Casper Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 I'm looking to pick a few brains. If you have knowledge of running SQL Server on VMWare, please shoot me a PM with the best way to contact you. I appreciate it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheBrown57 Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 I'll try and get ahold of some friends that might be of some help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casper Posted January 18, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 I'll try and get ahold of some friends that might be of some helpThat'd be great. Really looking to figure out some common practices amongst people using this setup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
imprez55 Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 I am currently in an SQL course, I would have no problem asking my prof any question you have Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simplysix Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 running SQL Server on VMWare. : Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSUYZFR1 Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 You looking to run SQL server virtual? We've found it's not very good for performance to have SQL boxes virtual. We use vmware on our TS's but our SQL servers are physical boxes. I have SQL server experience but not really involved with vmware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walther_gsp Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 PM or call me with your specific questions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walther_gsp Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 You looking to run SQL server virtual? We've found it's not very good for performance to have SQL boxes virtual. We use vmware on our TS's but our SQL servers are physical boxes. I have SQL server experience but not really involved with vmware.Depends on your approach to virtualization. A lot of folks underpower their VM infrastructure from an I/O perspective, so when you throw SQL on their its a nightmare. That said, sometimes physical is the only way to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flounder Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) Ben, let me know. Im actually getting ready to spend a hefty chunk of coin to redo our testing labs. I have a really good VM kindle book if you want it. "Mastering VMWare VSphere 5" by Scott Lowe. Depending on what your looking to do and the size of the VM environment will determine if you go SQL or Oracle and then virtual or physical. Like Walther said. Allot of people dont build out the I/O correctly with enough bandwidth. Edited January 18, 2012 by flounder Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrewsBrews Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 I've heard DBs arn't a good idea on VMware, but I thought it was mostly Oracle they were wagging the finger at. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JStump Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 (edited) I am a VMWare admin and can tell you that VMs run almost 50% quicker and more efficient than an equivalent physical box. Just give it enough resources and you should be fine. At Sherwin we are about 75% virtual and plan to be 90% virtual by the end of 2014 because it is easier to maintain and create machines.We run both Oracle and SQL(mostly MySQL) on VMs with no problems, the key to VMs is to keep everything separate. Create a new VM for each major task you want to do. Your DB should be the only thing on the machine, no apps or traffic except DB stuff. Keep this in mind and you should not have a problem. Edited January 18, 2012 by JStump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
justin0469 Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 I run a handful of virtual SQL servers (clustered and not clustered) if I can help at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jblosser Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Running multiple VMWare clusters (clustered hosts) hosting OEL (Oracle Enterprise Linux) servers running Oracle 11g instances and Server 2008r2 hosting MS SQL 2008 (clustered).I may or may not have a rogue instance or two of MySQL running somewhere...Old school DBAs (no offense) will not want their Oracle DB running on a VM - they will swear up and down it won't work. The ones at the office have come around, especially when I can spin up a brand-spanking new host in 15 minutes for them.Oracle doesn't support it unless you run Oracle's hypervisor on OEL.As long as your VMWare environment is properly configured (guest memory, in particular), you can run SQL (or anything) just fine in the virtual world. Where most people have issues is when they give too much memory to their guests, and they get into what's called "memory ballooning".Assuming limited/no budget, I'd get the "community" version of VMTurbo - it will do most if not all of the monitoring you need for your vCenter install.Lots of best practices docs at VMWare.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OSUYZFR1 Posted January 18, 2012 Report Share Posted January 18, 2012 Yeah I hear you. We do have quite a few Virtual TS that run with no issues. We just had performance problems when running sql server on them. They are nice in terms of maintenance, our IT guys can spin one up in no time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r1crusher Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Damn....I guess I'll just sit on the sideline for this one. LOL!I am a VMWare admin and can tell you that VMs run almost 50% quicker and more efficient than an equivalent physical box. Just give it enough resources and you should be fine. At Sherwin we are about 75% virtual and plan to be 90% virtual by the end of 2014 because it is easier to maintain and create machines.We run both Oracle and SQL(mostly MySQL) on VMs with no problems, the key to VMs is to keep everything separate. Create a new VM for each major task you want to do. Your DB should be the only thing on the machine, no apps or traffic except DB stuff. Keep this in mind and you should not have a problem.I have a couple friends that work at Sherwin downtown, both on the IT side and one is a VM nut job there also. His name is Kirk B. The other guy is a BB and client side guy, his name is Joe S. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sapphy Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Been there done that, It can by a tricky beast to handle but it can be done. PM me you questions Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walther_gsp Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Let's not forget licensing. That is why folks don't run Oracle on VMWare because Oracle wants to charge you out the ass for it since you aren't running their virtualization product (that they'd charge you out the ass for I'm sure). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
walther_gsp Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 We run both Oracle and SQL(mostly MySQL) on VMs with no problems, the key to VMs is to keep everything separate. Create a new VM for each major task you want to do. Your DB should be the only thing on the machine, no apps or traffic except DB stuff. Keep this in mind and you should not have a problem.That's the key in general, virtual or physical be damned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flounder Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 Running multiple VMWare clusters (clustered hosts) hosting OEL (Oracle Enterprise Linux) servers running Oracle 11g instances and Server 2008r2 hosting MS SQL 2008 (clustered).I may or may not have a rogue instance or two of MySQL running somewhere...Old school DBAs (no offense) will not want their Oracle DB running on a VM - they will swear up and down it won't work. The ones at the office have come around, especially when I can spin up a brand-spanking new host in 15 minutes for them.Oracle doesn't support it unless you run Oracle's hypervisor on OEL.As long as your VMWare environment is properly configured (guest memory, in particular), you can run SQL (or anything) just fine in the virtual world. Where most people have issues is when they give too much memory to their guests, and they get into what's called "memory ballooning".Assuming limited/no budget, I'd get the "community" version of VMTurbo - it will do most if not all of the monitoring you need for your vCenter install.Lots of best practices docs at VMWare.comI dont know why but your post makes me feel obligated to post the following just because. I have issues, I know. Balloon Knot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisknight Posted January 19, 2012 Report Share Posted January 19, 2012 I have MS SQL running as a VMware (4.1) VM. No issues. As people have said before, make sure you have your I/O planned out, and make sure your VM's don't cause swapping (page file) and you should be OK. Memory Ballooning is a good feature but can be an issue with too much RAM assigned to a guest because there might be a performance hit reclaiming that (shared) RAM.http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/perf-vsphere-memory_management.pdfOn Over allocating... I don't do it.I would like to talk about over allocating maybe in a different thread. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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