Introduction
As VMware Cloud Director Availability 4.4 is out now, let’s talk about what features of the product are metered by vCloud Usage Meter.
Usage Meter 4.5.0.1 detects virtual machines configured for protection or migration with VMware Cloud Director Availability, where the source or destination is a replication-enabled VMware Cloud Director.
Note: The current version of Usage Meter 4.5.0.1 does not meter the latest type of migration and protection that Cloud Director Availability 4.4 introduced – vCenter on-prem/Cloud to vCenter Cloud. Though its metering will be addressed in a future Usage Meter release.
The Cloud Director Availability is available for consumption on-prem on a subscription basis and cloud providers can take advantage of it at no additional cost for workload migrations as part of the VCPP Flex Pricing model.
How is VMware Cloud Director Availability Usage Metered?
VMware Cloud Director Availability Management Appliance instance must be registered with Usage Meter by providing the appliance IP address, or hostname, and root credentials.
The Usage Meter appliance must establish a connection to the Cloud Director Availability instance to start collecting usage data related to it. Usage Meter uses port 443 for HTTPS communication with Cloud Director Availability.
How is VMware Cloud Director Availability Usage Reported?
Usage Meter 4.5.0.1 collects the number of all migrations and protections (collectively called replications) that have happened during the reporting month. The data collection is performed every hour and sent to vCloud Usage Insight for aggregation.
Migrations and protections for both powered-on and powered-off VMs are counted. After the end of the reporting cycle, the Usage Insight Monthly Usage Report shows the number of all unique migrated and protected VMs.
The unique number of protected or migrated VMs is reported against the type of migration or protection, which is one of the following:
- Cloud-to-Cloud – In this scenario, the registered VMware Cloud Director Availability is the destination of the migration or protection.
- vCenter-to-Cloud – The registered VMware Cloud Director Availability is the destination of this type of migration or protection.
- Cloud-to-vCenter – The VMware Cloud Director Availability registered with Usage Meter is the source of the migration or protection.
How is the Cloud Director Availability Usage Represented in the Usage Insight Reports?
The collected data about VMs that have been configured for migration and protection with Cloud Director Availability is sent to Usage Insight, which in turn aggregates the raw data and updates its reports every 24 hours.
The report that providers can use to gain information on their Cloud Director Availability Usage is the Usage Insight Monthly Usage Report available on Cloud Partner Navigator.
It provides an overview of what Cloud Director Availability migration or protection has been used and the number of unique VMs under migration or protection. Here is an example of the report:
Important Notes on Cloud Director Availability Usage Reporting
- If the metering fails due to VMware Cloud Director Availability not being available or Usage Meter not functioning, Usage Meter will report the last known “Protected VMs” count. This can lead to some replications not being reported in the total number of unique replications for the month.
- If there is no successful collection during the month, VMware Cloud Director Availability usage will not be reported.
