VMware VCENTER CHARGEBACK 1.5 - API User manual

vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide
vCenter Chargeback 1.5
This document supports the version of each product listed and
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Contents
About This Book 5
1Introduction to vCenter Chargeback 7
What Is Chargeback 7
Chargeback Solution for Virtual Environments 7
Overview of vCenter Chargeback 8
2Installing 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 22
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
3Configuring 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
4Authenticating and Managing Users, Roles, and Permissions 59
Resource Based Authorization in vCenter Chargeback 59
Permissions Defined in vCenter Chargeback 60
Managing Roles 61
Managing Users 66
vCenter Chargeback User Authentication 73
5Managing Chargeback Hierarchies 75
Creating a Chargeback Hierarchy 75
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Managing a Chargeback Hierarchy 78
6Managing and Configuring vCenter Chargeback Cost Elements 87
vCenter Chargeback Cost-Related Elements 87
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
7Generating 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
8Monitoring System Health 127
vCenter Chargeback Events 128
9Administration Utilities 129
Database Password Change Utility 129
vCenter Chargeback Database Management Scripts 130
10 Troubleshooting vCenter Chargeback 133
Troubleshooting Utility 133
Troubleshooting Issues in vCenter Chargeback 134
Index 147
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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.
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VMware welcomes your suggestions for improving our documentation. If you have comments, send your
feedback to [email protected].
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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
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Customers with appropriate support contracts should use telephone support
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Services provides offerings to help you assess, plan, build, and manage your
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Introduction to vCenter Chargeback 1
vCenter Chargeback is an end-to-end cost reporting solution for virtual environments using vSphere. Before
you install and start using vCenter Chargeback, an understanding of what chargeback is and about chargeback
solution for a virtual environment would be helpful.
This chapter includes the following topics:
n“What Is Chargeback,” on page 7
n“Chargeback Solution for Virtual Environments,” on page 7
n“Overview of vCenter Chargeback,” on page 8
What Is Chargeback
Chargeback is a mechanism to account for the operational costs involved in providing and maintaining an
IT infrastructure, including the costs for IT services and applications. Measuring resource utilization and
calculating the corresponding IT operational cost enables you to account for the IT resources utilized and bill
for the services provided.
In a non-virtual environment, a physical server and the associated resources like the applications running on
it can be easily mapped to the department using them, making the billing for such resource utilizations
relatively easy. Also, costs incurred due to maintenance and licensing can be directly associated to a
department, thereby enabling you to calculate the complete IT operational costs.
In a virtual environment, however, the task of calculating the IT operational cost for each department becomes
very difficult. Multiple virtual machines run on a physical server, which might be shared across different
departments or cost centers in an organization. As a result, resource utilization for this server and, therefore,
the cost incurred cannot be directly associated to any single department or cost center. The difficulty in
accounting gets further compounded when applications and services get shifted over time to different servers,
based on the load and available infrastructure resources.
Chargeback Solution for Virtual Environments
In a virtual environment, a chargeback solution requires a flexible metering system that can account for the
utilization of resources shared across the organization.
These measurements can be based on allocation or actual usage of individual servers and resources. In the case
of VMotion, DRS, or HA being enabled, the measurements could be based on the allocation or actual usage of
resource pools.
To support chargeback, the virtual environment and the chargeback solution must provide ways to measure
resource usage and associate the usage with a specific costing model. The chargeback solution must also
support the use of different costing models so as to charge the various departments or cost centers differently.
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A chargeback solution for a virtual environment defines a hierarchy with different types of entities such as
departments, divisions, business units, cost centers, physical servers, virtual machines, and so on. For each
entity type, a cost model is defined that determines the rate for each unit of a resource utilized. The chargeback
solution determines the resource usage by using either utilization-based metering or allocation-based metering
of virtual machines. The metered parameters are then associated with the designated entities, and the cost
model defined for that entity along with specific chargeback formulas are used as part of the overall chargeback
solution.
Overview of vCenter Chargeback
Determining the resource utilization and calculating the corresponding cost for a virtual environment that uses
VMware vSphere typically involves VMware professional services’ work or use of partner solutions. These
solutions are built using custom methods for VMware vSphere resource data collection and chargeback cost
calculation for organizations.
vCenter Chargeback is an end-to-end cost reporting solution for virtual environments that use VMware
vSphere. This Web-based application interacts with the vCenter Server Database to retrieve usage information,
calculates the cost by using the defined chargeback formulas, and generates reports. Figure 1-1 shows how
vCenter Chargeback interacts with various components of a virtual environment.
