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Table Of Contents
An example of a standalone virtual machine blueprint might be one that specifies a Windows 7 developer
workstation with one CPU, 2GB of memory, and a 30GB hard disk. A standalone cloud machine blueprint
might specify a Red Hat Linux web server image in a small instance type with one CPU, 2GB of memory,
and 160GB of storage.
Blueprints can be specific to a business group or shared among groups in a tenant, depending on the
entitlements that are configured for the published blueprint .
You can add custom properties to a machine component in a blueprint to specify attributes of a machine
or to override default specifications. 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 define 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 specifies 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 specifies a range of possible lease durations, a user can select the desired lease duration
within that range when submitting 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 off. When the archive period expires, the
machine is destroyed. You can reactivate an archived machine by setting the expiration date to a date in
the future to extend its lease, and powering it back on.
You can send notification 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 filter metrics information for all
of your machines, or you can configure a vRealize Operations Manager endpoint to provide metrics and
health badges for your vSphere virtual machines.
Foundations and Concepts
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