Re: Virtual Machine Disk Configuration

2010-11-02 Thread Richard Stovall 
Are these software raid volumes created on and managed by the VM?  If so,
are all the VHDs on the same LUN?

On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 5:00 AM, Mark Milo  wrote:

> The exchange 2k3 server has operating system - raid 1 , stores raid 5 and
> logs are raid 1. I have noticed that when email performance suffers the
> entire lun containg all the guest VM's suffers. I have started collecting
> stats from the SAN and I have noticed that even with a light load the lun in
> question appears to have a queue of 3 (limit should be 3 or less according
> to HP notes). Unfortunately load has been very light this afternoon. I will
> see what transpires first thing in the morning when load normally increases.
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 2:34 PM, Richard Stovall  wrote:
>
>> On the VMs, are you running multiple disks in guest-OS-based RAID
>> configurations underneath the EVA's vRAID5 protection, with all the VHDs on
>> the same LUN?
>>
>> What is the exact config for the problematic Exchange server?
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 11:25 PM, Mark Milo wrote:
>>
>>> I don't have stats on the eva performance as yet. What would you suggest
>>> the configuration should be for the main disk array? Just to clarify the
>>> disk pool is Vraid5 while the disks for individual guest VM's have typically
>>> been configured as raid 1 for operating system and log disks and raid 5 for
>>> data.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 2:04 PM, Brian Desmond wrote:
>>>
>>>> *Is there any sort of utilization stats on the EVA? Frankly I wouldn’t
>>>> expect 21 spindles RAID5 to perform very well at all with a mixed workload
>>>> like this. *
>>>>
>>>> * *
>>>>
>>>> *Thanks,*
>>>>
>>>> *Brian Desmond*
>>>>
>>>> *br...@briandesmond.com*
>>>>
>>>> * *
>>>>
>>>> *c   – 312.731.3132*
>>>>
>>>> * *
>>>>
>>>> *From:* Mark Milo [mailto:markmilo2...@gmail.com]
>>>> *Sent:* Monday, November 01, 2010 9:14 PM
>>>> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
>>>> *Subject:* Re: Virtual Machine Disk Configuration
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> The san has 21 FC disks configured as a raid 5 array. There have two
>>>> luns configured from this array. All 15 guest machines are located on one 
>>>> of
>>>> these luns (including exchange). The performance hit appears mainly on
>>>> exchange but other servers are suffering as well. The interesting thing is
>>>> that IOPS for the entire lun holding the 15 VM's is only around 600 at the
>>>> time that the disk busy is around 95%. The disk queue for that lun is 
>>>> around
>>>> 4 - I will need to set up longer term monitoring to get the read/write 
>>>> times
>>>> when the disk set gets busy (which is usually first thing in the morning)
>>>>
>>>> On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 12:35 PM, Sean Martin 
>>>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> We'd need a lot more info. Start with your disk configuration. How many
>>>> disks make up the storage pool or raid group the exchange lun is allocated
>>>> from? Are there other luns allocated from the same pool? How many? Which
>>>> exchange resources reside on the lun (stores, logs, etc.)?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Disk busy warnings buy themselves don't hold much weight, unless of
>>>> course there are noticeable performances issues, which you alluded to.
>>>> You'll want to capture disk queue and disk latency stats ( avg disk queue
>>>> length and avg disk sec/reads and writes). Avg queue depth should below X
>>>> (where X equals the number of physical disks. Read/write times should avg
>>>> below 20ms and not spike above 50ms.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> I'd also recommend running the exbpa and the troubleshooting assistant.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> If you can gather I/O stats you may be able to determine if the disks
>>>> can handle the load. If it doesn't appear Exchange is stressing your
>>>> resources, you may need your SAN monitoring tools to determine if total I/O
>>>> (assuming multiple luns share the same disks) are more than the disks can
>>>> handle. I'm not familiar with EVAs, but overloading disks in a SAN can lead
>>>> to cache flushing which cou

Re: Virtual Machine Disk Configuration

2010-11-02 Thread Mark Milo 
The exchange 2k3 server has operating system - raid 1 , stores raid 5 and
logs are raid 1. I have noticed that when email performance suffers the
entire lun containg all the guest VM's suffers. I have started collecting
stats from the SAN and I have noticed that even with a light load the lun in
question appears to have a queue of 3 (limit should be 3 or less according
to HP notes). Unfortunately load has been very light this afternoon. I will
see what transpires first thing in the morning when load normally increases.