Figure 1-1. vCenter Chargeback in a Virtual Environment
vCenter
Chargeback
database
vCenter
Server
database
vCenter Server
VIM APIJDBC
Data Collector
vCenter Chargeback
Load Balancer
ESX
host02
ESX
host03
ESX
host01
vCenter Chargeback
UI
vCenter Chargeback runs on an Apache Tomcat server instance. The user interacts with the vCenter
Chargeback application through a load balancer (Apache HTTP Server). vCenter Chargeback connects to a
vCenter Chargeback database that stores application-specific information, such as the defined chargeback
hierarchies, cost models, users, roles, and so on. The application also interacts with the vCenter Server and
vCenter Server database through a data collector. The data collector communicates with the vCenter Server
using VIM APIs and with the vCenter Database using JDBC.
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When you install vCenter Chargeback, the vCenter Chargeback application, the load balancer, and the data
collectors are installed and run on the same machine. Although the vCenter Chargeback database can also be
installed on the same machine, in a real-world scenario you would install the application and the database on
separate machines.
vCenter Chargeback retrieves the virtual infrastructure inventory and the resource usage information for each
virtual machine from the vCenter Server database through the data collector. The data collector replicates this
information in the vCenter Chargeback database. vCenter Chargeback uses this information from the vCenter
Chargeback database along with the cost model and chargeback cost calculation formulas to generate the cost
reports. A single data collector instance can communicate with multiple vCenter Server instances and vCenter
Server databases and replicate the relevant information in a vCenter Chargeback database.
vCenter Chargeback also lets you create a cluster of vCenter Chargeback instances that share a single load
balancer. Each user request is routed through the load balancer. The load balancer forwards the request to a
vCenter Chargeback instance in the cluster based on the number request currently being serviced by each
instance in the cluster. All the vCenter Chargeback instances in a cluster are connected to the same vCenter
Chargeback database.
Chapter 1 Introduction to vCenter Chargeback
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Installing vCenter Chargeback 2
Before you install vCenter Chargeback, you must ensure that the minimum hardware and software
requirements are met and the relevant pre-installation tasks are performed.
This chapter includes the following topics:
n“Hardware Requirements,” on page 11
n“Software Requirements,” on page 12
n“Prerequisites for vCenter Chargeback,” on page 13
n“Download and Extract the vCenter Chargeback Installer,” on page 15
n“Install vCenter Chargeback,” on page 15
n“Create a vCenter Chargeback Cluster,” on page 19
n“Install vCenter Chargeback with an Existing Database Schema,” on page 22
n“Upgrading vCenter Chargeback,” on page 25
n“Services Related to the vCenter Chargeback Application,” on page 28
n“Accessing the vCenter Chargeback Application,” on page 29
n“Data Collector,” on page 29
n“Uninstall vCenter Chargeback,” on page 37
Hardware Requirements
The system on which vCenter Chargeback is installed must meet the minimum hardware requirements for
installing and running the application.
vCenter Chargeback can be run on a computer or a virtual machine that matches or exceeds the following
hardware specifications:
n2.0GHz or faster Intel or AMD x86 processor
n4GB or more of RAM
nA minimum of 2GB disk storage (3GB recommended)
n10/100 Ethernet adapter (Gigabit recommended)
If you want to install the vCenter Chargeback database on the computer on which vCenter Chargeback along
with the load balancer and data collector is already installed, then additional storage, memory, and processor
capacity are required.
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Software Requirements
Other than an operating system, you must have a database management system and a Web browser installed
to run and access vCenter Chargeback.
