vCenter Chargeback Users Guide

vCenter Chargeback 1.5

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EN-000429-00

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Contents

About This Book 5

1 Introduction to vCenter Chargeback 7
What Is Chargeback 7 Chargeback Solution for Virtual Environments Overview of vCenter Chargeback 8
2 Installing vCenter Chargeback 11
Hardware Requirements 11 Software Requirements 12 Prerequisites for vCenter Chargeback 13 Download and Extract the vCenter Chargeback Installer 15 Install vCenter Chargeback 15 Create a vCenter Chargeback Cluster 19 Install vCenter Chargeback with an Existing Database Schema Upgrading vCenter Chargeback 25 Services Related to the vCenter Chargeback Application 28 Accessing the vCenter Chargeback Application 29 Data Collector 29 Uninstall vCenter Chargeback 37
3 Configuring Administration Settings 39
Activate the Application 39 Configuring Generic Settings 39 Managing LDAP Servers 42 Managing vCenter Servers 44 Managing Data Collectors 48 Managing the Application License 54 Manage Report View 55 Managing Attributes 57 Manage System Health Thresholds 58
4 Authenticating and Managing Users, Roles, and Permissions 59
Resource Based Authorization in vCenter Chargeback Permissions Defined in vCenter Chargeback 60 Managing Roles 61 Managing Users 66 vCenter Chargeback User Authentication 73 59
5 Managing Chargeback Hierarchies 75
Creating a Chargeback Hierarchy 75
Managing a Chargeback Hierarchy
6 Managing and Configuring vCenter Chargeback Cost Elements 87
vCenter Chargeback Cost-Related Elements Managing Cost Models 92 Managing Fixed Costs 96 Managing Cost Templates 99 Managing Billing Policies 101 Configuring Cost at the Entity Level 103 Physical Infrastructure Costing 105 87

7 Generating Reports 107

About Reports 107 Generate a Cost Report 109 Generate a Usage Report 110 Generate Cost Comparison Report 112 Scheduling Report Generation 113 Managing Reports 118 Managing Archived Reports 121 Report Dashboard 124
8 Monitoring System Health 127
vCenter Chargeback Events 128
9 Administration Utilities 129
Database Password Change Utility 129 vCenter Chargeback Database Management Scripts
10 Troubleshooting vCenter Chargeback 133
Troubleshooting Utility 133 Troubleshooting Issues in vCenter Chargeback 134

Index 147

About This Book
The vCenter Chargeback User's Guide provides information about configuring and using the chargeback solution for virtual environments that use VMware Infrastructure or VMware vSphere.

Intended Audience

This book is intended for anyone who wants to install, upgrade, or use vCenter Chargeback. The information in this book is written for experienced Windows or Linux system administrators who are familiar with virtual machine technology and datacenter operations.
VMware Technical Publications Glossary
VMware Technical Publications provides a glossary of terms that might be unfamiliar to you. For definitions of terms as they are used in VMware technical documentation, go to http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

Document Feedback

VMware welcomes your suggestions for improving our documentation. If you have comments, send your feedback to docfeedback@vmware.com.
Technical Support and Education Resources
The following technical support resources are available to you. To access the current version of this book and other books, go to http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs. Online and Telephone Support To use online support to submit technical support requests, view your product and contract information, and register your products, go to http://www.vmware.com/support. Customers with appropriate support contracts should use telephone support for the fastest response on priority 1 issues. Go to http://www.vmware.com/support/phone_support.html. Support Offerings VMware Professional Services To find out how VMware support offerings can help meet your business needs, go to http://www.vmware.com/support/services. VMware Education Services courses offer extensive hands-on labs, case study examples, and course materials designed to be used as on-the-job reference tools. Courses are available onsite, in the classroom, and live online. For onsite pilot programs and implementation best practices, VMware Consulting

n n n n n n n n n

Activate the Application, on page 39 Configuring Generic Settings, on page 39 Managing LDAP Servers, on page 42 Managing vCenter Servers, on page 44 Managing Data Collectors, on page 48 Managing the Application License, on page 54 Manage Report View, on page 55 Managing Attributes, on page 57 Manage System Health Thresholds, on page 58

Activate the Application

When you log in to vCenter Chargeback for the first time after installation, you are prompted to enter the license key. Procedure On the Add License screen, enter the license key. Click Add.
The details about this license is stored in the application and can be accessed from the License page of the Settings tab.
Configuring Generic Settings
Before you start using the various features of vCenter Chargeback, you must configure the LDAP and SMTP servers in the application. You can optionally set the log level. These settings can be configured from the Settings tab.
Configure the SMTP Server Setting
You must configure the SMTP server setting in vCenter Chargeback to send the generated and archived reports through email. You must have the Super User role to perform this task. Procedure In the Settings tab, click General. Click Add in the Email Setting section. The Manage Email Server screen is displayed. 3 Provide information about the SMTP server that the application uses to send emails.
Option Server HostName Server Port Email Address Authentication Type User Name Password Maximum Attachment Size(KB) Description Static IP address of the SMTP server. If the sever does not have a static IP address, ensure that you provide the FQDN. Port number on which the SMTP server is listening for requests. Email address that the application must use to send emails. Type of authentication to be used to access the SMTP server. The default is Anonymous. User name to be used for authentication, if authentication type is Require Login. Password for the user name provided above. The maximum permissible file size for email attachments. The size specified is in KB.

Click Add.

The email address provided is displayed in the Email Setting section.

Property VMware Cloud Director database host VMware Cloud Director database name VMware Cloud Director database port VMware Cloud Director database username VMware Cloud Director database password Event processor job interval (in seconds) Description IP address of the VMware Cloud Director database. Name of the VMware Cloud Director database. Port on which the VMware Cloud Director database is listening for request. If no port details are specified, vCenter Chargeback considers the default database port. VMware Cloud Director database user name. Password for the VMware Cloud Director database user. VMware Cloud Director Data Collector runs a job that reads and processes the chargeback events in VMware Cloud Director. This property defines the time in seconds between two such job runs. If the time between two job runs is too large, then virtual machines that are created and removed within this time frame might not be accounted for by vCenter Chargeback during cost calculation. VMware Cloud Director Data Collector runs a job to clear failed chargeback events in VMware Cloud Director. This property defines the time in seconds between two such job runs. This property defines the time for which an unprocessed event is retained in the database. After this lifetime period, events are removed from the database because they are in an inconsistent state and cannot be processed. Inconsistency can occur due to the following reasons: n Event was generated when it was not necessary. n Event fails to get persisted in the VMware Cloud Director database.
Failed events processor job interval (in seconds) Unprocessed chargeback event lifetime (in seconds)
The Change Data Collector property screen is displayed. 4 Modify the property value and click Save.
What to do next After you modify a property value, you must restart the data collector for the change to take effect. You can test the connection to the Cloud Director database by clicking the Test VMware Cloud Director database connection link.
Configure vShield Manager Data Collector
If you have installed the vShield Manager Data Collector, you must specify the user name and password to access the vShield Manager instances. You can set this access information from the Cloud Data Collectors page of the Settings tab. The vShield Manager Data Collector cannot function if the user name and password for the vShield Manager instances are not set. After installing the vShield Manager Data Collector, the vShield Manager instances do not appear immediately in vCenter Chargeback. You can see these instances in the application only after the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector processes the vShield Manager-related events. Only users with the Super User role assigned to them can perform this task. Procedure 3 In the Settings tab, click Cloud Data Collectors. Select the vShield Manager tab. Select the property from the vShield Manager common properties section and click Edit. You can modify the job interval for the broadband statistics collector job run by the vShield Manager Data Collector. vShield Manager Data Collector runs a job that collects broadband statistics from vShield Manager for all the registered networks. The broadband statistics collector job interval defines the time in seconds between two such job runs. The Change Data Collector Property screen is displayed. Modify the property value and click Save. Select the required instance from the vShield Manager instances section and click Edit. You can modify the following settings for the selected vShield Manager instance.

