In this example, an IT administrator at a data center must plan for an increase in workloads as more staff is hired. To evaluate whether additional workloads can be added to existing virtual infrastructure, the administrator runs a what-if scenario using an actual VM as the workload.

Prerequisites

The administrator must have credentials for operating vRealize Operations and managing vCenter Server objects.

Procedure

  1. From the left menu, the administrator clicks Plan > Capacity
    The What-If Analysis screen appears.
  2. Clicks Add VMS in the Workload Planning: Traditional pane.
    The Workload Planning: Traditional screen appears.
  3. Enters Workload Staff Hire in the SCENARIO NAME field, then selects DC-Boston-16 (vc_10.27.83.18) from the list under LOCATION - WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO ADD YOUR WORKLOAD?
    The field to the right populates with the words, Any cluster. The administrator selects Cluster - 1860 from the list.
  4. The administrator clicks the Import from existing VM radio button in the APPLICATION PROFILE field, then clicks SELECT VMs.
    The Select VMs dialog box appears.
  5. In the column on the left, double-click the name of each VM whose attributes you want use in this scenario. The VM names appear in a SELECTED column on the right.
  6. Click OK.
    The Workload Planning screen appears. The data entered on the previous screen appears in the APPLICATION PROFILE field.
  7. At the Workload Planning screen, under APPLICATION PROFILE, in the SELECTED VMS table, enter in the Quantity column the number of copies you want of each VM you selected.
    The scenario is almost ready to run.
  8. In the DATE area, the administrator selects 3/25/18 and 6/30/18 as the start and end dates, respectively, then clicks RUN SCENARIO
    The scenario is successful: the workload will fit. By default, vRealize Operations compares the cost of running the workload on two providers, typically Hybrid Cloud (VMware) and AWS. The corresponding cost details are updated for your private cloud and public cloud providers. The planning scenario also provides a public cloud comparison between Hybrid Cloud and VMware Cloud on AWS. You can see that the monthly cost is displayed for each of the public clouds.
    VMware Cloud on AWS Hybrid Cloud
    Shows the number of hosts required on VMare Cloud on AWS for the migration to accommodate the selected workload, considering the minimum purchase of four hosts. Shows the allocated cost for a month.
    The actual utilized capacity of each host, with balanced workload distribution. Displays the utilization of CPU, memory, and storage. Provides overall requirement of hosts for the given capacity.
    Total purchase cost is derived by multiplying the effective monthly purchase cost for each host by the number of required hosts.
    Total Utilized Cost per month is computed based on utilized CPU and RAM, allocated storage, this indicates how well all three resources are being utilized as a fraction of the purchase cost.
    Required CPU and memory are calculated based on utilization.
    Required storage is calculated based on allocated storage capacity in your private cloud.
    Shows on-demand, one and three-year subscription cost.
    Shows the cost for a selected AWS region and its equivalent resources required for the selected region.

Results

In the Public Cloud text box, the system displays the monthly cost of running the workload on the VMware Hybrid Cloud versus the AWS Public Cloud.

What to do next

Assuming this plan is the best of the scenarios the administrator has run, it can be implemented in time to support the added workload. The administrator can monitor the workload performance using the Workload Optimization and Capacity Optimization features.