What is the primary purpose of resource pools in VMware vSphere?

The primary purpose of resource pools in VMware vSphere is to compartmentalize CPU and memory resources. Resource pools allow administrators to allocate and manage resources among virtual machines effectively. This is particularly useful in environments where multiple teams or applications are using the same physical resources, ensuring that each workload receives the appropriate amount of CPU and memory required for optimal performance.

By using resource pools, you can define limits and reservations for CPU and memory resources, which helps to prevent any single virtual machine from consuming all available resources and impacting the performance of others. This feature provides a way to organize and prioritize workload management in a multi-tenant environment, facilitating better resource allocation and efficiency within the datacenter.

The other options do not relate directly to the primary function of resource pools. For instance, managing network settings for virtual machines pertains to networking configurations, while creating backups relates to data protection and recovery strategies. Increasing storage capacity involves handling storage solutions and is not connected to the resource management aspect that resource pools focus on.