On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 2:34 PM, Richard Stovall  wrote:

> On the VMs, are you running multiple disks in guest-OS-based RAID
> configurations underneath the EVA's vRAID5 protection, with all the VHDs on
> the same LUN?
>
> What is the exact config for the problematic Exchange server?
>
> On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 11:25 PM, Mark Milo  wrote:
>
>> I don't have stats on the eva performance as yet. What would you suggest
>> the configuration should be for the main disk array? Just to clarify the
>> disk pool is Vraid5 while the disks for individual guest VM's have typically
>> been configured as raid 1 for operating system and log disks and raid 5 for
>> data.
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 2:04 PM, Brian Desmond wrote:
>>
>>> *Is there any sort of utilization stats on the EVA? Frankly I wouldn’t
>>> expect 21 spindles RAID5 to perform very well at all with a mixed workload
>>> like this. *
>>>
>>> * *
>>>
>>> *Thanks,*
>>>
>>> *Brian Desmond*
>>>
>>> *br...@briandesmond.com*
>>>
>>> * *
>>>
>>> *c   – 312.731.3132*
>>>
>>> * *
>>>
>>> *From:* Mark Milo [mailto:markmilo2...@gmail.com]
>>> *Sent:* Monday, November 01, 2010 9:14 PM
>>> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
>>> *Subject:* Re: Virtual Machine Disk Configuration
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> The san has 21 FC disks configured as a raid 5 array. There have two luns
>>> configured from this array. All 15 guest machines are located on one of
>>> these luns (including exchange). The performance hit appears mainly on
>>> exchange but other servers are suffering as well. The interesting thing is
>>> that IOPS for the entire lun holding the 15 VM's is only around 600 at the
>>> time that the disk busy is around 95%. The disk queue for that lun is around
>>> 4 - I will need to set up longer term monitoring to get the read/write times
>>> when the disk set gets busy (which is usually first thing in the morning)
>>>
>>> On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 12:35 PM, Sean Martin 
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> We'd need a lot more info. Start with your disk configuration. How many
>>> disks make up the storage pool or raid group the exchange lun is allocated
>>> from? Are there other luns allocated from the same pool? How many? Which
>>> exchange resources reside on the lun (stores, logs, etc.)?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Disk busy warnings buy themselves don't hold much weight, unless of
>>> course there are noticeable performances issues, which you alluded to.
>>> You'll want to capture disk queue and disk latency stats ( avg disk queue
>>> length and avg disk sec/reads and writes). Avg queue depth should below X
>>> (where X equals the number of physical disks. Read/write times should avg
>>> below 20ms and not spike above 50ms.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> I'd also recommend running the exbpa and the troubleshooting assistant.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> If you can gather I/O stats you may be able to determine if the disks can
>>> handle the load. If it doesn't appear Exchange is stressing your resources,
>>> you may need your SAN monitoring tools to determine if total I/O (assuming
>>> multiple luns share the same disks) are more than the disks can handle. I'm
>>> not familiar with EVAs, but overloading disks in a SAN can lead to cache
>>> flushing which could affect performance of the array itself.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> - Sean
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Nov 1, 2010, at 5:08 PM, Mark Milo  wrote:
>>>
>>> The host is Windows 2008 R2 running Hyper V. The performance is monitored
>>> via UPTIME monitoring software but I see similar high reading using perfmon
>>> (%disk time).  Don't see any error messages at high utilization but the
>>> exchange 2003 server is responding poorly when disk is busy. There are  15
>>

Re: Virtual Machine Disk Configuration

2010-11-01 Thread Richard Stovall 
On the VMs, are you running multiple disks in guest-OS-based RAID
configurations underneath the EVA's vRAID5 protection, with all the VHDs on
the same LUN?

What is the exact config for the problematic Exchange server?

