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18 Replies Last post: Oct 18, 2007 12:40 PM by cwitthoft
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VMware Server Windows 2003 Guest OS SCSI Driver

Oct 18, 2007 7:40 AM

Click to view cwitthoft's profile Novice cwitthoft 13 posts since
Oct 11, 2007
I have a Dell Poweredge 2950. This machine has (2) quad core processors, 8 gigs of ram, (2) dual port gigabit NIC's, and Windows 2003 R2 Enterprise Edition for the Host OS. I recently uninstalled Microsoft's Virtual Server 2005 R2 and Installed VMware Server. I used VMware's converter to convert my two Virtual Machines to VMware.

The C: drive on this host is (2) 70gig 15k disks in a raid 1 config. My E: drive is (6) 70 gig 15k disks in a raid 10 config. My VMware machines are stored on the E: drive. It has a SAS Raid Perc5/i Controller.

I have gave 2.5 gig of ram to one VM and 3gigs to the other VM. I have already stripped uneeded components such as audio, cdrom ect. I'm currently running 1 VM with 2 processors and the other VM with 1. Each VM has its own Bridged Network Adapter.

My problem is performance of these virtual machines is very spuratic. I noticed anytime I access a VM and put a load on it, (open a file share) my ping response will jump from >1 to >4 or so, I think its a disk issue since its only when I put load on it. I'm running the defualt LSI Logic driver that was installed by default and have even tried the LSI Logic 1020/1030 Ultra 320 SCSI Adapter driver I found on VMware's site for the esx server but still the same problem. Do I need to load a non raid controller SAS Driver from Dell in the Guest OS?

Thanks,

Chris

Tags: lsi_logic, scsi, sas, drivers
Reply Re: VMware Server Windows 2003 Guest OS SCSI Driver Oct 18, 2007 7:55 AM
Click to view rsa911's profile Virtuoso rsa911 1,877 posts since
Aug 3, 2007

Chris,

don't change your VM drivers, the LSI logic driver is fine

the guest VM only sees virtual scsi controller emulated by vmware, it has no idea of your host SAS Raid

can you post your VM(s) config files ? (it's the .vmx file)

Reply Re: VMware Server Windows 2003 Guest OS SCSI Driver Oct 18, 2007 8:01 AM
Click to view Peter_vm's profile Guru Peter_vm 9,057 posts since
Feb 1, 2006 Moderator
Try to create new VM from the scratch to see if it exhibits the same issue.
Reply Re: VMware Server Windows 2003 Guest OS SCSI Driver Oct 18, 2007 8:02 AM
in response to: rsa911
Click to view cwitthoft's profile Novice cwitthoft 13 posts since
Oct 11, 2007
One this worth mentioning is when I converted these two machines to Virtual machines they converted with a Buslogic controller. I follow a posting to switch to LSI Driver basically by switching to LSI in the VMX file and saying yes to the warning message on Boot up.

Here is the config file for the first server:

config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "4"
memsize = "3000"
MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "FALSE"
MemTrimRate = "0"
displayName = "Database"
guestOS = "winnetstandard"
tools.remindInstall = "FALSE"
floppy0.present = "FALSE"
floppy0.autodetect = "TRUE"
floppy0.filename = "auto detect"
usb.present = "FALSE"
sound.present = "FALSE"
sound.virtualDev = "es1371"
sound.filename = "-1"
sound.autodetect = "TRUE"
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
ethernet0.connectionType = "custom"
scsi0:0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:0.fileName = "Database.vmdk"
scsi0:1.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:1.fileName = "Database (2).vmdk"
ide0:0.present = "FALSE"
ide0:0.autodetect = "TRUE"
ide0:0.filename = "auto detect"
ide0:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"
buslogic.noDriver = "FALSE"
priority.grabbed = "normal"
priority.ungrabbed = "normal"
tools.syncTime = "TRUE"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

numvcpus = "2"
autostop = "softpoweroff"
workingDir = "."

