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timbo475
Contributor
Contributor

ESX 3.5 - VMs and memory optimisation

Hi,

I'm fairly new to ESX generally and we're currently using ESX 3.5. I understand that quite often virutal machines don't need as many resources as you'd think and I'm getting to grips with memory requirements presently.

We've got some Windows Server 2003 VMs and initially they were assigned the normal amount memory that a seperate physical server would need, but it's becoming apparent that they don't seem to need anywhere near that.

For example a server with MSSQL 2005 installed was originally given 1GB memory, then it's become apparent (from viewing VM memory performance) that it could probably run on 256MB generally, which is a really small amount for a MSSQL server, even if it's under a small load. It's a really small amount for a plain Server 2003 OS!

Memory allocation is porbably quite a big subject (too big for a reply to this) but if someone could point me in the direction of how to get the best out of ESX and VMs is regards to memory, that would be great. It seems tuning these things is a bit of an art in itself......

Cheers,

Tim

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5 Replies
timbo475
Contributor
Contributor

As usual, I've missed some stuff out Smiley Sad

What I should add is that I've been looking at 'host memory' and 'guest memory'. Which of these 2 are the most useful for determining how much memory can be reduced (or epxanded)? The Host Memory seems closer to what I'd expect physical servers to need; for some server, the guest memory is really very low.

Cheers,

Tim

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AntonVZhbankov
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Immortal

This is detailed description how ESX works with memory: http://www.vmware.com/pdf/esx3_memory.pdf
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VMware vExpert '2009

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timbo475
Contributor
Contributor

Thanks Anton - will check that out.

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timbo475
Contributor
Contributor

I also found a useful article explaining about memory that even I can understand Smiley Wink

ESX memory management

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AntonVZhbankov
Immortal
Immortal

You should thank for this article Smiley Happy


---

VMware vExpert '2009

http://blog.vadmin.ru

EMCCAe, HPE ASE, MCITP: SA+VA, VCP 3/4/5, VMware vExpert XO (14 stars)
VMUG Russia Leader
http://t.me/beerpanda
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