VMware vSphere 7.x Memory Reclamation-Part 6: Hypervisor Swapping

This will be the last post in this series. In this post, we are going to discuss hypervisor swapping as next method after compression. ESXi employs hypervisor swapping to reclaim memory, if other memory reclamation techniques like ballooning, transparent page sharing, and memory compression are not sufficient to reclaim memory. Transparent Page Sharing (TPS) speed … Continue reading VMware vSphere 7.x Memory Reclamation-Part 6: Hypervisor Swapping →

VMware vSphere 7.x Memory Reclamation-Part 5: Memory Compression Cache

In this post, we are going to discuss about memory compression cache technique used by ESXi host. In previous posts we have already discussed TPS and ballooning. So compression is the next technique in order that gets initialized when ESXi host is under memory contention. ESXi provides a memory compression cache to improve virtual machine … Continue reading VMware vSphere 7.x Memory Reclamation-Part 5: Memory Compression Cache →

VMware vSphere 7.x Memory Reclamation-Part 4: Ballooning

After TPS in previous post, we will explore Ballooning reclamation technique in this post. Basically I am just following the order in which these techniques are initialized. Ballooning is a process where the hypervisor reclaims memory back from the virtual machine. Also if ballooning is started on an ESXi host, it indicates the beginning of … Continue reading VMware vSphere 7.x Memory Reclamation-Part 4: Ballooning →

VMware vSphere 7.x Memory Reclamation-Part 3: Transparent Page Sharing (TPS)

Previously in Part-1:Basics and Part 2: MinFree, we discussed about memory reclamation, need for memory reclamation, ESXi memory states, sliding scale method for calculating MemMinFreePct value. In this post, we will explore sharing memory pages with memory reclamation technique called as Transparent Page Sharing or TPS. On an ESXi host, many workloads present opportunities for sharing … Continue reading VMware vSphere 7.x Memory Reclamation-Part 3: Transparent Page Sharing (TPS) →

VMware vSphere 7.x Memory Reclamation-Part 2: Mem.MemMinFreePct

So here we are with another post in this series. In previous post we discussed basics of memory virtualization concepts and the need for memory reclamation. In this post we will explore ESXi host memory states, sliding scale method of calculating Mem.MemMinFreePct. As discussed in previous post, multiple VMs that run on ESXi host, share … Continue reading VMware vSphere 7.x Memory Reclamation-Part 2: Mem.MemMinFreePct →

VMware vSphere 7.x Memory Reclamation-Part 1: Basics

Welcome everyone to this series on memory reclamation techniques in vSphere 7.x. This will be one more long series of posts after my previous series on uncovering virtual networking. In this series, we will try to understand the memory virtualization basics, memory reclamation techniques in vSphere (Specifically ESXi hosts), ESXi host Memory states, and sliding … Continue reading VMware vSphere 7.x Memory Reclamation-Part 1: Basics →

VMware Memory reclamation techniques run cycle in vSphere 6.x Part-1

Why Memory reclamation: ESXi supports memory over commitment in order to provide higher memory utilization and higher ratio of consolidation. In order to effectively support memory over commitment, the hypervisor provides efficient host memory reclamation techniques. ESXi uses several techniques to reclaim virtual machine memory, which are: Sliding scale Method Transparent page sharing (TPS) Ballooning … Continue reading VMware Memory reclamation techniques run cycle in vSphere 6.x Part-1 →