Hyper-V Host Memory Utilization with PowerShell

Several weeks ago, I posted a PowerShell script on my blog that uses commands in the Hyper-V module to report on memory utilization per virtual machine. I rely heavily on virtualization to provide a complete domain environment since I work at home. At present, my workload is spread between a laptop running 8GB of RAM and a Gigabyte Brix with 16GB of RAM. I’m in the process of planning for something new. But in the meantime, memory utilization, especially from the Hyper-V host perspective is important to me. So I thought I’d share with you some PowerShell-related suggestions that should give you a good idea of how much memory is being used and what virtual machine is using it.

• Related: Testing Hyper-V Disk Health

I’m going to be querying my Hyper-V server from my desktop.

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The first step I can take is to query WMI for the Win32_OperatingSystem. I'm using Get-CimInstance as I am trying to wean myself off of Get-WmiObject.

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I've selected a few memory related properties.

The memory values are in KB. If I divide the number by 1KB that will give me the value in MB. If I divide by 1MB, I'll get the value in GB. Here's a more complete one-line command that also calculates utilization percentages.

Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $computername |
Select PSComputername,
@{Name="OS";Expression = {$_.Caption}},
@{Name = "TotalMemoryGB";Expression={$_.totalVisibleMemorySize/1MB -as [int]}},
@{Name = "FreeMemoryGB";Expression={[Math]::Round($_.FreePhysicalMemory/1MB,2)}},
@{Name = "PctMemoryFree";Expression = {[Math]::Round(($_.FreePhysicalMemory/$_.totalVisibleMemorySize) *100,2)}},
@{Name = "TotalVirtualMemoryGB";Expression={$_.totalVirtualMemorySize/1MB -as [int]}},
@{Name = "FreeVirtualMemoryGB";Expression={[Math]::Round($_.FreeVirtualMemory/1MB,2)}},
@{Name = "PctVirtualMemoryFree";Expression = {[Math]::Round(($_.FreeVirtualMemory/$_.totalVirtualMemorySize) *100,2)}}

As you can see, memory is getting pretty tight. What virtual machines are eating this memory up? To figure that out, I need to get all the currently running VMs.

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How much memory is currently assigned using PowerShell get memory usage?

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But probably more important is how much memory is actually being demanded?

There is also a maximum memory, which would be a worst case scenario. Here's a one-line approach to getting the value.

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If all the current running VMs needed to use their maximum memory settings, they would need 23GB. That's a problem because the server only has 16! Hopefully it won't come to that. With this, I can create a custom object to display total virtual machine memory utilization.

[pscustomobject]@{
Computername = $Computername.toUpper()
RunningVMs = $vms.count
TotalAssignedMemoryGB = ($vms | Measure-Object -Property MemoryAssigned -sum).sum/1GB
TotalDemandMemoryGB = ($vms | measure-object -Property MemoryDemand -sum).sum/1GB
PctDemand = [math]::Round(($vms.memorydemand | measure-object -sum).sum/($vms.memoryassigned | measure-object -sum).sum * 100,2)
TotalMaximumMemoryGB = ($vms | Measure-Object -Property MemoryMaximum -sum).sum/1GB
}

Notice I’m not simply writing text to the screen I am using an object. This makes it much easier if I had multiple hosts to manage, or if I wanted to export to a CSV or something.
I can take this a step further and look at each running VM. Since I can get each machine’s assigned and demand memory, I can divide those values by the host’s available memory and calculate what percentage each VM is consuming.

$vmhost = Get-CimInstance -ClassName Win32_OperatingSystem -ComputerName $computername
$usage = $vms | select Name,
@{Name="Status";Expression={$_.MemoryStatus}},
@{Name="MemAssignMB";Expression={$_.MemoryAssigned/1MB}},
@{Name="PctAssignTotal";Expression={[math]::Round(($_.memoryAssigned/($vmhost.TotalVisibleMemorySize*1KB))*100,2)}},
@{Name="MemDemandMB";Expression={$_.MemoryDemand/1MB}},
@{Name="PctDemandTotal";Expression={[math]::Round(($_.memoryDemand/($vmhost.TotalVisibleMemorySize*1KB))*100,2)}}

I saved the results to a variable, so I could do different things with it like this:

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Looks like my SQL Server needs some attention, or I could shut a few things down to free up resources.
In any event, I've given you several commands you could run to get a handle on memory utilization on the Hyper-V host. But personally, I'd prefer everything in one place. So I wrote a function that combines everything I've covered.

