Virtualization Essentials

Configuring VM CPU Options

In the case of virtual CPUs, there are very few items that you can adjust to affect the virtual machine’s performance. In fact, as part of the virtual machine, there is really only one parameter that you can adjust: the actual number of vCPUs. Until recently, you could increase the number of processors in a virtual machine only when the virtual machine was shut down. This was because the operating systems would not recognize additional processors when they were added. Certain operating systems today, like Linux and Windows Server 2008 R2, will allow you to hot-add resources such as additional processors. This is a welcome capability because it means that processor resources can be added to a server without needing to ...