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Table Of Contents
If there is no work for a logical processor, it is put into a halted state, which frees its execution resources
and allows the virtual machine running on the other logical processor on the same core to use the full
execution resources of the core. The VMware scheduler properly accounts for this halt time, and charges
a virtual machine running with the full resources of a core more than a virtual machine running on a half
core. This approach to processor management ensures that the server does not violate any of the
standard ESXi resource allocation rules.
Consider your resource management needs before you enable CPU affinity on hosts using
hyperthreading. For example, if you bind a high priority virtual machine to CPU 0 and another high priority
virtual machine to CPU 1, the two virtual machines have to share the same physical core. In this case, it
can be impossible to meet the resource demands of these virtual machines. Ensure that any custom
affinity settings make sense for a hyperthreaded system.
Enable Hyperthreading
To enable hyperthreading, you must first enable it in your system's BIOS settings and then turn it on in the
vSphere Client. Hyperthreading is enabled by default.
Consult your system documentation to determine whether your CPU supports hyperthreading.
Procedure
1 Ensure that your system supports hyperthreading technology.
2 Enable hyperthreading in the system BIOS.
Some manufacturers label this option Logical Processor, while others call it Enable
Hyperthreading.
3 Ensure that hyperthreading is enabled for the ESXi host.
a Browse to the host in the vSphere Client.
b Click Configure.
c Under System, click Advanced System Settings and select VMkernel.Boot.hyperthreading.
You must restart the host for the setting to take effect. Hyperthreading is enabled if the value is
true.
4 Under Hardware, click Processors to view the number of Logical processors.
Hyperthreading is enabled.
Using CPU Anity
By specifying a CPU affinity setting for each virtual machine, you can restrict the assignment of virtual
machines to a subset of the available processors in multiprocessor systems. By using this feature, you
can assign each virtual machine to processors in the specified affinity set.
CPU affinity specifies virtual machine-to-processor placement constraints and is different from the
relationship created by a VM-VM or VM-Host affinity rule, which specifies virtual machine-to-virtual
machine host placement constraints.
vSphere Resource Management
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