Using Policies
Policies are efficiency tools that allow you to set configuration parameters and apply these "rules" as a unit to resources. In Cloud Cost Management (CCM), policies define the optimization parameters for Idle Resources reports and Right Sizing reports.
You must have an administrator role in Virtana Platform to create policies.
You can create more than one policy, but only one policy can be applied to an entity at a time. If you create multiple policies, you must set the priority to determine the order in which policies are applied. There is a limit of 25 policies per report type for any organization.
From the Recommendation Details table on the Cost Saving Opportunities page, you can view the details for any policy associated with a compute instance.
You can use policies to customize report output for your specific use cases. For Cost Saving Opportunities, the policy parameters that are called Constraints provide boundaries for the recommendations submitted by CCM. You can modify these constraints to implement greater or lesser restrictions on calculations for right sizing and idle resources.
For example, you can set right-sizing constraints so that calculations will never consider decreasing CPUs or they will only resize CPUs based on historical utilization or the calculations for CPUs will have no constraints at all, etc.
You can also set parameters for Scope of Analysis. After selecting the data sources, you can use the same attributes and tags used in global Report Filters to further refine the scope of the policy. You can view the potential impact of any policy changes from the Affected Entities tab and then delete or commit the changes. Saving edits to a policy results in a recalculation, which immediately commits the changes.
Tip
Editing and saving a policy forces a recalculation of the entities in your environment. This can take as much as 15 minutes.
Additionally, the Change Requests feature can be enabled or disabled from the policies configuration form.
The CCM module includes default policies with predefined configurations for Idle Resources and for Right Sizing. You can use the policies as-is or you can edit and save them.
Related Topics
Working with Multiple Policies
Right Sizing Policy Parameters
Idle Resources Policy Parameters
Working with Multiple Policies
Role required: Administrator. When you create policies, you must establish the order in which the policies will be applied.
You can create policies from Settings > Policies or from the Cost Savings Opportunities page. However, you can determine the order of policies only from the Settings > Policies page. The hierarchy you establish determines the order in which policies are implemented.
For example, assume you create one policy with a scope of analysis that impacts all AWS data sources. You set the Tag filter to include the Dev environment and Test environment. You retain the default policy constraints for this policy. You then create a second policy with the same scope, but modify the constraints. You can set the policy with the modified constraints to be implemented first. However, if that policy cannot be implemented because some constraint does not apply, then the policy with default settings would be used.
The Default policy provided when an organization is set up in Cloud Cost Management (CCM) will always be the last policy in the list. Any policies created directly in CCM are implemented before the Default policy, if possible. If no other policies apply, then the Default policy is executed.
Related Topics
Using Tags and Attributes with Policies
When creating a policy, you first select a data source. Then you can use Tags and Attributes to identify compute instances within the data source to which the policy should apply. If you don't use tags and attributes to narrow the list of affected instances, then the policy applies to all compute instances in the data source.
With tags and attributes you can include or exclude resources based on factors such as the resource name, resource owner, availability zone, region, application, etc. Using tags and attributes you reduce the scope of the report output so it is more focused on the information you want to view. For example, you can filter the report to display only compute instances tagged with the availability zone sa-east-1 and the application DNS.
Tip
If no guest diagnostic metrics are enabled, Virtana Platform cannot collect memory utilization details, so recommendations will be based on an assumed percentage. We recommend installing the CloudWatch Agent on EC2 instances to receive more accurate right sizing recommendations.
When selecting a data source, you can include one, multiple, or all cloud provider data sources under a single policy. If you select a parent data source, any linked children are also associated with that policy.
Related Topics
Default Policy Settings
The Default Right Sizing Policy and Default Idle Resources Policy are automatically assigned to all entities in a data source when an organization is created in Cloud Cost Management (CCM) .
The default policies contain predefined parameter settings that impact the output of your reports. You can retain these initial settings or modify them. However, these default policies cannot be deleted.
Default policies are initially configured with the following predefined settings.
Default General Parameters
The General Policy Parameters for Idle Resources and Right Sizing Policies are the same, as indicated below.
Scope of Analysis
The default policy includes all compute entities from all Cloud Service Providers. Create a custom policy to filter entities by data source, tag, and/or attribute.
