[THIN] Re: OT - VM sizing for testing
- From: "Mike Semon" <msemon@xxxxxxx>
- To: <thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 21 Aug 2008 07:36:24 -0500
We have a 20GB VMDK for our Windows 2003 boot VMDK or boot partition. For
Windows 2008 we are using a 30-40GB VMDK. For the application VMDK we use a
100GB partition. On some servers this may need to be larger depending on
applications.
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf
Of Evan Mann
Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2008 6:22 AM
To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [THIN] Re: OT - VM sizing for testing
I think your question is far to open ended. It depends on the OS and
what applications are running on the OS, and where the applications are
installed. Where is data being kept? In the VM, on a NAS/SAN,etc.? I
have VMware servers on Win 2000 Server Standard with 10 gigs. Those
VM's are never intended to be upgraded to Windows 2003 or higher, so 10
gigs leaves me with about 4.5-5 gigs free. All they do is run IIS 5.0.
10 gigs doesn't get you very far with Windows 2003 Standard on just a
base install alone, and if you want to in-place upgrade to 2008, forget
about it. I install heavy apps on a separate VMDK, so the boot disk
doesn't need to be overly large. Things like logging can be redirected
to additional disks. That means a boot partition disk can stay small,
but a "data/app" partition disk can be big.
IMO, One of the beautiful things about VM's is the disks can be expanded
if they are simple partitions. If it's a non-boot disk, it's really
easy. Shut down the VM, expand it with vmkfstools (you can even do it
in VI Client under ESX 3.5.x) and then boot the VM and run expand on it.
On a boot disk, you need to attach the disk to a secondary VM to expand
it, because you can't expand a boot volume once booted from it. I've
done this dozens of times without issue. There's always the risk of
losing the disk/partition however.
FWIW, My standard VM boot partition for Windows 2003 Standard Is
30-40gigs. Doesn't matter what I'm actually running. That yields me
plenty of free space to keep hotfix/server pack uninstalls as well as
future room for upgrades to Windows 2008. All my Server VM's have at
least one secondary partition as a second virtual disk file. All my XP
client VM's are usually 15gigs, but nothing really runs on them except
the OS and office apps. All data is elsewhere on the network.
PS - 2 of my most active VM's run separate Windows 2003 SBS environments
on ESX 3.5. Two 40gig boot disks, and two 120 gig data disks. No
performance issues related to I/O.
-----Original Message-----
From: thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf Of Brian Ehlert
Sent: Thursday, August 21, 2008 1:44 AM
To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [THIN] Re: OT - VM sizing for testing
Please then Joe, (you are thinking exactly as I was).
What is your take on a small, medium, or large virtual disk?
(consider theat they must be large enough to be considered usable)
I will even entertain two classes: Servers, and VDI targets (I am
sure you all understand what I mean)
On Wed, Aug 20, 2008 at 9:42 PM, Joe Shonk <joe.shonk@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> And that is what I am trying to say. You can easily get away with a
10 gig
> drive for Windows XP but it will be way too small for Vista. Then you
have
> to consider what's going to be installed? Office? Applications like
the
> Adobe CS3 suite or Visual Suites can chew up a lot of disk space
really
> fast.
>
> Joe
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:thin-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On
Behalf
> Of Brian Ehlert
> Sent: Wednesday, August 20, 2008 7:25 PM
> To: thin@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [THIN] Re: OT - VM sizing for testing
>
> Thanks for the clarification Joe.
>
> However, I am specifically considering the size of the virtual hard
> disk in this exercise.
>
> And a few different hosting platforms.
>
> I am not focusing on the performance of the VM itself - a bit
different
> angle.
>
> (You will all be putting the pieces together soon enough ;-) )
>
> However, if you care to share your experience - I can always add
> configurations to my matrix for other uses.
> I am always trying to find legitimate and 'real world' configuration
> examples to ground things.
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