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20.5. CPU Tuning


<domain>
  ...
  <cputune>
    <vcpupin vcpu="0" cpuset="1-4,^2"/>
    <vcpupin vcpu="1" cpuset="0,1"/>
    <vcpupin vcpu="2" cpuset="2,3"/>
    <vcpupin vcpu="3" cpuset="0,4"/>
    <emulatorpin cpuset="1-3"/>
    <shares>2048</shares>
    <period>1000000</period>
    <quota>-1</quota>
    <emulator_period>1000000</emulator_period>
    <emulator_quota>-1</emulator_quota>
  </cputune>
  ...
</domain>

Figure 20.7. CPU tuning

Although all are optional, the components of this section of the domain XML are as follows:

Table 20.5. CPU tuning elements

ElementDescription
<cputune>Provides details regarding the CPU tunable parameters for the domain. This is optional.
<vcpupin>Specifies which of host physical machine's physical CPUs the domain VCPU will be pinned to. If this is omitted, and attribute cpuset of element <vcpu> is not specified, the vCPU is pinned to all the physical CPUs by default. It contains two required attributes, the attribute vcpu specifies id, and the attribute cpuset is same as attribute cpuset of element <vcpu>.
<emulatorpin>Specifies which of the host physical machine CPUs, the "emulator", a subset of a domains not including vcpu, will be pinned to. If this is omitted, and attribute cpuset of element <vcpu> is not specified, the "emulator" is pinned to all the physical CPUs by default. It contains one required attribute cpuset specifying which physical CPUs to pin to. emulatorpin is not allowed if attribute placement of element <vcpu> is auto.
<shares>Specifies the proportional weighted share for the domain. If this is omitted, it defaults to the default value inherent in the operating system. If there is no unit for the value, it is calculated relative to the setting of other guest virtual machines. For example, if a guest virtual machine is configured with value of 2048, it will get twice as much processing time as a guest virtual machine configured with value of 1024.
<period>Specifies the enforcement interval in microseconds. By using period, each of the domain's vcpu will not be allowed to consume more than its allotted quota worth of run time. This value should be within the following range: 1000-1000000. A period> with a value of 0 means no value.
<quota>Specifies the maximum allowed bandwidth in microseconds. A domain with quota as any negative value indicates that the domain has infinite bandwidth, which means that it is not bandwidth controlled. The value should be within the following range:1000 - 18446744073709551 or less than 0. A quota with value of 0 means no value. You can use this feature to ensure that all vcpus run at the same speed.
<emulator_period>Specifies the enforcement interval in microseconds. Within an <emulator_period>, emulator threads (those excluding vcpus) of the domain will not be allowed to consume more than the <emulator_quota> worth of run time. The <emulator_period> value should be in the following range: 1000 - 1000000. An <emulator_period> with value of 0, means no value.
<emulator_quota>Specifies the maximum allowed bandwidth in microseconds for the domain's emulator threads (those excluding vcpus). A domain with an <emulator_quota> as a negative value indicates that the domain has infinite bandwidth for emulator threads (those excluding vcpus), which means that it is not bandwidth controlled. The value should be in the following range: 1000 - 18446744073709551, or less than 0. An <emulator_quota> with value 0 means no value.