I have a performance problem with VMI enabled on the ESXi and Linux systems, does anyone have any advice for me?

I have four ESXi boxes.  One on a single processor 1.26 Ghz, one with dual 2.26 Ghz hyperthread (4 logical), one with dual 1.4 Ghz hyperthread (4 logical), and one on a single 3.0 Ghz hyperthread.

I don't believe any of them have Intel's VI hardware virtualization instructions.  I use ESXi 3.5 U3 as the host and Gentoo 2.6.26 as the client OS.

I've tried enabling VMI on each machine and every time I do, the performance of the VM is decreased by a factor of 4 to 10 times.  For example:

portage: Thu Dec 18 08:13:29 2008: 43 seconds

portage: Fri Dec 19 02:58:21 2008: 167 seconds

portage: Fri Dec 19 03:01:57 2008: 193 seconds

portage: Sat Dec 20 23:40:14 2008: 54 seconds

Here are 4 emerges on Gentoo.  One with tickless and VMI disabled (43 seconds), one with Tickless enabled and VMI in ESXi and in Gentoo paravirtual VMI enabled, one with HZ=100 and VMI enabled, and the last one again with tickless and VMI disabled (54 seconds.)

Everything I find online suggests  VMI (when enabled in the kernel and in the .vmx file) should increase speed or at the very least leave it at the same.  I have been working on this for a week and googled to death on it.  I've consulted with others running ESXi and they can reproduce the same problem when using Gentoo.  I haven't tried Ubuntu Fiesty Fawn or any other OS, but I wouldn't think that would matter much.

If anyone is curious on the gentoo configs, here is a world file:

app-admin/newsyslog

app-admin/sysklogd

app-editors/nvi

app-emulation/open-vm-tools

app-portage/gentoolkit

app-portage/portage-utils

app-shells/tcsh

dev-util/strace

net-analyzer/tcpdump

net-dns/bind

net-misc/bsdwhois

net-misc/ntpclient

net-misc/telnet-bsd

sys-apps/pciutils

sys-apps/slocate

sys-boot/grub

sys-fs/jfsutils

sys-kernel/gentoo-sources

sys-process/lsof

sys-process/vixie-cron

www-client/w3m

Here is the kernel config:

CONFIG_X86_32=y

CONFIG_X86=y

CONFIG_ARCH_DEFCONFIG="arch/x86/configs/i386_defconfig"

CONFIG_GENERIC_TIME=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_CMOS_UPDATE=y

CONFIG_CLOCKSOURCE_WATCHDOG=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_CLOCKEVENTS=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_CLOCKEVENTS_BROADCAST=y

CONFIG_LOCKDEP_SUPPORT=y

CONFIG_STACKTRACE_SUPPORT=y

CONFIG_HAVE_LATENCYTOP_SUPPORT=y

CONFIG_FAST_CMPXCHG_LOCAL=y

CONFIG_MMU=y

CONFIG_ZONE_DMA=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_ISA_DMA=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_IOMAP=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_BUG=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_HWEIGHT=y

CONFIG_ARCH_MAY_HAVE_PC_FDC=y

CONFIG_RWSEM_XCHGADD_ALGORITHM=y

CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_CPU_IDLE_WAIT=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_CALIBRATE_DELAY=y

CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_CPU_RELAX=y

CONFIG_ARCH_HAS_CACHE_LINE_SIZE=y

CONFIG_HAVE_SETUP_PER_CPU_AREA=y

CONFIG_ARCH_HIBERNATION_POSSIBLE=y

CONFIG_ARCH_SUSPEND_POSSIBLE=y

CONFIG_ARCH_POPULATES_NODE_MAP=y

CONFIG_ARCH_SUPPORTS_AOUT=y

CONFIG_ARCH_SUPPORTS_OPTIMIZED_INLINING=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_HARDIRQS=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_IRQ_PROBE=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_PENDING_IRQ=y

CONFIG_X86_SMP=y

CONFIG_X86_32_SMP=y

CONFIG_X86_HT=y

CONFIG_X86_BIOS_REBOOT=y

CONFIG_X86_TRAMPOLINE=y

CONFIG_KTIME_SCALAR=y

CONFIG_DEFCONFIG_LIST="/lib/modules/$UNAME_RELEASE/.config"

CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL=y

CONFIG_LOCK_KERNEL=y

CONFIG_INIT_ENV_ARG_LIMIT=32

CONFIG_LOCALVERSION=""

