A virtualization administrator is sizing a bare-metal hypervisor host to accommodate 6 web… — CompTIA A+ (Core 1 & Core 2)

A virtualization administrator is sizing a bare-metal hypervisor host to accommodate 6 web server virtual machines (VMs) and 2 database server VMs running concurrently.

- Each web server VM requires $4\text{ GB}$ of dedicated RAM.
- Each database server VM requires $16\text{ GB}$ of dedicated RAM.
- The hypervisor OS itself requires a baseline memory allocation of $8\text{ GB}$ of RAM for kernel management.
- The hypervisor requires an additional operational memory overhead equal to $5\%$ of the total allocated guest VM RAM.
- Company policy mandates that total active host memory usage must not exceed $80\%$ of total physical installed RAM to prevent host starvation.

What is the minimum total physical RAM, in gigabytes ( $\text{GB}$ ), that must be installed on the host server to satisfy all requirements?

Answer: 83.5 GB

Answer

83.5 GB

The correct calculated installed RAM is

83.5\text{ GB}

. Total guest VM allocation is

56\text{ GB}

(

6 \times 4\text{ GB} + 2 \times 16\text{ GB}

). The hypervisor requires

8\text{ GB}

baseline plus

2.8\text{ GB}

(

5\%

56\text{ GB}

) overhead, totaling

66.8\text{ GB}

of active memory. To ensure this active memory represents no more than

80\%

of physical capacity, the total physical RAM required is

66.8 / 0.80 = 83.5\text{ GB}

Step-by-Step Solution

Calculate the total memory requested across all guest virtual machines.

56\text{ GB}

Multiplying 6 web server VMs by

4\text{ GB}

(

24\text{ GB}

) and 2 database VMs by

16\text{ GB}

(

32\text{ GB}

) gives a total guest RAM allocation of

56\text{ GB}

Determine hypervisor baseline RAM and dynamic hypervisor overhead.

10.8\text{ GB}

The hypervisor baseline is

8\text{ GB}

. The

5\%

overhead on

56\text{ GB}

guest RAM is

0.05 \times 56\text{ GB} = 2.8\text{ GB}

. Total hypervisor requirement is

8\text{ GB} + 2.8\text{ GB} = 10.8\text{ GB}

Calculate total active memory workload.

66.8\text{ GB}

Combining total guest memory (

56\text{ GB}

) with hypervisor baseline and overhead (

10.8\text{ GB}

) yields

66.8\text{ GB}

of required active memory.

Calculate total physical RAM needed to maintain an 80% maximum memory utilization threshold.

83.5\text{ GB}

Dividing total active memory by the maximum utilization factor (

66.8\text{ GB} / 0.80

) yields

83.5\text{ GB}

of installed physical memory required.

Key Concept

Virtual Machine Memory Sizing and Hypervisor Overhead Calculation

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