cp30_onlinehelp

Capacity Planner Online HelpCapacity Planner 3.0

This document supports the version of each product listed andsupports all subsequent versions until the document is replacedby a new edition. To check for more recent editions of thisdocument, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

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Capacity Planner Online Help

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You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at:

http://www.vmware.com/support/

The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates.

If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to:

[email protected]

Copyright © 2012 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectualproperty laws. VMware products are covered by one or more patents listed at http://www.vmware.com/go/patents.

VMware is a registered trademark or trademark of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marksand names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

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Contents

1 About VMware Capacity Planner Help 5

2 Administration 7

User Accounts 7User Groups 10System Groups 11

3 Data Collection Security 15

Set Name and Password Policies 15Set Host and Domain Name Masking Policies 16Disable Host Name Masking Policies and Restore Actual Host Names 16Synchronize Pseudonym Keys with Masked Host and Domain Names 17Allow Self-Provisioning 17Session Cookies 17Data Retention 18

4 Collecting Data 19

Setting Up the Collector 19Discovering Systems 24Import a List of Systems 28Prevent Data Export to the Information Warehouse 29Data Synchronization 29Managing Collectors 31Dashboard Collector Settings 33Company Setup Dashboard 33

5 Analyzing Data 35

Inventory Analysis 35Performance Data Collection 37

6 Assessments 41

Create an Assessment 41Create a Project 42Scenario Templates 43Hardware Templates 43Project Global Settings 43

7 Performing a VDI Assessment 45

Software Analysis 45Software Profiles 46Create a Software Profile 46

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Base Images and VM Templates 47Create a Base Image 47Use Base Images in Scenarios 48

8 About Storage Assessment 49

Collecting Storage Data 49Generate a Storage Assessment Report 50

9 Optimizing Resources 51

Software Analysis 51Base Images 54Set the Date Range 56Consolidation Analysis 56Optimization Scenarios 58Reports 65

Index 69


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About VMware Capacity Planner Help 1Capacity Planner is a datacenter IT business and capacity planning solution and decision support tool.

VMware Capacity Planner Help serves as an adjunct to the application. An index and a search function assistyou in locating information.

For an overview of Capacity Planner and the interaction among its various components, see Getting Startedwith Capacity Planner in the Dashboard Portal.

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Administration 2Set up users and groups to organize access and responsibility. Each user must have a user account with aunique user name and password.

Users can create their own accounts if their companies allow self-sign up. Administrators set roles to allowaccess and permissions. Users can be added to user groups, and systems can be added to system groups. Usergroups are accessible from the Administration menu. Depending on whether you select a company or a specificproject in the company, system groups are available from either the Company or Project menu. Groupinghelps you to organize information and determine a plan for consolidation.

This chapter includes the following topics:

n “User Accounts,” on page 7

n “User Groups,” on page 10

n “System Groups,” on page 11

User AccountsUser accounts can be created by an administrator or generated from the log on page.

Users can create their own accounts if their companies allow self-sign up. Administrators set roles to allowaccess and permissions. Users can be added to user groups, and systems can be added to system groups.

A user account created this way must use the email address as the user name. If another user name is required,the user account should be created from the New User wizard.

Your company must enable this feature and either allow or disallow automatic approval. If automatic approvalis enabled, you can log on immediately. If not, you will receive an email with instructions.

Create a User Account from Log OnYou can request a user account through the Dashboard Log On.

Your email address is your user name when you create an account from the log on page.

Procedure

1 From the Dashboard log on page, click Request a new User Account.

2 Enter your identifying information.

Your email address will be your user name.

If your company has enabled automatic account approval, you can log on right away. If you are rejected, youreceive a reason. Follow up with your administrator.

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My AccountMy Account, accessed through the link on the Home page, contains all the information about the account youcreated.

Clicking My Account displays Edit My Account. Information is grouped in several categories.

n Account Information

n Group Membership

n Access and Permissions

n Subscriptions

n Options

n Hardware Filters

Access and PermissionsYour role determines your access and permissions.

You must be an administrator to set user roles. Your role determines your access to information and whetheryou have permission to perform certain actions. You can have different roles for different objects in theDashboard.

Table 2-1. Roles and Privileges

Role Privileges

Administrator n Controls company securityn Grants access to all users and guestsn Adds and deletes usersn Registers database IDsn Monitors user interaction activity logn Activates and deactivates usersn Has all power user privileges

Power User n Creates projectsn Creates reportsn Creates and runs scenariosn Creates partner company settingsn Manages templates

Read-Only User Sees all data but cannot change it.

Guest Permissions are determined by the administrator

IW Power User n Creates companiesn Assigns company partnersn Activates, deactivates, adds companies

IW Administrator Has all privileges

Subscribeor Unsubscribeto a NotificationYour subscriptions are available from your my Account page.

Your access rights to subscriptions depend on your role.

Procedure

1 From the Home page, click My Account.


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2 Select the Subscriptions tab.

3 Use the drop-down menu to set the company.

The Notifications that you are subscribed to appear in the table.

4 To see the notifications that you are not subscribed to, select Unsubscribed from the Status drop-downmenu.

5 Subscribe or unsubscribe to a notification.

Option Description

Subscribe Select notifications and click Subscribe.

Unsubscribe Click the Subscribers column, select yourself, and click Unsubscribe.

6 Click Apply or OK to add the subscription to the Subscribed table.

Set Hardware FiltersHardware view restriction filters the hardware templates that are available for an assessment.

Procedure

1 Select Administration > My Account.

The Edit My Account page appears.

2 Select Hardware Filters.

Your choice in Set Hardware Filters is reflected in Matching Hardware Templates.

3 Choose whether to filter the hardware templates.

This choice affects the templates displayed.

n All hardware templates

n Filter hardware by template names, makes, and models

4 If you choose to filter hardware templates, click Add.

The Add Hardware Filters page appears.

5 Enter the filter parameters and click OK.

Your template filter appears in the filter table and the matching hardware templates appear in the templatetable.

6 Click Apply to remain on the page or OK to go to the Enterprise Dashboard.

Your assessments use the hardware templates you selected.

Activate a NotificationNotifications alert you to changes made to an object in the Dashboard.

You can select one or more notification type. Notifications are sent to the user you designate for this purpose.Notifications can be shared among users. You can select notifications when you set up a new assessment. Tosubscribe to a notification, see “Subscribe or Unsubscribe to a Notification,” on page 8.

Prerequisites

You must have Administrator permission to view all company templates.

Chapter 2 Administration

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Procedure

1 Select Administration > Notifications.

2 Select a notification and click Activate.

3 Click the name of the notification to make edits.

Invite GuestsYou can invite guests and assign their roles.

Guest users are typically consultants or partners who are performing an assessment for a company. Thecompany has total control over who has access to the company data and must explicitly give access to guestusers. Guest users can be given company Administrator privileges as necessary if they are to manage theassessment.

Procedure

1 Select Administration > Access and Permissions and click Invite Guests or click Invite Guests on the SetUp tab of the consolidation estimate.

The Invite Guests page appears.

2 Select users from the list or enter their names in the text box.

Selected names appear in the Selected Users field.

3 Set the guest's role and click OK.

User GroupsUser groups allow for more efficient visibility and sharing of templates.

You must complete the customer information page before you can create a new group. You can assign rolesto groups that give every member of the group the same access and permissions. You can assign templates touser groups.

Create a User GroupWhen you create user groups, you can share resources among group members.

You can assign templates to user groups.

Prerequisites

Verify that you are an administrator.

Procedure

1 Select Administration > User Groups.

2 Click New.

3 Name the new group.

4 Select the members of the groups and click Next.

5 Add template objects to the groups and click Next.

6 Review the group information and click Finish.

The user group appears in the User Group table.


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What to do next

“Manage User Groups,” on page 11

Manage User GroupsYou can edit, activate, deactivate, and delete user groups.

To add users from other companies, you must be a guest administrator in the respective companies.

To add project specific objects, you must have read-only permission for the respective project.

Prerequisites

Verify that a user group is created.

Verify that you are a company administrator.

Procedure

1 Select Administration > User Groups.

The User Group table appears.

2 (Optional) To activate, deactivate, or delete a user group, select the group and click the appropriate button.

The group status changes in the Status column.

3 (Optional) To edit the group, click the group name link.

The Edit Group page appears. You can edit the group name, members, and associations.

4 Click Apply to continue making changes or click OK.

The User Group table reappears.

Access ControlYou achieve Access control through group association and roles.

You can control Access to user groups by assigning roles on Edit User Groups > Associations. You can set upAccess when a new assessment is started. The available roles are the same as those for individual users.Assigning a role to a group provides the privileges of that role to all users in the group.

System GroupsA system group is a collection of systems classified by a specific characteristic.

Creating groups allows more detailed analysis of subsets of systems and the development of multiple systemconsolidation scenarios. You can use groups to control which servers are considered for consolidation andwhether virtualization is allowed for particular servers. You should group systems before consolidationanalysis and optimization.

Systems can belong to multiple functional groups but can be members of only one department, environment,and location group. Grouping provides a method to review aggregate performance and inventory informationbased on the group.

You can use groups to manage automated consolidation tables. To be considered for consolidation, systemsmust be members of the same groups.


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Set Up a Group in Capacity Planner 3.0You can organize groups by domain, department, environment, function, network, and location.

If you do not choose a virtualization option, the server groups cannot contain a mix of operating system, suchas Windows and UNIX.

You can use the percent sign (%) as a wildcard.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have Power User privileges or greater.

Procedure

1 Select a project or company.

2 Select Company > System Groups > New.

3 Type the name and a brief description of the group.

4 Set the group type from the Type drop-down menu and click Next.

5 Select the systems to add in your group and click Next.

6 (Optional) Click Select System Type and select to add All Systems, Desktop systems, or Server systems.

Depending on your selection, the available systems appear.

7 (Optional) Select Include systems according to the following conditions to set a Condition, Operator,and Value to filter the systems.

n To add another condition, click the + button.

n To remove a condition, click the - button.

8 Click Next.

9 Review the systems of your group and click Finish.

All of the systems with the specified characteristics are added to the group.

Set Up a Group in Capacity Planner 2.8You can organize groups by domain, department, environment, function, network, and location.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have Power User privileges or greater

Procedure


2 Select Company > System Groups.

3 Enter the group and system name, application, and service.

4 Click Add New Group.

All of the systems with the specified characteristics are added to the group.


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Auto-GroupingAuto-grouping organizes groups by function, department, environment, and location.

These groups can provide the basis for consolidation. How a system functions can affect performance andcapacity needs. You can establish environment groups by predictability, flexibility, or availability.

You can click Auto Group to organize groups automatically.

Group MatrixThe group matrix displays all system group combinations and a summary of the number of systems and theircapacity requirements.

Clicking Group Matrix brings up the group matrix, which shows in table form the groups, the number ofsystems in each group with CPU, speed, memory, and power and cooling.

Import System GroupsYou can import a list of user-defined system groups. Column order is flexible.

Prerequisites

System groups must be defined in a CSV file with no empty headers.

Do not use negative values or special characters.

Do not use commas within quotation marks.

Procedure


2 Click Import.

3 Locate the file and click Submit.

4 Select the field name for each optional field and click Preview Results.

The imported groups appear in the System Groups table.

Edit a Group in Capacity Planner 3.0You can edit an existing group to incorporate changes in your domain, department, environment, function,network, and location.

Prerequisites


Procedure



3 Click the group to edit.

4 In the Group Info tab, you can update the name, description, and group type.

5 In the Select Systems tab, you can change the system type and group conditions.

6 To add or remove the networks in the Location group type the Select Networks tab.

The network tab is only applicable to the Location


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7 Click Apply to save your changes.

8 Click OK.

Your changes are made to the group.

Edit a Group in Capacity Planner 2.8You can edit an existing group to incorporate changes in your domain, department, environment, function,network, and location.

