Page 1 Chargeback User’s Guide vCenter Chargeback 1.5 This document supports the version of each product listed and supports all subsequent versions until the document is replaced by a new edition. To check for more recent editions of this document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
Page 2 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 marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.
Page 3: Table Of Contents
Authenticating and Managing Users, Roles, and Permissions 59 Resource Based Authorization in vCenter Chargeback Permissions Defined in vCenter Chargeback 60 Managing Roles 61 Managing Users 66 vCenter Chargeback User Authentication 73 Managing Chargeback Hierarchies 75 Creating a Chargeback Hierarchy 75 VMware, Inc.
Page 4 Report Dashboard 124 Monitoring System Health 127 vCenter Chargeback Events 128 Administration Utilities 129 Database Password Change Utility 129 vCenter Chargeback Database Management Scripts 130 Troubleshooting vCenter Chargeback 133 Troubleshooting Utility 133 Troubleshooting Issues in vCenter Chargeback 134 Index 147 VMware, Inc.
Page 5: About This Book
Windows or Linux system administrators who are familiar with virtual machine technology and datacenter operations. VMware Technical Publications Glossary VMware Technical Publications provides a glossary of terms that might be unfamiliar to you. For definitions of terms as they are used in VMware technical documentation, go to http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
Page 6 Chargeback User’s Guide Services provides offerings to help you assess, plan, build, and manage your virtual environment. To access information about education classes, certification programs, and consulting services, go to http://www.vmware.com/services. VMware, Inc.
Page 7: Introduction To Vcenter Chargeback
To support chargeback, the virtual environment and the chargeback solution must provide ways to measure resource usage and associate the usage with a specific costing model. The chargeback solution must also support the use of different costing models so as to charge the various departments or cost centers differently. VMware, Inc.
Page 8: Overview Of Vcenter Chargeback
Determining the resource utilization and calculating the corresponding cost for a virtual environment that uses VMware vSphere typically involves VMware professional services’ work or use of partner solutions. These solutions are built using custom methods for VMware vSphere resource data collection and chargeback cost calculation for organizations.
Page 9 Each user request is routed through the load balancer. The load balancer forwards the request to a vCenter Chargeback instance in the cluster based on the number request currently being serviced by each instance in the cluster. All the vCenter Chargeback instances in a cluster are connected to the same vCenter Chargeback database. VMware, Inc.
Page 10 Chargeback User’s Guide VMware, Inc.
Page 11: Installing Vcenter Chargeback
10/100 Ethernet adapter (Gigabit recommended) If you want to install the vCenter Chargeback database on the computer on which vCenter Chargeback along with the load balancer and data collector is already installed, then additional storage, memory, and processor capacity are required. VMware, Inc.
Page 12: Software Requirements
Adobe Flash Player for Windows Plug-in version 10.1 or later Adobe Flash Player for Linux Plug-in version 10.1 or later VMware vCenter Server vCenter Chargeback supports VirtualCenter Server 2.5 Update 3 and later releases and vCenter Server 4.0 and later releases.
Page 13: Prerequisites For Vcenter Chargeback
After you create the vCenter Chargeback database, you must also create a database user to access this database. Ensure that the database user has the privileges to create and delete schema, as well as read from and write to the database. VMware, Inc.
Page 14 HTTP Port (default: 8080) Load-balancer Port (default: 8009) HTTPS Port (default: 443) Ensure that the default ports are free. If not, use any other free ports. Note down the port numbers that you want to use. Database Configuration VMware, Inc.
Page 15: Download And Extract The Vcenter Chargeback Installer
Chargeback can be installed on any system or virtual machine that meets the system requirements. Prerequisites Ensure that you run the installer on the machine on which vCenter Chargeback has to be installed. Do not run it on a remote machine. VMware, Inc.
Page 16 Windows user account. Ensure that the Windows user account password does not contain any special characters. The installer might fail if the password contains special characters. If the installer successfully connects to the database, the next screen is displayed. VMware, Inc.
Page 17 Manager Data Collector, choose to install the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector too or ensure that at least one instance of VMware Cloud Director Data Collector is running. 10 (Optional) If you chose to install the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector, enter the VMware Cloud Director database-related information, and click Next.
Page 18 You can generate an SSL certificate for vCenter Chargeback either when installing the application or after you install the application. Procedure Select Generate SSL Certificate from the Start > Programs > VMware > VMware vCenter Chargeback > vCenter Chargeback Tools menu. The Generate SSL Certificate window is displayed.
Page 19: Create A Vcenter Chargeback Cluster
That is, the system times are in sync. All the vCenter Chargeback instances in the cluster are in the same network domain. Multicasting must be enabled on the machine on which the vCenter Chargeback instance is installed. VMware, Inc.