#requires -version 4.0
#requires -module Hyper-V
Function Get-VMHostMemoryStatus {
<#
.Synopsis
Get a memory summary for a Hyper-V host
.Description
This command will get a summary of memory utilization for a Hyper-V host. Unless otherwise indicated, memory sizes are in GB.
The VMs property will be a nested collection of running virtual machines showing what percentage of total host physical memory each virtual machine is assigned and demanding. See examples.
.Parameter Computername
The name of a Hyper-V host. This parameter has an alias of CN.
.Example
PS C:> Get-VMHostMemoryStatus chi-hvr2 -outvariable h
Computername         : CHI-HVR2
OperatingSystem      : Microsoft Hyper-V Server 2012 R2
TotalMemory          : 16
FreeMemory           : 2.05
PctMemoryFree        : 12.91
TotalVirtualMemory   : 18
FreeVirtualMemory    : 4.35
PctVirtualMemoryFree : 23.8
RunningVMs           : 7
TotalAssignedMemory  : 12.845703125
TotalDemandMemory    : 8.9794921875
PctDemand            : 69.9
TotalMaximumMemory   : 23
VMs                  : {@{Name=CHI-CORE01; Status=Low; MemAssignMB=513; PctAssignTotal=3.15; MemDemandMB=492; PctDemandTotal=3.03},
                       @{Name=CHI-DC04; Status=OK; MemAssignMB=2049; PctAssignTotal=12.6; MemDemandMB=799; PctDemandTotal=4.91},
                       @{Name=CHI-FP02; Status=Warning; MemAssignMB=821; PctAssignTotal=5.05; MemDemandMB=845; PctDemandTotal=5.2},
                       @{Name=CHI-SCOM01; Status=OK; MemAssignMB=4096; PctAssignTotal=25.19; MemDemandMB=1720;
                       PctDemandTotal=10.58}...}
.Example
PS C:> $h.vms | Sort PctDemandTotal -descending | format-table
Name       Status  MemAssignMB PctAssignTotal MemDemandMB PctDemandTotal
----       ------  ----------- -------------- ----------- --------------
CHI-SQL01  Warning        2653          16.32        2732           16.8
CHI-Win81  Low            2050          12.61        1927          11.85
CHI-SCOM01 OK             4096          25.19        1679          10.33
CHI-FP02   Warning         777           4.78         808           4.97
CHI-DC04   OK             2049           12.6         799           4.91
CHI-Web02  OK             1024            6.3         655           4.03
CHI-CORE01 Low             513           3.15         492           3.03
The running virtual machines and how much memory each is using.
.Notes
Version 1.0
Learn more about PowerShell:
Essential PowerShell Learning Resources

