Introduction
So first off, why did I call a host ESX in 2024? Well, because Broadcom changed the name back to ESX this year in October. However, as with many branding name changes, the User Interfaces (UI) don’t necessarily catch up right away. You will still see me refer to the ESXi Host Client in this post as that is currently the name of the installed product. So going forward, when referring to the VMware host operating system, they will be running ESX and not ESXi. Weird, I know (we all know!).
Back to the purpose for this post…
In my lab, I am not concerned with certain security settings. Memory sharing being one of them. I want to squeeze out as much as I can from my humble two host lab. I am not going to delve into the specifics of Transparent Page Sharing (TPS), but you can read more if interested. (https://knowledge.broadcom.com/external/article/323624/additional-transparent-page-sharing-mana.html)
How to do It
This is quite a simple setting to configure, but it does require a host reboot, so it’s best to do this early on before virtual machines are built and configured. Not to mention, if there are virtual machines built, this setting will not help until they are also rebooted.
The only thing to configure is the host’s Advanced Setting, Mem.ShareForceSalting, to 0.
In the ESXi Host Client, select the Manage menu item. On the System tab, select Advanced settings and then filter for Mem.ShareForceSalting.
Select the Key from the list and then select Edit option.
In the Edit option – Mem.ShareForceSalting window, configure a New value of 0 and select Save.
Continue to set this setting for all hosts where you want to have Transparent Page Sharing (TPS) enabled, meaning that virtual machines can share memory space when able.
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