How to config VM for SQL 2008?

[macpiano]

I'm running ESXi 4 on a Dell 710 on the SD card with Raid 10. I have 12 gigs of ram (soon to go to 48 because this server was going to be something else) with dual quad cores. I am running WSUS as a VM and SQL 2008 all 64 bit but SQL at the moment is using just one processor-virtual. All this in on the same datastore. I have another Datastore on the same server and those 2 drives are in Raid 1 but I haven't used them yet. Everything is contained in one box and will always be that way.

1. Can the SQL and the VMs using it be on the same datastore or am I better off to put on the different Raids?

2. I want to add Sharepoint which also uses SQL 2008, should this be a different instance of SQL2008?

3. How much ram (assuming I am getting 48 gigs) and how many processors should I designate?

Thanks

Gary

[a_p_ · Accepted solution]

Gary,

without knowing what workload we are taking about, it's not easy to answer your questions.

However, let's try to find some answers for you.

Hardware:

- Make sure your Hardware is listed in the HCL! (Server, RAID-Controller,...)

- For best performance you should use SAS HDD's and battery backed write cache. The write cache - in my opinion - is essential!

Licensing:

- You can save or lose a lot of money with licensing.

- With 1 license of Windows Server Enterprise (2003R2 and up) MS grants you the right for up to 4 VM's on 1 physical server.

- For SQL2008 take a look at MS licensing. Depending on the version you have to buy a license per vCPU.

Installation:

- Make sure to setup your VMFS datastores with the desired block size (1-8MB) for the maximum VMDK size you expect.

- If using Windows 2003 server, make sure to align the VM's partitions!

- Read MS's best practices for SQL installations. (Partition alignment, NTFS block size, ...)

Now let's answer your questions:

1.) Depending on the workload and the SQL recovery model (basic, bulk, full) it may make sense to have vmdk's on different logical disks (spindles). With the hardware you have I would recommend to create up to 3 virtual disks (OS, SQL data, transaction logs). Put OS and data on the RAID10 and the logs on the RAID1.

2.) Well, again this depends on the workload. If one SQL server is sufficient you can save the money for a second SQL license.

3.) Best practice is to assign just as many vCPU's and as much RAM as you need. You can always adjust the settings if needed later on. Don't forget licensing SQL server when adding additional vCPUs.

André

PS: I personally don't trust SD cards except for my camera. I always install ESX(i) on HDD's!

[macpiano]

André

Thanks, this what was I was looking for. Fortunately we are a k12 environment so licensing from MS is pretty cheap. On the SD card while I know you don't trust them it is possible to make a bakup one just in case. The datastores are not lost and I don't do anything to my VMware other than the stock config. I also have mission critical service from Dell and the SD card with the VMware is loaded on by them so I feel pretty confident about that. I also keep SQL pretty vanilla because in my environment I don't have a lot of time to devout to it.

These are SAS drives etc.

thanks again

Gary

[macpiano]

André,

I finally got my updated Raid controller that will let me do more than 1 Raid 10. I have 6 1 TB SAS drives which I have Raid 10ed. While there are 2 Raid 10 partitions because of the 2 TB limit there are 2 partitions. I know you suggest to have 3 VDs dividing up OS, data, and logs. Do I need to spread them between the 2 Raid 10 partitions or is it not really necessary since everything is going to on the same 6 spindles?

Dell recommended the 6 spindles because of the more spindles thing. I want to get it close to the best install and performance from the get go.

thanks

Gary