VMware has a rich history in infrastructure management, and VMware Aria Operations (formerly vRealize Operations) continues to build upon that legacy, from vSphere to multi-cloud management, with each iteration, it continually enhancing its features, algorithms, and artificial intelligence capabilities to claim its position as the industry's premier management solution.
One of the standout features that has undergone relentless evolution is Capacity Planning, an indispensable tool for administrators seeking to effectively manage and predict workload impact, while making informed decisions regarding expansion or migration requirements. However, despite the impressive "what-if" scenarios capabilities, customers were left in the dark when it came to visualizing the committed workload impact on their infrastructure.
Since the release of Aria Operations 8.10, administrators can finally commit to a workload and witness its impact across all future capacity planning endeavors.
Let's take a closer look at how the committed scenario feature works.
First, we take a glance at our current capacity. Everything seems perfectly fine, and with our organic growth, capacity issues are not anticipated.
Next, we move on to planning a future project and adding workloads to our environment.
With the intuitive interface, administrators can input workload details manually, select similar VMs already running, or even leverage custom VM profiles (added to Operations 8.12, not shown on my environment yet) to calculate the required capacity.
As we analyze the projected workload demand, we observe that it comfortably fits within our cluster's capacity.
Drilling down into the scenario details, we gain invaluable insights into the projected demand impact over time, facilitating accurate forecasting and strategic decision-making.
However, a new critical project request arrives, necessitating an earlier start date than the previous scenario. We swiftly model the scenario based on the project's requirements.
Fortunately, our environment possesses the necessary resources to accommodate this critical project seamlessly.
To ensure a guaranteed reserved capacity for the critical project, we turn to the commit scenario feature.
By assigning a name and crucially, accurately setting the dates, particularly the start date, administrators solidify their commitment.
Returning to the capacity page, a new line emerges, reflecting the committed scenario's impact on the timeline, a visual representation of the commitment's effect.
Now, when rerunning the initial scenario, the system intelligently informs administrators that the workload no longer fits due to considering the committed scenario's requirements, even though they have not yet materialized.
At this pivotal juncture, administrators can explore additional scenarios, such as VM removal, adding ESXi hosts to the cluster, or even projecting a cloud migration plan, all to accommodate the requirements for the initial project.
Happy planning !!!