Option Text Image Report Name Report Description None Description The text that you want the report header to contain. For example, the name of the organization. An image that you want the header section to display. For instance, the company logo. Ensure that the image size does not exceed 1MB. The name of the report entered when generating the report. A description of the report provided when generating the report. (default) No information is displayed in this sub-section in the report.
Repeat this step to set the information for each sub-section as required. 5 Click Title. The Title section of the report template displays nine sub-sections. Select a sub-section from the Title section of the report template. Select an option from the Title Settings section to display the required information in the selected subsection.
Repeat this step to set the information for each sub-section as required. 8 Click Footer. The Footer section of the report template displays three sub-sections. Select a sub-section from the Footer section of the report template. Select an option from the Footer Settings section to display the required information in the selected subsection.
Option Copyright Page Number Report Creation Time None Description The copyright information that you want to include in the report. Selecting this option ensures that each page of the report is numbered. Date and time of report generation. This is the system date and time on the machine on which the application is installed. (default) No information is displayed in this section in the report. This is the default selection.
Repeat this step to set the information for each sub-section as required. (Optional) Click Preview to preview a sample report on the right pane of the page. Click Save. The report view is saved and will be used when the next report is generated.
In each section, the configured sub-sections will use the space available in the adjacent empty sub-sections. A configured sub-section will first try to expand and use the unused space in the sub-section to its right, then to its left, then to its bottom, and lastly in the sub-section above it. The content of a sub-section is center-aligned. Also, the images are stretched to fit into the available space.

A chargeback hierarchy similar to the vCenter Server hierarchy with the selected view is created. The custom attributes defined on the various entities in vCenter Server are imported into the chargeback hierarchy. These attributes provide additional information about the vCenter Server entities and can be displayed in the chargeback report. What to do next You can modify a chargeback hierarchy as per your requirements. To know more about editing a chargeback hierarchy, refer to Managing a Chargeback Hierarchy, on page 78.
Import a Chargeback Hierarchy from a CSV File
You can create a chargeback hierarchy by importing a hierarchy defined in a.csv file. To perform this operation, you must have a create privilege for the hierarchy resource type and a read privilege on all the vCenter Server instances whose entities are specified in the CSV file.
Chapter 5 Managing Chargeback Hierarchies
Prerequisites Before you begin, you must ensure that the.csv file entries are in the correct format. To know more about the format of the.csv file entries, refer to Format of the CSV File, on page 77. Procedure 1 In the Manage Hierarchy tab, click Create Hierarchy. The Create Hierarchy screen is displayed. 2 Enter a name and description for the hierarchy. The name must not exceed 255 characters and the description must not exceed 512 characters in length. 5 Select Import hierarchy from.csv file. Enter the path of the.csv file or alternately you can browse the system or the network to locate the file. Click Create.
A chargeback hierarchy is created using the entries from the.csv file. What to do next You can use the created hierarchy as is or modify it as per your requirements.

Format of the CSV File

The entries in the CSV file used to create a chargeback hierarchy must adhere to the format defined by vCenter Chargeback. Starting with vCenter Chargeback 1.5, a new format for the entries in the CSV file is defined. This new format is as follows:
UniqueId, ChildName, ParentId, ChildEntityType [[, description] [, vcIP/DNS, vcEntityMoId, vCenterViewId]]

VMware Cloud Director Billing Policy Allocation Pool
VMware Cloud Director Billing Policy Reservation Pool
VMware Cloud Director Billing Policy - Pay As You Go Fixed Charging
VMware Cloud Director Billing Policy - Pay As You Go Resource Based Charging
external network receive computing resources. For all other resources, the userdefined allocation units is considered for cost calculation. This billing policy is set in the VMware Cloud Director Pay As You Go - Resource Based Charging Cost Model. VMware Cloud Director Billing Policy - Networks This billing policy is available only if the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector is installed. This policy takes in to account the actual usage for external network transfer and external network receive computing resources. For all other resources, the user-defined allocation units are considered for cost calculation. This billing policy is set in the VMware Cloud Director Networks Cost Model.
In vCenter Chargeback 1.5, you can also define your own billing policies.

Cost Model

A cost model defines base rates for the chargeable computing resources, the currency, the billing policy to be used for calculating the total cost, and special costs, such as cost for the guest operating system installed on the virtual machine. A cost model also enables you to define different billing policies for different time periods. After you define a cost model in the application, you can define rate factors and fixed costs on entities or hierarchies for the selected cost model. You can also use the cost model to generate various reports.

Cost Template

A cost template consists of entity-specific cost configuration details. These are rate factors for the chargeable computing resources and the fixed costs. You can set these values in a cost template and use the template to configure the costs at the entity level.

Managing Cost Models

vCenter Chargeback provides a default cost model called Default Chargeback Cost Model. The cost models defined in the application can be viewed and managed from the Cost Models page of the Manage Cost tab. You can start using the application by creating a chargeback hierarchy and generating basic reports using this cost model. You can modify this cost model as per your requirements. You can also create and manage multiple other cost models. If you have installed the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector, vCenter Chargeback provides five more cost models:

In the Base Rates tab, modify the base rates for the chargeable computing resources, the duration, and the effective time period. a b (Optional) To fetch the historical base rate values, select the Update for the effective period option, specify the required time period, and click Get. Click the Show link next to Historical values. The historical base rate values for the specified period is displayed for each of the computing resources. c To add another set of base rates, set the effective time period, set the base rates and corresponding duration, and then click Set. Repeat this for each set of base rates that you want to add to the cost model. You can also modify the existing base rates for different time periods.
(Optional) To create or modify the overage rate for a computing resource, select Overage and provide the rate to be charged for the allocated units of the computing resource and that for the units used beyond the allocation. Modify the fixed cost for vServices and guest operating systems in the Other Costs tab. Click Save to save all your changes.
NOTE The name of the cost model and the start dates are mandatory information and do not have any default values.

