High balloon memory utilization

[rs4vm]

we have been noticing quite a few "High balloon memory utilization" alerts.

are "High balloon memory utilization" safe to ignore?  is there a best practice approach for addressing the root cause?

thank you.

[sa2057]

Hi,

Have you reserved any memory limits on VM's?. Pl. check resource pool settings

Thanks

SA

[iw123]

Hi,

No, you shouldn't ignore these alerts. They are normally an indication of high memory utililzation on your host. Start with looking at the overall memory usage on your host, whether your VMs memory is overcommitted etc.. .

You might find the following useful:

http://www.virtualinsanity.com/index.php/2010/02/19/performance-troubleshooting-vmware-vsphere-memor...

and the VMware performance troubleshooting guide is always a good place to start...

http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/10066

[rs4vm]

will reserving memory limits on VMs address the issue?

how do we detrmine the amount of memry we should reserve?

[rs4vm]

thank you iw123.  i will review the provided links.

[iw123]

no problem, let us know how you get on.

[sa2057]

The Links provided iw123 might give you better idea to start with. Here is another link for resource pool and memory reservation by Frank.

http://frankdenneman.nl/2010/05/resource-pools-memory-reservations/

What is your ESXi version?

Thanks

SA

[rs4vm]

Thank you SA

our ver is:

ESXi, 4.0.0, 261974

[sa2057]

Ok. Memory reservations can be set, but it all depends  on the workload of the applications, Guest OS runing inside the VM. Check the performance charts for past/present  days for specific vm's for better idea on resource allocation.

Thanks

SA