Change Requests
Target change management system: None
Default Idle Resources Policy
Default Idle Resources Constraints
AWS Resources
Entity Type
Report on idle after
If monthly cost is greater than
Unattached EBS
0 day
0 USD
EBS on Stopped EC2
0 days
0 USD
Unattached ELB
0 day
0 USD
Unattached Elastic IP
0 day
0 USD
Azure Resources
Entity Type
Report on idle after
If monthly cost is greater than
Unattached Application
0 days
0 USD
Azure Disk on Stopped VM
0 days
0 USD
Unattached Load Balancer
0 days
0 USD
Unattached Public IP
0 days
0 USD
Default Right Sizing Policy
Default Basic Right Sizing Constraints
Recommendation Aggressiveness
Propose only savings greater than 0%
CPU & Memory Data Aggregation
Data Aggregation Method: 95th Percentile
CPU
Resize based on historical utilization
Target CPU Utilization: 95%
Memory
Resize based on historical utilization
Default memory utilization when diagnostic monitoring not enabled: 60%
Target Memory Utilization: 95%
Default Instance Type Constraints
No constraint,
No instance types are selected to include or exclude by default
Default Other Resource Constraints
Disk I/O
No constraint
Peak IOPS cannot decrease
Minimum peak IOPS: 0
Azure-specific: Require Premium SSD Support
Network I/O
No constraint
Network performance cannot decrease
Minimum peak network performance (Gbps): 0
EC2 Entities
Tenancy: Shared
Term Type: No constraint
Graviton CPU: No Constraint
Related Topics
Create and Assign a Policy
When you create or edit a policy, you must assign the policy to one or more data sources. This is done using the Scope of Analysis rule for the policy. The assignment of policies determines which applications, workflows, etc. use a specific policy.
After selecting the data source(s) for a right-sizing policy, you can further reduce the scope of impact of the policy by using tags and attributes to identify specific compute instances. However, idle resource policies are automatically assigned to all data sources and cannot be assigned to individual compute instances.
Tip
If no guest diagnostic metrics are enabled, Virtana Platform cannot collect memory utilization details, so recommendations will be based on an assumed percentage. We recommend installing the CloudWatch Agent on EC2 instances to receive more accurate right sizing recommendations.
About This Task
You can assign more than one policy to the same data source(s). But because only one policy can apply at a time, after you create new policies you must determine the hierarchy of policies under Settings. This means that the policies will be applied in the order you determine. So if policy #1 is not applicable in a particular situation, policy #2 will be applied, and so forth.
Steps: Create and Assign a Policy from Settings
You must have administrator privileges to access Settings.
Only an administrator can create new policies or modify exitihng ones.
Navigate to Settings > Policies.
Click Right Sizing or Idle Resources, and then click New Policy.
Select the General Parameters tab.
Under Scope of Analysis, check the data sources to which the policy should apply.
If you select a data source with linked accounts, all child accounts are automatically selected as well.
Under Entity Filter, select any Tags or Attributes to be included or excluded.
Example: If you wanted to include all resources in the Dev environment, do the following:
Check Include.
Under by Tag, select the Any radio button and select Environment:Dev from the dropdown list.
Make any other desired selections in the policy configuration form.
Click Create.
The new policy displays in the Policies list.
If applying multiple policies, drag and drop the new policy to the desired hierarchical location in the list.
Alternatively, you can click the Action menu to move a policy to the highest or lowest priority in the hierarchy.
To edit a policy, click
(Action menu) and select Edit, or click a policy name in the table.
Related Topics
Idle Resources Policy Parameters
Steps: Modify and Assign a Policy from Cost Saving Opportunities
To create a new policy, go to Setting > Policies.
Users with a role other than administrator can view policy configurations, but they cannot modify policy settings. An administrator role is required for modifying policies.
Important
Changes to a policy impact all resources to which the policy is associated. Ensure the changes you intend to make are appropriate for all impacted resources.
Navigate to Cost Saving Opportunities and select the Idle Resources or Right Sizing tab.
In the Recommendation Details table, locate the compute instance whose policy you want to change.
Click the badge in the Policy column.
The policy details display.
Click General Parameters and then click Edit Policy.
Make your desired changes and Save.
Verify the changes and close the configuration form.
If applying multiple policies, navigate to Settings > Policies to set the policy priority.
You must have administrator privileges to access Settings.
Drag and drop the new policy to the desired hierarchical location in the list.
Alternatively, you can click the Action menu to move a policy to the highest or lowest priority in the hierarchy.
Related Topics
Idle Resources Policy Parameters
View a Policy Configuration
To fully understand the output of a report, it can sometimes be useful to view the settings assigned to the resources in the report. Non-administrators can view policy settings from the Cost Saving Opportunities page. Administrators can also view policy details in Settings.
About This Task
Users with a role other than administrator can view policy configurations, but they cannot modify policy settings. An administrator role is required for modifying policies.
Steps
Navigate to Cost Saving Opportunities and select the Idle Resources or Right Sizing tab.
In the Recommendation Details table, locate the compute instance whose policy you want to view.
Click the badge in the Policy column.
The policy details display.
Click the General Parameters , Constraints, or Affected Entities Preview tabs to view related settings.
Click x to exit.
Related Topics
Idle Resources Policy Parameters