[THIN] Re: VMWare ESX Server

  • From: George Yobst <george.yobst@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2004 10:39:27 -0800

Thanks Ron!!!!


On Thu, 9 Dec 2004 16:26:39 -0600, Ron Oglesby <Roglesby@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Well (sorry Joe jumping in)
> 
> Lets hit each of these:
> 
> >Are you using the vmxnet or vlance driver? 
> This is the nework driver / NIC type for the VM you can see this in the VM
> config within the web interface or in the VMX file. VMXNET is a better
> performing driver
> 
> > Did you disable the COM ports in the BIOS of the citrix server? 
> Common fix to speed some things up can be done in the bios at boot of the
> VM, just like a normal machine
> >
> > Are you using the buslogic or lsilogic scsi driver?
> LSI better performing SCSI Virtual device, again can be seen in the VM
> config in the web interface
> >
> > Have you setup vmkusage?
> Basically a graphical historical interface to ESXTOP, kinda a lite perfmon
> in a webpage that is not setup by default  SNIP BELOW all this text on
> setting it up
> 
> > Are you running 2.1.2?  older version?  vSMP and/or Hyperthreading? 
> Version of ESX installed.  Are you using Virtual SMP (two procs in the VMs
> can cause over head if not needed check out your VM config) Hyperthreading
> in older versions caused perf problems. If you have an 8way or 4 way just
> check out the webinterface and see how many procs you are reporting.
> 
> 
> > Are you over subscribing the Host memory?  If so, are you seeing a lot of
> > disk i/o relating to swap file? 
> Newer version you can look at the amount of swap being used and determine
> how much memory is over allocated. If over allocating back off and over
> allocate less to the VMs
> 
> > Are you backending the VM to a SAN?  Or are the .dsk/.vmdk files on the
> > blade? 
> DSK files are the "drives" for the VMs. If they are on a SAN and you have
> tons of VMs on lets say a single GB HBA you could have issues etc etc
> 
> >
> > Have you configures shares, mins and max for resources? 
> These are configured in the VM properties again in the web interface (or in
> virtual center) give higher priority to the guests that need it most,
> 
> >
> > Have you evaluate the workloads for each VM on the host?  Are they a good
> > fit for that host? Are there HIGH CPU, memory or Disk apps running on the
> servers, High number of System calls etc.
> 
> SNIP for VMKUSAGE
> 
> .       Installing vmkusage - The vmkusage packages are installed during the
> ESX install process, but are not enabled by default.  In order to properly
> configure vmkusage to start gathering information and generating graphs, the
> following commands must be entered:
> 
> vmkusagectl install - This will set up the proper cron job to run every
> minute to collect the data.  It is important to wait for virtual machine
> data to generate before proceeding, which could take up to 5 minutes.
> 
> Modify /etc/cron.d/vmkusage-cron.sh - This is a one-line script that must be
> modified to collect statistical data for a monthly interval.  The original
> file contains the following line:
> 
> */1 * * * * root /usr/bin/vmkusage > /dev/null 2>&1
> 
> It must be modified with the monthly switch as follows:
> 
> */1 * * * * root /usr/bin/vmkusage -monthly > /dev/null 2>&1
> 
> vmkusage -regroove - This will clear the databases and begin to collect the
> monthly data specified by the previous step.
> .       Accessing the data - To view vmkusage data, all you need to do is
> point your web browser to the following URL:  http://servername/vmkusage
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Ron Oglesby
> Director of Technical Architecture
> 
> RapidApp, Chicago
> Office: 312 372 7188
> Mobile: 815 325 7618
> email: roglesby@xxxxxxxxxxxx
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
> Of George Yobst
> Sent: Thursday, December 09, 2004 4:02 PM
> To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [THIN] Re: VMWare ESX Server
> 
> Joe,
> For us novice ESX users, would you please expand on your questions
> and give us a preferred way or device (I know, sometimes depends on
> HW), and a brief why?  I've only got one now too.  -George
> 
> On Wed, 8 Dec 2004 21:18:07 -0700, Joe Shonk <joe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > Are you using the vmxnet or vlance driver?
> >
> > Did you disable the COM ports in the BIOS of the citrix server?
> >
> > Are you using the buslogic or lsilogic scsi driver?
> >
> > Have you setup vmkusage?
> >
> > Are you running 2.1.2?  older version?  vSMP and/or Hyperthreading?