Delete a Cost Model

You can remove invalid or unwanted cost models from the application. However, you cannot delete the Default Chargeback Cost Model. You must have delete privilege on the cost model to perform this task. CAUTION If a cost model is deleted, any entity-specific cost configuration done for this cost model will also be deleted and the information cannot be retrieved. Procedure 1 In the Manage Cost tab, click Cost Models. A table listing all the cost models created in the application is displayed. 2 Select the cost model that you want to delete, and click Delete. A dialog box confirming the action is displayed. 3 Click OK.
The cost model is deleted from the application and, consequently, from the table listing the cost models.

Managing Fixed Costs

vCenter Chargeback provides functionality to create and manage fixed costs. These fixed costs provide a means to charge various resources identically. The fixed costs defined in the application can be viewed and managed from the Fixed Cost page of the Manage Cost tab.

In the Fixed Costs tab, select the required fixed cost from the Apply a Fixed Cost drop-down menu and click Add to the list. The fixed cost is added to the list of fixed costs displayed in the table. For each fixed cost that you want to include, repeat this step. If you have selected a cost template, the fixed costs included in the cost template and on which you have read privilege are added to the list of fixed costs to be applied on the selected entity. You can add more fixed costs to this list or remove existing fixed costs from the list.
(Optional) To apply an added fixed cost to the immediate child entities of the selected entity, select the corresponding check box in the Distribute column of the table. If the check box is selected, the fixed cost is applied to each of the child entities of the selected entity. However, this cost will not be applied to the selected entity. When a cost report is generated, the fixed costs on the child entities will be rolled-up to the parent entity.
Click Update Fixed Costs to set the added fixed costs on the entity. When you click Update Fixed Costs, only the fixed costs added are set on the entity. No other cost configuration is set.
Select the Enable/Disable Billing tab to configure the billing status.
Option Enable (default) Description This option enables billing on the entity for the specified time period. You can use this option if billing was earlier disabled on the entity for the specified time period. Select this option if you want to disable billing on the entity for the specified time period.

Disable

Click Update Billing. When you click Update Billing, only the defined billing status is set on the entity. No other cost configuration is set.
The cost configuration details are set on the entity for the selected duration and cost model. What to do next You must repeat this procedure for each cost model that you want to configure on the entity.
Physical Infrastructure Costing
With vCenter Chargeback 1.5, you can define rate factors also at the host and cluster levels. You can do this from the Edit Infrastructure Cost page of the Configure Cost tab. When you generate a report on a chargeback hierarchical entity or a chargeback hierarchy, vCenter Chargeback checks whether any entity-specific cost configuration is set on the entity or the entities in the hierarchy for the selected cost model. If the entity-specific cost configuration details are specified, vCenter Chargeback uses these details and generates the report. If no entity-specific cost configuration details are available for the selected cost model, vCenter Chargeback checks whether any rate factors are set at the host and cluster levels for the virtual machines on which reports are being generated. If rate factors are set at these levels for the selected cost model, then vCenter Chargeback uses the rate factors when calculating the costs and generating the report.

Computation Resources

Select the resources to be considered for calculating the costs and to be reported. You can either select Disk Read and Disk Write to be reported individually or to be reported in total as Disk Read and Write. Similarly, the data traffic over the network can be either reported separately as Network Received and Network Transmitted or in total as Network Received and Transmitted.
In the Resource Summary tab, select Include Resource Summary In Report. Select this option to include the summary of costs for the selected resources in the report. You must also select the type of resource summary to be reported. The resource summary can either be Complete (default) or Basic. A basic summary includes the resource cost summary for the entity and its immediate child in the report. A complete summary provides the resource cost summary for the selected entity and all its child entities.
Select the computing resources whose usage and cost details have to included in the report. Select Include cost summary in report to include the summary of costs in the report. The cost summary cab be either Complete (default) or Basic.
In the Details tab, select the fixed cost details, usage-related details, and other information to be displayed in the report.
Option Show these details in report Description Select this option if you want to include information about the selected cost model or the entity attributes, or information messages in the Cost Details section of the report. The selected information is displayed in the report for the selected entity and all the entities that are under it in the chargeback hierarchy. Select this option to include the usage statistics in the report. You must also select the types of information that should be displayed in the usage table in the report. Select this option to include the details of the fixed costs in the report. If you select this option, you must also select the fixed cost details to be included in the report.
Show these columns in the usage details table Show fixed cost in report

Click Generate Report.

The generated report is displayed on the right pane.

Generate a Usage Report

You can generate resource usage reports for an hierarchy and for individual entities in a hierarchy. You must have create privilege on the report resource type and at least the read privilege on the hierarchy, chargeback hierarchical entities, and cost models to perform this task.
Procedure In the Reports tab, click Create Reports. Select the required chargeback hierarchy from the drop-down menu on the left pane of the page. The collapsed view of the chargeback hierarchy is displayed. You can expand the hierarchy by clicking the plus sign (+) to the left of the hierarchy name. The first level entities of the hierarchy is displayed. To further expand, click the plus sign to the left of the entities that have sub-entities. 3 Right-click the hierarchy or entity on which you want to generate the report and select Generate Usage Report from the pop-up menu. To generate a report for multiple entities, press the Ctrl key, select each of the required entities, and rightclick and select Generate Usage Report. Do not release the Ctrl key till you right-click. The Create Report screen is displayed. 4 Provide a name and description for the report and specify the cost model, the computing resources, and the duration for generating the report.

Option Name Description User Name Report Duration Description Enter a meaningful name for the report. The character limit for the report name is 255 characters. Provide an optional description of the report. The character limit for the report description is 512 characters. (Optional) Enter the name of the user to whom the report is addressed to. Select the Generate this report now option (default) and specify the effective time period for generating the report by providing the start date and end date for the reporting duration. This reporting duration is the time period for which the usage statistics of computing resources will be retrieved. Ensure that the dates are entered in the mm/dd/yyyy format. Select the cost model to be used for generating the report. If you are generating a report for multiple entities, you can choose to use different cost models for each entity by selecting the Use different cost models for entities option and then select the required cost models for each entity. Select the resources for which the usage statistics have to be reported. You can either select Disk Read and Disk Write to be reported individually or to be reported in total as Disk Read and Write. Similarly, the data traffic over the network can be either reported separately as Network Received and Network Transmitted or in total as Network Received and Transmitted.

Select a cost model

In the Resource Summary tab, select Include Resource Summary In Report. Select this option to include the summary of usage statistics for the selected resources in the report. You must also select the type of resource summary to be reported. The resource summary can either be Complete (default) or Basic. A basic summary includes the resource summary for the entity and its immediate child in the report. A complete summary provides the resource summary for the selected entity and all its child entities.
Select the computing resources whose usage details have to included in the report.
In the Details tab, select the usage-related details and other information to be displayed in the report.
Option Show these details in report Description Select this option if you want to include information about the selected cost model or the entity attributes, or some information messages in the Usage Details section of the report. The selected information is displayed in the report for the selected entity and all the entities that are under it in the chargeback hierarchy. Select this option to include the usage statistics in the report. You must also select the types of information that should be displayed in the usage table in the report.
Show these columns in the usage details table
Generate Cost Comparison Report
You can compare the costs calculated by two different cost models on the same entity or hierarchy by generating a cost comparison report. You must have create privilege on the report resource type and at least the read privilege on the hierarchy, chargeback hierarchical entity, and cost models to perform this task. Procedure In the Reports tab, click Create Reports. Select the required chargeback hierarchy from the drop-down menu on the left pane of the page. The collapsed view of the chargeback hierarchy is displayed. You can expand the hierarchy by clicking the plus sign (+) to the left of the hierarchy name. The first level entities of the hierarchy is displayed. To further expand, click the plus sign to the left of the entities that have sub-entities. 3 Right-click the hierarchy or entity on which you want to generate the report and select Generate Comparison Report from the pop-up menu. The Create Report screen is displayed. 4 Provide a name and description for the report and specify the cost models, the computing resources, and the duration for generating the report.