Prerequisites


Procedure



3 Select the group to edit and click the icon in the Action column..

4 Make the necessary changes and click Apply to save your changes.

Your changes are made to the group.


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Data Collection Security 3Capacity Planner collects only general inventory information and performance statistics.

The Data Collector does not scan file systems or obtain personal settings. The Data Collector sends thisnonsensitive data from your company location to the Information Warehouse for processing through securesocket layer (SSL) encryption over HTTPS.

Each company's data is stored in the Information Warehouse under a unique identifier known as a CorporateCode. To access the data, the Information Warehouse Administrator must create a unique account andpassword. The Administrator must explicitly grant access to the information. Company data that is stored inthe Information Warehouse and used in industry averages is anonymous. All unique information, such assystem names, is removed. Information sources cannot be identified.

See the VMware Capacity Planner Security white paper.


n “Set Name and Password Policies,” on page 15

n “Set Host and Domain Name Masking Policies,” on page 16

n “Disable Host Name Masking Policies and Restore Actual Host Names,” on page 16

n “Synchronize Pseudonym Keys with Masked Host and Domain Names,” on page 17

n “Allow Self-Provisioning,” on page 17

n “Session Cookies,” on page 17

n “Data Retention,” on page 18

Set Name and Password PoliciesAs Administrator, you can set name and password policies across a company.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have administrator privileges.

Procedure

1 Select Administration > Security Policy.

2 Click the Name and Password tab.

3 Select the rules to enforce for this company.

4 Click Apply or OK.

The rules are applied across the company.

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Set Host and Domain Name Masking PoliciesThe Dashboard generates pseudonyms for each system that is uploaded. Actual host and domain names donot appear in the Dashboard.

Host and domain name masking allows you to export a report that contains the generated pseudonym keys.You can always mask the host or domain name, or you can add a pseudonym only when the name is missing.You can choose your own naming convention, but the fields must contain one or more alphanumeric characters.If you choose to always use pseudonyms, the host names are removed from the database.

Prerequisites


Procedure


2 Click the Host and Domain Masking tab.

3 Select a pseudonym use policy and prefixes.

4 Click Applyor OK.

The pseudonym masks the host and domain names.

Disable Host Name Masking Policies and Restore Actual Host NamesActual host and domain names for systems do not appear in the Dashboard. You can disable host name maskingpolicies in the Collector to restore the host names.

Disable the host name masking policies in the following instances:

n Inventory data is not displayed on the Dashboard or information is missing.

n An inventory job runs successfully but it does not export the data correctly.

n All of the inventory files on the Dashboard are small.

Prerequisites


Procedure

1 Set Collector to export a new inventory file.

2 Select Reports > Collector > Inventory Status to check whether the data for export is available.

3 Select Admin > Options and click the Modules tab to force the inventory to be exported.

4 Click the Inventory module.

5 Click the Export tab.

6 Select Force full export of all systems and click Apply.

7 Select Tasks > Run Manual Tasks > Run Data Synchronize Task.

The full Inventory and any changes to groupings to the Dashboard is exported as a large CSV file. Theprocessing from the Dashboard might take 6 to 12 hours to complete.


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What to do next

Log in to the Dashboard and verify that the correct inventory data appears. Set Force full export of allsystems to Automatic to disable the option.

CAUTION If you do not disable the Force full export of all systems option, large CSV files are sent to theDashboard on a regular basis. This excessive traffic causes your account data processing permissions to beremoved permanently until you contact VMware.

Synchronize Pseudonym Keys with Masked Host and Domain NamesIn some instances, the pseudonym keys and masked host and domain names might be out of sync.

Prerequisites


Procedure

1 From the Dashboard, select Administration > Security Policy.

2 Select the Host and Domain Masking tab and click Export Pseudonym Keys.

3 Save the pseudonym keys file in the Collector.

4 From the Data Manager in the Collector, select File > Import > Pseudonym Keys.

5 Select the pseudonym keys file and click OK to import the file.

The pseudonym keys and masked host and domain names synchronize.

Allow Self-ProvisioningAs Administrator, you can set self-provisioning as a company policy.

User self-provisioning enables users to sign up themselves. If you do not want users to sign up themselves,you must approve or reject users and provide a reason. The user appears in the table with a status of pendingand requested until you approve or reject the request.

Prerequisites


Procedure


2 Click the Self-Provisioning tab.

3 Select the account creation permissions and click Apply or OK.

Users can now sign up themselves.

Session CookiesWhen you interact with the Dashboard Web site, Capacity Planner uses session cookies containing encryptedinformation to allow the system to uniquely identify you while you are logged on.

Web applications use session and persistent cookies. Session cookies exist only during an online session anddisappear from your computer when you close your browser software or turn off your computer. Persistentcookies remain on your computer after you close your browser or turn off your computer. Cookies can storeany information, such as a unique identifier for your browser or session or desired user settings.

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Session cookies help Capacity Planner verify your identity and process your online transactions and requests.Capacity Planner also saves temporary settings as you navigate through the site so that you do not have toreset settings for every page you visit.

Capacity Planner uses session cookie exclusively. Capacity Planner does not use cookies to track your onlineactivity or transfer personal information to third parties. By themselves, cookies cannot identify you personally.They store only information that is provided to the cookie programmatically or by forms that you complete.Session cookies do not store account numbers or passwords. If you disable your Web browser's ability to acceptcookies, you can browse the Dashboard Web site but cannot log on.

Data RetentionCompany data that the Collector gathers is retained and available for one year. After a year the data is archived.

Data is kept at the current weekly level of detail for a year from the date it is created. After one year, performancedata is archived and is no longer available online. Performance data is archived for five years in the form ofraw files sent by the Collector. The inventory, scenarios, reports, and other nonperformance data is kept onlinefor three years.


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Collecting Data 4The first step in an assessment is collecting data.

You can download the Data Manager from the Dashboard Portal, set it up, collect data, synchronize with theDashboard, and upload your data.

NOTE Duplicate entries might be present on the Administration > Configure Collectors > Manage Systems> Collection Details > Task Status page if two collectors used to own the same system and sent inventory andperformance data to the Dashboard. The duplicate entries are not deleted when remote configuration is runagain.


n “Setting Up the Collector,” on page 19

n “Discovering Systems,” on page 24

n “Import a List of Systems,” on page 28

n “Prevent Data Export to the Information Warehouse,” on page 29

n “Data Synchronization,” on page 29

n “Managing Collectors,” on page 31

n “Dashboard Collector Settings,” on page 33

n “Company Setup Dashboard,” on page 33

Setting Up the CollectorBefore you can collect information about your systems, you must set up the Collector.

After installation the Setup wizard starts and guides you through setting up the Collector. Before you candiscover systems or collect data, you must set up a Global Collection Account and register the Collector.

Setup Wizard Key OptionsUse the Setup Wizard to configure key options.

Set Collection Settings You can configure the discovery module to discover servers, discoverworkstations, or both.

Set Collection Detail

LevelYou can choose to run a Quick Collection, which is a minimal assessment, or aComplete Collection, which is a full assessment. If you have run a previousassessment, you preserve existing configuration settings.

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Synchronization Options Manage synchronization between the Data Manager and the Dashboard.

Logging Details Specify the number of log files to keep, maximum log file size, and level oflogging detail.

Add Accounts Set up the Global Connection Account and other accounts as needed to accessthe target machines within the scope of the assessment.

Ready to Find Systems Choose whether to find systems by import or discover.

Run the Setup WizardThe Setup Wizard is the first step toward collecting data and synchronizing it with the Dashboard.

Prerequisites

Install and start the Data Manager.

Procedure

1 Select Home > Setup Wizard.

The wizard starts automatically after an initial installation.

The Setup Wizard appears.

2 Select the type of systems you want to collect data from and click Next.

3 Select the level of detail you want to collect and click Next.

n Quick Collectioncollects less information and requires fewer collectors.

n Complete Collectioncollects more information, which allows more detailed reporting and services.

n Preserve existing collection settings only if you run the Setup Wizard subsequent to a previous installand want to keep custom settings.

4 Select synchronization options and click Next.

n Allows you to change some collector configuration settings to update a subset of configurationsettings remotely from the Dashboard.

n Allows you to enable automatic software updates to the collector software when a patch or hot fixbecomes available.

n Enforces the strongest data privacy by preventing the upload of domain and host names whenassessments are synchronized.

5 Select logging settings and click Next.

n Log File Sizedetermines the maximum size of a log file.

n # of Backup Logsdetermines the number of log files to retain.

n Log Leveldetermines the amount of detail to be tracked in the log.

6 Add user accounts needed to connect the collector host to the targeted systems.

7 Click Add.

Additional accounts are set up to access sequestered machines, such as those behind a firewall. Whencreating an account to access UNIX networks, ignore the Domainfield.

8 Choose whether to import systems from a file or use discover systems.

9 Click Finish.


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What to do next

“Registering a Local Collector Database ID,” on page 21

Collector RegistrationEach collector at a company site creates its own local database to store collected data. The ID for this databasemust be registered in the Dashboard.

When the collector is installed and starts for the first time, it creates a collector database and database ID, whichmust be associated with your company. The collected data, account, and user-defined information are storedin the database. Your company must be registered in the Information Warehouse. At least one user must begiven administrator privileges to access this data.

Registering a Local Collector Database IDYou must register the collector before you can synchronize your data for analysis in the InformationWarehouse.

When you download and start the Data Manager for the first time, the database ID used to register the collectoris created.

Prerequisites

You must have administrator privileges or greater in the Dashboard to register a collector.

Procedure

1 Select Register Collector.

The Register Collector dialog box appears.

2 Record the content of the Database ID field.

3 In an Internet browser, go to the Dashboard at:

http://optimize.vmware.com

4 Enter a user name and password.

5 Select the customer's company name in the My Assessments table.

6 Select Assessment > Register Database IDs.

7 Click Add.

8 Enter the database ID for the collector database and click OK.

Your collector is registered.

What to do next

“Global Connection Account,” on page 21

Global Connection AccountThe collector uses the Global Connection Account to access discovered systems for inventory and performancedata collection.

The Global Connection Account is the default user account for the Data Manager. The collector uses this accountto authenticate against the systems and domains that are accessed for data collection. You usually specify theGlobal Connection Account when the collector is installed and is stored in the collector database. You candefine additional Global Connection accounts at any time. Because one account typically does not haveadministrative rights to every domain, server, or machine in the network,identify other accounts for specificservers or domains to enable connection to target systems for collection of inventory and performance data.

Chapter 4 Collecting Data

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Define a Global Connection AccountThe Global Connection account is the account you use to access the target systems from which you want tocollect inventory and performance data.

Procedure

1 Select Admin > Options.

The Options window appears with the General tab displayed.

2 Click Add.

3 Enter the information for the user account to be used to connect to the target system and click OK.

The Global Connection Account is ready to use.

Modify a Global Connection AccountYou can edit your Global Connection account.

Procedure

1 Choose Admin > Options.

2 Choose the account and click Edit.

3 Make changes and click OK.

4 Click OK.

Delete a Global Connection AccountYou can delete a Global Connection account if you have created another one to take its place.

Prerequisites

You must have another account that you can activate as a Global Connection account.

You must always have one active Global Connection account.

Procedure

1 Choose Admin > Options.

2 Choose the account and click Delete.

3 Click Yes.

4 Activate one of the remaining accounts as the Global Connection account for the collector.

Host and Domain MaskingThe Dashboard generates a pseudonym for each company name.

If the customer has security concerns about information that leaves the company site, select Don't send hostand domain names.

An encrypted key for each host name is uploaded. Data for the host or domain is masked in the Dashboardunder its pseudonym. Capacity Planner provides a pseudonym key that allows you to generate a report fromthe Dashboard. The report maps the host and domain names to their pseudonyms.


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Log FilesThe log files contain information about the activity of the collector. The log files provide diagnostic informationfor tracking activity and analyzing problems.

You can set the file size, the number of backup logs, and the log level.

