7.2

An example of a standalone virtual machine blueprint might be one that species a Windows 7 developer
workstation with one CPU, 2 GB of memory, and a 30 GB hard disk. A standalone cloud machine blueprint
might specify a Red Hat Linux web server image in a small instance type with one CPU, 2 GB of memory,
and 160 GB of storage.
Blueprints can be specic to a business group or shared among groups in a tenant, depending on the
entitlements that are congured for the published blueprint .
You can add custom properties to a machine component in a blueprint to specify aributes of a machine or
to override default specications. You can also add property groups as a convenience for specifying multiple
custom properties.
Machine Leases and Reclamation
IaaS provides two mechanisms for controlling resource use and controlling costs. Leases provide access to a
machine for a limited period. By using the reclamation process, a tenant administrator can identify
underused resources and reclaim them from their owners.
Machine Leases
A blueprint can optionally dene a lease duration for machines provisioned from that blueprint.
If a blueprint does not specify a lease period, machines are provisioned from that blueprint with no
expiration date. If a blueprint species a single value for lease duration, machines are provisioned from that
blueprint with an expiration date based on the blueprint lease duration. The expiration date is calculated
from the time of the request, not from when the machine is provisioned.
If a blueprint species a range of possible lease durations, a user can select the desired lease duration within
that range when submiing the machine request. Machine requests can be subject to approval based on the
requested lease duration.
When a machine lease expires, the machine is powered o. When the archive period expires, the machine is
destroyed. You can reactivate an archived machine by seing the expiration date to a date in the future to
extend its lease, and powering it back on.
You can send notication emails to alert machine owners and business group managers that a machine's
lease is about to expire and again when the lease expires.
Users can be entitled to request a lease extension at any time before it expires. A business group manager or
support user can also change the expiration date for a machine after it is provisioned.
Reclamation Overview
Tenant administrators can use metrics such as low CPU use, low memory use, or low hard disk use to
reclaim virtual machines in their tenant and help control resources.
You can use the basic metrics provided by vRealize Automation to sort and lter metrics information for all
of your machines, or you can congure a vRealize Operations Manager endpoint to provide metrics and
health badges for your vSphere virtual machines.
You can use the metrics to identify underused machines that might be candidates for reclamation. Select the
candidate machines and send a reclamation request to the owners of the machines. The machine owner has
a xed period of time to respond to the request. If the machine is still in use, the owner can stop the
reclamation process and continue using the machine. If the machine is no longer needed, the owner can
release the machine for reclamation, in which case the machine lease is ended. If the owner does not respond
in a timely manner, a lease determined by the administrator is imposed. If the owner continues to take no
action, the machine is powered o on the new expiration date, the machine is reclaimed, and the resources
are freed.
Foundations and Concepts
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