IMPORTANT You must provide the schedule information. The application does not define any default values for the schedule information. 3 Click Generate Report.
The report is generated periodically as per the schedule options set. The generated reports are automatically archived and can be viewed from the Archived Reports page of the Reports tab. What to do next All active report schedule can be accessed from the Schedule Reports page of the Reports tab. A report schedule would expire only if the range of recurrence is limited with an end date. Even if a report schedule has expired, the reports generated and archived as per the schedule are available and can be viewed from the Archived Reports page of the Reports tab.
Reschedule Report Generation
A report generation schedule can be modified to define a new schedule. You must have update privilege on the report schedule to perform this task. Prerequisites Before you reschedule a report, refer to Scheduling Parameters, on page 114 to learn about the scheduling parameters in vCenter Chargeback. Procedure 1 In the Reports tab, click Scheduled Reports. A table listing all the report generation schedules is displayed. Select the required report schedule from the table. Click the scheduler icon above the table. The Schedule Report screen is displayed. 4 Enter relevant values for the scheduling parameters.

Click Schedule.

The revised report generation schedule is listed in the table.

Remove a Schedule

An existing and valid report generation schedule can be deleted from the application. However, deleting a schedule does not delete the reports generated and archived as per the schedule. You must have delete privilege on the schedule to perform this task. Procedure 1 In the Reports tab, click Scheduled Reports. A table listing all the active report generation schedules is displayed. Select the required report schedule from the table. Click the delete icon (a red cross) above the table. A dialog confirming the action is displayed. 4 Click OK.
The report generation schedule is removed permanently from the application.

Email a Scheduled Report

A scheduled report can be automatically sent through an email to the required recipients when the report gets generated. You must have at least update privilege on the report schedule to perform this task.
Prerequisites Before you perform this task, ensure that the SMTP server is configured on the application. Procedure 1 In the Reports tab, click Scheduled Reports. A table listing all the reporting schedules created in the application is displayed. Select the required schedule. Click the mail icon above the table. The screen with the emailing details is displayed. 4 Provide the email details.

Option To Subject Body Description The email address of the recipients. The email addresses should be separated by commas. A subject for the email. The body text for the email.
The email details are saved and the generated report will be attached with the email and sent to recipients when the report schedule fires. The report will be attached only if the size of the report is less than the maximum attachment size limit set when configuring the SMTP server. If the report size exceeds this attachment size limit, a link to the report is included in the email. NOTE Anybody can access the report link sent through email. vCenter Chargeback does not authenticate a user when the report link is clicked.
Advanced Search for Scheduled Reports
You can search for specific scheduled reports by using the advanced search feature of vCenter Chargeback. You can only search for scheduled reports on which you have read permission. Procedure 1 Click Advanced on the Schedule Reports page of the Reports tab. The Advanced Search screen is displayed. 2 Provide the required search parameters.
Parameter Name of Report Hierarchy name Description Name or part of the name of the report. You can either search for reports that have the specified name or the ones that do not have the specified name. Name of a chargeback hierarchy. You can search for all the reports that are generated on a hierarchy or any of its entities by specifying the name of the hierarchy. You can also search for reports that are not generated on a specified hierarchy or any of its entities. You can search for reports scheduled by a specific user or the ones that are not scheduled by the specified user. You can search for reports that are generated by using the specified cost model or the ones that are not generated by using the specified cost model. You can search for reports that are generated on the specified entity or the ones that are not generated on the specified entity.
Created by user Cost Model Entity Name
Parameter Report scheduling policy Auto-email enable
Description This is reporting duration. The permissible values are daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, half-yearly, yearly, and custom. Whether or not automatic email of the scheduled report is configured.
Specify the filters to sort the search results. You can specify two filter levels. The results can be sorted based on the report name, hierarchy name, entity name, or cost model name.

Click Search.

The scheduled reports that match the criteria specified by using the search parameters are displayed in the table on the Schedule Reports page of the Reports tab.

Managing Archived Reports
The Archived Reports page of the Reports tab displays a table listing all the reports archived in the application. This includes manually generated and saved reports as well as reports generated by report schedules. All the reports generated by a single schedule have the same name but different Created on and Billing Period values. The reports are listed in the ascending order of their creation time. You can view an archived report by clicking it.
Export Archived Report on page 121 After a report is generated and archived, it can be exported to the required format at any time. Email Archived Report on page 122 After a report is generated and archived, you can send it through email to one or more recipients. Delete Archived Report on page 123 You can clear the archive by deleting unwanted reports. Advanced Search for Archived Reports on page 123 You can search for specific archived reports by using the advanced search feature of vCenter Chargeback.

Export Archived Report

After a report is generated and archived, it can be exported to the required format at any time. To export an archived report, you must have at least read privilege on the report.
Procedure 1 In the Reports tab, click Archived Reports. A table listing all the archived reports is displayed. Select the report that you want to view. Select the output type.
The Convert Report Format screen is displayed. 4 Select the Click to download link. The application exports the report to the specified format. If the report name contains any special characters, then such characters are replaced with an underscore (_) in the exported report file name. If you have chosen to export the report to the.rtf format, an Opening filename.rtf dialog is displayed. NOTE If the temp folder in the Tomcat installation folder is deleted, the export to.rtf might fail. If you have chosen to export the report to the.pdf format, an Opening filename.pdf dialog is displayed. If you have chosen to export the report to the.csv format, an Opening filename.csv dialog is displayed. 5 You can either chose to open the file with a supported application or save the file on the system.

Email Archived Report

After a report is generated and archived, you can send it through email to one or more recipients. Prerequisites Ensure that the SMTP server has been configured, before emailing the report. Procedure 1 In the Reports tab, click Archived Reports. A table listing all the archived reports is displayed. Select the report that you want to email. Click the Email this report icon. The Email Report screen is displayed. 4 Provide the email details.