The Log File Size option specifies the maximum size of each log file in MBs. The name of the current log file isVMwareCP.log.

When the current log file is full, it is saved as a backup, and a new log file is created. You can specify the numberof backup logs after taking into consideration the size of the files and the amount of available disk space onthe system. The backup log files are listed sequentially so that you can identify the oldest log. Log files aresaved in C:\\Program Files\VMware\VMware Capacity Planner.

Depending on the logging level you set, the information is more or less detailed. An increased logging levelproduces a greater amount of information about the collector's activity that you can use for tracking activityand analyzing problems.

Set the Logging Level for a Collector Log FileThe logging level determines the amount of data collected in the log file about the collector.

Procedure

1 Choose General > Log Level.

2 Move the slider to the right to increase the logging level.

Linux and UNIX CollectionCapacity Planner can detect and collect data from Linux and UNIX target systems.

Run standard system utilities through an SSH connection to perform data collection. Every Linux and UNIXtarget system must have the SSH server daemon running and configured properly for a successful connection.Root or sudo permissions are required for each system. Not having root or sudo permissions can result inincomplete data collection while executing the scripts.

To enable remote connection to Linux and UNIX systems, Capacity Planner includes a third-party sharewarepackage named PuTTY, which is a Win32 Telnet and SSH client that allows you to connect remotely to a Linuxor UNIX system. The package is installed in the third party subfolder of the Capacity Planner installation folderon the collector system. PuTTY allows you to use either private or generated keys. Because SSH does not allowautomatic approval of generated keys, you must manually approve the connection to a Linux or UNIX systemone time before data collection can take place.

PuTTY saves the necessary keys in the registry inHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\SimonTatham\PuTTY\SshHostKeys. The keys are unique to the user running thePuTTY application, who is the same user running the Data Manager.

To use a non-root account with sudo, you need to add the NOPASSWD tag to the user account in the sudo configfile, /etc/sudoers. This allows you to execute a command without providing a password.

For example cpcollector ALL=(ALL) ALL, NOPASSWD: ALL


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Collection from Microsoft Clustered ServersDuring collection, Capacity Planner detects whether a server is a member of a Microsoft Cluster Server andmakes the appropriate adjustments.

If the server being collected from belongs to the cluster, you do not do anything. Capacity Planner collectsperformance and inventory data from active/passive and active/active clusters. In an active/passive cluster,Capacity Planner ignores the logical IP addresses assigned to the cluster and collects data based on the server'sphysical IP address. Capacity Planner does not collect data from the passive nodes. If servers in the assessmentparticipate in an active/active cluster, Capacity Planner collects inventory and performance data from thoseservers as if they were standalone machines.

Discovering SystemsAfter you install and set up the collector, the systems from which you will collect data must go through adiscovery process.

Identify all target systems to include in the assessment using one of the following methods.

n Use the Discovery task to discover all target systems.

n Manually add each system interactively through the Data Manager.

n Import target system definitions from a CSV file.

The discovery process uses standard naming services to find systems. The IP Scan option allows you to definesubnet ranges and ports for scanning. The discovery process finds groups and domains first and then computerwithin the groups and domains.

Discovery with Name ServicesOne method of discovery depends on name services.

Names services used for discovery include Windows Internet Naming Service (WINS), LAN Manager, ActiveDirectory, and Domain Name Service (DNS).

WINS

WINS generates a list of systems that is similar to that generated by browser naming services. The differenceis in how it is set up and accessed. WINS uses a dedicated server with a database of systems that is queriedwhen the call is made. WINS can be set up by DHCP or manually set up in the network card configuration.

Active Directory

Microsoft Active Directory requires the collector to be a domain member before Active Directory ServiceInterface (ADSI) queries can be used.

DNS

DNS is the primary naming service for the Internet. DNS translates Internet addresses to IP addresses. Youcan use DNS as a primary naming service to resolve system and domain names to IP addresses. DNS is set upsimilarly to WINS and has the same problems. The DNS server can restrict listing systems in the domain toreduce network use and DNS queries. If a company does not allow listing systems in a domain, an alternativemethod is needed for the discovery task.

Discovery with Name Services AlternativesYou have several alternatives when naming services fail or when systems are not part of any naming services.

You can use the following optionswhen you cannot use name services.

n IP scanning.


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n Manually adding a system using the navigation tree.

n Importing a list of systems from a CSV file.

Linux and UNIX Considerations

When a Linux or UNIX system is discovered, a script runs the uname utility to get the host name and systeminformation.

Run the Discovery TaskYou can run the discovery task either manually or by scheduling it.

Prerequisites

The collector must be able to connect to every target system with privileges to collect the performance datafrom that system.

File and print sharing must be enabled.

Core services must be turned on:

n WMI

n Remote registry

n Net Logon

n Server

n Print Spooler

Procedure


2 Select one of the following:

n To run discovery manually, click Modules and double-click the Discover module to start the taskimmediately.

n To schedule a task, click the Jobs tab.

The Scheduled-Discover tab appears.

3 Select a Discover job and click Modify.

4 Select the Tasks tab.

5 Select the Discover task and click Settings.

Add a System ManuallyYou can add systems individually or to a group in the Data Manager.

Procedure

1 Expand All Objects.

2 Right-click Systems and select Add System.

The Add System dialog box appears.

3 Enter the system name.

4 Select the system type.

5 Select a group to associate the system with.


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6 Click Add.

The systems is added and associated with the selected group.

Deactivate Systems or ObjectsYou can prevent systems or objects from being included in collection by marking them as inactive.

Prerequisites

The system or object must have been previously discovered and active in the system.

Procedure

1 Select the system or object.

2 Deselect Active.

Exclude Systems from CollectionYou can exclude systems from data collection.

Procedure

1 From the navigation tree in the Data Manager, select Systems.

The systems appear in the Details window.

2 Right-click the system.

3 Click Exclude and select one of the options.

n Exclude All Tasks. Excludes the system from both inventory and performance collection.

n Exclude from Inventory. Excludes the system from inventory collection only.

n Exclude from Performance. Excludes the system from performance collection only.

Test System ConnectionsThe collector must connect to each system to discover it and collect inventory and performance data.

Linux and UNIX systems are validated automatically.

Prerequisites

Collect inventory before you test connections and run reports.

Procedure

1 Select Reports > Collector.

2 Select a report.

3 Review the system connection status in the collector report.

4 Test the individual system connection.

5 For Windows system, right-click the system and select Utilities > Text Connection.

The test results appear.


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Collection ReportsYou can run several reports from the Data Manager.

Reports

Table 4-1. Data Manager Reports

Report Title Description

Test Collection Results Reports the account name and connection status for all known systems. If you areusing the data privacy feature, the host alias name appears in the Alias column.

Alias Traceroute Results Provides information that lets you map alias names back to individual system names.

Module Status Provides the history and status of the collector modules for each system.

Inventory Status Contains the history and status of inventory collection on each system.

System Status Lists the systems that can be consolidated, the operating system, which machines arevirtual and which are physical, and the account name.

System Data List key inventory and performance data for each system. An X indicates that the datawas not successfully collected.

Missing Data An X indicates that data was not collected.

Unknown ObjectsIf Discovery cannot determine an object's type, it labels the object unknown.

Problems might occur if an unrecognized type is discovered or if the type is one of the recognized systems,but the Discovery process was unable to connect because of an incorrect user account. In both cases, the objectis created in All Objects > Unknown.

Change an Unknown Object into a System Object

When Discovery labels an object as unknown, you can change the label to a system object.

An unknown object label results when the collector does not recognize the object type.

Prerequisites

Discovery must first label an object as unknown.

Procedure

1 From the navigation pane in the Data Manager, select All Objects > Unknown.

2 Select an object labeled Unknown.

3 Select Create System.

The object type changes from Unknown to System.

Linux and UNIX Collector ConfigurationCapacity Planner detects and collects data from Linux and UNIX target systems.

Capacity Planner runs standard system utilities through an SSH connection to collect data. Each Linux andUNIX system have just the SSH server daemon running and configured properly for a successful connection.

Capacity Planner uses PuTTY, which helps you create and validate the keys required to access Linux or UNIXsystems. The collector is set up with a service account that matches the user to the Data Manager on which thekeys were generated and validated so that the collector can access the SSH keys.


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Validate Linux and UNIX Systems ConnectionConnection validation should occur after a Linux or UNIX system is discovered. You can also validate theconnection by generating and validating an SSH key.

Prerequisites

Linux and UNIX systems must be discovered.

Procedure

1 From the navigation pane in the Data Manager, select a Linux or UNIX system.

The system appears in the Details window.

2 Right-click the host name.

3 From the menu, select Utilities > UNIX Terminal.

An SSH session starts to each of the selected target systems.

4 If a security alert appears asking you to verify the SSH key, click Yes.

5 Log in.

After the trust relationship is established for each Linux and UNIX target system, connections to the targetsystems are successful for collection.

If you cannot use SSH to collect data from the target machines, set up a crontab entry to run aog_perf.sh everyhour.

Configure Script Usage for Linux and UNIX CollectionFor Linux and UNIX collection, you can run scripts remotely or locally.

After the sh script runs, the collected data is stored in a file local to the collector. Output is stored in C:\\ProgramFiles\VMware Capacity Planner\Temp.

Procedure


2 Click the Collection tab.

3 Select one of the following:

n Run scripts remotely to make sure the most current scripts are running. This option does not installanything on the target machines.

n Install to run scripts locally on each target machine. If you install and run scripts locally, there is lessoverhead on the collector host because the work is distributed on each polled target machine.

Scripts are stored in C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware Capacity Planner\scripts.

Import a List of SystemsIf you have a list of systems you want to collect data from, you can import a CSV list.

Prerequisites

The list must be in CSV format.

Procedure

1 Click Open import systems template.


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2 Select the Open Import Systems dialog when finished.

3 Click Finish.

The Import dialog appears.

4 Click Browse.

5 Select the file and click Finish..

Prevent Data Export to the Information WarehouseInventory and performance data or a subset of this data collected and displayed in Data Manager reports canbe excluded from export to the Information Warehouse. This data is not available in the Dashboard.

This task is performed from the Data manager.

Procedure


2 Select Jobs.

3 Select the Data Synchronization job and click Modify.

4 Select Tasks.

5 Select the Data Synchronization task and click Settings.

6 Click Export and select the type of data to be excluded from export.

7 Click OK.

Uploads to the Information Warehouse during data synchronization exclude the selected data.

Data SynchronizationData synchronization is a process that sends data from the Collector to the Information Warehouse for analysis.After the data has been processed, you can view and manipulate data in the Dashboard.

Although data synchronization is set to run automatically, you can also run it manually.

The data synchronization process includes:

n Export inventory files to the outbox directory.

n Create log files.

n Send files in the outbox directory to the Information Warehouse.

n Download remote configuration information from the Information Warehouse.

n Download product updates.

n Import inventory and performance files from the import directory.

Information WarehouseThe Information Warehouse is a database that contains the data gathered during assessments.

Although data from every company assessed is contained in the Information Warehouse, a company can onlyview its own data in the Dashboard. A company can also view statistics from other unidentified companiesfor comparison.

Capacity Planner uses the data collected across companies to provide comparisons and identify performanceanomalies and targets. This data is also used to create up-to-date industry averages.


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Set or Modify Data SynchronizationData synchronization is set to run automatically, but you can run it manually and modify tasks.

Procedure


2 From the Options dialog box, click the Jobs tab.

3 Expand Scheduled - Data Synchronize.

n Select the task name and click Run Now to run synchronization manually.

n Click Modify to change the synchronization schedule, make the job inactive, add a job, or viewstatistics.

n Click Add to add a job.

n Select a job and click Delete to delete it.

The data synchronization task runs with the new options.

Set Data Synchronization OptionsData synchronization options allow you to select which synchronization option to execute.

Procedure


2 Select Modules.

3 Select Data Synchronization and click Settings.

4 Select the synchronization operations you want performed.

Option Description

Data Send Uploads everything in the outbox directory to the Information Warehouse.

