>>>> Are you running multiple VM's simultaneously? <<<<
Yes, that is the nature of the server, to host a number of clients that are always all running at the same time. They share CPU, Memory and Disk IO as needed - or can be setup to be very stingy about what they share. I usually have a generic share everything setup that allows for maximum performance by all.. That being said 1. They all do not have the same load at the same time. 2. There is a theoretical maximum number of clients that can be loaded, but with my HP DL585 4 dual proc 16 Gig box, I run six virtual Windows clients and set CPU affinity to 1-8 for all boxes... 3. There are some DOS issues for the FPDOS 2.5 Apps that are mitigated somewhat in the ESX environment by the ESX OS, but run not as well in the GSX environment on top of - say - a Windows Server. Essentially, ESX is a better environment overall... >>>> What's your subjective estimate for how much slower a single VM is vs. <<<< Each virtual (island) that I have created for the Visual FoxPro applications were originally cloned (read on P2V or the VMWare converter) from a physical box (PIV 2 Gig). Because the HP DL585 is such a monster data cruncher, all of my applications run much "MUCH" faster in the virtual environment. The following are candidates for objective reasons... 1. The dual core xenon processors are much, much faster than the original single cpu PIV 2. The pod 1.6 T disk array (that is hooked up with redundant arrays) has many, many times more heads than the old IDE drives that the physical box ran on. More disk heads wins every race, every time - for database applications. <<<< What do you decide to run natively and what do you run in VM's? >>>> Everything but SQL Server 2005 I would and could virtualize - including client facing Web Servers and Web Apps, Internal and external file servers, FTP sites, ect... Because SQL is optimized for its physical file groups and disk IO, it's still not generally accepted to virtualize client facing SQL applications/servers - but however, I do virtualize all the I&T and testing, development instances of SQL Server... Hth John C. Gunvaldson San Diego, CA www.fox-net.com _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