CONFIG_LOCALVERSION_AUTO=y

CONFIG_SWAP=y

CONFIG_SYSVIPC=y

CONFIG_SYSVIPC_SYSCTL=y

CONFIG_POSIX_MQUEUE=y

CONFIG_IKCONFIG=y

CONFIG_IKCONFIG_PROC=y

CONFIG_LOG_BUF_SHIFT=18

CONFIG_HAVE_UNSTABLE_SCHED_CLOCK=y

CONFIG_SYSFS_DEPRECATED=y

CONFIG_SYSFS_DEPRECATED_V2=y

CONFIG_RELAY=y

CONFIG_NAMESPACES=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD=y

CONFIG_INITRAMFS_SOURCE=""

CONFIG_CC_OPTIMIZE_FOR_SIZE=y

CONFIG_SYSCTL=y

CONFIG_UID16=y

CONFIG_SYSCTL_SYSCALL=y

CONFIG_SYSCTL_SYSCALL_CHECK=y

CONFIG_KALLSYMS=y

CONFIG_KALLSYMS_ALL=y

CONFIG_HOTPLUG=y

CONFIG_PRINTK=y

CONFIG_BUG=y

CONFIG_ELF_CORE=y

CONFIG_PCSPKR_PLATFORM=y

CONFIG_COMPAT_BRK=y

CONFIG_BASE_FULL=y

CONFIG_FUTEX=y

CONFIG_ANON_INODES=y

CONFIG_EPOLL=y

CONFIG_SIGNALFD=y

CONFIG_TIMERFD=y

CONFIG_EVENTFD=y

CONFIG_SHMEM=y

CONFIG_VM_EVENT_COUNTERS=y

CONFIG_SLUB_DEBUG=y

CONFIG_SLUB=y

CONFIG_HAVE_OPROFILE=y

CONFIG_KPROBES=y

CONFIG_KRETPROBES=y

CONFIG_HAVE_KPROBES=y

CONFIG_HAVE_KRETPROBES=y

CONFIG_PROC_PAGE_MONITOR=y

CONFIG_SLABINFO=y

CONFIG_RT_MUTEXES=y

CONFIG_BASE_SMALL=0

CONFIG_MODULES=y

CONFIG_MODULE_UNLOAD=y

CONFIG_MODULE_FORCE_UNLOAD=y

CONFIG_KMOD=y

CONFIG_STOP_MACHINE=y

CONFIG_BLOCK=y

CONFIG_LBD=y

CONFIG_IOSCHED_NOOP=y

CONFIG_IOSCHED_AS=y

CONFIG_IOSCHED_DEADLINE=y

CONFIG_IOSCHED_CFQ=y

CONFIG_DEFAULT_CFQ=y

CONFIG_DEFAULT_IOSCHED="cfq"

CONFIG_CLASSIC_RCU=y

CONFIG_TICK_ONESHOT=y

CONFIG_NO_HZ=y

CONFIG_HIGH_RES_TIMERS=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_CLOCKEVENTS_BUILD=y

