Help with vcpu performance issue.

[TTC-Seth]

I've been fighting this for a while.  I'm not as well educated as I'd like to be in terms of performance metrics.

My client has a Dell 1950 with 2 quadcore processors running vSphere 4.0.1 (haven't upgraded them to 4.1 yet)

IIt's running SBS2008 with 15 guests running Win7 x64.  All VMs have 1 CPU assigned.

CPU is constantly spiking on the sbs server or sitting pegged at 100% for a bit.  There's no particular process that's acting as the culprit.

What's the best way to properly troubleshoot this?  Can I prioritize or reserve cpu resources for the sbs server etc?

[MauroBonder]

Check a version of hardware virtual, if is 4, upgrade to v7, and check if vmware tools are installed.

To upgrade the virtual hardware:

Note:  If this is a Lab Manager virtual machine it must be undeployed, have  its virtual hardware version upgraded from its configuration, then be  redeployed.

1. Install VMware tools
2. Power off the virtual machine.
3. From the VMware product's user interface, right-click on the entry for the virtual machine.
4. Depending on the VMware product and version in use, click on one of the following: Upgrade or Change Version, Upgrade Virtual Machine, or Upgrade Virtual Hardware
5. Power on, if necessary, reboot a virtual machine again
   

[TTC-Seth]

All VMs are currently running at version 7.  ESX itself is running 4.0, not 4.1 btw.