VMWare and Informix databases
Question: does Informix 10/11 still benefit from two CPUs when they're only virtual CPUs under VMware? Respondents who ran IDS on VMware Workstation/Fusion/ESX (RHEL guests) agreed that two vCPUs help — one noted a single vCPU gives only single-CPU performance while multiple vCPUs are far better, another saw a modest but real improvement. Other practical notes: clock-tick drift between host and guest upsets IDS threads (fix: use VMware tools time synchronisation), VMware runs noticeably slower than native Linux, and on ESX raw devices were problematic while cooked chunks performed well. No single formal resolution beyond this shared experience.
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I'm looking for anyone who has done testing with Informix v11 (or v10) and VMWare. Is it still true that Informix performs much better with 2 CPUs, even when they are virtual CPUs? Thanks! Kate Tomchik [ kate@iiug.org ] www.iiug.org International Informix Users Group Board of Directors See you at the IIUG Informix Conference The Power Conference for Informix Professionals April 27 - 30, 2008 Overland Park, KS, USA http://www.iiug.org/conf
Hi Kate, Yes, I have used VM-ware Freeserver & VM-Fusion for OS X. Both instances I have setup the virtual server with RedHat EL 4.0 and IDS 10.00.UC5 for Linux. I did indeed notice a performance difference with 2 Virtual CPU's set for the virtual server. However, I wouldn't call it a huge difference, but the RHEL 4.0 O/S seemed more responsive in the virtual machine with Informix queries running. The best results were on my Mac Pro Dual Intel Core2Duo (4 CPU's Total) running WM-Fusion. I have not tried any of this under VM-ware ESX Server, however, my net admin is currently configuring a RHEL 5.0 Virtual Server under ESX so that I can start testing IDS 11 for Linux. HTH Jonathan B. Smaby Pomona College, ITS-AISO Office > From: kate <kate@iiug.org> > Reply-To: <ids@iiug.org> > Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 13:55:04 -0500 (EST) > To: <ids@iiug.org> > Subject: VMWare and Informix databases [10536] > > I'm looking for anyone who has done testing with Informix v11 (or v10) and > VMWare. Is it still true that Informix performs much better with 2 CPUs, > even when they are virtual CPUs? > > Thanks! > Kate Tomchik [ kate@iiug.org ] www.iiug.org > International Informix Users Group Board of Directors > > See you at the IIUG Informix Conference > The Power Conference for Informix Professionals > April 27 - 30, 2008 Overland Park, KS, USA > http://www.iiug.org/conf > > > ****************************************************************************** > * > Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum. ------------------------------------------------------------- This message has been scanned by Postini anti-virus software.
Kate: I developed training system on vmware and V11. I setup 9 IDS version 11 server running mach 11 1 primary 1 secondary 4 SDS 3 RSS for demos and training on my T41 with 2Gb of memory. I have not encountered any problems major problems. The only minor problem I encountered was with clock times. There is a beta module to improve this, but I did not try it. John = "kate" = <kate@iiug.org> = Sent by: = To ids-bounces@iiug. ids@iiug.org = org = cc = Subj= ect 11/29/2007 10:55 VMWare and Informix databases = AM [10536] = = = Please respond to = ids@iiug.org = = = I'm looking for anyone who has done testing with Informix v11 (or v10) = and VMWare. Is it still true that Informix performs much better with 2 CPUs= , even when they are virtual CPUs? Thanks! Kate Tomchik [ kate@iiug.org ] www.iiug.org International Informix Users Group Board of Directors See you at the IIUG Informix Conference The Power Conference for Informix Professionals April 27 - 30, 2008 Overland Park, KS, USA http://www.iiug.org/conf ***********************************************************************= ******** Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum. =
Kate, I do development and testing of ER and MACH11 on under VMWare Workstati= on, V5 and V6. I do both IDS 10, 11, and 11-next. V10 is on RH 3 while V1= 1 is on RH 4. The only real key issue that I've run into has been with the = cpu clock ticks. The two machines can drift. This can play havoc with IDS= because there are quite a few threads within IDS that are dependant on clock ticks. This can be overcome by using the vmtools and requesting synchronization with the underlying OS. I run VMWare/IDS on XP. One of my systems is a Lenovo T60P with 2GB me= mory and 2.16 dual core chip. The other system is a Fujitsu of similar characteristics. I have been able to run multiple instances including combinations of multiple MACH11 nodes and ER. Performance is not as go= od as when running on a native Linux box, but it's not a total disaster either. Basically things will run about 65-75% slower under VMWare tha= n under native Linux on the same box. But this is offset by the problems= that can be encountered by running dual boot systems. ------------------------------------- Madison Pruet, STSM IDS Replication Architect = "kate" = <kate@iiug.org> = Sent by: = To ids-bounces@iiug. ids@iiug.org = org = cc = Subj= ect 11/29/2007 12:55 VMWare and Informix databases = PM [10536] = = = Please respond to = ids@iiug.org = = = I'm looking for anyone who has done testing with Informix v11 (or v10) = and VMWare. Is it still true that Informix performs much better with 2 CPUs= , even when they are virtual CPUs? Thanks! Kate Tomchik [ kate@iiug.org ] www.iiug.org International Informix Users Group Board of Directors See you at the IIUG Informix Conference The Power Conference for Informix Professionals April 27 - 30, 2008 Overland Park, KS, USA http://www.iiug.org/conf ***********************************************************************= ******** Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum. =
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We have several small (<8Gb) database instances running under VMWare ESX hosts --- RAW seems to be broken somehow by the ESX setup (this may be due to the specific implementation) but Cooked chunks are giving us phenomenal performance. I have insisted on 2 vCPUs minimum for each server to allow some concurrent threading to occur --- if you have only 1 vCPU you get single CPU performance -- multiple vCPUs are far better. -----Original Message----- From: ids-bounces@iiug.org [mailto:ids-bounces@iiug.org] On Behalf Of kate Sent: 29 November 2007 18:55 To: ids@iiug.org Subject: VMWare and Informix databases [10536] I'm looking for anyone who has done testing with Informix v11 (or v10) and VMWare. Is it still true that Informix performs much better with 2 CPUs, even when they are virtual CPUs? Thanks! Kate Tomchik [ kate@iiug.org ] www.iiug.org International Informix Users Group Board of Directors See you at the IIUG Informix Conference The Power Conference for Informix Professionals April 27 - 30, 2008 Overland Park, KS, USA http://www.iiug.org/conf ************************************************************************ ******* Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.