The Clusters tab helps you identify the number of additional VMs that can be added to each cluster, the total and available resources in the cluster, and manages the resources of all the hosts it contains. It also enables you to view VMs that are currently powered on and running, their CPU and memory utilization, how many additional VMs can be added to each cluster depending on the spare cluster capacity, among other details.
Data displayed in the Clusters tab provides a complete picture of cluster memory usage and contention using Memory Metrics, and helps answer critical questions related to sub-systems, like:
- Is vSphere memory management working right in my environment?
- Is vSphere page sharing mechanism used effectively in my environment? How much memory is shared?
- How much memory is over-committed?
This topic contains the following sections:
Viewing subsystem data in the Clusters tab
The Clusters tab is divided into the following sub-system views:
| View | Description |
|---|---|
| Capacity | Displays consolidated trend and saturation related metrics for the three subsystems: CPU, Memory and Storage. Also displays VM, Spare VM and Bottleneck related data. |
| CPU | Displays CPU related metrics for clusters. |
| Memory | Displays memory related metrics, including Ballooning, Swap Rate and Granted memory for clusters. |
| Storage | Displays storage related data for vCenter clusters. |
The following figure shows an example of the vSphere Clusters tab displaying Capacity view (default) metrics in the vSphere Cluster Used and Available Capacity view table.
vSphere Infrastructure view: Clusters tab
Viewing metrics in subsystem views
Different tables in the Clusters tab display detailed metrics and information for the following subsystems:
Viewing capacity metrics
Capacity view is default, and is displayed each time you access the Clusters tab.
Each row in the vSphere Cluster Used and Available Capacity view table represents a cluster and displays the following Capacity metrics.
By default, the metric tables in this view are filtered on all Domains. Use the Domain filter to select the required domain from the table.
By default, the Summarization Time Range for all metrics is set to Last 30 days. Use the Time Range controls to select an alternate range. The available options are:
- Yesterday: Display data for the previous day, excluding today.
- Last 7 days: Display data for the last 7 days, excluding today.
- Last 30 days (Default): Display data for the last 30 days, excluding today
Capacity view: Description of columns
Column | Description | Statistical Type | Metrics |
|---|---|---|---|
Cluster | Name of the the vSphere cluster. | Last value | NAME |
| Location | Location of the cluster. | Last value | LOCATION_SITE |
| Datacenter | Name of the Datacenter associated with the cluster. | Last value | Relationship DC_CONTAINS_VHC is used to get the NAME of the datacenter |
| vCenter | Name of the vCenter associated to the cluster. | Last value | VIRTUALCENTER_NAME |
CPU Utilization [%] | CPU utilization of the cluster computed by scaling the CPU MHz usage of the cluster by the effective CPU MHz available to the cluster. | 95th percentile | CPU_UTIL |
| CPU [MHz] | Total CPU available/configured on the the cluster, measured in Megahertz. | Last value | CPU_TOTAL_MHZ |
| CPU Pressure Index | A value between 0 and 100, calculated using CPU utilization and CPU ready time. This value must always be greater than or equal to CPU Utilization %. If this is much higher than CPU Utilization %, then it indicates that some VMs in the cluster are starved for CPU (high CPU ready time). See Virtual Machine view > Watchlist (VM) to identify them. For more information, see Computation details for VMware metrics. | 95th percentile | IND_CPU_PRESSURE |
CPU Daily Trend [MHz] | Daily growth rate of CPU utilization of the vSphere cluster, measured in Megahertz/day. | Trend | Computed using CPU_UTIL_MHZ over time |
| CPU Days To Saturation | Estimated number of days before the CPU capacity of the cluster breaches the configured threshold; if greater than 30 days, it will not be displayed. | NA | IND_DAYS_TO_SATURATION[CPU] |
| Memory [GB] | Total physical memory configured for the cluster, measured in Gigabytes. | Last value | TOTAL_REAL_MEM |
Memory Utilization [%] | Percentage of total memory utilized by the vSphere cluster. | 95th percentile | MEM_UTIL |
| Composite Memory Utilization [%] | Consumed memory of a vSphere host or cluster is too high, while Active memory gives too low a picture of usage. The Composite memory consumption is a more realistic estimate of the amount of memory that is effectively in use in the host or cluster. It considers both Active and Consumed memory numbers reported by vSphere, and adjusts these using memory pressure due to contention, as measured by swapping, ballooning, and the total memory over-commitment in the host/cluster. Composite Memory Utilization [%] is a percentage calculated over the total memory of the host or cluster. By default, spare VM calculation for a cluster in the vSphere infrastructure view uses memory utilization based on Consumed memory. The vSphere view has a parameter called "Spare VM calculation" in the Settings (vSphere) page by which you can use this Composite memory consumption instead for calculating spare VMs. For more information, see Computation details for VMware metrics. | 95th percentile | IND_COMPOSITE_MEMORY_UTILIZATION |
| Datastore [GB] | Total storage configured for the datastores in the cluster, measured in Gigabytes. | Last value | TOTAL_DSTORE_SIZE |
| Host Count | The total number of hosts configured in the cluster. | Last value | HOST_NUM |
| VMs On Daily Trend | Daily growth rate of powered-on VMs. | Trend | Computed using VM_POWERON_NUM over time |
| Total Spec Rating | The total SPEC benchmark performance rating of the cluster, based on the CPU model and number of CPU cores. | Last value | BYBENCHMARK_VALUE[SPECINTRATE2006] |
| Unused Spec Rating | Unused SPEC rating of the cluster, based on CPU utilization and the total SPEC rating. | 95th percentile | Computed using CPU_UTILMHZ, CPU_TOTAL_MHZ and BYBENCHMARK_VALUE[SPECINTRATE2006] |
Memory Daily Trend [GB] | Daily growth rate of memory utilization of the vSphere cluster per the current trend, measured in Gigabytes/day. | Trend | Computed using MEM_CONSUMED over time |
Memory Days To Saturation | Estimated number of days before the Memorycapacity of the cluster breaches the configured threshold; if greater than 30 days, it will not be displayed. | NA | IND_DAYS_TO_SATURATION[MEMORY] |
Datastore Space Utilization [%] | Percentage of total datastore space utilized by the vSphere cluster. | 95th percentile | TOTAL_DSTORE_UTIL |
Datastore Daily Trend [GB] | Daily growth rate of datastore utilization based on robust linear regression. | Trend | Computed using TOTAL_DSTORE_USED over time |
Datastore Days To Saturation | Number of days before the datastore saturates. | N/A | IND_DAYS_TO_SATURATION[STORAGE |
Powered On VMs | Total number of VMs currently powered on in the vSphere cluster. | Average | GM_ON_NUM |
Spare VMs | Estimated number of additional VMs that can be placed in the cluster. For details, see Spare VM Calculation. | Computed metric:
| IND_SPARE_VM[GLOBAL] |
Spare VM basis | Specifies the basis for calculating the number of additional VMs that can be placed in the cluster: TYPICAL or CUSTOM. The calculation also factors in Datastore Utilization (Storage) to calculate Spare VMs. For more information, see Specifying custom VM templates to calculate Spare VM basis. | NA | TYPICAL or CUSTOM |
Limiting Resource | The resource that limits the number of additional VMs that can be placed in the cluster. Limiting resource may not necessarily exceed threshold, it is the least available of the three resources – CPU, MEMORY and STORAGE. | Computed using 95th percentile values | Resource with lowest Spare VMs among IND_SPARE_VM[CPU], IND_SPARE_VM[MEMORY], IND_SPARE_VM[STORAGE] |
For more information on VMware metics, see Metrics collected by VMware ETLs.
For more information on the Days to Saturation and other indicator parameters used for metric computations in this view, see Indicators.
Specifying custom VM templates to calculate Spare VM basis
To specify or edit typical or custom VM template settings to calculate Spare VM basis for an average VM, perform the following task:
- Under the Spare VM basis column in the table, click TYPICAL or CUSTOM.
- Under Specify custom VM template, select any one of the following options:
- Use average VM for cluster <cluster name> based on the past 30 days: Use the default (typical) VM template to calculate Spare VM basis for the selected cluster.
Specify custom VM data for cluster <cluster name>: Enter values for the following attributes to calculate Spare VM basis for the selected cluster –
Attribute Description Custom VM name (Auto-populated) Spare VM Template Average CPU utilization [%] Average CPU utilization percentage value for the average VM. CPU core clock [MHz] Total CPU Megahertz value to use for the average VM. Number of CPUs Number of CPUs to assign to the average VM. Total memory [GB] Total memory to assign to the average VM, measured in in Gigabytes. Average memory utilization [%] Average memory utilization percentage value to use for the average VM. Average datastore utilization [GB] Average datastore utilization to use for the average VM, measured in in Gigabytes.
- Click Save.
- Depending on the values you have entered, your custom VM template might take some time to save.
- An information banner under Specify custom VM template that says Custom VM saved successfully denotes a successful save.
- Click Delete to delete the current custom VM template and return to the table.
Spare VM Calculation
Spare VMs are computed using the resource consumption of an average VM in the cluster. Average VM can be a typical VM in the cluster or a custom VM. The following table lists formulas for Spare VM calculation.
| Utilization | Formula | |
|---|---|---|
| Number of VMs that will fit in the cluster on the basis of the CPU needs of an average VM |
| |
| Expression used in the above formula | Description | |
| Total CPU capacity of the cluster (latest sample) | |
cpu_util | CPU utilization of the cluster (95th percentile) | |
| Total CPU consumed by the cluster in MHz | |
| cpu_of_typical_vm or cpu_of_custom_vm | |
| (cpu_utilmhz/gm_on_num) | |
cpu_of_custom_vm | User-specified value | |
| Number of VMs that will fit in the cluster on the basis of the memory needs of an average VM |
| |
| Expression used in the above formula | Description | |
| memory_of_typical_vm or memory_of_custom_vm | |
| Total physical memory configured for the cluster (latest sample) | |
mem_util | Percentage of total memory utilized by the vSphere cluster (95th percentile) | |
| Memory consumed by the cluster, measured in Gigabytes | |
| (memory_consumed/gm_on_num) | |
| User-specified value | |
| Number of VMs that will fit in the cluster on the basis of the storage needs of an average VM |
| |
| Expression used in the above formula | Description | |
| Total size of the datastore (latest sample) | |
total_dstore_util | Percentage of total datastore space utilized by the cluster | |
| Total datastore space used by the cluster | |
| total_dstore_used/gm_on_num | |
| Spare VM |
| |
| Limiting Resource | CPU, MEMORY, or STORAGE based on:
| |
Viewing CPU metrics
Each row in the vSphere Clusters CPU view table represents a cluster and its corresponding vCenter, and displays the following CPU metrics.
By default, the metric tables in this view are filtered on all Domains. Use the Domain filter to select the required domain from the table.
By default, the Summarization Time Range for all metrics is set to Last 30 days. Use the Time Range controls to select an alternate range. The available options are:
- Yesterday: Display data for the previous day, excluding today.
- Last 7 days: Display data for the last 7 days, excluding today.
- Last 30 days (Default): Display data for the last 30 days, excluding today
CPU view: Description of columns
Column | Description | Statistical Type | Metrics |
|---|---|---|---|
Cluster | Name of the vSphere cluster | Last value | NAME |
vCenter | Name of the vCenter on which the vSphere cluster is configured. | Last value | VIRTUALCENTER_NAME |
CPU Utilization [%] | CPU utilization of the cluster computed by scaling the CPU MHz usage of the cluster by the effective CPU MHz available to the cluster. | 95th percentile | CPU_UTIL |
| CPU Core clock MHz | Total processing capacity available to the vSphere cluster, measured in Megahertz. | Last value | CPU_TOTAL_MHZ |
#Cores | Total number of physical CPU cores available to the vSphere cluster. | Last value | CPU_NUM |
| Unused Cores | Number of unused CPU cores. | Computed metric- Based on 95th Percentile of CPU usage | Computed using CPU_UTIL and CPU_NUM |
vCPUs | Total number of virtual CPU cores available to the vSphere cluster. | Last value | VCPU_NUM |
#vCPU ON | Total number vCPUs that are currently powered on in the vSphere cluster. | Last value | VCPU_ON_NUM |
#vCPU/host | Total number of vCPUs available to each host in the vSphere cluster. | Last value | Computed using VCPU_NUM and HOST_NUM |
vCPU density | Total vCPU density, that is, total number of vCPUs per physical core, in the vSphere cluster. | Computed metric - uses average value for VCPU_NUM and CPU_NUM | computed using VCPU_NUM and CPU_NUM |
| VMs with 1 vCPU | Number of VMs in the vSphere cluster that have 1 vCPU. | Last value | Computed using VM.CPU_NUM |
| VMs with 2 vCPUs | Number of VMs in the vSphere cluster that have 2 vCPUs. | Last value | Computed using VM.CPU_NUM |
| VMs with >2 vCPUs | Number of VMs in the vSphere cluster with more than 2 vCPUs. | Last value | Computed using VM.CPU_NUM |
For more information on VMware metics, see Metrics collected by VMware ETLs.
The following image shows an example of the vSphere Clusters CPU view table.
vSphere Clusters CPU view table
Viewing memory metrics
Each row in the vSphere Clusters Memory view table represents a cluster and its corresponding vCenter, and displays the following memory metrics.