Import collection data for systems Imports inventory and performance files from the import directory.

Export collection data for systems Writes inventory data to the outbox directory.

Get collector settings changes fromDashboard

Retrieves the collector settings from the Dashboard.

Download and install productupdates

Downloads and installs product updates.

5 Click the Import tab, select which modules to exclude from import, and click OK.

6 Click the Export tab, select which modules to exclude from export, and click OK.

7 Click OK.

The selected options execute.

Suspend SchedulerYou can suspend scheduled jobs until you are ready to run them. When you first install the Data Manager, theScheduler is suspended so that predefined scheduled jobs do not run until you set up the system.

The jobs scheduler handles the jobs you schedule in addition to the preset jobs, such as data synchronization,inventory data collection, and performance data collection.


30 VMware, Inc.

Procedure


2 Select Jobs.

3 Select Suspend Scheduler.

Managing CollectorsCollectors are managed through the Data Manager and the Dashboard.

The Data Manager manages all collector tasks. A limited subset of collector tasks can be performed from theDashboard.

Procedure

1 Register a Collector on page 31For each collector configured at the company site, use the Data Manager to register with the Dashboard. .

2 Activate or Deactivate a Collector on page 31You can activate or deactivate any collectors that you administer.

3 Create Company-Wide Settings on page 32Use a template to create company-wide settings.

4 Balance Collector Systems Loads on page 32Load balancing helps you move tasks from one collector to another to optimize the process. You can usecollectors to load balance target servers in a company.

5 Change Collector Default Behavior on page 32You can change the Collector default behavior by defining specific IP ranges or domains for the Linux,UNIX, and Windows systems on your network.

Register a CollectorFor each collector configured at the company site, use the Data Manager to register with the Dashboard. .

The Database ID Registration table summarizes the status of the files collected by each registered collector andprovides access to detailed information about each file.

Prerequisites

You must have Power User or greater privileges.

Procedure

1 Get the collector database ID from the Data Manager.

2 From the Dashboard, choose the company from the Companies tab.

3 Select Assessment > Register Database IDs and click Add.

4 Enter the database ID for the collector you want to register and click OK.

Activate or Deactivate a CollectorYou can activate or deactivate any collectors that you administer.

Procedure

1 Choose Assessment > Collector Tools > Configure Collectors.

2 Choose a collector.


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3 Click Activate or Deactivate.

Create Company-Wide SettingsUse a template to create company-wide settings.

You can configure multiple collectors with the same company-wide settings by choosing a collector to use asa company-wide template.

Prerequisites

You must have one or more collectors configured.

Procedure

1 Choose the collector to use as a template for other collectors in the company.

2 Choose Settings > Set as Company-Wide Settings and click OK.

You can use the selected collector as a template for other collector.

Balance Collector Systems LoadsLoad balancing helps you move tasks from one collector to another to optimize the process. You can usecollectors to load balance target servers in a company.

The recommended load for a single collector is 500 target servers. Assessments larger than 500 servers requiremultiple collectors.

Prerequisites

For load balancing, set collectors to Company-wide.

Procedure

1 Choose Assessment > Collector Tools > Load Balance Collectors - Systems.

2 Choose the company from the drop-down menu.

3 (Optional) Apply additional filters and click Apply Filter.

4 Choose tasks for reassignment and click Move to Collector.

5 Choose a destination collector, shown in bold, and click OK.

Change Collector Default BehaviorYou can change the Collector default behavior by defining specific IP ranges or domains for the Linux, UNIX,and Windows systems on your network.

Procedure

1 From the Data Manager menu bar, select Admin > Options.

2 Click the Modules tab.

3 Double-click the Discover module.

4 Click the Group/Domain Discovery tab and select DNS or click the Node Discovery tab and select IPAddresses.

5 Click the System Discovery tab.

6 Select Use SSH connection to determine system type.


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7 If you are defining domains, click the DNS Domains tab and add the domains you want the collector hostto work on.

8 If you are defining IP ranges, click the IP Subnets tab and add the subnets that you want the collector hostto scan.

Dashboard Collector SettingsCollectors can be load balanced from the Dashboard.

After the first data synchronization, collector settings are sent to the Dashboard. For subsequent datasynchronization, configure the collector from the Dashboard and send the settings to the collector. If you areusing more than one collector, send the settings to multiple collectors to make sure that the settings are thesame across collectors.

Company Setup DashboardThe Company Setup Dashboard steps you through setting up your partner company's best practices forrunning assessments and administering users.

From this page you can launch the online help, manage users, roles, and groups; set up project global settings;and set up templates and software profiles.


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34 VMware, Inc.

Analyzing Data 5There are two initial aspects to analyzing data: inventory and performance.

Before you optimize your systems, you must find out if any of your systems have performance issues. TheDashboard compares how your servers are performing with vendor benchmarks and industry averages,highlighting systems and applications that are running outside of the normal expected limits, using excessiveresources, or running inefficiently.


n “Inventory Analysis,” on page 35

n “Performance Data Collection,” on page 37

Inventory AnalysisThe inventory task collects user, login, user groups, network, hardware, and software information, such asoperating system and memory. You can view this inventory across several metrics.

After you start the collectors, inventory and performance statistics files are uploaded, staged, processed, anddisplayed in the Dashboard.

The data in the Enterprise Summary table is grouped by domain. The summary line for each domain containsthe total number of actively monitored systems in the domain and counts for the number of CPUs, RAM cards,and other hardware inventory items. If a system belongs to more than one domain, it is counted in each domaintotal in the Nodes column. The totals include only unique servers.

Software inventory is displayed by applications, operating systems, services, and file systems. Hardwareinventory is displayed by chassis, processors, memory, drives, drive controllers, NICs, video cards, plug andplay devices, and printers. Each of these pages displays charts or graphs and a table containing a breakdownof the data collected, depending on the type and detail of the information.

Software profiles are based on the inventory collected and its usage. See “Create a Software Profile,” onpage 51.

Inventory ViewsHardware, software, user, login, user groups, and network, inventory data appears in graphical and tableformats.

You can view collected system inventory in greater detail by clicking the domain name in the InventorySummary page. Power and cooling information is available from this view by characteristic, such as CPUs,RAM, and disk size.

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User and login inventory derives the user information, user logging details, status, and number of user accountsfrom the Collector. You can view a comprehensive list of network information and users on a specific networkfrom the network inventory page. User groups inventory page lists the user group names and descriptions ina company.

More information is available by clicking a system name. System detail includes information such as assetinformation, load profile, and trending. Recommendations are provided for consolidation. Use the Go toSystem filter to go directly to the System Details page.

Load ProfileThe Load Profile tab on the system details page displays detailed load profile information for the system.

The Load Profile table for the most recent four weeks' statistics contains the performance counters for whichmetrics were collected for this system. These statistics are compared to the vendor benchmarks and industryaverages. The alerts and anomalies are highlighted.

Trending GraphsThe trending graph presents performance trends based on collected data.

The Trending tab on the Server Details page displays the performance trends graph. The graph shows eightperformance measurements as trends over an 11-week period. The metrics are scaled so that you can see theirvariations on the same graph. The performance trends graph is not a comparative graph, but rather a way toview the trend for each performance metric over the same time span.

As you point to the data lines in the graph, pop-up windows containing detailed information for each datapoint appear. Each pop-up window provides the metric, week, and exact value for that data point.

Co-Occurrence MatrixThe co-occurrence matrix lists all applications or profiles that coexist on the same machines as the selectedapplication.

This matrix shows the number of times one application is present with another application. The co-occurrencecount for a software profile is the number of applications that match the profile criteria. To see the co-occurrencematrix for a user, click the co-occurrence hyperlink. You can continue to click the co-occurrence hyperlinks ineach matrix to see the co-occurrences. This process updates the matrix as you click.

Archive Files on LinuxText files are created in the temp directory when inventory and performance jobs run on Linux machines. Thetext files are deleted upon job completion.

Prerequisites

You must use Linux machines.

Procedure


2 Click the File Paths tab.

3 Under File Control, select Archive files after data processing and click OK.

The text files are archived.


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Performance Data CollectionThe Capacity Planner Dashboard presents performance statistics in a series of tables where you can monitorserver performance, compare performance statistics with industry averages, and view performance trends.When you configure the Data Collector, you determine the specific performance data that is collected and thefrequency of collection.

For Windows systems, data is collected using Perfmon. Perfmon calls are carried over the standard NetBIOS,requiring ports 135 through 139 or 445. Users can add more counters by using the Windows performancecollection.

For Linux or UNIX systems, data is collected using SSH only. An SSH session is established and scripts arerun through that session or installed to run later. If the scripts are installed, the data is returned using SCP.

For additional performance information, see the VMware Capacity Planner 2.8 Online Library.

Performance StatisticsCapacity Planner collects the core performance metrics needed for capacity planning and stores the data in theInformation Warehouse.

Capacity Planner determines what software is running on each machine and collects metrics that pertain tothat software. The minimum, maximum, and average values are recorded. Some of the metrics collected includestorage status, user information, network status, location information, and network latency status. To view thevarious metrics, select the Performance menu.

Under the Performance Summary option, the Enterprise Summary table displays the core performancecounters collected. The industry averages are on the first line for each counter. The Dashboard compares thecurrent company's actual server values against the industry averages and highlights anomalies.

The Storage Summary option displays the storage capacity pie charts of the core systems in the company. Thestorage summary table provides the system storage information collected.

The User Summary option displays pie charts of the user activity within the company. The user summarytable provides the user data collected.

The Network Summary option displays pie charts for network connections, users belonging to networks, andnetworks belonging to locations. The network summary table lists the details for each network collected.

The Location Summary option displays pie charts for networks belonging to locations, systems belonging tolocations, and users belonging to locations. The location summary table lists the details for each locationcollected.

Under the Network Latency option, the Network Latency table provides the core network latency informationcollected for each source and destination network.

Critical Processors TableThe Forecast Critical Processors table displays a list of the servers and a prediction of the number of weeksbefore the CPU use exceeds 50 percent given the current server performance.

This table is located at Performance > Forecast Critical Processors. This is the threshold for an alert about CPUusage. Servers are listed from fewest weeks to most weeks until critical CPU use.

Performance Groups TableYou can use performance groups to create views that are selectable in the Performance Counters filter.

This table is located at Performance > Performance Groups. You can create views that are selectable for theperformance pages and that control which counters appear in the Trends graph. You must have Power Userprivileges or greater to work with performance groups.

Chapter 5 Analyzing Data

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Add a New Performance GroupYou can create a new performance group from the Performance Groups table.

Procedure

1 Select Performance > Performance Groups and click New.

2 Type a name and description for the group.

3 Select whether the group is active, shared, or public and click OK.

The new performance group appears in the Performance Group table

Server Processor Balance TableThe Server Processor Balance table shows the CPU usage for each processor on the server

This table is located at Performance > Server Processor Balance. Red highlighted fields indicate CPUs thathave unbalanced use levels where the relative CPU use on the server varies significantly from the first CPU,based on a standard deviation calculation. This table shows up to eight CPUs regardless of the companymaximum. It does not indicate that the company has a maximum of eight CPUs. Hyperthreaded CPUs arecounted as a single CPU and appear on this page.

Server Processor Load TableThe Server Processor Load table shows the use summary for each server during business hours and the peakhour.

This table is located at Performance > Server Processor Load. This table lists the servers in the enterprise anda summary of the performance statistics for the most recent four weeks.

Trends TableThe Performance Trends graph shows performance core counters as trends over a 13-week period.

To locate this table, go to Performance > Trends. The metrics are scaled so that their variations can be seen onthe same graph. You can view the trend for each performance metric over the same time span and see whereanomalies exist for two or more metrics at the same time.

This data helps you determine the cause and effect of performance metrics. For example, if you see high CPUand high memory paging, the high CPU paging might be caused by a lack of memory and not applicationactivity. By pairing performance metric values, you can sometimes get clues as to why anomalies exist. Pop-up windows provide the metric, week, and exact value for each data point on the graph.

