October 3, 2008 at 9:33 am
Hi,
Guys, please help me out in getting some information regarding the licensing cost involved when SQL Server 2005 is installed on Vmware. Also, any information on scalability will be highly appreciated.
MJ
October 3, 2008 at 9:43 am
Here are some links on scalability of ESX server primarily. Some rumors of IO issues that are addressed in the links.
http://www.vmware.com/products/vi/esx/esx_features.html
http://scottf.wordpress.com/2007/02/09/sql-server-on-vmware-server/
http://blogs.vmware.com/performance/2008/05/100000-io-opera.html
As with everything test. I did find the first document to be somewhat startling as to the limitations with VM ware (64G memory and 2 - dual core processors) in the 64-Bit arena (not sure if that is the same in 32-Bit.
Licensing for SQL Server should be the same, the number of processors you allocate to the VM would be how many you license for. Validate that with the MS licensing site as well.
David
@SQLTentmaker“He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” - Jim Elliot
October 3, 2008 at 10:32 am
Virtualised servers are known to have performance issues when supporting intensive applications, and this can include SQL server databases. so in terms of supporting busy SQL applications, vmware is not very scalable.
I personally have had two occurences where we had to move SQL databases off of virtual servers onto physical ones because of performance problems (specifically timeouts)
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October 3, 2008 at 10:35 am
Thanks guys, keep your views and points coming in. I also found one good link for information on licensing in Virtual envt.
http://www.microsoft.com/sql/howtobuy/virtualization.mspx
Hope someone find it useful too.
MJ
October 3, 2008 at 10:50 am
Just bear in mind that SQL 2005 is not fully supported in any virtual environment. If you encounter a problems and call Customer Support, they will probably ask you to reproduce the issue in a physical server before they will give you any real help.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
October 3, 2008 at 11:06 am
Just tossing out my past experience ... At my previous job we implemented several ESX clusters, and the performance was absolutely amazing for SQL Server. We bench marked several applications and procedures on a physical box with the same specs as the upcoming virtual, and they ended up being the same. We also did this with the M$ Virtual Server and they resulted it much worse performance.
We only used this environment for all of our DEV and QA stuff and it was very easy to work with and hands down the most reliable solution out there. Automatic server fail overs, dynamic resource allocation, etc. etc. Since I left, I've heard that they've moved most of the environment, including several production and warehouse servers to virtual and everything is running just as good, if not better than when on physicals.
So from a performance standpoint, I guess you need to do your homework based on your environment to see if it is right for you, but as Gila pointed out, currently it is not supported by Microsoft. Actually, this was the impression I was always under ... but I just skimmed through this article and it sounds like it might be supported now? Am I wrong Gila? http://www.microsoft.com/sql/howtobuy/virtualization.mspx
October 3, 2008 at 11:12 am
microsoft are just bringing out Hyper-V, maybe they will support on that!
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October 3, 2008 at 11:15 am
As far as I'm aware, the support policy for SQL in a virtual environment is still as documented in the following kb article
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/897615
I know SQL 2008 is fully supported on Hyper-V, as far as I'm aware, that's the only config that is. That info's as of a month ago.
Gail Shaw
Microsoft Certified Master: SQL Server, MVP, M.Sc (Comp Sci)
SQL In The Wild: Discussions on DB performance with occasional diversions into recoverability
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