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jarends3
Contributor
Contributor

Virtual Machine Memory Usage

I have two VMs that are showing a warning (yellow) for Virtual Machine Memory Usage but in looking at the VMs they don't seem to be using a particularly large amount of RAM. What is causing this, and how can I make it go away? The VM name has the little triangle explanation point thing on it.

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chrisAMS
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

it looks like it is the guest memory

this indicator just let you know that your VM has reached a certain percentage of allocated memory.

So should not be here forever.

If it is the case you should increase the memory of the VM.

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jarends3
Contributor
Contributor

The VMs reached the point where they used a bit too much memory

yesterday when I was Vmotioning them from one host to another. The

performance of both VMs seems fine. I hate to take the time to shut down

the VM to change the amount of RAM it receives. How can I better manage

this?

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chrisAMS
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

hum, maybe you can play with your resource allocation configuration to make sure you have not limited memory allocation

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JonRoderick
Hot Shot
Hot Shot

Have you modified the VM memory usage alarm threshold settings so the alert clears after the resouce issue has cleared? Maybe also consider raising the threshold to a higher level if you're not concerned about it.

Jon.

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Iuridae
Contributor
Contributor

Hi,

We have another rather strange issue about memory usage. We have 3 VMs where two of them are running Windows Server 2008 R2 and one uses Windows Server 2008, all 64-bit and on a ESX 4.0 host.

When I looked at the Resource Allocation tab in vSphere Client each VM has consumed 95%+ memory. Logged on to one of the VM with 4GB RAM the resource monitor displays

In use : 770 MB

Standby: 1132 MB

Free: 2161 MB

The same goes for the other VMs, they have alot of free RAM according to Resource Monitor, but the ESX display 95%+ consumed.

What can cause this?

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ealaqqad
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

Hi Jarends3,

VMware has already addressed this issue in a KB. You can find more info of this problem and resolution by going through my following post:

Guest operating system’s memory usage might be overestimated on VMware ESX 4

I hope this help some one, if it does please reward points.

Enjoy,

Eiad Al-Aqqad

System X & Storage Technical Specialist

Founder of http://www.VirtualizationTeam.com

Regards, Eiad Al-Aqqad Technology Consultant @ VMware b: http://www.VirtualizationTeam.com b: http://www.TSMGuru.com
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