Anomalies TableThe anomalies table shows the company's servers with performance data that deviates from industry averages.

The Anomalies Summary table is produced from the industry averages for software performance stored in theInformation Warehouse. The industry averages are based on the most recent four weeks of data collected fromall companies.

To view the performance anomalies for servers in the company's enterprise, select Analyze > Anomalies. TheDashboard displays the anomalies for the most recent week. Click the host name to view system details,including hardware, software, services, asset info, load profile, trending, groups, and recommendations.

You can use the data filters to change the performance week that is displayed. You can filter for classes andmetrics. You can also select the performance week to display the weekly average statistics for a specific weekduring the last 12 weeks. The drop-down menu lists the date of the first day of each week that was collected.


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Alerts TableThe Alerts table shows hosts with performance data that deviates from vendor benchmarks.

Capacity Planner tracks and maintains current software vendor benchmarks for servers in the InformationWarehouse. To view the performance alerts details for hosts, select Analyze > Alerts. Use the filters to changethe performance week displayed.

Trend DeviationsThe Trend Deviations Summary table lists the company servers with inventory or performance metrics thatdeviate significantly from the trend that its history has established.

The Trend Deviations Summary table is located at Analyze > Trend Deviations. The data displayed is for themost recent performance week. Use the Performance Week filter to choose a different week from the drop-down menu. When multiple hosts have trend deviations, the hosts are listed from the metrics with the highestto lowest amount of deviation.

You can click the host name in the Trend Deviations table to view details about the trend deviations for aparticular server.

Forecast AlertsForecast Alerts indicates which servers might show an alert for the corresponding performance counter in thefuture.

Performance data for each server corresponds to various performance counters. A forecast alert can occur whenthe business hour load value for the corresponding performance counter exceeds the forecast value for theperformance of that server. Only alerts that might happen within a year are shown.

Compare Systems TableThe Compare Systems table compares a list of the servers running a particular software application during themost active hour with a list of the top 100 servers in the Information Warehouse running the same application.

You can view the Compare Systems table by selecting Analyze > Compare Systems. By default, the applicationsare sorted by the % CPU column. The exact columns displayed vary depending on the application. The columnsdisplayed are for the SQL Server application.

The Compare Servers table offers additional filters that you can use to control the data displayed. After youchange a filter setting, click Apply Filter to see the effects of the filter.

Chapter 5 Analyzing Data

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40 VMware, Inc.

Assessments 6An assessment is a view of your datacenter performance, capacity, and usage. An assessment of your currentcapacity and future needs allows you to plan for future expansion and consolidation.

Whether you have performed a quick collection of data or a complete collection, you can use the data to performa consolidation estimate (CE) , a consolidation analysis (CA), or a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (Desktop)assessment. The consolidation estimate is quicker but provides less information than the more completeconsolidation analysis. You can switch among the CE, CA, and Desktop projects.

Several options are associated with assessments, such as specifying assessment template access and visibilityand assigning lockdown settings.


n “Create an Assessment,” on page 41

n “Create a Project,” on page 42

n “Scenario Templates,” on page 43

n “Hardware Templates,” on page 43

n “Project Global Settings,” on page 43

Create an AssessmentFrom the Dashboard Home page, you can set up a company, download the Data Manager, and set up aConsolidation Estimate (CE), a Consolidation Analysis (CA), or a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (Desktop)project.

Procedure

1 From the Dashboard Home page, click the Companies tab and select New Company.

2 Enter company information and click Next..

3 To grant access and permission to a group or users in the company, click the Grant Access button.

Use filters to select users or groups from the Type drop-down menu and company from the Companydrop-down menu.

a Select users, groups, or All and click the arrow to move them from the available table to the selectedtable and click OK.

b Set a user's role from the Set Role To drop-down menu and click Next.

4 Select notifications to generate and receive during the assessment and click Next.

5 Select subscriptions to receive during the assessment and click Finish.

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Your new company appears in the Companies tab of the Dashboard Home page.

Create a ProjectYou can create a project to run an assessment for a company. While creating a projects you can select systemsyou want to include for the assessment.

You can run multiple projects for the same company.

Procedure

1 From the Dashboard Home page, click the Projects tab and select New Project.

2 Enter project name, type of project, and project information and click Next..

3 Assign a company for your project.

4 Select the systems you want to include in the project.

5 To grant access and permission to a group or users in the project, click the Grant Access button.

Use filters to select users or groups from the Type drop-down menu and company from the Companydrop-down menu.

a Select users, groups, or All and click the arrow to move them from the available table to the selectedtable and click OK.

b Set a user's role from the Set Role To drop-down menu and click Next.

6 Click Finish.

Your new project appears in the Projects tab of the Dashboard Home page.

Convert ProjectsYou can convert a consolidation analysis to a consolidation estimate or Desktop project and the reverse.

Prerequisites

Complete a CA, CE, or Desktop project.

Desktop and CA projects cannot be converted to CE if custom reports and optimization scenarios are created.

Procedure

1 Under the Projects tab, select a project.

n For a CE project, select Set Up > Edit Project Info.

n For a CA or Desktop project, select Administration > Projects and click the CA or Desktop projectlink to convert..

2 On the Project Info tab, select the project to convert to.

n To convert a CA project to Desktop select Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (Desktop).

n To convert a Desktop project to CA select Consolidation Analysis (CA).

n To convert a Desktop project to CE select Consolidation Estimate (CE).

n To convert a CE project to CA select Consolidation Estimate (CE).

3 Click OK.

The newly converted CA and Desktop projects appear under the Projects table. The newly converted CE projectappears on the Projects tab of the Dashboard Home page.


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Scenario TemplatesScenario templates associate all of the information that is needed to perform an analysis and create reports foran assessment.

A scenario template defines assessment information, analysis rules, and report selection and settings. Thetemplate lets you prevent any of this information from being changed. Scenario templates have owners.

When you create a scenario template, name it and provide a description for easier access and reuse.

Hardware TemplatesYou can use hardware templates to specify hardware makes and models to include in the assessment.

Hardware templates are available either from Company > Project Tools > System Templates or Project >Project Tools > System Templates. From the templates table you can delete a template, create a template, copya template to another location, or alter access and permissions.

Project Global SettingsYou can set the hardware that you can use globally, CE hardware templates, and report titles and report labels.

Create the project global settings from Project > Project Tools > Project Global Settings. You can restrict thescope of your project to specific hardware or allow all hardware templates.

You can create two scenarios per project. With these scenarios you can create different types of models, forexample, one moderate and one aggressive consolidation scenario. You can select a consolidation scenariotemplate and a default new hardware template for each scenario.

The Manage Scenario Templates link goes to the All Scenario Templates table. The Manage HardwareTemplates link goes to the All Systems Templates table. Authorized users can also create, copy, or deletetemplates.

You can customize your assessment reports and add labels for your scenarios from the Report Titles andLabels tab. You can select report content on the Report Content Selection tab.

NOTE In the Assessment Report, the information in the Overview subsection of Collection Results is misleadingwhen the date range is specified.

Set Assessment Report Titles and LabelsYou can set report titles and labels for all assessment reports.

You complete this task within the context of completing the project global settings.

Procedure

1 Select Project > Project Tools > Project Global Settings.

2 Enter the information you want to use across assessment reports, such as company name and biography.

3 Enter the two scenario labels.

4 Enter names for the progress report title, the executive summary title, and the assessment report title andclick OK.

Titles and labels are set for all assessment reports.

What to do next

“Company Setup Dashboard,” on page 33

Chapter 6 Assessments

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44 VMware, Inc.

Performing a VDI Assessment 7A VDI Assessment collects the software application data from desktops, which is then analyzed and distilledinto software profiles. These profiles can be packaged into base images, which are then sized and used as thebasis for virtual machine template.

This templates are used in scenarios to allow you to forecast the outcome of consolidation and optimization.


n “Software Analysis,” on page 45

n “Software Profiles,” on page 46

n “Create a Software Profile,” on page 46

n “Base Images and VM Templates,” on page 47

n “Create a Base Image,” on page 47

n “Use Base Images in Scenarios,” on page 48

Software AnalysisBy analyzing your software and creating software profiles and base images, you can standardize your softwareto save money in licensing costs and support time.

Vitualization depends heavily on software analysis to build virtual machine templates with the correctcombination of applications and compute resources to support your users. Applications and usage need to becollected filterd and sorted into images. Users are mapped to the images, and the images are sized and usedto create VM templates. These templates are placed on ESX hosts.

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Figure 7-1. Software Analysis

image 1

profile approve

ThinApp

image 2

VM template

FilterCollect Sort Size Place

VM template

VM templateOSvi

vi

virtualization

VM template

virtualization

OS

Capacity Planner discovers, catalogs, and creates software profiles for applications running on systems. Eachsoftware profile has a signature to find installed application or operating systems.

Software ProfilesA software profile creates a layer of abstraction that allows several applications to be treated as a singleapplication, making software management easier.

Applications are marked as virtualization or ThinApp friendly. Profiles allow for standardization ofapplications or operating systems during analysis. Profiles can be linked to indicate that standardization shouldoccur if a particular application is found. You can standardize on preferred software or an operating systemthat runs in a virtual environment.

The approved software list is a list of applications that match a profile and have been approved forvirtualization. Some applications might not be compatible.

Create a Software ProfileThe Software Profile wizard guides you through the process of creating a software profile. You can edit asoftware profile later. You can create profiles for applications or operating systems.

Software signatures allow you to match collected software information to the software profile.

Procedure

1 Select Inventory > Software Inventory > Operating Systems or Installed Applications.

2 Select an item from the table and click Create Profile.

3 Enter a profile name, description, software type, software version, and click Next.

The selection of software type determines the properties available for this profile. Device drivers,application patches, and OS patches do not have assigned properties. The Time to Thinstall propertyrequires Default Install Type set to Thinstall before the field is enabled.

4 Enter the properties for this profile and Next.

Default software standardization categorizes the software profile.


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5 Complete the filter entries and click Refresh to populate the Software Signatures table.

6 (Optional) Use the plus and minus symbols to add or subtract additional filter conditions.

If the filters are properly defined, matches are returned. If you limit exact matches, a wider range ofsoftware is included in the base image.

7 Click Next.

8 For application profiles, create and define filters for tracking processes you want to associate with theprofile and click Next.

Matching processes are listed in the table.

9 Review the software profile, select Save profile and create new template.

10 Click Finish.

The software profile appears in the Software Analysis table.

Base Images and VM TemplatesBase images are a set of applications and the operating systems used to create VM templates.

Once the applications and operating system have been determined, the base image must be sized based onusage. The basic idea is to create the smallest possible set of VM templates to avoid waste. Sizing is based ona set of parameters that outline processor and memory demand.

Figure 7-2. VM Template Creation

image 1

low medium high

ThinApp

image 2

VM template

CPU loads

user memory load

CPU CPU CPU

CPU loads

user memory load

CPU CPU CPU

virtualization

OSVM template

OSVM template

OSvirtualization virtualization

VM template

virtualization

OSVM template

OSVM template

OSvirtualization virtualization

2 GHz1 GB RAM

1 GHz2 GB RAM

2 GHz4 GB RAM

2 GHz2 GB RAM

2 GHz3 GB RAM

3 GHz4 GB RAM

CPU and MemoryUsers VM Templates

Create a Base ImageBase images are created on the basis of commonalities. You can select the rules for the creation of a base image.

Base images can be created in two ways. Follow the procedure to create base images manually. You can alsocreate them automatically from the Software Base Image Management page by clicking Auto-Create andsetting up a few creation rules dealing with the use of software profiles in base image creation.

Chapter 7 Performing a VDI Assessment

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Prerequisites

You have collected inventory data.

You must have created software profiles.

Procedure

1 Select Analyze > Base Images.

The Software Base Image Management page appears.

