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Table Of Contents
VMware, Inc. 281
Chapter 12 Performance Tuning for VMware Server
Whenasnapshotexistsandyouhavemadechangestoapreallocatedvirtualdisk,
accessperformanceforthechangeddiskfilesissomewhatslowerandiscomparableto
thatofagrowablevirtualdisk(whichdoesnothavespaceallocatedinadvance).Ifyou
removethesnapshot,performanceagainreflectsthat
oftheunderlyingdisk.
Whenasnapshotexists,virtualdisksoftenhaveverygoodperformanceforrandomor
nonsequentialaccess.Buttheycanpotentiallybecomesofragmentedthatperformance
isaffected.Youcanimproveperformanceforthesedisksbydefragmentingthem,as
describedin“DefragmentingVirtualDisks”onpage 147.Beforeyou
defragmentthedisk,
youmustfirstremovethesnapshot.
Disabling Debugging Mode
Youcanconfigurevirtualmachinestorecorddebuggingorstatisticsinformation.
However,recordingdebugginginformationdegradesperformancesignificantly.
Duringnormaluse,makesurethatthevirtualmachineisnotrecordingdebugging
information.Forinformationabouthowtoenableanddisabletherecordingofruntime
information,see“ChangingVirtualMachineAdvancedSettings”
onpage 127.
Disabling CD/DVD Drive Polling
ManyWindowsoperatingsystemspolltheCD/DVDdriveapproximatelyevery
secondtoseewhetheradiscispresent,allowingthemtorunautorunprograms.When
thispollingoccurs,thevirtualmachinemightappeartopausewhileVMwareServer
connectstothehostCD/DVDdriveandthehostdrivespinsup.
If
youhaveaCD/DVDdrivethattakesalongtimetospinup,youcaneliminatethese
pausesusingeitherofthefollowingmethods:
Disablepollinginyourguestoperatingsystem.Specificinstructionsdependonthe
operatingsystem.
ConfigureyourvirtualCD/DVDdrivesothatitisnotconnectedwhenthevirtual
machinepowerson.Onlyconnecttothevirtualdrivewhenyouwanttouseitin
thevirtualmachine.
N
OTEAfterasnapshotistaken,youcannolongerdefragmenttheoriginaldisk.Ifyou
runadefragmentationutilityintheguestsystemwhenasnapshotexists,
VMware Servermakesallitschangestotheredologratherthantheoriginaldisk.Every
sectorthatchangesiscopiedtothevirtual
machineredolog.Theredologbecomes
extremelylargewhenthediskisheavilyfragmentedandyouattempttodefragment
thediskaftertakingasnapshot.