Virtual Machines - Capacity Analysis Report
In large virtualized farms with tons of VMs, identifying resource intensive VMs is a huge task for the administrators. It is also difficult to understand the reason behind the abnormal/excessive resource usage of the VMs - is it due to the resource hungry processes of the VMs or due to the poor resource allocation of the VMs?
The Virtual Machines - Capacity Analysis report is ideal for such environments as it enables the administrators to figure out the following:
At a single glance, you can analyze whether the VMs are impacting the physical resources of the host;
Identify the hosts to which the resource intensive VMs can be migrated; and
Check whether additional resources can be allocated to the VMs.
To generate the Virtual Machines - Capacity Analysis report, do the following:
Follow the menu sequence: REPORTS BY FUNCTION -> Domain Specifc Reports -> Virtualization -> Virtual Machines -> Capacity Analysis in the eG Reporter interface.
In the Virtual Machines - Capacity Analysis page that appears, select a criterion for analysis from the Analyze by list box. Using this report, you can analyze the capacity of the hosts and virtual machines hosted on independent virtual servers or those that are part of a segment, service, or a zone. The options provided by the Analyze by list box are discussed hereunder:
Component: Select this option to choose the component(s) from across all the managed virtualized components in the environment. For instance, for a report on the capacity of VMs on all the managed vSphere/ESX hosts in the environment, select VMware vSphere ESX from the Component Type list, select Component from the Analyze by list, and then select all the virtual hosts listed in the Component list of the Virtual Capacity report. If the Component list consists of too many components, then viewing all the components and selecting the ones you need for report generation could require endless scrolling. To avoid this, you can click the
icon next to the Components list. The Components pop up window will then appear using which you can view almost all the components in a single interface and select the ones for which the report is to be generated.Service: Select this option to generate the report for all virtual servers that are involved in the delivery of a business service. Then, select a Service.
Segment: Choose this option if the virtual servers to be evaluated are configured on the virtual hosts that are part of a segment. Then, pick a Segment for analysis.
Zone: Pick this option for a report on the status of virtual servers managed on all virtual hosts that are included in a zone. Then, choose a Zone. Also, indicate whether the virtual servers present within the sub-zones of the chosen zone are also to be considered for report generation, by selecting an option from the Include subzone list.
Next, from the Component Type list, pick the virtualized component-type for which the report is to be generated. By default, all managed virtualization platforms will be listed here.
Next, using the Timeline option, specify the period to which this report should pertain.
Note:
For every user registered with the eG Enterprise system, the administrator can indicate the maximum timeline for which that user can generate a report. Once the maximum timeline is set for a user, then, whenever that user logs into eG Reporter and attempts to generate a report, the Timeline list box in the report page will display options according to the maximum timeline setting of that user. For instance, if a user can generate a report for a maximum period of 3 days only, then 3 days will be the highest option displayed in the Timeline list - i.e., 3 days will be the last option in the fixed Timeline list. Similarly, if the user chooses the Any option from the Timeline list and proceeds to provide a start date and end date for report generation using the From and To specifications, eG Enterprise will first check if the user's Timeline specification conforms to his/her maximum timeline setting. If not, report generation will fail. For instance, for a user who is allowed to generate reports spanning over a maximum period of 3 days only, the difference between the From and To dates should never be over 3 days. If it is, then, upon clicking the Submit button a message box will appear, prompting the user to change the From and To specification.
Based on the criterion chosen from the Analyze by list, the Component list will be populated. Select one/more of the listed components to generate a report. If the Component list consists of too many components, then viewing all the components and selecting the ones you need for report generation could require endless scrolling. To avoid this, you can click the
icon next to the Components list. The COMPONENTS pop up window will then appear using which you can view almost all the components in a single interface and select the ones for which the report is to be generated.In addition to the settings discussed above, this report comes with a set of default specifications. These settings are hidden by default. If you do not want to disturb these default settings, then you can proceed to generate the report by clicking the SUBMIT button soon after you pick an option from the Component list. However, if you want to view and then alter these settings (if required), click on the
button. The default settings will then appear in the MORE OPTIONS drop down window. The steps below discuss each of these settings and how they can be customized.Pick an option from the Show VMs list box to view the current capacity of the hosts and individual VMs that are hosted in the virtualized environment. By default, the VMs option will appear in this list box indicating that the capacity of the VMs in the virtual environment can be viewed at a single glance. In order to view the current capacity of the hosts, select the Hosts option from this list. Choose the Hosts & VMs option to clearly understand the current capacity of the hosts and the corresponding VMs at a single glance.
eG Enterprise System offers the flexibility of allowing the administrators to view the VMs/Hosts that consume high/low resources from the generated report at a single glance. This can be achieved by providing the lower/higher threshold limits of your choice i.e., providing the Minor/Major/Critical values in the appropriate colored text boxes against the Low Utilization Limit and High Utilization Limit options. Doing so, whenever the VMs/Hosts violate the specified threshold values, the current capacity of that particular VM/Host will be highlighted with the corresponding color of the specified text box in the generated report. This way, you can easily identify the VMs/Hosts that consume high/low resources in your environment. By default, the values specified against the Minor/Major/Critical text boxes of the Low Utilization Limit and High Utilization Limit options will be 5/10/15 and 85/90/95 respectively.
