Why do Tanzu CPU metrics differ from vCenter CPU metrics

Products

• VMware Tanzu Application Service
• VMware Aria Operations (formerly vRealize Operations) 8.x

Issue/Introduction

Customer has observed that the CPU utilization metrics they see reported in the Tanzu environment, such as those in the firehose or HealthWatch, seems to differ significantly from what is reported by vCenter (VM CPU on ESXi).

Cause

https://community.broadcom.com/vmware-cloud-foundation/discussion/vcenter-vm-cpu-usage-metrics-vs-vm-linux-os-cpu-usage-metrics

Resolution

The way that CPU is recorded in a virtualization environment differs fundamentally from how it is recorded on physical hardware. In light of this, customers should use vCenter or Aria Operations to perform data center capacity planning.