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Number of processors assigned to Guest OSs (time slicing?)


  • VMWare Workstation Pro 14
  • Windows 10 v1809
  • 4 processor CPU (Core i7-6700 3.4GHz)

I am wondering about how to assign processors to my Guest OSs.

I am using guest OSs

  • CentOS 6.9
  • CentOS 6.9
  • Ubuntu 16.04 LTS
  • Windows 7
  • Windows 8.1
  • Windows 10

If I assign each processors to fours guest OSs, that are equal to the physical number of processors (four), and also use processors for host OS. But I have no problem in doing so.

Question: Are the processors assigned using time-slicing, making a single CPU assigned to two Guest OS in turn?

If so, I am thinking to increase number of processors assigned to some GuestOS (e.g. 2).


Solution

  • There's a CPU scheduler that's in use. Basically, it makes it so that the VM can make use of any available CPU instead of being pinned to a specific CPU where it could get stuck waiting for an extended period of time.

    More information about the scheduler concept can be found in the following whitepaper: https://www.vmware.com/content/dam/digitalmarketing/vmware/en/pdf/techpaper/vmware-vsphere-cpu-sched-performance-white-paper.pdf