What vSphere Distributed Switch setting restricts network bandwidth while allowing bursts of traffic?

The correct answer is traffic shaping. This setting on a vSphere Distributed Switch is designed specifically to control the amount of bandwidth that is available to virtual machines (VMs) while also allowing for bursts of traffic above that limit.

Traffic shaping works by establishing a baseline for bandwidth usage, ensuring that VMs do not exceed a specific bandwidth limit during normal operation. This is particularly useful in environments where network resources are shared among multiple VMs to prevent any single VM from saturating the available bandwidth. However, it also incorporates the capability to handle short bursts of traffic, which can be crucial for applications that might occasionally generate spikes in network usage without being permanently capped by the traffic shaping policy.

This feature assists in maintaining overall network performance and stability while accommodating for the dynamic needs of varying workloads. The ability to configure average bandwidth limits alongside burst settings makes traffic shaping a flexible tool for managing network resources effectively.