- Timestamp:
- May 23, 2012 3:47:32 PM (13 years ago)
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- 78144
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trunk/doc/manual/en_US/user_AdvancedTopics.xml (modified) (1 diff)
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trunk/doc/manual/en_US/user_AdvancedTopics.xml
r40441 r41421 2077 2077 </sect1> 2078 2078 2079 <sect1 id="vboxballoonctrl"> 2080 <title>Memory Ballooning Service</title> 2081 2082 <para>Starting with VirtualBox 4.0.8 a new host executable called 2083 <computeroutput>VBoxBalloonCtrl</computeroutput> is available to 2084 automatically take care of a VM's configured memory balloon (see <xref 2085 linkend="guestadd-balloon" /> for an introduction to memory ballooning). 2086 This is especially useful for server environments where VMs may 2087 dynamically require more or less memory during runtime.</para> 2088 2089 <para>VBoxBalloonCtrl periodically checks a VM's current memory balloon 2090 and its free guest RAM and automatically adjusts the current memory 2091 balloon by inflating or deflating it accordingly. This handling only 2092 applies to running VMs having recent Guest Additions installed.</para> 2093 2094 <para>To set up VBoxBalloonCtrl and adjust the maximum ballooning size a 2095 VM can reach the following parameters will be checked in the following 2096 order: <itemizedlist> 2079 <sect1 id="vboxwatchdog"> 2080 <title>VirtualBox Watchdog</title> 2081 <para>Starting with VirtualBox 4.2 the memory ballooning service formerly 2082 known as <computeroutput>VBoxBalloonCtrl</computeroutput> was renamed to 2083 VBoxWatchdog, which now incorporates several host services that are meant 2084 to be run in a server environment.</para> 2085 2086 <para>These services are: <itemizedlist> 2097 2087 <listitem> 2098 specified via VBoxBalloonCtrl command line parameter 2099 2100 <computeroutput>--balloon-max</computeroutput> 2088 <para>Memory ballooning control, which automatically takes care of 2089 a VM's configured memory balloon (see <xref linkend="guestadd-balloon" /> 2090 for an introduction to memory ballooning). This especially is useful 2091 for server environments where VMs may dynamically require more or 2092 less memory during runtime.</para> 2093 2094 <para>The service periodically checks a VM's current memory balloon 2095 and its free guest RAM and automatically adjusts the current memory 2096 balloon by inflating or deflating it accordingly. This handling only 2097 applies to running VMs having recent Guest Additions installed.</para> 2101 2098 </listitem> 2102 2103 2099 <listitem> 2104 per-VM parameter using 2105 2106 <screen>VBoxManage setextradata "VM-Name" VBoxInternal/Guest/BalloonSizeMax <Size in MB></screen> 2100 <para>Host isolation detection, which provides a way to detect whether 2101 the host cannot reach the specific VirtualBox server instance anymore 2102 and take appropriate actions, such as shutting down, saving the 2103 current state or even powering down certain VMs.</para> 2107 2104 </listitem> 2108 2109 <listitem> 2110 global parameter for all VMs using 2111 2112 <screen>VBoxManage setextradata global VBoxInternal/Guest/BalloonSizeMax <Size in MB></screen> 2113 </listitem> 2114 </itemizedlist> <note> 2115 <para>If no maximum ballooning size is specified by at least one of 2116 the parameters above, no ballooning will be performed at all.</para> 2117 </note></para> 2118 2119 <para>For more options and parameters check the built-in command line help 2120 accessible with <computeroutput>--help</computeroutput>.</para> 2105 </itemizedlist></para> 2106 2107 <para> 2108 All configuration values can be either specified via command line or global 2109 extradata, whereas command line values always have a higher priority when set. 2110 Some of the configuration values also be be specified on a per-VM basis. So 2111 the overall lookup order is: command line, per-VM basis extradata (if available), 2112 global extradata. 2113 </para> 2114 2115 <sect2 id="vboxwatchdog-ballonctrl"> 2116 <title>Memory ballooning control</title> 2117 <para>The memory ballooning control inflates and deflates the memory balloon 2118 of VMs based on the VMs free memory and the desired maximum balloon size.</para> 2119 2120 <para>To set up the memory ballooning control the maximum ballooning size a 2121 VM can reach needs to be set. This can be specified via command line with 2122 <screen>--balloon-max <Size in MB></screen>, on a per-VM basis extradata value with 2123 <screen>VBoxManage setextradata <VM-Name> VBoxInternal2/Watchdog/BalloonCtrl/BalloonSizeMax <Size in MB></screen> 2124 or using a global extradata value with 2125 <screen>VBoxManage setextradata global VBoxInternal2/Watchdog/BalloonCtrl/BalloonSizeMax <Size in MB></screen> 2126 <note><para>If no maximum ballooning size is specified by at least one of 2127 the parameters above, no ballooning will be performed at all.