Virtualization Adapted Adapting Business Processes for Virtual Infrastrcuture (and vice-versa)

2011/01/05

Review of VMware View Optimization Guide Windows 7 pdf

Filed under: virtualization — Tags: , , , , , — iben @ 11:44

Just reviewed this guide and wanted to share.

Very helpful scripts are included with the adobe acrobat pdf which allow rapid customization and optimization of windows 7 desktops for VMware view.

A few tips:

  • open the pdf with the adobe acrobat reader app
  • you will find included 2 embedded files: commands.txt and ts.xml – save them to a shared folder
  • access the shared folder from the windows 7 template machine being configured
  • tweak your current user environment as you wish – it will be copied and set for use as the default user profile
  • change the folder options view to Disable “Hide extensions for Known file types” and click “Apply to Folders”
  • rename the commands.txt file to commands.bat (see notes below)
  • run the included commands.bat script from an “admin” command prompt or it won’t work right
  • take advantage of the new registry keys to denote current image version and author info
  • run ipconfig /release then shutdown the windows 7 template machine being configured
  • take a snapshot of the windows 7 template machine being configured

Customizing Linked-Clone Desktops with QuickPrep

You can personalize the linked-clone desktops that are created from a parent virtual machine by using the QuickPrep system tool. View Composer executes QuickPrep when a linked-clone desktop is created or recomposed.
QuickPrep customizes a linked-clone desktop in several ways:
■
Gives the computer a name that you specify when you create the linked-clone pool.
■
Creates a computer account in Active Directory, joining the computer to the appropriate domain.
■
Mounts the View Composer persistent disk. The Windows user profile is redirected to this disk.
■
Redirects temp and paging files to a separate disk.
These steps might require the linked clones to restart one or more times.
QuickPrep uses KMS volume license keys to activate Windows 7 and Windows Vista linked-clone desktops. For details, see Activating Windows 7 and Windows Vista on Linked-Clone Desktops.
You can create your own scripts to further customize the linked clones. QuickPrep can run two types of scripts at predefined times:
■
After linked clones are created or recomposed
■
Immediately before linked clones are powered off
For guidelines and rules for using QuickPrep customization scripts, see Running QuickPrep Customization Scripts.
Note
View Composer requires domain user credentials to join linked-clone desktops to an Active Directory domain. For details, see Create a User Account for View Composer.

Link to doc

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/VMware-View-OptimizationGuideWindows7-EN.pdf

Command.Bat listing

The contents of the commands.bat (aka commands.txt) file are listed here for your review. Review them and edit as needed for your environment.

rem  Setting Default HKCU values by loading and modifying the default user registry hive


reg load "hku\temp" "%USERPROFILE%\..\Default User\NTUSER.DAT"


reg ADD "hku\temp\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop" /v SCRNSAVE.EXE /d "%windir%\system32\scrnsave.scr" /f


reg ADD "hku\temp\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop" /v ScreenSaveTimeOut /d "600" /f


reg ADD "hku\temp\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop" /v ScreenSaverIsSecure /d "1" /f


reg ADD "hku\temp\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /v Wallpaper /d " " /f


reg ADD "hku\temp\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Cache" /v Persistent /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /f


reg ADD "hku\temp\Software\Microsoft\Feeds" /v SyncStatus /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /f


reg ADD "hku\temp\Software\Microsoft\WIndows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer" /v HideSCAHealth /t REG_DWORD /d 0x1 /f


reg unload "hku\temp"


rem Making modifications to the HKLM hive


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main" /v DisableFirstRunCustomize /t REG_DWORD /d 0x1 /f


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters" /v EnableSuperfetch /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /f


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU" /v NoAutoUpdate /t REG_DWORD /d 0x1 /f


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\SystemRestore" /v DisableSR /t REG_DWORD /d 0x1 /f


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Disk" /v TimeOutValue /t REG_DWORD /d 200 /f


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Image" /v Revision /t REG_SZ /d 1.0 /f


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Image" /v Virtual /t REG_SZ /d Yes /f


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\Application" /v MaxSize /t REG_DWORD /d 0x100000 /f


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\Application" /v Retention /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /f


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network\NewNetworkWindowOff" /f


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\System" /v MaxSize /t REG_DWORD /d 0x100000 /f


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\System" /v Retention /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /f


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\Security" /v MaxSize /t REG_DWORD /d 0x100000 /f


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\Security" /v Retention /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /f


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl" /v CrashDumpEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /f


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer" /v NoRecycleFiles /t REG_DWORD /d 0x1 /f


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server" /v fDenyTSConnections /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /f


