6.0.1

Table Of Contents
Configuring Resource Allocation
Settings 2
When available resource capacity does not meet the demands of the resource consumers (and virtualization
overhead), administrators might need to customize the amount of resources that are allocated to virtual
machines or to the resource pools in which they reside.
Use the resource allocation settings (shares, reservation, and limit) to determine the amount of CPU,
memory, and storage resources provided for a virtual machine. In particular, administrators have several
options for allocating resources.
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Reserve the physical resources of the host or cluster.
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Set an upper bound on the resources that can be allocated to a virtual machine.
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Guarantee that a particular virtual machine is always allocated a higher percentage of the physical
resources than other virtual machines.
This chapter includes the following topics:
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“Resource Allocation Shares,” on page 13
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“Resource Allocation Reservation,” on page 14
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“Resource Allocation Limit,” on page 14
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“Resource Allocation Settings Suggestions,” on page 15
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“Edit Resource Settings,” on page 15
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“Changing Resource Allocation Settings—Example,” on page 16
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“Admission Control,” on page 17
Resource Allocation Shares
Shares specify the relative importance of a virtual machine (or resource pool). If a virtual machine has twice
as many shares of a resource as another virtual machine, it is entitled to consume twice as much of that
resource when these two virtual machines are competing for resources.
Shares are typically specified as High, Normal, or Low and these values specify share values with a 4:2:1
ratio, respectively. You can also select Custom to assign a specific number of shares (which expresses a
proportional weight) to each virtual machine.
Specifying shares makes sense only with regard to sibling virtual machines or resource pools, that is, virtual
machines or resource pools with the same parent in the resource pool hierarchy. Siblings share resources
according to their relative share values, bounded by the reservation and limit. When you assign shares to a
virtual machine, you always specify the priority for that virtual machine relative to other powered-on
virtual machines.
VMware, Inc.
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