defrag server

[billet245]

We have a VM on VI3 that has VirtualCenter Server loaded on it as well as the Virtual Infrastructure Client. It is very fragmented. Can I just stop the associated MSDE database service and defrag the VM?

[RParker]

Yes, but chances are the database isn't the part that's fragmented. You can degrag with the database running.

[Dave_Mishchenko · Accepted solution]

If you defragment in the VM that you would want to stop the VC service and the MSDE service. As mentioned, you'll want to make sure that you have either a maintenance plan setup for the DB (rebuild indexes, update statistics) otherwise performance will degrade from a SQL server perspective over time. http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/vc_microsoft_sql_server.pdf - see page 17 and following.

[billet245]

Great! Thanks for the fast replies!

[jhanekom]

NTFS defragmentation APIs handle open files just fine. There is no need to stop any services. http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa363911.aspx

The challenges you may run into with a highly fragmented file system are mostly because of the crappy algorithms in the built-in defragmentation tool itself (for example, requiring approximately 20% free space to work properly is not particularly impressive.) Third-party applications - that use the same APIs mentioned above - feature algorithms that are far more efficient.