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Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.xloud.tech/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

Overview

Live vCPU and RAM scaling lets you adjust the compute resources of a running instance without rebooting. Changes take effect immediately while the instance continues serving traffic. The Dashboard provides a slider-based dialog for intuitive scaling within the bounds configured on the instance’s flavor.
Xloud-Developed — Bidirectional CPU hotplug (add AND remove vCPUs) and combined memory scaling (balloon + DIMM + virtio-mem) are developed by Xloud and ship with XAVS / XPCI.
Prerequisites
  • Instance must be in Active status
  • The instance must not be locked
  • The flavor must have hot-add enabled (hw:cpu_min or hw:mem_min extra specs) — if you do not see Adjust Resources in the actions menu, the flavor does not support live scaling

Scale vCPU or RAM

1

Open the Resource Adjustment dialog

Navigate to Compute > Instances. Click the More dropdown on the instance row, then select Adjust Resources under the Configuration Update group.
This action only appears for instances in Active status whose flavor has hot-add enabled. If you do not see it, contact your administrator to configure a hot-add-enabled flavor.
2

Adjust resources with sliders

The dialog shows the current state and adjustment controls:
FieldDescription
InstanceInstance name (read-only)
Current InfoCurrent vCPU count and memory allocation (read-only)
vCPUsSlider input — drag or type to set between minimum and maximum vCPUs
Memory (GiB)Slider input — adjust between minimum and maximum memory in 0.25 GiB steps
Make permanentCheckbox — persist the configuration after a soft reboot (default: checked)
The dialog fetches the live instance status to determine the current and allowed resource ranges. Color-coded hints indicate the scaling method:
ColorMeaning
Greenvirtio-mem — fully adjustable in both directions
YellowNo balloon driver detected — limited memory scaling
BlueDIMM hotplug information
The vCPU slider step aligns to the CPU thread count configured in the flavor. For example, with 2 threads per core, vCPUs adjust in steps of 2.
3

Apply the change

Click Confirm. The change takes effect immediately — no reboot required.
Scaling down RAM while applications are using it may cause out-of-memory events inside the guest. Check application memory usage before reducing RAM.
4

Verify inside the instance

SSH into the instance and confirm the new resources:
Check vCPU count
lscpu | grep "^CPU(s):"
Check available RAM
free -h
The guest OS shows the updated vCPU count and memory — live scaling applied successfully with zero downtime.

Comparison: Live Scaling vs. Flavor Resize

Live vCPU/RAM ScalingFlavor Resize
DowntimeNone — instance stays runningReboot required
ScopevCPU and RAM onlyvCPU, RAM, and disk
DirectionUp or down within flavor envelopeUp or down (disk: up only)
Confirmation stepNo — instantYes — must confirm or revert
Dashboard actionMore > Configuration Update > Adjust ResourcesMore > Configuration Update > Resize
Use caseResponding to live load changesPermanent tier change

Troubleshooting

Adjust Resources not visible in the menu

The instance’s flavor does not have live scaling enabled. The flavor must have hw:cpu_min or hw:mem_min extra specs set. Contact your administrator to configure a hot-add-enabled flavor, or resize to a flavor that supports it.
The requested value is outside the allowed range. The minimum and maximum are determined by the flavor’s hw:cpu_min / hw:mem_min (minimum) and the flavor’s vCPUs / RAM (maximum). Try a value within the slider range.
On older Linux kernels (before 4.15), new CPUs may need to be brought online manually:
Bring hotplugged CPUs online
for cpu in /sys/devices/system/cpu/cpu*/online; do echo 1 > $cpu; done
Modern kernels (4.15+) bring CPUs online automatically.
The guest OS memory balloon driver may not be loaded. Check inside the guest:
Check balloon driver
lsmod | grep virtio_balloon
If not loaded: modprobe virtio_balloon and add virtio_balloon to /etc/modules for persistence.

Next Steps

Admin: Enable Live Scaling

Configure flavors with hot-add extra specs and resource bounds

Resize Instance

Standard flavor resize — change vCPU, RAM, and disk with a reboot

Flavors

View available flavors and their hot-add capabilities

Launch an Instance

Create an instance with a hot-add-enabled flavor