9.2 Creating Resource Groups Within the Zone

A resource group defines a set of VM hosts that an organization can use for its business services. In addition to the VM hosts, the resource group includes one or more service levels that define the cost of the host resources (vCPUs, memory, storage, and networks) and the service objectives (availability, support response time, and so forth).

9.2.1 Resource Group Requirements

All VM hosts that you include in a resource group must reside in the same Cloud Manager zone. Additionally, the hosts should be identical in terms of hypervisor technology, operating system version, network configuration, storage repository configuration, and hardware capabilities. This ensures a consistent environment for business services regardless of the host. It also ensures that the resource group’s service levels apply to all hosts.

As an example, you might create a Business Critical resource group that consists of high-performance hosts intended for mission-critical applications and services. You assign the resource group a Platinum service level with costs that reflect the more expensive hardware and service contract. Any business service that is provisioned to the resource group also inherits the resource and service costs.

Or, you might create a Lab resource group that consists of standard-performance hosts intended for software testing. You assign the resource group a Bronze service level with costs that reflect the less expensive hardware and service contract.

9.2.2 Shared and Dedicated Resource Groups

A resource group can be shared among multiple organizations, which means that each organization’s business services utilize the same resources, or a resource group can be assigned to only one organization, in which case only that organization’s business services consume the resources.

9.2.3 Creating a Resource Group

  1. On the main navigation bar, click Getting Started, then click Create Resource Groups (in the Set Up Your Cloud Environment list).

    or

    On the main navigation bar, click Resources, click the Resource Groups tab, then click Create.

  2. If your Cloud Manager system has multiple zones, the Select Zone dialog box is displayed. Select the zone that contains the resources you are grouping, then click OK to display the Create Resource Group dialog box.

  3. In the General fields, provide the following information for the resource group:

    Name: Specify a unique name for the group. You can use letters, numbers, and the following special characters: space, hyphen, underscore, apostrophe, percent, ampersand, and period. The maximum length is 110 characters.

    Zone: Displays the zone whose hosts you can add to the group. You cannot change this setting.

    Hypervisor: Select the hypervisor technology for the group’s hosts. You can add only those hosts that meet the hypervisor criteria.

    Workload Repository: The Default setting causes a provisioned workload to be stored in the same repository as the VM template used to create it. If you want workloads provisioned to this resource group to be stored in a different shared repository, you must add hosts to the group (see Step 4), then come back and select the shared repository for the workloads. The Workload Repository list is populated only after you add hosts to the resource group.

    Group Type: This applies only if VMware vSphere is the selected hypervisor. Select Host if you want the resource group to use hosts and host clusters. Select Resource Pool if you want the resource group to use a resource pool.

    Resource Pool: If you specified Resource Pool as the group type, select the resource pool to include in the group.

    Description: Provide any additional information for the resource group.

  4. If the group type is Host, add hosts to the group:

    1. Under Associations, click the Hosts tab.

    2. Click Add to display the Add Hosts dialog box.

      The list displays all available hosts and host clusters in the zone that meet the selected hypervisor criteria. Hosts that are already assigned to another resource group are not displayed.

    3. Select the hosts.

      You can Shift-click and Ctrl-click to select multiple hosts.

    4. Click OK to add the selected hosts to the Hosts list.

  5. Ignore the Service Levels tab.

    At this point, there are no service levels to assign to the resource group. The next task is to create service levels (see Section 9.3, Creating Service Levels for Resource Groups). You assign service levels to resource groups at that time.

  6. Ignore the Networks tab.

    The Networks tab shows the networks associated with the hosts you added to the group. The list is view-only so you can’t make any changes. However, the list is not generated until you save the resource group. If you want to see the networks at this time, click Save, double-click the resource group to open it again, then click the Networks tab.

  7. Ignore the Organizations tab.

    At this point, there are no organizations to assign the resource group to. You create organizations and assign resource groups to them later (see Section 9.4, Creating an Organization).

  8. Click Save to add the resource group to the list.

For more information about resource groups, see.Section 14.0, Managing Resources.