Hi vAdmins,
Recently I have spoken to many customers about the new simplified VMware by Broadcom portfolio, specifically addressing operational management challenges.
Today I would like to shed light on the capabilities of VMware Aria Operations and the potential it offers when implementing VMware vSphere Foundation or VMware Cloud Foundation within your data center. VMware Aria Operations concentrates primarily on five pilars, essential for effective management of one or Multiple Data Centers.
VMware Aria Operations is included in VVF and VCF, so let’s start with using it!
Through a set of short demos I would like to give you more insight into the capabilities, which are available from day 1 by VVF and VCF, powered by VMware Aria Operations!
See also my previous blog post:
VMware vRealize Operations 8 part 1
VMware vRealize Operations 8 part 2
VMware vRealize Operations 8 part 3
Pillars of Operation:
Observability
Alert Notification
There are 3 types of alerts: Standard alerts that are triggered based on a trigger, Administrative Alerts that indicate, for example, that a collector is down, Intelligent Alerts: Alerts based on time occurred and relationships of objects.
In this short demo we open an alert. When you open an alert you immediately see recommendations. You can consult related alerts via a tab. Example: a virtual machine runs on resources like Compute, Storage and Network. Within this view you immediately see the status of alle the related infrastructure components. Via the Potential Evidence tab you can see other events that applied within the same time slot.
Very cool and powerful tooling, right?
Let’s continue with a visual overview and health status of your datacenter environment, by a dashboard.
This dashboard feature is very powerful because you can see the health status of your environment at a single pane of glass! VMware Aria Operations collects many metrics and can translate them visually for you. There are many use cases when a dashboard can support you by troubleshooting. This can be with a focus on Availability, Performance, Capacity, Costs, etc. Aria Operations includes a number of standard dashboards. You can also design a Dashboard yourself based on metrics.
Reports
There are many standard reports available out of the box. A report can be specified based on a selection/criteria. This can be generated periodically (automatically) and also on demand. When your report is ready you can download it in PDF or Excel format. As shown in this demo, it is also possible to mail or save the reports to a specific location on a share.
Workbench
By utilizing this functionality, users can delve into intricate problem-solving techniques to uncover potential issues. Demonstrated here is the process of examining an object (VM), revealing its interconnected infrastructure elements. By selecting a specific time frame, a plethora of insights come to light such as events, modifications, and performance metrics. Furthermore, users can easily access all events by navigating to the events section, providing a comprehensive overview effectively and promptly.
This feature enables advanced troubleshooting to find possible evidence of a problem. In this demo we open an object (VM). We then see all the infrastructure components on which this object depends. We can define a time range and then a lot of information becomes clear, including events, changes, metrics. It is also possible to request all events via the events tab. So you have a lot of information available in an overview very quickly!
One of the key advantages of this tool is its ability to swiftly remove various dependencies. This means no need for back-and-forth communication with the network team, virtualization team, storage team, and so on.
Capacity
Let’s move on to capacity management. In this demo we will assess the capacity of a data center. Next, we’ll determine if we can reclaim unused resources. In this demo we see that there are several data centers where we have >1 year of capacity available (forecast). There are also resources that we can reclaim. Some suggestions are scheduled using a scheduled job.
steps that are relevant to capacity management
The power of What-If scenarios is particularly valuable for resource planning when initiating a project. You can not only determine whether there are resources, but also allocate them for a specific or indefinite period
Let’s apply a what-if scenario, where we will assess whether 12 VMs can be added to a specific data center. In this demo we come to the conclusion that there is a shortage of CPU resources. It also outlines alternatives, the impact of moving to the public cloud and the estimated costs. We also see that there are other data centers where this workload can also land.
Demo time!
In this additional demo we will expand the capacity of our data center with a server. We will assign these to the same data center, and with this we want to ensure that there are sufficient CPU resources to add the VMs of the What-If scenario. We can then run the what-if scenario again and assess whether we can land our 12 VMs in our Data Center (in the future) or not. Ultimately, we see what impact of these actions have on capacity management and forecast
Manage and Optimize Cost
By utilizing VMware Aria Operations, you have the opportunity to effortlessly acquire a comprehensive understanding of the overall cost of ownership associated with managing your data center. This system provides an in-depth breakdown of all the expenses involved in your data center, enabling you to identify potential cost-saving opportunities. The cost allocation in Aria Operations is driven by various cost factors and policies, giving you the flexibility to either import existing settings or customize them to align with your specific costs. This level of customization empowers you to fine-tune multiple parameters, thereby enhancing the accuracy and realism of your financial insights and reporting. Furthermore, through cost analysis, you can conduct tailored evaluations on different groups and entities, allowing you to allocate or disclose expenses accurately, such as chargeback costs to individual departments. These insights also enable you to make informed decisions regarding the cost-effectiveness of deploying particular workloads either on-premises or in the cloud.
In this demo we see the total cost of ownership. We also see which costs we can potentially save and realized savings! Finally, we outline a scenario in which we gain insight into the costs involved in moving a number of VMs to a public cloud.
The power of this cost insight relates, among other things, to awareness. This has always been available in the Public Cloud, but from now on you can also view this in your On-Prem Data Center. This bit of awareness can contribute significantly to the reduction of unused resources.
Manage Configuration and Compliance
VMware Aria Operations offers a visual representation of your inventory’s compliance status by presenting compliance benchmarks that compare against a defined set of standard rules, regulatory best practices, or customized alert criteria. Through this tool, you can identify any non-compliant objects, determine the specific compliance violations, and implement necessary corrective actions.
One of the key benefits of this tool is its capability to create and manage diverse environments in a compliant manner across on-premises and cloud platforms. Additionally, it aids customers by facilitating audits for a range of certifications.
In this demo we see various benchmarks are available as standard. When opening a specific benchmark we also see the non-compliant objects. The impact is described, but also recommendations. An administrator can assign these non-compliant objects to a user within VMware Ario Operations, so that they will be compliant in the future. You can also define custom compliance and assign it to your data center based on a policy
One of the key advantages of compliance Benchmarks lies in the ability to establish all your environments, whether On-Prem or in the public Cloud, in a seamless and uniform manner. This approach prevents the formation of isolated silos and ensures that your workload is consistently and securely maintained.
Sustainability
The assessment of sustainability in digital operations via data center virtualization is facilitated by the VMware Green Score. Various parameters are factored into the VMware Green Score to ensure an accurate evaluation. Virtualization is instrumental in enhancing resource efficiency, minimizing hardware requirements in data centers, and contributing to savings in both power usage and physical footprint. These practices not only boost overall operational efficiency but also mitigate carbon emissions stemming from IT infrastructure and activities.
The Green Score comprises five main components: Workload Efficiency, Physical Resource Utilization, Virtualization Level, Power Source, and Hardware Efficiency. These elements play distinct roles in influencing carbon emissions in data centers, each carrying a unique weightage in determining the overall Green Score.
In this demo you can clearly see the Green Scores, Power Consumption, Carbon Footprint and Environmental Impact. TIP: It is also possible to create (monthly) reports.
Final thoughts
Utilizing VMware’s VVF or VCF grants access to all the functionalities detailed in this article by default. I’ve observed a lack of awareness among numerous customers regarding this robust tool. It’s my belief that not leveraging this built-in functionality represents a missed chance for optimization.
End of this post.
Disclaimer: Please note that the views expressed in this blog are solely my own and should be treated as personal opinions. This content does not hold any legal or authoritative standing.