ESX3i and Windows 2008 / Slow Disk Performance and High CPU

[Schwags]

We just recently migrated a very large file server into ESX3i and Server 2008. Since the migration we've noticed we're getting very large spikes in CPU to 100% for some time. This is not very normal for a file server. Just curious if anyone has used Server 2008 on ESX3 and if there were any issues? I'm not sure what could be causing this. I've also noticed in my test system (also 3i) when I do a "full" format on a disk, it takes 3-4 minutes instead of the usual 2 seconds that always happened in Server 2003. Maybe this has something to do with it? Maybe we need an update or updated drivers for the SCSI controller.

Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[techone]

We've been having similar issues here with performance of Windows Server 2008 x64. Initially we deploy our machines from template with minimal resources allocated (1CPU, 512 MB RAM). We then deploy the VM from the template and once the machine has deployed completely, log in, shut it down and reconfigure its hardware to whatever is required.

I noticed that after reconfiguring a VM to 2CPU and 4096MB RAM that boot time was extremely slow (several minutes, compared to the template which boots in around a minute). Also general response from the VM was slow and Task manager showed 100% CPU Utilisation for extended periods when trying to complete simple tasks like opening Server Manager etc. This behaviour was consistent for all 2008 X64 VM's.

Firstly we noticed that inexplicably the VM is configured with a 512MB memory reservation. This is not configured on the template. Still after removing the memory reservation boot times and performance remain just as poor as before.

The solution we came up with was to shut down the VM, return the Virtual Machine memory to 512MB, boot the VM, shut it back down and set the memory back to the desired amount.

Why this works is a mystery and I'm still not convinced that this is a viable solution. I try to avoid working in the paranormal.

[tkdunbar]

Does anyone know what, if any explanation was given by VMware on this problem? I am having the same symptoms as was described here.

[DaPrince]

Unfortunately I'm with You guys now. We have similar problems when file copy is tried.

Our setup is:

4 servers running ESX 3.5.0, build 143128

HW: Proliant BL460C G1

SAN: EVA 4000

On our local network the issue is not as large as on our site in e.g. Hongkong. A 40 MB filecopy can take up to 10 minutes, where a file copy from a physical client only take aprox. 30 sec. which is standard for our file copies. (we recently moved all file servers from w2003 to w2008)

Did any of You have any luck solving this problem?

[RuudBoersma]

Hi,

I'm also experiencing this problem running a DL380G5 witg 24Gb en 1,2 TB storage (SAS).

Vmware version is ESXi 4. THe virtual machine is windows 2008 enterprise sp2 64 bit. It takes forever to format a 125 GB virtual disk, added to the VM. I tried setting it back to 1 vcpu and 1GB of memory, but without success.

Is Vmware aware of this problem?

Best regards,

Ruud Boersma

[dconkl01]

I have Dell 6850 with 64bit option turned on. I have two Windows Server 2008 R2 (x64) VM's running on one host with 4-2core CPU's and nothing else. I am running ESX 3.5 Update 4 with ESX patches up to 8/15/09.

The response time on the desktop is pretty slow compared to Windows 2003. I am reviewing a Windows 2008 R2 performance turning document

from Microsoft to see if there's something I can tweak. One thing I have not tried is moving from local storage to SAN.

[s1xth]

Wow...old thread.

There is a thread somewhere on this issue, but it has been confirmed by vmWare that there are performance issues with Server 2008 under ESX 3.5. These problems have been completely fixed in ESX/i 4.0.

[AppDevAu]

We are running ESX/i 4.0 & 2008R2 is still significantly slower our web server. We tested 7 pages on our website & timed them with single user load when compared with our production webserver under full load with ~700 users / day. There are some spec differences- production machine is 3.0Gh 8 core & VMWare is 2.66Ghz.

Results are:

VMWare 2008R2 dual core 57% slower

VMWare 2008R2 quad core 69% slower

VMWare 2003 single core 19% slower

Is there some special configuation that needs to be done to overcome this?

[rickardnobel]

We are running ESX/i 4.0 & 2008R2 is still significantly slower our web server.

I am not a moderator, but perhaps it would be better to start a new thread with this problem on vSphere 4.x as this old thread relates to an different version of ESX/ESXi?

[MikeOckertz]

Absolutely false in my case.

I am running VMWARE ESXi 4.1.0 Build 260247 and I came across this thread while searching for a problem with my Server 2008R2 x64 install.  Three and a half hours into the install the files were still being copied (87%).

I used advice in this thread and changed CPU's to 1 and memory from 8GB to 4GB with no luck.  I then changed memory from 4GB to 512MB and the install is FLYING.

There is an issue between VMWARE and Server 2008 regarding memory and as of today, 8/29/11, it still exists, even in ESXi 4

Hope this helps someone else.

[miztadux]

I know it's an old thread, but I just installed a 2008 R2 x64 server on an otherwise nicely perfomring ESXi 4.1

As the previous poster the install time was ludicrous: more than 6 hours just to unpack files on a (albeit sata...) 24 disks netapp bay.

After a full night going I was able to login, only to get to the most unresponsive desktop I ever encountered in twenty years, that's amazing, how can it be so slow ?

I mean I nearly had time to register and write this post before the "enable remote desktop" dialiog showed up, it's gonna take an hour just to click through the tools install procedure.

So is there a solution or at least an explanation ?

Is the situation better on ESX 5.0 or will 2008 always be that much slower than 2003 ?