> >
> > Are you over subscribing the Host memory?  If so, are you seeing a lot of
> > disk i/o relating to swap file?
> >
> > Are you backending the VM to a SAN?  Or are the .dsk/.vmdk files on the
> > blade?
> >
> > Have you configures shares, mins and max for resources?
> >
> > Have you evaluate the workloads for each VM on the host?  Are they a good
> > fit for that host?
> >
> > Have the servers been optimized? Tweaked?
> >
> >
> >
> > I've run into skepticism of running on VM.  This is generally because it's
> > an unknown technology to them. Just because they don't understand it
> doesn't
> > mean it doesn't work..   Just like Citrix.
> >
> >
> >
> > Could the failures be because the servers are misconfigured or setup
> poorly?
> >
> >
> >
> > Joe
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >  ________________________________
> >
> >
> > From: thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
> Behalf
> > Of Jennifer Hooper
> >  Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2004 10:23 AM
> >  To: 'thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'
> >  Subject: [THIN] VMWare ESX Server
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Hi Guys -
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >     Here's the situation.  We are about 1/4th of the way through
> converting
> > our production data center (full of old, out of warranty Compaq servers)
> to
> > IBM BladeCenters running VMWare ESX Server 2.0 (I think... whatever the
> > latest version is).  We use Platespin to convert the physical server to
> the
> > VMWare image and move it over to the Blade it's going to live on.  Right
> > now, we have an average 5 servers per blade planned, and several have
> > already moved over, because the hardware failed that they were on.
> However,
> > some of the application folks are uncomfortable with this solution, not so
> > much the Blade technology, as the VM technology.  Needless to say, we're
> > already experiencing failures, and stuff not running right - performance
> > issues, network issues, etc.  (Can you believe that they are going to run
> > our Root Domain Controllers on this?)  I have already experienced a drag
> on
> > one of my Citrix servers that moved to virtual space, and can't fix it up.
> 
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >     So what I would like to do before things get too much more hairy, is
> to
> > try to find out what the success rate of running something like this in
> > production, and if there are a lot of people out there doing this.  Feel
> > free to share with me any nightmare stories too! :)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Thanks much!
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Jen
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > Jennifer Hooper
> >  Peregrine Systems, Inc.
> >  Sr. Network Engineer
> >
> > mailto:jennifer.hooper@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> >
> >
> >
> 
> --
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
> George Yobst, Library Technology Analyst        phone: 503.723.4890
> Library Information Network of Clackamas County   fax: 503.794.8238
> 16239 SE McLoughlin Blvd, Suite 208         web: http://www.lincc.lib.or.us
> Oak Grove, OR 97267-4654                  email: george.yobst@xxxxxxxxx
> "...it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn
>  what he thinks he already knows."  - Epictetus
> ********************************************************
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-- 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
George Yobst, Library Technology Analyst        phone: 503.723.4890
Library Information Network of Clackamas County   fax: 503.794.8238
16239 SE McLoughlin Blvd, Suite 208         web: http://www.lincc.lib.or.us
Oak Grove, OR 97267-4654                  email: george.yobst@xxxxxxxxx
"...it is impossible for anyone to begin to learn
 what he thinks he already knows."  - Epictetus
********************************************************
This Weeks Sponsor Activaeon.com
Reduce licensing costs with activAeon XA and 
get one month completely free.
http://www.activaeon.com
********************************************************** 
Useful Thin Client Computing Links are available at:
http://thin.net/links.cfm
ThinWiki community
http://www.thinwiki.com
***********************************************************
For Archives, to Unsubscribe, Subscribe or 
set Digest or Vacation mode use the below link:
http://thin.net/citrixlist.cfm

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