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Limit of virtual CPUs raised from 128 to 192 after ESX 3.5 Update 1 (1006393)
Details
Starting with ESX 3.5 Update 2 and including subsequent updates, VMware ESX 3.5 supports up to 192 virtual CPUs (vCPUs). Previous versions of ESX supported up to 128 vCPUs.
This change leverages newer, high capacity systems with faster physical CPUs.
If you raise the number of vCPUs, take note of these limitations:
- The number of virtual machines that can be run with acceptable performance continues to depend on the load of the virtual machines and the ESX system's hardware.
- The maximum number of virtual machines per host is 170.
- No more than three virtual floppy devices or virtual CD-ROM devices can be connected across all virtual machines on the host at any given time.
Solution
To change the maximum vCPU limit:
- In the Virtual Infrastructure (VI) Client, go to the Configuration tab and click Advanced Settings.
- In the Advanced Settings window, change the value for Misc.RunningVCpuLimit to 192 (or whatever you want to set the new maximum to).
- Reboot the ESX host.
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