A system administrator is configuring a hypervisor host server with 48\text{ GB} of physic… — CompTIA A+ (Core 1 & Core 2)

A system administrator is configuring a hypervisor host server with $48\text{ GB}$ of physical RAM. The host operating system and hypervisor require a minimum reserved overhead of $8\text{ GB}$ of RAM to ensure system stability. Each planned guest virtual machine will be allocated $6\text{ GB}$ of dedicated RAM. To prevent performance issues caused by host memory overcommitment, what is the maximum number of guest virtual machines that can be safely run concurrently on this server?

A
5 virtual machines
6 virtual machinesAnswer
C
7 virtual machines
D
8 virtual machines

Answer

The maximum number of guest virtual machines that can be safely run concurrently is 6 virtual machines.

Subtracting the

8\text{ GB}

host hypervisor reservation from the

48\text{ GB}

physical system RAM leaves

40\text{ GB}

available for guest instances. Dividing

40\text{ GB}

6\text{ GB}

per virtual machine yields

6.67

. Because a partial virtual machine cannot be provisioned and rounding up to 7 would require

42\text{ GB}

(exceeding available memory), the maximum number of VMs that can safely run concurrently without overcommit is 6.

Step-by-Step Solution

Calculate the RAM available for guest virtual machines by subtracting host hypervisor overhead from total system RAM.

48\text{ GB} - 8\text{ GB} = 40\text{ GB}

usable guest RAM.

Host operating systems and hypervisors require dedicated RAM headroom for kernel operations, monitoring tools, and memory management.

Divide the usable guest RAM by the RAM requirement of each guest virtual machine.

40\text{ GB} / 6\text{ GB per VM} = 6.67

virtual machines.

Determines how many full guest instances can fit into the remaining physical memory pool.

Round down to the nearest whole integer to ensure no memory overcommitment occurs.

Maximum of 6 guest virtual machines supported.

Partial virtual machines cannot be provisioned, and rounding up would exceed physical host capacity, leading to disk swapping or crash conditions.

Key Concept

Virtual Machine Host RAM Allocation and Hypervisor Overhead

Question

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Step-by-Step Solution

Key Concept

Common Mistakes

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