scsi0:0.redo = ""
scsi0:1.redo = ""
ide0:0.startConnected = "TRUE"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:00:ca:4d"
uuid.location = "56 4d c8 aa 53 98 84 f1-af d6 93 9a a2 00 ca 4d"
uuid.bios = "56 4d c8 aa 53 98 84 f1-af d6 93 9a a2 00 ca 4d"

Ethernet0.vnet = "VMnet0"

scsi1.virtualDev = "lsilogic"
scsi1.present = "TRUE"

Here is the config file for the second:

config.version = "8"
virtualHW.version = "4"
memsize = "3000"
MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "FALSE"
MemTrimRate = "0"
displayName = "LCKFILENAP"
guestOS = "winnetstandard"
tools.remindInstall = "FALSE"
floppy0.present = "FALSE"
floppy0.autodetect = "TRUE"
floppy0.filename = "auto detect"
usb.present = "TRUE"
sound.present = "FALSE"
sound.virtualDev = "es1371"
sound.filename = "-1"
sound.autodetect = "TRUE"
ethernet0.present = "TRUE"
ethernet0.addressType = "generated"
ethernet0.connectionType = "custom"
scsi0:0.present = "FALSE"
scsi0:0.fileName = "LCKFILENAP.vmdk"
ide0:0.present = "TRUE"
ide0:0.autodetect = "FALSE"
ide0:0.filename = "D:"
ide0:0.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"
ide0:1.present = "FALSE"
ide0:1.autodetect = "TRUE"
ide0:1.filename = "auto detect"
ide0:1.deviceType = "cdrom-raw"
scsi0.present = "TRUE"
scsi0.virtualDev = "lsilogic"
buslogic.noDriver = "FALSE"
priority.grabbed = "normal"
priority.ungrabbed = "normal"
tools.syncTime = "FALSE"
ethernet0.generatedAddressOffset = "0"

workingDir = "."

numvcpus = "2"
Ethernet0.vnet = "VMnet4"
autostop = "softpoweroff"

scsi0:0.redo = ""
ide0:0.startConnected = "FALSE"
ethernet0.generatedAddress = "00:0c:29:59:89:53"
uuid.location = "56 4d 9c c7 0c 5c 7c f4-44 71 db 25 e7 59 89 53"
uuid.bios = "56 4d 9c c7 0c 5c 7c f4-44 71 db 25 e7 59 89 53"
gui.exitOnCLIHLT = "TRUE"

scsi0:2.present = "TRUE"
scsi0:2.fileName = "LCKFILENAP.vmdk"

scsi0:2.redo = ""

Thanks,
Chris
Reply Re: VMware Server Windows 2003 Guest OS SCSI Driver Oct 18, 2007 8:09 AM
in response to: cwitthoft
Click to view rsa911's profile Virtuoso rsa911 1,877 posts since
Aug 3, 2007

do you really need 3 gb of ram and two vcpus per VM ?

if not I would decrease the amount of ram allocated to the real needs of your VMs..

anyway, for such large amount of ram allocated to your VMs, you will want to add this to both VMs .vmx file:

mainMem.useNamedFile = "FALSE"

(power off the VM before editing the file)

if it brings up back perf, report back, I'll send you a list of mem optimzation settings to define in the global .ini file

Reply Re: VMware Server Windows 2003 Guest OS SCSI Driver Oct 18, 2007 8:36 AM
in response to: rsa911
Click to view cwitthoft's profile Novice cwitthoft 13 posts since
Oct 11, 2007
One is a sql database and the other is the main file server, not sure how to judge how much ram or cpu I need, just thought the more the better.

What will the mainMem.usedNamedFile do?

I see I also have a line left in the config file: buslogic.noDriver = "FALSE"

Should that be removed?

