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shurik
Contributor
Contributor

Esx4 very slow throughtput in service console or VCB in nbd mode

I just upgraded to ESX4 and having serious backup problem. Performance went down 4-5 times. Where I had 100-120MB/s now I barely get 20MB/s

We are using VEEAM 3.1 which runs ints backup agent in service console and performance on ES4 is very poor. I tried to copy VMDK file via vCenter - same issue very slow. Tried VCB in NDB mode same very slow as if throughtput is throttled at about 22MB/s

My backups run out of time now. Any help would be greatly appreciated?

Thank you,

Alex

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20 Replies
asp24
Enthusiast
Enthusiast

You are not the only one, that's for sure.

Look here:

If possible, run VCB in SAN-mode. I get wire-speed backups there (at least after the first full backup)

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shurik
Contributor
Contributor

yes, thank you, I have read that and the whole discussion on VEEAM forums. Unfortunately we have local storage only no SAN option for me. I was hoping there is at least a way to make VCB NBD work faster Smiley Sad

How could VCB pass their QA with such a poor performance? So may be something should be configured/tweaked after upgrade from 3.5?

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devzero
Expert
Expert

i`m also curious about this.

i tested this and indeed "dd if=file.vdmk of=/dev/null" is much slower on esx4

did you open a SR for this ?

what did support tell ?

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devzero
Expert
Expert

here`s some real world numbers.

mind the scaling change in y-axis!

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shurik
Contributor
Contributor

please see http://www.vnotion.com/?p=38 for more info

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meistermn
Expert
Expert

Viceversa the means, take esxi 4.0 not esx 4.0. Esxi has no service console. So the backup software has to be certified for esxi.

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devzero
Expert
Expert

mhh, that sounds analog to

a: i bought a new VW Golf V and determined that it only goes at 80mph speed where my old Golf IV could do 160mph"

b: so, why don`t you use a VW Polo ?

We paid for ESX4, so do you really think ESXi is an option to work around such stupid problem?

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shurik
Contributor
Contributor

And it is not just backup performance. Cloning or moving VMs, or creating VMs from template on local storage is affected as well.

VMware says it is trying to attract small businesses and those will likely run vSphere with local storage and suffer this horrible performance Smiley Sad

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shurik
Contributor
Contributor

yes, except that your new Golf will only go 22mph. 80 would'n be so bad given new body stytle and paint

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devzero
Expert
Expert

>VMware says it is trying to attract small businesses and those will likely run vSphere with local storage....

Also mind that VMware is a EMC subsidiary, and that EMC is a SAN company. Smiley Wink

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shurik
Contributor
Contributor

yes! it is a conspiracy! police! Smiley Wink Smiley Wink

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carco
Contributor
Contributor

Unfortunately for VMware, I think this may be the proverbial camel straw that gives Microsoft and Citrix the openings they've been looking for.

We specialize in the SMB market, often with the Essentials bundle. The $900-$3000 price point made VMware the best solution. Add on the cost of a SAN, and the balance tips in the favor of the competition.

I just don't see how this makes sense just when they were making such good progress, when the barbarians... er-um - I mean, when Microsoft and Citrix are at the gate..

We've had several installs over the past few months, and this has been a real problem. Those customers have lost confidence in VMware, and we've had to bear the cost of taking care of them, while investigating alternative solutions during this rather unimpressive economy.

How can I even consider selling any more 4.0 until this has been resolved?

Ergo - my vote is not for conspiracy, but just good old fashioned plain-white-wrapper stupidity.

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devzero
Expert
Expert

thanks for your comment!

do you have a SR open for this, too ?

regards

roland

ps:

that sounds stupid now, but i`m no native english speaker and have difficulties in understanding 2 of your aphorisms and don`t find approriate description in any dictionary.

can you perhaps explain "proverbial camel straw" ("proverbial straw" would make sense to me, but what has camels to do with that?) and "plain-white-wrapper stupidity" in other words?

it`s just for expanding my knowledge of english language.thanks again.

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carco
Contributor
Contributor

Sure Roland - the first comes from the saying "the straw that broke the camel's back" comes from an old Arab proverb and means "the last/final straw". the term "plain-white-wrapper" refers to something being very common or generic and comes from the plain white packaging used for generic or "non-branded" products (ie not Pepsi or Coke - just "soda")

As far as the SR - as the issue is a known problem, and we've pretty much replicated what everyone else has - I'm not sure there's much value to keep pursuing it with VMware. I've been spending all my spare time working on various "work arounds" for the particular solution we're providing now.

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devzero
Expert
Expert

thanks!

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erikgantar
Contributor
Contributor

having similar performance problem on vSphere esx 4

my storage is SAN EMC AX 4-5

migrate operation slow, Consumed Host CPU: high on VM idle, Consumed Host Memory: high, slow shutdown of VM-s,...

while our two same hosts on ESXi and local storage, worked fine

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devzero
Expert
Expert

the issue is about perfrormance degradation from esx3.5 to vsphere4 on the SAME storage, no matter if it`s local or SAN storage.

so, if you tell that performance is ok on local storage with esxi (i assume you mean esx4i) and it`s bad on san storage, then i`m not sure if this is the same issue.

do you have a chance to compare esx3.5 vs. esx4 performance on the san storage ?

if esx4 performs worse and not above ~25MB/s for reads, then you have the issue being discussed here.

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erikgantar
Contributor
Contributor

Today we remove ESX 4.0 and install esxi 4.0. on same storage. VM works well, no performance issues.

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devzero
Expert
Expert

i`d say this is resolved - seems VMware has done good work!

have just tested ESX400-200912401-BG (http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1016291) and console read performance went up from 30MB/s to 160MB/s !

WOW!

can somebody confirm to make sure i did no mistake on measuring ?

i can`t believe that number yet Smiley Happy

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