Win Server 2008 R2 Guest runs slow with 4 cores/processor configurations

[yzeng]

Hello everyone,

I encounter with a little difficulty running Windows Server 2008 R2 standard version as the guest OS on VM workstation 8.

I plan to install Sharepoint server 2010 and project server 2010, which require windows server 2008 R2 x64, a quad core CPU

and no less than 4G ram.

The host OS I am using is Win 7 professional with i5 2400CPU @3.10 GHz on Dell desktop. I just found out if I configure VM workstation 8 processor to 1 and cores per processor to 4, which is exactly the same as its physical processor, Windows server 2008 R2 standard runs very slow, whereas if I set VM to have 1 core per processor, the guest OS runs obviously faster.

I already enabled Intel VT on BIOS.

If I use 1 processor and 1 core configuration, I am afraid that my Sharepoint Server 2010 won't even be able to run.

Any suggestion would be much appreciate !

Thank you !

Yong

[a_p_]

Welcome to the Community,

In order to run the host OS and the VM, your host definitely needs some of the CPU resources, so you may not assign all CPUs (including HT) to a VM. I'm pretty sure the Sharepoint requirements are not enforced and you will be able to run the VM with 1 or 2 vCPUs without issues.

André

[Scorpion99]

How may Ram do you have on your Host machine?

Check this for Windows 2008 requirements ,

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsserver/bb414778.aspx

You have to keep some memory and CPU resources for your Host so it can run the Guest as a.p told you

[yzeng]

I have 4 GB RAM in my host machine, and I assigned 2GB to guest OS.

what about extra RAM such as virtual memory which can be borrowed from hard drive?

[yzeng]

Thank you andre, I use 1 processor and 1 core for the guest OS and it looks like the sharepoint server 2010 and project server 2010 runs okay.

[Scorpion99]

Regarding your computer specifications , I think it can be upgradable to more than 4 GB Ram. You can check its model on the internet.
If you find Windows 2008 slow , you can change it to the best perfomance by right click My computer ----> Properties then System Properties ---> Advanced ---> Settings and select "Adjust for best performance"

[yzeng]

ok. I think I will add extra 2 GB RAM.

[yzeng]

Hello again,

I just added extra 2GB RAM in my desktop, and find the vmware runs still slow. I am wondering if the slowness is caused by the factors other than from hardware specifications?

My desktop has i5 Quad and 6G ram, and I set the vCPU to be 1 and assign 4GB to the Vmware which means the host OS still has 2G ram to use.

I suspect if  I need to turn off or uninstall components from the guest os (windows server 2008 R2) ? currently on top of the windows server 2008 r2 I install project server 2010 , sharepoint server 2010 and SQL server 2008 R2. Do you think it's them that causes lot of troubles?

Yong

[Bernd_Nowak]

I work with desktop virtualisation products like VMware workstation, bare metal stuff like ESXi and physical hosts.

My experience is that for current Microsoft server products VMware workstation is the slowest. Then comes ESXi and the fastest is to use it without any virtualisation.

But I know that even on physical HP 3xx servers gen8 some Microsoft products feel slow when I administrate them. So my conclusion is that unless users are complaining all is good

Not that it really matters but you say you give the virtualised server 4GB RAM. It's a 2008R2 so it's a 64bit OS which can't really take advantage of more then 4GB RAM. So you have a memory overhead inside the VM. You add a SQL server to add which don't make it better inside the VM. So for me it's no suprise that the VM might be feeling slow.

My best experience today, virtualised or physical, is to use a remote desktop to the server. Mostly it feels OK then. My experience.

There will be other people around which can add some more valuable stuff to your question