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VMware vSphere 4: The CPU Scheduler in VMware ESX 4 (VMware)
Virtual Machine Monitor Execution Modes: in VMware vSphere 4.0 (VMware)
Four Things You Should Know About ESX 4’s Scheduler (Virtual Performance)

VMware just released a new 21 page white paper entitled VMware vSphere 4: The CPU Scheduler in VMware ESX 4 that is all about how the mysterious CPU scheduler functions. This is a highly recommended read and the scheduler is one of the most important components of the hypervisor and therefore you should understand how it functions. The white paper details how the scheduler works, changes made to it in ESX 4, verifies the effectiveness of CPU resource controls including Shares/Reservations/Limits, compares different co-scheduling algorithms and evaluates the performance impact of CPU scheduler changes in ESX 4. Be sure and go check it out.

ESX Server 2 Best Practices Using Vmware Virtual SMP
ESX Server 3 Ready Time Observations
A Performance Comparison of Hypervisors
ESX Server CPU Scheduling (VMworld 2007)
How to be a Good Guest - AMD - (VMworld 2007)
Evaluation of ESX Server under CPU Intensive Workloads
AMD & Intel Servers Compete for Ultimate Virtuality
What to choose, Intel or AMD?
Intel, AMD, VMware and Aircrafts
Improving Guest Operating System Accounting for Descheduled Virtual Machines in ESX 3.x Systems
High CPU Utilization of Inactive Virtual Machines
Slow performance of virtual machines that use vSMP when running on an ESX Server using certain hardware
ESX scheduler support for SMP VMs: co-scheduling and more
Co-scheduling SMP VMs in VMware ESX Server
VMkernel Scheduler
Live Migration with AMD-V Extended Migration Technology
AMD-V^TM Nested Paging
Intel Virtualization Technology (VT) in Converged Application Platforms
Technology Brief: Intel Virtualization Technology (Intel VT)
Evaluating Two- and Four-Socket Server Virtualization Platforms
VMware and CPU Virtualization Technology
Hyper-Threading on ESX Server
Performance Evaluation of AMD RVI Hardware Assist
Hardware and firmware requirements for 64bit guest operating systems
I/O Passthrough Methodologies for Mainstream Virtualization Usage
The Role of the ESX Monitor
An Introduction to 64-bit Computing and x86-64
Understanding the Microprocessor
Platforms and Tools for the AMD Athlon 64 Processor

1. ESX Server CPU Scheduling - A VMworld 2007 presentation (free registration required) on CPU scheduling that covers how it works, performance tips, how to use ESXTOP for analysis and using resource controls.
2. ESX Server 2 Best Practices Using VMware Virtual SMP - A white paper from VMware that provides information on when and when not to use vSMP with virtual machines and also covers best practices for using vSMP.
3. AMD-V Nested Paging - A white paper from AMD that discusses the existing software-based paging virtualization solutions and their associated performance overheads. It also introduces AMD-V™ Rapid Virtualization Indexing technology (nested paging) and highlights its advantages and demonstrates the performance uplift that may be seen with nested paging.
4. Intel Virtualization Technology (VT) in Converged Application Platforms - A white paper from Intel that describes the architecture behind Intel’s VT technology and how it can benefit virtualized applications.
5. Intel, AMD, VMware and Aircrafts - A great article from Massimo Re Ferre that covers the important things that you should now when choosing between Intel and AMD processors for your servers.
6. ESX scheduler support for SMP VMs: co-scheduling and more - A good blog post from VMware’s VROOM performance team on using multi-processor VMs and how CPU co-scheduling works in ESX.
7. Co-scheduling SMP VMs in VMware ESX Server - A document from VMware that explains what CPU co-scheduling is, how it works and the differences between strict and relaxed co-scheduling.
8. VMkernel Scheduler - A document from VMware that provides details on how the VMkernel CPU scheduler works.
9. How to be a Good Guest – A VMworld 2007 presentation (free registration required) given by AMD that covers CPU features and the challenges of using VMotion across different CPU types and how badly written software can cause problems.
10. ESX Server 3 Ready Time Observations - A white paper from VMware that covers what ready time is, how it affects CPU scheduling, how to measure it and interpret the measurements.