Number of Virtual Machines

Question

Hi

We are having a server (PowerEdge R6515) with following Specifications.

Dell PowerEdge R6515 Server (1U)

1 x AMD 2.3 GHz, 24C CPU

160 GB RAM

8 x 1.2 TB HDD

Dual NIC (4 x GB Ports)

Redundant Power Supply

CENTOS 8

We would like to know how many number of virtual machine can host in this spec. We are planning to use ESXI 8 as hypervisor.

Regards

vishvajitd · Answer

The number of virtual machines that can be hosted on a server depends on various factors such as the resources required by the virtual machines, the workload of the applications running on them, and the capabilities of the hypervisor software.

Based on the specifications you provided, the Dell PowerEdge R6515 server has a powerful CPU with 24 cores and 160GB of RAM, which should be capable of running a significant number of virtual machines. Additionally, the 8 x 1.2 TB HDDs can provide ample storage for the virtual machines.

However, the number of virtual machines that can be hosted on this server will depend on the resource requirements of each virtual machine, including CPU, RAM, storage, and network bandwidth. You should also consider the workload of the applications running on the virtual machines and their resource requirements.

ESXi 8 is a powerful hypervisor that can support a large number of virtual machines, so the number of virtual machines that can be hosted on this server will also depend on how efficiently the virtual machines are configured and managed.

it's difficult to give an exact number of virtual machines that can be hosted on your server as it will depend on various factors. However, based on the specifications provided, the Dell PowerEdge R6515 server should be capable of hosting a significant number of virtual machines.

Silaj · Answer

Let say i ask to run 6 VMs on ESXI with total resources required to run all 6 VMs and ESXI as below:

Total Memory for 6 VMs: 200 GB

Total Storage : 10 TB

Total vCPU : 104

So can i upgrade my above R6515 server to run all 6VMs? If yes then can i get exact exact specs of HDDs, Core and Memory please.

Thanks

pjwelsh · Answer

@Silaj - as @vishvajitd has noted with 'it's difficult to give an exact number of virtual machines that can be hosted on your server as it will depend on various factors'. This statement is about how/what each VM will do exactly as must as how many resources you apply to it. For example, if you assign 16 VCPU, but the system is only effectively using one or two at any point, then VCPU over-subscription is a not a problem. However, if all of those are heavy compute, you may not like the results. That same pattern will need to be evaluated with virtual component - CPU, drive/iops, RAM, network. That may be harder to quantify, but that is exactly what is needed in order to answer the question. Additionally, some upgrades trigger additional upgrades that may be much more expensive after the fact. For example, if you buy a CPU with more cores, you most likely will need to also replace the power supplies and fans (standard -vs- performance). I hope you have chosen at least SAS 12gbps drives over SATA HDD drives. I don't see it mentioned, but SAS will be superior in performance. Which leads to the next big cascade change-out, disk. If your VMs are disk intensive, you most definitely should have chosen NVME drives! However, that will also require a bunch of other parts to be replaced after the fact. Regards PJ

DELL-Young E · Answer

Hello, thanks for choosing Dell. I'm afraid this is an area for pre sales consulting, https://dell.to/3ZGGhrl
and folks here are mostly for after sales tech support. Sorry I can't be of help this time but should you have any topics that needs troubleshooting in the future, please let us know anytime. Wish you a good one.

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Number of Virtual Machines

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