Page 20 Windows user account. Ensure that the Windows user account password does not contain any special characters. The installer might fail if the password contains special characters. If the installer connects to the database and detects a vCenter Chargeback schema, a dialog is displayed. VMware, Inc.
Page 21 If the installer successfully connects to the database, the next screen is displayed. 11 (Optional) If you chose to install the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector or the vShield Manager Data Collector, enter the password for the vCenter Chargeback administrative account and click Next.
Page 22: Install Vcenter Chargeback With An Existing Database Schema
Chargeback installation. Server_Instance_Name is the name that you have provided during the installation. Restart the Load Balancer service from the Start > Programs > VMware > VMware vCenter Chargeback > vCenter Chargeback Services menu. Install vCenter Chargeback with an Existing Database Schema You can create a stand-alone vCenter Chargeback instance that uses an existing vCenter Chargeback schema.
Page 23 Option Description Static IP address of the machine on which you are installing vCenter IP Address Chargeback. Do not use localhost instead of the IP address. An unused HTTP port through which vCenter Chargeback can HTTP Port communicate. VMware, Inc.
Page 24 If the installer successfully connects to the database, the next screen is displayed. 11 (Optional) If you chose to install the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector or the vShield Manager Data Collector, enter the password for the vCenter Chargeback administrative account and click Next.
Page 25: Upgrading Vcenter Chargeback
18. Upgrading vCenter Chargeback You can upgrade your existing vCenter Chargeback setup to vCenter Chargeback 1.5. You must, however, perform a few pre-upgrade tasks to ensure that the upgrade to vCenter Chargeback 1.5 is successful. Pre-Upgrade Tasks for vCenter Chargeback The pre-upgrade tasks ensure that you have a backup of the database and necessary configuration files.
Page 26 Collector. All the data collectors can be installed even after a vCenter Chargeback instance is installed. If you are installing the vShield Manager Data Collector, choose to install the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector too or ensure that at least one instance of VMware Cloud Director Data Collector is running. VMware, Inc.
Page 27 You can rename users with such prefix appropriately. Unlike earlier release, in vCenter Chargeback 1.5 a user cannot be assigned individual privileges on the entities. Therefore, privileges assigned to the user on entities are grouped together into roles after upgrade. These roles have names with the prefix .
Page 28: Services Related To The Vcenter Chargeback Application
The Report Viewer role in the earlier versions of vCenter Chargeback is upgraded to the Report Generator role in vCenter Chargeback 1.5. After upgrade, users with the Report View role are assigned the Report Generator role, which has more privileges. Assess the privilege requirements for such users and reassign new roles appropriately.
Page 29: Accessing The Vcenter Chargeback Application
You can also manually control these services. Procedure Select the relevant service menu from the Start > Programs > VMware > VMware vCenter Chargeback > vCenter Chargeback Services menu. The menu provides shortcuts for the following services:...
Page 30 Install VMware Cloud Director Data Collector on page 33 If you want to integrate a vCenter Chargeback instance with a VMware Cloud Director instance, you must have a VMware Cloud Director Data Collector instance installed and running. Install vShield Manager Data Collector...
Page 31 You can have more than one data collector installed. You can install an individual data collector instance using the data collector installer. If you are integrating vCenter Chargeback with VMware Cloud Director by installing the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector and vShield Manager Data Collector, then you must install and run more than one instance of the vCenter Chargeback data collector.
Page 32 What to do next After you install a separate data collector, the Data Collector service starts and runs automatically. You can manually start and stop the service from the Start > Programs > VMware > VMware vCenter Chargeback menu. VMware, Inc.
Page 33 Chapter 2 Installing vCenter Chargeback Install VMware Cloud Director Data Collector If you want to integrate a vCenter Chargeback instance with a VMware Cloud Director instance, you must have a VMware Cloud Director Data Collector instance installed and running. You can install a VMware Cloud Director Data Collector instance along with vCenter Chargeback or separately by using the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector installer.
Page 34 If the installation fails, the uninstaller starts automatically and removes all the components installed. What to do next After you install a VMware Cloud Director Data Collector instance, the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector service starts and runs automatically. You can manually start and stop the service from the Start > Programs >...
Page 35 The vShield Manager Data Collector can run jobs successfully only if an instance of the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector is installed and running. You must, therefore, ensure that at least one instance of the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector is running.