2 Click New.

The New Base Image Wizard - Manual Image Creator appears.

3 Enter an image name, description, and operating system and click Next.

4 Select candidate analysis rules and click Next.

5 Select software profiles from the list and click Refresh.

The Software Profile Coverage Distribution chart refreshes.

6 Review the changes to the distribution chart and click Next.

7 Select either ThinApp or Virtualize as the profile installation type and click Next.

8 Review and click Finish.

A new base image appears in the Software Base Image Management table.

In the Assessment Report ThinApp Summary Table, only ThinApp software profiles, which are included inthe base images, are shown. This is expected behavior. The breakdown is not per application but per baseimage.

Use Base Images in ScenariosWhen creating a scenario, base images provide you with software profiles for your company's usage. Becauseyou have created these profiles and images in advance of running the scenarios, they more accurately representyour company's particular needs.

Once you have created the base images, you are ready to use them in your scenarios.

Procedure

u Select Analyze > Optimization Scenarios and click New to start New Consolidation Scenario Wizard.

As you progress through the wizard, you can select the base images you created on the Base ImageSelection page.


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About Storage Assessment 8Storage assessment adds storage analysis, configuration, and reporting capabilities to Capacity Planner.

The storage and Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS) data collected is grouped into storage activity bysystem, application, location, and user. You can generate a summary report to view the data.

After a desktop is virtualized, the resources consumed for these processes are not considered during storageassessment. Such activities include system backup information or antivirus scans, which are often processedin different virtual machines on different servers after virtualization occurs. In addition, software profiles thatare marked as Excluded or Not Categorized are not considered during storage assessment.

The storage and IOPS data collection depends on the supported collector mechanisms such as WMI, remoteregistry, Windows APIs, shell scripts, and agentless collection.


n “Collecting Storage Data,” on page 49

n “Generate a Storage Assessment Report,” on page 50

Collecting Storage DataThe collector collects storage and IOPS data for each process running on a system.

The collected data is mapped to the current user who is logged in. No specific mapping exists between a userand a running process. If multiple users are logged in, the storage and IOPS data is the same for both of theusers.

NOTE The storage and IOPS data for an application includes disk and network IOPS information.

Disk space is considered only when a cluster option is selected. The storage data includes information aboutthe areas of space available on the system.

Table 8-1. Areas of Available Disk Space

Area Description

System space An operating system has a specific installation size andsoftware profile and the size can be attributed as install size.The collector collects the paging size.

Application space Application install size is available in some cases. Anapplication profile can be used to provide the install size. Youmust instantiate software profiles for each application to beassessed.You must select a project to perform a storage assessment.

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Table 8-1. Areas of Available Disk Space (Continued)

Area Description

User space The following formula approximates user space information:Total Used Disk Space - (Total Application Space + SystemSpace).You might not be able to distinguish the user space formultiple user profiles.

Cache, uninstall, and aystem eestore space User space includes the cache, uninstall, and system restorespace information.

Generate a Storage Assessment ReportYou can generate the storage assessment report to view the system, application, location, and user information.

NOTE The storage summary view is only available in Capacity Planner 3.0.

Prerequisites

Select a project if it is grouped by applications.

Procedure

1 Select Performance > Storage Summary.

The default view of the storage summary report is System.

2 Select a filter for viewing the storage summary.

Option Description

View storage summary for all users In the left pane, select User from the Group By: drop-down menu and clickApply Filter.The default view is All users. You can further sort the user list based on light,medium, and power users.For example, from the user list if the least average total IOPS is 80KBps andthe highest is 160KBps. The IOPS range for the light user is calculated as ((160- 80)/100) * 33 + 80 = 106.4KBps. Users with less than 106.4KBps are light users.The range for medium users is calculated as ((160 - 80)/100) * 66 + 80 = 132.8.Users with less than 132.8KBps are medium users and users with more than132.8KBps are power users.

View storage summary for eachsoftware profile

In the left pane, select Application in the Group By: drop-down menu andclick Apply Filter.

View storage summary for eachsystem location

In the left pane, select Location in the Group By: drop-down menu and clickApply Filter.


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Optimizing Resources 9Software profiles, base images, and optimization scenarios are tools to help you optimize your resources.


n “Software Analysis,” on page 51

n “Base Images,” on page 54

n “Set the Date Range,” on page 56

n “Consolidation Analysis,” on page 56

n “Optimization Scenarios,” on page 58

n “Reports,” on page 65

Software AnalysisSoftware analysis allows you to analyze software and select approved software.

By using software profiles, you can assign properties, create best practices, and provide a broader range ofdata for analysis. The Software Analysis page contains a table of available software profiles as well as chartsof the top 10 profiles and approved software.

Software ProfilesSoftware profiles are compilations of characteristics or signatures for software.

Software profiles include operating systems, CPU, memory, disk I/O, and network I/O. The key attributesindicate whether the system is a server or a desktop. You can find software profiles at Analyze > SoftwareAnalysis. You can create software profiles and run a software profile report.

Software Profile ReportThe software profile report page displays the profile templates in a table and graphically represents the profilesby system recognition, approved software, and virtualization ration.

Use the data filters to alter the display or click the template name to edit the template. This report can be printedor exported.

Create a Software ProfileThe Software Profile wizard guides you through the process of creating a software profile. You can edit asoftware profile later. You can create profiles for applications or operating systems.

Software signatures allow you to match collected software information to the software profile.

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Procedure

1 Select Inventory > Software Inventory > Operating Systemsor Installed Applications.

2 Select an item from the table and click Create Profile.

3 Enter a profile name, description, software type, software version, and click Next.

The selection of software type determines the properties available for this profile. Device drivers,application patches, and OS patches do not have assigned properties.

4 Enter the properties for this profile and Next.



6 (Optional) Use the plus and minus symbols to add or subtract additional filter conditions.

If the filters are properly defined, matches are returned. If you limit exact matches, a wider range ofsoftware is included in the base image.

7 Click Next.

8 For application profiles, create and define filters for tracking processes you want to associate with theprofile and click Next.


9 Review the software profile, select Save profile and create new template. .

10 Click Finish.

The software profile appears in the Software Analysis table.

What to do next

“Copy a Software Profile Template,” on page 53

Create a Software Profile TemplateSoftware profile templates can be reused regardless of Default Install Approval.

Prerequisites

Verify whether a specific project is selected.

Procedure

1 If a project is selected, click Project > Project Tools > Software Profile Templates.

2 If a project is not selected, click Company > Project Tools > Software Profile Templates.

3 Click New Profile.

4 Type a profile name, description, software type, and software version, and click Next.

The Software Profile Template wizard guides you through the process of creating a software profiletemplate. You can later edit the software profile template.

The selection of software type determines the properties available for this profile. Device drivers,application patches, and operating system patches do not have assigned properties.

5 Type the properties for this profile and click Next.



52 VMware, Inc.


Use the plus (+) and minus (-) signs to add or subtract additional filter conditions.

7 Click Next.

8 For application profiles, create and define filters for tracking processes to associate with the profile andclick Next.


9 Review the software profile template information and click Finish.

The software profile template appears in the profile template table.

What to do next

“Copy a Software Profile Template,” on page 53

Copy a Software Profile TemplateAfter you create a software profile template, you can copy it.

Prerequisites

Verify that you have a software profile template available.

Procedure

1 Select a project to copy.

Option Action

A project is selected Click Project > Project Tools > Software Profile Templates.

A project is not selected Click Company > Project Tools > Software Profile Templates.

2 Select one or more templates from the table.

3 Click Copy to.

4 Select the company from the drop-down menu to which you want to copy the template and click OK.

The template is copied to the selected company's software profile template table.

Select a Software ProfileYou can select a profile to use in an assessment.

Prerequisites

You must have created software profile templates.

Procedure

1 Select Analyze > Software Analysis > Select Profiles.

2 Select a profile and click OK.

The profile appears in the table on the Software Analysis page.

Chapter 9 Optimizing Resources

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Standardize a Software ProfileYou can standardize one profile to another.

Prerequisites

At least two software profiles of the same application type must be available.

Procedure

1 Select Analyze > Software Analysis.

2 Select any of the created profiles and click Standardize To.

3 Select the other profile from the Standardize Profile page and click OK.

The software profile table contains the name of the profile that you standardized to under the StandardizedTo column. You can edit the profile by clicking the name link.

Base ImagesBase images are images of virtual machines.

A base image is like a package of software application profiles. A base image of a software operating systemprofile consists of software application profiles. Base images are used in scenarios.

Base images put software profiles to work. You can select the profiles you want to include in a base image.

Software Base Image ManagementSoftware base image management is consolidated on one page and divided into graph and table presentations.

The data filter on this page allows you to filter on an image name. The graphs are updated to reflect the currentstatistics of the generated images. The table columns include statistics relating to the deployment set.Hyperlinked numbers provide a report with a detailed breakdown by category. Summary data provides high-level information about the application distribution and overall needs among images.

From this page, you can create an image, autocreate an image, copy, and delete images. When the RefreshTable button becomes active, click it to update the Fill %column when you add new images or when thenumber of systems included in the assessment changes.

Create a Base ImageBase images are created on the basis of commonalities. You can select the rules for the creation of a base image.

Prerequisites

Inventory data must have been collected.

Procedure



2 Click New.

The New Base Image Wizard - Manual Image Creator appears.

3 Enter an image name, description, and operating system and click Next.

4 Select candidate analysis rules and click Next.


54 VMware, Inc.

5 Select software profiles from the list and click Refresh.

The Software Profile Coverage Distribution chart refreshes.

6 Review the changes to the distribution chart and click Next.

7 Select either ThinApp or Virtualize as the profile installation type and click Next.


A new base image appears in the Software Base Image Management table.

Edit a Base ImageAfter you create an image and the image appears in the Software Base Image Management table, you can editit.

Prerequisites

A base image must be in the table.

Procedure


2 Click the name of a base image in the table.

The Edit Base Image page appears.

3 Edit the image name, description, and operating system and click Next.

4 Navigate through the tabs, make your changes, and click OK.


Auto-Create Base ImagesA base image generator creates base images based on approved applications and typical selections.

NOTE If you have already created base images, clicking Auto-Create erases those images.

Prerequisites

Inventory data must have been collected.

Procedure

1 To automatically create base images, click Auto-Create.

The New Software Base Image Generator appears.

2 Create rules and click Run.

New base images appear in the Software Base Image Management table.


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Set the Date RangeThe date range is a period of time you can select. An analysis is performed on the data collected during thelast four weeks of the range.

You can set the date range regardless of the assessment type. The graph on the date range page appears on theCollection Dashboard. The starting week drop-down menu lists the week of collection and how many systemswere monitored and that delivered performance data that week. This number is reflected in the blue bar onthe graph. If no data or too little data to be useful was collected, that week is not selectable from the menu.Only the last four weeks are used for analysis based on the ending week selected, regardless of the number ofweeks selected. A date range link appears on many pages that you access from the Dashboard. In a scenario,the date range affects the data pool from which the scenario is run.

Procedure

n To set the date range for Company, select Company > Company Date Range.

n To set the date range for CA and Desktop, select Project > Project Date Range.

n To set the date range for CE, select Set Up > Edit Date Range for Project.

Consolidation AnalysisConsolidation is the process of rearranging systems to provide more effective utilization of all resources.

Consolidation analysis includes the following tasks.

n Review the collected data.

n Try several consolidation scenarios to find a good fit.

n Consolidate systems.

n Create Reports.

You can review the collected data on the Collection Dashboard.

Collection DashboardThe Collection Dashboard provides information, often in graphical format, about the statistics being collected.

Performance information appears in the Collection Dashboard. The Performance Data Collection Summaryuses pie charts to provide basic information at a glance. Hover over a figure to get information.

NOTE You must collect data for at least a week before any meaningful information is displayed.

Server StatisticsServer statistics are collected for the server count, which is the total number of servers in the company.

Table 9-1 is the Performance Data Collections summary.

