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Foglight Chargeback 5.7.7 - User Guide

Workflow Basics

Foglight™ Chargeback allows you to group business units together using host groups. For example, you can take all of the VMs for a particular business unit (for example, human resources or accounting) in an IT infrastructure and group them together, apply Foglight Chargeback models, and generate reports in PDF, XML, or Excel. These reports provides summaries of total IT costs for a particular group of hosts, breaking down the cost of individual host machines.

To create a host group and generate a Chargeback report:
1
Determine which chargeback models to use. You use models to associate, monitor, and report the costs associated with virtual or physical machine usage within datacenters (business units). Foglight Chargeback provides the following models:
•
Tiered Flat Rate Model
•
Measured Resource Utilization Model
•
Add Ons Model
2
Add hosts groups to the models. A host group is any number of hosts (virtual or physical) placed together to gather chargeback data. You use host groups to batch VMs in one particular group, gather data, and generate reports. For example, a host group could be created for “All Accounting VMs”. For more information, see Using the Host Groups View.
3
Set the currency. Set currency allows you to set the labels for the unit of currency you are working with. Changing the currency symbol affects only the text of the currency entered. No exchange rates are applied. For more information, see Set Currency.
4
Add Tiered Flat Rate assignments:
a
Add New Tiers
b
Assign Hosts
5
Measured Resource Utilization assignments:
c
Add Measure Resource Utilization Templates
d
Assign Hosts to templates
6
Add Ons definitions:
a
Add Add Ons
b
Assigning Hosts
7
Creating New Reports

Exploring the Chargeback Dashboard

The Chargeback dashboard provides views and wizards that allow you to group host machines into business units (for example, accounting or human resources) apply the applicable models for that group, and create reports on a predetermined time frame that show what a particular group within an IT infrastructure is costing. The following views are provided:

Click the arrow links below for more details.

Figure 4. Chargeback dashboard

Summary View

The Summary tab provides a wizard to create chargeback reports, allows you to configure currency, view a summary of chargeback cost models, view reports, and monitor chargeback alerts.

Figure 5. Summary tab

The Summary tab provides the following views:

•
Tasks—from the Tasks view you can:
•
Create New Reports—provides a wizard that allows you to configure a report and select a host group (a group of computers) for a particular business unit. The reports are generated in PDF, Excel, and XML. (For more information, see Creating New Reports.)
•
Set Currency—you use Set Currency to set labels for the unit of currency you are working with (for example, $, €, £, ¥, or others). This value is not a currency value. It is a label assigned to the currency value being gathered. No exchange rates are applied. (For more information, see Set Currency.)
•
Chargeback At A Glance—this view provides a quick visual summary of which chargeback cost models are available and how many hosts have been configured for each model.
•
Chargeback Reports—shows all Chargeback reports that are scheduled and a history of previously run reports. Clicking on the name, schedule, or template for a specific report opens the Edit Reports view, allowing report edits or updates. Clicking on the Last Run icon (if enabled) allows immediate access to the last known static report that is available. If the selected report has been scheduled, but has not yet run, the Last Run icon appears dimmed out until the report runs. The History icon provides quick access to the previous reports that are stored in the system. Each column can be sorted, depending on individual preferences. A search field is included to help you quickly find reports. For more information, see Viewing, Running, and Deleting Reports.
 

Using the Summary View

From the Summary tab you perform the following tasks:

•
Creating New Reports
•
Set Currency
•
Editing Reports
•
Viewing, Running, and Deleting Reports
•
Deleting Reports from the Chargeback View
•
Viewing Reports and Deleting Report History
•
Scheduling Reports
•
Manually Running a Report
Creating New Reports

You create reports to view chargeback data. The reports are generated in PDF, Excel, or XML. The Creating New Reports wizard allows you to name a report and select a host group (a group of computers, virtual or physical) for a particular business unit. If the host group is not available, you create a new group using the Add New Host Groups wizard.