On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 11:25 PM, Mark Milo  wrote:

> I don't have stats on the eva performance as yet. What would you suggest
> the configuration should be for the main disk array? Just to clarify the
> disk pool is Vraid5 while the disks for individual guest VM's have typically
> been configured as raid 1 for operating system and log disks and raid 5 for
> data.
>
>
> On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 2:04 PM, Brian Desmond wrote:
>
>> *Is there any sort of utilization stats on the EVA? Frankly I wouldn’t
>> expect 21 spindles RAID5 to perform very well at all with a mixed workload
>> like this. *
>>
>> * *
>>
>> *Thanks,*
>>
>> *Brian Desmond*
>>
>> *br...@briandesmond.com*
>>
>> * *
>>
>> *c   – 312.731.3132*
>>
>> * *
>>
>> *From:* Mark Milo [mailto:markmilo2...@gmail.com]
>> *Sent:* Monday, November 01, 2010 9:14 PM
>> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
>> *Subject:* Re: Virtual Machine Disk Configuration
>>
>>
>>
>> The san has 21 FC disks configured as a raid 5 array. There have two luns
>> configured from this array. All 15 guest machines are located on one of
>> these luns (including exchange). The performance hit appears mainly on
>> exchange but other servers are suffering as well. The interesting thing is
>> that IOPS for the entire lun holding the 15 VM's is only around 600 at the
>> time that the disk busy is around 95%. The disk queue for that lun is around
>> 4 - I will need to set up longer term monitoring to get the read/write times
>> when the disk set gets busy (which is usually first thing in the morning)
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 12:35 PM, Sean Martin 
>> wrote:
>>
>> We'd need a lot more info. Start with your disk configuration. How many
>> disks make up the storage pool or raid group the exchange lun is allocated
>> from? Are there other luns allocated from the same pool? How many? Which
>> exchange resources reside on the lun (stores, logs, etc.)?
>>
>>
>>
>> Disk busy warnings buy themselves don't hold much weight, unless of course
>> there are noticeable performances issues, which you alluded to. You'll want
>> to capture disk queue and disk latency stats ( avg disk queue length and avg
>> disk sec/reads and writes). Avg queue depth should below X (where X equals
>> the number of physical disks. Read/write times should avg below 20ms and not
>> spike above 50ms.
>>
>>
>>
>> I'd also recommend running the exbpa and the troubleshooting assistant.
>>
>>
>>
>> If you can gather I/O stats you may be able to determine if the disks can
>> handle the load. If it doesn't appear Exchange is stressing your resources,
>> you may need your SAN monitoring tools to determine if total I/O (assuming
>> multiple luns share the same disks) are more than the disks can handle. I'm
>> not familiar with EVAs, but overloading disks in a SAN can lead to cache
>> flushing which could affect performance of the array itself.
>>
>>
>>
>> - Sean
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Nov 1, 2010, at 5:08 PM, Mark Milo  wrote:
>>
>> The host is Windows 2008 R2 running Hyper V. The performance is monitored
>> via UPTIME monitoring software but I see similar high reading using perfmon
>> (%disk time).  Don't see any error messages at high utilization but the
>> exchange 2003 server is responding poorly when disk is busy. There are  15
>> guest machines on this particular host but most of them dont use too much in
>> the way of resources.
>>
>> On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 11:51 AM, Richard Stovall 
>> wrote:
>>
>> On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 8:33 PM, Mark Milo  wrote:
>>
>> Hi - I am having issues with "disk busy' on my virtual server host. The
>> host is a DL 580 connected via fiber to an EVA 4400 SAN.
>>
>>
>>
>> Where do you see this message?  On the VM?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> I understand that guest VM's should have disk layouts as per an equivalent
>> physical machine...
>>
>>
>>
>> I don't really know what you mean by that.  Can you elaborate a bit?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ...but is it best practice to have a separate LUN per guest VM?
>>
>>
>>
>> Not that I've ever heard of.   Yo

Re: Virtual Machine Disk Configuration

2010-11-01 Thread Mark Milo 
I don't have stats on the eva performance as yet. What would you suggest the
configuration should be for the main disk array? Just to clarify the disk
pool is Vraid5 while the disks for individual guest VM's have typically been
configured as raid 1 for operating system and log disks and raid 5 for data.