Table 9-1. System Activity Types

System Activity Type Description

Active Systems from which data is actively being collected.Discovery might find a lot of systems, but the assessment isonly done on a subset of these.

Inactive Data was not collected from these systems because they weredeactivated manually. They are not an active part of thisassessment.


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Table 9-1. System Activity Types (Continued)

System Activity Type Description

Monitored The number of systems data was collected from.

Unmonitored The number of systems data was not collected from.

Consolidatable The performance data necessary for consolidation wascollected from these servers.

No data The necessary data for consolidation was not collected fromthese systems.

You can click on the pie chart to display the list of systems information used for the assessment. Examine thecolumns for which information is missing. Missing information is usually caused by connection account issuesor connectivity issues. Use the Data Manager to test the connections to the systems with missing information.

Table 9-2 is the Inventory and Performance Summary.

Table 9-2. Availability of Collected Data

Data Status Availability Description/Action

Collected Hourly for performance data; daily forinventory data.

Files in outbox in collector system atcompany site.

Uploaded to Web Hourly Files are sent from the collector systemoutbox; uploaded files arrive at Web siteand appear in the Collection Database.

Staged for summarization Immediately Staged files appear in the CollectionDashboard.

Processed Every one to two hours Processed files appear in the CollectionDashboard, and systems appear in theinventory and performance tables.

Summarized Nightly Summary data appears in the Inventoryand Performance Enterprise Summarytables.

Analyzed Weekly Data appears in the EnterpriseDashboard and the Alert, Anomalies,and Trend tables and graphs.

Troubleshoot Data Collection FailuresCollection failures appear on the Data Collection Failures tab as a graph of the error categories against thenumber of servers that failed in each category.

A collection must be underway before collection failures can be analyzed.

Prerequisites

You must collect data for at least a week before data is displayed.

Procedure

1 Review the data on the collection failures graph.

2 Hover over the graph bar for a failure to get more information.

3 Click the bar to go to the Troubleshoot Systems table.

Data about each system is displayed.

4 Click a system name to display collection details in a table that lists the task and the last reason for failureand click Close.


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Optimization ScenariosOptimization scenarios are possible ways in which you can optimize your systems through reuse,consolidation, and new virtual systems.

After you collect information about your current systems, use optimization scenarios to manipulate yourcurrent systems and speculate about additional new hardware. This information helps you to determine whichof your systems to retire, which to reuse, your performance thresholds, and the additional servers you needto optimize your entire system.

You can use templates to save information that is used repeatedly for scenarios so that you can standardizeand share best practices across companies.

Capacity Planner lets you consolidate onto existing servers and overflow to proposed new hardware. Serverscan exist in only one of two places: the originating server list or the target server list. A server that is alreadyrunning with a load that exceeds the specified thresholds is an exception server.

The list of optimization scenarios that appears when you click Analyze > Optimization Scenarios isdetermined by the company selected and your permission level. You can filter this list by scenario status. Youcan select an existing scenario template or create one. If you select an existing template, you can edit the details.

Optimization GoalsYour company optimization goals dictate the approach you take to developing optimization scenarios.

Table 9-3. Optimization Goals and Considerations

Goal Considerations

Disposal of old servers n Servers with processors that are too smalln Reduced cablingn Improved manageability

Physical consolidation n Consolidation of data centersn Identification of unused serversn Do not move obsolete servers if possiblen If migrating to new machines, upgrade the operating

system and standardize softwaren Physical concernsn Floor spacen Power consumptionn BTUsn Cablingn Increased rack density

Test and development n Virtualization opportunityn Service infrastructure server consolidation

Similar applications n Multiple physical servers to one single operating systemserver

n Workload managementn Change managementn Quality assurancen Charge-back

Mixed workloads n Virtualizationn Multiple operating systemsn Sizing questionsn Mixed workloads on a single operating systemn DLL conflicts


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Scenario RecommendationsScenario recommendations are the estimated use and the capacity of each optimized system on the targetsystem.

Recommendations TableUse the capacity required as information when creating virtual machines.

Table 9-4. System Matrix

Metric Description

Capacity

Processors: Speed (GHz) The processor speed in this server.

Memory: Size (GB) The amount of memory needed for this server.

Disk: Size (TB) Disk size in terabytes.

Network: Count This is the number of physical NICs installed in the system.This has no effect on the consolidation scenario currently.

Network: Speed (GB/sec) The total amount of network traffic.

Physical: Rack Units The number of rack units used by this server.

Physical: Weight (lbs) The weight of this server.

Physical: Power (KW) The number of KW used by this server. The rated power hasto be multiplied by the hours used to find energyconsumption: 1 watt is equal to 3.412 BTU/hr.

Physical: Thermal (Tons BTU/hr) The BTUs used by this server.

Estimated New Utilization

Processors: % used The percent CPU allowed for the target proposed hardwarefor this scenario.

Processors: Queue per CPU The processor queue length per CPU on the target systembecause of the source system.

Memory: % used The total RAM used by the source system on theconsolidation target proposed hardware.

Memory: File system cache (MB) The file system cache that the source system will use on thetarget system.

Memory: Page File % The Page File % that will be used by the source system on thetarget system.

Memory Paging (pgs/sec) The total paging on the target system caused by the sourcesystem.

Disk: Speed I/O (trans/sec) The disk I/O use of the source system on the target system.

Disk: I/O (MB/sec) The maximum disk I/O speed for the source system using thetarget system.

Network: Speed (Mb/sec) The total amount of network traffic that the source systemwill cause on the target system.


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Placing the Load on the Constrained ResourceIf the originating server load is processor constrained, Capacity Planner spreads the most demanding processorloads across all of the target servers. Capacity Planner sorts the originating load list with the heaviest loads atthe top of the list. Some of the target servers might already have load on them, and that is taken intoconsideration.

Capacity Planner takes the opposite approach for the target servers. Capacity Planner sorts the least utilizedservers to the top of the list to place the highest processor loads on target servers with the lowest processorload. Capacity Planner considers all resources when combining loads. It might be possible to combine theprocessor loads and not exceed any limitations, but still exceed threshold on another resource. Capacity Plannerattempts to balance loads across all the resources, but it also validates the loads for each hour of the day.

Create a New ScenarioThe Optimization Scenario Wizard guides you through the optimization scenario creation process.

Prerequisites

You must have Power User privileges or greater to work with proposed new hardware or create scenarios.

Verify that inventory has been collected on the systems to be analyzed.

Set up your server groups.

Procedure

1 Select Analyze > Optimization Scenarios and click New.

The New Optimization Scenario wizard appears.

2 Enter the new scenario name and description.

The name must be unique.

3 Select the template to use as a starting point for your new scenario and click Next.

You can select only one scenario template.

4 Set the access level for this scenario and click Next.

5 Select one of the following options and click Next.

n Select all systems in this company. The check boxes for groups are not selectable.

n Select specific groups

n Include systems according to the following conditions. If you select this option, you must use thedrop-down menus to set the selection criteria. If you check Exclude this entire expression, the ruleacts to exclude. Select + to add additional conditions.

6 Create consolidation rules and click Next.

See “Consolidation Rules,” on page 61.

7 Select a base image.

8 Select the number of virtual machines to create for each base image.

9 Configure new hardware and click Next.

See “Configure Hardware,” on page 64.



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Results from consolidation are not always the same even if the settings are the same because, if more than oneoption for grouping virtual machines for virtual machine templates with the same efficiency is present, onlyone option is selected and displayed.

Consolidation RulesConsolidation rules are set in the New Optimization Scenario wizard.

Cross-Boundary Selections

Option Description

Departments When you choose to cross department boundaries, servers that belong to different departments areconsolidated, which usually leads to better utilization.

Environments Consolidates source servers currently in separate environments.

Functions Consolidates source servers currently serving separate functions.

Locations Consolidates source servers in different locations.

Operating Systems Consolidates source servers of different operating systems.

Merge Architecture Selections

Option Description

Don't merge All architectures are taken into consideration and grouping is done based on thearchitecture of the I/p system.

Merge x86, IA64, and AMD64 Consolidates input servers with these architectures.

Merge all architectures. Consolidates all servers, regardless of their architecture.

Virtualization Selections

Option Description

Virtualize using ESX 5.0 Uses ESX 5.0 virtual machines as proposed hardware.

Virtualize using ESX 4.0.x Uses ESX 4.0.x virtual machines as proposed hardware.

Virtualize using ESX 3.x Uses ESX 3.x virtual machines as proposed hardware.

Virtualize using ESX 2.x Uses ESX 2.x virtual machines as proposed hardware.

Virtualize using VMware Server Uses VMware Server virtual machines as proposed hardware.

Don't virtualize Does not use virtual machines as proposed hardware.

Redeployment Selections

Option Description

Only redeploy to new hardware Redeploys only to the new hardware.

Redeploy to existing and new hardware Reuses existing servers and, if requirements are not met, uses new hardware asnecessary.

Memory Reclamation RulesThe total memory saved is based on several things, including which of the first two options is selected andwhether the third options is selected, in addition to other factors, such as the removal of disapproved softwareprofiles.


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Option Description

Reclaim a set percentage of memory use perphysical system

Memory reclamation is based on a set percentage per physical system.

Reclaim memory use based on software profileproperties

The software profile requirements are used to determine the percentageof shareable memory required.

Reclaim percentage of disk cache use fromoperating system

This option is a percentage of disk cache from the operating system andis not related to the other two options.

The first two options are available only when the virtualization platform is not None. The load adjustmentapplicable to these first two options is done during consolidation.

The first option allows you to specify the percentage of the input system memory use that can be saved whenit is placed on a host. The shareable memory and running status of software profiles of the input systems areused to determine the memory that can be saved with the input systems that are placed on a host. For thesecond option, a software profile is considered to be in use if, at a given time on a specific system, all matchingprocesses of the software profile are running. The matching process criteria is specified when you create oredit a software profile.

For example, if there are two virtual machines on the host, they both have memory use of 500MB, and eachonly matches one software profile windowsxp that has shareable memory of 200MB. Then the total memory useis 500 + 500 - 200 * (2-1) = 800MB.

Part of memory use includes the disk cache use. The third option allows you to specify how much disk cacheuse can be removed from the memory use and disk cache use. For this option, it does not matter whether youselect None for the virtualization platform or not. The utilization adjustment is done before consolidation.

For example, if memory use is 600MB, disk cache use is 100MB, and you specify that you want to reclaim 40%of disk cache use, then the adjusted memory use is 600 - 100 * 40% = 560MB, and the adjusted disk cache useis 100 - 100 * 40% = 60MB.

vStorage Composer

Option Description

Yes Use vStorage Composer.

No Don't use vStorage Composer.

Scenario Recommendations Selections

Option Description

Summary only Provides a summary of the recommendations.

Summary and individual virtual machine details Provides a summary and additional detail about the virtual machines.

Create Scenario RulesThe Optimization Scenario Wizard guides you through the scenario creation process.

The following rules are specified while you set up a scenario.

Prerequisites


Procedure

1 Specify consolidation rules to control how systems are consolidated.

See “Consolidation Rules,” on page 61.


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2 Make cross-boundary selections.

3 Make merge architecture selections.

4 Make virtualization selections.

5 Make VStorage Composer selection.

6 Make memory reclamation selection.

7 Make Reclaim % of physical disk cache from Operating System selection.

8 Make redeployment selections.

9 Make scenario recommendations selections and click Next.

10 Select the base images.

11 Specify the virtual machine sizing rules.

12 Configure the new hardware for use in the consolidation and click Next.

13 Adjust the maximum load thresholds for loading a destination system during consolidation.

When establishing performance thresholds, low values tend to be conservative and high values tend tobe aggressive.

14 Set the maximum load thresholds and click Next.

The Ready to Complete page appears.

15 Review the information on this page and select Run scenario when finished if you want the scenario torun immediately.

16 Click Finish.

The new scenario appears in the optimization scenario list.

