[THIN] Re: VMWare

thanks for the info guys. Obvoiusly I need to throttle my sources and do
some investigation myself.
 Jeff

 On 10/30/05, Carl Stalhood <cstalhood@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>  There are actually two kernels running on an ESX server with the hardware
> divided between them. The Linux kernel gets some CPU resources, 256 MB RAM
> (administrator defined), 1 SCSI controller, and one NIC. The VMkernel gets
> everything else. When you configure the Startup Config in the ESX MUI, you
> are essentially dividing the hardware between the two kernels.
>
>  The Linux kernel is responsible for administration and bootstrapping the
> VMkernel. It is similar to DOS on a NetWare server. The Linux kernel starts
> first and then it starts the VMkernel.
>
>  The administration website runs on the Linux kernel. All of the VMs run
> on the VMkernel. The VMkernel was written from scratch and is very small
> (couple hundred thousand lines of code, I think).
>
>  The VMkernel is designed to allow the virtual machines almost direct
> access to the hardware for CPU and Memory (SCSI and NIC are emulated). CPU
> access by the virtual machines is scheduled by the VMkernel, not the Linux
> kernel.
>
>   ------------------------------
>
> *From:* thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On
> Behalf Of *Jeff Pitsch
> *Sent:* Sunday, October 30, 2005 8:11 PM
> *To:* thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> *Subject:* [THIN] Re: VMWare
>
>   ESX does equal linux because if it wasn't for the fact that they could
> hook deeper into the kernel (or whatever) the performance difference between
> GSX and ESX would be almost nothing. Now you could argue that any open
> source OS would accomplish the same thing but they chose linux. The VM
> engine goes through linux to access the hardware. Now I admit, I may be
> completely wrong but that's how it's been explained to me by VMWare and
> others. I just can't see anyone recreating the wheel (OS). Otherwise, they
> would have done exaclty the same thing with GSX.
>
>  Jeff
>
>  On 10/28/05, *Chris Fraser* <chrisfraser@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Ya sure but the fact is that ESX does not use the Linux kernel as it's
> virtualization engine. ESX != Linux. It uses a modified Linux VM for the
> management interface. Simple as that.
>
> If it wasn't for the Apple II or TRS 80 or Commodore 64 or whatever then
> none of this would be possible :)
>
> Jeff Pitsch wrote:
> > If it wasn't for the linux kernel then none of it would be possible.
> >
> > On 10/28/05, *Chris Fraser* <chrisfraser@xxxxxxxxxx
> > <mailto:chrisfraser@xxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
> >
> > ESX will always have better performance because the VMkernel (not linux
> > kernel) has full control to manage all hardware resources and doesn't
> > have to pass request through an OS layer (like GSX).
> >
> > Single proc is definitely the way to go on almost all VMs. I'm still
> > puzzled at the reasoning behind announcing 4-way SMP, esp since it will
> > benefit maybe %1 of VMs.
> >
> > Best Practices Using VMware Virtual SMP
> > http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsmp_best_practices.pdf
> >
> > ESX Server Architecture and Performance Implications
> > http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx2_performance_implications.pdf
> >
> > ESX Performance Tips and Tricks
> > http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx_performance_tips_tricks.pdf
> >
> > Reference & Planning for Virtualizing Citrix
> > http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx_citrix.pdf
> >
> > Reference and Capacity Planning with Citrix Presentation Server (for ESX
> > Server 2)
> > http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx2_citrix_planning.pdf
> >
> >
> >
> > Jeff Pitsch wrote:
> > > ESX will always have better performance than GSX because ESX is tied
> > > more closesly to the linux kernel. GSX is strictly a service and
> > > doesn't tie deeply into the OS at all.
> > >
> > > Jeff
> > >
> > >
> > > On 10/28/05, *Jon D* <rekcahpmip@xxxxxxxxx
> > <mailto:rekcahpmip@xxxxxxxxx>
> > > <mailto:rekcahpmip@xxxxxxxxx <mailto: rekcahpmip@xxxxxxxxx>>> wrote:
> > >
> > > I run citrix in VMware GSX, and I have an identical physical
> > citrix
> > > box. Both production.
> > >
> > > I wish I would have put it in ESX with SMP because the citrix box
> > > can only use 1 processor which isnt good(even with GSX dual
> > > processor license).
> > >
> > > I would say VMWare burns 20-30% of the resources(the physical can
> > > probably handle 20-30% more connections).
> > >
> > > The performance problems I see is the physical disk, and
> > mainly the
> > > processor. 1 3Ghz processor is only good for maybe 23-25
> > processes.
> > >
> > > Overall I do like it though. If my manager messes up the virtual
> > > citrix server I just revert it to the last snapshot and its
> > fixed.
> > > If he messes up the physical one, I've got a a solid week of
> > redoing
> > > it ahead of me.
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > -Jon-
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > .
> > >
> > >
> >
> > --
> >
> > Check out my eBay auctions
> > (http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZchrisfraser1111QQhtZ-1)
> > and my GEMM store ( http://cfraser1111.gemm.com)
> >
> >
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>
> --
>
> Check out my eBay auctions
> (http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZchrisfraser1111QQhtZ-1 )
> and my GEMM store (http://cfraser1111.gemm.com)
>
>
> ********************************************************
> This Weeks Sponsor: Cesura, Inc.
> Know about Citrix end-user slowdowns before they know.
> Know the probable cause, immediately.
> Know it all now with this free white paper.
> http://www.cesurasolutions.com/landing/WPBCForCitrix.htm?mc=WETBCC
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