DRS failed to load balance the virtual machines because the host's CPU utilization is much higher than the CPU usage.

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi

Issue/Introduction

• DRS does not load balance VMs across the cluster with the same CPU model. While reviewing host metrics on the UI, some hosts show 98% CPU usage, while others show only 34%. DRS consistently suggests migrating VMs from the host with 34% CPU usage.
• The following message in /var/log/vmware/vpxd/vpxd.log

2025-08-12T10:47:09.151+08:00 verbose vpxd[22586] [Originator@6876 sub=cdrsPlmt opID=CdrsLoadBalancer-60b7acd9] Recommend the best host for [vim.VirtualMachine:<vm-moid>,<vm name>]
2025-08-12T10:47:09.151+08:00 verbose vpxd[22586] [Originator@6876 sub=cdrsPlmt opID=CdrsLoadBalancer-60b7acd9] Costs on [vim.HostSystem:<host1-moid>,<ip address>] cpu 2363 mem 0 net 0(0) ft 0 secondary 0 maint 0 hint true
2025-08-12T10:47:09.151+08:00 verbose vpxd[22586] [Originator@6876 sub=cdrsPlmt opID=CdrsLoadBalancer-60b7acd9] Goodness 2549 on [vim.HostSystem:<host1-moid>,<ip address>]
2025-08-12T10:47:09.151+08:00 verbose vpxd[22586] [Originator@6876 sub=cdrsPlmt opID=CdrsLoadBalancer-60b7acd9] Choice [vim.HostSystem:<host1-moid>,<ip address>] expected gain 1 cost 0
2025-08-12T10:47:09.151+08:00 verbose vpxd[22586] [Originator@6876 sub=cdrsPlmt opID=CdrsLoadBalancer-60b7acd9] Costs on [vim.HostSystem:<host2-moid>,<ip address>] cpu 1472 mem 975 net 0(0) ft 0 secondary 0 maint 0 hint false
2025-08-12T10:47:09.151+08:00 verbose vpxd[22586] [Originator@6876 sub=cdrsPlmt opID=CdrsLoadBalancer-60b7acd9] Goodness 2758 on [vim.HostSystem:<host2-moid>,<ip address>]
2025-08-12T10:47:09.151+08:00 verbose vpxd[22586] [Originator@6876 sub=cdrsPlmt opID=CdrsLoadBalancer-60b7acd9] expected gain of [vim.HostSystem:<host2-moid>,<ip address>], rate 209 gainSec 973 vmotionRate 3 placementType 1 vmotionSec 8
2025-08-12T10:47:09.151+08:00 verbose vpxd[22586] [Originator@6876 sub=cdrsPlmt opID=CdrsLoadBalancer-60b7acd9] Choice [vim.HostSystem:<host2-moid>,<ip address>] expected gain 203357 cost 55128

  DRS migrates the VM from <host1-moid> to <host2-moid> to balance the CPU, as <host1-moid>'s CPU utilization is much higher than the CPU usage.
  <host1-moid>  CPU_Util: 120.70%; CPU_Usage: 34% 
<host2-moid>  CPU_Util:  97.79%; CPU_Usage: 93%

Environment

VMware vSphere ESXi 7.x
VMware vSphere ESXi 8.x

Cause

DRS uses the CPU utilization metric, rather than CPU usage, to calculate the virtual machine DRS score. High CPU utilization causes the DRS score of virtual machines on this host to be lower than on other hosts, which is why DRS consistently suggests migrating VMs from this host.

Resolution

Following ESXi hosts showing high CPU Utilization to locate the cause for High CPU utilization in ESXi hosts.