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp" /v UserAuthentication /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /f


reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system" /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /f


reg Add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Sideshow" /v Disabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0x1 /f


rem Using Powershell to perform Windows Services modifications


Powershell Set-Service 'BDESVC' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'wbengine' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'DPS' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'UxSms' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'Defragsvc' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'HomeGroupListener' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'HomeGroupProvider' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'iphlpsvc' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'MSiSCSI' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'swprv' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'CscService' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'SstpSvc' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'wscsvc' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'SSDPSRV' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'SysMain' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'TabletInputService' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'Themes' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'upnphost' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'VSS' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'SDRSVC' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'WinDefend' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'WerSvc' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'MpsSvc' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'ehRecvr' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'ehSched' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'WSearch' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'wuauserv' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'Wlansvc' -startuptype "disabled"


Powershell Set-Service 'WwanSvc' -startuptype "disabled"


rem Making miscellaneous modifications


bcdedit /set BOOTUX disabled


vssadmin delete shadows /All /Quiet


Powershell disable-computerrestore -drive c:\


netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state off


powercfg -H OFF


net stop "sysmain"


fsutil behavior set DisableLastAccess 1


rem Making modifications to Scheduled Tasks


schtasks /change /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Defrag\ScheduledDefrag" /Disable


schtasks /change /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\SystemRestore\SR" /Disable


schtasks /change /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Registry\RegIdleBackup" /Disable


schtasks /change /TN "\Microsoft\Windows Defender\MPIdleTask" /Disable


schtasks /change /TN "\Microsoft\Windows Defender\MP Scheduled Scan" /Disable


schtasks /change /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Maintenance\WinSAT" /Disable

rem  Setting Default HKCU values by loading and modifying the default user registry hivereg load "hku\temp" "%USERPROFILE%\..\Default User\NTUSER.DAT"reg ADD "hku\temp\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop" /v SCRNSAVE.EXE /d "%windir%\system32\scrnsave.scr" /freg ADD "hku\temp\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop" /v ScreenSaveTimeOut /d "600" /freg ADD "hku\temp\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Control Panel\Desktop" /v ScreenSaverIsSecure /d "1" /freg ADD "hku\temp\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\System" /v Wallpaper /d " " /freg ADD "hku\temp\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Cache" /v Persistent /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /freg ADD "hku\temp\Software\Microsoft\Feeds" /v SyncStatus /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /freg ADD "hku\temp\Software\Microsoft\WIndows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer" /v HideSCAHealth /t REG_DWORD /d 0x1 /freg unload "hku\temp"
rem Making modifications to the HKLM hive reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main" /v DisableFirstRunCustomize /t REG_DWORD /d 0x1 /freg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\PrefetchParameters" /v EnableSuperfetch /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /freg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\WindowsUpdate\AU" /v NoAutoUpdate /t REG_DWORD /d 0x1 /freg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\Windows NT\SystemRestore" /v DisableSR /t REG_DWORD /d 0x1 /freg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Disk" /v TimeOutValue /t REG_DWORD /d 200 /freg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Image" /v Revision /t REG_SZ /d 1.0 /f
reg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Image" /v Virtual /t REG_SZ /d Yes /freg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\Application" /v MaxSize /t REG_DWORD /d 0x100000 /freg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\Application" /v Retention /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /freg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Network\NewNetworkWindowOff" /freg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\System" /v MaxSize /t REG_DWORD /d 0x100000 /freg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\System" /v Retention /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /freg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\Security" /v MaxSize /t REG_DWORD /d 0x100000 /freg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\eventlog\Security" /v Retention /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /freg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\CrashControl" /v CrashDumpEnabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /freg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\Explorer" /v NoRecycleFiles /t REG_DWORD /d 0x1 /freg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server" /v fDenyTSConnections /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /freg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Terminal Server\WinStations\RDP-Tcp" /v UserAuthentication /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /freg ADD "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\policies\system" /v EnableLUA /t REG_DWORD /d 0x0 /freg Add "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Policies\Microsoft\Windows\Sideshow" /v Disabled /t REG_DWORD /d 0x1 /f
rem Using Powershell to perform Windows Services modificationsPowershell Set-Service 'BDESVC' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'wbengine' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'DPS' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'UxSms' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'Defragsvc' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'HomeGroupListener' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'HomeGroupProvider' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'iphlpsvc' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'MSiSCSI' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'swprv' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'CscService' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'SstpSvc' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'wscsvc' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'SSDPSRV' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'SysMain' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'TabletInputService' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'Themes' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'upnphost' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'VSS' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'SDRSVC' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'WinDefend' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'WerSvc' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'MpsSvc' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'ehRecvr' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'ehSched' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'WSearch' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'wuauserv' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'Wlansvc' -startuptype "disabled"Powershell Set-Service 'WwanSvc' -startuptype "disabled"
rem Making miscellaneous modificationsbcdedit /set BOOTUX disabledvssadmin delete shadows /All /QuietPowershell disable-computerrestore -drive c:\netsh advfirewall set allprofiles state offpowercfg -H OFFnet stop "sysmain"fsutil behavior set DisableLastAccess 1
rem Making modifications to Scheduled Tasksschtasks /change /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Defrag\ScheduledDefrag" /Disableschtasks /change /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\SystemRestore\SR" /Disableschtasks /change /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Registry\RegIdleBackup" /Disableschtasks /change /TN "\Microsoft\Windows Defender\MPIdleTask" /Disableschtasks /change /TN "\Microsoft\Windows Defender\MP Scheduled Scan" /Disableschtasks /change /TN "\Microsoft\Windows\Maintenance\WinSAT" /Disable

2010/11/13

VMware VAAI Certification Test Summary

Filed under: virtualization — Tags: , , , , , , , — iben @ 17:47

VMware VAAI Certification Test Summary

Based on the VMware VAAI Certification Guide Revision date: 20101011

This guide is intended for VMware partners who want to certify VAAI storage with ESX to claim compatibility in the VMware HCLs.

