what is the I/O profile for VM workload?

[ITMan01]

Hi all,

As we know, different applications may have different I/O profile, eg. OLTP system would typically with [random, samll, 7:3 R/W ratio.]

1. What is the typically I/O profile for a VMWare virtual machine?

2. Do we have a best practice guide of configuration for SAN storage LUN layout?

Many thx!

[MKguy · Accepted solution]

1. What is the typically I/O profile for a VMWare virtual machine?

2. Do we have a best practice guide of configuration for SAN storage LUN layout?

There is absolutely no such thing as a "typical IO profile of a VMware VM". It always, eternally all day every day, depends.

Just because a hypervisor is sitting between the OS/Application and the storage array, does not mean that the IO profile and storage requirements are suddenly turned upside down or scrambled randomly all over the place.

An idle VM won't generate any more or different IOPS than an idle physical server. A busy database VM won't behave any different in terms of IOPS and IO profile than a physical server with the same database/application either.

A common m

In a nutshell, design your storage the same way you would in a completely physical world.

Some recommended reading:

http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/10329

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-51/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-51-monitor...

http://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-51/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vsphere-esxi-vcenter-server-51-storage...

Analyze and understand those so called "best practices", but don't apply them blindly to your environment.

[VCEKen]

Besides the great resources outlined above, I have also posted some general sizing guidlines on my blog.  Basically, every application has to be sized indivdually; however, there are general guidlines that I outlined which can be used when requirements are not well defined.