Managing Application-Related Services
All the services required for successfully running and accessing vCenter Chargeback are configured to start automatically when the machine is powered on and the operating system is started. You can also manually control these services. If the database service corresponding to the vCenter Chargeback database stops, then the data collector services stop automatically after a period of time. If the database service is started before the data collector services stop, then the data collectors will be able to communicate with the database and will not stop. If the data collector services stop, then you must manually start the data collector services after restarting the vCenter Chargeback database service. If you start the vCenter Chargeback service, before starting the corresponding database service, then you must manually restart the vCenter Chargeback service after restarting the database service. Prerequisites Before starting any of the application-related services, ensure that the database service corresponding to the vCenter Chargeback database is started and is running without any issues. Procedure 1 Select the relevant service menu from the Start > Programs > VMware > VMware vCenter Chargeback > vCenter Chargeback Services menu. The menu provides shortcuts for the following services:
VMware vCenter Chargeback VMware vCenter Chargeback DataCollector VMware vCenter Chargeback Load Balancer VMware vCenter Chargeback - VMware Cloud Director DataCollector VMware vCenter Chargeback - vShield Manager DataCollector
Select the relevant shortcut to start or stop a service from the selected service menu.
Accessing the vCenter Chargeback Application
If all the required services are running, you can access vCenter Chargeback through a supported Web browser. Procedure Click Launch Chargeback Homepage from the Start > Programs > VMware > VMware vCenter Chargeback menu. Enter the login credentials, and click Login.

Data Collector

vCenter Chargeback interacts with the vCenter Server and vCenter Server database through a data collector. The data collector synchronizes the information in the vCenter Chargeback database with that in the vCenter Server database. This release of vCenter Chargeback provides two more data collectors. These are the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector and the vShield Manager Data Collector. These data collectors enable you to integrate VMware Cloud Director with vCenter Chargeback. vCenter Chargeback support VMware Cloud Director 1.0 and the versions of vShield Manager supported by VMware Cloud Director 1.0. The VMware Cloud Director Data Collector polls the VMware Cloud Director database for chargeback events. These events details are used to call specific vCenter Chargeback APIs. A chargeback hierarchy for each organization in the VMware Cloud Director setup is created in vCenter Chargeback and also the corresponding allocation details are set on the entities. By integrating VMware Cloud Director with vCenter Chargeback, you can perform the following tasks:

In the download dialog box, click Save File.
The installer files are downloaded and saved on your system. What to do next You must extract all the install-related files from the ZIP file.
Install vCenter Chargeback Data Collector
You can have more than one data collector installed. You can install an individual data collector instance using the data collector installer. If you are integrating vCenter Chargeback with VMware Cloud Director by installing the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector and vShield Manager Data Collector, then you must install and run more than one instance of the vCenter Chargeback data collector. This ensures that the inventory and statistics information for the vCenter Server instances added to VMware Cloud Director and vCenter Chargeback is synchronised and available in the vCenter Chargeback database even if a data collector instance fails. Prerequisites Before you start the installation, ensure that the system time of the machine on which the data collector is being installed is the same as the vCenter Chargeback and vCenter Chargeback database system time. That is, the system time of all these machines are in sync. Procedure Run the vCenter-CB-DC.exe file. Click Next on the Introduction screen.
Accept the end-user license agreement, and click Next. (Optional) If a data collector instance exists on the machine, you can either create a new instance or upgrade the existing instance. a b Select the required option. (Optional) Provide a unique name for the instance. The default name is DataCollector. Ensure that the data collector instance name contains only ASCII characters. The installer does not prompt for a name if you are upgrading an existing data collector instance. c Click Next.
Provide the path for the installation directory, and click Next. If the specified installation directory exists, ensure that it is empty. If the specified installation directory does not exist, the installer creates the directory. The install path must contain at least one folder. You cannot provide only the drive name. Also, the directory path must contain only ASCII characters.
Provide the details of the vCenter Chargeback database that the data collector must synchronize with the vCenter Server databases, and click Next.
The installer connects to the database and checks whether a vCenter Chargeback schema is present. 7 Review the information displayed on the Pre-Installation Summary screen, and click Install. The installer starts installing the data collector. If the installation is successful, the URL for accessing vCenter Chargeback is displayed. 8 Note this URL, and click Done. NOTE If the installation fails, the uninstaller starts automatically and removes all the components installed. What to do next After you install a separate data collector, the Data Collector service starts and runs automatically. You can manually start and stop the service from the Start > Programs > VMware > VMware vCenter Chargeback menu.

Uninstall vCenter Chargeback
If you do not require a vCenter Chargeback instance, you can uninstall the instance. When you uninstall a vCenter Chargeback instance, the corresponding load balancer, if installed with the instance, and all the embedded data collector instances are also uninstalled. You can optionally delete the corresponding database schema and the vCenter Server plug-ins.
Prerequisites If you want to uninstall the vCenter Chargeback instance that was initially installed and is part of a cluster, you must first uninstall all the other vCenter Chargeback instances in the cluster before this instance is uninstalled. That is, the vCenter Chargeback instance that includes the load balancer must not be uninstalled before other instances from the cluster are uninstalled. Procedure 1 Start the uninstaller from the Start > Programs > VMware > VMware vCenter Chargeback > Uninstall VMware vCenter Chargeback menu. Do not remove the application using Add/Remove Programs. The application is not removed cleanly and you might have to manually delete some files that were not deleted during the uninstall process. 4 Select the required options and click Uninstall. Click OK to confirm the uninstallation. Click Done.
What to do next If you uninstall an instance that is part of a cluster, ensure that you manually remove the entries corresponding to the instance from the worker.properties file located at Installation_Directory\Apache2.2\conf\. For example, if the instance name is chargeTest, you must remove the following section from the worker.properties file:
# Set properties for chargeTest (ajp99) worker.chargeTest.type=ajp99 worker.chargeTest.host=90.0.1.1 worker.chargeTest.port=8009 worker.chargeTest.lbfactor=1
The entry (ajp99), in this case, is the AJP port of the load balancer. You must also remove the instance name from the list of instances included in the worker.balancer.balance_workers parameter under the Define the LB worker section. For the example suggested in the previous step, the entry might be as follows:
# Define the LB worker worker.balancer.type=lb worker.balancer.sticky_session = 1 worker.balancer.method=R worker.balancer.balance_workers=worker1,worker2,chargeTest,sample0
Delete the chargeTest entry from the list of instances.
Configuring Administration Settings
As an administrative user, you can perform various administrative tasks, such as configuring the LDAP and SMTP servers in the application and adding as well as updating vCenter Server information. To perform these administrative tasks, you must have the Super User or Administrator role. The user account details provided during the installation has the Super User role defined on it. Log in to the application by using this administrative user account. This chapter includes the following topics:

View Data Collectors on page 55 vCenter Chargeback stores and displays information about each data collector registered with the application. The data collectors registered with the application and their corresponding details can be viewed from the Settings tab.
Enable Data Collector on page 57 If a data collector registered with the application is disabled, you can enable it from the application. Disable Data Collector on page 57 When a data collector is installed, it is registered with the application and is enabled by default. If you do not want to use a data collector, you can disable it from the application.
Delete Data Collector on page 57 A data collector registered with the application can be removed or deleted. Configure VMware Cloud Director Data Collector on page 58 If you have installed the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector, you must configure its properties from the Cloud Data Collectors page of the Settings tab.
Configure vShield Manager Data Collector on page 59 If you have installed the vShield Manager Data Collector, you must specify the user name and password to access the vShield Manager instances. You can set this access information from the Cloud Data Collectors page of the Settings tab.
Modify Super User Password for Cloud Data Collectors on page 60 If you change the password of the super user that was used when installing the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector and vShield Manager Data Collector, you must change the same from the Cloud Data Collectors page to ensure that the data collectors function correctly.

