Aria Operations – Dashboard to display the cost of running virtual machines (VMs) based on the t-shirt size of the VMs.

Aria Operations (formerly known as vROps – vRealize Operations) is a powerful monitoring and analytics platform for virtualized environments. One of its key features is the ability to create custom dashboards that provide real-time visibility into the performance and health of your infrastructure. These dashboards can be tailored to suit the specific needs of different teams and stakeholders and can be used to track key metrics, identify potential issues, and make data-driven decisions. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at how vROps dashboards work, how they can be customized, and some best practices for using them effectively.

The dashboard I was looking for was one to display the cost of running virtual machines (VMs) grouped by t-shirt sizes (i.e. small, medium, large) rather than by specific VM. This would provide a high-level overview of the costs associated with running VMs of different sizes, rather than focusing on the costs of individual VMs. This kind of dashboard can be useful for understanding the overall costs of running VMs in your environment and making decisions about resource allocation and optimization.

I found one dashboard created by Brock Peterson, that had all the features I needed, but it lacked t-shirt sizing. I decided to get creative and added t-shirt sizing to Brock’s dashboard, resulting in a complete and comprehensive product.

Dashboard

Installation

  1. Import the super metric at Configure / Super Metrics / Import Super Metric
  1. Click Browse... then select the file named Supermetrics.json
  2. Import Custom Groups at Environment / Custom Groups / ... / Import
  1. Click Browse... then select the file named CustomGroups.json
  2. You can change groups’ membership and requirements. The basic metrics it is set up as follows:
    Small VM – CPU less than 1 RAM < 4GB
    Medium – CPU = 2, RAM 8 GB
    Large – CPU = 4, RAM 16 GB
    X-Large – CPU >= 5 , RAM > 16 GB
  1. Edit the Policy at Configure / Policies. The policy should be vSphere Solution's Default Policy (DATE) unless a new policy was explicitly created.
  1. Enable Super Metrics: AvarageWeeklyVMcost, AvarageDailyCost, AvarageMonthyCost for Container / Departments
  1. Import the dashboard at Environment / Dashboards / Manage / ... / Import
  1. Click Browse... then select the file named Dashboard.zip 10 The dashboard should now be available in the dashboard list.

NOTE: The super metrics won’t show cost until the next cost calculation run. To manually run cost calculations to validate the super metrics, Run at Administration / Cost Calculation

NOTE: Additional objects can be added to the super metrics and to each widget and view in the dashboard.

If you come across any issues, please open a ticket!

The Dashboard project is accessible via my GitHub account here -> https://github.com/AngrySysOps/vrops_showback_cost_VM/blob/main/README.md

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