vCOPS installation requirements

[ejolaus]

Hi,

I am about to deploy VMware vCenter Operations Manager Installable 5.6 on vSphere and reading the document “VMware vCenter Operations Manager Installation and Configuration Guide for Windows and Linux.”  I realized that the requirements regarding storage are more than 3TB for the lower profile (1 million metrics) and then the video where the deployment is explained says that the size on disk needed is around 340GB. 

So, why this big difference? How much storage should I reserve?

[ejolaus]

And then, the document "vCenter Operations Manager vApp Deployment and Configuration Guide" says that 900GB are required.

[gradinka]

Basically, it depends on the size of your environment. The bigger your environment, the more storage you will need for vcops.

That can be measured in either "VMs being monitored" (if we're talking about pure-virtual environment),

or in "metrics being collected".

The second is more-accurate from vcops point of view.

Another parameter is the data retention period, which is pre-configured differently on the vApp vs Standalone (as far as I remember it's 6months on the vApp)

[MHAV]

Hi ejolaus,

vCOPS is collecting data from the environment it's connected to. Every virtual machine delivers about 300 metrics and any ESX-Host around 1500. vCOPS collects metrics every 5 minutes and put them in the FSDB (Filesystem Database) as Flatfiles. The longer you run vCOPS the more data will be stored on the FSDB and it will grow until retention period. Talking strategicly I would deploy the App Version of vCOPS and NOT the standalone Version!

[ejolaus]

Thank you for your answers.

We want to deploy it in our test environment, which is rather small, around 30 hosts and less than 300 VM.

So, to begin with...would 500GB be ok for the vApp? Anyway, it is always possible to provide more storage to the VM if needed.

[gradinka · Accepted solution]

Yes, that should be enough.

[ejolaus]

Ok. Thank you!

[MHAV]

Hi ejolaus,

deploying the vAPP Version does mean you will deploy 2 VMs. One is the UI_VM and the other is the Analytics_VM. They come out of the box with a "Basic" Disk to start with (The UI_VM with 140GB and the Analytics_VM with 225 GB). Dont forget to setup up an IP-Pool on Datacenter Level connected to the Portgroup you want to deploy the vAPSS (VMs) on as described in the documentation. After you deployed the vAPP you need to add some more Disks to the Analytics VM where the FSDB reside on. You can add up to 4 Disks, just shutdown the vAPP, add the Disk and start the vAPP again. vCOPS meaning the Analytics VM will detect the Disk and starts to use it automatically. Beware of the DISK IO will you mention on the Disks the Analytics VM is using!

[ejolaus]

Thanks, that was also really helpful.

When you say "After you deployed the vAPP you need to add some more Disks to the Analytics VM" is it necessary at the beginning? Isn´t it enough with the 225GB it takes during the deployment?

[MHAV]

That'll gonna last for a while and you can check the demand for more diskspace using vCOPS

[ejolaus]

Ok. Thank you