CONFIG_SMP=y

CONFIG_X86_GENERICARCH=y

CONFIG_SCHED_NO_NO_OMIT_FRAME_POINTER=y

CONFIG_PARAVIRT_GUEST=y

CONFIG_VMI=y

CONFIG_PARAVIRT=y

CONFIG_X86_CYCLONE_TIMER=y

CONFIG_MPENTIUMIII=y

CONFIG_X86_GENERIC=y

CONFIG_X86_CPU=y

CONFIG_X86_CMPXCHG=y

CONFIG_X86_L1_CACHE_SHIFT=7

CONFIG_X86_XADD=y

CONFIG_X86_WP_WORKS_OK=y

CONFIG_X86_INVLPG=y

CONFIG_X86_BSWAP=y

CONFIG_X86_POPAD_OK=y

CONFIG_X86_GOOD_APIC=y

CONFIG_X86_INTEL_USERCOPY=y

CONFIG_X86_USE_PPRO_CHECKSUM=y

CONFIG_X86_TSC=y

CONFIG_X86_CMOV=y

CONFIG_X86_MINIMUM_CPU_FAMILY=4

CONFIG_X86_DEBUGCTLMSR=y

CONFIG_DMI=y

CONFIG_NR_CPUS=8

CONFIG_SCHED_SMT=y

CONFIG_SCHED_MC=y

CONFIG_PREEMPT_VOLUNTARY=y

CONFIG_X86_LOCAL_APIC=y

CONFIG_X86_IO_APIC=y

CONFIG_X86_MCE=y

CONFIG_X86_MCE_NONFATAL=y

CONFIG_VM86=y

CONFIG_MICROCODE=y

CONFIG_MICROCODE_OLD_INTERFACE=y

CONFIG_X86_MSR=y

CONFIG_X86_CPUID=y

CONFIG_HIGHMEM4G=y

CONFIG_PAGE_OFFSET=0xC0000000

CONFIG_HIGHMEM=y

CONFIG_SELECT_MEMORY_MODEL=y

CONFIG_FLATMEM_MANUAL=y

CONFIG_FLATMEM=y

CONFIG_FLAT_NODE_MEM_MAP=y

CONFIG_PAGEFLAGS_EXTENDED=y

CONFIG_SPLIT_PTLOCK_CPUS=4

CONFIG_RESOURCES_64BIT=y

CONFIG_ZONE_DMA_FLAG=1

CONFIG_BOUNCE=y

CONFIG_VIRT_TO_BUS=y

CONFIG_MTRR=y

CONFIG_IRQBALANCE=y

CONFIG_SECCOMP=y

CONFIG_HZ_100=y

CONFIG_HZ=100

CONFIG_SCHED_HRTICK=y

CONFIG_PHYSICAL_START=0x100000

CONFIG_PHYSICAL_ALIGN=0x100000

CONFIG_HOTPLUG_CPU=y

CONFIG_COMPAT_VDSO=y

CONFIG_ARCH_ENABLE_MEMORY_HOTPLUG=y

CONFIG_PM=y

CONFIG_PM_SLEEP_SMP=y

CONFIG_PM_SLEEP=y

CONFIG_SUSPEND=y

CONFIG_SUSPEND_FREEZER=y

CONFIG_ACPI=y

CONFIG_ACPI_SLEEP=y

CONFIG_ACPI_PROCFS=y

CONFIG_ACPI_PROCFS_POWER=y

CONFIG_ACPI_SYSFS_POWER=y

CONFIG_ACPI_PROC_EVENT=y

CONFIG_ACPI_AC=y

CONFIG_ACPI_BATTERY=y

CONFIG_ACPI_BUTTON=y

CONFIG_ACPI_FAN=y

CONFIG_ACPI_DOCK=y

CONFIG_ACPI_PROCESSOR=y

CONFIG_ACPI_HOTPLUG_CPU=y

CONFIG_ACPI_THERMAL=y

CONFIG_ACPI_BLACKLIST_YEAR=2001

CONFIG_ACPI_DEBUG=y

CONFIG_ACPI_EC=y

CONFIG_ACPI_POWER=y

CONFIG_ACPI_SYSTEM=y

CONFIG_X86_PM_TIMER=y

CONFIG_ACPI_CONTAINER=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_TABLE=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEBUG=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_STAT=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_DEFAULT_GOV_PERFORMANCE=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_PERFORMANCE=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_USERSPACE=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_ONDEMAND=y

CONFIG_CPU_FREQ_GOV_CONSERVATIVE=y

CONFIG_X86_ACPI_CPUFREQ=y

CONFIG_X86_POWERNOW_K8=y

CONFIG_X86_POWERNOW_K8_ACPI=y

CONFIG_X86_ACPI_CPUFREQ_PROC_INTF=y

CONFIG_CPU_IDLE=y

CONFIG_CPU_IDLE_GOV_LADDER=y

CONFIG_CPU_IDLE_GOV_MENU=y

CONFIG_PCI=y

CONFIG_PCI_GOANY=y

CONFIG_PCI_BIOS=y

CONFIG_PCI_DIRECT=y

CONFIG_PCI_MMCONFIG=y

CONFIG_PCI_DOMAINS=y

CONFIG_ARCH_SUPPORTS_MSI=y

CONFIG_PCI_MSI=y

CONFIG_PCI_LEGACY=y

CONFIG_ISA_DMA_API=y

CONFIG_K8_NB=y

CONFIG_BINFMT_ELF=y

CONFIG_NET=y

CONFIG_PACKET=y

CONFIG_UNIX=y

CONFIG_INET=y

CONFIG_IP_MULTICAST=y

CONFIG_IP_FIB_HASH=y

CONFIG_IP_PNP=y

CONFIG_IP_PNP_DHCP=y

CONFIG_INET_DIAG=y

CONFIG_INET_TCP_DIAG=y

CONFIG_TCP_CONG_CUBIC=y

CONFIG_DEFAULT_TCP_CONG="cubic"