</para></note> 2128 </para> 2129 2130 <para>Setting the ballooning increment in MB can be either done via 2131 command line with 2132 <screen>--balloon-inc <Size in MB></screen> or using a global 2133 extradata value with 2134 <screen>VBoxManage setextradata global VBoxInternal2/Watchdog/BalloonCtrl/BalloonIncrementMB <Size in MB></screen> 2135 Default ballooning increment is 256 MB if not specified.</para> 2136 2137 <para>Same goes with the ballooning decrement: Via command line with 2138 <screen>--balloon-dec <Size in MB></screen> or using a global 2139 extradata value with 2140 <screen>VBoxManage setextradata global VBoxInternal2/Watchdog/BalloonCtrl/BalloonDecrementMB <Size in MB></screen> 2141 Default ballooning decrement is 128 MB if not specified.</para> 2142 2143 <para>To define the lower limit in MB a balloon can be the command line with 2144 <screen>--balloon-lower-limit <Size in MB></screen> can be used or using a global 2145 extradata value with 2146 <screen>VBoxManage setextradata global VBoxInternal2/Watchdog/BalloonCtrl/BalloonLowerLimitMB <Size in MB></screen> 2147 is available. Default lower limit is 128 if not specified.</para> 2148 </sect2> 2149 2150 <sect2 id="vboxwatchdog-hostisln"> 2151 <title>Host isolation detection</title> 2152 <para>To detect whether a host is being isolated, that is, the host cannot 2153 reach the VirtualBox server instance anymore, the host needs to set an 2154 alternating value to a global extradata value within a time period. If 2155 this value is not set within that time period a timeout occurred and the 2156 so-called host isolation response will be performed to the VMs handled. 2157 Which VMs are handled can be controlled by defining VM groups and assigning 2158 VMs to those groups. By default no groups are set, meaning that all VMs 2159 on the server will be handled when no host response is received within 2160 30 seconds.</para> 2161 2162 <para>To set the groups handled by the host isolation detection via 2163 command line: 2164 <screen>--apimon-groups=<string[,stringN]></screen> or using a global 2165 extradata value with 2166 <screen>VBoxManage setextradata global VBoxInternal2/Watchdog/APIMonitor/Groups <string[,stringN]></screen> 2167 </para> 2168 2169 <para>To set the host isolation timeout via command line: 2170 <screen>--apimon-isln-timeout=<ms></screen> or using a global 2171 extradata value with 2172 <screen>VBoxManage setextradata global VBoxInternal2/Watchdog/APIMonitor/IsolationTimeoutMS <ms></screen> 2173 </para> 2174 2175 <para>To set the actual host isolation response via command line: 2176 <screen>--apimon-isln-response=<cmd></screen> or using a global 2177 extradata value with 2178 <screen>VBoxManage setextradata global VBoxInternal2/Watchdog/APIMonitor/IsolationResponse <cmd></screen> 2179 The following response commands are available: 2180 <itemizedlist> 2181 <listitem> 2182 <para><computeroutput>none</computeroutput>, which does nothing.</para> 2183 </listitem> 2184 <listitem> 2185 <para><computeroutput>pause</computeroutput>, which pauses the 2186 execution of a VM.</para> 2187 </listitem> 2188 <listitem> 2189 <para><computeroutput>poweroff</computeroutput>, which shuts down 2190 the VM by pressing the virtual power button. The VM will not have 2191 the chance of saving any data or veto the shutdown process.</para> 2192 </listitem> 2193 <listitem> 2194 <para><computeroutput>save</computeroutput>, which saves the current 2195 machine state and powers off the VM afterwards. If saving the machine 2196 state fails the VM will be paused.</para> 2197 </listitem> 2198 <listitem> 2199 <para><computeroutput>shutdown</computeroutput>, which shuts down 2200 the VM in a gentle way by sending an <computeroutput>ACPI</computeroutput> 2201 shutdown event to the VM's operating system. The OS then has the 2202 chance of doing a clean shutdown.</para> 2203 </listitem> 2204 </itemizedlist> 2205 </para> 2206 </sect2> 2207 2208 <sect2 id="vboxwatchdog-moreinfo"> 2209 <title>More information</title> 2210 <para>For more advanced options and parameters like verbose logging check 2211 the built-in command line help accessible with 2212 <computeroutput>--help</computeroutput>.</para> 2213 </sect2> 2214 2121 2215 </sect1> 2122 2216
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