VM Resource Management: Vmware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure - Rev B

VM
Resource
Management
Module 8
VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

Copyright © 2006 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. 8-1
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Virtual Infrastructure Virtual Machines Operations

VMware Overview VM Creation and Data Protection
ESX Server Installation Management
ESX Server Installation VM Creation & Management VM Resource Monitoring
Networking Resource Pools

Networking VM Access Control Data & Availability Protection
Storage
Storage VM Resource Management Troubleshooting Tips
ESX ServerInstallation
VirtualCenter Installation

Importance and module objectives
• Importance
• VMotion is a valuable tool for availability and resource
management
• Resource pools allow you to define resource policies that are
enforceable regardless of server heterogeneity, VMotion activity, or
VMware HA activity
• Objectives for the learner
• To use standalone resource pools for single-host resource policy
control
• To create and configure a DRS cluster
• To build child resource pools in a DRS cluster and use them to
manage resource policies across hosts

Module lessons
• Lesson 1: Using Resource Pools

• Lesson 2: Migrate VMs with VMotion
• Lesson 3: VMware DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler)
• Lesson 4: Resource Pools in a DRS Cluster

Lesson 1:
Using
Resource Pools

Lesson topics
• How are VMs’ CPU and memory resources managed?

• What is a resource pool?
• Managing a pool’s resources
• A resource pool example
• Admission control

VMs’ CPU resource settings
• Limit
• A cap on the consumption of CPU time by this
VM, measured in MHz
• Reservation
• A certain number of CPU cycles reserved for
this VM, measured in MHz
• The VMkernel chooses which CPU(s), and
may migrate
• Shares
• More shares means that this VM will win
competitions for CPU time more often
• All the VCPUs in a VM must be

simultaneously scheduled
• Therefore, a reservation of 1000 MHz might be
generous for a 1-VCPU VM, but not for a
4-VCPU VM

VMs’ memory resource settings
• Limit
• A cap on the consumption of memory by this
VM, measured in MB
• Reservation
• A certain amount of memory reserved for this
VM, measured in MB
• Shares
• More shares means that this VM will win
competitions for memory more often
• VMkernel allocates a per-VM swap file

to cover each VM’s range between limit
and reservation

How VMs compete for resources
• Proportional-share system for relative resource management
• Applied during resource contention
• Prevents VMs from monopolizing resources
• Guarantees predictable resource shares
Number of Shares
• Change number of
shares
• Power on VM
• Power off VM

What is a resource pool?
• An object in the
VirtualCenter inventory
• A pool of CPU and memory
for VMs
• Can have associated
access control and
permissions
• Can be used on a stand-
alone host or in a cluster
Cluster
(group of hosts)
Resource
pool

Managing a pool’s resources
• Resource pools have the

following attributes:
• Shares
• Low, Normal, High
• Reservations, in MHz and MB
• Limits, in MHz and MB
• Unlimited access, by default (up to
maximum amount of resource accessible)
• Expandable Reservation?
• Yes: VMs and sub-pools may draw from this
pool’s parent
• No: VMs and sub-pools may only draw from
this pool, even if its parent has free
resources

Scenario
• Company X’s IT department has two internal customers

• The finance department supplies 2/3 of the budget
• The engineering department supplies 1/3 of the budget
• Each internal customer has both production and test/dev
virtual machines
• We must cap the test/dev VMs’ resource consumption

Resource pool example
stand-alone host – Svr001
(root resource pool)
CPU: 12000 MHz
Memory: 4 GB
Engineering (Resource Pool)

CPU Shares: 1000
Reservation: 1000 MHz
Limit: 4000 MHz
Expandable Reservation: Yes
Eng-Test (VM) Eng-Prod (VM)

CPU Shares: 1000 CPU Shares: 2000
Reservation: 0 MHz Reservation: 250 MHz
Limit: 4000 MHz Limit: 4000 MHz

Resource pools example: CPU shares
stand-alone host – Svr001
(root resource pool)
Engineering (Resource Pool) Finance (Resource Pool)
Eng-Test (VM) Eng-Prod (VM) Fin-Test (VM) Fin-Prod (VM)
CPU Shares: 1000 CPU Shares: 2000 CPU Shares: 1000 CPU Shares: 2000

Resource pools example: CPU contention
Svr001
All VMs below are running on
same physical CPU (PCPU)
Engineering Finance
~33% of PCPU ~67% of PCPU
Eng-Test Eng-Prod Fin-Test Fin-Prod

CPU Shares: CPU Shares: CPU Shares: CPU Shares: Engineering
1000 2000 1000 2000 ~33%
11%
22%
45%
22%
Eng-Test gets ~33% of Engineering’s Finance

