Resource Pools

A VMware Cloud Director resource pool is an allocation model which determines how and when the provider virtual data center compute and memory resources are committed to the organization virtual data center.

There are three types of resource pools:

Allocation Pool - a percentage of the resources you allocate from the provider virtual data center are committed to the organization virtual data center. You can specify the percentage for both CPU and memory.
Pay-As-You-Go - resources are committed only when users create vApps in the organization virtual data center.
Reservation Pool - all of the resources you allocate are immediately committed to the organization virtual data center.

You can view, create, edit, and delete resource pools using OnApp Control Panel.

This functionality is available for users with the vCloud Organization Administrator role.

View Resource Pool

Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Resource Pools menu to see an overview of all resource pools in the cloud.
The page that loads will show the list of resource pools with their details:
- Label - the name of the resource pool
- Status - whether the resource pool is enabled or not. When a resource pool is disabled, the memory and compute resources of the resource pool are no longer available.
- Type - the type of the resource pool: Allocation Pool, Pay-As-You-Go or Reservation Pool.
- Organization - the organization associated with the resource pool
- User Group - the user group associated with the resource pool
- CPU (GHz) - the used and total CPU reservations for the resource pool, in GHz
- Memory (GB) - the used and total memory reservations for the resource pool, in GB
- Actions - click the Actions button to edit or delete the resource pool

The search box at the top right corner of the page allows you to search a Resource Pool by its label.

To view VMware Cloud Director resource pool details:

Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Resource Pools menu to see an overview of all resource pools in the cloud.
Click the label of a specific resource pool.
The page that loads will show the following details of the resource pool:
- Label - the name of the resource pool
- User Group - the user group associated with the resource pool
- Organization - the organization associated with the resource pool
- Allocation Model - the type of the resource pool
- VS Quota - the quota of VSs
- Network Quota - the quota of org networks that you can create in the resource pool
- Enabled - whether this resource pool is enabled or not
- Fast Provisioning - whether the fast provisioning is enabled for this resource pool or not
- Thin Provisioning - whether the thin provisioning is enabled for this resource pool or not
- CPU - the amount of Allocated CPU, Reserved CPU, Used CPU and percentage of guaranteed CPU
- vCPU Speed - the speed of vCPU (in MHz)
- Memory - the amount of Allocated Memory, Reserved Memory, Used Memory and percentage of guaranteed Memory
- Data Stores - the list of data stores within the resource pool. The following parameters are displayed for each of the data stores: label, disk usage, disk capacity, whether the data store is enabled or not. Click the Actions button to edit/delete a data store.

Information on the Used resource pool resources (CPU and Memory) is updated every 3 minutes by default.

Also, you can customize resource pool statistics period using the following configuration in on_app.yml file:

vcloud_stats_level2_period: <period in second>

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It is recommended to set the value between 1 and 5 minutes for effective stats gathering.

Manage Firewalls

Make sure the Manage Firewalls permission is on before managing firewalls. For more information about permissions, refer to the VMware Cloud Director Permissions section of this guide.

Firewalls are used to route VS networking traffic in and out of OnApp. Because all customer VSs are running inside the network, firewalls are required as the VS gateway.

To manage firewall rules:

Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Resource Pools menu.
Click a label of a resource pool.
Click the Manage Firewall tab.

You will be redirected to the vCloud to the manage firewall for the VCD page.

To learn how to manage firewalls, refer to Add an Edge Gateway Firewall Rule Using the Tenant Portal guide.
To learn more about grouping objects, refer to Custom Grouping Objects guide.
To get more information about security tags, refer to Working with Security Tags guide.

Create Resource Pool

Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Resource Pools menu to see an overview of all resource pools in the cloud.
Click the + button.
On the screen that appears, fill in the resource pool creation form:
- Label - specify a name for the resource pool
- Organization - select the organization that will be associated with the resource pool
- Provider vdc - choose the provider resource pool from the drop-down list
  Ensure that Provider resource pools permissions are on. For more information about permissions, refer to the Permissions section.
- Allocation Model - choose the type of the resource pool. Depending on the selected type, the compute resource options will differ:
  
