Specifications

VMware, Inc. 215
Chapter 6 Administering ESX Server
Many!VMware!ESX!Server!workloads!present!opportunities!for!sharing!memory!
across!virtual!machines.!For!example,!several!VMs!might!be!running!instances!of!
the!same!guest!operating!system,!might!have!the!same!applications!or!components!
loaded,!or!might!contain!common!data.!In!such!cases,!VMware!ESX!Server!uses!a!
proprietary!transparent!page
!sharing!technique!to!securely!eliminate!redundant!
copies!of!memory!pages.!With!memory!sharing,!a!workload!running!as!virtual!
machines!often!consumes!less!memory!than!it!would!when!running!on!physical!
machines.!As!a!result,!higher!levels!of!overcommitment!can!be!supported!
efficiently.!
System Summary: Reserved Memory
This!list!shows!the!current!allocation!of!reserved!memory!and!swap!space!on!the!server.
RAM
! Reserved!–!Memory!committed!for!guaranteed!allocations!to!existing!virtual!
machines.
! Unreserved!–!Uncommitted!memory!available!for!guaranteed!allocations!to!
power!on!new!virtual!machines.
! Total!–!Total!reserved!and!unreserved!RAM!memory.
Swap
! Reserved!–!System!swap!file!space!committed!for!existing!virtual!machines.
! Unreserved!–!Total!unreserved!swap!file!space!currently!available!to!be!used!by!
virtual!machines.
! Total!–!Total!reserved!and!unreserved!space!in!system!swap!files.
Memory
! Memory!Available!to!Power!On!a!Virtual!Machine!–!Maximum!memory!size!that!
can!be!specified!when!powering!on!the!next!single‐!or!dual‐processor!virtual!
machine.
Virtual Machines: Virtual Machine Summary
For!each!running!virtual!machine,!this!list!shows!a!breakdown!of!the!virtual!machineʹs!
memory!allocation.
Memory
! Private!–!Total!memory!allocated!to!virtual!machines!that!is!not!shared.
! Shared!–!Total!memory!allocated!to!virtual!machines!and!securely!shared!with!
other!virtual!machines.