What is VMware Traffic Shaping?

Summary: The following article explains what is VMware Traffic Shaping.

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Question
What is VMware Traffic Shaping?

Facts
VMware Traffic Shaping


Answer

​Traffic Shaping is a VMware feature that allows ESXi hosts shapes outbound network traffic on standard switches and inbound and outbound traffic on distributed switches. Traffic shaping restricts the network bandwidth available on a port, but can also be configured to allow bursts of traffic to flow through at higher speeds. Traffic shaping allows hard-coded limits for peak bandwidth, average bandwidth, burst size to reduce a VM's outbound bandwidth capability.

A traffic shaping policy is defined by three characteristics: average bandwidth, peak bandwidth, and burst size.

  • Average bandwidth: is specified in kilobits per second and it dictates the data transfer per second across the virtual switch.
  • Peak bandwidth: is specified in kilobits per second and this value identifies the maximum amount of bandwidth a vswitch can pass without dropping packets.
  • Burst size: this value is configured in units of kilobytes and it defines the maximum amount of data included in a burst. Burst size is a calculation of bandwidth multiplied by time.

 

Affected Products

VxBlock and Vblock Systems
Article Properties
Article Number: 000204618
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 18 Feb 2025
Version:  2
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