Page 36 What to do next After you install a VSM Data Collector instance, the VSM Data Collector service starts and runs automatically. You can manually start and stop the service from the Start > Programs > VMware > VMware vCenter Chargeback menu.
Page 37: Uninstall Vcenter Chargeback
Procedure Start the uninstaller from the Start > Programs > VMware > VMware vCenter Chargeback > Uninstall VMware vCenter Chargeback menu. Do not remove the application using Add/Remove Programs. The application is not removed cleanly and you might have to manually delete some files that were not deleted during the uninstall process.
Page 38 Define the LB worker suggested in the previous step, the entry might be as follows: # Define the LB worker worker.balancer.type=lb worker.balancer.sticky_session = 1 worker.balancer.method=R chargeTest ,sample0 worker.balancer.balance_workers=worker1,worker2, Delete the entry from the list of instances. chargeTest VMware, Inc.
Page 39: Configuring Administration Settings
Configuring Generic Settings Before you start using the various features of vCenter Chargeback, you must configure the LDAP and SMTP servers in the application. You can optionally set the log level. These settings can be configured from the Settings tab. VMware, Inc.
Page 40 Port number on which the SMTP server is listening for requests. Server Port Email address that the application must use to send emails. Email Address Type of authentication to be used to access the SMTP server. The default is Authentication Type Anonymous. VMware, Inc.
Page 41 The debug level provides event information that are most useful to debug debug an application. (default): The info level provides coarse-grained informational messages that info highlight the progress of the application. The warn level provides information about potentially harmful situations. warn VMware, Inc.
Page 42: Managing Ldap Servers
Click Apply. Managing LDAP Servers Starting with vCenter Chargeback 1.5, you can configure one or more LDAP server in the application. vCenter Chargeback supports only Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Active Directory and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Active Directory.
Page 43 Chargeback keystore. To do this, on the machine on which the load balancer service is running, you must then run the following command: Installation_Path \VMware\VMware vCenter Chargeback\jre\bin> keytool -import -trustcacerts - keystore "...
Page 44: Managing Vcenter Servers
Chargeback keystore. To do this, on the machine on which the load balancer service is running, you must then run the following command: Installation_Path \VMware\VMware vCenter Chargeback\jre\bin> keytool -import -trustcacerts - keystore "...
Page 45 Server. If you are using Oracle Database, then the database name can be either the service name or SID. If you are providing the service name, ensure that you prefix the service name with a forward slash (/). For example: service_name VMware, Inc.
Page 46 Server is added to the application. A display name for the vCenter Server. vCenter Server Display Name A description of the vCenter Server. This is optional. vCenter Server Description User name to access the vCenter Server. vCenter Server Username VMware, Inc.
Page 47 Server, you can remove the vCenter Server from the vCenter Chargeback application. To perform this task, you must have the Super User role or the Administrator role. If you have the Administrator role, you can delete only those vCenter Server settings that you have configured. VMware, Inc.
Page 48: Managing Data Collectors
Modify Super User Password for Cloud Data Collectors on page 54 If you change the password of the super user that was used when installing the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector and vShield Manager Data Collector, you must change the same from the Cloud Data Collectors page to ensure that the data collectors function correctly.
Page 49 The name of the machine on which the data collector is running. Registered Indicates if the data collector is enabled or disabled. Data Collector Name The name of the data collector provided during the installation. vCenter Server Name The display name of the vCenter Server added to the application. VMware, Inc.
Page 50 The first run of this job might fail if the first run of the Hosts & Clusters and VMs & Templates Synchronization job takes more than 5 minutes to complete. In vSphere 4.0, the VMware VirtualCenter Management Webservices service must be running on the vCenter Server machine for the storage synchronization to complete successfully.
Page 51 If only a single data collector is running, do not delete it. If deleted, the synchronization jobs will MPORTANT not run and the data in the vCenter Chargeback database will not be in sync with the data in the vCenter Server. VMware, Inc.
Page 52 Configure VMware Cloud Director Data Collector If you have installed the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector, you must configure its properties from the Cloud Data Collectors page of the Settings tab. Only users with the Super User role assigned to them can perform this task.
Page 53 What to do next After you modify a property value, you must restart the data collector for the change to take effect. You can test the connection to the Cloud Director database by clicking the Test VMware Cloud Director database connection link.
Page 54: Managing The Application License
Modify Super User Password for Cloud Data Collectors If you change the password of the super user that was used when installing the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector and vShield Manager Data Collector, you must change the same from the Cloud Data Collectors page to ensure that the data collectors function correctly.
