Control and configure what resources your workloads are running on seamlessly without any interruption of service. vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) leverages vSphere vMotion to enable automated load balancing of virtualized workloads through the implementation of resource pools and clusters. Planned hardware maintenance and upgrades can now be performed transparently to the end user with a combination of vSphere DRS, vSphere vMotion, and vSphere Storage vMotion.

Optimize Hardware Usage with Automated Load Balancing

Maximize your hardware utilization with vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS). Perform planned hardware maintenance with DRS without interrupting service or compromising cluster availability. Set up resource pools, aggregating the resources of your VMware ESX, and then apply resource allocation rules for dynamic resource allocation in a way that is completely transparent to the user. Automated resource optimization of multiple VMware ESX servers that have been setup in an HA cluster that is DRS enabled lets you ensure that each virtual machine gets the resources it needs, when it needs them, in a manner aligned with your business priorities.

When you assign VMware ESX hosts and virtual machines to a VMware HA cluster that is DRS enabled, the resources of that host become part of the cluster’s pooled resources. You can select how automated you want the migration of virtual machines to be, assign virtual machines to resource pools, set the relative importance of each virtual machine, and set limits for CPU or memory for each virtual machine, allowing you to meet your business objectives while maximizing your hardware utilization.

Non-disruptive Control of Hardware Maintenance and Upgrades

Migrate your virtual machines with vSphere VMotion from one ESX server to another while the virtual machines continue to run with no impact to its end users. Perform server maintenance and upgrades without scheduling downtime and disrupting business operations. Proactively move virtual machines away from failing or underperforming servers. Continuously and automatically optimize virtual machines within resource pools. vMotion gives you the control you need to dynamically reconfigure the placement of your virtual machines across ESX servers based on changing hardware events or business policies.

VMware Storage VMotion allows you to migrate your virtual machine disk files from one datastore to another without disrupting service to the end user. Simplify storage array migrations, maintenance, and upgrades. Dynamically optimize storage I/O performance. Storage vMotion gives you the flexibility to take control of your storage operations.

Take the Next Step

Discover how to implement robust failover, backup and recovery for planned downtime or learn more about using vSphere High Availability (HA), vSphere Consolidated Backup and VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager for ensuring the availability of critical IT services and applications.