Optimal Settings for Partitioning

[djenn40]

We currently have a 8 host cluster with each host using the following partition sizes during installation (67 GB drive):

/boot 100 mb

/ 10 GB

/var 4 GB

vmkcore 102 mb

swap 550 mb

vmfs remaining space or 52 GB

Are these sufficient for ESX or will we get any performance improvements by increasing any of the partitions? The local vmfs isn't used as all our servers reside on a SAN. I haven't found a white paper with the best specs to use and these were what we used to use when we had limited storage for the OS.

[vmroyale]

Hello.

Are these sufficient for ESX or will we get any performance improvements by increasing any of the partitions? The local vmfs isn't used as all our servers reside on a SAN. I haven't found a white paper with the best specs to use and these were what we used to use when we had limited storage for the OS.

Duncan's site has a great blog entry and discussion on partitioning schemes. The biggest issue with the current setup you have is possibly the Swap size. I usually make the Swap 1600 MB, so that you can up the SC memory to 800 MB. This depends too on how many agents and other 3rd party apps you use in the SC, as well. Sounds like you have disk to spare though, so it might be a good practice to implement.

Good Luck!

[djenn40]

Thanks, I'll review the blog shortly. Are the following required: /tmp, /home, and /opt? We haven't use them in any of our 8 current hosts nor did we use them in our ESX 3.0 environment.

[vmroyale]

Are the following required: /tmp, /home, and /opt?

No. The required and optional partitions are listed in the ESX Server 3 and VirtualCenter Installation Guide.