Specifications
Table Of Contents
- Administration Guide
- Contents
- Introduction and System Requirements
- VMware Server Overview
- Features of VMware Server
- Support for 32-bit and 64-bit Guest Operating Systems
- Two-Way Virtual SMP (Experimental Support)
- Connect to VMware GSX Virtual Machines and Hosts
- Upgrade and Use GSX Virtual Machines
- Move Existing Virtual Machines
- Compatible with VMware Workstation 5.x Virtual Machines
- Configure Virtual Hardware Devices to be Automatically Detected
- Take and Revert to Snapshots in the Background
- Support for VMware Virtual Machine Importer
- Support for VirtualCenter
- APIs Included with VMware Server
- Before You Install the Release
- Host System Requirements
- Virtual Machine Specifications
- Virtual Processor
- Virtual Chipset
- Virtual BIOS
- Virtual Memory
- Virtual Graphics
- Virtual IDE Drives
- Virtual SCSI Devices
- Virtual PCI Slots
- Virtual Floppy Drives
- Virtual Serial (COM) Ports
- Virtual Parallel (LPT) Ports
- Virtual USB ports
- Virtual Keyboard
- Virtual Mouse and Drawing Tablets
- Virtual Ethernet Card
- Virtual Networking
- Virtual Sound Adapter
- Supported Guest Operating Systems
- Technical Support Resources
- Installing VMware Server
- Selecting Your Host System
- About the VMware Server Console on the Server
- Installing VMware Server on a Windows Host
- Installing VMware Server on a Linux Host
- Configuring Web Browsers for Use with VMware Server
- Installing the VMware Server Console
- Installing the VMware APIs
- Uninstalling VMware Server
- Migrating from GSX Server to VMware Server
- Preparing for the Migration
- Before You Install VMware Server
- Shut Down and Power Off All Virtual Machines
- Make Sure All Disks Are in the Same Mode
- Upgrading Virtual Machines with Disks in Undoable Mode
- Upgrading Virtual Machines with Multiple Virtual Disks
- Back Up Virtual Machines
- Take Note of Custom Network Configurations
- Remove Existing VMware Products
- Make the Virtual Machine Accessible to Its Users
- When You Remove a VMware Product and Install VMware Server
- Before You Install VMware Server
- Migrating to VMware Server on a Windows Host
- Migrating to VMware Server on a Linux Host
- Using Virtual Machines Created with VMware GSX Server
- Using Virtual Machines Created with Workstation 5.x
- Preparing for the Migration
- Managing Virtual Machines and the VMware Server Host
- Remotely Managing Virtual Machines
- Securing Virtual Machines and the Host
- Identifying a Virtual Machine by Its UUID
- Logging VMware Server Events on Windows
- Backing Up Virtual Machines and the VMware Server Host
- Using the VMware Management Interface
- Setting the Session Length for the VMware Management Interface
- Logging On to the VMware Management Interface
- Using the Status Monitor
- Viewing Summary Information About the VMware Server Host System
- Viewing Summary Information About Virtual Machines on the Host
- Using the Virtual Machine Menu
- Connecting to a Virtual Machine with the VMware Server Console
- Monitoring the Virtual Machine’s Heartbeat
- Viewing Information about a Virtual Machine
- Using Common Controls
- Configuring a Virtual Machine
- The Apache Server and the VMware Management Interface
- Logging Off the VMware Management Interface
- Deleting Virtual Machines
- Configuring the VMware Server Host
- Using VirtualCenter to Manage Virtual Machines
- Moving and Sharing Virtual Machines
- Performance Tuning and the VMware Server Host
- Using High-Availability Configurations
- Using SCSI Reservation to Share SCSI Disks with Virtual Machines
- Overview of Clustering with VMware Server
- Creating a Cluster in a Box
- Using Network Load Balancing with VMware Server
- Creating Two-Node Clusters Using Novell Clustering Services
- Clustering Using the iSCSI Protocol
- Mounting Virtual Disks
- Glossary
- Index
VMware, Inc. 149
Chapter 6 Performance Tuning and the VMware Server Host
Disk Options
The!various!disk!options!(SCSI!versus!IDE)!and!types!(virtual!or!physical)!affect!
performance!in!a!number!of!ways.
Overall,!SCSCI!disks!are!faster!than!IDE!disks!that!uses!direct!memory!access!(DMA)!
However,!in!certain!situations,!such!as!single!threaded!disk!access,!an!IDE!disk!that!
uses!DMA!is!as!
fast!as!a!SCSI!disk.!Inside!a!virtual!machine,!SCSI!disks!and!IDE!disks!
that!use!direct!memory!access!(DMA)!have!approximately!the!same!performance.!If!
supported,!VMware!recommends!that!you!enable!DMA!in!SCSI!disks.!IDE!disks!can!be!
very!slow!in!a!guest!operating!system!that!is!not!set
!to!use!DMA.!
The!easiest!way!to!configure!a!Linux!guest!to!use!DMA!for!IDE!drive!access!is!to!install!
VMware!Tools!(VM!>!Install!VMware!Tools).!Among!other!things,!the!installation!
process!automatically!sets!IDE!virtual!drives!to!use!DMA.
In!Windows!Server!2003,!Windows!XP!and!Windows
!2000,!DMA!access!is!enabled!by!
default.!The!method!for!changing!the!setting!varies!with!other!Windows!operating!
systems.!See!the!following!technical!notes!for!details.
! “Disk!Performance!in!Windows!NT!Guests!on!Multiprocessor!Hosts”
! “Windows!95!and!Windows!98!Guest!Operating!System!Performance!Tips”
When!a!snapshot!exists,!virtual!disks!often!have!very!good!performance!for!random!or!
nonsequential!access.!But!they!can!potentially!become!so!fragmented!that!performance!
is!affected.!In!order!to!defragment!the!disk,!you!must!first!remove!the!snapshot!
(Snapshot!>
!Remove!Snapshot).
When!no!snapshot!exists,!physical!disks!and!preallocated!virtual!disks!both!use!flat!
files!that!mimic!the!sequential!and!random!access!performance!of!the!underlying!disk.!
When!a!snapshot!exists!and!you!have!made!changes!since!powering!on!the!virtual!
machine,!any!access!to!those!changed!files!performs!
at!a!level!similar!to!the!
performance!of!a!virtual!disk!that!does!not!have!all!space!allocated!in!advance.!If!you!
remove!the!snapshot,!performance!is!again!similar!to!that!of!the!underlying!disk.
Overall,!if!no!snapshot!exists!and!you!are!using!physical!disks!or!preallocated!virtual!
disks,!you!
see!somewhat!better!performance!than!that!provided!by!other!
configurations.!
Disk!writes!can!be!slower!for!virtual!disks!that!do!not!have!all!space!allocated!in!
advance.!You!can!improve!performance!for!these!disks!by!defragmenting!them!from!
the!virtual!machine!settings!editor.!Choose!VM!>!Settings,!select!the!disk!
you!want!to!
defragment,!then!click!Defragment.