Compute zones can be used to create different tiers of service and have data stores and networks attached to them. The combination of compute resource, data store and network groups can be used to create private clouds for customers. Compute zones have types which are inherited by the compute resources in the zone. 


View Compute Zone Details

  1. Go to your Control Panel > Admin > Settings menu and click the Compute Zones icon.
  2. Click the label of the zone you're interested in. The screen that follows shows details of that zone:

    • Label - the compute zone’s name.
    • Location group - the location group where this zone is located.
    • Max VS to start at once - the maximum number of VSs which can run simultaneously in this zone.
    • Placement type - the compute resource selection algorithm, which will be used on virtual server provisioning and recovery.
    • Failover timeout - the time period for which the iterations will run during the failover if the compute resource does not respond.
    • Release resource type - shows which option is set for over-commiting RAM, CPU and CPU shares. 
    • Extended CPU Configuration - shows whether the Extended CPU Configuration is enabled for this zone.
    • Assigned Compute resources - the list of compute resources assigned to the zone.
    • Unassigned Compute resources - the list of compute resources in the cloud that are not assigned to the zone. This list depends on the compute zone type. Only compute resource that can be assigned to a compute zone of this type, will be shown here. For the details, see the Zone Types doc.


Add Compute Resource to Compute Zone

When adding several compute resources to a zone, you can arrange the servers running on particular compute resources into a paid service.  Besides, adding several compute resources into one zone provides the failover capabilities to your services.

Only compute resources of relevant type can be added to a zone. For more information, refer to Zone Types. When you add a compute resource to a compute zone, the compute resource inherits the zone's type.

To add a compute resource to a zone:

  1. Go to your Control Panel's Settings menu and click the Compute Zones icon.
  2. Click the label of the zone you want to add a compute resource to. The screen that appears will show you the list of compute resources in the cloud, organized into two lists – those assigned to the zone already, and those that are unassigned.
  3. In the unassigned list, find the compute resource you want to add to the zone and click the Actions button next to it, then click Add.

Be careful when adding new compute resources to compute zone with Extended CPU Configuration enabled. For more information, refer to the Manage Extended CPU Flags for Compute Zone section of this guide.

Remove Compute Resource from Compute Zone

  1. Go to your Control Panel > Admin > Settings menu and click the Compute Zones icon.
  2. Click the label of the zone you want to remove a compute resource from. The screen that appears will show you all compute resources in the cloud, organized into two lists – those assigned to the zone already, and those that are unassigned.
  3. In the assigned list, find the compute resource you want to remove and click  in the the Actions section next to it.
  • You cannot remove a vCloud Director compute resource from a compute zone.
  • You can only remove a compute resource from a compute zone if it currently hosts no virtual servers.
  • It is possible to re-assign compute resources only between compute zones of the same type. For more information, refer to Zone Types.

Edit Compute Zone

  1. Go to your Control Panel > Admin > Settings menu, and click the Compute Zones icon.
  2. The screen that appears will show all zones currently set up in the cloud.
  3. Click the Actions button next to the required compute zone, then click Edit. You can edit the following compute zone details:

Properties

  • Label -  Compute zone's name
  • Location group - location group to which the compute zone is assigned. You can change the already set location if there are no virtual servers built on compute resources of this zone.

  • Release resource type - compute zone's resource type. This option allows you to free up the compute resource resources and over-commit RAM, CPU and CPU shares by means of the virtual servers that are shut down. By default, the compute zone is created with the Memory Guarantee option enabled. In this case, the over-committing cannot be used. To enable resource releasing, choose either the Ballooning or Only Started VS option.

    • Memory guarantee - the actual free compute resource memory is calculated. All virtual servers residing on the compute resource will be able to start. 

    • Ballooning (KVM Compute resources only) - free compute resource memory is calculated with the ability to use memory over-committing.  

      • A virtual server may be migrated to another compute resource if there is not enough memory for it to start up on the compute resource with the ballooning option enabled. 
      • Do not use the ballooning option if there is at least one edge or storage server within the compute zone. 
      • When using ballooning option it is impossible to monitor the exact free compute resource memory as it is a floating value. Therefore some VS edit or start actions may fail.

    • Only started VS - only the memory of running virtual servers is calculated.

  • Max VS to start at once - the maximum number of virtual servers that can be started simultaneously on this compute resource (5 recommended). This option ensures that virtual servers with VIP status will be booted prior to other servers.

  • Placement type - specify the compute resource selection algorithm, that will be used on virtual server provisioning and recovery, per compute zone: 

    • Take HV with maximum free RAM (Sparse) - set this type to select the compute resource with maximum free RAM during the VS recovery. This option allows performing faster migration of virtual servers with the lesser (sparse) number of iterations during the failover.

      This option behaves in different ways, depending on the event:

      • On provisioning, the round-robin algorithm will be used on compute resource selection.

      • On recovery, the compute resource with maximum free RAM will be selected.

    • Take HV with minimum free RAM (Dense) - with this type the system selects the compute resource with the minimum required free RAM. This option allows filling compute resource as densely as possible before starting to use next compute resource in the zone. 

  • Failover timeout - the time period in minutes for which the iterations will run during the failover if the compute resource does not respond. To manage failover, refer to Manage Failover section of this guide.
  • CPU Units - edit a number of CPU units assigned to each compute resource in this zone by default.
  • Set max memory (appears only if ballooning release resource type is chosen)  - move the slider to the right to enable max memory parameter for every VS within the compute zone. The max memory parameter will be set as 90% of free compute resource memory.
  • CPU guarantee - move the slider to the right to ensure there is enough CPU on the compute zone to create a new VS. 
  • Update Compute resource CPU units - move the slider to apply the edited number of CPU units to all the compute resources in this zone.

    • Run Sysprep -  enable or disable Windows virtual server deployment without running sysprep.

      It is not possible to set VS password when creating a Windows-based VMware virtual server without running a sysprep.

    • Extended CPU Flags  - move the slider to the right to enable CPU flags functionality for all compute resources added to this compute zone.

    • Instance Package VSs - move the slider to the right if you want the zone to be used when creating Instance Package VSs only. If you enable this option, the zone will not be available in the virtual server creation wizard's Resources step for custom VSs (VSs built by setting resources manually). If this slider does not appear, this zone is inappropriate for creating Instance Package VSs.

      Note that Instance Package VSs can only be created on compute resources within compute zones where all compute resources are assigned the same amount of CPU units. If there are compute resources with different amount of CPU units set in a zone, it will not be possible to create Instance Package VSs in such zones. The reason is that CPU priority for Instance Package VSs in this configuration cannot be set to 100%, which is the default value for such virtual servers.

    • Custom Config - add or edit any custom commands you want to run when a compute zone is booted.

      The custom configs are only applicable to virtual, smart, and Baremetal compute zones.

      Integrated Storage

    • Use local reads path - minimize the network throughput dependency for read-heavy workloads. When the Use Local Read Path option is enabled, reads go over the local software bridge to a local replica of the data rather than traverse a physical NIC + switch.

4.  Click the Save button to save your changes.


Delete Compute Zone

  1. Go to your Control Panel > Admin > Settings menu, and click the Compute Zones icon.
  2. The screen that appears will show all zones currently set up in the cloud.
  3. Click the Actions button next to the zone you want to remove, then choose Delete to remove it from the cloud. You will be asked to confirm the deletion.

See also:

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