ESXi

Let me post in this forum, even if my issue is related to an old ESXi 3.5.0 server.

I need to troubleshoot performance problems, because my guest VM get slower and slower.

I look at the performances and don't see (maybe I look at the wrong place...) any meaningful problem: CPU usage (average) range from 40 to 80%, memory usage (average) range from 77 to 84%, memory granted (average) is about the same as physical memory, uptime is 36 days.

Does anybody see any meaningful problem?

Should I reboot the host on a per week basis?

What further counter should I look at?

Is there any documentation about the right performance troubleshooting procedure?

Suggestions, pointers and hints welcome!

Regards

marius

http://blogs.vmware.com/performance/2009/09/performance-troubleshooting-for-vmware-vsphere-4-and-esx-40.html

http://kb.vmware.com/kb/1008885

ESXTOP

http://www.yellow-bricks.com/esxtop/

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-9279

A couple of questions first - how many VMs are running on this ESXi host? What are their configurations in terms of memory and vCPUs? Did this recently start happening or is this been a problem since the server cam on line? What is the configuration of your ESXi host - memory, physical  CPUs, how do you connect to storage?

The key metrics to look at are:

• For CPU contention look at the CPU Ready Time metric
  
• For Memory look at he Balloon Driver metric
  

Some best pracices -

• Make sure all your VMs have VMware Tools installed
  
• Make sure all your VMs have single vCPU unless absolutely necessary
  

If you find this or any other answer useful please consider awarding points -

Here are some additional links and are very good at explaining everything.

esxtop:

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-5240

vSphere

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-10352

CPU

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-5420

Storage

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-5490

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-6490

MEM

http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-5430