VCF Operations Price Metrics

We've discussed VM Pricing in the past, but after reviewing VM Price metrics in VCF Operations 9, it's time for a quick update. All screenshots here have been taken from VCF Operations 9.0.

If you recall, Pricing functionality was moved from Cost Drivers to Policies back in Operations 8.16. In VCF Operations 9.0 go to Infrastructure Operations - Configurations - Policies - Policy Definition to find your Policies. Select the Policy you want to enable Pricing in and edit it.

Once there enable the Pricing Engine with the slider at the top, then define your Basic Charges. I've configure mine based on rate and allocation, meaning VMs will have prices based on what's allocated to them.

I've chosen arbitrary numbers here, configure yours as desired. I also put a daily recurring charge on VMs via Overall Charges just to show you how it works.

Once done click SAVE. You won't see VM Price metrics immediately as the Price Engine only runs once daily (7 PM CST which isn't configurable). Looking at the VM Price metrics the next day, we have the following.

The VM in question has 4 vCPU, at $4/day, that gives us a price of $16/day for CPU. Note that the metric is called CPU Price, but it's really Daily CPU Price.

This VM has 16GB RAM, at $2/day, that gives us $32/day for Memory, again a Daily Memory Price. As the screenshot above shows, this also checks out.

This VM has 908.88GB Disk, at $2/day, that gives us $1817.75 for Disk, which is called Storage Price in product. It's really Daily Storage Price.

Finally, I have a recurring Daily Charge on this VM of $20/day as shown above. Totaling these up gives us a Daily Price of $1885.75, which checks out. In product this is called Total Price, but it's really Daily Total Price.

Now, notice there is a VM Month to Date Total Price, but there is no Monthly Price, which is is really what I wanted (in order to calculate an Average Monthly Price for each VM over the past few months). So, let's build one with Super Metrics, mine looks like this (assuming a 30d month). You can get it here if you want.

{‌This Resource: ‌summary|metering|value}*30

Once enabled in your Policy, you'll now have a Total Monthly Price for your VMs. The one we've been looking at looks like this.

My VM Price is $56,572.50/month which checks out, $1885.75 x 30 = $56,572.50. Clearly these are just arbitrary numbers, be sure to set your prices as you wish. I can now use this metric in a View to get Averages via Transformations, like this.

Keep in mind that Super Metrics are only calculated at the time they are created and going forward, so you won't have history on this. It will take some time for you to start seeing VM Monthly Price averages over time, but this is how you do it. Enjoy!