Winnie Lacesso wrote:
> Hi All,
>
>
>
> Are others using VMWare Server? or if not, what software?
> I'm not that far in experimenting but so far am not impressed with
> VMWare Server (the documentation is just byzantine).
>
We're using VMWare Server 2 here at Durham, with the VM image files
sitting on an NFS area underneath.
So far, they've been in production 9 months, and we haven't had any
major VM related issues that can't be worked around.
Timekeeping can be an issue, but we've found that ntp can cope with
keeping them synced.
/tmp filled up on them once.
> It's said the number of allocated CPU cannot be changed after building VM,
> so to have an N-core lcg-CE VM, VMWare Workstation would have to be run on
> the real host hardware to allocate enough cores (assuming we don't have
> n-core desktops/laptops... I don't)
>
We've installed VMWare server on two servers for production, but haven't
had any problems in bringing up other test/pre-production VMs on the
same servers. Another option if you want to completely separate
production from test is to install VMWare server on another piece of
kit, perhaps a slightly older box, or one that is doing test VMs for
departmental systems as well?
We have changed the number of cores in the past after the guest OS is
installed. From my understanding Windows guests install either a
uniprocessor or SMP HAL, depending on what's detected, and neither
works in the other environment. Linux isn't so fussy.
> On 8-core host hardware, how many cores to the lcg-CE VM? How much RAM?
> In experimenting so far, the load on the host is not low while the VM is
> doing thing like software update; so the host can't get starved for
> resources.
>
Currently,
Vhost1:
lcg-CE (2 cores, 4Gb RAM, 80Gb disk)
dpm Headnode (2 cores 2Gb RAM 80Gb disk)
Installhost (mirrors / tftpboot / cfengine ) ( 1 core, 2Gb RAM, 80Gb disk)
Vhost2:
lcg-CE (2 cores, 4Gb RAM, 80Gb disk)
site BDII ( 1 core, 2Gb RAM, 80Gb disk)
Mon box ( 1 core, 2Gb RAM, 80Gb disk)
Ganglia (1 core, 2Gb RAM, 80Gb disk)
Torque Server (1 core, 2Gb RAM, 80Gb disk)
They need re-balancing between the vhosts slightly.
> Advice or pointers *most* welcome.
>
> PS Hosts for VMs are running SL5.3 x86_64; 8-core, 16GB RAM.
> One is Viglen, one is DNUK.
>
Hosts sound similar to ours. Each host has a pair of Xeon E5420's, and
16GB RAM.
--
David Ambrose-Griffith - [log in to unmask]
Assistant Systems Programmer,
IPPP, Department of Physics, Durham University,
Science Laboratories, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE
Direct Dial: +44 (0)191 3343704
Office: +44 (0)191 334 3811
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