Create a New Resource Allocation Policy

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Applies To: Windows Server 2008 R2

A resource allocation policy defines how resources are managed by Windows System Resource Manager. Only one resource allocation policy at a time can be used to manage a computer.

A resource allocation policy contains one or more resource allocations. Resource allocations apply to applications and processes that match a process matching criterion.

Important

You need to create at least one process matching criterion before creating resource allocation policies unless you want to manage only residual processes or Internet Information Services (IIS) application pools. For more information about process matching criteria, see Working with Process Matching Criteria.

Creating a resource allocation policy

A resource allocation policy must contain at least one resource allocation. Types of resource allocations include CPU targets, memory limits, and processor affinity. You can also sub-allocate resources within one resource allocation in a resource allocation policy. For more information about sub-allocation, see Sub-Allocate Resources.

Membership in the local Administrators group, or equivalent, is the minimum required to complete this procedure.

To create a new resource allocation

  1. Open Windows System Resource Manager. To open Windows System Resource Manager, click Start, point to Administrative Tools, and then click Windows System Resource Manager.

  2. In the Connect to Computer dialog box, select This computer, and then click Connect.

  3. In the console tree, right-click Resource Allocation Policies, and then click New Resource Allocation Policy.

  4. In the New Resource Allocation Policy dialog box, in the Policy name box, type a descriptive name for the new resource allocation policy, and then click Add.

Note

A resource allocation policy name cannot start with a hyphen (-) and cannot contain spaces or the following characters: , \ / * ; ? : " | - < or >.

  1. In the Add or Edit Resource Allocation dialog box, use the following procedures to create a CPU target resource allocation or a memory resource allocation, or to define processor affinity.

  2. When you are finished adding resource allocations for the new resource allocation policy, click OK.

The most common type of resource allocation is a CPU target. For more information, see Understanding Processor Management in Windows System Resource Manager.

To create a CPU target resource allocation

  1. In the Add or Edit Resource Allocation dialog box, on the General tab, in the Process matching criteria list, select a process matching criterion for the matched processes that will be managed by the resource allocation. For more information about creating process matching criteria, see Working with Process Matching Criteria.

  2. In the Percentage of processor allocated for this resource box, enter the percentage of available CPU bandwidth to be allocated, and then click OK.

Note

If the percentage value is set to 0, CPU bandwidth is not allocated. This means that matched processes will not be able to consume any CPU bandwidth if the bandwidth allocated to other resource allocations in the resource allocation policy adds up to 100 percent.

  1. To add additional resource allocations, click Add, and then repeat steps 1 and 2.

Memory resource allocations limit the amount of memory consumed by a single process, and they can trigger user-defined actions when limits are exceeded. For more information, see Understanding Memory Management in Windows System Resource Manager.

To create a memory resource allocation

  1. In the Add or Edit Resource Allocation dialog box, on the General tab, in the Process matching criteria list, select a process matching criterion for the matched processes that will be managed by the resource allocation.

  2. On the Memory tab, select one or both:

    • Use maximum committed memory for each process

    • Use maximum working set limit for each process

  3. If you selected Use maximum committed memory for each process:

    • In the Maximum committed memory limit per process box, type a value in megabytes (MB).

    • In the If memory is surpassed box, select an action to take when the limit is reached.

  4. If you selected Use maximum working set limit for each process, in the Maximum working set limit per process box, type a value in MB.

  5. Click OK.

  6. To add additional memory resource allocations, click Add, and then repeat steps 1–5.

Processor affinity limits matched processes to the processors with which they have affinity. For more information, see Understanding Processor Management in Windows System Resource Manager.

To define processor affinity

  1. In the Add or Edit Resource Allocation dialog box, on the General tab, in the Process matching criteria list, select a process matching criterion for the matched processes that will be managed by the resource allocation.

  2. On the Advanced tab, select Use specified processors.

Note

The Use specified processors option will only be available if the system has multiple processors available.

  1. Enter the processor number, processor number list, or range of processor numbers, and then click OK. Processor numbers range from 0 to (n-1), where n is equal to the number of processors in the server.

    • To specify a single processor, type the processor number.

    • To specify a processor number list, separate the processor numbers with a comma. For example, type: 0, 3, 7.

    • To specify a processor number range, separate the first and last processor number with a hyphen. For example, type: 2-4.

Additional references