Capacity Allocation and Proposed HardwareA few standards are used to determine capacity allocation and proposed hardware.

n When a server that is being considered for consolidation is already running with a load that exceeds thespecified threshold, it is considered an exception. It does not receive any additional load.

n When consolidation results in a new reduction of servers, redundant servers are grouped into reusable orvintage groups.

n New hardware is added as needed when additional capacity is required to accommodate load.


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Multiple-CPU Server ConsiderationsThe total CPU capacity of a server with multiple CPUs is scaled according to a specific formula.

Table 9-5. CPU Capacity

Environment Effective percentage

32-bit First CPU at 100 percent.Second CPU at 80 percent.Third CPU at 64 percent.Each subsequent CPU is assumed at 80 percent of previous.

64-bit First CPU at 100 percent.Second CPU at 90 percent.Third CPU at 81 percent.Each subsequent CPU is assumed at 90 percent of previous.

Virtualization ConsiderationsOptimization can be done with ESX virtualization, VMware Server virtualization, or no virtualization at all.

Using virtualization provides a more file system cache capacity than if no virtualization is used. When CPUand file system cache are the critical needs, the amount of new hardware is affected by the virtualization optionin effect.

If you enable virtualization, limitations in a virtual environment are checked as well, such as the originatingload.

Select a Base ImageThe Optimization Scenario Wizard prompts you to select the base images you want to use for consolidation.

Prerequisites

You must have Power User privileges or greater.

Procedure

1 Specify a base image to use for consolidation.

2 Click Next.

Configure HardwareThe Optimization Scenario Wizard lets you select and adjust your proposed new hardware.

The Assess New Hardware table displays the specification for your proposed new hardware. You can adjustthese values and fine tune the output.

Prerequisites

You must have Power User privileges or greater .

Procedure

1 Select a make and model.

Some of the value in the tables change based upon your selection.

2 Fill in the text fields.


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3 Click Update Table.

This button is grayed out if no information has been changed.

Your changes appear in the Quick Assessment table.

4 Adjust your figures and try different outcomes.

Assess your hardware after each change.

5 Set Variance and Step by.

6 After you adjust your selections to configure the hardware, click Next.

The Review and Finish page appears.

ReportsReports provide information gathered during an assessment.

Partners can select which reports are available for an assessment and the types of information presented in thereport, which are selected from a list, such as power and cooling, storage, and virtual machine configuration.

The progress report provides you with an outline of the progress of the current assessment. This report makesno recommendations and is only available in PDF format. The executive summary presentation provides high-level summary information. The assessment report includes a consolidation plan.

NOTE An error message appears if ColdFusion is temporarily unavailable and long running reports are present.

Create a Custom ReportThe custom reports display limit is set to 50,000. If the amount of data exceeds this limit, it is not displayed.

Procedure

1 Select Reports > Custom Reports.

The Custom Reports page appears.

2 There are several options available from the Custom Reports page.

n You can select a template for your report by clicking Templates.

n You can select a custom report to base a template on by clicking New Templates from Reports.

n You can duplicate an existing custom report by clicking Duplicate.

n You can schedule a report to run at a certain time by using the drop-down Set Schedule To menu.

n You can select a report and click Run to run it.

n You can stop a running report by clicking Stop.

n You can delete a report by clicking Delete.

n You can set access and permissions for a report by clicking Access and Permissions.

n You can create a new report by clicking New.

3 Select a template to use as the basis for your report and click Next.

4 Enter a name and description for the report.

5 Set the schedule for running the report and select Run report when finished.

6 Select a data source and click Finish.

The new custom report is created and run.


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Asset Information ReportsAsset Information reports provide information about systems in the domain.

This information allows you to keep track of your assets. The information appears when you select Reports >Asset Information Report includes the system name, operating system, function, applications, tag, dataacquired, purchase price, lease term, and lease payment. Select a system to view details about hardware,software, services, trending, and so on.

Set Optimization Report Labels and TitlesYou can set the labels and titles to be used in reports for the assessments.

Procedure

1 Select Reports > Optimization Reports Settings.

2 Enter the labels and titles into the text boxes and click Next.

3 Select the information to appear in the reports and click Next.

You can also click Finish. If you click Next, you can further adjust report settings for hardware.

4 Review or change your hardware selections and click Next.

When you make changes to the two scenarios, the Refresh Table button becomes active.

5 Click Refresh Table to view the results of your changes and click Next.

6 Review the report settings and click Finish.

What to do next

“Run a Report,” on page 67

Set Report Output for Optimization ReportsYou can set the report output for optimization report.

NOTE For optimization reports, sometimes the title omits the name of the company for which the report isbeing generated.

The Quick Assessment table has a different purpose than the optimization report. The goal of QuickAssessment is to help you select new hardware for the scenario. That is why during a quick assessment existingservers are not deployed, only new hardware for ESX hosts. Optimization reports present the actual resultsfrom running the scenario and might redeploy existing hardware based on scenario settings. There can besubstantial deviations in results between the two.

Prerequisites


Procedure

1 Select Reports > Optimization Reports Settings.

2 Enter the labels and titles for the report and click Next.

3 Select the report output to include and click Next.

4 Select and adjust the new hardware and click Refresh Table.

Information in the text boxes can be edited. The Quick Assessment table adjusts automatically.


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5 Click Next and review the summary.

6 Click Finish.

Run a ReportReports that are ready for viewing are listed in the Report column on the Home page by company.

Reports are available only in PDF format.

Prerequisites

Enough data must be collected to enable reporting.

Procedure

1 From the My Assessments table on the Home page, click Reports Available in the Report column.

For a CE, the Run Reports tab of the Step by Step Guided Assessment appears.

2 Select a report to run or download and click either Run. or Download.

Clicking Download prompts you to save or open the file.

3 To change report labels or hardware configuration, click edit report settings.

Vintage Systems ReportsVintage systems reports allow you to keep track of the performance of your vintage systems.

Data collected includes system name, % CPU, RAM available, and paging/sec.


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Index

Numerics32-bit 6464-bit 64

Aabout help 5access 8access account 21access control 11activate collector 31Active Directory 24active system activity type 56administrator 8alert threshold 37alerts 39alias traceroute results 27analyzing data 35anomalies 38application analysis 51application distribution 54application patches 51, 52application profiles 51applications 35, 36archives 18assessment

create 41new 41

assessments 41asset info 35asset information reports 66associations 11auto-create image 54, 55auto-group 12Auto-grouping 13

Bbackup logs 20balance loads 60base image, create 47base image generator 55base image management 54base image wizard 54base images 54, 55

CCA, See consolidation analysisCA conversion 42candidate analysis rules 54capacity allocation 63CE, See consolidation estimateCE conversion 42chassis 35clustered servers, collection 24co-occurrence 36co-occurrence matrix 36collect, storage data 49collection, Linux and UNIX 23collection dashboard 56Collector, set up 19collector default behavior 32collector registration 21, 31collectors, managing 31company-wide template, create 32comparable servers 39compare systems 39comparing servers 39complete collection 20consolidatable 56consolidating systems 11, 56consolidation analysis 41, 56Consolidation Analysis 41Consolidation Estimate 41consolidation rules 61, 62constrained resources 60cookies 17corporate code 15CPU usage, server 38CPU usage,critical 37create project 42create user group 10critical processors 37cross boundaries 62cross-boundary selections 61custom report 65CVS 24

DDashboard collector settings 33

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data collection 19, 37data collection failures, troubleshoot 57data filter 54data retention 18data synchronization 29, 30data synchronization options 30database ID 21database ID registration 31date range 56deactivate collector 31define, storage assessment 49department 13desktop 41Desktop conversion 42deviation 38, 39device driver 51, 52disable, host name masking 16discovery 25, 32display limit 65DNS 24domain name masking 16Domain Name Service 24drive controllers 35drives 35

Eedit group

Capacity Planner 2.8 14Capacity Planner 3.0 13

enterprise summary table 35environment 13exclude data 29exclude systems 26exporting data 29

Ffile control 36file paths 36forecast alerts 39forecast critical processors 37function 13functional groups 11

Ggenerate, storage assessment report 50Global Connection Account 21, 22global settings 43group matrix 13groups 7, 8groups,performance 37guest 8, 10

Hhardware 66hardware filters 8, 9hardware inventory 35hardware template 9, 43host and domain masking 22host name masking 16host name masking policies 16host names, masked 17HTTPS 15

Iimport systems 28inactive system activity type 56industry averages 29, 38Information Warehouse 15, 29, 30, 38installation, Linux and UNIX 23inventory 35inventory status 27invite guests 10IP scan 24IP subnets, collector 32IW administrator 8IW power user 8

LLAN Manager 24Linux 24, 37Linux configuration 27Linux scripts 28load profile 35, 36local collector database ID 21location 13, 37log file size 20log files 23log level 20logging level 23login inventory 35

Mmanual image creator 54masking 16, 22matrix 13matrix, co-occurrence 36measurements over time 38memory 35memory reclamation 62memory reclamation rule 61merge architectures 61, 62Microsoft clustered servers 24missing data 27


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module status 27modules 32monitored system activity type 56multiple CPU 64

NNet Logon 25NetBIOS 37network 37network count 59network inventory 35network latency 37network speed 59New Company Wizard 41new hardware 63new project 42NIC 35nonsensitive data 15notification 8, 9

Oobject type 27objects, deactive 26old servers 58operating system 35optimization report 66optimization scenarios 58optimization strategy 58OS patches 51, 52

Ppassword policy 15Perfmon 37performance 35, 37performance anomalies 29performance counters 37performance data 39performance group, add 38performance groups 37performance issues 35performance measurements 36performance statistics 37performance trends 36, 38permissions 8persistent cookies 17physical consolidation 58physical weight 59plug and play 35post-processed data 18power user 8prevent export 29

print spooler 25printer 35processor balance 38processor load 38, 60processor speed 59processor, usage 37profile name 51profiles 51project global settings 33properties 51proposed architecture 63pseudonym keys, synchronize 17pseudonyms 16PuTTY 23, 27

Qquick collection 20

Rread-only user 8recommended actions 35register collector 21registry key 23remote configuration 29remote registry 25report labels 43, 66report titles, assessment 43reports

running 67vintage systems 67

requirements, Linux and UNIX 23resources 51restore, host names 16roles 8root 23run assessment 42run scripts 28

Sscenario templates 43scheduler, suspend 30SCP 37scripts 28secure socket layer 15security 15security policy 15, 17self-provisioning 17self-sign up 17server 25server consolidation 66server groups 11service account 27

Index

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session cookies 17set group

Capacity Planner 2.8 12Capacity Planner 3.0 12

set name 15Setup Wizard, options 19software analysis, uses 45software base image 54software inventory 35software profile, create 46software profile report 51software profiles 33, 35, 51, 54software signature 51, 52software standardization 51software type 51SSH 37SSH keys 27SSL 15standardize 54storage 37storage assessment 49storage assessment report 50storage data 49strategy, optimization 58subscriptions 8sudo 23suspend scheduler 30synchronization schedule 30system access 21system connections 26system data 27system detail 35system groups 7, 11, 13system object 27system status 27system validation, UNIX 28system validation:Linux 28systems

adding 25deactive 26

Ttemplates 33, 65test collection results 27text files 36ThinApp 54threshold 63trend deviations 39trending 35, 36trends 38

Uuname utility 24unique identifier 15UNIX 24, 37UNIX configuration 27UNIX scripts 28unknown object 27unmonitored system activity type 56user 7, 37user account, create 7user accounts 7user group table 10user groups, manage 11user inventory 35user restriction

consolidation scenarios 62optimization scenarios 60, 64

utilization summary 38

Vvalidate keys 27variance 64VDI assessment, perform 45vendor benchmarks 39video card 35vintage systems reports 67virtual desktop infrastructure 41virtual machines 54virtualization 61virtualization consideration 64virtualize 54VM templates 47

WWindows Internet Naming Service 24WINS 24WMI 25workstation consolidation 66


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