Operating Systems
The vCenter Chargeback application can be installed and run on the following operating systems (32-bit and
64-bit):
nMicrosoft Windows 2003 Server with SP2
nMicrosoft Windows 2003 Server R2
nMicrosoft Windows 2008 Server R2 with SP2
Database Management Systems
vCenter Chargeback supports the following database management systems (both 32 bit and 64 bit):
nMicrosoft SQL Server 2005 (Standard and Enterprise)
nMicrosoft SQL Server 2008 (Standard and Enterprise)
nMicrosoft SQL Server 2005 Express
nOracle Database 10g (Standard and Enterprise)
nOracle Database 11g (Standard and Enterprise)
Web Browsers and Flash Player Plug-In
vCenter Chargeback is a browser-based application that is tested and supported on the following:
nMicrosoft Internet Explorer 7.x and 8.x
nMozilla Firefox 3.5 and later releases
nAdobe Flash Player for Windows Plug-in version 10.1 or later
nAdobe Flash Player for Linux Plug-in version 10.1 or later
VMware vCenter Server
vCenter Chargeback supports VirtualCenter Server 2.5 Update 3 and later releases and vCenter Server 4.0 and
later releases.
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Prerequisites for vCenter Chargeback
Before installing and running vCenter Chargeback few pre-install tasks have to be preformed.
Networking Prerequisites
You must perform the following pre-installation tasks for the successful installation and running of vCenter
Chargeback:
nCheck whether the ports are free.
Ensure that the ports that you specify during the installation are free. While installing you must specify
the port numbers for the following:
HTTP port This port is used by vCenter Chargeback for communication using the
HTTP protocol. The default port number is 8080.
Load-balancer port This port is used by vCenter Chargeback to communicate with the load
balancer. The default port is 8009.
HTTPS port This port is used by the load balancer to listen for user requests. The default
port is 443.
If any of the specified port is also configured for another service and the service is not running, then the
installer will use the specified port. However, this might result in a port conflict and either of the configured
services might fail.
nSet a static IP address on the machine.
Before you install the vCenter Chargeback application on a machine, you must obtain a static IP address
from your network administrator. Set this IP address on the machine on which you are going to install
vCenter Chargeback. Preferably, obtain and set static IP addresses on all the servers and databases that
the application communicates with.
Database-Related Prerequisites
Before you begin the vCenter Chargeback installation you must create a vCenter Chargeback database and a
corresponding database user. vCenter Chargeback stores the application-specific data, such as cost models,
chargeback hierarchies, and users and roles, in the vCenter Chargeback database. You must, therefore, first
create a database for storing this data. The database management systems supported by vCenter Chargeback
are listed in “Software Requirements,” on page 12. You can either create the database yourself by referring to
the corresponding product documentation or ask your database administrator to create one for you.
If you using an Oracle database as the vCenter Chargeback database, you must configure the database to use
the Unicode (AL32UTF8) character set to support the following scenarios:
nYou want to deploy the vCenter Chargeback database in a non-English environment.
nYou want to synchronize the vCenter Chargeback database with a vCenter Server database that has non-
English data.
After you create the vCenter Chargeback database, you must also create a database user to access this database.
Ensure that the database user has the privileges to create and delete schema, as well as read from and write to
the database.
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You must provide the details of this vCenter Chargeback database and database user when installing vCenter
Chargeback. The installer will use these details to create the database schema and objects. Also, vCenter
Chargeback will log in to the vCenter Chargeback database using the details of this database user and perform
the necessary database operations.
NOTE Instead of using the default database users, such as sa, SYS, and SYSTEM, create a database user with just
the required privileges and access the database with this users credentials. This is a good security practice.
Other Software Prerequisites
You must ensure that the following pre-install tasks are performed:
nEnsure that system time of all the servers and databases are in sync.
You must ensure that the system time of the machines on which you install vCenter Chargeback and
vCenter Chargeback database are in sync. If you plan to install a separate data collector on a different
machine, then the system time of this machine must be in sync with that of the other machines.
nEnsure that MSI Installation is enabled.
Before you start the installation, you must ensure that MSI installation is enabled on the machine. If not,
you must manually install Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package (x86) before running the
vCenter Chargeback installer.
nEnsure that port exceptions are configured on the Windows firewall.
If the Windows Firewall is enabled, you must set the port exceptions for the HTTP, load balancer, and
HTTPS ports on the Windows Firewall. If these exceptions are not set, the application will be not be usable.
nEnsure that the Windows user has the Log on as a service permission.
If you want to use the Windows authentication option for the vCenter Chargeback database, you must
ensure that the Windows user has the Log on as a service permission. If this permission is not set on
the user, the installation will fail. Also, the installer must be run in the context of this Windows user.
