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Systems & Data Center · Advanced

Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA)

A multiprocessor memory architecture in which each CPU socket has local memory that it accesses faster than another socket's memory.

Definition

Operating systems and hypervisors try to keep a process or VM's vCPUs and memory within one NUMA node. VMs sized larger than a node become wide VMs spanning nodes, which can increase latency.

Example

A VM with 24 vCPUs on a host with 16-core sockets spans two NUMA nodes.

Exam tip

Size VMs to fit within a NUMA node where possible, and populate memory evenly across sockets.

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