On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 2:04 PM, Brian Desmond wrote:

> *Is there any sort of utilization stats on the EVA? Frankly I wouldn’t
> expect 21 spindles RAID5 to perform very well at all with a mixed workload
> like this. *
>
> * *
>
> *Thanks,*
>
> *Brian Desmond*
>
> *br...@briandesmond.com*
>
> * *
>
> *c   – 312.731.3132*
>
> * *
>
> *From:* Mark Milo [mailto:markmilo2...@gmail.com]
> *Sent:* Monday, November 01, 2010 9:14 PM
> *To:* NT System Admin Issues
> *Subject:* Re: Virtual Machine Disk Configuration
>
>
>
> The san has 21 FC disks configured as a raid 5 array. There have two luns
> configured from this array. All 15 guest machines are located on one of
> these luns (including exchange). The performance hit appears mainly on
> exchange but other servers are suffering as well. The interesting thing is
> that IOPS for the entire lun holding the 15 VM's is only around 600 at the
> time that the disk busy is around 95%. The disk queue for that lun is around
> 4 - I will need to set up longer term monitoring to get the read/write times
> when the disk set gets busy (which is usually first thing in the morning)
>
> On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 12:35 PM, Sean Martin 
> wrote:
>
> We'd need a lot more info. Start with your disk configuration. How many
> disks make up the storage pool or raid group the exchange lun is allocated
> from? Are there other luns allocated from the same pool? How many? Which
> exchange resources reside on the lun (stores, logs, etc.)?
>
>
>
> Disk busy warnings buy themselves don't hold much weight, unless of course
> there are noticeable performances issues, which you alluded to. You'll want
> to capture disk queue and disk latency stats ( avg disk queue length and avg
> disk sec/reads and writes). Avg queue depth should below X (where X equals
> the number of physical disks. Read/write times should avg below 20ms and not
> spike above 50ms.
>
>
>
> I'd also recommend running the exbpa and the troubleshooting assistant.
>
>
>
> If you can gather I/O stats you may be able to determine if the disks can
> handle the load. If it doesn't appear Exchange is stressing your resources,
> you may need your SAN monitoring tools to determine if total I/O (assuming
> multiple luns share the same disks) are more than the disks can handle. I'm
> not familiar with EVAs, but overloading disks in a SAN can lead to cache
> flushing which could affect performance of the array itself.
>
>
>
> - Sean
>
>
>
>
> On Nov 1, 2010, at 5:08 PM, Mark Milo  wrote:
>
> The host is Windows 2008 R2 running Hyper V. The performance is monitored
> via UPTIME monitoring software but I see similar high reading using perfmon
> (%disk time).  Don't see any error messages at high utilization but the
> exchange 2003 server is responding poorly when disk is busy. There are  15
> guest machines on this particular host but most of them dont use too much in
> the way of resources.
>
> On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 11:51 AM, Richard Stovall 
> wrote:
>
> On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 8:33 PM, Mark Milo  wrote:
>
> Hi - I am having issues with "disk busy' on my virtual server host. The
> host is a DL 580 connected via fiber to an EVA 4400 SAN.
>
>
>
> Where do you see this message?  On the VM?
>
>
>
>
>
> I understand that guest VM's should have disk layouts as per an equivalent
> physical machine...
>
>
>
> I don't really know what you mean by that.  Can you elaborate a bit?
>
>
>
>
>
> ...but is it best practice to have a separate LUN per guest VM?
>
>
>
> Not that I've ever heard of.   You'd have a management nightmare on your
> hands pretty quickly if you had a large number of VMs.
>
>
>
>
>
> If so what should the max utilization of the disk on that LUN be?
>
>
>
> I don't know of a hard and fast number/rule, but if you're using
> snapshot-based backup method (such as VCB) you definitely need free space on
> the LUNs for the snapshots to grow until the backup is finished and the
> snapshots can be eliminated.
>
>
>
> What virtualization platform are you running?  What version?
>
>
>
>
>
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
> ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~
>
> ---

RE: Virtual Machine Disk Configuration

2010-11-01 Thread Brian Desmond 
Is there any sort of utilization stats on the EVA? Frankly I wouldn't expect 21 
spindles RAID5 to perform very well at all with a mixed workload like this.