View Data Collectors

vCenter Chargeback stores and displays information about each data collector registered with the application. The data collectors registered with the application and their corresponding details can be viewed from the Settings tab. Procedure Click the Settings tab. Click Data Collectors.
A table listing all the data collectors registered with the application and their corresponding details is displayed.
Registered Data Collectors
The Data Collectors page displays a table listing all the synchronization jobs that each registered data collector is running for each vCenter Server added to the application. If multiple data collectors are running, synchronization jobs are equally distributed among them. Table 3-1 lists the information displayed on the Data Collectors page. Table 3-1. Information About Data Collectors Registered in the Application
Information Type Data Collector ID Data Collector Heart Beat Description The ID of the data collector defined in vCenter Chargeback. The time stamp when the data collector was last known to be running. The data collector updates this information with vCenter Chargeback every 30 seconds. If vCenter Chargeback does not receive any update from the data collector for more than 150 seconds, then vCenter Chargeback considers the data collector to be down and reassigns the all jobs to another running data collector, if any. The name of the machine on which the data collector is running. Indicates if the data collector is enabled or disabled. The name of the data collector provided during the installation. The display name of the vCenter Server added to the application.

Procedure 3 In the Settings tab, click Cloud Data Collectors. Select the vShield Manager tab. Select the property from the vShield Manager common properties section and click Edit. You can modify the job interval for the broadband statistics collector job run by the vShield Manager Data Collector. vShield Manager Data Collector runs a job that collects broadband statistics from vShield Manager for all the registered networks. The broadband statistics collector job interval defines the time in seconds between two such job runs. The Change Data Collector Property screen is displayed. Modify the property value and click Save. Select the required instance from the vShield Manager instances section and click Edit. You can modify the following settings for the selected vShield Manager instance.
Property Host User name Password Confirm password Description Host name or IP address of the vShield Manager instance. User name used to connect to the vShield Manager instance. Password for the user. Password for the user.
The Edit vShield Manager Setting screen is displayed. 6 Modify the property value and click Save.
What to do next If you modify the Broadband statistics collector job interval property value, you must restart the data collector for the change to take effect. You need not restart the data collector if you have made modifications only to the vShield Manager instances.
Modify Super User Password for Cloud Data Collectors
If you change the password of the super user that was used when installing the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector and vShield Manager Data Collector, you must change the same from the Cloud Data Collectors page to ensure that the data collectors function correctly. You must have the Super User role to perform this task. Procedure On the Settings tab, click Cloud Data Collectors. Click Change password for 'superuser' for these data collectors link. Here, superuser is the user name used when installing vCenter Chargeback. The Change Password screen is displayed. 5 Enter the new password. Confirm the new password. Click Change Password.
What to do next You must restart the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector after changing the password.
Managing the Application License
If you have the Super User role, you can view the details of the current vCenter Chargeback application license by clicking License on the Settings tab. The following table lists the license information displayed on the License page. Table 3-2. License Information
License Information License Key License Type Activated On Expiry Date Count Type Description The current license key used to access the application. The type of license used to access the application. The date and time when the application was activated using the current license key. The date on which the existing license will expire. vCenter Chargeback provides a CPU-based or VM-based licensing. This entry defines whether the license in based on the number of CPUs or the number of virtual machines in your virtual environment that is accounted for using this vCenter Chargeback setup. This entry indicates the current number of ESX host CPUs or the virtual machines running on the ESX hosts that are accounted for by using your vCenter Chargeback setup. This entry indicates the maximum number of ESX host CPUs or the virtual machines running on the ESX hosts that can be accounted for by using your vCenter Chargeback setup. This maximum limit is defined in the license. Whether the current license is valid or not.

Administrator Role

Table 4-4 lists the permissions defined in the Administrator role for each of the resource type. Table 4-4. Permissions Defined on the Administrator Role
Resource Type VMware vCenter Server Data Collector LDAP Server SMTP Server Chargeback Hierarchy Chargeback Hierarchical Entity Attribute Tier Cost Model Cost Template Fixed Cost Report Schedule Create Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Read Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Update Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Delete Yes No Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Entity Cost Modify No No No No No Yes No Yes No No No No No
Table 4-4. Permissions Defined on the Administrator Role (Continued)
Resource Type Role Billing Policy Create Yes Yes Read Yes Yes Update Yes Yes Delete Yes Yes Entity Cost Modify No No

Hierarchy Manager Role

Table 4-5 lists the permissions defined in the Hierarchy Manager role for each of the resource type. Table 4-5. Permissions Defined on the Hierarchy Manager Role
Resource Type VMware vCenter Server Data Collector LDAP Server SMTP Server Chargeback Hierarchy Chargeback Hierarchical Entity Attribute Tier Cost Model Cost Template Fixed Cost Report Schedule Role Billing Policy Create No No No No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Read Yes No No No Yes Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Update No No No No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Delete No No No No Yes Yes No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Entity Cost Modify No No No No No Yes No No No No No No No No No

Report Generator Role

Table 4-6 lists the permissions defined in the Report Generator role for each of the resource type. Table 4-6. Permissions Defined on the Report Generator Role
Resource Type VMware vCenter Server Data Collector LDAP Server SMTP Server Chargeback Hierarchy Create No No No No No Read No No No No Yes Update No No No No No Delete No No No No No Entity Cost Modify No No No No No
Table 4-6. Permissions Defined on the Report Generator Role (Continued)
Resource Type Chargeback Hierarchical Entity Attribute Tier Cost Model Cost Template Fixed Cost Report Schedule Role Billing Policy Create No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Read Yes Yes No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Update No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Delete No No No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No Yes Entity Cost Modify Yes No No No No No No No No No

Delete User

You can remove invalid or unused users from the application. However, you cannot delete the user that is created during installation. You must have the Super User role or the Administrator role to perform this task. If you have the Administrator role, then you can delete only the users that you have created. Procedure 1 In the Users & Roles tab, click Users. A table listing all the users created in the application is displayed. 2 Select the user that you want to delete, and click Delete.
If the selected user has the Administrator or Super User role and has created other users in the application, the Delete User screen is displayed. You can reassign the users created by the selected user to another administrator or super user. Select the administrator or super user to whom the users have to be reassigned. If the users does not have the Administrator or Super User role or has not created any users in the application, then a dialog confirming the deletion is displayed.

Click OK.

