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esnmb
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

More Memory or More Hosts?

I have 7 ESX hosts with 64GB RAM and 4 quad core CPU's. Is it better to get a few more hosts or one or two with 128GB RAM?

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VMmatty
Virtuoso
Virtuoso

If I had my choice I'd scale up on those ESX hosts and add more memory rather than scaling out. Scaling out requires a lot more capital costs both in terms of servers and ESX licenses. So long as you have enough failover capacity on your hosts should one fail, I'd go with the route of adding memory rather than adding hosts.

Matt | http://www.thelowercasew.com | @mattliebowitz
esnmb
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Yeah that's true. Licensing is pretty costly. My blades do have plenty of CPU resources too...

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a2alpha
Expert
Expert

If cost wasn't an option then the ideal for me would be more hosts, less strain on each individual host. However with your hosts having 4 quad core CPUs providing you are not running masses of vCPUs in your vm's I would go for increasing RAM in your existing hosts. As vmatty said make sure you will still leave yourself enough failover capacity, when you increase the virtual machines.

sbeaver
Leadership
Leadership

I also agree with adding RAM to the systems and might be worth looking around your environment and make sure the resources you have given out are fully being used. You might be able to finnd somme VM's that are not using all the memory you have given it and might leave you in a position to reclaim some of your resources.

Steve Beaver

VMware Communities User Moderator

VMware vExpert 2009

====

Co-Author of "VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center"

(ISBN:1420070274) from Auerbach

Come check out my blog: www.theVirtualBlackHole.com

Come follow me on twitter

*Virtualization is a journey, not a project.*

Steve Beaver
VMware Communities User Moderator
VMware vExpert 2009 - 2020
VMware NSX vExpert - 2019 - 2020
====
Co-Author of "VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center"
(ISBN:1420070274) from Auerbach
Come check out my blog: [www.virtualizationpractice.com/blog|http://www.virtualizationpractice.com/blog/]
Come follow me on twitter http://www.twitter.com/sbeaver

**The Cloud is a journey, not a project.**
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esnmb
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

That's a really good point too.

Thanks all!

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