Running a production SQL environment on a virtual server

Question

Running a production SQL environment on a virtual server

Yvan Bouchard

SSCrazy

Points: 2506
More actions
January 28, 2008 at 5:47 am

#123400

Hi to everyone,
In order to reduce costs, we are looking at setting up some virtual servers. As the concept if pretty clear to us, the technical side is still new to us, so I was looking to find out if any of you had some thoughts on what to look-out for when putting a production SQL Server out on this kind of set-up.
Thanks
Yvan

Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 31 total)

You must be logged in to reply to this topic. Login to reply

Kenneth.Fisher SSC-Insane Points: 20396 More actions · Answer 1

I've used virtual machines with SQL Server at my last 2 jobs and its worked fairly well. The only thing I can think of off the top of my head is that if they are going to make any changes to the virtual environment .. particularly disk space .. shut down your SQL Server while they do it.

We increased disk space without shutting down SQL and completly corrupted our databases.

The only other problem I've seen was a snapshot that got out of hand. It kept updating itself and using up more and more space. Even though we had told it it was a one time snapshot. We found out about it when it eventually used up a terabyte drive. Not entirly sure what caused it though because our server team handled it.

Kenneth

Kenneth FisherI was once offered a wizards hat but it got in the way of my dunce cap.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------For better, quicker answers on T-SQL questions, click on the following... http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/[/url]For better answers on performance questions, click on the following... http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/SQLServerCentral/66909/[/url]Link to my Blog Post --> www.SQLStudies.com[/url]

KenpoDBA SSCrazy Eights Points: 9811 More actions · Answer 2

Y, I've run it a couple times too. Though I wouldn't use it for anything with really high transactions, it worked really well for our lesser sql boxes.

Watch my free SQL Server Tutorials at:
http://MidnightDBA.com
Blog Author of:
DBA Rant – http://www.MidnightDBA.com/DBARant

Minion Maintenance is FREE:

Yvan Bouchard SSCrazy Points: 2506 More actions · Answer 3

Kenneth,

Thanks for the info, we'll keep it in mind

crever,

Thanks

Kenneth.Fisher SSC-Insane Points: 20396 More actions · Answer 4

True. I've only ever used it on development and test boxes.

It was very nice though when using for test boxes because you could put up a new test box in a matter of minutes. Or set up for a series of tests, do a snapshot, run the tests and then restore the snapshot for the next set of tests.

Kenneth FisherI was once offered a wizards hat but it got in the way of my dunce cap.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------For better, quicker answers on T-SQL questions, click on the following... http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/[/url]For better answers on performance questions, click on the following... http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/SQLServerCentral/66909/[/url]Link to my Blog Post --> www.SQLStudies.com[/url]

alen teplitsky SSC-Dedicated Points: 30014 More actions · Answer 5

when we bought VMWare a few years ago the sales guys specifically said don't run SQL or Exchange on it

your best bet in reducing expenses is buying x64 hardware and scaling up

Yvan Bouchard SSCrazy Points: 2506 More actions · Answer 6

SQL Noob,

We will double-check on that. We have contradicting information on this. I do not know our info is coming from the sales guy or a technical guy!:unsure:

Which version are you running?

Y

KenpoDBA SSCrazy Eights Points: 9811 More actions · Answer 7

Well, that was a few yrs ago. MS if embracing virtual environments with SQL these days.

Watch my free SQL Server Tutorials at:
http://MidnightDBA.com
Blog Author of:
DBA Rant – http://www.MidnightDBA.com/DBARant

Minion Maintenance is FREE:

Kenneth.Fisher SSC-Insane Points: 20396 More actions · Answer 8

Actually I read an article that said that Microsoft will even provide support for using SQL with VMWare .. as long as the VMWare is their version of it :).

Kenneth FisherI was once offered a wizards hat but it got in the way of my dunce cap.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------For better, quicker answers on T-SQL questions, click on the following... http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/Best+Practices/61537/[/url]For better answers on performance questions, click on the following... http://www.sqlservercentral.com/articles/SQLServerCentral/66909/[/url]Link to my Blog Post --> www.SQLStudies.com[/url]

Joe Clifford SSCrazy Eights Points: 8739 More actions · Answer 9

If your experience with VMWare was a few years ago, things have changed pretty dramatically with the introduction of the hypervisor in the current versions of VMWare (MS will be releasing theirs shortly).

Virtualization is suitable for production use as long as you've got all of your ducks in a row and understand the pro's/con's of the technology.

Virtualization is really all about the underlying infrastructure, done right virtualization works well, done wrong/cheaply it usually fails miserably. Probably the most important thing I've seen is that virtualization tends to place a lot of demands on the underlying storage layer which many SAN's/NAS's & fabrics/networks just aren't ready for. Also be prepared to see your storage needs skyrocket, as noted it becomes pretty easy to "spin up" new instances for A, B, C, D... definitely something you need to plan for.

Joe

Paul Randal One Orange Chip Points: 29544 More actions · Answer 10

I'll second what Joe says above. In the last few conference workshops I taught in November I was asked that question and did a poll of the attendees (1-200 in each case). The majority opinion was that in testing/dev its fine but in high-volume production you tend to hit IO throughput problems unless you're really careful and have serious IO subsystems.

Paul Randal
CEO, SQLskills.com: Check out SQLskills online training!
Blog:www.SQLskills.com/blogs/paul Twitter: @PaulRandal
SQL MVP, Microsoft RD, Contributing Editor of TechNet Magazine
Author of DBCC CHECKDB/repair (and other Storage Engine) code of SQL Server 2005

Greg Edwards-268690 SSC-Insane Points: 20680 More actions · Answer 11

We run Reporting Services on an x64 bit VMware. Seems to run OK doing batch scheduled reports.

I don't know that I'd run our SSAS instance on one though. I'd be afraid that someone would snapshot average CPU usage and our cube wouldn't rebuild in a timely manner as they would short us on resources.

Compare licensing to a x64 bit quad core machine when you're looking at cost. 🙂

Greg E

Yvan Bouchard SSCrazy Points: 2506 More actions · Answer 12

Thanks guys for all the valuable comments.

I am passing them along within our team. We will have some interesting discussions.

Although we do not have a very intense IO environment, we will show caution.

yvan:satisfied:

Keith Hays Say Hey Kid Points: 707 More actions · Answer 13

Aside from quickly setting up test environments, there really isn't a reason to setup virtual machine of any sort. SQL Server is already virtual and can run multiple instances. Adding the overhead of a VM environment only complicates the support of the SQL Server environment.

Yvan Bouchard SSCrazy Points: 2506 More actions · Answer 14

Yvan Bouchard

SSCrazy

Points: 2506

January 30, 2008 at 8:51 am

#773351

Keith,

That's a very good point!

Thanks

Yvan