The vStorage API calls off load certain storage operations to the storage array and optimize the storage operation. They are the new application programming interfaces in the VMKernel. Using a small set of primitives or fundamental operations that can be issued to an array supporting these interfaces, ESX can improve the performance on certain storage operations such as cloning, snapshotting, mirroring, zeroing blocks, and replication.

You certify these offload operations with your storage arrays and use this certification to obtain a listing in the VMware compatibility guide:

  • Atomic Test and Set (ATS) also known as Hardware Assisted Locking: a mechanism to modify a disk sector to improve the performance of ESX updating metadata.
  • Full Copy: given a source range of LBAs, copies them into the given destination range of LBAs.
  • Block Zeroing or Write Same: zeroes out the given range of LBAs.

VAAI Certification Test Process List

  1. BlockZeroDiskTest
    1. This test verifies that when ESX uses the VAAI BlockZero primitive, an eager‐zeroed‐thick vmdk volume is created faster.
    2. The operation compares execution time with and without enabling the VAAI BlockZero primitive. The test passes only if the execution time with VAAI enabled is less than with VAAI disabled.
    3. The test is conducted with continuous I/O to the array under test from four virtual machines running on the ESX host.
    4. IMPORTANT Do not run any extraneous workloads on the storage array under test during the first 30 minutes of this test to avoid the possibility of non‐constant workloads skewing the test times and causing a test failure.
    5. Estimated test time: 30 minutes
  2. BlockZeroRDMTests
    1. This test verifies that zeroing a vmdk volume on an RDM disk is performed correctly when ESX uses the VAAI BlockZero primitive. The test is run on both a non‐pass‐through RDM as well as a pass‐through RDM disk.
    2. The operation is conducted with and without enabling the VAAI BlockZero primitive. The test logs note the execution times with and without the VAAI BlockZero primitive, but the time does not determine test passing or failing.
    3. The test is conducted with continuous I/O to the array under test from four virtual machines running on the ESX host.
    4. Estimated test time: 5 minutes to 3 hours
  3. BlockZeroMultiOffloadTests
    1. This test verifies that simultaneous creation of virtual disks on a shared datastore from two ESX hosts with VAAI BlockZero primitive enabled functions properly.
    2. The operation is conducted with and without enabling the VAAI BlockZero primitive. The test logs note the execution times with and without the VAAI BlockZero primitive, but the time does not determine test passing or failing.
    3. This test is conducted with no I/O to the array under test.
    4. Estimated test time: 10‐20 minutes
  4. FullCopyDiskTest
    1. This test verifies that when ESX uses the VAAI FullCopy primitive, a vmdk volume clones faster.
    2. The operation is conducted with and without enabling the VAAI FullCopy primitive. The test logs note the execution times with and without the VAAI FullCopy primitive, but the time does not determine test passing or failing.
    3. The test is conducted with continuous I/O to the array under test from four virtual machines running on the ESX host.
    4. Estimated test time: 36 hours, with a majority of the time spent verifying cloned volume contents.
  5. FullCopyRDMTests
    1. This test verifies that cloning a vmdk volume to an RDM disk is done correctly when ESX host uses the VAAI FullCopy primitive. The test is run with both a non‐pass‐through RDM as well as a pass‐through RDM disk as the destination disk.
    2. The operation is conducted with and without enabling the VAAI FullCopy primitive. The test logs note the execution times with and without the VAAI FullCopy primitive, but the time does not determine test passing or failing.
    3. The test is conducted with continuous I/O to the array under test from four virtual machines running on the ESX host.
    4. Estimated test time: 18 hours, with a majority of the time spent verifying cloned volume contents.
  6. FullCopyCloneVMTests
    1. This test verifies that virtual machine cloning operations function properly with the VAAI FullCopy primitive enabled.
    2. The test clones a virtual machine to both the same datastore as the source virtual machine as well as to a different datastore.
    3. The operation compares execution time with and without enabling the VAAI FullCopy primitive. The test passes only if the execution time with VAAI enabled is less than with VAAI disabled.
    4. The test is conducted with continuous I/O to the array under test from four virtual machines running on the ESX host.
    5. IMPORTANT Do not run any extraneous workloads on the storage array under test during the first 30 minutes of this test to avoid the possibility of non‐constant workloads skewing the test times and causing a test failure.
    6. Estimated test time: 1 hour
  7. FullCopyCloneVMRDMTests
    1. This test verifies that virtual machine cloning operation from a non‐pass‐through RDM LUN to a pass‐through RDM LUN functions properly with the VAAI FullCopy primitive enabled.
    2. The operation is conducted with and without enabling the VAAI FullCopy primitive. The test logs note the execution times with and without the VAAI FullCopy primitive, but the time does not determine test passing or failing.
    3. The test is conducted with continuous I/O to the array under test from four virtual machines running on the ESX host.
    4. Estimated test time: 32 minutes
  8. FullCopyMultiOffloadTests
    1. This test verifies that the VAAI feature improves concurrent Full Copy from two ESX hosts.
    2. The operation is conducted with and without enabling the VAAI FullCopy primitive. The test logs note the execution times, but the time does not determine test passing or failing.
    3. This test is conducted with no I/O to the array under test.
    4. Estimated test time: 20 minutes
  9. ATSFileOpTests
    1. This test verifies that when ESX enables the VAAI ATS primitive, the file create, delete, read and write operations perform faster with simultaneous access to the LUN from two ESX hosts.
    2. The operation compares execution time with and without enabling the VAAI ATS primitive. The test passes only if the execution time with VAAI enabled is less than with VAAI disabled.
    3. This test is conducted with no I/O to the array under test.
    4. IMPORTANT Do not run any extraneous workloads on the storage array under test during the first 30 minutes of this test to avoid the possibility of non‐constant workloads skewing the test times and causing a test failure.
    5. Estimated test time: 12‐20 minutes
  10. ATSMultiLengthFileTests
    1. This test verifies that when ESX hosts use the VAAI ATS primitive, simultaneous file modifications from two ESX hosts function properly.
    2. The operation compares execution time with and without enabling the VAAI ATS primitive. The operation is conducted with and without enabling the VAAI ATS primitive. The test logs note the execution times, but the time does not determine test passing or failing.
    3. This test is conducted with no I/O to the array under test.
    4. Estimated test time: 3‐10 minutes
  11. ATSReserveTests
    1. This test verifies that when ESX hosts use the VAAI ATS primitive, file locking and unlocking modifications from two ESX hosts function properly.
    2. This test is conducted with no I/O to the array under test.
    3. Estimated test time: 3‐5 minutes

2010/09/17

Hypervisor Density

Filed under: Uncategorized — Tags: , , , — iben @ 22:17

Testing using a workload that mimics real world SQL Server workloads better than ever before, suggests that ESX today has a VM density ratio well in excess of 1.5:1.

VMware’s ESXi 4.1 continues to lead the pack, delivering a density advantage of at least 2:1 and up to almost 3:1 versus Hyper-V R2 and between 1.7:1 and 2.3:1 vs. KVM.

XenServer has closed the density gap in terms of number of concurrent VMs that can be run on a given host, coming to par with ESXi, but that this comes with a significant and unacceptable performance penalty. XenServer consistently delivers far less performance across the board (penalty ranging from 25% to 69%), and in our view gives ESXi as much as a 2:1 density advantage over XenServer, once we consider the ability of the hypervisor to access the full performance of the underlying hardware.

http://www.tanejagroup.com/chkwhitepapers.aspx?lstpro=1&fname=VMware%20Hypervisor%20Density%20TVS%20August%202010.pdf

2010/03/30

Application Performance Testing Method

Filed under: virtualization — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — iben @ 12:46

Are certain applications running slowly occasionally? Sometimes things are superfast and then they slow to a crawl. What’s going on?

First of all – do all you can to ensure the environment is configured according to established Best Practices. One of the benefits of VMware’s acquisition of the Zimbra email / collaboration server software is that they need to ensure users optimize the deployments on their Hypervisor. This document here covers the main settings to check on a Virtual Machine that needs to perform well under load: http://iben.users.sonic.net/wp//2011/05/performance-recommendations-for-virtualizing-anything-with-vmware-vsphere-4/

Any tool that uses SNMP to gather performance metrics can be used to baseline and stress test infrastructure and determine where the bottle necks are.

Basic methodology could go something like this…

1 – identify end to end system components from end user terminal through network to virtual machines, esx hosts, and storage.

2 – configure SNMP for all devices (keep in mind that the latest ESX/ESXi vSphere versions don’t have many performance counters exposed via SNMP and you’ll need to use their APIs)

3 – verify use patterns and confirm data collection over time (1 week or month). Tune alerts for normal use.

4 – schedule stress test for each component to determine performance ceiling and baseline throughput capacity.

5 – make changes as needed to improve end user experience.

6 – verify changes had desired effect.

Performance Troubleshooting for VMware vSphere

vsphere4-performance-troubleshooting.pdf (2.1 MB)

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-10352

Possible tools that could be used to poll for performance metrics include:

http://www.scriptlogic.com/Products/perspective/

http://www.vizioncore.com/products/vFoglight/features.php

http://www.whatsupgold.com/technology/network-management/monitoring-technologies/index.aspx

http://www.quest.com/Quest_Site_Assets/PDF/DSA-FoglightNetworkDevice-US-VC.pdf

http://network-optimisation.com/technology/network_monitoring/snmp_monitoring.php

http://www.microsoft.com/systemcenter/operationsmanager/en/us/default.aspx

http://www.manageengine.com/products/opmanager/index.html

http://www.managementsoftware.hp.com

http://www.solarwinds.com/products/orion/modules.aspx

http://www.veeam.com/vmware-esx-monitoring.html

http://www.monitorsnmp.com/

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk869/tk769/technologies_white_paper09186a008011fde2.shtml

http://www.sage.org/lists/sage-members-archive/2002/msg01878.html

Do you know of a tool that should be added to this list? Please send it to me.

 

2010/01/08

VMware Hardware MMU Info

Filed under: virtualization — Tags: , , — iben @ 15:45

VMware Hardware MMU Info

Interesting paper on the nehalem MMU stuff:
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/Perf_ESX_Intel-EPT-eval.pdf

By comparison here’s the tests on AMD hardware:
http://www.vmware.com/pdf/RVI_performance.pdf

Summary, some things AMD is a little faster on; Intel is consistently a little faster on a few more tasks though.

All in all though the difference appears minimal.

2009/05/06

vmxnet3 – features and use information – tips and tricks

Filed under: virtualization — Tags: , , , , , — iben @ 00:01
vmxnet3 – features and use information – tips and tricks
  
UPDATED for Windows 2008 Core

Glad to see this has been posted and we can talk about it now… please share your experiences and let us know if these tips work for you and what sort of performance benefits you’ve noticed when using this new driver.

We’ve been switching our Windows and Linux VMs to use “VMXNET Enhanced” for some time now and see public information on the new VMXNET3 NIC for guests…
This Thread has been started to help with procedures on the conversion of existing machines from older NIC to newer NIC as it is not 100% straightforward and there are some tricks to remove old hardware and change to new hardware. This would be similar in the physical world to changing from a 100 BaseT PCI Card to a GigE card. The old drivers need to be removed, new drivers installed, and IP Addresses moved over. If you just remove the old NIC and install the new one you may end up with a IP Address Conflict error saying the Address you are trying to use is already in use on another Network Interface. The problem is that when you open Device Manager the old NIC is hidden. See below for steps on how to overcome this.
Question: What is VMXNET3?
Answer: VMXNET3 builds upon VMXNET and Enhanced VMXNET as the third generation paravirtualized virtual networking NIC for guest operating systems.
New VMXNET3 features over previous version of Enhanced VMXNET include:
• MSI/MSI-X support (subject to guest operating system kernel support)
• Receive Side Scaling (supported in Windows 2008 when explicitly enabled through the device’s Advanced configuration tab)
• IPv6 checksum and TCP Segmentation Offloading (TSO) over IPv6
• VLAN off-loading
• Large TX/RX ring sizes (configured from within the virtual machine)

What’s New in vSphere 4.0

http://communities.vmware.com/viewwebdoc.jspa?documentID=DOC-9225&communityID=2701
http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/VMW_09Q1_WP_vSphereNetworking_P8_R1.pdf

From the Cisco document:VMware vSphere 4 and Cisco Nexus 1000V Series

VMware vNetwork module that encompasses the vDS and VMXNET-3 enables inline monitoring and centralized firewall services and maintains the virtualmachine’s network run-time characteristics.

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/switches/ps9441/ps9902/solution_overview_c22-529767-00.pdf

Tech Notes

Flexible shows up in Windows Device Manager as an “VMware
Accelerated AMD PCNet Adapter” and Enhanced vmxnet show up as “VMware
PCI Ethernet Adapter”.
http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1001805
Flexible — The Flexible network adapter
identifies itself as a Vlance adapter when a virtual machine boots, but
initializes itself and functions as either a Vlance or a vmxnet
adapter, depending which driver initializes it. VMware Tools versions
recent enough to know about the Flexible network adapter include the
vmxnet driver but identify it as an updated Vlance driver, so the guest
operating system uses that driver. When using the Flexible network
adapter, you can have vmxnet performance when sufficiently recent
VMware tools are installed. When an older version of VMware Tools is
installed, the Flexible adapter uses the Vlance adapter (with Vlance
performance) rather than giving no network capability at all when it
can’t find the vmxnet adapter.
Enhanced vmxnet — The enhanced vmxnet adapter is
based on the vmxnet adapter but provides some high-performance features
commonly used on modern networks, such as jumbo frames. This virtual
network adapter is the current state-of-the-art device in virtual
network adapter performance, but it is available only for some guest
operating systems on ESX Server 3.5. This network adapter will become
available for additional guest operating systems in the future.