  ****************************************************************
  * DO NOT USE IN A PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENT UNTIL YOU HAVE TESTED *
  * THOROUGHLY IN A LAB ENVIRONMENT. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.  IF   *
  * YOU DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS SCRIPT DOES OR HOW IT WORKS, *
  * DO NOT USE IT OUTSIDE OF A SECURE, TEST SETTING.             *
  ****************************************************************
.Link
Get-VM
Get-VMHost
Get-CimInstance
#>
[cmdletbinding()]
Param(
[Parameter(Position=0,Mandatory,HelpMessage="Enter the name of a Hyper-V host")]
[Alias("cn")]
[ValidateNotNullorEmpty()]
[string]$Computername
)
Write-Verbose "[Starting] $($MyInvocation.Mycommand)"
Try {
    Write-Verbose "[Status] Getting Operating system information from $Computername"
    $vmhost = Get-CimInstance -computername $Computername -ClassName Win32_OperatingSystem -ErrorAction Stop
    Write-Verbose "[Status] Getting running virtual machines"
    $vms = Get-VM -Computername $Computername -ErrorAction Stop | where {$_.state -eq 'running'}
}
Catch {
    Throw $_
    #bail out
    Return
}
Write-Verbose "[Status] Analyzing..."
$vmusage = $vms | select Name,
@{Name = "Status";Expression={$_.MemoryStatus}},
@{Name = "MemAssignMB";Expression={$_.MemoryAssigned/1MB}},
@{Name = "PctAssignTotal";Expression={[math]::Round(($_.memoryAssigned/($vmhost.TotalVisibleMemorySize*1KB))*100,2)}},
@{Name = "MemDemandMB";Expression={$_.MemoryDemand/1MB}},
@{Name = "PctDemandTotal";Expression={[math]::Round(($_.memoryDemand/($vmhost.TotalVisibleMemorySize*1KB))*100,2)}}
[pscustomobject]@{
    Computername         = $vmhost.CSName
    OperatingSystem      = $vmhost.Caption
    TotalMemory          = $vmhost.totalVisibleMemorySize/1MB -as [int]
    FreeMemory           = [Math]::Round($vmhost.FreePhysicalMemory/1MB,2)
    PctMemoryFree        = [Math]::Round(($vmhost.FreePhysicalMemory/$vmhost.totalVisibleMemorySize) *100,2)
    TotalVirtualMemory   = $vmhost.totalVirtualMemorySize/1MB -as [int]
    FreeVirtualMemory    = [Math]::Round($vmhost.FreeVirtualMemory/1MB,2)
    PctVirtualMemoryFree = [Math]::Round(($vmhost.FreeVirtualMemory/$vmhost.totalVirtualMemorySize) *100,2)
    RunningVMs           = $vms.count
    TotalAssignedMemory  = ($vms | Measure-Object -Property MemoryAssigned -sum).sum/1GB
    TotalDemandMemory    = ($vms | measure-object -Property MemoryDemand -sum).sum/1GB
    PctDemand            = [math]::Round(($vms.memorydemand | measure-object -sum).sum/($vms.memoryassigned | measure-object -sum).sum * 100,2)
    TotalMaximumMemory   = ($vms | Measure-Object -Property MemoryMaximum -sum).sum/1GB
    VMs                  = $vmusage
}
Write-Verbose "[Ending] $($MyInvocation.Mycommand)"
} #end function

Now, I can get everything I need with a single command.

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I modified the property names, as I thought they were getting a bit long for my tastes. The memory values are in GB. Details for each running virtual machine are stored in the VMs property. Because I used the common parameter Out-Variable, I can easily get that information without having to re-run the command.

Because everything is an object I can slice and dice the data anyway, I need or use any other PowerShell cmdlet. I hope you'll let me know what you think. Now if you'll excuse me, I think I have some virtual machines that need some attention.

FAQs

How can I use PowerShell to monitor RAM usage in real-time with automatic alerts?

To monitor RAM usage in real-time using PowerShell, create a script that uses Get-Counter cmdlet with ‘\Memory\Available MBytes’ counter, set threshold values, and implement Send-MailMessage for alerts when memory usage exceeds specified limits. Schedule this script using Task Scheduler for continuous monitoring.

What PowerShell commands can check memory usage for specific processes?

Use Get-Process | Select-Object Name, WorkingSet, VirtualMemorySize | Sort-Object -Property WorkingSet -Descending to get detailed memory usage for individual processes. This helps identify memory-hungry applications and their resource consumption patterns.

How do I export PowerShell memory usage data to Excel for analysis?

Create a script using Get-Counter for memory metrics, format the data using Select-Object, and export to CSV using Export-CSV path\filename.csv. Then use Import-Excel module to create formatted Excel reports with charts and pivot tables.

Can PowerShell get memory usage history for trend analysis?

Yes, use Get-WinEvent and Get-Counter with -MaxSamples parameter to collect historical memory usage data. Store this in a custom object and analyze patterns using PowerShell’s statistical functions like Measure-Object for trending analysis.

How to use PowerShell to check memory usage across multiple remote servers?

Implement Invoke-Command with Get-Counter and Create-PSSession to gather memory usage data from multiple servers simultaneously. Use PowerShell remoting with proper credentials and store results in a hash table for comprehensive network-wide memory monitoring.