Issues with SQL Server 2005 on a Virtual Machine (VM)

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Issues with SQL Server 2005 on a Virtual Machine (VM)

Bern Anderson

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Points: 63
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December 15, 2006 at 12:47 pm

#176054

Is anyone running SQL Server 2005 on a virtual machine? I have one installation on a VM and seven others on physical servers. The physical servers are working good, but the instance on the VM has multiple issues with performance and the management studio.
Any documentation or experiance that you can share on this topic would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Bern

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MohammedU SSCoach Points: 19644 More actions · Answer 1

Caution:
Do not install SQL Server 2005 on Microsoft Virtual Server or Microsoft Virtual PC on hardware that is not listed in the Hardware and Software requirements sections below.

http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms143506.aspx

MohammedU
Microsoft SQL Server MVP

Aaron Ingold SSCrazy Eights Points: 9070 More actions · Answer 2

We use VMWare ESX Server for creating test environments very quickly. We would never, never, never recommend nor consider it for production situations. In my experience the value of being able to have a dedicated environment for testing is nice, but there are performance and scalability issues. It's a great technology... just not for databases.

Amedeo-391951 Newbie Points: 5 More actions · Answer 3

I'm experiencing performance issues on a SQL 2005 cluster running inside an ESX 3.0

The performance issues consist in procedures taking 4 times as much compared to a system running SQL 2000 and six years older hardware.

Is this a known issue with SQL 2005 run inside a VMware ESX 3.0 host?

Thanks

alen teplitsky SSC-Dedicated Points: 30014 More actions · Answer 4

bad idea

SQL likes to grab all the resources that it can, and if you run it on a VM it has to compete with other VM's

We just bought into VMWare and they said don't run SQL or Exchange on it because of the I/O issues

the only way you should even think about running SQL on VM is to dedicate whole physical disks to the VM instance and make sure they aren't being used for anything else

James L Mead Grasshopper Points: 16 More actions · Answer 5

Where at VMware can you find out about running SQL and Exchange? We are seriously looking at converting our entire Datacenter (30+ servers, includuing SQL and Exchange) to an HP 64 bit blade chasis running VM and using a fibre-drives sans. My biggest concern is performance. I would really appreaciate any "real world" examples/experiences. Thanks.

MarkusB SSC-Dedicated Points: 37370 More actions · Answer 6

James,

I did work on a project where they intended to migrate to whole datacenter to ESX server on HP64 blades and a HP SAN. After extensive testing we had to decide that the IO performance was not acceptible for SQL Server or Exchange. We tried all kind of possible configurations, but non gave the IO performance needed.

Markus

[font="Verdana"]Markus Bohse[/font]

James L Mead Grasshopper Points: 16 More actions · Answer 7

James L Mead

Grasshopper

Points: 16

March 5, 2007 at 8:00 am

#693118

Thank you!

mark lake Say Hey Kid Points: 702 More actions · Answer 8

My company is currently setting up a new infrastructure using HP Blades.

After prelim tests we've made the decision to use physical machines in our live environment but have found VMWare will suit our development and test needs.

I wouldn't let a virtual machine anywhere near a live SQL database.

alen teplitsky SSC-Dedicated Points: 30014 More actions · Answer 9

i was on a webinar with EMC/VMWare and they specifically said don't do SQL or Exchange. The ideal for VMWare is web servers, application servers, boxes you have to host custom apps or anything similar that takes up less than 10% CPU and a little memory on a regular basis with little I/O.

In our case it seems like the developers are always creating apps and asking for boxes to host them so VMWare in our case is good only in this case.

Summer90 SSC-Dedicated Points: 32891 More actions · Answer 10

We 'used' to have a VMWare SQL Server production here. We had no choice as the old server was dying and was out of drive space and there was no $$ to buy a new server. It ran OK most of the time but from time to time would lock up... about every 3 months or so. It was a 10 gig db with somewhat low access rate of about 10 people thoughout the day. It was running Win2000 with SQL 2000 SP3. Last year we upgraded the software and moved it to a real server for the db.

I did have a few test db's on VMWARE and they appeared to run ok. Alot less I/O and usage.