What does a high %RDY value indicate for a virtual machine?

A high %RDY value for a virtual machine indicates high CPU contention. %RDY, or percentage of time a virtual machine is ready to run but not able to because it is waiting for CPU resources, reflects how often the VM is in a state ready to execute but cannot due to insufficient CPU power available to it.

When the %RDY value is elevated, it suggests that the virtual machine is experiencing delays, as it cannot access the CPU resources it requires to execute tasks in a timely manner. This situation typically occurs when multiple virtual machines are competing for limited CPU resources on the same host, leading to contention. A system experiencing this contention might result in performance degradation for the affected VM, as it indicates that the demand for CPU resources exceeds the capacity available to the VMs running on that host.

In contrast, low CPU wait time would suggest efficient CPU utilization without contention, low CPU usage indicates that the VM is not heavily using its allocated CPU resources, and high memory usage pertains to memory resources rather than CPU. Each of these factors operates on different performance metrics unrelated to the %RDY value's implications regarding CPU contention.