ESXi5.0 Enterprise - How many vCPU for a Windows2008R2 std?

[nobodyvm]

Hi,

Some performance problems on a Windows 2008R2 standard VM. I see that the CPU peaks at 100% quite often. So we bring the VM down and

I adjust the CPU. From 2 virtual sockets with 4 cores (8vCPUs) to 4 virtual sockets with 4 cores (16vCPUs).

I get this when trying to start up the VM:

"Virtual machine has 16 virtual CPUs, but the host only supports 8. The number of virtual CPUs may be limited by the guest OS selected for the virtual machine or by the licensing for the host."

We are running ESXi5.0 Enterprise.

So, what can I do? I was under the impression that Windows 2008R2 standard was allowed to use 4 sockets?

Regards

H

[Josh26]

The host limitation refers to the physical server.

How many cores does the physical server have? You cannot allocate more than exist in hardware.

If you were hitting CPU limitations with eight cores, I would heavily suspect there is a software configuration issue moreso

[nobodyvm]

Ah, Ok, the ESXi have 2 sockets with 6 cores. So, I guess I could change to 2*6 instead of the current 2*4 on the VM.

Regards

H

[a_p_]

So, I guess I could change to 2*6 instead of the current 2*4 on the VM.

Unfortunately you can't. vSphere Enterprise 5.0 you are limited to 8-way vSMP (with vSphere 5.1 this will be increased to 32-way). Also keep in mind that the host itself also needs some compute resources. Assigning all cores to a single VM could even reduce overall performance instead of increasing it!

André

[nobodyvm]

Ok, I see.

Any release date for 5.1? I cant find it.

If I look here it seems that 5.0 should be able to run 32 vCPUs (Enterprise)

http://www.vmware.com/products/datacenter-virtualization/vsphere/compare-editions.html

Regards

H

[a_p_]

According to http://www.vmware.com/company/news/releases/vmw-vmworld-smb-082712.html

VMware vSphere 5.1 and VMware vSphere Storage Appliance 5.1 are expected to be generally available on September 11, 2012

André

[a_p_]

If I look here it seems that 5.0 should be able to run 32 vCPUs (Enterprise)

You are looking at the 5.1 version. VMware already updated the web pages.

André

[nobodyvm]

Ok, I see. so I have to upgrade before I can change it to 2*6 vCPUs...well, it will be release soon so  🙂

[aguerrero2006]

if this vm was working good in the past, you should look for some snapshots disk in this vm. it is posible that the vm have many some snapshots created some time, manually or by backup app.