Page 55: Manage Report View
You must have the Super User role to perform this task. Procedure In the Settings tab, click Report View. Select Header. The Header section of the report view displays four sub-sections. Select a sub-section from the Header section of the report view. VMware, Inc.
Page 56 Repeat this step to set the information for each sub-section as required. 11 (Optional) Click Preview to preview a sample report on the right pane of the page. 12 Click Save. The report view is saved and will be used when the next report is generated. VMware, Inc.
Page 57: Managing Attributes
In the Settings tab, click Manage Attributes. A table listing all the attributes added to the application is displayed. Select the attribute that you want to remove. Click Delete. The attribute is deleted from the application and is removed from the table. VMware, Inc.
Page 58: Manage System Health Thresholds
The Normal, Warning, and Alert latency ranges for the vCenter Server database are defined using these limits. Click Apply. The response time limits and the corresponding ranges set on this page are used on the System Health tab to show the health of the different servers and databases. VMware, Inc.
Page 59: Authenticating And Managing Users, Roles, And Permissions
The application defines various permissions and also provides some predefined roles. In addition, it lets you create new roles and users as per your requirements. Starting with vCenter Chargeback 1.5, the application defines resource-based authorization. This chapter includes the following topics: “Resource Based Authorization in vCenter Chargeback,”...
Page 60: Permissions Defined In Vcenter Chargeback
Chargeback. Table 4-2. Permissions Applicable for Each Resource Type Entity Cost Resource Type Create Read Update Delete Modify VMware vCenter Server Data Collector LDAP Server SMTP Server Chargeback Hierarchy Chargeback Hierarchical Entity...
Page 61: Managing Roles
Role The application automatically handles permissions for these resource types. Also, you cannot assign the create, update, and delete permissions for the VMware vCenter Server resource type during custom role creation. Managing Roles A role is a set of permissions assigned to a user. vCenter Chargeback provides some predefined roles that can be assigned to the users and groups created or added to the application.
Page 62 Chargeback User’s Guide Table 4-3. Permissions Defined on the Super User Role Entity Cost Resource Type Create Read Update Delete Modify VMware vCenter Server Data Collector LDAP Server SMTP Server Chargeback Hierarchy Chargeback Hierarchical Entity Attribute Tier Cost Model...
Page 63 Hierarchy Manager role for each of the resource type. Table 4-5. Permissions Defined on the Hierarchy Manager Role Entity Cost Resource Type Create Read Update Delete Modify VMware vCenter Server Data Collector LDAP Server SMTP Server Chargeback Hierarchy Chargeback Hierarchical Entity...
Page 64 Guest User role for each of the resource type. Table 4-7. Permissions Defined on the vCenter Guest User Role Entity Cost Resource Type Create Read Update Delete Modify VMware vCenter Server Data Collector LDAP Server SMTP Server Chargeback Hierarchy Chargeback Hierarchical Entity...
Page 65 Modify the required information. You can modify the name and description of the role and also the set of permissions assigned to the role. Click Save. The modified role details are displayed in the table on the page. VMware, Inc.
Page 66: Managing Users
Also, a user, other than an administrator or super user, can access only the resources on which he has been given access and the resources created by him. If the user is a LDAP user and has no roles assigned to him, then the role assigned to the LDAP group to which he belongs is considered. VMware, Inc.
Page 67 The default is not to assign any role to the user. You can alternately assign the Super User role or the Administrator role to the user on vCenter Chargeback. Click Add. The newly created user is added to the table displaying the users and groups created in the application. VMware, Inc.
Page 68 What to do next The role assigned to the user defines the permission that the user has in the application. You must, however, assign roles to the user on the individual resources for him to access those resources. VMware, Inc.
Page 69 What to do next The role assigned to the group defines the permission that the group has in the application. You must, however, assign roles to the group on the individual resources for granting access on those resources. VMware, Inc.
Page 70 When you create a user, no roles or permissions are assigned to it by default. You can assign the Super User role or the Administrator role when creating the user. Alternately, you can assign a role to the user after creating the user. VMware, Inc.
Page 71 Super User and Administrator roles, and the custom roles created by him. This user can assign the roles only to users created by him and on the resources he has access to. VMware, Inc.
Page 72 IP address of the LDAP server is displayed. The page also provides an option to select a resource type. Select the required resource type from the list. Expand the resource type folder and select the resources for which you want to revoke the role on the user. VMware, Inc.
Page 73: Vcenter Chargeback User Authentication
The application URL should be of the following type: https:// IP address : port number /cbmui/ Enter the user authentication details on the login screen. Option Description The user name of a user. User name Password for the user. Password VMware, Inc.