To create a new Chargeback report:
1
Click Create New Report under Tasks on the Summary tab.
The Create New Report wizard dialog appears.
2
From this dialog you have two options:
•
Select a User Host Group, VMWare, or Hyper-V virtualization service and continue creating the report.
or
•
Create a new host group. For more information, see Add New Host Groups. After creating the new host group, proceed to Step 3.
3
Enter a report name.
4
Select the required service.
5
Click Next.
The Host in Services dialog box appears. This table lists the active chargeback cost models (TFR, MRU, and Add Ons). From this list you can:
•
Change or add tier assignments to the selected host group. (Next step).
•
Change or add template assignments to the selected host group. (Step 7).
•
Change or add add-ons to selected host to the selected host group (Step 8).
6
Change tier assignments.
a
From the Host In Service view, click the required host name.
The Tier Assignment view appears.
b
Select the required tier.
The Tier Assignment view appears.
c
Click the required tier and click Save.
Add a new tier and click Save. For more information, see Add New Tiers.
7
Change template assignments. Measured resource templates are assigned at the server level. This server is the selected host that lists all the hosts residing on that server.
 
* 
IMPORTANT: Changing the template assignment of the selected host changes the template assignment of all hosts residing on the server.
a
From the Host In Service view, click the required measured resource template.
 
* 
IMPORTANT: Assigning hosts when originally configuring Chargeback models is the most efficient method to add hosts to the Chargeback models for use in reports.
The Template Assignment view appears.
b
Click view all to view the complete hosts list.
c
Click Cancel when finished viewing the hosts list.
Select the required template and click Save.
Add a new template by clicking . For more information, see Add Measure Resource Utilization Templates.
d
Click Save when finished.
8
Add Add Ons to the selected host­­. Add Ons include third party software costs, HVAC cost, support and subscription cost, floorspace cost, electricity cost, etc. Use this dialog to add a new Chargeback Add On. The Add Ons name is not editable once it is saved. Add Ons cannot be deleted.
a
From the Host In Service view, click the required Add On.
The Add On Assignments view appears.
b
Select the required Add On by selecting it and clicking Save.
Add a new Add On by clicking . For more information, see Add Add Ons.
c
Click Save when finished. 
9
After making the required changes, click Next.
The Advanced Options dialog box appears.
10
Enter the report name and title:
•
This report name is assigned to the PDF, Excel, or XML output.
•
The report title is entered, but not used in the chargeback report.
11
Foglight Chargeback comes with templates to generate reports. Select the template that meets your chargeback reporting needs. The following templates are provided:
•
Hosts Tiered Flat Rate—this report shows the tier and add on assignments and their costs of hosts under this service over the specified time range. The add ons and Tiered Flat Rate calculations consider only 30 days (720 hours) a month.
•
Unassigned Hosts Tiered Flat Rate(All Hosts)—this report lists all the hosts that have not been assigned to a tier. The add ons and Tiered Flat Rate calculations consider only 30 days (720 hours) a month.
•
Hosts Assigned to Disabled Tiers(Service)—this report shows the list of hosts under this service, if any, that are currently assigned to disabled tiers. These hosts should be assigned to an active tier, or the tiers they are assigned to should be activated. The add ons and tiered flat rate calculations considers only 30 days(720 hours) a month.
•
Hosts Assigned to Disabled Tiers(All Hosts)—this report shows the list of hosts, if any, that are currently assigned to tiers that are disabled. These hosts should be assigned to an active tier or the tiers they are assigned to should be activated. The add ons and tiered flat rate calculations considers only 30 days (720 hours) a month.
•
Unassigned Hosts Tiered Flat Rate(Service)—this report lists the hosts under this service that have not been assigned to a tier. The add ons and tiered flat rate calculations consider only 30 days (720 hours) a month.
•
Measured Resource-Full Cost Recovery—measured resource utilization's full cost recovery can only be calculated for hosts of type VM. This report shows the CPU, memory, network, storage and total costs of the VMs under this service based on measured resource utilization's full cost recovery. It also reports the VMs associated add ons and their costs. The add ons cost calculations consider only 30 days (720 hours) a month.
•
Measured Resource-Partial Cost Recovery—measured resource utilization's partial cost recovery can only be calculated for hosts VM. This report shows the CPU, memory, network, storage, and total costs of the VM under this service based on measured resource utilization's partial cost recovery. It also reports the VMs associated add ons and their costs. The add ons cost calculations consider only 30 days (720 hours) a month.
•
Hypervisors Template Assignments—this report lists the VMware (ESX) and Hyper-V servers that are assigned to templates, the VMware and Hyper-V servers that are assigned to disabled templates, and the VMware and Hyper-V Servers that are not assigned to templates. The servers that are assigned to disabled templates should be assigned to an active template or the templates they are assigned to should be activated.
•
IT Infrastructure Unrecovered Cost­—for partial cost recovery, business units, and customers are not impacted by a virtual infrastructure that is underutilized. This report shows IT Management how much cost is being absorbed by IT not properly performing capacity analysis of their virtual infrastructure or not using full cost recovery. Storage costs are always charged based on the full cost recovery model. No cost is being absorbed by IT management for under utilized storage.
12
Set the advanced scheduling options as required.
•
Enabled checkbox—checking this checkbox (the default) allows reports to run on its selected schedule. Unchecking the checkbox disables the report from running.
•
Time Range—select a time range for your report. The default is the Last Hour but you typically set it to This Month or Last Month to get a monthly report.
•
Schedule—reports can be large, it is best to accept the default of running the report Monthly Off Hours. Once configured, the report has a Run Now icon in the Reports view so you can run the report any time.
•
Retained Results—determines how many copies you will keep before the oldest report is overwritten. Setting this value to 12 when running a monthly report maintains one year’s worth of monthly reports.
•
Report Format—reports are generated in PDF, Excel, or XML.
•
Email Recipients—email addresses are separated by a comma; do not use semi-colons. To receive the reports in email, configure the email server parameters in the Administration dashboard (Administration > Setup & Support > Email Configuration).
13
Click Finish.
The newly created report now appears in the Chargeback Reports table on the Summary Page.
Set Currency

