How to Create a Resource Pool in vCenter Server

What Is the vCenter Resource Pool

A resource pool is a logical abstraction for flexible management of resources. Resource pools can be grouped into hierarchies and used to hierarchically partition available CPU and memory resources.

Each standalone host and each DRS cluster has an (invisible) root resource pool that groups the resources of that host or cluster. The root resource pool does not appear because the resources of the host (or cluster) and the root resource pool are always the same.

A resource pool can have child resource pools, such that each child receives part of the parent's resources. Child resource pools are smaller units compared to parents. A resource pool can contain other resource pools, as well as individual virtual machines (VMs).

VMware vSphere 7 uses resource pools to separate and compartmentalize all resources in a cluster. You could create multiple resource pools as direct children of the host or cluster and configure them, then delegate control over the resource pools to other individuals or organizations.

How to Create a Resource Pool in vCenter Server

Administrators can create a resource pool on a stand-alone ESXi host, on a cluster level, or in another resource pool.

💬 The vSphere Client is connected to the vCenter Server system.

1. Login into vCenter Server with vSphere Client.

2. Right-click a parent object for the resource pool (a host, another resource pool, or a DRS cluster), and select New Resource Pool.

3. Enter a name for the resource pool.

4. Select the checkbox if you want to enable sclalable shares.

5. Specify how to allocate CPU and memory resources.

The CPU resources for your resource pool are the guaranteed physical resources the host reserves for a resource pool. Normally, you accept the default and let the host handle resource allocation.

6. Click OK.

After you create a resource pool, you can add virtual machines to it. And to avoid data loss, it's a good idea to take a snapshot or make a virtual machine backup.

Batch backup VMs managed by vCenter before data loss

It is necessary to perform image-based backup of large amounts of VMs managed by vCenter Server, however, vCenter Server does not provide the feature of virtual machine backup. And that makes backup software a commonly accepted choice.

Here I introduce you to a VMware backup software AOMEI Cyber Backup, it enables you to backup multiple VMs either managed by vCenter Server, or on a standalone ESXi host.

✦ Agentless Backup: create complete and independent image-level backup for VMware ESXi and Hyper-V VMs.
✦ Flexible vSphere Backup: batch backup large numbers of VMs managed by vCenter Server, or multiple VMs on a standalone ESXi host.
✦ Multiple Storage Destinations: backup to local drive, or network destinations like NAS.
✦ Automated Execution: create backup schedules to automate backups daily, weekly, monthly.
✦ Email Notification: send email notification when the task is completed or abnormal.
✦ Restore Entire VM: restore instant available VMs from any selected restore points to an original or new location.

AOMEI Cyber Backup supports both paid and free versions of VMware ESXi 6.0 and later versions. Next, I will show you how to batch backup VMs managed by vCenter Server with AOMEI Cyber Backup in 3 simple steps.

You can click the following button to download the 30-day free trial.

*You can choose to install this VM backup software on either Windows or Linux system.

3 Steps to batch backup VMs managed by vCenter Server

1. Bind Devices: Access to AOMEI Cyber Backup web client, navigate to Source Device > VMware > + Add VMware Device to Add vCenter or Standalone ESXi host. And then click … > Bind Device.

2. Create Backup Task: Navigate to Backup Task > + Create New Task, and select VMware ESXi Backup as the Backup Type.

Set the Task Name, Device, Target, Schedule and Cleanup as needed.

• Task Name: you can change the task name or use the default name with an ordinal.
• Device: batch select large numbers of VMs managed by vCenter Server for centralized backup.
• Target: select to back up to a local path, or to a network path like NAS.
• Schedule (optional): perform full, differential, or incremental backup, and automate execution according to the frequency you specified.
• Cleanup (optional): automatically delete the old backup copies that exceed the retention period you specified.

Click Start Backup and select Add the schedule and start backup now, or Add the schedule only. Created backup tasks will be listed and monitored separately for restoring, progress checking and schedule changing.

3. When restoring, you can also restore to new location to create a new VM in the same or another datastore/host directly from the backup, saving the trouble of re-configuring the new VM.

Summary

Today's article focuses on how to create a resource pool to efficiently to use CPU and Memory in the vSphere 7 environment. vCenter resource pools also help to separate the overall resources of a cluster into compartments, each of which can have different CPU and memory allocations, preserving the performance of the group of virtual machines that need it.