Page 74 The Change Password screen is displayed. Enter the existing and new passwords. Option Description The existing password. Old Password The desired new password. The password must not exceed 24 characters in New Password length. Re-enter the new password. Confirm New Password Click Change. VMware, Inc.
Page 75: Managing Chargeback Hierarchies
In the Manage Hierarchy tab, click Create Hierarchy. The Create Hierarchy screen is displayed. Enter a name and description for the hierarchy. The name must not exceed 255 characters and the description must not exceed 512 characters in length. VMware, Inc.
Page 76 You can create a chargeback hierarchy by importing a hierarchy defined in a file. .csv To perform this operation, you must have a create privilege for the hierarchy resource type and a read privilege on all the vCenter Server instances whose entities are specified in the CSV file. VMware, Inc.
Page 77 The entries in the CSV file used to create a chargeback hierarchy must adhere to the format defined by vCenter Chargeback. Starting with vCenter Chargeback 1.5, a new format for the entries in the CSV file is defined. This new format is as follows:...
Page 78: Managing A Chargeback Hierarchy
Starting with vCenter Chargeback 1.5, the application does not load the entire hierarchy when the hierarchy is selected. Only when the hierarchy or an entity is expanded, the entities in the next level are fetched and displayed in the application.
Page 79 Expand the hierarchy by clicking the plus sign (+) to the left of the hierarchy name. The first-level entities in the hierarchy are displayed. You can view all the entities in the hierarchy by clicking the plus sign to the left of the entities that have sub-entities. VMware, Inc.
Page 80 If you add multiple entities at the same time, you can revert the add operation for only one of the entities. To revert the add operation for an entity, right-click the required entity and select Revert this add operation. VMware, Inc.
Page 81 Right-click the entity that you want to remove and select Delete from the pop-up menu. A dialog confirming the action is displayed. Click OK. The entity and its child entities, if any, are removed from the hierarchy. VMware, Inc.
Page 82 The attributes with their values are assigned to the entity and can be included in the chargeback report. The attribute value assigned to an entity does not get propagated to the child entities. You must individually set the value for the attributes on each of the entities. VMware, Inc.
Page 83 You must have read privilege on the hierarchy and update privilege on the chargeback hierarchical entity to perform this task. VMware, Inc.
Page 84 Expand the hierarchy by clicking the plus sign (+) to the left of the hierarchy name. The first-level entities in the hierarchy are displayed. You can view all the entities in the hierarchy by clicking the plus sign to the left of the entities that have sub-entities. VMware, Inc.
Page 85 You must have update privilege on the hierarchy to perform this task. If you have upgraded to vCenter Chargeback 1.5 and the chargeback hierarchy contains entities from vCenter Server instances added before the upgrade, then do not backdate the hierarchy.
Page 86 Right-click the vCenter Server entity and select Properties from the pop-up menu. The vCenter Server Entity Properties screen displays the vCenter Server to which the entity belongs and the complete inventory path of the vCenter Server entity. VMware, Inc.
Page 87: Managing And Configuring Vcenter Chargeback Cost Elements
You must know about the vCenter Chargeback cost-related elements to effectively create and configure a cost model. vCenter Chargeback includes the following cost related elements. Chargeable computing resource Base rate Rate factor Fixed cost Billing policy Cost model Cost template VMware, Inc.
Page 88 The number of virtual CPUs in the virtual machine. vCPU If the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector and vShield Manager Data Collector is installed, vCenter Chargeback also accounts for the following resources: The number of networks that belong to an organization or a vApp in VMware Count of Networks Cloud Director.
Page 89 In addition, you can also define fixed costs that are specific to an entity, a group of entities, or an entire hierarchy. For example, the real estate cost for physical storage of the servers. This cost differs based on the actual geographic location. VMware, Inc.
Page 90 This policy takes into account the fixed costs associated with the entity, the Fixed Cost and reserved capacity of CPU and memory, and the actual utilization of other Reservation chargeable computing resources for calculating the total cost. VMware, Inc.
Page 91 For all other resources, the user-defined allocation units are considered for cost calculation. The policy also takes in to account the fixed costs set on the entities. This billing policy is set in the VMware Cloud Director Pay As You Go - Fixed Charging Cost Model.
Page 92: Managing Cost Models
You can modify this cost model as per your requirements. You can also create and manage multiple other cost models. If you have installed the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector, vCenter Chargeback provides five more cost models: VMware Cloud Director Allocation Pool Cost Model...
Page 93 You must enter the dates in the format. If the end date is not specified, the base rates will be effective from the specified start date dd/yyyy till infinity. VMware, Inc.