Thanks,
Chris
Reply Re: VMware Server Windows 2003 Guest OS SCSI Driver Oct 18, 2007 8:52 AM
in response to: cwitthoft
Click to view boydd's profile Champion boydd 5,707 posts since
Jun 15, 2004 Moderator
Under the host properties in the VS console - how do you have the memory allocation set? I would reserve the RAM needed for the vm's.

DB

Reply Re: VMware Server Windows 2003 Guest OS SCSI Driver Oct 18, 2007 9:11 AM
in response to: boydd
Click to view cwitthoft's profile Novice cwitthoft 13 posts since
Oct 11, 2007
Thanks for the replies everyone,

I have tried reserving the ram but with the same end result.
Reply Re: VMware Server Windows 2003 Guest OS SCSI Driver Oct 18, 2007 9:21 AM
in response to: rsa911
Click to view cwitthoft's profile Novice cwitthoft 13 posts since
Oct 11, 2007
Could you send mem optimzation settings to define in the global .ini file incase I don't get to it until later tonight?

Thanks,
Chris
Reply Re: VMware Server Windows 2003 Guest OS SCSI Driver Oct 18, 2007 9:47 AM
in response to: cwitthoft
Click to view Peter_vm's profile Guru Peter_vm 9,057 posts since
Feb 1, 2006 Moderator
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\VMware\VMware Server\config.ini

prefvmx.useRecommendedLockedMemSize = "TRUE"
prefvmx.minVmMemPct = "100"

your-guest.vmx

MemAllowAutoScaleDown = "FALSE"
sched.mem.pshare.enable = "FALSE"
mainMem.useNamedFile = "FALSE"
MemTrimRate = "0"
Reply Re: VMware Server Windows 2003 Guest OS SCSI Driver Oct 18, 2007 9:49 AM
in response to: Peter_vm
Click to view cwitthoft's profile Novice cwitthoft 13 posts since
Oct 11, 2007
Thank you but can you explain what they do first?

Thanks,
Chris
Reply Re: VMware Server Windows 2003 Guest OS SCSI Driver Oct 18, 2007 10:08 AM
in response to: cwitthoft
Click to view Peter_vm's profile Guru Peter_vm 9,057 posts since
Feb 1, 2006 Moderator
It was explained already:
http://sanbarrow.com/vmx/vmx-config-ini.html
Reply Re: VMware Server Windows 2003 Guest OS SCSI Driver Oct 18, 2007 12:08 PM
in response to: Peter_vm
Click to view cwitthoft's profile Novice cwitthoft 13 posts since
Oct 11, 2007
I tried they config file additions but with no luck. My next thought is to update the scsi drivers on the local host hardware.

Other than that I thought about upgrading the host to 64bit from 32 bit, would that help any?
Reply Re: VMware Server Windows 2003 Guest OS SCSI Driver Oct 18, 2007 12:20 PM
in response to: cwitthoft
Click to view Peter_vm's profile Guru Peter_vm 9,057 posts since
Feb 1, 2006 Moderator
Is it a ping issue alone? I would consider that behavior rather normal. When I open a network share and start copying I see this:

Reply from 10.0.0.1: bytes=32 time=19ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.1: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.1: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.1: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.1: bytes=32 time=1ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.1: bytes=32 time=3ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.1: bytes=32 time=2ms TTL=128
Reply from 10.0.0.1: bytes=32 time=7ms TTL=128
Reply Re: VMware Server Windows 2003 Guest OS SCSI Driver Oct 18, 2007 12:22 PM
in response to: cwitthoft
Click to view rsa911's profile Virtuoso rsa911 1,877 posts since
Aug 3, 2007
One is a sql database and the other is the main file server

for your file server, I would assign a single vcpu and max 1gb of ram
3gb of ram is overkill for a dedicated file server

SQL is another story, 3gb of ram and two vcpus are typical for a loaded SQL machine, you did not specified how many DB , DB average size and concurrent users you're expecting...

start by reducing the resources allocated to your file server and see if it brings any improvment
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