Virtual Machine Tuning

[ABissman]

I am confused on what this tells me.

For instance XP LDT tells me I have 512 MB (Memory Size) allocated. It's using 515 MB (Host Mem - MB). However Guest Mem - % says it's only using 23%. The Host Mem - MB makes me think I need to allocate more to this machine. However on the Resouce tab of the VM it's set to unlimited. I assume ESXi, 'Thin Provisions' memory, so it I set it to 4 GB it will only use all 4 GB on the host when the VM demands it.

Any thoughts. Is what I think true?

[mcowger]

ESX does 'thin provision' the memory, and given that your gues is only using 23% of its allocated memory, it doesn't need to be assigned more. It is occupying 515MB of host memory, but that doesn't mean its running out - that may simply mean its not getting good sharing rates across VMs, etc.

--Matt

VCP, vExpert, Unix Geek

[ABissman]

Thanks.

So the memory settings I set for the VM are a cap of host memory, it can occupy?

How would I go about 'tuning' this machine?

The end user is complaining about slow performance, but it should be faster than his normal pc.

This host a 2+ GHz quad processor and 12 GB Ram, so in my mind it should easily be better than a 3.4Ghz P4 with 2 GB RAM.

Either that or I am missing something.

This is my first experiment with a Virtual Desktop replacement, so I am trying to understand how resources might be best allocated.

Any help is appreciated.

>>> mcowger <[e-mail]> 8/18/2009 4:17 PM >>>

,

A new message was posted in the thread "Virtual Machine Tuning":

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Author : mcowger

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Message:

[ABissman]

Thanks.

So the memory settings I set for the VM are a cap of host memory, it can occupy?

How would I go about 'tuning' this machine?

The end user is complaining about slow performance, but it should be faster than his normal pc.

This host a 2+ GHz quad processor and 12 GB Ram, so in my mind it should easily be better than a 3.4Ghz P4 with 2 GB RAM. Either that or I am missing something.

This is my first experiment with a Virtual Desktop replacement, so I am trying to understand how resources might be best allocated. Any help is appreciated.

[mcowger]

The memory settings you have set are what ESX presents to the guest OS of how much memory the guest has installed.

You should tune the VM like any other machine....figure out where the bottle neck is and correct it. Run some synthetic benchmarks aganst both his desktop and your VM and compare.

Also, dont forget that his local desktop doesn't have to transmit all its visual data over the network before presenting it to the user - interactive performance is EXPECTED to be slower.

--Matt

VCP, vExpert, Unix Geek