Skip to main content
Redhat Developers  Logo
  • Products

    Platforms

    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux
      Red Hat Enterprise Linux Icon
    • Red Hat AI
      Red Hat AI
    • Red Hat OpenShift
      Openshift icon
    • Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform
      Ansible icon
    • View All Red Hat Products

    Featured

    • Red Hat build of OpenJDK
    • Red Hat Developer Hub
    • Red Hat JBoss Enterprise Application Platform
    • Red Hat OpenShift Dev Spaces
    • Red Hat OpenShift Local
    • Red Hat Developer Sandbox

      Try Red Hat products and technologies without setup or configuration fees for 30 days with this shared Openshift and Kubernetes cluster.
    • Try at no cost
  • Technologies

    Featured

    • AI/ML
      AI/ML Icon
    • Linux
      Linux Icon
    • Kubernetes
      Cloud icon
    • Automation
      Automation Icon showing arrows moving in a circle around a gear
    • View All Technologies
    • Programming Languages & Frameworks

      • Java
      • Python
      • JavaScript
    • System Design & Architecture

      • Red Hat architecture and design patterns
      • Microservices
      • Event-Driven Architecture
      • Databases
    • Developer Productivity

      • Developer productivity
      • Developer Tools
      • GitOps
    • Automated Data Processing

      • AI/ML
      • Data Science
      • Apache Kafka on Kubernetes
    • Platform Engineering

      • DevOps
      • DevSecOps
      • Ansible automation for applications and services
    • Secure Development & Architectures

      • Security
      • Secure coding
  • Learn

    Featured

    • Kubernetes & Cloud Native
      Openshift icon
    • Linux
      Rhel icon
    • Automation
      Ansible cloud icon
    • AI/ML
      AI/ML Icon
    • View All Learning Resources

    E-Books

    • GitOps Cookbook
    • Podman in Action
    • Kubernetes Operators
    • The Path to GitOps
    • View All E-books

    Cheat Sheets

    • Linux Commands
    • Bash Commands
    • Git
    • systemd Commands
    • View All Cheat Sheets

    Documentation

    • Product Documentation
    • API Catalog
    • Legacy Documentation
  • Developer Sandbox

    Developer Sandbox

    • Access Red Hat’s products and technologies without setup or configuration, and start developing quicker than ever before with our new, no-cost sandbox environments.
    • Explore Developer Sandbox

    Featured Developer Sandbox activities

    • Get started with your Developer Sandbox
    • OpenShift virtualization and application modernization using the Developer Sandbox
    • Explore all Developer Sandbox activities

    Ready to start developing apps?

    • Try at no cost
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Videos

Announcing right-sizing for OpenShift Virtualization

April 28, 2025
Vanessa Martini Darshan Vandra
Related topics:
DevOpsHybrid CloudObservabilityVirtualization
Related products:
Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for KubernetesRed Hat OpenShift Virtualization

Share:

    Allocating the appropriate amount of CPU and memory to namespaces and virtual machines is essential to ensure efficient performance and cost optimization, especially with today’s growing number of clusters. Proper right-sizing prevents over-provisioning, waste of resources, an increased risk of financial burdens, under-provisioning, and severe performance issues.

    In this article, we will focus on the developer preview release of the new right-sizing functionality and provide guidance for Red Hat OpenShift Virtualization users as part of Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management

    Advanced Cluster Management features & benefits

    The benefits of right-sizing:

    1. Optimized resource utilization: Preventing idle resource allocation with under-provisioning, thus maximizing infrastructure efficiency.
    2. Cost efficiency: Helping reduce costs by avoiding over-provisioning, lowering operational expenses by making the best use of available resources.

    Right-sizing recommendations (powered by Prometheus recording rules) are available in two dedicated Grafana dashboards as part of the Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management console. They provide a great starting point for users willing to have more visibility on resources and concrete information to formulate effective action plans.

    1. Right-sizing recommendations at the cluster and namespace levels: The enhanced developer preview is available as of July 2024. Here is a snapshot of this feature.

    2. Right-sizing recommendations at the pod level (virtual machine name): The developer preview became available in March 2025. Take a look at an overview of this newly added feature.

