Virtulization Based Security causing CPU spikes on Windows VM's

[RVANOC]

Version: 6.7

VM OS: Windows Server 2016

Issue:  We recently were made to rollout Virtualization Based Security on our Windows VM's.   Our file servers and one small mail server CPU usage is getting beat up since we have turned this one

Temporary Fix: We have unchecked Virtualization Based Security on our those VM's. And unchecked Expose hardware-assisted virtualization to the guest OS.

Other Observations:  Windows Event Logs don't really show an event that could be causing this issue.

Moderator edit by wila: moved to vSphere discussions

[vbondzio]

What CPUs do you have in those hosts? I hope at least Ivy Bridge ... If you are using EVC you'd also want to be on that baseline at least, the VMs should be at least on vHW 11.

[RVANOC]

We are using Intel® Xeon® Gold 5115 Processor

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/120484/intel-xeon-gold-5115-processor-13-75m-ca...

Our Exchange Server had 6 CPU's.

Our File Server had 4 CPU's.

Our Nessus Server's had 2 CPU's.

This is only happening Windows Server's.

The VM version is 14 is that the same as as vHW?

[vbondzio]

Yes, short for "virtual HardWare" sometimes also abbreviated as HWv "HardWare version" or called VM Compatibility.

What is the increase in CPU usage in % after enabling VBS? A small increase is expected but nothing major if the guest can see the SMEP feature ... can you check with e.g. Sysinternals' coreinfo?