I must be doing something wrong, but what?

[JBruyet]

Hey all,

I'm trying to Convert existing computers/servers and run them under VMware but apparently the process is breaking down somewhere.

I started with installing Fedora9 Linux on a box and then installing VMware server on it. The install went smoothly (after I installed the necessary Fedora packages) and the VMware server ran great. I converted a basic XP SP3 workstation and ran it on the VMware server and the whole thing slowed to a crawl. I ran top and saw that the VMware server was consuming about 95% of CPU resources. The VM was unusable due to it running so slow. When I stopped the VM Linux was back to full speed. Out of curiosity I did a fresh install of XP, then did all available MS updates and it ran great. I removed the VM, converted the XP workstation again and had the same problem.

I was thinking that maybe it was VMware server so I downloaded and installed the ESXi software. It installed without any problems. I installed the VMware converter on a different machine and had it install the converted VM on the ESXi server. Same problem. Once I start the VM things slow to a crawl.

I built the VMware box out of an Asus mobo running an Opteron CPU. I never saw anything that said don't use an Asus mobo or an Opteron CPU so I'm starting to think I'm doing something wrong but what??? I get the same results every time I use a "converted" machine. I'm trying to do more with less and VMware looks to be something that can help, but I haven't had much luck so far. Any and ALL help would be appreciated!

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[ArizonaGeek]

Have you checked on the VM guest to see if there is anything running that might take up all the resources?

Also, check for your hidden device drivers in your guest, even if it is a small chance of them causing an issue, it can't hurt to remove them.

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
devmgmt.msc

Copy and paste that into a text document and name it something.bat and run it on your VM guest. It will unhide all the devices not connected to your machine. You just have to go through one by one and remove the old drivers.

Check your processes also and see if there is something causing it to spike. I've not had any issues with my converted machines. Good luck!

Cheers
Rob

The answer is always "PEBKAC!

 

[JBruyet]

ArizonaGeek,

I ran your batch file and all it does (that I can tell) is bring up the Device Manager for the server. Out of curiosity I looked through the Device Manager to see if it looked any different and I don't see anything in there that shouldn't be there. Was that batch file supposed to do something special to the Device Manager?

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[JBruyet]

Ok, it has to be a driver issue of some kind. I just fired up another "Converted" Win2k3 server and it runs much faster than the first server. Both servers had similar hardware so I don't know specifically what the problem could be, but I'm open to any and all suggestions.

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[JBruyet]

Yet another thing: for some reason the "problem" VM won't install VMware Tools. When I try to install the VMware Tools on this server I get the initial screen and then nothing else happens. On the other server I can see the VMware Tools icon down in the Task Bar but not on the problem server. Any ideas on how I can "force" the installation of VMware Tools?

Thanks,

Joe B