VMware vCenter Chargeback Manager

vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide

vCenter Chargeback 1.6

This document supports the version of each product listed and supports all subsequent versions until the document is replaced by a new edition. To check for more recent editions of this document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.

EN-000535-00

vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide

You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at:

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The VMware Web site also provides the latest product updates.

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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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vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide

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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:

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“What Is Chargeback,” on page 7

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“Chargeback Solution for Virtual Environments,” on page 7

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“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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vCenter

Chargeback

database

vCenter

Server

database

vCenter Server

VIM APIJDBC

Data Collector

vCenter Chargeback

Load Balancer

ESX

host02

ESX

host03

ESX

host01

vCenter Chargeback

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vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide

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 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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Chapter 1 Introduction to vCenter Chargeback

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.

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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:

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“Hardware Requirements,” on page 11

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“Software Requirements,” on page 12

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“Prerequisites for vCenter Chargeback,” on page 13

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“Download and Extract the vCenter Chargeback Installer,” on page 15

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“Install vCenter Chargeback,” on page 15

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“Create a vCenter Chargeback Cluster,” on page 19

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“Install vCenter Chargeback with an Existing Database Schema,” on page 22

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“Upgrading vCenter Chargeback,” on page 25

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“Services Related to the vCenter Chargeback Application,” on page 28

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“Accessing the vCenter Chargeback Application,” on page 30

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“Data Collector,” on page 30

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“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:

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2.0GHz or faster Intel or AMD x86 processor

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4GB or more of RAM

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A minimum of 2GB disk storage (3GB recommended)

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10/100 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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vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide

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):

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Microsoft Windows Server 2003 with SP2

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Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2

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Microsoft Windows Server 2008

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Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit only)

Database Management Systems

vCenter Chargeback supports the following database management systems (both 32 bit and 64 bit):

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Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (Standard and Enterprise)

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Microsoft SQL Server 2008 (Standard and Enterprise)

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Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express

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Oracle Database 10g (Standard and Enterprise)

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Oracle 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:

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Microsoft Internet Explorer 7.x and 8.x

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Mozilla Firefox 3.5 and later releases

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Adobe Flash Player for Windows Plug-in version 10.1 or later

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Adobe 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:

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Check 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:

Chapter 2 Installing vCenter Chargeback

HTTP port

Load-balancer port

HTTPS port

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.

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Set 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.

This port is used by vCenter Chargeback for communication using the HTTP protocol. The default port number is 8080.

This port is used by vCenter Chargeback to communicate with the load balancer. The default port is 8009.

This port is used by the load balancer to listen for user requests. The default port is 443.

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. Ensure that the database is not configured to be case-sensitive.

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:

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You want to deploy the vCenter Chargeback database in a non-English environment.

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You want to synchronize the vCenter Chargeback database with a vCenter Server database that has nonEnglish 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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vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide

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:

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Ensure 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.

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Ensure 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.

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Ensure 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.

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Ensure 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

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

MSI Installation Is MSI installation enabled?

Port Exceptions on Windows Firewall

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.

a database instance name and dynamic database instance port to connect to the vCenter Chargeback database.

If not, install Microsoft Visual C++ 2005 Redistributable Package (x86).

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

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.

.zip, from

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vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide

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. Also, the directory path must contain only ASCII characters.

5 Enter the vCenter Chargeback database-related information, and click Next.

Option Description

Database Type

Database URL

Database Port

Database Name

SQL Authentication Mode

Database Username

Database Password

If the installer successfully connects to the database, the next screen is displayed.

The type of database used to create the vCenter Chargeback database. This can be either SQL SERVER or ORACLE.

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. The database instance name must contain only ASCII characters.

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

(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.

Name of the database in which vCenter Chargeback stores the applicationspecific data. For Oracle Database, ensure that you provide the service name and not the SID.

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.

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.

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.

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6 Enter the IP address and port details for the vCenter Chargeback application, and click Next.

Option Description

IP Address

HTTP Port

Load-Balancer Port

Server Instance Name

Static IP address of the machine on which you are installing vCenter Chargeback. Do not use localhost instead of the IP address.

An unused HTTP port through which vCenter Chargeback can communicate.

An unused port through which vCenter Chargeback can communicate with the load balancer (Apache Server).

A unique user-defined name for the vCenter Chargeback instance. This name is used by the load balancer to identify the instance. Ensure that the instance name contains only ASCII characters.

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

Admin Email Address

HTTPS Port

Static IP address of the machine on which you are installing vCenter Chargeback. Do not use localhost instead of the IP address.

Email address of the server administrator. Ensure that the email address contains only ASCII characters.

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.

NOTE If you are using Oracle Database for your vCenter Chargeback database, ensure that the user name for the administrative account contains only ASCII and non-ASCII characters. Extended ASCII characters in the user name is not supported. This restriction is not applicable if you are using Microsoft SQL Server for you vCenter Chargeback database.

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

Database URL

The type of database used to create the VMware Cloud Director database. The only permissible value is ORACLE.

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

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vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide

Option Description

Database Port

Database Name

Database Username

Database Password

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:

(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.

Name of the database in which VMware Cloud Director stores the application-specific data. This must be the service name and not the SID.

The name of the database user. The database user must have privileges to read the VMware Cloud Director database objects.

Password for the user name that you have provided.

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Connects to the database and creates a schema for the application data.

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Installs the application.

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Installs the load balancer, which receives and routes all user requests to the application.

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Installs 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.

If you want to enable SSL v3 and strong authentication on the Apache Tomcat server, follow the instruction provided at http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/ssl/ssl_howto.html. You must restart the application-related services after making the necessary configuration changes in the Apache Tomcat server.

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.

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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.

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

State or Province Name

Locality Name

Organization Name

Common Name

Email Address

A two letter code for the country.

