vSphere 6.5 DRS is now Network-Aware. Based on network utilization, when will DRS balance VMs?

Network-Aware DRS depends on network resource pool configuration on the vDS to expose per-host network saturation data; once a network resource pool is configured for VMs, DRS gains visibility into host-level network utilization and uses it to guide placement and balancing decisions to avoid saturated hosts.

Enabling Network I/O Control is a necessary prerequisite layer but is not the direct trigger for network-aware balancing - a network resource pool must also be explicitly created and associated with VM traffic before DRS can act on network metrics.

This option partially describes the balancing behavior but inverts the framing - DRS avoids hosts with utilization above the threshold rather than targeting hosts below it - and it incorrectly implies the feature only applies at initial boot rather than being an ongoing placement consideration.

Network-Aware DRS does not initiate vMotion migrations in response to high network utilization on a host; it uses network saturation data as a placement-avoidance factor, not as a reactive trigger for live migration.