Huge slowdown on ESXi host..........and I've done nothing!

[handsy]

I'm really struggling here.

I have an ESXi 5.5u2 host that's been running fine with 2 VMs for a few weeks. Then I get in this Monday and everything is pretty much unusable! :smileyconfused:

The host has a 1 socket, 6 core, 12 logical processor Xeon CPU and 32 GB RAM.

VM_1 has 1x vCPU and 2GB RAM

VM_2 has 2x vCPU and 8GB RAM.

As you can see, nowhere near touching the physical resource on the host. So why am I getting the stats in the attached image (just used VM_1 as an example).

I've even gone as far as rebooting the ESXi host, and I stress I have not touched this host at all!

I'm looking for some expertise here, coz I clearly have none :smileycry:

Thanks

[handsy]

No replies

Anyway, I'll update the thread to say that the problem seems to have disappeared! I didn't do much, just adjusted BIOS power setting on the Dell R620 host to 'Performance'. I can't see that this was the fix, so I guess I will have to be patient and wait for it to happen again...or not (hopefully)!

EDIT: should I really install the Dell customised .iso for ESXi 5.5u2 on this host? Does it make a difference?

[Alistar]

Hi there,

yes you always should install customized ISOs because they come in along with their proprietary drivers. If this situation happens again, monitor the host via ESXTOP - Yellow Bricks and post screenshots - we could see the core of the problem then.

[handsy]

If I do upgrade the Dell host to the customised ISO, how will that affect the licence?

Do I need to follow this process:

• put the host in to maintenance mode
• remove from inventory
• remove the licence via vSphere client
• upgrade ESXi
• add to vCenter and apply previously removed licence

:smileyconfused: .....or do I not even need to worry about licencing, as when I upgrade ESXi it'll keep the existing licence?

[Alistar]

Licensing is not affected at all while upgrading - licenses are bound to CPU sockets only and its instances are managed by the vCenter itself, so you need not to worry. The steps you proposed are correct and the safest way to go Good luck!

[handsy]

I ended up just doing the first 2 steps in my list and choosing 'Install - preserve existing VMFS datastore'. I felt more comfy choosing 'Install' over 'Upgrade' and it wasn't a biggy adding host IP config back on.