  Compute Resources
  
  Pay-As-You-Go
  - CPU limit - specify the maximum amount of CPU (in GHz) that can be requested (or tick the check box below to set CPU limit to unlimited)
  - Guaranteed CPU - specify the amount of guaranteed CPU allocation (%)
  - vCPU Speed - specify the vCPU speed that can be consumed after the resource pool is created (in MHz)
  - Memory limit - specify the maximum amount of memory (in GB) which can be used (or tick the check box below to set Memory limit to unlimited)
  - Guaranteed memory - specify the amount of guaranteed memory allocation (%)
  - VS Quota - specify the number of VSs that can be created after the resource pool is deployed (or tick the check box below to set VS quota to unlimited)
  - Network Quota - enter the number of org networks that can be created after the resource pool is deployed
    CPU limit is equal to CPU quota in a bucket (memory limit - to memory quota respectively).
    Min/max amounts of CPU and memory quotas in the bucket influence boundaries, within which you can set CPU and memory limits.
    If min/max amounts of CPU and memory quotas are set to unlimited in the bucket, you can set unlimited CPU and memory limits by ticking the checkbox, otherwise, unlimited option will not be available.
    Allocation Pool
  - CPU allocated - specify the amount of CPU resources (GHz) that will be allocated after the resource pool is created
  - Guaranteed CPU - specify the amount of guaranteed CPU allocation (%)
  - vCPU Speed - specify the vCPU speed that can be consumed after the resource pool is created (in MHz)
  - Memory allocated - specify the amount of memory (in GB) allocated to this resource pool
  - Guaranteed memory - specify the amount of guaranteed memory allocation (%)
  - VS Quota - specify the number of VSs that can be created after the resource pool is deployed (or tick the check box below to set VS quota to unlimited)
  - Network Quota - enter the number of org networks that can be created after the resource pool is deployed
    
    Reservation Pool
  - CPU allocated - specify the amount of CPU resources (GHz) that will be allocated after the resource pool is created
  - Memory allocated - specify the amount of memory (in GB) allocated to this resource pool
  - VS Quota - specify the number of VSs that can be created after the resource pool is deployed (or tick the check box below to set VS quota to unlimited)
  - Network Quota - enter the number of org networks that can be created after the resource pool is deployed
  Network Options
  - Default Network Pool - choose the default network pool from the drop-down list. This network pool is used when adding isolated and routed networks to the resource pool. If there is no network pool associated with a resource pool, you will not be able to add isolated and routed networks to the resource pool.
    
    NSX-T resource pools/OvDCs (Organization Virtual Datacenters) cannot be used without a default network pool.
  Datastore Options
- - Thin Provisioning - move the slider to the right to enable thin provisioning for this resource pool
  - Fast Provisioning - move the slider to the right to enable fast provisioning for this resource pool
  - Data Store Zone - choose the data store zone which is a provider's storage policy in VMware Cloud Director from the drop-down list. The selection will be limited by the company plan's resources.
  - Disk Capacity - the size of the data store that will be created. The capacity range depends on the company plan's limits. For the Pay-As-You-Go resource pools, you can select the Unlimited (∞) checkbox. After you create a resource pool, a new data store (storage policy) will be automatically created with the capacity set during resource pool creation in the selected data store zone.
Click the Submit button.

Edit Resource Pool

Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Resource Pools menu to see an overview of all resource pools in the cloud.
Click the Actions button next to the resource pool you want to edit, then click Edit.
On the screen that appears, edit the necessary parameters, depending on the resource pool type:
- Label - specify a name for the resource pool
  
  Compute resources
  
  Pay-As-You-Go
  - CPU limit- specify the maximum amount of CPU (in GHz) that can be requested (or tick the check box below to set CPU limit to unlimited)
  - Guaranteed CPU - specify the amount of guaranteed CPU allocation (%)
  - vCPU Speed - specify the vCPU speed that can be consumed after the resource pool is created (in MHz)
  - Memory limit - specify the maximum amount of memory (in GB) which can be used (or tick the check box below to set Memory limit to unlimited)
  - Guaranteed memory - specify the amount of guaranteed memory allocation (%)
  - VS Quota- specify the number of VSs that can be created after the resource pool is deployed (or tick the check box below to set VS quota to unlimited)
  - Network Quota - enter the number of org networks that can be created in the resource pool
    
    Allocation Pool
  - CPU allocated - specify the amount of CPU resources (GHz) that will be allocated after the resource pool is created
  - Guaranteed CPU - specify the amount of guaranteed CPU allocation (%)
  - vCPU Speed - specify the vCPU speed that can be consumed after the resource pool is created (in MHz)
  - Memory allocated - specify the amount of memory (in GB) allocated to this resource pool
  - Guaranteed memory - specify the amount of guaranteed memory allocation (%)
  - VS Quota - specify the number of VSs that can be created after the resource pool is deployed (or tick the check box below to set VS quota to unlimited)
  - Network Quota - enter the number of org networks that can be created in the resource pool
    
    Reservation Pool
  - CPU allocated - specify the amount of CPU resources (GHz) that will be allocated after the resource pool is created
  - Memory allocated - specify the amount of memory (in GB) allocated to this resource pool
  - VS Quota - specify the number of VSs that can be created after the resource pool is deployed (or tick the check box below to set VS quota to unlimited)
  - Network Quota - enter the number of org networks that can be created in the resource pool
  Network Options
  - Default Network Pool - choose the network pool from the drop-down list. This network pool is used when adding isolated and routed networks to the resource pool. If there is no network pool associated with a resource pool, you will not be able to add isolated and routed networks to the resource pool.
  Datastore Options
- - Thin Provisioning - move the slider to the right to enable thin provisioning for this resource pool
  - Fast Provisioning - move the slider to the right to enable fast provisioning for this resource pool
Click the Submit button.

