Slow performance with my home lab

Itrimble

This is my current set up. I think I have it set up correctly on the ESXI side, but slow networking performance on the client/ Windows side.




The problem I'm having is constant drop offs. The performance speeds up, then slows down.
The ESXI host is in another room.
All of this is being done wirelessly. I know there are issues, but for my home lab, these are the options I have.

Asif Dasl

The DNS on the Windows 8 client is a typo right? It should be on the 192.168.11.x range...

Your DNS servers are forwarding to the gateway too?

ESX Server is pointing to a different DNS, different server?

Servers and client are on HDDs or SSDs? Same or different drives?

jibbajabba

Do I see it right that you are using your ESXi host as gateway ??

Itrimble

I fixed the typo. The servers are on HDD. Same drive. Esx server is also pointing to the 192.168.11.249 and 251 addresses. I had the ESX machine join the domain.

kriscamaro68

jibbajabba wrote: »

Do I see it right that you are using your ESXi host as gateway ??

I am also wondering why you are doing this? Your ESX-I host is not a gateway/router. Also if your over wireless then you may very well have the fluctuation that you are seeing as different devices that have a wireless signal get used or things that will interfere with the wireless signal.

Asif Dasl

@Itrimble - Are your DNS servers using root hints or forwarding to the gateway?

Using root hints will cause problems rather than pointing it in the right direction. Is there any difference if you change the DNS forwarding to 8.8.8.8? Also your router/gateway should be using OpenDNS/8.8.8.8/4.2.2.2 or your ISP DNS. Sounds like a DNS issue to me...

You have your wireless on a channel with little interference?

jibbajabba

Where is your slowness? And you say your ESXi is connected to your wireless ? Does this mean you got a wireless card in your hypervisor ??

I for example got a wireless bridge with an RJ45 (Billion 3100SN) in the garage. Once my host boots up all relevant VMs are booting automatically and once my DC is up, I connect directly to the VM as a jump box and I don't have any slowness.

So I am trying to understand where it is slow .. Between VMs ? I have seen it before when the wireless was unstable / slow that connections using the client are really slow, including consoles.

Hence me using a a jump VM

JeanM

Q. whats the reason behind the host being a member of domain and act as gateway?

jibbajabba

And I see the ESXi host uses itself as DNS server as well ?

Itrimble

@Asif Dasl

My router/gateway is using the ISP's DNS.
I ran inSSIDER and chose the least congested channel in my neighborhood.

jibbajabba

Maybe have a look at the first post and correct the IPs / Gateway / DNS config and explain how your physical host is connected to the network and how you connect to the host.

Itrimble

I updated the original message with the correct LAN info.
My Internet is connected to a DD-WRT router. This router connects to the Airport Extreme wirelessly. This is being done through a wireless bridge.
The ESX box is plugged into the Airport Extreme.

Asif Dasl

Itrimble wrote: »

ESXI host: IP 192.168.11.1
Subnet 255.255.255.0

ESXI host is configured to use a Wireless WDS (Airport Extreme) to connect to DD-WRT router (WAN/ISP)
DD-WRT Setup (Nat) DHCP is off
IP 192.168.11.1
Gateway 192.168.11.1
DNS 192.168.11.1

These are the confusing parts, because your ESXi host has the same IP as your DD-WRT router? and the gateway and DNS are the same IPs as the ESXi host?

jibbajabba

Yea, its still not right. If the IPs are 100% correct then it isn't a surprise that you got performance issues as your network is all wrong.

Itrimble

You're right, I messed up in this example with my ESXI host. It's IP is 192.168.11.100 I updated the notes.

Asif Dasl

Asif Dasl wrote: »

@Itrimble - Are your DNS servers using root hints or forwarding to the gateway?

How to Configure DNS Forwarders in Windows Server 2008 R2 - YouTube

This is all setup correctly?

jibbajabba

jibbajabba wrote: »

So I am trying to understand where it is slow .. Between VMs ? I have seen it before when the wireless was unstable / slow that connections using the client are really slow, including consoles.

Hence me using a a jump VM

So where is it ... drop offs between the VMs of drop offs of your connection to your hypervisor ?

Ho do you connect etc. ? Client to the host and then VM (which is slow) or RDP to a VM etc ?

It's like pulling teeth here

Itrimble

Asif Dasl forwarding to the gateway. I will check out that video. Thanks for the help. I'll keep you updated.

Asif Dasl

Now we're getting somewhere...

Asif Dasl wrote: »

Is there any difference if you change the DNS forwarding to 8.8.8.8?

If you do a speedtest.net from your ESXi VMs what do you see? Do you have a steady download & upload or what happens?

If you do a "ping 192.168.11.1 -t" from any of the VMs do you get timeouts?

Have you thought about using homeplugs to get Internet to the ESXi host? Just a suggestion...

Itrimble

This is the visual image of the network diagram.

Asif Dasl

Thanks, much better!!

I would probably change the AirPort Extreme's DNS to 8.8.8.8 & 8.8.4.4 there is no need for it to participate in the conversation with the domain controllers, it should only be a wireless bridge - unless someone corrects me?

I presume the ESXi host's DNS is looking towards the 192.168.11.249 & 192.168.11.251 domain controllers?

So where is the slowness? If you do a speedtest.net from your Windows 8 client and then from your Domain Controller VMs do you get similar numbers? Dropped packets?

Do you have an ethernet cable in to the DD-WRT router from your Windows 8 client or is that also wireless? Also you have to be aware that the wireless is working at half-duplex for the domain controllers - the reason why I would use homeplugs instead of a wireless bridge.

Itrimble

I changed the setup. I made the airport extreme the primary router, and my dd-wrt joined it in a dds network. I don't know why, but the dd-wrt (being a couple of years newer, made all of the difference) For some reason when the airport extreme acted as the switch, the auto negotiation didn't work as good, and the NIC's were only operating at 100Mb/s. It's running much better now and I even tried out the ESX6 beta, I'm not a fan of the newest Vsphere Client, but you can't have it all.

Asif Dasl

Glad you got it sorted! A 100Mb/s network will slow things right down alright...