Page 94 If the cost is a recurring cost, then select the checkbox under the Recurring Cost column corresponding to the specified cost. You can add and delete additional costs using the Add and Delete buttons. VMware, Inc.
Page 95 You can retain the currently set billing policies and add more policies for different time periods in the same cost model. To add another billing policy, set the effective time period, select the billing policy, and then click Set. Repeat this for each billing policy you want to add to the cost model. VMware, Inc.
Page 96: Managing Fixed Costs
The fixed costs defined in the application can be viewed and managed from the Fixed Cost page of the Manage Cost tab. Create a Fixed Cost on page 97 You must create the fixed costs that you want to charge on the entities and hierarchies. These costs can include periodically charged costs and one time costs. VMware, Inc.
Page 97 After a fixed cost is created, you can associate it with an entity, a set of entities, or hierarchies. This can be done while configuring costs at the entity level. Fixed costs can also be added to a template and then set on an entity or a hierarchy. VMware, Inc.
Page 98 Deleting a fixed cost removes it from the entities on which it is configured and does not reflect in a AUTION report. Only fixed costs that exist in the application at the time of report generation are included in the report. VMware, Inc.
Page 99: Managing Cost Templates
A name for the cost template. The character limit for the cost template name Name is 255 characters. An optional description of the cost template not exceeding 512 characters in Description length. The currency used to define the costs in the cost template. Currency VMware, Inc.
Page 100 Invalid or unwanted cost templates can be removed from the application. However, deleting a cost template does not remove the entity-specific cost settings applied on the entities using the cost template. You must have delete privilege on the cost template to delete it. VMware, Inc.
Page 101: Managing Billing Policies
Name for the billing policy. This is mandatory information. The character Name limit for the cost model name is 255 characters. An optional description of the billing policy. The character limit for the Description description is 512 characters. Select the Expression tab. VMware, Inc.
Page 102 In the Manage Cost tab, click Billing Policy. A table listing all the billing policies created in the application is displayed. Select the required billing policy from the table and click Edit. The Billing Policy screen is displayed. VMware, Inc.
Page 103: Configuring Cost At The Entity Level
Enter the time period for which you want to view the entity-specific cost configuration details. Select the required cost model from the Cost Model drop-down menu. Only the cost models on which you have the read privilege are displayed in the drop-down menu. Click Fetch. VMware, Inc.
Page 104 You can view the rate factors already defined for various computing resources for different time periods by clicking Show next to Historical values. When you click Update Rate Factors, only the defined rate factors are set on the entity. No other cost configuration is set. VMware, Inc.
Page 105: Physical Infrastructure Costing
You must repeat this procedure for each cost model that you want to configure on the entity. Physical Infrastructure Costing With vCenter Chargeback 1.5, you can define rate factors also at the host and cluster levels. You can do this from the Edit Infrastructure Cost page of the Configure Cost tab.
Page 106 (Optional) Click Show next to Historical values to view the historical base rate and rate factor values of all the computing resources for the specified time period. Specify the rate factors for the required computing resources and click Update Rate Factors. 10 Click OK in the information dialog box. VMware, Inc.
Page 107: Generating Reports
The resource usage details for this time period is considered when generating the report. The cost configuration details and applicable fixed costs for this time period are also considered when generating a cost report or cost comparison report. VMware, Inc.
Page 108 The costs displayed in the report for each entity and for each resource are the rolled-up costs at that entity level. This section also displays the actual resource utilization details at each entity level. Starting with vCenter Chargeback 1.5, this section also includes the following graphs for each entity level starting with...
Page 109: Generate A Cost Report
The entity-specific cost configuration details applicable during this time period will also be used. Ensure that the dates are entered in the mm/dd/yyyy format. VMware, Inc.
Page 110: Generate A Usage Report
You can generate resource usage reports for an hierarchy and for individual entities in a hierarchy. You must have create privilege on the report resource type and at least the read privilege on the hierarchy, chargeback hierarchical entities, and cost models to perform this task. VMware, Inc.
Page 111 Complete (default) or Basic. A basic summary includes the resource summary for the entity and its immediate child in the report. A complete summary provides the resource summary for the selected entity and all its child entities. Select the computing resources whose usage details have to included in the report. VMware, Inc.
Page 112: Generate Cost Comparison Report
The entity-specific cost configuration details applicable during this time period will also be used. Ensure that the dates are entered in the mm/dd/yyyy format. VMware, Inc.
Page 113: Scheduling Report Generation
