You can create a child resource pool of any ESXi host, resource pool, or DRS cluster.

Note: If a host has been added to a cluster, you cannot create child resource pools of that host. If the cluster is enabled for DRS, you can create child resource pools of the cluster.

When you create a child resource pool, you are prompted for resource pool attribute information. The system uses admission control to make sure you cannot allocate resources that are not available.

Prerequisites

The vSphere Web Client is connected to the vCenter Server system.

Procedure

  1. In the vSphere Web Client navigator, select a parent object for the resource pool (a host, another resource pool, or a DRS cluster).
  2. Right-click the object and select New Resource Pool.
  3. Type a name to identify the resource pool.
  4. Specify how to allocate CPU and memory resources.

    The CPU resources for your resource pool are the guaranteed physical resources the host reserves for a resource pool. Normally, you accept the default and let the host handle resource allocation.

    Option Description
    Shares Specify shares for this resource pool with respect to the parent’s total resources. Sibling resource pools share resources according to their relative share values bounded by the reservation and limit.
    • Select Low, Normal, or High to specify share values respectively in a 1:2:4 ratio.
    • Select Custom to give each virtual machine a specific number of shares, which expresses a proportional weight.
    Reservation Specify a guaranteed CPU or memory allocation for this resource pool. Defaults to 0.

    A nonzero reservation is subtracted from the unreserved resources of the parent (host or resource pool). The resources are considered reserved, regardless of whether virtual machines are associated with the resource pool.

    Expandable Reservation When the check box is selected (default), expandable reservations are considered during admission control.

    If you power on a virtual machine in this resource pool, and the combined reservations of the virtual machines are larger than the reservation of the resource pool, the resource pool can use resources from its parent or ancestors.

    Limit Specify the upper limit for this resource pool’s CPU or memory allocation. You can usually accept the default (Unlimited).

    To specify a limit, deselect the Unlimited check box.

  5. Click OK.

Results

After you create a resource pool, you can add virtual machines to it. A virtual machine’s shares are relative to other virtual machines (or resource pools) with the same parent resource pool.

Example: Creating Resource Pools

Assume that you have a host that provides 6GHz of CPU and 3GB of memory that must be shared between your marketing and QA departments. You also want to share the resources unevenly, giving one department (QA) a higher priority. This can be accomplished by creating a resource pool for each department and using the Shares attribute to prioritize the allocation of resources.

The example shows how to create a resource pool with the ESXi host as the parent resource.

  1. In the Create Resource Pool dialog box, type a name for the QA department’s resource pool (for example, RP-QA).
  2. Specify Shares of High for the CPU and memory resources of RP-QA.
  3. Create a second resource pool, RP-Marketing.

    Leave Shares at Normal for CPU and memory.

  4. Click OK.

If there is resource contention, RP-QA receives 4GHz and 2GB of memory, and RP-Marketing 2GHz and 1GB. Otherwise, they can receive more than this allotment. Those resources are then available to the virtual machines in the respective resource pools.