Thanks,
Brian Desmond
br...@briandesmond.com

c   - 312.731.3132

From: Mark Milo [mailto:markmilo2...@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, November 01, 2010 9:14 PM
To: NT System Admin Issues
Subject: Re: Virtual Machine Disk Configuration

The san has 21 FC disks configured as a raid 5 array. There have two luns 
configured from this array. All 15 guest machines are located on one of these 
luns (including exchange). The performance hit appears mainly on exchange but 
other servers are suffering as well. The interesting thing is that IOPS for the 
entire lun holding the 15 VM's is only around 600 at the time that the disk 
busy is around 95%. The disk queue for that lun is around 4 - I will need to 
set up longer term monitoring to get the read/write times when the disk set 
gets busy (which is usually first thing in the morning)
On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 12:35 PM, Sean Martin 
mailto:seanmarti...@gmail.com>> wrote:
We'd need a lot more info. Start with your disk configuration. How many disks 
make up the storage pool or raid group the exchange lun is allocated from? Are 
there other luns allocated from the same pool? How many? Which exchange 
resources reside on the lun (stores, logs, etc.)?

Disk busy warnings buy themselves don't hold much weight, unless of course 
there are noticeable performances issues, which you alluded to. You'll want to 
capture disk queue and disk latency stats ( avg disk queue length and avg disk 
sec/reads and writes). Avg queue depth should below X (where X equals the 
number of physical disks. Read/write times should avg below 20ms and not spike 
above 50ms.

I'd also recommend running the exbpa and the troubleshooting assistant.

If you can gather I/O stats you may be able to determine if the disks can 
handle the load. If it doesn't appear Exchange is stressing your resources, you 
may need your SAN monitoring tools to determine if total I/O (assuming multiple 
luns share the same disks) are more than the disks can handle. I'm not familiar 
with EVAs, but overloading disks in a SAN can lead to cache flushing which 
could affect performance of the array itself.

- Sean


On Nov 1, 2010, at 5:08 PM, Mark Milo 
mailto:markmilo2...@gmail.com>> wrote:
The host is Windows 2008 R2 running Hyper V. The performance is monitored via 
UPTIME monitoring software but I see similar high reading using perfmon (%disk 
time).  Don't see any error messages at high utilization but the exchange 2003 
server is responding poorly when disk is busy. There are  15 guest machines on 
this particular host but most of them dont use too much in the way of resources.
On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 11:51 AM, Richard Stovall 
mailto:rich...@gmail.com>> wrote:
On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 8:33 PM, Mark Milo 
mailto:markmilo2...@gmail.com>> wrote:
Hi - I am having issues with "disk busy' on my virtual server host. The host is 
a DL 580 connected via fiber to an EVA 4400 SAN.

Where do you see this message?  On the VM?


I understand that guest VM's should have disk layouts as per an equivalent 
physical machine...

I don't really know what you mean by that.  Can you elaborate a bit?


...but is it best practice to have a separate LUN per guest VM?

Not that I've ever heard of.   You'd have a management nightmare on your hands 
pretty quickly if you had a large number of VMs.


If so what should the max utilization of the disk on that LUN be?

I don't know of a hard and fast number/rule, but if you're using snapshot-based 
backup method (such as VCB) you definitely need free space on the LUNs for the 
snapshots to grow until the backup is finished and the snapshots can be 
eliminated.

What virtualization platform are you running?  What version?


~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

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~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~

---
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or send an email to 
listmana...

Re: Virtual Machine Disk Configuration

2010-11-01 Thread Mark Milo 
The san has 21 FC disks configured as a raid 5 array. There have two luns
configured from this array. All 15 guest machines are located on one of
these luns (including exchange). The performance hit appears mainly on
exchange but other servers are suffering as well. The interesting thing is
that IOPS for the entire lun holding the 15 VM's is only around 600 at the
time that the disk busy is around 95%. The disk queue for that lun is around
4 - I will need to set up longer term monitoring to get the read/write times
when the disk set gets busy (which is usually first thing in the morning)

On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 12:35 PM, Sean Martin  wrote:

> We'd need a lot more info. Start with your disk configuration. How many
> disks make up the storage pool or raid group the exchange lun is allocated
> from? Are there other luns allocated from the same pool? How many? Which
> exchange resources reside on the lun (stores, logs, etc.)?
>
> Disk busy warnings buy themselves don't hold much weight, unless of course
> there are noticeable performances issues, which you alluded to. You'll want
> to capture disk queue and disk latency stats ( avg disk queue length and avg
> disk sec/reads and writes). Avg queue depth should below X (where X equals
> the number of physical disks. Read/write times should avg below 20ms and not
> spike above 50ms.
>
> I'd also recommend running the exbpa and the troubleshooting assistant.
>
> If you can gather I/O stats you may be able to determine if the disks can
> handle the load. If it doesn't appear Exchange is stressing your resources,
> you may need your SAN monitoring tools to determine if total I/O (assuming
> multiple luns share the same disks) are more than the disks can handle. I'm
> not familiar with EVAs, but overloading disks in a SAN can lead to cache
> flushing which could affect performance of the array itself.
>
> - Sean
>
>
> On Nov 1, 2010, at 5:08 PM, Mark Milo  wrote:
>
> The host is Windows 2008 R2 running Hyper V. The performance is monitored
> via UPTIME monitoring software but I see similar high reading using perfmon
> (%disk time).  Don't see any error messages at high utilization but the
> exchange 2003 server is responding poorly when disk is busy. There are  15
> guest machines on this particular host but most of them dont use too much in
> the way of resources.
>
> On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 11:51 AM, Richard Stovall < 
> rich...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 8:33 PM, Mark Milo < 
>> markmilo2...@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi - I am having issues with "disk busy' on my virtual server host. The
>>> host is a DL 580 connected via fiber to an EVA 4400 SAN.
>>
>>
>> Where do you see this message?  On the VM?
>>
>>
>>
>>> I understand that guest VM's should have disk layouts as per an
>>> equivalent physical machine...
>>
>>
>> I don't really know what you mean by that.  Can you elaborate a bit?
>>
>>
>>
>>> ...but is it best practice to have a separate LUN per guest VM?
>>
>>
>> Not that I've ever heard of.   You'd have a management nightmare on your
>> hands pretty quickly if you had a large number of VMs.
>>
>>
>> If so what should the max utilization of the disk on that LUN be?
>>>
>>
>> I don't know of a hard and fast number/rule, but if you're using
>> snapshot-based backup method (such as VCB) you definitely need free space on
>> the LUNs for the snapshots to grow until the backup is finished and the
>> snapshots can be eliminated.
>>
>> What virtualization platform are you running?  What version?
>>
>>
>> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
>>> ~ < 
>>> http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~
>>>
>>> ---
>>> To manage subscriptions click here:
>>> 
>>> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
>>> or send an email to 
>>> listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
>>> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
>>>
>>
>> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
>> ~ < 
>> http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~
>>
>> ---
>> To manage subscriptions click here:
>> 
>> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
>> or send an email to 
>> listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
>> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
>>
>
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
> ~ < 
> http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/>  ~
>
> ---
> To manage subscriptions click here:
> 
> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
> or send an email to 
> listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
>
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog!

Re: Virtual Machine Disk Configuration

2010-11-01 Thread Sean Martin 
We'd need a lot more info. Start with your disk configuration. How many disks 
make up the storage pool or raid group the exchange lun is allocated from? Are 
there other luns allocated from the same pool? How many? Which exchange 
resources reside on the lun (stores, logs, etc.)?

Disk busy warnings buy themselves don't hold much weight, unless of course 
there are noticeable performances issues, which you alluded to. You'll want to 
capture disk queue and disk latency stats ( avg disk queue length and avg disk 
sec/reads and writes). Avg queue depth should below X (where X equals the 
number of physical disks. Read/write times should avg below 20ms and not spike 
above 50ms. 

I'd also recommend running the exbpa and the troubleshooting assistant. 

If you can gather I/O stats you may be able to determine if the disks can 
handle the load. If it doesn't appear Exchange is stressing your resources, you 
may need your SAN monitoring tools to determine if total I/O (assuming multiple 
luns share the same disks) are more than the disks can handle. I'm not familiar 
with EVAs, but overloading disks in a SAN can lead to cache flushing which 
could affect performance of the array itself.