Networking Error, IP Address Already Assigned to Another Adapter
KB Article 1179
Updated Jan. 07, 2009
Why do I see an error message that “The IP address XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX…” is already assigned to another adapter?

Solution
Under certain conditions, you may see the following error message from a Windows guest operating system:
The IP address XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX you have entered for this network
adapter is already assigned to another adapter Name of adapter. Name of
adapter is hidden from the network and Dial-up Connections folder
because it is not physically in the computer or is a legacy adapter
that is not working. If the same address is assigned to both adapters
and they become active, only one of them will use this address. This
may result in incorrect system configuration. Do you want to enter a
different IP address for this adapter in the list of IP addresses in
the advanced dialog box?
In this message, XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is an IP address that you are
trying to set and Name of adapter is the name of a network adapter that
is present in the registry but hidden in Device Manager.
This can occur when you change a network connection’s TCP/IP configuration from DHCP to a static IP address if:

  • You have upgraded VMware virtual network adapters (for example

when you migrate a virtual machine from an older to a new version of
VMware software.)

  • You have added and removed network adapters multiple times.

The cause of the error is that a network adapter with the same IP
address is in the Windows registry but is hidden in the Device Manager
(My Computer > Properties > Hardware > Device Manager). This
hidden adapter is called a ghosted network adapter.

Using the Show hidden devices option in the Device Manager (View

Show hidden devices) does not always show the old virtual NIC

(ghosted adapter) to which that IP Address is assigned

Microsoft addresses this issue in their Knowledge Base article
269155, which is available at the time of this writing at
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=269155.

To resolve this problem, follow these steps to make the ghosted
network adapter visible in the Device Manager and uninstall the ghosted
network adapter from the registry:
1. Select Start > Run.
2. Enter cmd.exe and press Enter.
3. At the command prompt, run this command:
set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
4. Enter Start DEVMGMT.MSC and press Enter to start Device Manager.
5. Select View > Show Hidden Devices.
6. Expand the Network Adapters tree (select the plus sign next to the Network adapters entry).
7. Right-click the dimmed network adapter, and then select Uninstall.
8. Close Device Manager.

How to remove these “phantom” NICs from Windows 2008 Server Core

  1. Copy devcon.exe over to the server core server (extract devcon.exe from \SUPPORT\TOOLS\SUPPORT.CAB on a Windows 2003 R2 x64 disc).
  2. Run devcon.exe findall =net (this should list all NICs on the system, including the phantoms). Example output:
    PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_0720&SUBSYS_072015AD&REV_10\4&B70F118&0&0088: VMware PCI Ethernet Adapter #2
    PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_0720&SUBSYS_072015AD&REV_10\3&18D45AA6&0&88: VMware PCI Ethernet Adapter
    PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_07B0&SUBSYS_07B015AD&REV_01\FF565000EB16A3FE00: vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter
    3 matching device(s) found.
    Observe that vmxnet3 was the active NIC and the others needed to be removed.
  3. devcon -r remove “@PCI\VEN_15AD&DEV_0720&SUBSYS_072015AD&REV_10\3&18D45AA6&0&88″ removed the first one.
  4. Repeat for the remaining unwanted NICs
  5. Reboot the machine to restart all services

Reference: http://vmtoday.com/2009/11/vsphere-upgrade-breaks-active-directory/

Performance

http://blogs.vmware.com/networking/2009/04/considerations-for-maximum-network-performance.html

For UDP, use vmxnet3 to be able to configure a larger vNIC Rx ring size.  Because UDP can be a lot more bursty (due to lack of flow-control), having a larger Rx ring size helps to provide buffering/elasticity to better absorb the bursts.  The new vmxnet3 allows resizing the vNIC’s Rx ring size, up to around 1 to 2 thousand buffers.  As a side note, there is some negative performance impact with larger ring size due to larger memory foot print. The new vxmnet3 vNIC is more efficient than the e1000 vNIC.  Also in general, ESX 4 has some performance improvements over ESX 3.5.

Line Rate 10GigE

Howie Xu, Director of R&D for VMkernel IO remarked recently that after talking with a few customers, many are still unaware we can achieve line rate 10GigE performance on ESX 3.5. Read “10Gbps Networking Performance on ESX 3.5u1” posted on VMware’s network technology resources page.

The story only gets better with vSphere 4 and ESX 4 with the new Intel Nehalem processors. Initial tests from engineering show a staggering 30Gbps throughput.