CONFIG_UEVENT_HELPER_PATH="/sbin/hotplug"

CONFIG_STANDALONE=y

CONFIG_PREVENT_FIRMWARE_BUILD=y

CONFIG_FW_LOADER=y

CONFIG_PNP=y

CONFIG_PNPACPI=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_FD=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_LOOP=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM_COUNT=16

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_RAM_SIZE=4096

CONFIG_HAVE_IDE=y

CONFIG_IDE=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDE=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDISK=y

CONFIG_IDEDISK_MULTI_MODE=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDECD=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDECD_VERBOSE_ERRORS=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEACPI=y

CONFIG_IDE_PROC_FS=y

CONFIG_IDE_GENERIC=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA_SFF=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEPCI=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA_PCI=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_PIIX=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_IDEDMA=y

CONFIG_SCSI=y

CONFIG_SCSI_DMA=y

CONFIG_SCSI_NETLINK=y

CONFIG_BLK_DEV_SD=y

CONFIG_CHR_DEV_SG=y

CONFIG_SCSI_WAIT_SCAN=m

CONFIG_SCSI_SPI_ATTRS=y

CONFIG_SCSI_FC_ATTRS=y

CONFIG_SCSI_LOWLEVEL=y

CONFIG_MD=y

CONFIG_FUSION=y

CONFIG_FUSION_SPI=y

CONFIG_FUSION_MAX_SGE=128

CONFIG_NETDEVICES=y

CONFIG_NETDEVICES_MULTIQUEUE=y

CONFIG_NET_ETHERNET=y

CONFIG_MII=y

CONFIG_NETDEV_1000=y

CONFIG_E1000=y

CONFIG_NETCONSOLE=y

CONFIG_NETPOLL=y

CONFIG_NET_POLL_CONTROLLER=y

CONFIG_INPUT=y

CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV=y

CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV_PSAUX=y

CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV_SCREEN_X=1024

CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSEDEV_SCREEN_Y=768

CONFIG_INPUT_EVDEV=y

CONFIG_INPUT_KEYBOARD=y

CONFIG_KEYBOARD_ATKBD=y

CONFIG_INPUT_MOUSE=y

CONFIG_MOUSE_PS2=y

CONFIG_MOUSE_PS2_ALPS=y

CONFIG_MOUSE_PS2_LOGIPS2PP=y

CONFIG_MOUSE_PS2_SYNAPTICS=y

CONFIG_MOUSE_PS2_LIFEBOOK=y

CONFIG_MOUSE_PS2_TRACKPOINT=y

CONFIG_SERIO=y

CONFIG_SERIO_I8042=y

CONFIG_SERIO_LIBPS2=y

CONFIG_VT=y

CONFIG_VT_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_HW_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_DEVKMEM=y

CONFIG_SERIAL_8250=y

CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_FIX_EARLYCON_MEM=y

CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_PCI=y

CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_PNP=y

CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_NR_UARTS=4

CONFIG_SERIAL_8250_RUNTIME_UARTS=4

CONFIG_SERIAL_CORE=y

CONFIG_SERIAL_CORE_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_UNIX98_PTYS=y