- Sean


On Nov 1, 2010, at 5:08 PM, Mark Milo  wrote:

> The host is Windows 2008 R2 running Hyper V. The performance is monitored via 
> UPTIME monitoring software but I see similar high reading using perfmon 
> (%disk time).  Don't see any error messages at high utilization but the 
> exchange 2003 server is responding poorly when disk is busy. There are  15 
> guest machines on this particular host but most of them dont use too much in 
> the way of resources.
> 
> On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 11:51 AM, Richard Stovall  wrote:
> On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 8:33 PM, Mark Milo  wrote:
> Hi - I am having issues with "disk busy' on my virtual server host. The host 
> is a DL 580 connected via fiber to an EVA 4400 SAN.
> 
> Where do you see this message?  On the VM?
> 
>  
> I understand that guest VM's should have disk layouts as per an equivalent 
> physical machine...
> 
> I don't really know what you mean by that.  Can you elaborate a bit?
> 
>  
> ...but is it best practice to have a separate LUN per guest VM?
> 
> Not that I've ever heard of.   You'd have a management nightmare on your 
> hands pretty quickly if you had a large number of VMs.
> 
> 
> If so what should the max utilization of the disk on that LUN be?
> 
> I don't know of a hard and fast number/rule, but if you're using 
> snapshot-based backup method (such as VCB) you definitely need free space on 
> the LUNs for the snapshots to grow until the backup is finished and the 
> snapshots can be eliminated.
> 
> What virtualization platform are you running?  What version?
> 
> 
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
> ~   ~
> 
> ---
> To manage subscriptions click here: 
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> or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
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> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
> ~   ~
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> 
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
> ~   ~
> 
> ---
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Re: Virtual Machine Disk Configuration

2010-11-01 Thread Mark Milo 
The host is Windows 2008 R2 running Hyper V. The performance is monitored
via UPTIME monitoring software but I see similar high reading using perfmon
(%disk time).  Don't see any error messages at high utilization but the
exchange 2003 server is responding poorly when disk is busy. There are  15
guest machines on this particular host but most of them dont use too much in
the way of resources.

On Tue, Nov 2, 2010 at 11:51 AM, Richard Stovall  wrote:

> On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 8:33 PM, Mark Milo  wrote:
>
>> Hi - I am having issues with "disk busy' on my virtual server host. The
>> host is a DL 580 connected via fiber to an EVA 4400 SAN.
>
>
> Where do you see this message?  On the VM?
>
>
>
>> I understand that guest VM's should have disk layouts as per an equivalent
>> physical machine...
>
>
> I don't really know what you mean by that.  Can you elaborate a bit?
>
>
>
>> ...but is it best practice to have a separate LUN per guest VM?
>
>
> Not that I've ever heard of.   You'd have a management nightmare on your
> hands pretty quickly if you had a large number of VMs.
>
>
> If so what should the max utilization of the disk on that LUN be?
>>
>
> I don't know of a hard and fast number/rule, but if you're using
> snapshot-based backup method (such as VCB) you definitely need free space on
> the LUNs for the snapshots to grow until the backup is finished and the
> snapshots can be eliminated.
>
> What virtualization platform are you running?  What version?
>
>
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
>> ~   ~
>>
>> ---
>> To manage subscriptions click here:
>> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
>> or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
>> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
>>
>
> ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
> ~   ~
>
> ---
> To manage subscriptions click here:
> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
> or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
>

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~   ~

---
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Re: Virtual Machine Disk Configuration

2010-11-01 Thread Richard Stovall 
On Mon, Nov 1, 2010 at 8:33 PM, Mark Milo  wrote:

> Hi - I am having issues with "disk busy' on my virtual server host. The
> host is a DL 580 connected via fiber to an EVA 4400 SAN.


Where do you see this message?  On the VM?



> I understand that guest VM's should have disk layouts as per an equivalent
> physical machine...


I don't really know what you mean by that.  Can you elaborate a bit?



> ...but is it best practice to have a separate LUN per guest VM?


Not that I've ever heard of.   You'd have a management nightmare on your
hands pretty quickly if you had a large number of VMs.


If so what should the max utilization of the disk on that LUN be?
>

I don't know of a hard and fast number/rule, but if you're using
snapshot-based backup method (such as VCB) you definitely need free space on
the LUNs for the snapshots to grow until the backup is finished and the
snapshots can be eliminated.

What virtualization platform are you running?  What version?


~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
> ~   ~
>
> ---
> To manage subscriptions click here:
> http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
> or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
>

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
~   ~

---
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http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/
or send an email to listmana...@lyris.sunbeltsoftware.com
with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin