DRS Automation level

[sdibias]

This morning I setup my 2 ESX hosts to be in a DRS/HA cluster with the following settings:

Automation level: Partially automated

Migration threshlod: Conservative

What are some of you using for these settings? Is there a best practice? I want to make sure that everything is balanced, however should i trust the fully automated approach?

Your help is appreciated!

[weinstein5]

Migration threshold is only used when the DRS automation level is set to fully automatic - Yes you can trust full automation level personally I would set the threshold at least to the midpoint that way 3 to 5 star migrations are automatically done this will insure fairness is maintained - also remember DRS insures that the vms are getting the resources they are entitled to - as I understand it if your vms are getting the resources they are entitled to but the two hosts are not evenly loaded DRS will not move any vm -

If you find this or any other answer useful please consider awarding points by marking the answer helpful or correct

[Peto]

It really depends on your cluster and the importance of your VM's. DRS will only really start to work if there is contention on the ESX Host. The default Migration threshold work just fine, Remember that i you leave the automation level at Partially automated then you will need to manually VMotion the VM's when you get a DRS recommendation. I have used DRS with the settings at fully automated and conservative settings and found it to be excellent. If you set the settings to agressive then i feel the load on the server would be too great due to the algorithms it uses to determine if a VM should be moved.

VMware recommend that you start with the setting set to Partially Automated at the beginning and change to fully automated when you are ok with the technology. One other thing, DRS relies on VMotion therefore all the VMotion prerequisites apply. One easy thing to miss is that if you attach a CDROM to the VM then VMotion will not work.

Peto

[sdibias]

Good info, thank you!