         

    By leveraging Prometheus recording rules, the following metrics are used to provide right-sizing recommendations for virtual machines over different time aggregations:

    1. CPU Usage: kubevirt_vmi_cpu_usage_seconds_total
    2. Memory Usage: kubevirt_vmi_memory_available_bytes - kubevirt_vmi_memory_usable_bytes
    3. CPU Request: kubevirt_vm_resource_requests{resource="cpu"}
    4. Memory Request: kubevirt_vm_resource_requests{resource="memory"}
    5. VM running status: kubevirt_vm_running_status_last_transition_timestamp_seconds

    There are key prerequisites for making use of the latest right-sizing recommendations. For more information on the installation steps and disclaimers, please refer to the documentation.

    A developer preview of OpenShift Virtualization

    The developer preview release of right-sizing recommendations for OpenShift Virtualization is provided in a dedicated Grafana dashboard in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management that allows users to access a snapshot of the following:

    1. The current total CPU overestimation across virtual machines in a cluster;
    2. The current total CPU underestimation across virtual machines in a cluster;
    3. The current total memory overestimation across virtual machines in a cluster;
    4. The current total memory underestimation across virtual machines in a cluster;

    These four additional tables give an overview of utilization by virtual machine:  CPU overestimation, CPU underestimation, memory overestimation, and memory underestimation.

    1. Assess CPU/memory utilization for each virtual machine: The percentage of CPU/memory utilized is relative to the amount requested. Above 100% means that you are using more than you need. When it's below 100%, you are asking for more than you need.
    2. Investigate CPU/memory usage for each virtual machine: The amount of CPU/Memory actually used.
    3. Evaluate CPU/memory request for each virtual machine: The amount of CPU/Memory currently requested.
    4. Access CPU/memory recommendations for each virtual machine: The amount of CPU/Memory actually recommended - powered by Prometheus recording rules.
    5. Spot CPU/memory overestimation/underestimation for each virtual machine: The amount of overestimated CPU/memory (highlighted in red) or underestimated (highlighted in yellow).

    The information can be filtered by cluster, namespace, and preferred time aggregation (e.g., 15/30 days).

    Note: 

    By clicking on each virtual machine, you will be directed to a different dashboard, where you can benefit from two time series charts, depicting CPU and memory utilization over time.

    What's next?

    We are working on the productization of right-sizing recommendations for OpenShift Virtualization. While we are planning a technology preview release, we welcome your feedback. You can share your questions and recommendations with us using the Red Hat OpenShift feedback form.

    Related Posts

    • Improved Right Sizing experience in Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes (RHACM)

    • Monitor OpenShift Virtualization at scale with Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management for Kubernetes: Part 1

    • Monitoring OpenShift Virtualization at scale with Red Hat Advanced Cluster Management: Part 2

    • Create software templates for VMs with OpenShift Virtualization

    Recent Posts

    • How to enable Ansible Lightspeed intelligent assistant

    • Why some agentic AI developers are moving code from Python to Rust

    • Confidential VMs: The core of confidential containers

    • Benchmarking with GuideLLM in air-gapped OpenShift clusters

    • Run Qwen3-Next on vLLM with Red Hat AI: A step-by-step guide

    What’s up next?

    Learn how to create and manage virtual machines using Red Hat OpenShift and the Developer Sandbox in this hands-on activity.

    Start the activity
    Red Hat Developers logo LinkedIn YouTube Twitter Facebook

    Products

    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux
    • Red Hat OpenShift
    • Red Hat Ansible Automation Platform

    Build

    • Developer Sandbox
    • Developer Tools
    • Interactive Tutorials
    • API Catalog

    Quicklinks

    • Learning Resources
    • E-books
    • Cheat Sheets
    • Blog
    • Events
    • Newsletter

    Communicate

    • About us
    • Contact sales
    • Find a partner
    • Report a website issue
    • Site Status Dashboard
    • Report a security problem

    RED HAT DEVELOPER

    Build here. Go anywhere.

    We serve the builders. The problem solvers who create careers with code.

    Join us if you’re a developer, software engineer, web designer, front-end designer, UX designer, computer scientist, architect, tester, product manager, project manager or team lead.

    Sign me up

    Red Hat legal and privacy links

    • About Red Hat
    • Jobs
    • Events
    • Locations
    • Contact Red Hat
    • Red Hat Blog
    • Inclusion at Red Hat
    • Cool Stuff Store
    • Red Hat Summit
    © 2025 Red Hat

    Red Hat legal and privacy links

    • Privacy statement
    • Terms of use
    • All policies and guidelines
    • Digital accessibility

    Report a website issue