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VCP-VVF Administrator Study Guide: Objective 4.3 – VVF: Operate, Given a scenario, configure costing and pricing in VCF Operations – Part 11

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Welcome back to our VMware Certified Professional – VMware vSphere Foundation Administrator (2V0-16.25) study guide series! We follow the official VMware Blueprint for the exam – VMware vSphere Foundation Administrator (PDF). This section is part of the upcoming VCP-VVF Study Guide Page, which will be released as a PDF when completed—check it out at https://www.vladan.fr/vcp-vvf-administrator/.

Today, we’re continuing with Objective 4.3 – VVF: Operate, focusing on Given a scenario, configure costing and pricing in VCF Operations – Part 11. In VMware vSphere Foundation (VVF) 9.0, VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) Operations provides tools for cost management, including costing and pricing configuration, to help organizations track and allocate infrastructure costs for VMs, storage, and workloads.

This objective is important for the 2V0-16.25 exam, testing your ability to set up costing models and pricing rules to support financial transparency and chargeback in real-world scenarios. Building on our previous posts (Objective 4.2 on Management and Objective 4.3, Parts 1-10, covering VCF Operations setup, monitoring, dashboards, and alerting), we’ll provide a detailed guide to configuring costing and pricing in VCF Operations, practical insights, and exam-focused guidance using a realistic scenario, aligned with VMware’s official vSphere 9.0 and VCF 9.0 documentation (https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsphere/vsphere/9-0.html and https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-9-0-and-later/9-0/infrastructure-operations.html). Let’s get technical and dive into VCF Operations costing and pricing!

Why Configuring Costing and Pricing in VCF Operations Matters

In VVF 9.0, VCF Operations enables cost transparency and chargeback for private cloud environments, allowing administrators to define costing models based on resource consumption (e.g., CPU, memory, storage) and set pricing rules for business units or projects. This supports financial planning, cost optimization, and compliance with standards like PCI DSS by allocating costs to specific workloads, such as VMs or Kubernetes namespaces. Objective 4.3 tests your ability to configure costing and pricing to address scenarios like budgeting for vSAN storage or charging for Kubernetes deployments. We’ll walk through setting up costing and pricing in VCF Operations using a scenario, ensuring you’re prepared for the exam and real-world administration.

Configuring Costing and Pricing in VCF Operations

Below, we detail the process for configuring costing and pricing in VCF Operations to address the scenario’s requirements: tracking resource consumption, setting pricing rules, and generating a cost report. The steps are verified against VMware vSphere 9.0 and VCF 9.0 documentation (https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vsphere/vsphere/9-0/vsphere-monitoring-and-performance.html and https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-9-0-and-later/9-0/infrastructure-operations.html).

Configuring Costing Models

Description: Define costing models in VCF Operations to track resource consumption for vCPU, memory, and storage across VMs and Kubernetes workloads.

Process:

  1. Access VCF Operations:
    • Log in to the VCF Operations UI at https://192.168.10.54 using admin credentials.
    • From the left menu, click Infrastructure Operations > Costing and Pricing > Cost Models.
  2. Create a Cost Model:
    • Click Create Cost Model.
    • Name: “VVF-Cost-Model”.
    • Description: “Cost model for vCPU, memory, and storage in VVF-Cluster”.
    • Currency: Select “USD” (or your preferred currency).
    • Cost Types:
      • vCPU: Set cost per vCPU-hour to $0.10 (for web servers).
      • Memory: Set cost per GB-hour to $0.01.
      • Storage: Set cost per GB-month to $0.05 (for databases).
    • Kubernetes Costs:
      • Pod vCPU: Set cost per vCPU-hour to $0.02.
      • Pod Memory: Set cost per GB-hour to $0.01.
      • Pod Storage: Set cost per GB-month to $0.05.
    • Click Save to apply the cost model.
  3. Verify Cost Model:
    • In Cost Models, confirm “VVF-Cost-Model” is active and shows the configured rates.

Verification:

  • Confirm the cost model displays correct rates for vCPU, memory, storage, and Kubernetes resources.
  • Check Costing and Pricing > Cost Overview to ensure the model is applied to “VVF-Cluster”.

