Hey folks,
In VMan, in the "All Alerts" dashboard widget, there are always 5ish alerts flagged on topics more related to optimization than actual issues. While this awareness is all fine and dandy, the perfectionist in me really doesn't like having near-permanent alerts active. To me, if an alerted state is constant/acceptable/normal, it isn't an alert. That said, I do want to be able to see the information contained in the alert, so I'm averse to disabling it (it just would be nice if it was in an "Optimization" section/dashboard, but I digress...).
Anyways, the alert in question is "VMs With More Allocated Space Than Used". My question to the community is: How do you address this alert in your environment?
I'm primarily a Windows shop, running vSphere 5 (Enterprise Plus) w/ 3PAR storage and enough wiggle room to svMotion stuff around, if it is worth the effort. I've already adjusted the alert to assess on 10GB difference, rather than 1GB, because virtually ever guest of mine has that much excess due to Windows patching, etc.
In your realm, do you use sdelete.exe to zero the space and then Storage vMotion to re-thin? Or do you use a 3rd party utility? Or...
Let me know! It'd be great to have actionable steps associated with these alerts so we can all get to states where the "All Alerts" widget is green.
~Chris