Hot Add RAM Option not viewable

[stanj]

I upgraded the VMs tools and hardware (v7) but do not see the option to hot add RAM.

The attached doc shows a Windows 2003 Server OS with the VM options.

I do not see the line that allows me to enable the option.

Do I need to do someting else to enable the Hot Add option for RAM?

thanks

[JASA1976 · Accepted solution]

You need to pwer down the virtual machine intially to enable the option to hot add.

On your second screen shot you can see that hot add is disabled and you can only change this setting when the VM is powered off.

1. Power down your VM and edit the settings.

2. Go in to options > advanced > Memory/CPU hotplug

3. Enable memory hot add for this virtual machine.

4. Power on the VM and test.

[Troy_Clavell]

along with what was already posted about enabling the hot add feature, you need to ensure you have a guest OS that can support the feature. Depending on what version of 2003 your OS may not support hot add.

Here's a good blog worth checking out as well

[JASA1976]

Also with Windows 2003 VM's I've noticed on my infrastructure that if I hot add memory the VM's CPU utilisation hits 100% for about 2 seconds then recovers back to normal levels.

With Windows 2008 VM,s I've seen no significant impact when hot adding memory or CPU's.

[JASA1976]

From the screen shots its Windows 2003 Enterprise 32 bit which gained support for hot add with SP1, so should work as long as the VM has been configured initially when powered off.

[stanj]

thanks

So, it appears this is a valid option on Windows 2003 Server..

I did not see the option on Xp SP3 or Vista...

What are the supported OS's?

All that I have read and heard (at VMworld) was this new feature that allows the RAM to be changed on the fly..

If it is only a supported on Windows 2003 (MS OS's), doesn't seem to be that appealing.

[JASA1976]

I believe its server OS's only that are supported.

For Windows 2003 you need Enterprise Edition for memory hot add but no support for CPU hot add. for both 32 bit or 64bit.

For Windows 2008 all version are supported from memory hot add, but only 64 bit editions for cpu hot add.

It's not a VMware virtualisation limitiation but an OS limitation.

[IvanZito]

hii ...

I'm trying add 2 GB into the setting in the W2008 R2 Std x64 and the change is not presente in my machine.

Is necesary to do sometihing into the SO after you have changed it or is automatic ??

thankk