Choosing a Network Adapter for Your Virtual Machine
KB Article 1001805
Updated May 05, 2009
 
 
Details
  
The Virtual Machine wizard’s Choose Networks window allows you to specify a network and a network adapter. The network adapter choices available depend on these factors:
  • The version of the virtual machine, which depends on what host created it or most recently updated it
  • Whether or not the virtual machine has been updated to the latest version for the current host
  • The guest operating system

The Choose Networks window makes available only those network adapters that make sense for the virtual machine you are creating. Each adapter type is discussed in some detail in “Available Network Adapters,” below. Here is an overview of what Choose Networks might offer you:

  • For virtual machines native to VMware Workstation 4x, VMware GSX Server 3, or VMware ESX Server 2.x, you can explicitly choose between Vlance and vmxnet
  • For most 32bit virtual machines native to VMware Workstation 5 or 6, VMware Server 2, or VMware ESX Server 3, only the Flexible adapter is available
  • For most 64bit virtual machines and for 32bit Microsoft Windows Vista virtual machines, only the e1000 adapter is available
  • For certain guest operating systems on VMware ESX Server 3.5 and later, you can choose the Enhanced vmxnet adapter in addition to the Flexible or e1000 adapter mentioned for that guest type in the previous bullets
Solution
  
Available Network Adapters
 
The following network adapters might be available for your virtual machine, depending on the factors discussed above:
  • Vlance — Vlance (also called PCNet32) is a faithful virtual implementation of a common, if now somewhat aging, physical network adapter. Most 32bit guest operating systems, except for Windows Vista, have built-in support for this card so a virtual machine configured with this network adapter can use its network immediately.
  • vmxnet — The vmxnet virtual network adapter has no physical counterpart. VMware makes vmxnet available because Vlance, a faithful implementation of a physical card, is far from optimal for network performance in a virtual machine. Vmxnet is highly optimized for performance in a virtual machine. Because there is no physical card of type vmxnet, operating system vendors do not provide built-in drivers for this card. You must install VMware Tools to have a driver for the vmxnet network adapter available.
  • Flexible — The Flexible network adapter identifies itself as a Vlance adapter when a virtual machine boots, but initializes itself and functions as either a Vlance or a vmxnet adapter, depending which driver initializes it. VMware Tools versions recent enough to know about the Flexible network adapter include the vmxnet driver but identify it as an updated Vlance driver, so the guest operating system uses that driver. When using the Flexible network adapter, you can have vmxnet performance when sufficiently recent VMware tools are installed. When an older version of VMware Tools is installed, the Flexible adapter uses the Vlance adapter (with Vlance performance) rather than giving no network capability at all when it cannot find the vmxnet adapter.
  • e1000 — e1000 is a faithful virtual implementation of a physical network adapter that is broadly supported by newer operating systems, specifically most 64bit operating systems and both 32 and 64bit Windows Vista. e1000 performance is intermediate between Vlance and vmxnet.
  • Enhanced vmxnet — The enhanced vmxnet adapter is based on the vmxnet adapter but provides some high-performance features commonly used on modern networks, such as jumbo frames. This virtual network adapter is the current state-of-the-art device in virtual network adapter performance, but it is available only for some guest operating systems on ESX Server 3.5. This network adapter will become available for additional guest operating systems in the future.

    • 32/64bit versions of Microsoft Windows 2003 (Enterprise and Datacenter Editions). You can use enhanced vmxnet adapters with other versions of the Microsoft Windows 2003 operating system, but a workaround is required to enable the option in the VI Client. For more information, see Enabling enhanced vmxnet adapters for Microsoft Windows Server 2003.
    • 32bit version Microsoft Windows XP Professional
    • 32/64bit versions Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.0
    • 32/64bit versions SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
    • 64bit versions Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0

    Enhanced VMXNET is supported only for a limited set of guest operating systems:

Adapter Caveats
  
This section discusses some potential issues you might have.
 

 

Migrating virtual machines that use enhanced vmxnet. Enhanced vmxnet is new with ESX Server 3.5. Virtual machines configured to have enhanced vmxnet adapters cannot migrate to older ESX Server hosts, even though virtual machines can usually migrate freely between ESX Server 3.0 and ESX Server 3.0.1.

Upgrading from ESX Server 2.x to ESX Server 3.x. When a virtual hardware upgrade operation transforms a virtual machine created on an ESX Server 2.x host to an ESX Server 3.x host, Vlance adapters are automatically upgraded to Flexible. In contrast, vmxnet adapters are not upgraded automatically because certain guest operating systems — specifically most or all Linux versions — do not reliably preserve network settings when a network adapter is replaced. Because the guest operating system thinks a Flexible adapter is still Vlance, it retains the settings in that case. If the upgrade were to replace a vmxnet adapter with a Flexible adapter, the guest operating system would erroneously discard the settings.
 
After the virtual hardware upgrade, the network adapter is still vmxnet, without the fallback compatibility of the Flexible adapter. Just as on the original older host, if VMware Tools is uninstalled on the virtual machine, it is unable to access its network adapters.

 

Network adapters on multi-boot Linux. The Virtual Machine Settings dialog box and New Virtual Machine wizard allow creation of only those virtual network adapters that are supported for the selected guest operating system. If you change the guest operating system, the existing network adapters are not affected. When you switch a multi-boot Linux system between 32bit mode and 64bit mode, a problem arises because most 32bit Linux versions do not support e1000 adapters while most 64bit Linux versions support only e1000 adapters. Consider configuring your virtual machine with one of each type of network adapter (e1000 and Flexible). You can then set up your guest operating system to use only the network adapter for which it has a driver in each mode.
 
