How do you align VM resource allocation with business and technical objectives and SLAs?

Virtual machine (VM) resource allocation is a key aspect of data center virtualization, as it affects the performance, availability, and cost of your applications and services. However, allocating the right amount of CPU, memory, disk, and network resources to each VM is not a simple task, as you need to balance the business and technical objectives and service level agreements (SLAs) of your stakeholders. In this article, we will discuss how to align VM resource allocation with these factors and some best practices to optimize your virtual environment.

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1 Understand your objectives and SLAs

Before allocating resources to your VMs, it is important to understand the business and technical objectives and SLAs of your applications and services. These requirements and expectations define the quality, availability, and performance of your deliverables. For instance, maximum acceptable downtime or latency for applications, minimum required throughput or response time for services, budget or cost constraints for infrastructure, compliance or security standards for data, and scalability or flexibility needs for demand may all be included. Understanding these objectives and SLAs will help prioritize and allocate resources to VMs based on their importance and impact.

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Rupanshi Srivastava

Technical Support Engineer II @ Broadcom | Network Virtualization
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Understanding the specific requirements of your applications is crucial for efficient VM resource allocation. By aligning VM reservations with critical performance metrics and not overcommitting resources, you ensure that essential services maintain their SLAs. Additionally, using shares allows for dynamic distribution of resources, adapting to changes without affecting VM priorities, which is particularly beneficial in environments with fluctuating workloads or when scaling infrastructure.

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2 Assess your current resource utilization

To assess your current resource utilization and identify any gaps or inefficiencies in your VM resource allocation, you can use various tools and metrics, such as CPU utilization, frequency, and contention; memory utilization, ballooning, and swapping; disk utilization, throughput, and latency; and network utilization, bandwidth, and packet loss. This will help you determine if your VMs are overprovisioned, underprovisioned, or optimally provisioned, as well as how they affect your objectives and SLAs.

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3 Adjust your resource allocation accordingly

Based on your assessment, you can adjust your resource allocation to align with your objectives and SLAs. To fine-tune your resource allocation, you can use various methods and techniques, such as resizing VMs, migrating them to different hosts or clusters, configuring resource pools or shares, enabling features like DRS or NIOC, and implementing policies like power management. Such adjustments can help you improve the performance, availability, and cost of your VMs while meeting your objectives and SLAs.

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4 Review and update your resource allocation regularly

Regularly reviewing and updating resource allocation is necessary to ensure that it remains in line with objectives and SLAs. Such changes should take into account the growth or decline of your user base or traffic, the introduction or removal of new applications or services, the upgrade or downgrade of hardware or software, and the emergence or resolution of issues. This will help you adapt to changing needs and expectations of stakeholders, while also maintaining an optimal level of resource utilization and performance.

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5 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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How do you align VM resource allocation with business and technical objectives and SLAs?

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1 Understand your objectives and SLAs

2 Assess your current resource utilization

3 Adjust your resource allocation accordingly

4 Review and update your resource allocation regularly

5 Here’s what else to consider

Data Center Virtualization

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