<div>
I think I'm beginning to understand.<br />
<br />
So hypothetically, if I wanted to run 4 VM's, I'd specify two vSockets and one vCore per VM, correct? This is assuming that they share similar workloads.<br />
<br />
I read on another thread that you were involved in that going beyond two vSockets gets your minimal returns? <br />
<br />
Finally, the ESXi warning note says &quot;Changing the number if virtual CPU's after guest OS is installed....unstable.&quot; Can I ignore that warning for this purpose?<br />
<br />
Thanks.
</div>


<div>
<blockquote>
So hypothetically, if I wanted to run 4 VM's, I'd specify two vSockets and one vCore per VM, correct? 
</blockquote>
<br />
It does not really work like that splitting up the physical CPU, if that's your thinking, behind 8 physical cores, how many VMs can I run.<br />
<br />
We work on 5-6 VMs per Core, assuming 1 vCPU per VM.<br />
<br />
Number of processors, depends on what the VM is doing, whether the applications are vSMP aware.<br />
<br />
It's not linear, e.g. 2 vCPU is not double 1, and four is not double 2 etc<br />
<br />

<blockquote>
Finally, the ESXi warning note says &quot;Changing the number if virtual CPU's after guest OS is installed....unstable.&quot; Can I ignore that warning for this purpose?
</blockquote>
<br />
Yes, VMware vSphere does NOT no what the effect will be, so it's a warning, just in case it breaks your VM.<br />
<br />
Most modern OS, support this now plug and play.
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<div>
Great info - thanks.<br />
<br />
So if I'm reading your post right, I could host more VM's than the physical limitations of my AMD 8-core CPU. <br />
<br />
So for example:<br />
<br />
I could run 5 VM's and give them all 2 vSockets / 1 vCore, and ESXi is smart enough to allocate CPU resources on the fly (assuming the OS is vSMP aware)?
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<div>
Something puzzling going on...<br />
<br />
I've specified 3 vSockets, but see only 2 in the task manager.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://filedb.experts-exchange.com/incoming/2016/04_w17/1092473/2016-04-19-09_49_39-SBS-2011-Essenti.jpg" target="_blank" title="Screenshot (91 KB)"><img alt="Screenshot" class="file-block lazyload" style="max-width: 800px;" data-src="https://filedb.experts-exchange.com/incoming/2016/04_w17/800_1092473/2016-04-19-09_49_39-SBS-2011-Essenti.jpg" /></a>
</div>


2016-04-19-09_49_39-SBS-2011-Essenti.jpg

<div>
Yes, that's why we use hypervisors.<br />
<br />
CPU is not often the bottleneck memory and storage is!<br />
<br />

<blockquote>
I could run 5 VM's and give them all 2 vSockets / 1 vCore, and ESXi is smart enough to allocate CPU resources on the fly (assuming the OS is vSMP aware)?
</blockquote>
<br />
Yes, that's what a hypervisor does.<br />
<br />
But be warned, if all VMs, all decide to use 100% CPU on all cores, it may be too much for your host!<br />
<br />
e.g. I have a Dual Core 1.3GHz AMD Neo<br />
<br />
it runs<br />
<br />
3 VMs with 1 vCPU<br />
1 VM with 2 vCPU<br />
<br />
and that only uses 50% of the Host CPU.
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<div>
<div class="content wysiwyg-content">
Hi all,<br />
<br />
I think I'm a little unclear on the assigning of vSockets and vCPU's.<br />
<br />
I have a home lab computer that has one AMD 8350 (one socket and 8 physical cores). Let's say I'd like to split its resources between two VM's.<br />
<br />
On VM one, I've specified:<br />
<br />
&quot;Number of virtual sockets&quot; = 1 &nbsp;<br />
&quot;Number of cores per socket&quot; = 4<br />
<br />
Yet when I check the task manager, it seems I only have 1 CPU. What am I missing?<br />
<br />
<a href="https://filedb.experts-exchange.com/incoming/2016/04_w17/1092465/2016-04-19-08_48_38-S2012-Ess---PYRW.jpg" target="_blank" title="Screen grab (100 KB)"><img alt="Screen grab" class="file-block lazyload" style="max-width: 800px;" data-src="https://filedb.experts-exchange.com/incoming/2016/04_w17/800_1092465/2016-04-19-08_48_38-S2012-Ess---PYRW.jpg" /></a><br />
Thanks in advance.
</div>
</div>


2016-04-19-08_48_38-S2012-Ess---PYRW.jpg

Hi all,

I think I'm a little unclear on the assigning of vSockets and vCPU's.

I have a home lab computer that has one AMD 8350 (one socket and 8 physical cores). Let's say I'd like to split its resources between two VM's.

On VM one, I've specified:

"Number of virtual sockets" = 1  
"Number of cores per socket" = 4

Yet when I check the task manager, it seems I only have 1 CPU. What am I missing?



Thanks in advance.

ESXi 5.5 - CPU's and sockets

Virtualization is the act of creating a virtual (rather than actual) version of something, including (but not limited to) a virtual computer hardware platform, operating system (OS), storage device, or computer network resources. Virtualization is usually the creation of a system that executes separate from the underlying hardware resources, or the creation of an entire desktop for systems located elsewhere, similar to thin clients.