The user is deleted from the application. The resources created by this user are assigned to the administrator or super user who created the user.
Assign a Role to a User on vCenter Chargeback
The role assigned to the user on vCenter Chargeback defines the actions that the user can perform in the application. A user must have a role assigned to him on vCenter Chargeback or on the resource defined in the application to enable him to perform some actions in the application. When you create a user, no roles or permissions are assigned to it by default. You can assign the Super User role or the Administrator role when creating the user. Alternately, you can assign a role to the user after creating the user.
You can assign only a single role to a user on vCenter Chargeback. If the user already has a role assigned to it, the same is removed and the new role is set on the user. Only a user with the Super User role can assign the Super User role or the Administrator role to a user on vCenter Chargeback. You must have the Super User role or the Administrator role to perform this task. NOTE If you assign a role to an LDAP group for a resource, then the LDAP users belonging to the LDAP group will be assigned the same role on the resources. However, the LDAP user cannot perform any action on the resources, if the LDAP group does not have at least read privileges on the various resource types at the vCenter Chargeback level. Procedure 1 In the Users & Roles tab, click Permissions. A page listing the users, their type, whether the user has the Super User role or the Administrator role, and if the user is a vCenter Server user then the vCenter Server name or if the user is an LDAP user or group then the IP address of the LDAP server is displayed. The page also provides an option to select a resource type. 2 Select the user from the table listing the users. If any role has already been assigned to the user on vCenter Chargeback, the same is displayed under Currently Assigned Role. 3 Select the required role from the menu under Set/Reset Role. Ensure that you do not select any resource on the left-side pane. NOTE You cannot assign the Super User role on a LDAP user or group. 4 Click Apply.

The selected role is assigned to the user on vCenter Chargeback. What to do next Assigning a role on vCenter Chargeback, other than the Super User role, only defines the actions that the user can perform in the application. This does not implicitly give access to the resources created in the application. To access a resource, the user must have either created it or should be explicitly assigned a role for the resource. If the user is assigned the Administrator role, then he implicitly gets access to all the resources created by the users that he has created. Assigning the Super User role to a user automatically provides him with complete access to all the resources. You need not explicitly assign a role to the user for each of the resources created in the application.
Assign a Role to a User for a Resource
A user can access a resource created in the application only if he has created it or has privileges to access it. A user can be given privileges to access a resource by assigning a role to him for the required resource. If a user is assigned the Super User role, then he can access any resource created in the application. If a user is assigned the Administrator role, then he can also access the resources created by the users that he has created. You can assign only a single role to a user for a given resource. If a user already has a role assigned to him for a given resource, the same is removed and the new role is set on the user for the selected resource. A user with the Super User role can assign any role on any resource to a user. A user with the Administrator role can assign any of the system-defined roles, other than Super User and Administrator roles, and the custom roles created by him. This user can assign the roles only to users created by him and on the resources he has access to.
A user not having the Super User role or the Administrator role can assign a role to other users only on the resources that he has access to. This user can assign only the roles he has access to and have the same or a subset of the privileges that are defined in the role assigned to him. The role that users can assign to other users on a resource depends on:
The permissions that the user has on the resource. The roles that the user has access to.
NOTE If you assign a role to an LDAP group for a resource, then the LDAP users belonging to the LDAP group will be assigned the same role on the resources. However, the LDAP user cannot perform any action on the resources, if the LDAP group does not have at least read privileges on the various resource types at the vCenter Chargeback level. Procedure 1 In the Users & Roles tab, click Permissions. A page listing the users, their type, whether the user has the Super User role or the Administrator role, and if the user is a vCenter Server user then the vCenter Server name or if the user is an LDAP user or group then the IP address of the LDAP server is displayed. The page also provides an option to select a resource type. Select the required resource type from the list. Expand the resource type folder and select the resources for which you want to set the role on the user. You can select more than one resource by pressing the Ctrl key and selecting each of the required resources. However, the roles that you can assign on these resources would depend on the intersection of the permissions you have on each of the selected resources. 4 Select the user from the table listing the users. If any role has already been assigned to the user on the selected resources, the same is displayed under Currently Assigned Role. Select the required role from the menu under Set/Reset Role. Click Apply.

The selected role is set on the user for the selected resources. The role set on the user is applicable only for the selected resources. You must individually assign roles to the user on the all required resources in the application. A user can have different roles on different resources.
Revoke the Role Assigned to a User for a Resource
Roles set on a user for a resource can be revoked as and when required. Procedure 1 In the Users & Roles tab, click Permissions. A page listing the users, their type, whether the user has the Super User role or the Administrator role, and if the user is a vCenter Server user then the vCenter Server name or if the user is an LDAP user or group then the IP address of the LDAP server is displayed. The page also provides an option to select a resource type. Select the required resource type from the list. Expand the resource type folder and select the resources for which you want to revoke the role on the user.
Select the user from the table listing the users. If any role has already been assigned to the user on the selected resources, the same is displayed under Currently Assigned Role.
Click Unassign this role under Current Assigned Role.
The role is revoked from the user for the selected resources. The user can no longer access the selected resources.
Revoke the Role Assigned to a User on vCenter Chargeback
The role assigned to user on vCenter Chargeback can be revoked as and when required. Procedure 1 In the Users & Roles tab, click Permissions. A page listing the users, their type, whether the user has the Super User role or the Administrator role, and if the user is a vCenter Server user then the vCenter Server name or if the user is an LDAP user or group then the IP address of the LDAP server is displayed. The page also provides an option to select a resource type. 2 Select the user from the table listing the users. If any role has already been assigned to the user, the same is displayed under Currently Assigned Role. 3 Click Unassign this role under Current Assigned Role.
The role is revoked from the user. Revoking the role assigned to the user on vCenter Chargeback does not automatically remove the roles explicitly assigned to the user for the various resources. The user can continue to access the resources that he has created and the resources for which he has been assigned a role.
vCenter Chargeback User Authentication
After a user is created, you can log in to the application using the credentials of this user. You can log in as either a Local user or a LDAP user. If you are logging in as a LDAP user, you must provide the login credentials defined in the Windows Active Directory. The LDAP user login name can be the samAccountName or the FQDN. Although you can create a user of the type LDAP group, you cannot log in to the application as an LDAP group. If an LDAP group is added to the application, you can log in as an LDAP user belonging to that group. This user will have the same roles and privileges as set on the LDAP group. If this LDAP user is not already added to the application, the same would be done when the user logs in. NOTE The LDAP user name and password must contain only ASCII characters. If you log in to vCenter Chargeback as a user that contains extended ASCII or non-ASCII characters in the user name or password, then the login operation might fail.

