What are compute categories?

Compute categories are used to organize compute resources for allocation to virtual datacenters. If needed, you may also restrict an application instance to run only on nodes in a specific compute category. Compute resources are allocated to virtual datacenters by category. When you create or edit allocations for a virtual datacenter, you enter the amount of CPU and memory to allocate from each category, rather than from individual compute nodes.

Each compute node must belong to exactly one compute category. A compute node category can be changed only if no application instances are running on it. In the Compute Restraints portion of an application instance profile, the instance can be configured to run on compute nodes in any category, or only on compute nodes in a specific category.

An instance's compute category can be changed while the instance is running. For example, if an instance is running on a compute node in Category1 and the instance's category is changed to Category2, the instance will automatically migrate to a compute node in Category2. In the ThinkAgile CP management console, the instance will appear to shut down, then start on the other compute node; however, the instance will actually remain running throughout the migration.