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Knowledge Base

ESX Virtual Machine Won't Start (Insufficient Memory) (1330)

Last Updated: 7/28/2010Categories: Total Views: 18873Language:
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Details

When you attempt to start a virtual machine, you see this errors:

Can't map memory for VM: Cannot allocate memory.
Failed to allocate memory for virtual machine.

The ESX Server has sufficient physical ram to allow the virtual machine to start.

Solution

This issue may occur if there is not enough free space in the vmkernel swap file on the VMFS file system to start a virtual machine. This happens even if there is enough physical RAM available to allocate for starting a virtual machine.
The vmkernel swap file must be at least the size of the physical RAM to fully utilize the available physical RAM.

This error can also be caused by misconfiguring the sched.mem.minsize parameter.

To configure the vmkernel swap file to be at least the size of the installed physical RAM follow these steps.

Open a Web browser and log in to the ESX Server Management Interface.

Click the Options tab.

Click Swap Configuration.
Note: One or more configured swap files (active or not) should be listed. If not, click Create.
Any active swap files are listed at the top of the page.

If a configured swap file exists, click Edit.

Compare the number in the box to the recommended file size indicated. If it is smaller than recommended, edit it to match the recommended size.

Click OK.

If the swap file is configured but not active, click Activate.

If the activation status or size of a swap file was changed, shut down the virtual machines and reboot ESX Server to put the changes into effect.
Note: The procedure below requires shutting down the virtual machines to make any changes, so make those changes first before rebooting.

Follow these steps to reconfigure the sched.mem.minsize parameter.
Note: the virtual machine must be powered off to make the changes below.

Open a Web browser and log in to the ESX Server Management Interface.

Click the Status Monitor tab.

Click the display name for one of the virtual machines. If the virtual machine is running, power it down.

Click the Options tab.

Click the this text at the bottom of the interface page: If you need to view, and or modify configuration parameters directly, click here.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page and look for the line "sched.mem.minsize."

If the line is present, delete the value in the corresponding box to the right. This allows ESX Server to optimize virtual machine memory usage automatically.
Note: The parameter sched.mem.minsize may not be present; this is the default (automatic) configuration for a virtual machine.

Click OK.

Repeat the above steps, starting with step 3 for each remaining virtual machine.

The VMware ESX Server Administration Guide [pdf] discusses managing the ESX Server vmkernel swap file.

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