vSphere Summary tab really slow

[DoDo201110141]

Hi All

I think this is a bug report

When I open the Summary tab for a Virtual Machine in vSphere, it take 5 to 8 seconds to load.

I am an engineer, and no network/memory/cpu is not a problem.

It is soooo slow that it is useless, especially useless considering that it is meant to be a 'Summary', but it is quicker for me just go into "Edit Settings" to find info I am looking for.

Cheers.

[Techstarts]

I would check following things

• Does it happen on every VM
  
• Is tomcat service is consuming all memory
  
• Is database hosted locally or remotely. If remotely is that server is fine
  

This behavior is generally observed on locally hosted database on MS SQL Express edition on slower machines.

Thank you,

Preetam

http://vcp5.wordpress.com

[Techstarts]

I would check following things

· Does it happen on every VM

· Is tomcat service is consuming all memory

· Is database hosted locally or remotely. If remotely is that server is fine

This behavior is generally observed on locally hosted database on MS SQL Express edition on slower machines.

Thank you,

Preetam

http://vcp5.wordpress.com

[DoDo201110141]

Yes, It occurs on every VM.

Local database? SQL Express? Not that Im aware of.

Tomcat? You mean the one thats running on my ESXi host?

I am simply connecting to my ESXi box via vSphere windows client, i.e:

http://tekpics.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/vsphere-login.jpg?w=378&h=338

No computers are slow (not in my book!). I am on 100mb

Cheers

[Walfordr]

The database and Tomcat would be for vCenter Server.  If you are not running vCenter then you do not have anything to check.

You should provide more info on the host.

Memory

Memory used

CPU

etc.

[DoDo201110141]

Thanks Robert.

Look, lets face it. Java is slow. Computers can perform thousands of MIPS, and chew gigabytes of data in an instant.

But Java continues to be slow. It's just a fact of life in the IT world.

For example, simply logging on to the ESXi host, with the WRONG credentials, takes 3.5 second to reject the password, and during that time it is using a full core at 100 percent!!  I could compress a large file in that time!!, what the hell is it doing??

One word: Java. Simple as that.

In the case of the Summary Tab, I can visually see slider bars resizing and jumping about the place during the 5 to 8 seconds it takes to load.

Everythin else runs fine and responsive, relative to what one would expect from a networked Java application.

The server is 8 cores, 2.5ghz. 48gig ram. ESXi 4.1 is installed on a dedicated SAS disk. (Don't ask why. I didn't set it up!)

My experience in both the network industry and the software industry tells me it's a software glitch. Java is slow.

I am simply reporting the issue in the hope that VMWare will fix it in the future.

Michael.

*Edit: It takes 3 to 5 secs. But it feels like longer :smileyhappy:
Personally, I've always found Java apps to have poor responsiveness. Not sure how Sun kept it above water.

[BenConrad]

Try disabling Desktop Composition

[RParker]

DoDo wrote:

Look, lets face it. Java is slow. Computers can perform thousands of MIPS, and chew gigabytes of data in an instant.

But Java continues to be slow. It's just a fact of life in the IT world.

For example, simply logging on to the ESXi host, with the WRONG credentials, takes 3.5 second to reject the password, and during that time it is using a full core at 100 percent!!  I could compress a large file in that time!!, what the hell is it doing??

One word: Java. Simple as that.

In the case of the Summary Tab, I can visually see slider bars resizing and jumping about the place during the 5 to 8 seconds it takes to load.

Everythin else runs fine and responsive, relative to what one would expect from a networked Java application.

Java may be slow.. but I never have problems with summary tab, my problem is with inventory and host settings / configurations.  Those are slow, but not VM summary or performance tab..

[DoDo201110141]

Thats interesting, those runs ok for me, relative to what would be expected from Java.

FYI, I'm not complaing. I'm using the free ESXi 4.1 here, and we are more than satisfied with it's power.

I just thought I would raise the issue. Heck, I can even see the column headers load whenever I switch between "Performance" and "Virtual Machines" tabs

How can it be that it takes .8 seconds to load the colum headers, yet it only take the same time to load the entire list of 50 VM's ??

RParker, what is the web client you refer to? Is that available in the free edition?

When I access my host's web page, it just links me to the vSphere downlod

[BenConrad]

Are you running Vista/Win 7?

In the shortcut to the VIclient -> Properties > Compatibility > 'Disable Desktop Composition' -> Restart app.  This has helped me a lot, but it's still a little slow.

Ben

[RParker]

Ben Conrad wrote:

Are you running Vista/Win 7?

In the shortcut to the VIclient -> Properties > Compatibility > 'Disable Desktop Composition' -> Restart app.  This has helped me a lot, but it's still a little slow.

Ben

Those settings will not a make a difference, I have tried all of them, in fact leaving them default is better because I don't want to saccrifice the rest of my experience for one application.

The VI Client application is the issue, it's not video settings or any of that, that app isn't dependent on graphics... It's just poorly written, even the current 5.0 version is no better.. The web client is better however.

[RParker]

DoDo wrote:

When I open the Summary tab for a Virtual Machine in vSphere, it take 5 to 8 seconds to load.

I am an engineer, and no network/memory/cpu is not a problem.

It is soooo slow that it is useless, especially useless considering that it is meant to be a 'Summary', but it is quicker for me just go into "Edit Settings" to find info I am looking for.

Cheers.

2 Words: vCenter Appliance

It works better.  vCenter on Windows (and this isn't a MS bash, it's a VM ware programming error) is slow..

I agree at times things WERE slow on vCenter windows, but with the appliance it's MUCH better.

[Palombo]

Yes very Old case, but perhaps it helps anyway:

I had the same problem that summary was very slow. (10sec and longer)

I've found that DNS Settings have been wrong.  (vsphere 6.0)

Fixing that and summary increases performance