CONFIG_LEGACY_PTYS=y

CONFIG_LEGACY_PTY_COUNT=256

CONFIG_HW_RANDOM=y

CONFIG_RTC=y

CONFIG_RAW_DRIVER=y

CONFIG_MAX_RAW_DEVS=256

CONFIG_DEVPORT=y

CONFIG_POWER_SUPPLY=y

CONFIG_THERMAL=y

CONFIG_SSB_POSSIBLE=y

CONFIG_SSB=y

CONFIG_SSB_SPROM=y

CONFIG_SSB_PCIHOST_POSSIBLE=y

CONFIG_SSB_PCIHOST=y

CONFIG_SSB_DRIVER_PCICORE_POSSIBLE=y

CONFIG_SSB_DRIVER_PCICORE=y

CONFIG_DAB=y

CONFIG_AGP=y

CONFIG_AGP_AMD64=y

CONFIG_AGP_INTEL=y

CONFIG_VGA_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK=y

CONFIG_VGACON_SOFT_SCROLLBACK_SIZE=128

CONFIG_VIDEO_SELECT=y

CONFIG_DUMMY_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_SOUND=y

CONFIG_SOUND_PRIME=y

CONFIG_HID_SUPPORT=y

CONFIG_HID=y

CONFIG_USB_HID=y

CONFIG_USB_SUPPORT=y

CONFIG_USB_ARCH_HAS_HCD=y

CONFIG_USB_ARCH_HAS_OHCI=y

CONFIG_USB_ARCH_HAS_EHCI=y

CONFIG_USB=y

CONFIG_USB_DEVICEFS=y

CONFIG_USB_EHCI_HCD=y

CONFIG_USB_OHCI_HCD=y

CONFIG_USB_OHCI_LITTLE_ENDIAN=y

CONFIG_USB_UHCI_HCD=y

CONFIG_USB_STORAGE=y

CONFIG_DMIID=y

CONFIG_EXT2_FS=y

CONFIG_EXT2_FS_XATTR=y

CONFIG_EXT2_FS_POSIX_ACL=y

CONFIG_EXT3_FS=y

CONFIG_EXT3_FS_XATTR=y

CONFIG_EXT3_FS_POSIX_ACL=y

CONFIG_JBD=y

CONFIG_FS_MBCACHE=y

CONFIG_JFS_FS=y

CONFIG_FS_POSIX_ACL=y

CONFIG_DNOTIFY=y

CONFIG_INOTIFY=y

CONFIG_INOTIFY_USER=y

CONFIG_AUTOFS4_FS=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_ACL=y

CONFIG_ISO9660_FS=y

CONFIG_FAT_FS=y

CONFIG_MSDOS_FS=y

CONFIG_VFAT_FS=y

CONFIG_FAT_DEFAULT_CODEPAGE=437

CONFIG_FAT_DEFAULT_IOCHARSET="iso8859-1"

CONFIG_PROC_FS=y

CONFIG_PROC_KCORE=y

CONFIG_PROC_SYSCTL=y

CONFIG_SYSFS=y

CONFIG_TMPFS=y

CONFIG_TMPFS_POSIX_ACL=y

CONFIG_HUGETLBFS=y

CONFIG_HUGETLB_PAGE=y

CONFIG_MSDOS_PARTITION=y

CONFIG_NLS=y

CONFIG_NLS_DEFAULT="iso8859-1"

CONFIG_NLS_CODEPAGE_437=y

CONFIG_NLS_ASCII=y

CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_1=y

CONFIG_NLS_ISO8859_15=y

CONFIG_NLS_UTF8=y

CONFIG_TRACE_IRQFLAGS_SUPPORT=y

CONFIG_ENABLE_WARN_DEPRECATED=y

CONFIG_FRAME_WARN=1024

CONFIG_MAGIC_SYSRQ=y

CONFIG_UNUSED_SYMBOLS=y

CONFIG_DEBUG_KERNEL=y

CONFIG_DETECT_SOFTLOCKUP=y

CONFIG_TIMER_STATS=y

CONFIG_DEBUG_BUGVERBOSE=y

CONFIG_HAVE_ARCH_KGDB=y

CONFIG_EARLY_PRINTK=y

CONFIG_DEBUG_STACKOVERFLOW=y

CONFIG_X86_FIND_SMP_CONFIG=y

CONFIG_X86_MPPARSE=y

CONFIG_DOUBLEFAULT=y

CONFIG_IO_DELAY_TYPE_0X80=0

CONFIG_IO_DELAY_TYPE_0XED=1

CONFIG_IO_DELAY_TYPE_UDELAY=2

CONFIG_IO_DELAY_TYPE_NONE=3

CONFIG_IO_DELAY_0X80=y

CONFIG_DEFAULT_IO_DELAY_TYPE=0

CONFIG_CRYPTO=y

CONFIG_CRYPTO_HW=y

CONFIG_HAVE_KVM=y

CONFIG_BITREVERSE=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_FIND_FIRST_BIT=y

CONFIG_GENERIC_FIND_NEXT_BIT=y

CONFIG_CRC32=y

CONFIG_PLIST=y

CONFIG_HAS_IOMEM=y

CONFIG_HAS_IOPORT=y

CONFIG_HAS_DMA=y