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Systems & Data Center · Intermediate

Reservation

A guaranteed minimum amount of CPU (MHz) or memory (MB) allocated to a VM or resource pool, alongside shares and limits.

Definition

Reservations guarantee resources, shares set relative priority only during contention, and limits cap maximum usage. A VM cannot power on if its reservation cannot be met.

Example

A 16 GB memory reservation ensures a database VM's memory is never swapped or ballooned.

Exam tip

Shares matter only under contention; reservations guarantee; limits cap even when resources are free.

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