Cluster Modeling
Cluster Modeling is the what-if tool for compute. Add hosts or resources in a future month and see what happens to runway, constraints, and cost. It is where a capacity problem becomes a budget request with numbers behind it.
What this screen shows
- Project setup. The month to add the resource, a project name, and a notes field.
- Resource inputs. Custom resources and custom host model definitions, so you can model the hardware you are actually quoting rather than a generic block.
- Tabs. vCPU, memory, disk, VM build, and cost, each showing the effect of the scenario on that dimension.
- Forecast chart. Used against capacity against allocated, extended across the horizon.
When to use it
- Modeling a planned purchase. Enter the hosts you intend to buy, in the month you intend to buy them, and compare runway before and after.
- Estimating when a constraint lands. And testing which mitigations actually move the date, because some do not.
- Justifying a budget. The cost tab converts resource additions into a spend figure in the same units finance already uses.
How to get a defensible answer
Model more than one scenario. The value is comparative: two hosts in March against four in June against right-sizing instead of buying. A single model tells you what one option does, and the interesting question is almost always which option is best.
Work the cost tab last. Runway is the constraint conversation and cost is the approval conversation, and mixing them tends to produce a plan that satisfies neither.
Tip: Write your assumptions into the Notes field. Growth rate, workloads expected, hardware quoted. Six months later, someone will ask why the model said what it said, and reproducing an undocumented model is harder than building a new one.
Related screens
Cluster Trends supplies the historical growth rate the model extends. Cluster Summary confirms which resource is actually constraining. Tag Cost Modeling is the equivalent exercise for cost by business unit rather than capacity by cluster.