Delete VMware Cloud Director Resource Pool

You can delete a resource pool that contains no vApps, Org Networks, or catalogs with templates. To delete a VMware Cloud Director resource pool:

Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Resource Pools menu to see an overview of all resource pools in the cloud.
Click the Actions button next to the resource pool you want to delete and click Delete.
Click OK to confirm the deletion.

Resource Pool Data Stores

You can add new data stores and edit or delete existing data stores from the resource pool overview page at Control Panel > Cloud > Resource Pools > Label. For more information, refer to Storage Policies.

Add Resource Pool Data Stores

Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Resource Pools menu to overview all resource pools in the cloud.
Click a label of a resource pool to which you want to add a new data store.
On the resource pool overview page, click the + button in the Data Stores section.
Fill in the form that appears:
- Data Store Zone - select the data store zone in which the data store will be created
- Enabled - select the option to enable the data store. By default, all the newly created data stores are enabled.
- Make default - select the option to make the data store a default one. You cannot delete or disable a default data store.
- Disk Capacity - move the slider to specify the size of the data store. For the Pay-As-You-Go resource pools, you can select the Unlimited (∞) checkbox.
Click the Submit button to add the data store.

Edit Resource Pool Data Stores

Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Resource Pools menu to see an overview of all resource pools in the cloud.
Click a label of the required resource pool.
In the Data Stores section, click the Actions button next to the data store you want to update and select Edit.
Update the required fields in the form that appears:
- Enabled - move the slider to select whether the data store should be enabled or not
- Make default - select the option to make the data store a default one. You cannot delete or disable a default data store.
- Disk Capacity - move the slider to specify the size of the data store. For the Pay-As-You-Go resource pools, you can select the Unlimited (∞) checkbox.
Click the Submit button to save the changes.

Delete Resource Pool Data Stores

Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Resource Pools menu to see an overview of all resource pools in the cloud.
Click the label of the required resource pool.
In the data stores section, click the Actions button next to the data store you want to remove and select Delete.

Resource Pool Billing Statistics

VMware Cloud Director Buckets statistics about used VMware Cloud Director resources is gathered from VMware Cloud Director resource pools. Three types of VMware Cloud Director resource pools are used for billing statistics - reservation and allocation pools and pay-as-you-go. The bucket for these VMware Cloud Director resource pool types will include charging for the block of resources (CPU, RAM, storage, & network etc.) assigned to your user group.

Statistics are not collected on a resource pool if the compute zone is not added to the bucket.
Statistics for VMware Cloud Director external networks is generated only for networks based on vSphere Distributed Switch (VDS) port groups but not on vSphere Standard Switch (VSS) ones.

View and Generate Statistics

Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Resource Pools menu to see an overview of all resource pools in the cloud.
Click the label of a specific resource pool.
Click the Billing Statistics tab.
The page that loads will show the following details of the billing statistics:
- Date - particular date and time for the generated statistics
- User Group - the label of user group, to which the bucket is assigned. Click the user group name to see its details.
- Resource Pool - the resource pool name with the total due for VMware Cloud Director resources for the point of time specified in the Date column.
- Network Usage - the network name with the total due for VMware Cloud Director resources for the point of time specified in the Date column.
- Storage Policy Usage - the storage policy name with the total due for VMware Cloud Director resources for the point of time specified in the Date column.
- Costs - the total due for the Resource Pools and Storage Policy Usage at the point of time specified in the Date column.
- Total Amount - the total due for all Resource Pools and Storage Policy Usage for a given period of time.

To generate statistics for a particular time period:

The statistics for the selected period might be missing if the resource pool didn't exist, or statistics archiving was turned on. For information on statistics archiving, refer to the Archive Statistics section below.

Go to your Control Panel > Cloud > Resource Pools menu to see an overview of all resource pools in the cloud.
Click the label of a specific resource pool.
Click the Billing Statistics tab.
At the top of the table set Start and End time for which you want to generate the billing statistics.
Tick the Show in my timezone checkbox if you want to show billing statistics according to your profile's timezone settings.
Click Apply.

Also, you can customize resource pool statistics period using the following configuration in on_app.yml file:

vdc_stats_delay: <period in second>

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Archive Statistics

If required, you can turn on resource pool statistics archiving. If this feature is enabled, hourly statistics will be converted into monthly and then stored as an archive.

To configure statistics archiving:

Go to your Control Panel > Admin > Settings menu, and click the Configuration icon.
Click the System tab.
Configure the following settings in the Statistics Management section:
- Enable hourly statistics archiving - move the slider to the right to switch on archiving for hourly statistics. If enabled, hourly statistics will be converted into monthly and stored as archive for all the period that exceeds the time specified in the Time of hourly statistics storage (months) parameter below.
- Time of hourly statistics storage (months) - this parameter configures how long you want the detailed hourly statistics to be stored in the database before being converted into monthly statistics. The minimum default value is 2. For example, if you set this parameter to 10, the hourly statistics will be stored for the last 10 months. And everything older than 10 months will be sent to the archive (that is converted into monthly statistics).
Click the Save Configuration button to finish. Saving the configuration will restart OnApp services.

See also: