Managing reservations

A Reservation is an event in the future that represents a request to allocate a given resource OR set of resources (based on Service or System templates) for use by a specific owner (for instance, a Project, User, Department, Tenant, and so on) for a specific time period. The reservation is in the realized state from the date when it becomes effective.

Refer to the following sections for details on various tasks you can perform from this screen:

Viewing Reservations

After you add one or more reservations, click Reservations > Reservations to view them in BMC Helix Capacity Optimization. Here are the column details:

Field

Description

Status icon

Displays the feasibility or status of the corresponding Reservation.

Indicator	Status	Description
	Reservation newly created or already released/expired	The Reservation has been newly created and the feasibility has not been calculated OR the Reservation has already released or expired.
	At least a quota is exceeded by the associated tenant OR Realization mode is manual. Start date is passed but Reservation still not placed	The realization mode for the newly created Reservation is set to manual and the start date has passed without the Reservation being placed.
	The Reservation is feasible	The Reservation has been evaluated based on the Reservation Targets and is considered as feasible.
	The Reservation is not feasible because the capacity of the Reservation Target where the Reservation items has been placed will be exhausted	The Reservation has been evaluated and is considered infeasible because the capacity of the Reservation Target will be exhausted by this Reservation.
	The Reservation is not feasible because another Reservation will exhaust the capacity of the Reservation Target where the Reservation items will be placed OR This Reservation is not feasible because another Reservation will exhaust capacity of the Reservation Target - Realization mode is manual. Start date is passed but Reservation still not realized.	The Reservation has been evaluated and is considered infeasible because the capacity of the Reservation Target will be exhausted by an existing Reservation. OR The realization mode of the newly created Reservation is set to manual and the start date has pass without the Reservation being realized. Also, the Reservation has been evaluated and is considered infeasible because the capacity of the Reservation Target will be exhausted by an existing Reservation.
	The Reservation is not feasible because a Reservation Target is no longer valid OR The associated tenant is no longer a child of root domain	The Reservation has been evaluated and is considered infeasible because the assigned Reservation Target is no longer in the system.

Name

Custom name entered for the Reservation.

Unique ID generated by the system for each Reservation.

External Id

ID assigned while creating the Reservation.

Priority

Priority assigned to the Reservation.

Start date

Date from which the Reservation is applicable.

End date

Date after which the Reservation will release or expire.

Capacity Pool

Capacity pool used by the Reservation. The cell is blank if a Capacity Pool was not selected while creating the Reservation.

Requirements

Requirements for the Reservation, such as number of Virtual CPUs, CPU (speed/core fractions), Memory, and Disk space.

Status

Status for each Reservation:

Accepted: The Reservation was accepted as valid, but it is not assigned to any Reservation Target.

Pending: The user has defined target Reservation Targets. The confirmation of available resources and assignment on target Reservation Targets is still pending.

Evaluating Commit: The Reservation Target has been selected and the Auto Forecasting Service (AFS) is evaluating resource impact of this Reservation.

Committed: The Reservation Target was selected and the Reservation is now confirmed.

Realized: The provision date of a Reservation has elapsed, but the decommission date has not been reached.

Expired: The decommission date of the Reservation has elapsed, or the provision date has elapsed, and the decommission date was not set.

Declined: The Reservation request is declined. The Reservation exists, but is ignored by the Auto Forecasting Service (AFS).

Adding a reservation

Click Add Reservation and enter the following details.

Enter a Name and Description for the Reservation.
Enter the name of a Owner for the Reservation. The owner can be a User, Department, Tenant, Project, and so on.
Enter an External Id.
Select a Priority for the Reservation.
Select a Probability for the Reservation.
Select the Start date from when the Reservation of resources is effective. The Reservation is automatically realized on this date. However, all Reservations can be realized manually if the Reservation realization mode in Settings is set to Manual.
Select the End date for the date until which the Reservation is valid. You can leave the value unspecified and selected a date by editing the Reservation. A Reservation can be retired after this date.
Select the Realization mode to be used for the reservation. This value overrides the value specified in the Settings tab.
- Automatic - The reservation event will be automatically realized on the selected date.
- Manual - The reservation has to be manually realized and expired. You must click for a Reservation from the Managing reservations screen, and then click Realize to actuate the Reservation. After a Reservation is realized, click Expire to end it.
Use the HA/DR required field to specify whether High Availability / Disaster Recovery is required for the reservation. Select Yes to create a copy of the Reservation items for Disaster Recovery. The HA/DR tag is attached to the copy of the Reservation items.
Note
Use the HA/DR tag while creating a Capacity Pool using Rule based entity selection to create a Capacity Pool for Disaster Recovery.
A HA/DR compatibility rule is available out-of-the-box from the Adding-and-viewing-placement-rules-for-reservation-items page and can be enabled to ensure that items with HA/DR tag are placed on Viewing-the-details-of-reservation-targets with the same tag.

From the Add reservation items section, select one of the following options:

Use existing templates - To use an existing template. Select templates from the Reservation resource instances list.

Specify custom resources - To create templates on the fly. Click Add instance to add instances to the Custom resource instances list.

You can view and edit the following details:

Column	Description
Instances	The number of instances for each resource that you want to reserve.
Name	Name of the resource that will be used for Reservation.
Type	The type of resource instance. For example, Virtual Machine - VMware, Business Service, Virtual Machine - AIX LPAR
Requirements	Number of Virtual CPUs, CPU (speed/core fractions), Memory, and Disk space available for the corresponding resource.
OS	The operating system used by the resource. (This column is available when using an existing template only)
Tech	The virtualization technology used by the resource. (This column is available when using an existing template only)

From the Capacity Pools section, select one of the following options:
- Leave Capacity Pool unspecified - To continue without selecting a Capacity Pool.
- Select Capacity Pools - Select the Capacity Pools for this Reservation. All Reservation Targets that are associated to a pool will be used to determine the entities that are available for this Reservation. If Capacity Pools are not available for selection, use the Capacity Pools tab to add Capacity Pools to the Reservation Capacity Pools list.

Viewing details for a reservation

Click a Reservation from the table to view its details. You can complete these actions on a reservation:

Button	Description
Edit	Open a Reservation for editing. You can edit a subset of the fields that were added while creating the Reservation.
Delete or Decline	Click Delete to remove the Reservation permanently or click Decline to decline the Reservation request.
Realize	Manually realize the Reservation immediately. This option is visible only if the Reservation has not Expired or Realized AND the Reservation realization mode in Settings is set to Manual.
Expire	Manually expire the Reservation immediately. This option is visible only if the Reservation has not Expired or Realized AND the Reservation realization mode in Settings is set to Manual.
Placement	Configure the placement of resources that will be used by the Reservation. This option is visible only if the Reservation has not Expired or Realized.

Click By Item or By Template to view the resources assigned to the Reservation by the resource name OR the template name.

By Item	By Template	Column Name	Description
✅️	✅️	Name	Name of the Reservation item.
✅️		Service Name	Name of the Service used by the Reservation item.
	✅️	Instances	Displays the number of instances for the selected template.
	✅️	Type	Type of Reservation Template.
✅️	✅️	#vCPU	Number of virtual CPUs assigned per template in each instance.
✅️	✅️	CPU[GHz] / CPU[Cores]	CPU speed or number of cores assigned per template in each instance.
✅️	✅️	Memory[GB]	Memory assigned per template in each instance.
✅️	✅️	Disk[GB]	Disk space assigned per template in each instance.
✅️	✅️	OS	Operating System of the Reservation item.
✅️	✅️	Tech	Virtualization Technology of the Reservation item.
✅️	✅️	Tags	List of tags associated with the Reservation item.
✅️		Reservation Target	Name of the Reservation Target that contains the Reservation item.
✅️		Associated System	Name of the system associated to the Reservation item.
✅️		Edit/Delete	Click or to edit or delete the Reservation item.

Editing, deleting, or declining a reservation

Edit a reservation

Click Reservations > Reservations > reservationName.
At the top of the Reservation detail page, click Edit to edit the Reservation.
In the Edit Reservation page, make the required changes and click Save.

Delete a reservation

Click Reservations > Reservations > reservationName.
At the top of the Reservation detail page, click Delete or Decline.
Select Delete from the list.
Click OK to confirm that you want to delete the Reservation.
You can delete only one Reservation at a time.

Decline a reservation

You may want to retain a Reservation, but not use it in the Reservations computation. In this case, you can decline it. For example, you can decline a Reservation request if the properties of some reservation items do not match your business rules. You can decline the Reservation and edit it a later stage, instead of explicitly removing it.

Click Reservations > Reservations > reservationName.
At the top of the Reservation detail page, click Delete or Decline.
Select Decline from the list.
Click OK to confirm that you want to decline the Reservation request.

Generating a reservations schedule (with a video)

The following video (2:31) describes how to generate an individual reservation schedule from the Reservations tab, or generate a reservation schedule based on the reservation table.

Information

This video describes the functionality of TrueSight Capacity Optimization, but it is valid for BMC Helix Capacity Optimization too.

https://youtu.be/5W08CE4rkvY

You can generate and share a schedule showing details of reservations listed in your system. The schedule report includes those reservations based on the current filters applied in the Reservations table.

To generate a Reservation schedule:

In the Reservations table, click Generate Reservation schedule , located next to the Add Reservation ➕️ button.
The schedule generation starts and a progress bar is displayed.

When a Reservation schedule is being generated, the Generate Reservation schedule button is dimmed.
After the schedule is generated, a message is displayed that contains the generation time of the schedule and the icons of the available formats.
Click the icons to download the report in different formats.

You can download the result as XLSX, PDF, PPT, DOC, and HTML.
The report uses the same filters that are applied in the Reservations table. For more information, see Filters in Reservations schedule report.

Notes

The schedule results are linked to the current session. If your session is disconnected, you have to generate the schedule again.
You can schedule a report based on the Committed Reservations (Template group - Reservations) Advanced Report Template that provides a list of committed reservations for a specific time period, such as, three months. You specify the time period when you create the report. For information about the different scheduling options for reports, see Creating-reports.

Filters in reservations schedule report

When you generate a schedule of reservations listed in you system, the schedule report includes those reservations based on the current filters applied in the Reservations table, as shown in the following image:

1 - Filter applied in the reservations table. You can clear the filter to see a complete list of all reservations.

2 - Corresponding reservations schedule report showing only those reservations as per the filter.