Extracting Resource Allocation Data for Chargeback in a HP Virtual Server Environment for HP Integrity Servers

vpar 1

vpar 2

vpar 3

CPU Cores

Utilization

Allocation

Guarantee

Vpar 1

time

cores

Which usage parameter should IT use?

•Utilization – actually used by workload

•Allocation – what IT actually had to provide

•Guarantee – what IT might have had to size the box for…

Background;

• vpar 1 shares a pool of cores with other vpars

• the vpars are under automated control of

gWLM

• In vpar technology cores are assigned in

whole units

Figure 6 Choices when choosing a usage parameter with vpars

These two examples are not meant to imply that one of these parameters is always the correct one to

use. Rather, they illustrate that the choice of parameter varies from situation to situation. To highlight

this further, consider a final example shown in Figure 7 in which IT might not choose to use any usage

data at all. An IT department is deploying large numbers of very uniform servers with multiple virtual

machines. The virtual machines are the service for which business units are charged. The virtual

machines might be so commoditized and the underlying server asset value might be so small that IT

chooses to simply charge a flat fee per virtual machine, independent of usage. In this case, the data

of interest from VSE is primarily an inventory of workloads.

Host

…

Background:

• Large numbers of midrange or

blade systems with multiple VMs

• Each vm is service to be charged

to a business unit

• Servers, VMs and applications are

very standardized in the

organization

Charge based on which of the following?

• VM usage of underlying server host (CPU, memory etc.)

• flat fee per VM

Figure 7 Charging based on usage or a flat fee