A report generation schedule can be modified to define a new schedule. Remove a Schedule on page 116 An existing and valid report generation schedule can be deleted from the application. However, deleting a schedule does not delete the reports generated and archived as per the schedule. VMware, Inc.
Page 114 The report for the duration January to June is generated on the set date in July. The report for the duration July to December is generated on the set date in January. VMware, Inc.
Page 115 Even if a report schedule has expired, the reports generated and archived as per the schedule are available and can be viewed from the Archived Reports page of the Reports tab. VMware, Inc.
Page 116 Email a Scheduled Report A scheduled report can be automatically sent through an email to the required recipients when the report gets generated. You must have at least update privilege on the report schedule to perform this task. VMware, Inc.
Page 117 You can search for reports that are generated on the specified entity or the Entity Name ones that are not generated on the specified entity. VMware, Inc.
Page 118: Managing Reports
After a report is generated and displayed in the application, you can make few modifications to the report. Starting with vCenter Chargeback 1.5, the application lets you remove rows and columns from the generated report. You can also rearrange the columns in the report. You can chose the types of the graphs to be included in the report.
Page 119 Other than the privileges required to create a report, you must have create privilege on the schedule resource type to perform this task. Prerequisites Before you schedule a report, refer to “Scheduling Parameters,” on page 114 to learn about the scheduling parameters in vCenter Chargeback. VMware, Inc.
Page 120 SMTP server in the application, only then the report is attached to the email. Else, a link to the report is included in the email. Anybody can access the report link sent through email. vCenter Chargeback does not authenticate a user when the report link is clicked. VMware, Inc.
Page 121: Managing Archived Reports
You can search for specific archived reports by using the advanced search feature of vCenter Chargeback. Export Archived Report After a report is generated and archived, it can be exported to the required format at any time. To export an archived report, you must have at least read privilege on the report. VMware, Inc.
Page 122 The Email Report screen is displayed. Provide the email details. Option Description The email address of the recipients. The email addresses should be separated by commas. A subject for the email. Subject The body text for the email. Body Click Send. VMware, Inc.
Page 123 You can search for reports that are generated on the specified entity or the Entity Name ones that are not generated on the specified entity. VMware, Inc.
Page 124: Report Dashboard
Select the chargeback hierarchy from the drop-down menu on the left pane of the page. The collapsed view of the chargeback hierarchy is displayed. The right pane provides various details about the selected hierarchy. Click the arrow icon next to Tools below the hierarchy. The Hierarchy tools options are displayed. VMware, Inc.
Page 125 Select the report type from the other drop-down menu. Click Fetch. The Top N report for the selected entity is displayed. Select the virtual machine name to view the Cost per Resource graph for the selected virtual machine. VMware, Inc.
Page 126 Chargeback User’s Guide VMware, Inc.
Page 127: Monitoring System Health
When you move the cursor over the data collector name, a tool tip displays the name of the data collector, the name of the host on which it is installed, and the status of the data collector. VMware, Inc.
Page 128: Vcenter Chargeback Events
The information in the Event Details panel is refreshed every 30 seconds. If this panel is open, the user session does not get timed out. If the system time of the vCenter Chargeback instances in a cluster are not in sync, the Event Details tab does not display any event messages. VMware, Inc.
Page 129: Administration Utilities
Running the Database Password Change Utility You can change the vCenter Chargeback database password by running this utility. You must belong to the Administrators group. VMware, Inc.
Page 130: Vcenter Chargeback Database Management Scripts
Restart the vCenter Chargeback service and the data collector services. What to do next If you have installed the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector and vShield Manager Data Collector with vCenter Chargeback or individually installed any of the data collectors, then you must copy the file from the Installation_Directory /apache-tomcat-6.0.18/webapps/vCenter-CB/WEB-...
Page 131 You must have the SELECT and DELETE permissions on the vCenter Chargeback database tables to run the data purging scripts. Before you run the scripts, take a backup of the vCenter Chargeback database. About the Data Purging Scripts Table 9-3 lists the data purging scripts provided with vCenter Chargeback. VMware, Inc.
Page 132 Server performance statistics data that is no longer required. The stored procedure purges data in the database in batches of 50,000 rows. You can also manually run this stored procedure. This procedure must be called multiple times till it returns the value '1', indicating that the roll up is complete. VMware, Inc.
Page 133: Troubleshooting Vcenter Chargeback
Troubleshooting vCenter Chargeback VMware provides a troubleshooting utility and few troubleshooting tips for some of the common issues that you might face when using vCenter Chargeback. This chapter includes the following topics: “Troubleshooting Utility,” on page 133 “Troubleshooting Issues in vCenter Chargeback,”...
