My reason for posting this message is to solicit feedback on the pros and cons of moving an existing system to a virtual environment. The IT department at a client site is pushing a client to virtualize their 4D system and I've been asked to provide input.
I have done a bit of research into the pros and cons of this issue over the last few years and realize that are many reasons to virtualize and that there can be a benefit to the end user. The current system supports 10 LAN users, plus 25 remote users who synchronize over a VPN. They're running 4D V13 on a newish, dedicated i7 Win7 install with SSD's and plenty of RAM. The system does not undergo heavy load except during the synchronization process. The synch code will be optimized after the V15 upgrade later this year. I do not know the proposed configuration of the virtual environment. In a short, my understanding is that 4D can work well in a virtual environment providing that the VM is configured for OLTP. The hallmarks of that configuration appears to be use of SSD's as the primary drives, apparently acting in a caching function, and as well as optimization to support small block transfers (2k? 8k?). The company underwent an unsuccessful virtualization effort a few years ago (prior to my involvement) when they were using 4D 2004. The IT personnel involved with that effort are not longer with the company and the current staff has assured my client that they will "do it right this time". I would appreciate your thoughts, insights, and real-world experiences on this topic. -- Douglas von Roeder 949-336-2902 ********************************************************************** 4D Internet Users Group (4D iNUG) FAQ: http://lists.4d.com/faqnug.html Archive: http://lists.4d.com/archives.html Options: http://lists.4d.com/mailman/options/4d_tech Unsub: mailto:[email protected] **********************************************************************