By default, the metric tables in this view are filtered on all Domains. Use the Domain filter to select the required domain from the table.
By default, the Summarization Time Range for all metrics is set to Last 30 days. Use the Time Range controls to select an alternate range. The available options are:
- Yesterday: Display data for the previous day, excluding today.
- Last 7 days: Display data for the last 7 days, excluding today.
- Last 30 days (Default): Display data for the last 30 days, excluding today
Memory view: Description of columns
Column | Description | Statistical Type | Metrics |
|---|---|---|---|
Cluster | Name of the vSphere cluster | Last value | NAME |
vCenter | Name of the vCenter on which the vSphere cluster is configured. | Last value | VIRTUALCENTER_NAME |
| Datacenter | Name of the datacenter on which the vSphere cluster resides. | Last value | Relationship DC_CONTAINS_VHC is used to get the NAME of the datacenter |
Total Memory [GB] | Total amount of memory available to the vSphere cluster, measured in in Gigabytes. | Last value | TOTAL_REAL_MEM |
| Memory Over-commitment [%] | Sum of memory configured for all the VMs in the cluster divided by the total memory of the cluster expressed as a percentage. If this number is over 100%, then the memory is over-committed. Numbers over 100% are not necessarily an indication of a problem, it indicates efficient use of virtualized resources. However, extremely high memory overcommitment could result is performance problems. The amount of over-commitment can vary in each environment based on the nature of applications and staggering of applications running on the VMs. The default low and high thresholds are 100% and 120%. You can set appropriate thresholds for your environment from the Settings page. | Computed metric - based on Last value | Computed using SUM(VM.TOTAL_REAL_MEM) and Cluster.TOTAL_REAL_MEM |
Memory Utilization [%] | Memory usage scaled by total memory of the cluster. Usage is based on consumed memory. | 95th percentile | MEM_UTIL |
| Composite Memory Utilization [%] | Consumed memory of a vSphere host or cluster is too high, while Active memory gives too low a picture of usage. The Composite memory consumption is a more realistic estimate of the amount of memory that is effectively in use in the host or cluster. It considers both Active and Consumed memory numbers reported by vSphere, and adjusts these using memory pressure due to contention, as measured by swapping, ballooning, and the total memory over-commitment in the host/cluster. Composite Memory Utilization [%] is a percentage calculated over the total memory of the host or cluster. By default, spare VM calculation for a cluster in the vSphere infrastructure view uses memory utilization based on Consumed memory. The vSphere view has a parameter called "Spare VM calculation" in the Settings page by which you can use this Composite memory consumption instead for calculating spare VMs. For more information, see Computation details for VMware metrics. | 95th percentile | IND_COMPOSITE_MEMORY_UTILIZATION |
Active Memory [%] | Sum of active memory for all powered-on virtual machines. Active memory of the virtual machine is the amount of memory that is actively used, as estimated by VMkernel based on recently touched memory pages. | 95th percentile | Computed using ACTIVE_MEMORY and TOTAL_REAL_MEM |
Balloon Memory [%] | The sum of balloon memory of all powered-on virtual machines. Balloon memory of a virtual machine is the amount of physical memory reclaimed through ballooning. | 95th percentile | Computed using BALLOONING_MEMORY and TOTAL_REAL_MEM |
Granted Memory [%] | The percentage of machine memory that the VMkernel has given to the vSphere cluster based on its memory demand. | 95th percentile | Computed using GRANTED_MEMORY and TOTAL_REAL_MEM |
Shared Memory [%] | Sum of all shared metrics for all powered-on virtual machines. For a VM, it is the amount of “physical” memory shared with other virtual machines through the VMkernel’s transparent page-sharing mechanism. | 95th percentile | Computed using SHARED_MEMORY and TOTAL_REAL_MEM |
| Overhead memory [%] | Total of all overhead metrics for powered-on virtual machines. For a VM, it is the amount of machine memory used by the VMkernel to run the virtual machine. | 95th percentile | Computed using OVERHEAD_MEMORY and TOTAL_REAL_MEM |
| Memory Swap Rate [MB/s] | Sum of the rate at which memory is being swapped out from active memory to disk and swapped in from disk into active memory. It is measured in megabytes/second. | 95th percentile | MEM_SWAP_IN_BYTE_RATE, MEM_SWAP_OUT_BYTE_RATE |
For more information on VMware metics, see Metrics collected by VMware ETLs.
The following image shows an example of the vSphere Clusters Memory view table.
vSphere Clusters Memory view table
Viewing storage metrics
Each row in the vSphere Clusters Storage view table represents a cluster and its corresponding vCenter, and displays the following storage metrics.