Documentation Reference: Cost model configuration is detailed in the VCF 9.0 documentation under “Infrastructure Operations” https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-9-0-and-later/9-0/infrastructure-operations.html.

Scenario Example: Create “VVF-Cost-Model” with $0.10 per vCPU-hour for web servers, $0.05 per GB-month for database storage, and $0.02 per pod vCPU-hour for Kubernetes.

Generating a Cost Report

Description: Generate a cost report in VCF Operations to provide financial transparency for the web servers, databases, and Kubernetes workloads.

Process:

  1. Access Cost Reporting:
    • In VCF Operations (https://192.168.10.54), from the left menu, click Infrastructure Operations > Costing and Pricing > Cost Overview.
  2. Generate Report:
    • Click Generate Report.
    • Report Type: Select Cost and Chargeback Report.
    • Time Range: Set to “Last 30 days” for monthly reporting.
    • Objects: Filter for “VVF-Cluster” VMs (web servers and databases) and “Microservices-Namespace” pods.
    • Cost Model: Select “VVF-Cost-Model”.
    • Pricing Rules: Include “Web Server Pricing”, “Database Pricing”, and “Kubernetes Pod Pricing”.
    • Output Format: Select PDF for auditors and CSV for internal analysis.
    • Click Generate to create the report.
  3. Review and Export:
    • The report displays cost breakdowns: e.g., $500 for web servers (vCPU consumption), $300 for databases (storage), $200 for Kubernetes pods (pod vCPU).
    • Export the report (Export > PDF/CSV) and email to the finance team and auditors.

Verification:

  • Confirm the report shows accurate costs based on the cost model and pricing rules (e.g., $0.10 per vCPU-hour for web servers).
  • Verify the report includes breakdowns for VMs and Kubernetes workloads.
  • Ensure no disruptions to “VVF-Cluster” or “Microservices-Namespace” workloads.

Documentation Reference: Cost reporting is detailed in the VCF 9.0 documentation under “Infrastructure Operations” https://techdocs.broadcom.com/us/en/vmware-cis/vcf/vcf-9-0-and-later/9-0/infrastructure-operations.html.

Study Tips:

Resources:

 

Sample Exam Questions

  1. What is the purpose of costing and pricing in VCF Operations?
    A. Deploy new VMs
    B. Track and allocate resource costs for VMs and workloads
    C. Configure Kubernetes namespaces
    D. Manage ESXi host licensing
    Answer: B. Track and allocate resource costs for VMs and workloads.
  2. How do you configure pricing for web server VMs in VCF Operations?
    A. Create a dashboard in VCF Operations for Logs
    B. Create a pricing rule with filter “VM Name contains web” and set vCPU rate to $0.10 per hour
    C. Edit VM settings in vCenter
    D. Use VCF Operations for Alerts
    Answer: B. Create a pricing rule with filter “VM Name contains web” and set vCPU rate to $0.10 per hour.
  3. A cost report shows incorrect Kubernetes pod costs. What should you check?
    A. vSAN health in vCenter
    B. Cost model pod vCPU rate and pricing rule for the namespace
    C. DRS settings in the cluster
    D. Log filters in Explore Logs
    Answer: B. Cost model pod vCPU rate and pricing rule for the namespace.

 

Final Words

Configuring costing and pricing in VCF Operations in VMware vSphere Foundation 9.0 is essential for financial transparency and chargeback in the SDDC. This chapter covered setting up cost models, pricing rules, and generating cost reports for web servers, databases, and Kubernetes workloads, preparing you for the 2V0-16.25 exam. We follow the official VMware Blueprint for the exam – VMware vSphere Foundation Administrator (PDF). Most of the work will be done here on this blog, and, in the end, the document will be released as a PDF, like the previous versions, at https://www.vladan.fr/vcp-vvf-administrator/. Stay tuned for the next part of Objective 4.3 or 4.2! Happy studying, and good luck on your VCP-VVF journey!

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This website is maintained by Vladan SEGET. Vladan is as an Independent consultant, professional blogger, vExpert x17, Veeam Vanguard x11, VCAP-DCA/DCD, ESX Virtualization site has started as a simple bookmarking site, but quickly found a large following of readers and subscribers.

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