Preinstallation Checklist
The pre-installation checklist helps you ensure that you have all the required information and have performed
the necessary pre-install tasks.
Table 2-1. vCenter Chargeback Pre-Install Checklist
Item Requirement Checked
Hardware Configuration
CPU 2.0GHz or faster Intel or AMD x86 processor
RAM 4.0 GB or more
Disk space Minimum 2.0 GB; Recommended 3.0 GB or more
Card 10/100 Ethernet adapter (Gigabit recommended)
Network Configuration
Static IP Address Write down the IP address of the machine on which you plan to install
vCenter Chargeback. Ensure that the machine has a static IP address.
Port Numbers HTTP Port (default: 8080)
Load-balancer Port (default: 8009)
HTTPS Port (default: 443)
Ensure that the default ports are free. If not, use any other free ports.
Note down the port numbers that you want to use.
Database Configuration
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Table 2-1. vCenter Chargeback Pre-Install Checklist (Continued)
Item Requirement Checked
Type Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or later
Oracle Database 10g or later
Database name Create a database for vCenter Chargeback and note down the database
name.
URL IP address of the vCenter Chargeback database Ensure that the machine
on which the database is installed has a static IP address.
TNS listener port for Oracle database
Database instance name for SQL Server database
Database user name and
password
User name of the database user who has privileges to create and delete
schema, as well as to read from and write to the database.
Password for this user
If you are using Windows Authentication for a Microsoft SQL Server
database, then you must have the Windows user account name. This
user must have the Log on as a service permission.
Password for this Windows user account
If you are using Windows authentication, ensure that you run the
installer in the context of this Windows user.
Software Configuration
System Time Ensure that system time of all the servers and databases are in sync
Microsoft SQL Server Ensure that the SQL Server Browser service is running if you are using
a database instance name and dynamic database instance port to
connect to the vCenter Chargeback database.
MSI Installation Is MSI installation enabled?
If not, install Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package (x86).
Port Exceptions on
Windows Firewall
If you have enabled Windows Firewall, you must set the port exceptions
for the HTTP port, load balancer port, and HTTPS port.
Download and Extract the vCenter Chargeback Installer
You must first download the installer files and extract its contents on to the machine on which you want to
install vCenter Chargeback. You must run the installer on the local machine and not from a remote machine.
Procedure
1 Download the installation-related files, vCenter-CB- version_number - build_number .zip, from
http://www.vmware.com/products/vcenter-chargeback/overview.html.
2 Extract the content of this ZIP file to the machine on which you want to install the application.
The vCenter-CB.exe file is the installer file.
What to do next
Run the installer to install vCenter Chargeback.
Install vCenter Chargeback
vCenter Chargeback can be installed on any system or virtual machine that meets the system requirements.
Prerequisites
Ensure that you run the installer on the machine on which vCenter Chargeback has to be installed. Do not run
it on a remote machine.
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Procedure
1 Run the vCenter-CB.exe file.
The installation wizard is displayed.
2 Click Next on the Introduction screen.
3 Accept the end-user license agreement, and click Next.
4 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.
5 Enter the vCenter Chargeback database-related information, and click Next.
Option Description
Database Type The type of database used to create the vCenter Chargeback database. This
can be either SQL SERVER or ORACLE.
Database URL The IP address or host name of the system on which the vCenter Chargeback
database is installed. For an SQL Server database, you can also provide the
vCenter Chargeback database instance name.
For Oracle Database, the database URL can be in any of the following formats:
IP Address
Host Name
For SQL Server, the database URL can be in any of the following formats:
IP Address
Host Name
IP Address \ Database Instance Name
Host Name \ Database Instance Name
Database Port (Optional) The port on which the database service is listening for requests.
If the port number is not specified, the installer uses the default port. For an
Oracle database, you must specify the TNS listener port if you are not using
the default port 1521. For an SQL Server database, specify the database
instance port if you are using a static port.
Database Name Name of the database in which vCenter Chargeback stores the application-
specific data. For Oracle Database, ensure that you provide the service name
and not the SID.
SQL Authentication Mode This option is applicable only for SQL Server databases. For an SQL Server
database, the authentication type can be either SQL Server Authentication
or Windows Authentication.
