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Getting started with the cost estimator tool

Getting started with the cost estimator tool

Use the cost estimator tool in the home page of IBM® Power® Virtual Server in IBM Cloud® to estimate the cost of resources before you deploy them. With the cost estimator tool, you can customize and determine the requirements that align with your business needs.

You do not need to be logged in to create an estimate.

Select a data center that suits your needs and use the cost estimator tool for:

  1. Creating an estimate of resources
  2. Updating an existing estimate
  3. Saving and sharing your estimate

Creating an estimation of resources

To create an estimate, perform the following steps:

You are not charged for creating an estimate. The resources that you estimate can be deployed only after a workspace creation.

  1. Open the Power Virtual Server home page in the IBM Cloud console.
  2. Click Estimate cost.
  3. Select a data center from the Location drop-down menu.
  4. Select one resource from the following list and choose additional configurations as per your requirement:
    • Virtual server instance
    • Storage volume
    • Shared processor pool
    • VPN connection
    • Virtual tape library
  5. On the right-side panel, click Add to estimate to review the configuration.
  6. If you are not logged in, choose from catalog in the Add product to estimate drop-down menu.
  7. Click Save.
  8. Click View estimate to view and to take actions on them.

Estimating a virtual server instance

Before deploying a virtual server instance in a workspace, create an estimate of it. You can create an estimate of a virtual server instance from the estimation page and virtual server instance provisioning page on IBM Cloud.

To learn about the fields and descriptions that you need to enter, see the following table:

Table 1. UI fields in estimating a VSI
Field Description
Number of virtual servers Required: Specify the number of instances that you want to estimate for the Power Virtual Server.
Operating system Select the operating system that meets your requirements from the drop-down.
Configure for Epic workloads Check this indicator if you want to deploy on E980 or E1080 machines with Tier 1 storage and dedicated cores, at a shared capped price.
When you select this indicator, the other dependent fields are automatically filled. To learn more about epic, see Configuring a VM for Epic workloads.
Machine type Specify the machine type.
Core type Specify the core type.
Cores Required: Define how many cores you need.
Memory (GiB) Required: Define how much space you need per core.
Storage tiers Optional: Attach volumes to your estimate. You can choose from Tier 0, Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, Fixed IOPs or a combination of these. tiers
You cannot add a separate boot volume estimation. Hence, you should enter the storage volume considering the boot volumes and data volume that you might need.

To learn more on how to create an instance, see Configuring a Power Virtual Server instance.

Estimating a storage volume

Before deploying a storage volume in a workspace, create an estimate of it. To learn about the fields and descriptions that you need to enter, see the following table:

Table 2. UI fields in estimating a storage volume
Field Description
Number of volumes Required: Specify the number of volumes that you need.
Tier Choose from Tier 0, Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, Fixed IOPs or a combination of these tiers.
Total storage (GB) Enter the amount of volume that you need.

Estimating a shared processor pool

Before deploying a shared processor pool in a workspace, create an estimate of it. To learn about the fields and descriptions that you need to enter, see the following table:

Table 3. UI fields in estimating a shared processor pool
Field Description
Number of pools Required: Specify the number of pools that you need.
Machine type Specify the machine type.
Reserved cores Required: Enter the number of cores that you want to reserve.

To learn more about shared processor pool, see Managing a shared processor pool.

Estimating a VPN connection

Before you create and attach a VPN connection, create an estimate of it. To learn about the fields and descriptions that you need to enter, see the following table:

Table 4. UI fields in estimating a VPN conection
Field Description
Number of connections Enter the number of VPN connections that you want to estimate.

To learn more about VPN connection, see Managing VPN connections.

Estimating a virtual tape library

Before deploying a virtual tape library (VTL) in a workspace, create an estimate of it. To learn about the fields and descriptions that you need to enter, see the following table:

Table 5. UI fields in estimating a VTL
Field Description
Number of VTLs Required: Enter the number of virtual tape library instances that you need.
Licensed repository capacity (TB) Define the size of your repository capacity that determines which software license is needed.
Machine type Specify the machine type.
Core type Specify the core type.
Cores Required: Define how many cores you need.
Memory (GiB) Required: Define how much space you need per core.
Storage tiers Optional: Attach volumes to your estimate. You can choose from Tier 0, Tier 1, Tier 2, Tier 3, Fixed IOPs or a combination of these tiers.
You cannot add a separate boot volume estimation. Hence, you should enter the storage volume considering the boot volumes and data volume that you might need.

To learn more about virtual tape libraries, see Managing a virtual tape library.

Updating an existing estimate

Open the view estimate page in IBM Cloud and perform the following steps that are mentioned in updating an existing estimate.

Saving and sharing your estimate

Open the view estimate page in IBM Cloud and perform the following steps that are mentioned in saving and sharing your estimate.