Specifications

Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 147
Chapter 6 Performance Tuning and the VMware Server Host
! “General!VMware!Server!Options”!on!page 147
! “VMware!Server!on!a!Windows!Host”!on!page 151
! “VMware!Server!on!a!Linux!Host”!on!page 154
NOTE In!addition!to!the!VMware!Server!configuration!options!discussed!in!this!
section,!you!should!always!install!VMware!Tools!in!any!guest!operating!
system!for!which!a!VMware!Tools!package!exists.!Installing!VMware!Tools!
provides!better!video!and!mouse!performance!and!also!greatly!improves!the!
usability!of!the!virtual!machine.!For!details,!see!“Installing!VMware!Tools”.
General VMware Server Options
The!following!sections!describe!ways!you!can!improve!the!performance!of!VMware!
Server!on!both!Windows!and!Linux!hosts.
Guest Operating System Selection
Make!certain!you!select!the!correct!guest!operating!system!for!each!of!your!virtual!
machines.!To!check!the!guest!operating!system!setting,!choose!VM!>!Settings!>!
Options!>!General.
VMware!Server!optimizes!certain!internal!configurations!on!the!basis!of!this!selection.!
For!this!reason,!it!is!important!to!set!the
!guest!operating!system!correctly.!The!
optimizations!can!greatly!aid!the!operating!system!they!target,!but!they!might!cause!
significant!performance!degradation!if!there!is!a!mismatch!between!the!selection!and!
the!operating!system!actually!running!in!the!virtual!machine.!(Selecting!the!wrong!
guest!operating!system!is!not!likely!to!cause!
a!virtual!machine!to!run!incorrectly,!but!it!
could!degrade!the!virtual!machine’s!performance.)!
Memory Settings
Make!sure!to!choose!a!reasonable!amount!of!memory!for!your!virtual!machine.!Many!
modern!operating!systems!have!a!growing!need!for!memory,!so!assigning!a!generous!
amount!is!beneficial!for!the!best!virtual!machine!performance.
The!same!holds!true!for!the!host!operating!system,!especially!a!Windows!host.!
The!New!
Virtual!Machine!Wizard!automatically!selects!a!reasonable!starting!point!for!
the!virtual!machine’s!memory,!but!you!might!be!able!to!improve!performance!by!
adjusting!the!settings!in!the!virtual!machine!settings!editor!(choose!VM!>!Settings!>!
Memory).
If!you!plan!to!run!one!virtual!machine!at!a!time!most!of
!the!time,!a!good!starting!point!
is!to!give!the!virtual!machine!half!the!memory!available!on!the!host.!