windows vm on linux vmware server and super slow

[JBruyet]

hey all,

for some reason i lost my ability to capitalize letters so forgive me. anyway, i used vmware converter to virtualize my windows xp sp3 on an amd 64x2 workstation. that went fine. i then copied it over to my linux 2.6.25.14-108.fc9.i686 machine. that went fine. vmware 1.0.6 build-91891 is installed on the linux machine. that went fine. i started up the virtual machine and the hard drive led lit up and stayed lit for as long as the virtual machine was running. i ran top and cpu usage was around 50 to 60 percent. memory was around 50 to 55 percent. one gig allocated out of two gigs. once i shut down the vm the hard drive led shut off and everything sped back up to normal. i looked around in forums and on google but i couldn't find anything like what i'm experiencing. vmtools is installed. anyone have any ideas on how to get my virtualized workstation to work in a more efficient manner//

thanks,

joe b

that was hard to type with disabled shift keys. and what's up with that too//

 

[paella33]

You never mention what host you are running one. I think you are running vmware server on a linux host?

 

[JBruyet]

paella33, sorry about that. Yes I'm running VMware server on a Linux host, specifically Fedora 9. Oh, and now I'm able to capitalize again. Go figure.

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[paella33]

Is your DNS working in the VM? Or networking in general?

 

[SimonDavies]

Have you tried running a defrag on the VM (not the guest but the actual VM)? It could be that the VM itself is fragmented and causing you issues, alternatively it could be down to the hardware you're running it on.

You don't mention the spec of the linux machine, having 2gb of ram may be all well and good but if you have a very poor cpu you're still going to take a hit.

SimonD.

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[JBruyet]

paella33, networking is fine. I can access my 2k3 domain without any problems. As to DNS, I just started the VM up to test that and it froze up my computer. I'm waiting right now to see if it's going to start working on its own.

Simon, hardware specs are Asus M2N SLI mobo with an Opteron 2.4 GHz processor, 250 GB HD and 2 GB RAM. I believe the video card is an nVidia 8600. Also, regarding the defrag process on the VM, is that something that's a VMware console option? is it a VMware tools option? Is it the normal Windows Defrag in System Tools?

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[JBruyet]

One more thing--I have one gig of RAM allocated to this VM.

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[JBruyet]

Ok, some more observations:

1) I have one gig of RAM allocated to this VM

2) I no longer think it's the VM running so slow. After I started the VM back up I went to another workspace and things are moving horribly slow there too. I opened a terminal window to run top and the window took about two minutes to open. I checked CPU usage and it's hovering around 15%. Sometimes it spikes to maybe 50% or 60% and sometimes it drops down to less than 5%.

3) I accidentally Suspended the VM and everything started running fast again.

4) Even when the CPU usage dropped to less than 5% the hard drive LED on the front of the computer remains on. There are a few flickers, but you have to be watching the LED to see them.

Why is the hard drive working so hard when nothing else is? Does anyone know of any issues arising from running VMware's Converter on a Windows 2k3 server to create a VM, copying that VM over to a Linux machine (Fedora 9) and running the VM there? Maybe I should install VMware server on another machine and run this VM on that machine to see if it bogs that one down too... Hmmm...

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[JBruyet]

Sigh. I started the VM then left the office to run tasks. I came back and even though the VM isn't even logged into, it's still pegging the HD usage LED.

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[SimonDavies]

Joe, you may want to look at the physical disk rather than the VM one (on VMware Workstation it's an option in the Virtual Machine settings (click on the hdd and it's one of the utilities).

To be honest with you it's sounding a lot like a hdd is failing (try and find a linux based S.M.A.R.T. utility, that should give you an idea if the HDD is on the way out).

As far as I am aware there aren't any issues with converting a VM and running it on a different Host OS, I have even converted MS VHD's to VMware and run them on VMware just fine.

SimonD.

The real world is not about exam scores, it's about ability.

 

[JBruyet]

Hi SimonDavies,

Now that I'm back from a software training excursion I'm back on this problem. I just ran SpinRite (for about 19 hours) on this computer and the hard drive tests out just fine. I once again fired up my workstation vm and the computer slowed to a crawl and the hard drive LED lit up and stayed lit until I shutdown the vm. I think I'm going to have to quit using Linux for my VMware server and give the ESXi a shot. Unless someone else knows of a way to get my workstation vm to run without totally bogging down the server. OR, maybe I'll recreate my workstation vm and try that again. THEN if it doesn't work I'll try the ESXi.

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[TheLad]

In a previous config I have done, I found that performance was much better if I ran the Windows OS on one RAID1 and the VMWare directory containing the Virtual Machines on a separate RAID1. This improved performance dramatically for me as I had perfomance issues on both Windows OS and VMs with a disk configuration of a 3 disk RAID5

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[JBruyet]

TheLad,

Hmmm... This is on an experimental box with one 250GB SATA drive in it. In fact, here are the hardware specs:

Asus M2N-Plus mobo
AMD Opteron 2400
Two gigs RAM
nVidia video card w/512MB

When you say "...a separate RAID1" are you saying on the same server or on a different server?

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[TheLad]

In my config, I had 2 x 36Gb disks in a RAID1 where the Windows OS was stored and 2 x 72Gb disks in a RAID1 which was presented to Windows as the V: where I installed VMWare Server to and stored the Virtual Machines.

Basically, the Windows OS and the VMWare Server files(including VMs) were on separate disk configurations. Maybe if you had an additional SATA disk you could try something similar? In my situation, the disk activity of Windows OS and VMWare Server was thrashing my disks, having them on separate disks eliminated this

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[JBruyet]

TheLad,

I will give that a shot. I believe I have some SATA disks back in the server room. I'll let you know what I find out.

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[JBruyet]

Ok, I put a 160GB SATA drive in the computer but I'm having some trouble setting it up. I've tried cfdisk'ing it but I get the following error:

WroNo primary partitions are marked bootable. DOS MBR cannot boot this.e.
Toggle bootable flag of the current partition

When I run cfdisk I set the Type as Linux. The computer is seeing the disk, and df shows me the disk. BUT, I've never used cfdisk before so I don't know what I'm doing wrong. It's menu driven so I can't be too far off. Any more ideas?

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[JBruyet]

Ok... now the drive is being seen by the OS and I'm copying over my vm workstation. I'll be firing it up tonight if it's done before I head home. We'll see......

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[JBruyet]

Welllllll.... I came in to work this morning and my Linux box was locked up. I did a hard reboot and it came up fine. I've been busy all day and now that I have time to check and see if moving the vm to a separate hard drive helps the hard drive has disappeared. I tried su to find it and no joy. I logged out and then back in as root and still no joy. If I run cfdisk I can see the hard drive but it's not visible from anywhere else. Am I missing something here???

Thanks,

Joe B

 

[JBruyet]

Thanks everyone but I just erased my Linux box. If it's this hard to get working right I'm going to have to try something else. I may try this at home and see if I can get it working there.

Thanks,

Joe B