I wann't to move my sql server onto virtualized platform (Vsphere, esxi 4.1).
Here is my plan on how would I install it:
- Vm with 3 disk's. C: for windows and sql binaries, D: for sql data, E: for logs
- All disk on different datastores
- Disks D: and E: are independen't so snapshoot's won't effect them
- Root folder for every instance is on default path (C:\program
files…) - data and log folder is moved onto D: and E: disk
Ram and cpu cores will be added as needed.
Is there a way to monitor and graph CPU, RAM usage and dik I/O for let's say 24h to get some info about load on the server (with built-in windows tools).
Will this work fine and do you have any special tips&trciks ?
Best regards, Primoz.
EDIT
I tried simple test setup with just two disk C: for installation and D: for data and logs and with 2 vCPU's and 6GB of ram.
With my test suite I have push the cpu usage to 90%+ and ram usage to 98%.
So I'm guessing that this means that disk is fast enough and that I'm limited by CPU and RAM ?
Best Answer
I use almost the exact same methodology. I use the inbuilt windows perfmon tools in for monitoring my physical boxes and the inbuilt monioring graphs available in vSphere (I think in ESXi as well) for my virtual boxes. I allow my SQL data and logs to be included in our snapshots. That is environment specific so you might want to test both ways.
EDIT - the one gotcha I can think of is the temporary type SQL tables. Those may need to be moved by hand to the new disk. http://www.sqlteam.com/article/moving-the-tempdb-database
We use Commvault for system backups which uses the inbuilt snapshots as part of the process. By leaving the snapshots enabled on the SQL disks I avoid having to use a separate SQL backup. If your environment does not have a good low usage time on your databases this will not work for you.