By default, the metric tables in this view are filtered on all Domains. Use the Domain filter to select the required domain from the table. By default, the Summarization Time Range for all metrics is set to Last 30 days. Use the Time Range controls to select an alternate range. The available options are:
Storage view: Description of columns
Column | Description | Statistical Type | Metrics |
|---|---|---|---|
Cluster | Name of the vSphere cluster. | Last value | NAME |
vCenter | Name of the vCenter on which the vSphere cluster is configured. | Last value | VIRTUALCENTER_NAME |
Datastore Count | Total number of datastores present in the vSphere cluster. | MAX | Computed based on the count of datastore entities associated with the cluster |
Capacity [TB] | Total storage capacity of the datastore, measured in terabytes. | Last value | TOTAL_DSTORE_SIZE |
Utilization [%] | Usage of all the datastores in the cluster scaled by the storage capacity of the cluster, expressed in percentage. | 95th percentile | TOTAL_DSTORE_UTIL |
Used [TB] | Total storage space used by the datastore, measured in terabytes. | 95th percentile | TOTAL_DSTORE_USED1 |
Free [TB] | Free storage capacity of the cluster. This value is computed using the formula 'Capacity' – 'Used' | 95th percentile | TOTAL_DSTORE_FREE1 |
Provisioned [TB] | Sum of the storage provisioned for all the datastores in the cluster. Just as memory storage can be over-provisioned, a small amount of over-provisioning indicates efficient use of resources. Excessive over-provisioning can cause the cluster to run out of storage resources. | Last value | TOTAL_DSTORE_PROVISIONED1 |
1 Metrics are available only for clusters that have shared datastores in them.
For more information on VMware metics, see Metrics collected by VMware ETLs.
The following image shows an example of the vSphere Clusters Storage view table.
vSphere Clusters Storage view table
Viewing vSphere cluster details
To view the details page for a particular vSphere cluster, click its (hyper-linked) name under the Cluster column in any of the view tables.
The details page for each cluster displays the following information:
Cluster details: General cluster details, such as name, type, description, and tags
Configuration data: Cluster configuration data table. The configuration data displayed under the Resource and Value columns in this table varies for each sub-system.
Related information: Links to detailed pages for Thresholds, Host details, VM details and VM Analysis. For details, see Viewing related information.
Recommendations: All available Recommendations for this cluster. The Recommendations table for the selected cluster displays the following information:
Column Description Icon Severity/Efficiency icon
Type Displays all problem types for this system, for example, Forecasted saturation, Overallocated VMs. Resources Displays all affected resources (sub-systems), for example, Memory, CPU. Description A brief description of all problem types. For example, Few resources are saturated, VM is overallocated. Recommended actions Actions to take to resolve the problem. View recommendation details 
View recommendation details for the selected problem type in a pop-up box. For detailed information, see Recommendations (vSphere).
Analysis charts: Core metrics for the selected entity are displayed as analysis charts, depending on available data. At the bottom of each chart is a link that takes you to the Data Explorer view for the specific resource type, and displays charts and information for a larger set of metrics.
To return to this page, click the <<Go to Detail Page button located towards the top-right side in the Data Explorer tab.
The data displayed in Data Explorer view charts for any resource part of this view category, is based on the time filter that is applied to the primary view in this tab. You can select Advanced time periods (other than default/basic) from the Data Explorer view for the selected resource, to view charts over a different time resolution.
For more information, see Data Explorer view for vSphere Cluster.
The following figure shows an example of the details page for a cluster accessed from Storage view.
Cluster details page: An example of detailed information for a particular cluster
Viewing related information
The Related Information section above the Recommendations table in the cluster details page contains the following links:
| Link | Description |
|---|---|
| Thresholds | The thresholds page allows you to view and manage threshold settings for the selected vSphere cluster. See Thresholds for detailed information. |
| Host details | Clicking on Host details takes you to the Host View tab, that displays information about all configured hosts in the selected vSphere cluster. See Hosts for more information. |
| VM details | Clicking on VM details takes you to the All VMs tab in the Virtual Machine View category, that displays information about all the VMs in the selected vSphere cluster. See All VMs for more information. |
| VM Analysis | Clicking on VM Analysis displays color-coded graphs for all applicable sub-system: CPU, Storage, Memory and Datastore utilization. |
Using data filter and other controls in tables
You can export and filter the information that is displayed in tables to suit your need. For instance, you can show or hide columns, filter tables on particular domains, and so on.
For more information, see Exporting and filtering tables.
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