Name of the state or province.

Name of the city or town.

Name of the organization.

Your name.

An email address.

4 Provide the requested extra attributes for the certificate and press Enter.

Option Description

A challenge password

An optional company name

A user-defined password

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:

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All 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.

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All the vCenter Chargeback instances in the cluster are in the same network domain.

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vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide

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Multicasting must be enabled on the machine on which the vCenter Chargeback instance is installed.

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. Also, the directory path must contain only ASCII characters.

5 Enter the vCenter Chargeback database-related information, and click Next.

Option Description

Database Type

Database URL

Database Port

Database Name

SQL Authentication Mode

Database Username

Database Password

The type of database used to create the vCenter Chargeback database. This can be either SQL SERVER or ORACLE.

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. The database instance name must contain only ASCII characters.

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

(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.

Name of the database in which vCenter Chargeback stores the applicationspecific data. For Oracle Database, ensure that you provide the service name and not the SID.

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.

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.

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.

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If the installer connects to the database and detects a vCenter Chargeback schema, a dialog is displayed.

6 Click Use it.

The vCenter Chargeback instance will use this existing vCenter Chargeback database.

7 Enter the IP address and port details for the vCenter Chargeback application, and click Next.

Option Description

IP Address

HTTP Port

Load-Balancer Port

Server Instance Name

Static IP address of the machine on which you are installing vCenter Chargeback. Do not use localhost instead of the IP address.

An unused HTTP port through which vCenter Chargeback can communicate.

An unused port through which vCenter Chargeback can communicate with the load balancer (Apache Server).

A unique user-defined name for the vCenter Chargeback instance. This name is used by the load balancer to identify the instance. Ensure that the instance name contains only ASCII characters.

If the specified ports are free, the next screen is displayed.

8 Ensure that the Install Load Balancer Server option is not selected, and click Next.

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

Database URL

The type of database used to create the VMware Cloud Director database. The only permissible value is ORACLE.

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

Database Name

Database Username

Database Password

(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.

Name of the database in which VMware Cloud Director stores the application-specific data. This must be the service name and not the SID.

The name of the database user. The database user must have privileges to read the VMware Cloud Director database objects.

Password for the user name that you have provided.

If the installer successfully connects to the database, the next screen is displayed.

11 (Optional) If you chose to install the VMware Cloud Director Data Collector or the vShield Manager Data

Collector, enter the password for the vCenter Chargeback administrative account and click Next.

You must provide the correct password for the data collectors to call the vCenter Chargeback APIs.

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vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide

12 Review the information displayed on the Pre-Installation Summary screen, and click Install.

The installer starts installing the various components. If the installation is successful, the URL for accessing the vCenter Chargeback application and the information required to add this installed instance to the cluster is displayed.

13 Note this information, and click Done.

The administrative account for accessing this instance will be same as the one used by the existing vCenter Chargeback instance.

NOTE If the installation fails, the uninstaller starts automatically and removes all the components installed.

Adding a vCenter Chargeback Instance to a Cluster

Installing a vCenter Chargeback cluster instance does not automatically add it to the cluster. You must manually add a vCenter Chargeback instance to a cluster.

You can add a vCenter Chargeback instance to a cluster by running the ModifyLBWorkers.bat file on the machine on which the load balancer is installed.

Procedure

1 On the machine on which the load balancer is installed, open a command-line window.

2 Navigate to the \vCenter-CB-Tools\load-balancer\bin directory.

cd

Installation_Folder

\vCenter-CB-Tools\load-balancer\bin\

where, Installation_Folder is the complete folder path provided during the vCenter Chargeback installation. The default installation folder is C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware vCenter Chargeback.

3 Run the ModifyLBWorkers.bat file to register the vCenter Chargeback instance with the load balancer.

ModifyLBWorkers

Host_IP_Address Load-Balancer_Port Server_Instance_Name

Here, Host_IP_Address is the IP address of the machine on which the new vCenter Chargeback instance is installed, Load-Balancer_Port is the port through which the vCenter Chargeback instance communicates with the load balancer, and Server_Instance_Name is the name of the new vCenter Chargeback instance that you want to add to the cluster. Load-Balancer_Port is same as the port configured during the new vCenter Chargeback installation. Server_Instance_Name is the name that you have provided during the installation.

4 Restart the Load Balancer service from the Start > Programs > VMware > VMware vCenter Chargeback

> vCenter Chargeback Services menu.

Install vCenter Chargeback with an Existing Database Schema

You can create a stand-alone vCenter Chargeback instance that uses an existing vCenter Chargeback schema.

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.

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Chapter 2 Installing vCenter Chargeback

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. Also, the directory path must contain only ASCII characters.

5 Enter the vCenter Chargeback database-related information, and click Next.

Option Description

Database Type

Database URL

The type of database used to create the vCenter Chargeback database. This can be either SQL SERVER or ORACLE.

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. The database instance name must contain only ASCII characters.

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

Database Name

SQL Authentication Mode

Database Username

Database Password

(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.

Name of the database in which vCenter Chargeback stores the applicationspecific data. For Oracle Database, ensure that you provide the service name and not the SID.

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.

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.

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.

6 Click Use it.

The vCenter Chargeback instance will use this existing vCenter Chargeback database.

If you click Create new schema, the existing schema is overwritten.

7 Enter the IP address and port details for the vCenter Chargeback application, and click Next.

Option Description

IP Address

HTTP Port

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Static IP address of the machine on which you are installing vCenter Chargeback. Do not use localhost instead of the IP address.

An unused HTTP port through which vCenter Chargeback can communicate.

vCenter Chargeback User’s Guide

Option Description

Load-Balancer Port

Server Instance Name

If the specified ports are free, the next screen is displayed.

8 Enter the load balancer-related information, and click Next.