6.7

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.
Note In this chapter, "Memory" refers to physical RAM.
This chapter includes the following topics:
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Resource Allocation Shares
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Resource Allocation Reservation
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Resource Allocation Limit
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Resource Allocation Settings Suggestions
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Edit Settings
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Changing Resource Allocation Settings—Example
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Admission Control
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.
VMware, Inc.
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