CPU allocation = Approximately 11% of ~67%
the PCPU
%age of PCPU allocation

Admission control for CPU and memory reservations
Create a new sub-pool Change a pool’s

Power on a VM
with its own reservation reservation
No Expandable Yes
reservation?
Yes Can this pool

Can this pool
or its parent satisfy
satisfy reservation?
reservation?
No Succeed No
Fail

Lab for lesson 1
• Create and Use Resource Pools on a Standalone Host

• In this lab, you will perform the following tasks:
• Build two resource pools and assign resource policies to them
• See the resource pools’ impact on resource allocation

Lesson summary
• Resource pools are a way to aggregate resource policies

• Resource pools can be built on top of either standalone
ESX Server hosts or DRS clusters
• VMs can only be powered on if their resource
requirements can be satisfied

Lesson 2:
Migrate VMs
with
VMotion

Lesson topics
• VMotion migration
• VMotion compatibility requirements
• Topology maps

Move VM between ESX servers: VMotion migration
• A VMotion migration moves a VM that is powered on

• Why migrate using VMotion?
• Improve overall hardware utilization
• Allow continued VM operation while accommodating scheduled
hardware downtime

How VMotion works
• Users currently accessing VM A on esx01
• Initiate migration of VM A from esx01 to esx02
while VM A is up and running
VMotion
Network
Production
Network

How VMotion works (2)
• Pre-copy memory from esx01 to esx02
• Log ongoing memory changes into a memory bitmap on
esx01
Memory
Bitmap
VMotion Memory
Network
Production
Network

• Quiesce virtual machine on esx01
• Copy memory bitmap to esx02
VMotion Memory Bitmap

Network
Production
Network

• Start VM A on esx02
• Users now access VM A on esx02
Memory
Bitmap
VMotion
Network
Production
Network

• Copy VM’s remaining memory (as listed in memory
bitmap) from esx01
• Fetch pages from source VM when applications attempt
to read/write modified memory in VM A on esx02
Memory
Bitmap
VMotion Fetch Pages/Copy

Network Pages
Production
Network

• Delete VM A from esx01 after migration is successful
VMotion
Network
Production
Network

Virtual machine requirements for VMotion
• Migrating a VM with the following conditions produces

an error:
• VM has an active connection to an internal virtual switch
• VM has an active connection to a CD-ROM or floppy device
with a local image mounted
• VM has its CPU affinity set to run on one or more specific,
physical CPUs
• VM is in a cluster relationship (e.g. using MSCS) with another VM
• Migrating a VM with the following conditions produces
a warning:
• VM is configured with an internal virtual switch but is not
connected to it
• VM is configured to access a local CD-ROM or floppy image
but is not connected to it

Host requirements for VMotion
• Source and destination ESX Servers must have

• Visibility to all SAN LUNs (either FC or iSCSI) and NAS devices
used by VM
• A Gigabit Ethernet backplane
• Access to the same physical networks
• Consistently labeled virtual switch port groups
• Compatible CPUs
• New CPU features exposed, which introduce new VMotion
compatibility constraints and trade-offs

CPU constraints on VMotion
CPU
Exact Match Required? Why or why not?
Characteristics
Clock speeds, cache No Virtualized away by VMkernel
sizes, hyper-
threading, and
number of cores
Manufacturer Yes Instruction sets contain many small
(Intel or AMD) differences
Family
(P3, P4, Opteron)
Presence or absence Yes Multimedia instructions usable
of SSE3 instructions directly by applications
Virtualization For 32-bit VMs: No Virtualized away by VMkernel

Hardware Assist
For 64-bit VMs on Intel: VMware’s Intel 64-bit implementation
Yes leverages VT
Execution-Disable Yes (but customizable) Guest OS relies on NX/XD bit if
detected

Enable or disable Nx/xD
Choose between
Nx/xD security features
or broadest VMotion
compatibility
For future CPU

features, edit mask
at the bit level

Identifying CPU characteristics
• In most cases, use server & CPU family/model specifications
• Use VMware’s CPU bootable utility

Using topology maps to plan VMotion layout
• Topology maps are a VirtualCenter feature that
allow you to graphically show the relationships
between:
• Hosts
• Virtual machines
• Networks
• Datastores
• Used to answer questions when planning
VMotion scenarios, such as:
• Are all my hosts attached to the same shared storage?
• What hosts can my virtual machine VMotion to?
• Can also be useful for other scenarios such as
planning VMware HA and DRS clusters
• Is my cluster set up correctly to support DRS?