Page 134: Troubleshooting Issues In Vcenter Chargeback
If you have any standalone data collector instance running, you must provide the path of each such data collector installation. Troubleshooting Issues in vCenter Chargeback VMware provides troubleshooting tips that enable you to fix or workaround some of the issues that might occur when using vCenter Chargeback. Changed Timezone Setting Is Not Reflected vCenter Chargeback uses the timezone set on the machine.
Page 135 Solution Restart the vCenter Chargeback service. Run the command to install the certificate downloaded from the LDAP server. keytool Configure the LDAP server in vCenter Chargeback with the Enable LDAPS option selected. VMware, Inc.
Page 136 Although the memory computing resource was selected when generating a report, the memory usage and cost information is not displayed in the report. Cause A probable reason might be that the statistics collection level is not properly set on the vCenter Server. VMware, Inc.
Page 137 The System Health tab of the application lets you monitor the overall system health. The tab shows the status of the various servers, databases, and data collectors. Problem If a data collector fails, the System Health tab of the application does not show the status of the data collector as failed immediately. VMware, Inc.
Page 138 Unable to Access the vCenter Chargeback Application The vCenter Chargeback services must be running for you to access the application. Problem Although you have provided the correct URL, you are unable to access the application. VMware, Inc.
Page 139 Check whether all the relevant services are running. The following services must be started and running: VMware vCenter Chargeback Service VMware vCenter Chargeback Load Balancer Service VMware vCenter Chargeback DataCollector If Windows Firewall is enabled, ensure that port exceptions are added for the HTTP, load balancer, and HTTPS ports that are configured for vCenter Chargeback during the installation.
Page 140 Cloud Director Data Collector. Problem A VMware Cloud Director Data Collector is registered with vCenter Chargeback for a VMware Cloud Director setup. However, you are unable to configure another VMware Cloud Director Data Collector with the same vCenter Chargeback instance but different VMware Cloud Director setup.
Page 141 Solution Stop all the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector instances. Modify the host and database information for the VMware Cloud Director setup in the VMware Cloud Director tab on the Cloud Data Collectors page in vCenter Chargeback. You must modify the following properties:...
Page 142 The port number for the SQL Server named database instance has changed. TCP/IP protocol is not enabled for the vCenter Server database. Solution Check whether the database service is started and running. Check whether the database machine is reachable over the network. VMware, Inc.
Page 143 Only the groups and users defined under the specified DN in the Active Directory hierarchy can be viewed from and added to vCenter Chargeback. Problem Although you can view an LDAP user added to vCenter Chargeback, you are unable to add the primary group of the LDAP user to the application. VMware, Inc.
Page 144 You can generate your own SSL certificates by using the Start > Programs > VMware > vCenter Chargeback Tools > Generate SSL Certificate menu option. Unable to View the vCenter Chargeback Plug-In in the VI Client vCenter Chargeback can be registered as a plug-in with a vCenter Server when you add the vCenter Server to the application.
Page 145 If the vCenter Server and the VI Client are on the same machine, then when you log in to the vCenter Server through the VI Client, you must specify the actual IP address of the machine and not use localhost VMware, Inc.
Page 146 Chargeback User’s Guide VMware, Inc.
Page 147: Index
122 log level 41 manage 121 SMTP server setting 40 search 123 vCenter Server 45 view 121 VMware Cloud Director Data Collector 52 attributes vShield Manager Data Collector 53 add 57 configure cost assign 82 about 103 delete 57...
Page 148 26 information about 49 using existing database schema 22 interactive report view, modify report 118 install vCenter Chargeback Data Collector 31 install VMware Cloud Director Data Collector 33 LDAP server setting install vShield Manager Data Collector 35 configure 42...
Page 149 134 administration utilities 129 running troubleshooting utility 133 change database password 129 utility 133 database management scripts 130 troubleshooting issue 140 database password change 129 troubleshooting issues troubleshooting 133 add LDAP server 139 add vCenter Server 139 VMware, Inc.
Page 150 59 cluster installation 19 software requirements 12 configuring costs 87 upgrading 25 vCenter Server configuring settings 39 configure 45 cost elements 87 delete 47 events 128 manage 44 generate SSL certificate for 18 modify 46 hardware requirements 11 VMware, Inc.

VMware VCENTER CHARGEBACK 1.5 Manual

1 Introduction to Vcenter Chargeback

2 Installing Vcenter Chargeback

3 Configuring Administration Settings

4 Authenticating and Managing Users, Roles, and Permissions

5 Managing Chargeback Hierarchies

6 Managing and Configuring Vcenter Chargeback Cost Elements

7 Generating Reports

8 Monitoring System Health

9 Administration Utilities

10 Troubleshooting Vcenter Chargeback

Quick Links

Troubleshooting

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Summary of Contents for VMware VCENTER CHARGEBACK 1.5

Table of Contents