Lab O1: Build a Custom VCF Operations Dashboard for C-Level Reporting

VCF 9.0Intermediatevcp-foundation⏱ 75 min

Objectives

Create an executive dashboard aggregating cost, capacity, performance, and availability across VCF 9.0 fleet.

Prerequisites

VCF lab environment deployed and operational

Lab Environment

Standard VCF lab environment for Cloud Operations 8.x Professional

Tasks

Task 1 Lab O1: Build a Custom VCF Operations Dashboard for C-Level Reporting

Create an executive dashboard aggregating cost, capacity, performance, and availability across VCF 9.0 fleet.

Step 1

Define 8 KPIs: aggregate CPU/mem utilization, cost per workload, capacity runway, availability %, etc.

Step 2

Build supermetrics as needed for derived KPIs.

Step 3

Create widgets: trend, heatmap, scoreboard, top-N offenders.

Step 4

Schedule PDF export weekly to finance + ops distribution lists.

Step 5

Test on a running environment and iterate based on stakeholder feedback.

Validation Gate

Check: Verify lab completion

Expected: Lab exercise completed successfully

Common Errors

Dashboard showing raw metrics without business context

Fix: A C-level dashboard showing 'cluster CPU utilization: 72%' is meaningless without context. Add business context: 'Production capacity: 72% utilized, 28% available for growth. At current growth rate, additional hosts needed by Q3.' Use traffic light indicators: green <70%, yellow 70-85%, red >85%.

Too many KPIs on a single dashboard

Fix: Executive dashboards should show 5-7 KPIs maximum: availability, capacity utilization, cost per VM, incident count, compliance posture, growth trend. Each KPI should be actionable — if a number changes, someone should do something about it. Remove vanity metrics.

Not configuring dashboard refresh intervals appropriately

Fix: C-level dashboards don't need 5-minute refresh — daily or weekly data is sufficient. Operational dashboards need near-real-time (5-15 min). Set refresh intervals per dashboard purpose: executive weekly, ops manager daily, SRE real-time.

Final Validation

Lab completed successfully

✓ All steps completed → No errors observed

Cleanup / Restore

• Revert to snapshot if needed

Design Reflection (VCDX)

Executive-facing dashboards demonstrate communication skills beyond technical architecture. VCDX panelists appreciate designs that include stakeholder communication strategy.

⚠ Known Pitfalls (from Community KB)

Building dashboards that show infrastructure metrics without business context — executives don't care about CPU percentage.

Refreshing executive dashboards every 5 minutes — wastes resources and the data doesn't change that fast.

Mark complete