You can change the CPU and memory settings of XenServer virtual machines using the API. XenServer allows you to set the priority of the virtual machine CPU (called weight), set a limit on the amount of CPU the virtual machine can use (called cap) and set the amount of memory the virtual machine gets.

CPU priority

You can set the weight parameter to a number between 1 and 65536. The default value is 256, meaning normal priority. A virtual machine with a weight of 512 will get twice as much CPU as a virtual machine with a weight of 256 on a contended XenServer host. The following code sets the weight to 128, meaning that it will get half as much CPU as a normal virtual machine.

Map<String, String> vcpuParameters = new HashMap<String, String>();
vcpuParameters.put("weight", "128");
vm.setVCPUsParams(connection, vcpuParameters);

CPU limit

You can set the cap parameter to a percentage number. The default value is 0, meaning there is no cap. The value 100 represents one virtual CPU, so half a virtual CPU can be set by using the value 50. The following code sets the cap to 35, meaning that it will not get more than 35 percent of one virtual CPU, even if the physical CPU is not used to its top.

Map<String, String> vcpuParameters = new HashMap<String, String>();
vcpuParameters.put("cap", "35");
vm.setVCPUsParams(connection, vcpuParameters);

Memory

You can set the amount of memory assigned to a virtual machine in bytes. The following code sets the amount of memory to 1 GB (1,073,741,824 bytes).

vm.setMemoryStaticMax(connection, new Long(1073741824));