VMWare vCPU and Memory for VMs (How to properly configure)
Hello All;
OK, I have been running VMWare 6.5 for several months now, and have moved all my sites from outside hosting to in-house.
Everything is running great.
This is what I would like to know.
When assigning hardware configurations to the new VM, the vCPU is what I am having trouble understanding.
The system is running
32GB Memory. (I think it might go to 64, will just have to test at a later date)
2 Physical Quad Core CPUs, totaling 8-cores
I have all machines assigned 1 vCPU and 4-6GB of ram.
This is an image of the CPU / Memory / Storage
The above image is with 3 VMs running.
All running Win2016, with the following:
1 Web (IIS - Running 12 Sites)
1 Mail (MailEnable, running for 12 Domains, 3 contactly active)
1 SQL Server (Running 8 SQL Databases, 4 Constant activity)
How many vCPU's can I safely give to each machine?
And, the Memory, is that correct as well (4-6GB each) or can it be more?
3 Machines are LIVE, and 7 are for teaching. (I will soon be bringing in another Server, but until then, this is all I have to work with.)
Carrzkiss
OK, I have been running VMWare 6.5 for several months now, and have moved all my sites from outside hosting to in-house.
Everything is running great.
This is what I would like to know.
When assigning hardware configurations to the new VM, the vCPU is what I am having trouble understanding.
The system is running
32GB Memory. (I think it might go to 64, will just have to test at a later date)
2 Physical Quad Core CPUs, totaling 8-cores
I have all machines assigned 1 vCPU and 4-6GB of ram.
This is an image of the CPU / Memory / Storage
The above image is with 3 VMs running.All running Win2016, with the following:
1 Web (IIS - Running 12 Sites)
1 Mail (MailEnable, running for 12 Domains, 3 contactly active)
1 SQL Server (Running 8 SQL Databases, 4 Constant activity)
How many vCPU's can I safely give to each machine?
And, the Memory, is that correct as well (4-6GB each) or can it be more?
3 Machines are LIVE, and 7 are for teaching. (I will soon be bringing in another Server, but until then, this is all I have to work with.)
Carrzkiss
ASKER
I think what I am asking, is rather I am assigning the right config to the VMs.
With all the VMs running, they utilize nearly all the ram that is available.
If I add more ram to certain VMs, will that cause issues with the other VMs, causing certain ones to not get the proper amount of memory?
The same with the vCPU, however, I've never seen the CPUs get used up like the memory.
The CPU, as shown in the image, seems to stay about mid-way, of which makes me feel like I could comfortably assign certain VMs another CPU.
Some of the systems run really slow like they are needing more of something, rather Memory or CPU.
The VMs that are running right now, of which is the Web, Mail, And SQL Server (The LIVE VMs)
They seem to be doing OK.
I have the following assigned:
All the above seem to function right nicely and without lag.
It is just the other system are not running what I assigned these.
And I only assigned these higher, due to the fact that I had to put these three systems LIVE, and I did not want anything to cause any issues.
With all the VMs running, they utilize nearly all the ram that is available.
If I add more ram to certain VMs, will that cause issues with the other VMs, causing certain ones to not get the proper amount of memory?
The same with the vCPU, however, I've never seen the CPUs get used up like the memory.
The CPU, as shown in the image, seems to stay about mid-way, of which makes me feel like I could comfortably assign certain VMs another CPU.
Some of the systems run really slow like they are needing more of something, rather Memory or CPU.
The VMs that are running right now, of which is the Web, Mail, And SQL Server (The LIVE VMs)
They seem to be doing OK.
I have the following assigned:
Web
2 vCPUs
6GB Ram
1 vCPU
6GB Ram
SQL Server
2 vCPUs
8GB Ram
All the above seem to function right nicely and without lag.
It is just the other system are not running what I assigned these.
And I only assigned these higher, due to the fact that I had to put these three systems LIVE, and I did not want anything to cause any issues.
I think what I am asking, is rather I am assigning the right config to the VMs.
With all the VMs running, they utilize nearly all the ram that is available.
You need to ensure, that you leave at least 4GB for the host.
Your options are either you increase memory, e.g. add more memory to the host, or decrease memory in the VMs, bu checking if you've added too much!
Memory is often the bottleneck not CPU. 32GB is very little for a server, I have 32GB in may laptop! and 144GB in my desktop computers!
If I add more ram to certain VMs, will that cause issues with the other VMs, causing certain ones to not get the proper amount of memory?
as long as you do not increase memory more than you have in the host.
each of your VMs will be given the memory allocated, but if you increase beyond what is available in the host then you will have issues.
SLOWNESS, could be CPU, Memory, or Storage e.g. Disk I/O (and you've not stated what storage system, you have supporting your datastore ?)
here is an article I wrote about performance
HOW TO: Performance Monitor vSphere 4.x or 5.0
ASKER
Yes, I know about the Memory issue.
This is a very old board.
I am learning VMWare and this is a system that I built from eBay to "Learn" from.
I was not expecting to have to run my LIVE SITES from it. But, I had no choice.
I have read that the system will go up to 64GB of ram, as when the board was first released, they had only tested it with what was available, and 8GB sticks where not available at that time.
For drive space, I am not using an array, not right now.
That will come once I get in the new server, which will be within the next 30-days.
That will be when I will be really diving in head first on learning everything possible, in order to successfully run my business the way it needs to be run, in-house.
So, drive space.
Currently, 1TB 7200 RPM drive.
At the moment, I am moving everything over to 2x500GB drives, as the 1TB drive, needs to be utilized in a different system, of which will be in by the end of this week. (Lost one workstation, now I have to replace it.)
I added more ram and another vCPU to one of the other VMs to see how it would perform.
It seems to perform a little better.
This is a very old board.
I am learning VMWare and this is a system that I built from eBay to "Learn" from.
I was not expecting to have to run my LIVE SITES from it. But, I had no choice.
I have read that the system will go up to 64GB of ram, as when the board was first released, they had only tested it with what was available, and 8GB sticks where not available at that time.
For drive space, I am not using an array, not right now.
That will come once I get in the new server, which will be within the next 30-days.
That will be when I will be really diving in head first on learning everything possible, in order to successfully run my business the way it needs to be run, in-house.
So, drive space.
Currently, 1TB 7200 RPM drive.
At the moment, I am moving everything over to 2x500GB drives, as the 1TB drive, needs to be utilized in a different system, of which will be in by the end of this week. (Lost one workstation, now I have to replace it.)
I added more ram and another vCPU to one of the other VMs to see how it would perform.
It seems to perform a little better.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
I will update this in a few days.
I am getting the hardware I need to run a RAID on my server.
I am getting the hardware I need to run a RAID on my server.
ASKER
Thanks, Andrew.
I have been busy with a new job outside of the office, that I have not had the time to work on this.
I have the disks inside of the server.
I purchased a RAID card, to do a RAID-5 with.
Just waiting for the spare time to implement this new raid feature.
Thank you for the heads up
Wayne
I have been busy with a new job outside of the office, that I have not had the time to work on this.
I have the disks inside of the server.
I purchased a RAID card, to do a RAID-5 with.
Just waiting for the spare time to implement this new raid feature.
Thank you for the heads up
Wayne
But do the VMs need any more memory? Is active memory in the VMs running out ?
The same for CPU, do you see any issues with current CPU usage and high CPU alerts, where you would need to add more CPU (e.g. vCPU)