Database Username The name of the database user. The database user must have privileges to
create and delete schema, as well as read from and write to the database. If
you select Windows Authentication for SQL Authentication Mode, you
must provide the Windows user account name. The user name must be of
the form DomainName\UserName. Also, the user must have the Log on as
a service permission.
Database Password Password for the user name that you have provided. If you select Windows
Authentication as the authentication type, you must provide the password
for the Windows user account. Ensure that the Windows user account
password does not contain any special characters. The installer might fail if
the password contains special characters.
If the installer successfully connects to the database, the next screen is displayed.
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6 Enter the IP address and port details for the vCenter Chargeback application, and click Next.
Option Description
IP Address Static IP address of the machine on which you are installing vCenter
Chargeback. Do not use localhost instead of the IP address.
HTTP Port An unused HTTP port through which vCenter Chargeback can
communicate.
Load-Balancer Port An unused port through which vCenter Chargeback can communicate with
the load balancer (Apache Server).
Server Instance Name A unique user-defined name for the vCenter Chargeback instance. This name
is used by the load balancer to identify the instance.
If the specified ports are free, the next screen is displayed.
7 Enter the load balancer-related information, and click Next.
Option Description
IP Address Static IP address of the machine on which you are installing vCenter
Chargeback. Do not use localhost instead of the IP address.
Admin Email Address Email address of the server administrator.
HTTPS Port An unused port through which the Apache Server can communicate. The
load balancer listens on this port for user requests.
If the specified port is free, the next screen is displayed.
8 Enter a user name and password for the vCenter Chargeback administrative account, and click Next.
The password must not exceed 24 characters in length.
9 Choose to install the required data collectors and click Next.
The Install vCenter Chargeback Data Collector option is selected by default. You must have at least one
instance of this data collector running and registered with the application for the database synchronization
jobs to run.
You can optionally choose to install the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector and vShield Manager Data
Collector. All the data collectors can be installed even after a vCenter Chargeback instance is installed. If
you are installing the vShield Manager Data Collector, choose to install the VMware Cloud Director Data
Collector too or ensure that at least one instance of VMware Cloud Director Data Collector is running.
10 (Optional) If you chose to install the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector, enter the VMware Cloud
Director database-related information, and click Next.
Option Description
Database Type The type of database used to create the VMware Cloud Director database.
The only permissible value is ORACLE.
Database URL The IP address of the system on which the VMware Cloud Director database
is installed.
The database URL can be in any of the following formats:
IP Address
Host Name
Database Port (Optional) The port on which the database service is listening for requests.
If the port number is not specified, the installer uses the default port. You
must specify the TNS listener port if you are not using the default port 1521.
Database Name Name of the database in which VMware Cloud Director stores the
application-specific data. This must be the service name and not the SID.
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Option Description
Database Username The name of the database user. The database user must have privileges to
read the VMware Cloud Director database objects.
Database Password Password for the user name that you have provided.
If the installer successfully connects to the database, the next screen is displayed.
11 Review the information displayed on the Pre-Installation Summary screen, and click Install.
The installer starts installing the various components and creating the database schema. If the installation
is successful, the URL for accessing the vCenter Chargeback application is displayed.
12 Note this URL, and click Done.
The installer displays a dialog stating whether you want to generate your own SSL certificate.
13 Click Skip now, I'll generate it later.
When you install the application for the first time, the installer performs the following tasks:
nConnects to the database and creates a schema for the application data.
nInstalls the application.
nInstalls the load balancer, which receives and routes all user requests to the application.
nInstalls the data collector, which synchronizes the vCenter Chargeback database with the vCenter Server
databases.
NOTE If the installation fails due to some reason, the uninstaller is automatically invoked and all the
components installed till the failure occurred is removed.
What to do next
You can also choose to generate an SSL certificate after the installation is complete by clicking Generate my
own SSL Certificate. If you choose to generate an SSL certificate, follow the instructions in “Generate an SSL
Certificate for vCenter Chargeback,” on page 18.
Generate an SSL Certificate for vCenter Chargeback
After you have installed vCenter Chargeback, you can generate an SSL certificate for the vCenter Chargeback
instance.
You can generate an SSL certificate for vCenter Chargeback either when installing the application or after you
install the application.
Procedure
1 Select Generate SSL Certificate from the Start > Programs > VMware > VMware vCenter Chargeback >
vCenter Chargeback Tools menu.
