It is possible to organize vCenter Server entities from multiple vCenter Servers under a single Chargeback hierarchy – one that makes the billing logic and reporting simpler.

For example, consider Company A’s virtual infrastructure having 2 vCenter Servers. vCenter Server VC1 manages virtual machines related to Product P1 – development, testing and production. vCenter Server VC2 manages virtual machines related to Product P2. While calculating the company expenditure on these resources, Company A associates one cost level for development, another for testing and a third for production.

If company A wants to report resource consumption & expenses on a per department basis, the billing hierarchy that make sense here, should look as below.

To create such a billing hierarchy, follow these steps.

• Add VC1 & VC2 to vCenter Chargeback.
• On the ‘Manage Hierarchy’ tab, click ‘Create Chargeback Hierarchy’ button to create a custom hierarchy with the name “Company A” .

• Right click on the hierarchy “Company A” and create three new Chargeback folders – dev, test, and production.

• From the right side panel, choose VC1 from the drop-down list of vCenter Servers and add individual virtual machines to the chargeback hierarchy on left panel. Repeat this for VC2. This approach can be extended to any number of vCenter Servers.

Once this billing hierarchy is created, chargeback users can configure costs & generate reports on a per department basis.