July 17, 2008 at 8:41 am
We've got a new server purposed to be our new production database server. The system administrator would like to put VMware onto this machine and run SQL 2005 from it. I've never done that sort of thing before, so I wanted to ask you all if you've had any experience at this and how well it works.
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
July 17, 2008 at 9:33 am
There are lots of versions of VMWare. The particular version being used will determine if it will work.
Even the versions that do work are only partially supported by Microsoft. You have to be in a support tier that includes supporting SQL in a virtualized environment, you have to be using a supported virtualization package (VMWare does have some), and then if you do have a problem you have to be prepared to have MS tell you that you need to move the server to a physical envrionment for troubleshooting (they can play the blame game).
I suppose it would probably be easier to use Hyper-V since it would be a one-vendor solution.
I'm not a big fan of using SQL Server on VMWare in production environments. In development environments, it has been hit-or-miss for me.
July 17, 2008 at 9:35 am
Here is the MS support information link http://support.microsoft.com/kb/897615
July 17, 2008 at 9:51 am
Michael Earl (7/17/2008)
Here is the MS support information link http://support.microsoft.com/kb/897615
OK, I see by this article[/url] that Microsoft has a working relationship with Novell for virtualization software and Microsoft's software. Is VMware from Novell?
Kindest Regards, Rod Connect with me on LinkedIn.
August 4, 2008 at 11:10 am
i am using VM for my production server, i am using SQL 2005 (64 bit), plan carefully accroding to ur requirements and it works without any problem, it have got all my servers on VM(3.5)
August 4, 2008 at 11:12 am
there is also s discussion going on here
http://www.sqlservercentral.com/Forums/Topic517259-361-1.aspx
August 5, 2008 at 3:18 am
We have been running SQL Server 2000\2005 in Test and Production environments (around 40 VM's) - on VMWare ESX 3 then VMWare ESX 3.5. It works very fine, the only "key" consideration and VMware recommend (KB article)this is to disable it's SYNC driver for heavy load I\O applications such as SQL\Oracle\Exchange, for taking VCB snapshots (imageson-sql backups).
If you have such an issue whiole running on VM they'll work these things through with you (excellent support) as they are very keen to prove their product.
The post about needing a non-VM environment in case of needing to contact Microsoft is an important risk consideration, however in our experience this has never been needed nor invoked. Maybe what we're running in terms of these Oracle\SQL is fairly trouble free but for Very Large DB's maybe worth piloting 1st in VM before a switch over *(you can take a Physical to Virtual Snapshot very easily(arranging downtime excepted)) and test 1st.
We are running the Enterprise version of the VMware products, not just VMServer or Workstation.
August 8, 2008 at 5:54 am
We too run SQL 2005 & 2000 Virtual machines under VMware ESX v3.5. We have approximately 14 SQL servers (development to production) all running fine. Admittedly the majority of our databases are small, typically between 5 & 20GB, with only a few of those db's hitting above average usage.
Although it's still early days we are pleased with the cost savings and performance of the vm's.
I would suggest you read up on sql virtualisation. There are numerous doc's available to download out there on the web.
August 12, 2008 at 12:48 pm
At one of our larger client sites, we found that using SQL Server 2005 SP2 with a massive OLTP load (500,000+ steps per day) performed poorly under ESX 3.5 due to poor IO to and from the SAN. The final solution was to use native Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server 2005 clustering and log shipping for DR. Then the middle-tier services (memory and CPU intensive) ran very well on ESX 3 in a three-node balancing cluster. VMWare assisted our client initially due to poor performance on the nodes. Turned out the issues causing poor performance was Hyper-Threading. Once disabled in ESX and BIOS, all was well.
August 13, 2008 at 7:59 am
Rod at work (7/17/2008)
We've got a new server purposed to be our new production database server. The system administrator would like to put VMware onto this machine and run SQL 2005 from it. I've never done that sort of thing before, so I wanted to ask you all if you've had any experience at this and how well it works.
Rod
it has to be asked "what version\flavour of VMWare are you planning to run VM's on?".
If your thinking of using VMware server or GSX server i would be very reluctant. As stated already the enterprise products do work well, visit the vmware community @ vmware.com and you will find many users who are succesfully virtualising everything from DC's to exchange servers and SQL servers (although personally i'd never virtualise a windows DC).
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