Chargeback Model

Report Addressed To Total Charges

Cost summary

This section specifies the total cost for the entity and all its child entities. The total cost for an entity is the rolled-up cost. That is, the costs of all the child entities are considered while calculating the cost of the parent entity. This section is not included in a usage report. This section provides cost for each chargeable computing resource, the fixed costs, and the total cost for the entity and its immediate child entities. These details are displayed for each entity levels starting from the entity on which the report is generated to the leaf entities, that is, entities without any child entity. The costs displayed in the report for each entity and for each resource are the rolled-up costs at that entity level. This section also displays the actual resource utilization details at each entity level. Starting with vCenter Chargeback 1.5, this section also includes the following graphs for each entity level starting with the entity on which the report is generated:

Resource summary

Cost per Resource Cost per Child Entity Usage per Child Entity
If the cost and usage data is not available for a specified period, then the graphs for this period are excluded from the exported report. Cost details This section lists all the costs charged on each entity, the rolled-up costs of its child entities, and the total fixed costs. It also provides information about the cost model, the attributes set on the entities, and informational messages for the entities. The report contains a separate cost details section for each entity. This section displays the base rates, rate factors, used units, attribution percentage, and total cost for each computing resource of each virtual machine.
A usage report is similar to a cost report except that it provides only the usage data. The report structure is similar to the cost report with the following exceptions:
The Report Summary section does not include any cost information. The Resource Summary section does not include any cost information. Also, it includes only the Usage per Child Entity graph. The Cost details section is not applicable. Instead, the report includes the Usage details section. This section provides the usage details of each computing resource for each entity separately. This section does not include any cost-related information other than the cost model used for generating the report.

Select a cost model

Computation Resources
In the Resource Summary tab, select Include Resource Summary In Report. Select this option to include the summary of costs for the selected resources in the report. You must also select the type of resource summary to be reported. The resource summary can either be Complete (default) or Basic. A basic summary includes the resource cost summary for the entity and its immediate child in the report. A complete summary provides the resource cost summary for the selected entity and all its child entities.
Select the computing resources whose usage and cost details have to included in the report. Select Include cost summary in report to include the summary of costs in the report. The cost summary cab be either Complete (default) or Basic.
In the Details tab, select the fixed cost details, usage-related details, and other information to be displayed in the report.
Option Show these details in report Description Select this option if you want to include information about the selected cost model or the entity attributes, or information messages in the Cost Details section of the report. The selected information is displayed in the report for the selected entity and all the entities that are under it in the chargeback hierarchy. Select this option to include the usage statistics in the report. You must also select the types of information that should be displayed in the usage table in the report. Select this option to include the details of the fixed costs in the report. If you select this option, you must also select the fixed cost details to be included in the report.
Show these columns in the usage details table Show fixed cost in report

Click Generate Report.

The generated report is displayed on the right pane.

Generate a Usage Report

You can generate resource usage reports for an hierarchy and for individual entities in a hierarchy. You must have create privilege on the report resource type and at least the read privilege on the hierarchy, chargeback hierarchical entities, and cost models to perform this task. Procedure In the Reports tab, click Create Reports. Select the required chargeback hierarchy from the drop-down menu on the left pane of the page. The collapsed view of the chargeback hierarchy is displayed. You can expand the hierarchy by clicking the plus sign (+) to the left of the hierarchy name. The first level entities of the hierarchy is displayed. To further expand, click the plus sign to the left of the entities that have sub-entities. 3 Right-click the hierarchy or entity on which you want to generate the report and select Generate Usage Report from the pop-up menu. To generate a report for multiple entities, press the Ctrl key, select each of the required entities, and rightclick and select Generate Usage Report. Do not release the Ctrl key till you right-click. The Create Report screen is displayed.

Name of the selected entity. Total cost of the entity.
The Cost per Resource, Cost per Child Entity, and Usage per Child Entity graphs. Option to view the following Top N reports:
Top N most expensive VMs Top N least expensive VMs Top N CPU consuming VMs Top N Memory consuming VMs
Here, N can take the values 10, 20, and 50. The Recent reports part of the dashboard displays the recently generated reports.
Configure Hierarchy for Display in Report Dashboard
You can configure a chargeback hierarchy so that its usage and cost statistics for the hierarchy and its entities are visible in the report dashboard. Only users with the Super User role assigned to them can perform this task. Procedure Click the Manage Hierarchy tab. Select the chargeback hierarchy from the drop-down menu on the left pane of the page. The collapsed view of the chargeback hierarchy is displayed. The right pane provides various details about the selected hierarchy. 3 Click the arrow icon next to Tools below the hierarchy. The Hierarchy tools options are displayed. 6 Select Show this hierarchy in the Report Dashboard against the Cost Model. Select a cost model. Set the time of the day when the report in the dashboard has to be updated. The time must be specified in the hh:mm:ss format. Click Update. Click OK in the information dialog box.
What to do next The report dashboard displays the usage and cost statistics for the hierarchy after the time specified during configuration. The report is updated each day at this specified time.
View Hierarchy Details in the Report Dashboard
If a chargeback hierarchy is configured for display in the report dashboard, then you can view the resource usage and cost statistics for the hierarchy and its entities in the Dashboard page of the application. Prerequisites To perform this task, you must have read privilege on the hierarchy and on the corresponding cost model used to configure the report dashboard.
Procedure In the Reports tab, click Dashboard. Select the hierarchy from the drop-down menu under Browse by hierarchy. The collapsed view of the hierarchy is displayed. Also, the graphs and Top N report for the hierarchy are displayed. Expand the hierarchy and select the entity for which you want to view the resource cost and usage statistics. (Optional) You can obtain different Top N report data for the selected entity. a Select a value for N from the drop-down menu next to Top. The values available are 10, 20, and 50. b c Select the report type from the other drop-down menu. Click Fetch. The Top N report for the selected entity is displayed. d Select the virtual machine name to view the Cost per Resource graph for the selected virtual machine.

Cause A probable reason might be that the primary group does not come under the provided base DN. Solution Modify the base DN of the LDAP server added to the application such that the primary group is defined under it in the Active Directory hierarchy.
Unable to Use Custom SSL Certificates
vCenter Chargeback can be accessed through a Web browser using either the HTTP protocol or HTTPS protocol. Problem Prior to vCenter Chargeback version 1.5, the application was shipped with a default SSL certificate that was generated using OpenSSL. However, to use custom SSL certificates for secure communication, you must replace the certificate related files in your installation directory. Solution 1 Replace the security-related files, default.cert and default.key, with the custom SSL files. The default.cert and default.key files are stored in the following directory:
Installation_Directory/Apache2.2/conf/ssl
In the Installation_Directory/Apache2.2/conf/httpd.conf file, modify the SSL certificate file-related entries.
SSLCertificateFile conf/ssl/default.cert SSLCertificateKeyFile conf/ssl/default.key
In the above entries, replace the default security-related file names with the custom SSL file names. 3 Restart the vCenter Chargeback service.
Solution Starting with vCenter Chargeback, you can generate your own SSL certificate after installing vCenter Chargeback. vCenter Chargeback uses this SSL certificate. You need not copy any files, if you generate an SSL certificate using the utility provided with the application. You can generate your own SSL certificates by using the Start > Programs > VMware > vCenter Chargeback Tools > Generate SSL Certificate menu option.
Unable to View the vCenter Chargeback Plug-In in the VI Client
vCenter Chargeback can be registered as a plug-in with a vCenter Server when you add the vCenter Server to the application. You can then access vCenter Chargeback from the VI Client when you log in to the vCenter Server. Problem Although vCenter Chargeback is registered as a plug-in when adding the vCenter Server to vCenter Chargeback, the plug-in does not appear in the VI Client when accessing the vCenter Server. Cause This issue might occur due to multiple reasons.