Disabling Resource Pool and saving those settings - vSphere 5.1.x upwards

There are times when you need to disable DRS for a particular reason but with earlier version of VMware you would lose all your resource pool settings. Now with 5.1 upwards you can export your resource pool settings before you disable your DRS. Do not use this method if you have vCloud Director in place.

Saving Resource Pool 

1) Log on to the vCenter via web client and locate the cluster where you would like to turn OFF DRS. As you can see in my one I have Cluster B and a resource pool named Test Pool which currently has a VM name vSphere Replication.

2) Right select cluster you would like to disable DRS. Select settings

3) On the right hand panel it should of taken you to Manage > Settings section. Select vSphere DRS under services and select edit

4) Untick box Turn ON vSphere DRS and click OK

5) A warning box appears about disabling DRS and Select Yes to continue. If you use vCloud Director do not proceed and contact VMware support for assistances. 

6) You now have an option to save a snapshot of your resource pool tree so select Yes

7) Select a location to save your snapshot giving it a meaningful name and click Save

8) DRS will be shown as off and the resource pool will have gone. You may need to refresh the web page

Restoring Resource Pool

1) Log on to the vCenter via web client and locate the cluster where you would like to turn ON DRS

2) Right select cluster you would like to enable DRS. Select settings

3) On the right hand panel it should of taken you to Manage > Settings section. Select vSphere DRS under services and select edit

4) Tick box Turn ON vSphere DRS and click OK

5) Once DRS is enabled for the cluster right select the cluster and select All vCenter Actions > Restore Resource Pool Tree

6) Locate your backup snapshot file and click OK

7) Once restored you will see the resource pool appears and the VMs are restored back to the pool