Tools for gathering metrics about physical environment for use in virtualization/cloud planning?

Question

I'm looking for tools that will work on either Linux/Unix or Windows Server that for a given set of servers in an enterprise environent, will:

• Identify the server [via hostname, or some other unique attribute]
• List the the number & type of CPUs + cores
• Enumerate the storage devices used by the server
• Provide CPU and storage utilization data
• Provide load, network & storage I/O metrics

The goal is to gather accurate metrics about the current environment that will drive the design of an equivelent environment virtually or in the IaaS cloud [e.g AWS].

I found a couple of options so far:

• SysTrack Virtual Machine Planner
• Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit

Some of this data can be gathered directly from the OS but I rather use a tool that has that functionality and presents the data in an easy to understand manner. Does VMWare provide any tools for this? Other suggestions?

Answer 1

VMWare used to offer a product called "Guided Consolidation" that did just what you describe but it appears to no longer by available and possibly replaced with a product I've not personally used called "IT Advisor" that's part of the "VMWare Go" product set.