[sims] Virtualise SIMS

[pete]

I'm not well versed in server performance analysis e.g. where to check for network and disk performance bottlenecks, and I know even less about SQL server performance analysis. And perhaps it's just the case that our physical Hyper-V servers and/or SAN don't have enough oomph.

 

Perfmon. Specifically look at disk queue lengths and run it for a couple of days. Ideally, you'd have metrics from the physical server to compare against, but I'm guessing you don't. Quest also provides free trials of SQL profiling tools (be aware you'll get a fair amount of sales calls). Trial Downloads and Freeware for Quest Software Products.

 

And the Microsoft Guidance on SQL tuning: Performance Monitoring and Tuning How-to Topics

 

--

 

And I don't think much of your CC's "optimum support", their reasoning is at best spurious and they appear to be more interested in making their lives easier than providing support.

[Gongalong]

Thanks pete. I'll have a look.

 

Curiously our CC's IT team also say this re. virtualisation, suggesting that other schools have had issues: While Capita supports virtualisation in principle, schools need to ensure that the machine hosting the virtual SIMS Host has the capabilities and performance

required to run all virtual machines, whilst not compromising any machine.

[nicholab]

My view is do it as you get very little support on these things.

[Gongalong]

pete: I've got the graphical side of perfmon running (Average Disk Queue Length, Average Disk Read Queue Length, Average Disk Write Queue Length, Current Disk Queue Length). Is there anything else I should be doing? e.g. capturing the data to file (which I'm not sure how to do)

[zag]

Which begs the question, would there be that much difference in performance between 32 and 64 bit? We would have been running 32 bit on our previous physical SIMS server.

 

I'm not well versed in server performance analysis e.g. where to check for network and disk performance bottlenecks, and I know even less about SQL server performance analysis. And perhaps it's just the case that our physical Hyper-V servers and/or SAN don't have enough oomph.

 

I've tested this theory many times and there will be no difference whatsoever in speed with 32 and 64 bit.

 

Personally I would get a SQL analaysis tool to see whats going on. Also don't forget that too much ram on a virtual machine can cause problems with MS SQL server performance as it will create a huge memory footprint if a lot is available. I'd recommend 4GB, that's what ours runs on and its very quick. We do run ours on an SSD drive though.

Edited February 28, 2013 by zag

[Gongalong]

Any recommendations on which SQL analysis tool to use, and what to monitor? Unfortunately I have zero knowledge in this area.

[Gongalong]

Perfmon is currently showing the following (running since yesterday):

 

Avg. Disk Queue Length: Average = 0.060, Minimum = 0.000, Maximum = 0.545, Duration = 1:40

Avg. Disk Read Queue Length: Average = 0.126, Minimum = 0.000, Maximum = 0.919, Duration = 1:40

Avg. Disk Write Queue Length: Average = 0.028, Minimum = 0.000, Maximum = 0.188, Duration = 1:40

Current Disk Queue Length: Average = 0.160, Minimum = 0.000, Maximum = 4.000, Duration = 1:40

 

I have a feeling based on the durations though that this is just showing the last 100 seconds of data (viewing via the graph).

 

As above, I've never used perfmon before.

[jinnantonnixx]

SQL Activity Monitor is a good tool.

 

Performance Analysis Using SQL Server 2008 Activity Monitor Tool

 

 

Here's a thread that covers a lot of possibilities

http://www.edugeek.net/forums/mis-systems/108124-peaking-cpu-server.html

Edited March 1, 2013 by jinnantonnixx

[vikpaw]

Some free tools here that were mentioned a while back, includes an SQL one and a a few VM ones. Worth a look, and no sting in the tail. Free Enterprise Management Software - Network Performance Management, IT Help Desk & Desktop, Server Management

[cmpwat]

Trying really hard not to flog a dead horse with this Thread but was wondering how people had got on with virtualising SIMS? We have ours virtualised and to be honset, we are thinking of returning to physical due to the issues members of staff are having during the day (massive latency when trying to run reports etc.). We have boosted the processors to 4 sockets/2cores per socket (thinking to switching these to 2 sockets and 4 cores to get the quad core as per the recommended specs) and 24Gb of RAM but duing the day, it can run like a dog and sometimes will lock up if someone is running an intense job (new in-take etc.).

 

Just looking for how people got on and more importantly how they have setup the VM in order to run SIMS on in.

[zag]

Trying really hard not to flog a dead horse with this Thread but was wondering how people had got on with virtualising SIMS? We have ours virtualised and to be honset, we are thinking of returning to physical due to the issues members of staff are having during the day (massive latency when trying to run reports etc.). We have boosted the processors to 4 sockets/2cores per socket (thinking to switching these to 2 sockets and 4 cores to get the quad core as per the recommended specs) and 24Gb of RAM but duing the day, it can run like a dog and sometimes will lock up if someone is running an intense job (new in-take etc.).

 

Just looking for how people got on and more importantly how they have setup the VM in order to run SIMS on in.

 

Did you read my comment about having too much RAM on virtual machines? 24gb is huge! Try it with 4gb of ram instead.

 

More is not always better when it comes to virtualization!

[synaesthesia]

Our SIMS server is on a physical box: that was only down to forgetting we had an extra ESX licence. We have the same issues - 16 cores it can play with, 48GB ram, SAS drives and reports are still often sluggish as is the rest of SIMS if the data admins are running large reports etc. I intend to P2V it at Easter and expect identical performance.

[Arthur]

We have the same issues - 16 cores it can play with, 48GB ram, SAS drives and reports are still often sluggish as is the rest of SIMS if the data admins are running large reports etc.

Do you think if the SIMS database was on an SSD it would improve the situation?

[3s-gtech]

Ours is virtualised on ESXi, has been for a while. 8 Opteron cores, 30GB of RAM dedicated (no pagefile on the hypervisor). Also has 8 10k SAS in RAID 10. Reports can still sometimes take a little time but they're pretty quick now. Overall VM performance is mentally quick though, disk I/O is awesome.

[Cache]

Ours is virtualized and has been for over a year now with no noticeable issues, but we are a small site in general terms.

 

I have had to rerun the database reindex patch on a couple of occasions so might be worth investigating that if you are having performance problems.

[Gongalong]

We're running on Hyper-V with 4 processors and 8GB of RAM. Underlying system is iSCSI (two host cluster with 16 core Opterons, and 72GB of RAM), which might not be helping. We definitely noticed a speed decrease when switching to this brand new system, versus a 5-year old physical server.