CPU|Overhead
CPU-Entitlement CPU|Usable Capacity
Memory-Capacity Memory|Total Capacity
Memory-Demand Memory|Machine Demand
Memory-Usage Memory|Host Usage
Memory-Reserved Memory|Reserved Capacity
Memory-Overhead Memory|ESX System Usage
Memory-Entitlement Memory|Usable Capacity
Table 5. Cluster Compute Resource
Data Metric Name
CPU-Capacity CPU|Total Capacity
CPU-Demand CPU|Demand Without Overhead
CPU-Usage CPU|VM CPU usage
CPU-Reserved CPU|Reserved Capacity
CPU-Entitlement CPU|Usable Capacity
CPU-Overhead CPU|Overhead
Memory-Capacity Memory|Total Capacity
Memory-Demand Memory|Machine Demand
Memory-Usage Memory|Host Usage
Memory-Reserved Memory|Reserved Capacity
Memory-Entitlement Memory|Usable Capacity
Memory-Overhead Memory|ESX System Usage
Table 6. Host System
Data Metric Name
CPU-Capacity CPU|Total Capacity
CPU-Demand CPU|Demand Without Overhead
CPU-Usage CPU|VM CPU usage
CPU-Reserved CPU|Reserved Capacity
CPU-Overhead CPU|Overhead
Memory-Capacity Memory|Total Capacity
Memory-Demand Memory|Machine Demand
Memory-Usage Memory|Host Usage
Memory-Reserved Memory|Reserved Capacity
Memory-Overhead Memory|ESX System Usage
Table 7. Virtual Machine
Data Metric Name
CPU-Capacity CPU|Total Capacity
CPU-Demand CPU|Demand
CPU-Usage CPU|Usage
CPU-Limit CPU|Effective limit
Memory-Capacity Memory|Total Capacity
Memory-Demand Memory|Utilization
Memory-Usage Memory|Guest Usage
Memory-Reserved Memory|Reservation Used
Memory-Limit Memory|Effective limit
Table 8. Resource Pool
Data Metric Name
CPU-Capacity CPU|Total Capacity
CPU-Demand CPU|Usage
CPU-Usage CPU|Usage
CPU-Reserved CPU|Reservation Used
Memory-Capacity Memory|Total Capacity
Memory-Demand Memory|Guest Demand
Memory-Usage Memory|Consumed
Memory-Reserved Memory|Reservation Used