How to identify Virtual Machines experiencing memory ballooning

Products

• VMware vSphere ESXi
• VMware vSphere ESX 8.x

Issue/Introduction

The performance chart for an ESX host shows a non-zero value for the "Ballooned Memory" item.

You need to identify which specific virtual machines are experiencing memory ballooning in an environment with many running virtual machines.

Environment

VMware vSphere ESX

Resolution

Execute the esxcfg-info -a command from the ESX Shell and identify the virtual machines from the output where the "Balloon Size" value is not 0.

1. Connect to the ESXi host via SSH or console.
   
   
2. Execute the command esxcfg-info -a. You may filter the output using tools like less or grep as needed.
         Example: esxcfg-info -a | less
   
   
3. Look for the \\==+Resource Leaf : section, which indicates each virtual machine.
   
   
4. Within that section, check the |----Balloon Size item to identify virtual machines with a non-zero value.

(Excerpt of Output Example)

          ...
          \==+Resource Leaf :
             |----Config File.............................../vmfs/volumes/########-########-####-########/################/<VM Name>.vmx
             |----Display Name..............................<VM Display Name>
             ...
             \==+Memory Client Stats :
                ...
                |----Balloon Size...........................#### MB

Additional Information

Japanese KB: メモリ・バルーンニングが発生している仮想マシンを特定する