Specifications

Administration Guide
106 VMware, Inc.
Keep!in!mind!the!following:
! Virtual!machines!running!certain!guest!operating!systems,!such!as!Windows!NT,!
can!be!configured!with!a!single!processor!only.!Review!the!list!of!supported!guest!
operating!systems!in!the!VMware!ESX!Server!Installation!Guide!to!see!which!guests!
are!multiprocessor‐!or!SMP‐capable.
! Virtual!machines!can!be!configured!with!multiple!processors!only!if!the!server!has!
more!than!one!processor.!A!virtual!machine!cannot!have!more!virtual!processors!
than!the!server!has!physical!processors.
! Multiprocessor‐capable!guest!operating!systems!configured!with!a!single!
processor!might!require!additional!tuning!if!you!increase!the!number!of!virtual!
processors.!At!most,!a!virtual!machine!can!have!two!virtual!processors.!See!
“Configuring!a!Virtual!Machine!to!Use!More!than!One!Virtual!Processor”!on!
page 60.
! Multiprocessor‐capable!guest!operating!systems!configured!and!tuned!with!more!
than!one!virtual!processor!may!not!boot!and!will!probably!degrade!the!
performance!of!other!virtual!machines!if!you!change!the!configuration!to!a!single!
processor.!
VMware!recommends!that!you!do!not!downgrade!a!multiprocessor!virtual!
machine!to!uniprocessor.
N
OTE You!can!configure!dual‐virtual!processor!virtual!machines!only!if!you!purchased!the!
VMware!Virtual!SMP!for!ESX!Server!product.!For!more!information!on!this!product,!
contact!VMware,!Inc.!or!your!authorized!sales!representative.