Example: Checking VMotion requirements

Example: Hosts attached to same shared storage?
Host Resources Map

Example: VM on storage shared by both ESX servers?
Legend Virtual Machine Resources Map

= Datastore
= vSwitch
= VM
= Managed host

Example: Create a custom topology map

Lab for lesson 2
• Migrate Virtual Machines

Using VMotion New lab requirement:
Join another team’s
• In this lab, you will perform the
following tasks: VirtualCenter!
• Create a VMkernel port for VirtualCenter VirtualCenter
VMotion Server Server
#3 #4
• Migrate a virtual machine using
VMotion
ESX Server ESX Server
#3 #4
ESX Server of higher-
numbered team must be added
to VirtualCenter Server of Student 03a Student 03b Student 04a Student 04b
lower-numbered team

Lesson 3:
VMware DRS
(Distributed Resource
Scheduler)

Lesson topics
• DRS benefits and how it works

• DRS cluster settings
• Automation level
• System-wide
• Per-VM
• Placement constraints
• DRS best practices

DRS cluster in the VirtualCenter inventory
• DRS allows you to

aggregate several hosts’
resources into one
resource pool
• Create a cluster, enable
DRS, add hosts
• A DRS cluster is implicitly a
resource pool
• You may divide each Cluster
resource pool into sub-
pools Resource
• And grant other pool
administrators the privilege
to make VMs and/or
subpools there

DRS: purpose and features
• Goals of DRS
• Balance virtual machine load across hosts in cluster
• Enforce resource policies accurately (reservations, limits, shares)
• Respect placement constraints
• Affinity and anti-affinity rules
• VMotion compatibility (CPU type, SAN and LAN connectivity)
• Initial placement • Dynamic balancing

• Power on virtual machine in • Monitor key virtual machine,
resource pool pool, and host metrics
• Recommend host (prioritized • Deliver entitled resources to
list) pools and VMs
• Recommend migrations
(prioritized list)

DRS cluster settings—automation level
Configure the automation level for initial placement of
VMs and dynamic balancing while VMs are running
Automation Initial VM Dynamic

level placement balancing
Manual Manual Manual
Partially-
Automatic Manual
automated
Fully-
Automatic Automatic
automated

DRS cluster settings—migration threshold
The migration threshold levels determine how quickly virtual
machines are migrated
Level Applies all

1 – Most conservative recommendations
With five stars only
2 – Moderately With four or more stars
conservative
3 – Midpoint (default) With three or more stars
4 – Moderately aggressive With two or more stars
5 – Aggressive With one or more stars

DRS cluster settings – placement constraints
• Affinity rules
• Run virtual machines on
same host
• Use for multi-VM systems
where performance benefits
• Anti-affinity rules
• Run virtual machines on
different hosts
• Use for multi-VM systems
that load balance or require
high availability

DRS cluster settings – automation level per VM
• Optionally set automation level per VM

Best practices for DRS
• Because adding a host to a DRS cluster requires

maintenance mode, plan to use VMotion to evacuate
the host
• When DRS makes strong recommendations (typically 4-
or 5-star), follow them
• Otherwise, balance and fairness may deteriorate
• Some VMotion is necessary
• Enable automation
• Choose default based on environment, comfort level
• Let DRS autonomously manage most VMs
• Use per-VM automation level overrides to accommodate sensitive
VMs

Lab for lesson 3
• Create a DRS Cluster Two ESX Server

• In this lab, you will perform the teams belong to one
following tasks:
Cluster team
• Create a DRS cluster
• Add ESX Servers to the DRS VirtualCenter VirtualCenter
cluster Server Server
#3 #4

#3 #4
Student 03a Student 03b Student 04a Student 04b
Cluster Team

Lesson summary
• DRS applies intelligence to the location of VMs

• Upon initial power-on
• Dynamically (using VMotion)
• Accepting DRS’s recommendations leads to balanced
resource utilization

Lesson 4:
Resource Pools
in a
DRS Cluster

Lesson topics
• The role of resource pools in DRS clusters

• Using sub-pools for delegated administration
• Monitoring the state of resource use in a pool
• Building a cluster

Resource pools in a DRS cluster
Resource pools are used to subdivide
the computing resources in a cluster
Root Resource Pool
5 x (4.8 GHz, 4 GB)
(CPU = 24 GHz, Memory = 20 GB)
Cluster
Resource Pool 1 Resource Pool 2

(CPU = 16 GHz, Memory = 12 GB) (CPU = 3 GHz, Memory = 3 GB)

Reservation: 4 GHz Reservation: 0
Limit: 16 GHz Limit: 3 GHz
VM VM
VM VM VM
Reservation: 0 Reservation: 1 GHz
Limit: 16 GHz Limit: 2 GHz