You can add the second adapter any time the virtual machine is powered off, but you need to change the configured guest operating system type from 32bit to 64bit or vice-versa in order to be offered the other network adapter. Since changing that setting before rebooting into the other bit depth can potentially improve the efficiency of virtual machine scheduling, plan to change the guest operating system type setting before your first reboot into the other bit depth.

Adding virtual disks. Adding an existing older (ESX Server 2.x) virtual disk to an ESX Server 3.x virtual machine results in a de-facto downgrade of that virtual machine to ESX Server 2.x. If you are using ESX Server 3.x features, such as enhanced vmxnet or Flexible network adapters, the virtual machine becomes inconsistent. When you add an existing ESX Server 2.x virtual disk to an ESX Server 3.x machine, you should immediately use the Upgrade Virtual Hardware command to restore the virtual machine to the ESX Server 3 version.
Note: Executing Upgrade Virtual Hardware changes the ESX Server 2 virtual disk so it is no longer usable on an ESX Server 2 virtual machine. Consider making a copy of the disk before you upgrade one of the two copies to ESX Server 3 format.

If you must migrate a virtual machine between newer and older hosts, do not choose enhanced vmxnet but instead one of the older adapter types. Flexible or e1000 are offered whenever enhanced vmxnet is offered.

2009/03/09

Overhead Memory Table on ESX Virtual Machines

Filed under: virtualization — Tags: , , , , — iben @ 13:46

Refer to page 30 of http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r40/vsp_40_resource_mgmt.pdf or page 136 of http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_35/esx_3/r35/vi3_35_25_resource_mgmt.pdf

Memory overhead usage chart

Memory overhead usage chart

Some examples:

With 1 vcpu and 256MB of RAM; the VM kernel requires 87MB for 32 bit VM’s and 108MB for 64 bit VM’s.

With 8GM of RAM and 1 vCPU you’ll need 188MB and 209MB for 32 and 64 bit.

With 4 vCPU’s and 8GB of RAM you’re looking at ~360MB for a 32 bit VM and 431MB for a 64 bit VM.

Note: memory overhead for 32-bit VMs generally increased between 3.0.1 and 3.5 while 64-bit overhead generally decreased.

ESX 3.5 Overhead

ESX
3.5 Update 2
Virtual CPUs Virtual Memory (MB) Overhead for 32-bit VM
(MB)		 % Overhead for 32-bit VM Overhead for 64-bit VM
(MB)		 % Overhead for 64-bit VM
1 256 87.56 34.20% 107.54 42.01%
1 512 90.82 17.74% 110.81 21.64%
1 1,024 97.35 9.51% 117.35 11.46%
1 2,048 110.40 5.39% 130.42 6.37%
1 4,096 136.50 3.33% 156.57 3.82%
1 8,192 188.69 2.30% 208.85 2.55%
1 16,384 293.07 1.79% 313.42 1.91%
1 32,768 501.84 1.53% 522.56 1.59%
1 65,536 919.37 1.40% 940.84 1.44%
2 256 108.73 42.47% 146.41 57.19%
2 512 114.49 22.36% 152.20 29.73%
2 1,024 126.04 12.31% 163.79 16.00%
2 2,048 149.11 7.28% 186.96 9.13%
2 4,096 195.27 4.77% 233.30 5.70%
2 8,192 287.57 3.51% 325.98 3.98%
2 16,384 472.18 2.88% 511.34 3.12%
2 32,768 841.40 2.57% 882.06 2.69%
2 65,536 1579.84 2.41% 1623.50 2.48%
4 256 146.75 57.32% 219.82 85.87%
4 512 153.52 29.98% 226.64 44.27%
4 1,024 167.09 16.32% 240.30 23.47%
4 2,048 194.20 9.48% 267.61 13.07%
4 4,096 248.45 6.07% 322.22 7.87%
4 8,192 356.91 4.36% 431.44 5.27%
4 16,384 573.85 3.50% 649.88 3.97%
4 32,768 1007.73 3.08% 1086.75 3.32%
4 65,536 1875.48 2.86% 1960.52 2.99%
Averages 408.30 11.51% 453.30 15.29%

ESX 3.0 Overhead

vcpu vRAM 32 bit overhead 64 bit overhead
1 256 79 174
1 512 79 176
1 1024 84 180
1 2048 91 188
1 4096 107 204
1 8192 139 236
1 16384 203 300
2 256 97 288
2 512 101 292
2 1024 101 300
2 2048 125 316
2 4096 157 349
2 8192 221 413
2 16384 349 541
4 256 129 511
4 512 133 515
4 1024 141 523
4 2048 157 540
4 4096 189 572
4 8192 222 605
4 16384 350 734

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