Set Currency allows you to set labels for the unit of currency you are working with (for example, $, USD, €, £, ¥, or required currency symbol). This value is not a currency value. It is a label assigned to the currency value being gathered.

* 
IMPORTANT: Changing the currency symbol affects only the text of the currency entered. No exchange rates are applied.
To set currency:
1
Click Set Currency.
The Set Currency view appears.
2
Enter the required currency unit.
3
Click Save.
Editing Reports

From the Chargeback Summary view you edit reports.

To edit a report:
1
Click the required report.
The Edit Schedule Reports dialog box appears.
2
Edit the scheduled report or email a report, as required.
Viewing, Running, and Deleting Reports

From the Chargeback Reports view you can download the report last run, display a history of reports, delete reports, and view reports.

To utilize reports from the Chargeback Reports view:
•
You view, delete, or run Chargeback reports by:
•
Clicking in the Last Run column (PDF, Excel, XML) shows the last run report.
•
Clicking in the History column shows the Report History popup to view or delete a report. For more information, see Viewing Reports and Deleting Report History.
•
Clicking in the Run Now column shows the Run Now popup and runs the report.
Deleting Reports from the Chargeback View

From the Chargeback Reports view you delete reports.

To delete a report:
1
In the Chargeback Reports view, select required the report.
2
Click Delete.
 
* 
IMPORTANT: Deleting a report from the Chargeback Reports view deletes the scheduled report. Report instances are not deleted.
Viewing Reports and Deleting Report History

From the Chargeback Reports view, you view the history of individual reports that have been run.

To view and delete report history:
1
In the Chargeback Reports view, click the History icon for the report history you want you review.
The Report History view appears. All reports are listed.
2
To view a report, click any column in the view.
3
To delete report history, select the report and click Delete.
The Delete Generated Reports dialog appears.
4
Click Delete.
5
Click Close.
Scheduling Reports

Foglight Chargeback allows you to tailor the scheduling of reports to meet reporting requirements.

To change the schedule of a report:
1
In the Chargeback Reports view, click the required report.
The Edit Report dialog appears.
2
From the Schedule drop-down, select the required report time frame.
3
Click OK.
Manually Running a Report

Chargeback reports can be manually run from the Chargeback Reports view.

To manually run a report:
1
In the Run Now column, click the Run Now icon .
The Run Now popup appears.
2
When the report run completes, click Download to view the report.
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