Vmware Server and performance Issue

slinuxuzerslinuxuzer Member Posts: 665 ■■■■□□□□□□
in Virtualization
Hardware HP laptop 3GB memory, Intel core 2 Duo CPU p8700 @ 2.53GhZ, shows as two processors.

Currently using Vmware server latest version (downloaded a month ago), running 1 VM server 2003, 320Mb memory, currently using 140 of that. Running Vcenter server inside it now to test out P2V features.

*ISSUE*

This config seems to lock my laptop up and lag it severly, (will unlock after 1-10 minutes) the host OS is pretty clean and I dont have a bunch of crap installed on it, since its my work pc, and I have been using VM boxes to test, and download etc.

I have never had this issue with Vmware Workstation, is there some kind of performance enhancements that are different in workstation?

Can anyone give me an idea why, this laptop can't seem to handle one Vm?

Thanks in advance guys.

P.s. Its a new laptop 2 months old.
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Comments

  • OoteROoteR Member Posts: 65 ■■□□□□□□□□
    VMWare server has been mediocre for me..

    Virtualbox has been a better experience, but I don't need USB support.
    2k11 Goals:
    VCP - Currently Studying
    MCITP:EA - 620 (done)
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  • earweedearweed Member Posts: 5,192 ■■■■■■■■■□
    How much resources does VCenter Server use? I don't have any experience with it but I thought it was a big enterprise tool, which may mean it's using alot of your system resources.
    No longer work in IT. Play around with stuff sometimes still and fix stuff for friends and relatives.
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  • Hyper-MeHyper-Me Banned Posts: 2,059
    earweed wrote: »
    How much resources does VCenter Server use? I don't have any experience with it but I thought it was a big enterprise tool, which may mean it's using alot of your system resources.

    Vmware server is a free program thats mostly for testing purposes. It used to only play VMs (though the latest version will create them). Its weaker than Workstation.

    vCenter is a management piece for ESX/ESXi servers.
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  • slinuxuzerslinuxuzer Member Posts: 665 ■■■■□□□□□□
    earweed wrote: »
    How much resources does VCenter Server use? I don't have any experience with it but I thought it was a big enterprise tool, which may mean it's using alot of your system resources.

    I should have clarified, I was having the issue before the Vcenter installation, Vcenter is not that heavy of an app.
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  • MentholMooseMentholMoose Member Posts: 1,525 ■■■■■■■■□□
    Laptop hard drives are horrible for virtualization. Even a 7200RPM drive is not going to give you very good performance.

    You will need to tune both the host and the guest to reduce hard drive usage. Anything non-essential that uses the hard drive should be disabled, such as indexing services, desktop search programs, and automatic update programs.

    Also since the host has 3GB of RAM, give the VM at least 1GB. Even if the VM is only using 140MB, it has so little RAM and will try to conserve it by swapping to disk, which is very bad for performance.

    vCenter may not be that "heavy", but it requires a database, which creates high hard drive utilization. Even if you optimize the host and guest, it is likely going to run poorly.
    MentholMoose
    MCSA 2003, LFCS, LFCE (expired), VCP6-DCV
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  • slinuxuzerslinuxuzer Member Posts: 665 ■■■■□□□□□□
    MentholMoose wrote: »
    Laptop hard drives are horrible for virtualization. Even a 7200RPM drive is not going to give you very good performance.

    You will need to tune both the host and the guest to reduce hard drive usage. Anything non-essential that uses the hard drive should be disabled, such as indexing services, desktop search programs, and automatic update programs.

    Also since the host has 3GB of RAM, give the VM at least 1GB. Even if the VM is only using 140MB, it has so little RAM and will try to conserve it by swapping to disk, which is very bad for performance.

    vCenter may not be that "heavy", but it requires a database, which creates high hard drive utilization. Even if you optimize the host and guest, it is likely going to run poorly.

    I thought this might be the case, what do you think about putting my Vm's on a sata or Ide desktop drive and running them from a USB 2.0 enclosure? I am currently running training videos off of a flash drive and they play perfectly.

    Also, in the past, I dedicated disk space up front, but right now I am not, I am betting this isn't helping.

    I am currently running training videos off of a flash drive and they play perfectly.
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  • dalesdales Member Posts: 225
    Vcenter 2.5 recommended min memory is 2GB, and as stated the sqlexpress (presumed), will be hammering away in the background. You might also want to have a look at your HP's bios to make sure that any virtualization options are enabled.

    You might want to have a quick look at the hosts perfmon to see if that will give you any clues?
    Kind Regards
    Dale Scriven

    Twitter:dscriven
    Blog: vhorizon.co.uk
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  • slinuxuzerslinuxuzer Member Posts: 665 ■■■■□□□□□□
    dales wrote: »
    Vcenter 2.5 recommended min memory is 2GB, and as stated the sqlexpress (presumed), will be hammering away in the background. You might also want to have a look at your HP's bios to make sure that any virtualization options are enabled.

    You might want to have a quick look at the hosts perfmon to see if that will give you any clues?

    Thanks, the Virtualization option was not enabled, can you tell me how much of a difference this should make?
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