The Generate SSL Certificate window is displayed.
2 Provide a pass phrase for the default key and press Enter.
You are prompted to enter the pass phrase three more times. Provide the same pass phrase and press Enter
each time.
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3 Provide the required certificate information and press Enter.
You are prompted to enter the some information to be included in the generated SSL certificate.
Option Description
Country Code A two letter code for the country.
State or Province Name Name of the state or province.
Locality Name Name of the city or town.
Organization Name Name of the organization.
Common Name Your name.
Email Address An email address.
4 Provide the requested extra attributes for the certificate and press Enter.
Option Description
A challenge password A user-defined password
An optional company name Company name. This is optional and can be left blank
5 Provide the pass phrase and press Enter.
You are prompted to enter the pass phrase again. Provide the same pass phrase and press Enter.
The SSL certificate is generated with the information provided.
6 Press any key to complete the process and close the window.
The generated SSL certificate can be seen when you access the application.
Create a vCenter Chargeback Cluster
Apart from installing standalone vCenter Chargeback instances, you can also create a cluster of vCenter
Chargeback instances. A cluster has more than one vCenter Chargeback instance accessing the same vCenter
Chargeback database.
Cluster Installation
When you install the vCenter Chargeback application for the first time on a machine, a load balancer is also
installed. The existence of the load balancer enables you to have more than one instance of the vCenter
Chargeback application running, with each instance accessing the same vCenter Chargeback database.
These vCenter Chargeback instances form a cluster. All user requests are routed through the load balancer.
Also, all the instances in the cluster share the same administrative account information. However, you must
ensure that each instance of vCenter Chargeback in the cluster is of the same version.
The load balancer ensures that no single vCenter Chargeback instance is loaded disproportionately with user
requests. Also, if one of the instances fails, any request currently being serviced by that instance is automatically
redirected to another instance in the cluster. For the failover to happen successfully, you must ensure the
following:
nAll the vCenter Chargeback instances in the cluster, the vCenter Chargeback database, and the data
collectors have the same system time. That is, the system times are in sync.
nAll the vCenter Chargeback instances in the cluster are in the same network domain.
nMulticasting must be enabled on the machine on which the vCenter Chargeback instance is installed.
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Installing a vCenter Chargeback Cluster Instance
You can create a cluster of vCenter Chargeback instances that use the same database and load balancer.
Procedure
1 Run the vCenter-CB.exe file.
The installation wizard is displayed.
2 Click Next on the Introduction screen.
3 Accept the end-user license agreement, and click Next.
4 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.
5 Enter the vCenter Chargeback database-related information, and click Next.
Option Description
Database Type The type of database used to create the vCenter Chargeback database. This
can be either SQL SERVER or ORACLE.
Database URL The IP address or host name of the system on which the vCenter Chargeback
database is installed. For an SQL Server database, you can also provide the
vCenter Chargeback database instance name.
For Oracle Database, the database URL can be in any of the following formats:
IP Address
Host Name
For SQL Server, the database URL can be in any of the following formats:
IP Address
Host Name
IP Address \ Database Instance Name
Host Name \ Database Instance Name
Database Port (Optional) The port on which the database service is listening for requests.
If the port number is not specified, the installer uses the default port. For an
Oracle database, you must specify the TNS listener port if you are not using
the default port 1521. For an SQL Server database, specify the database
instance port if you are using a static port.
Database Name Name of the database in which vCenter Chargeback stores the application-
specific data. For Oracle Database, ensure that you provide the service name
and not the SID.
SQL Authentication Mode This option is applicable only for SQL Server databases. For an SQL Server
database, the authentication type can be either SQL Server Authentication
or Windows Authentication.
Database Username The name of the database user. The database user must have privileges to
create and delete schema, as well as read from and write to the database. If
you select Windows Authentication for SQL Authentication Mode, you
must provide the Windows user account name. The user name must be of
the form DomainName\UserName. Also, the user must have the Log on as
a service permission.
Database Password Password for the user name that you have provided. If you select Windows
Authentication as the authentication type, you must provide the password
for the Windows user account. Ensure that the Windows user account
password does not contain any special characters. The installer might fail if
the password contains special characters.
If the installer connects to the database and detects a vCenter Chargeback schema, a dialog is displayed.
vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide
20 VMware, Inc.