Delegated administration
• Joe administers cluster Cluster

• Carves up cluster resources (Root Resource Pool)
into pools, provides bulk
allocations to pool admins
Joe
• Has “Datacenter Administrator”
VC role
• Jane administers
Resource Pool 1 Resource Pool 1 Resource Pool 2
(CPU = 16 GHz (CPU = 3 GHz
• Carves up pool resources Mem = 12 GB) Mem = 3 GB)
into smaller pools for users
Jane
• Has “Resource Pool
Administrator” VC role Resource Resource VM VM VM
Pool 3 Pool 4
• Ted administers VMs (CPU = 6 GHz (CPU = 4 GHz
in Resource Pool 3 Mem = 8 GB) Mem = 4 GB)
• Allocates resources to VMs

• Has “Virtual Machine Power VM VM VM VM
User role” Ted

When to use expandable reservations
Cluster
(Root Resource Pool)
Resource Pool 1 Resource Pool 2

Expandable Reservation = Yes Expandable Reservation = Yes
Pools for use within our team
Pools created by us VM VM VM
Resource Resource
for use by our customers Pool 3 Pool 4
ER = No ER = No
VM VM VM VM

Monitor cluster usage
• VirtualCenter reports the state of a cluster:

• Valid (no color): All resource constraints satisfied
• Yellow: Some resource constraints are not satisfied
• Usually because hosts in the cluster went down
• Remedy: Can’t increase resource reservations until more resources are
added or reservations are decreased
• Red: The cluster is internally inconsistent
• An administrator bypassed VirtualCenter and made resource-pool
changes directly on a host

Adding host to DRS cluster
• When adding a new host or moving an existing host into

the DRS cluster, you have the option of keeping the
resource pool hierarchy of the existing host, if one exists
• For example, add kentfield04.priv.vmeduc.com to Lab
Cluster
When adding
the host, choose
to create a new
resource pool
for this host’s
virtual
machines and
resource pools.

Removing host from DRS cluster
• When removing a host from a DRS Cluster, you must first place
the host in maintenance mode
• Maintenance mode protects virtual machines from changes in
ESX Server state
Normal mode
You can power on VMs as needed, and
VMs can be migrated to this host
Any running VMs continue to run, but no new VMs can

be powered on; no VMs will be migrated to this host
Maintenance mode
All VMs have been manually powered off, and no new
VMs can be powered on; no VMs will be migrated to
this host

Lab for lesson 4
• Resource Pools in a DRS

Cluster Two ESX Server
• In this lab, you will perform the teams belong to one
following tasks: Cluster team
• Create two resource pools in a
DRS cluster VirtualCenter VirtualCenter
Server Server
• Cause DRS to make resource #3 #4
balancing recommendations

#3 #4
Student 03a Student 03b Student 04a Student 04b
Cluster Team

Lesson summary
• Use DRS clusters to delegate the right to allocate

resources
• When DRS clusters are in use, do not manually make
changes to individual hosts’ resource pools

Module summary
• A resource pool has three attributes – reservation, limit

and shares
• Resource pools can be created on standalone hosts or in
DRS clusters
• VMotion is the underlying technology of VMware DRS
• A DRS cluster provides initial placement of VMs at power
on and dynamic load balancing of running VMs

Questions?


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VM

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

Virtual Infrastructure Virtual Machines Operations

Networking Resource Pools

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

• Lesson 1: Using Resource Pools

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

• How are VMs’ CPU and memory resources managed?

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

• All the VCPUs in a VM must be

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

• VMkernel allocates a per-VM swap file

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

• Resource pools have the

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

• Company X’s IT department has two internal customers

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

Engineering (Resource Pool)

Eng-Test (VM) Eng-Prod (VM)

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

Engineering (Resource Pool) Finance (Resource Pool)

CPU Shares: 1000 CPU Shares: 2000

Eng-Test (VM) Eng-Prod (VM) Fin-Test (VM) Fin-Prod (VM)

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

Eng-Test Eng-Prod Fin-Test Fin-Prod

Eng-Test gets ~33% of Engineering’s Finance

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

Create a new sub-pool Change a pool’s

Yes Can this pool

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

• Create and Use Resource Pools on a Standalone Host

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

• Resource pools are a way to aggregate resource policies

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

• A VMotion migration moves a VM that is powered on

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

VMotion Memory Bitmap

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

VMotion Fetch Pages/Copy

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

• Migrating a VM with the following conditions produces

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

• Source and destination ESX Servers must have

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

Virtualization For 32-bit VMs: No Virtualized away by VMkernel

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

For future CPU

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

VMware Infrastructure 3: Install and Configure – Rev B

Host Resources Map