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23.5. 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 23.7. CPU Tuning

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

Table 23.4. CPU tuning elements

Element Description
<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 the cpuset attribute of the <vcpu> element is not specified, the vCPU is pinned to all the physical CPUs by default. It contains two required attributes: the <vcpu> attribute specifies id, and the cpuset attribute is same as the cpuset attribute in the <vcpu> element.
<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 the cpuset attribute in the <vcpu> element is not specified, the "emulator" is pinned to all the physical CPUs by default. It contains one required cpuset attribute specifying which physical CPUs to pin to. emulatorpin is not allowed if the placement attribute in the <vcpu> element is set as auto.
<shares> Specifies the proportional weighted share for the domain. If this is omitted, it defaults to the operating system provided defaults. If there is no unit for the value, it is calculated relative to the setting of the other guest virtual machine. For example, a guest virtual machine configured with a <shares> value of 2048 will get twice as much CPU time as a guest virtual machine configured with a <shares> value of 1024.
<period> Specifies the enforcement interval in microseconds. By using <period>, each of the domain's vCPUs 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.