DRS isn't working... any ideas?

[REALM]

I have a 3 node ESX 3.5 cluster with DRS enabled.

1st host - 38 machines and using 32GB/64GB ram

2nd host - 17 machines using 24GB/64GB ram

3rd host - 16 machines using 16GB/64GB ram

I have it set to aggressive and when I click generate recommendations nothing happens.

DRS Resource distribution says for utilization percent says: 1 cpu bar all the way to top at 0-10, 2nd spu bar half way tall at 10-20.

Memory bars all half way up, one at 20-30, other at 30-40, other at 40-50.

Percent entitled is at 90 and 100.

[Troy_Clavell]

Percent entitled is at 90 and 100.

I think that is your answer there.

If you want to generate a DRS event, put a host in maintenance mode.

[REALM]

So am I confused about what DRS does? I thought it would balance the VMs so that host resources were being used equally and no single host would be getting pounded considerably more than the others.

However I have one host using double the ram of another. So how does DRS work then or what does it try to do?

[Troy_Clavell · Accepted solution]

your cluster is stable. If your Percent of Entitled Resources Delivered are at 90+ for CPU/memory, you are good. Your cluster is in balance.

[khughes]

Troy is correct. Basically I have the same "issue" which really isn't an issue but I know where you're going with it. We have 4 hosts which aren't really pounding the ESX hosts Since all the hosts are within the 90-100% range that means that ESX deems them to be running fine. Even though one might be at 10%cpu/20%ram and another one is 20%cpu/30%ram that is still acceptable performance with regards to ESX. If you want to fine tune it so everything is equal you will need to do this manually. Really your environment is fine and DRS is working, just it doesn't need to do anything right now because the resources are being provided to the VM's properly

• Kyle

[REALM]

Got it... thank you.