Choose an option from the Apply Limits list box so that the values that fall in the range mentioned in the Low Utilization Limit and High Utilization Limit options will be highlighted in the generated report. By default, all the three options (CPU/Memory/Disk) will be selected indicating that the administrators can view the resource intensive/resource hungry VMs/Hosts based on their CPU/Disk/Memory utilization.
Next, indicate the report Time period.
In large environments, reports generated using months of data can take a long time to complete. Administrators now have the option of generating reports on-line or in the background. When a report is scheduled for background generation, administrators can proceed with their other monitoring, diagnosis, and reporting tasks, while the eG manager is processing the report. This saves the administrator valuable time. To schedule background processing of a report, select the Background Save - PDF option or the Background Save - CSV option from the Report Generation list. In this case, a Report Name text box will appear, where you would have to provide the name with which the report is to be saved in the background. To process reports in the foreground, select the Foreground Generation - HTML option from this list.
Note:
The Report Generation list will appear only if the EnableBackgroundReport flag in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file (in the {EG_INSTALL_DIR}\manager\config directory) is set to Yes.
The default selection in the Report Generation list will change according to the Timeline specified for the report. If the Timeline set is greater than or equal to the number of days specified against the MinDurationForReport parameter in the [BACKGROUND_PROCESS] section of the eg_report.ini file, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Background. On the other hand, if the Timeline set for the report is lesser than the value of the MinDurationForReport parameter, then the default selection in the Report Generation list will be Foreground. This is because, the MinDurationForReport setting governs when reports are to be processed in the background. By default, this parameter is set to 2 weeks - this indicates that by default, reports with a timeline of 2 weeks and above will be processed in the background.
Finally, click the SUBMIT button. The Virtual Machines - Capacity Analysis report will appear.
Using this report that is generated when the VMs option is chosen from the Show VMs list box, you can easily figure out the actual resource usage of the VMs and identify which VMs are actually resource-intensive. The generated report will list the CPU, Memory and disk usage of the host. From the generated report, you can easily identify the following:
The allocated virtual CPU and the CPU that is currently utilized by the VMs. The actual value in Megahertz and the percentage of CPU utilized will be indicated in separate columns.
The actual memory allocated to the VM and the memory that is currently utilized by the VM. The memory that is currently in use by the VM and the percentage of memory utilized will be represented in separate columns.
In addition you can view the virtual disk space that is currently allocated to each VM, the actual disk space that is utilized (in GB) and the percentage of disk space utilization.
If you have selected the Hosts option from the Show VMs list box, then the report will be generated for all the virtual hosts of the target environment. The generated report will comprise the memory, CPU and the disk utilization of the hosts in detail as elaborated in step 13. By default, the Hosts column will be sorted in ascending order. If you wish to sort the hosts in the descending order, then click on the down arrow adjacent to the Host in the generated report. Likewise, you can sort the report based on any column. To do so, just click on the measurement units displayed in each column of the report. The column will now be sorted in descending order.
If the Hosts & VMs option is chosen from the Show Criteria list box, then the report will be generated. The generated report will be a combination of the report that is generated when the Hosts and the VMs option are selected individually. In this report, you will be able to view the capacity of each individual host and the VMs that are hosted through that host.
If the Background Save - PDF option is chosen from the Report Generation list, then clicking on the Run Report button will not generate the report and display it in this page for your benefit. Instead, a message indicating that the report is being processed in the background will appear. This will be accompanied by a link that will lead you to the page that lists all the reports that are being processed in the background, and their current status. If background report generation fails for a report, you can regenerate that report using this page, or can even delete that report if need be. On the other hand, if background processing successfully completes for your report, then, you can view a PDF of the report by clicking on the
icon in that page.Using the icons available at the right, top corner of the report, you can do the following:
PRINT the report
SAVE the report as a PDF file
MAIL the report to configured individuals
Save a Data report to a CSV file
Add the report as a FAVORITE
SCHEDULE the automatic mailing of the report at configured intervals to specific recipients