SLES 10 VMWare Tips

Host Installation

• A base installation (only) is suggested, with only the following extra packages required:
  • xorg-x11-libs
  • gcc
  • kernel-source
• Try to partition your OS, swap and the location for your VM's on different drives.
• Remove unnecessary hardware (e.g. floppy drive) through Virtual Centre.
• Disable IPv6 (can affect VMwareTools)
• TODO: Define absolutely minimal installation requirements.

Time Synchronisation

• If your servers are not keeping accurate time under load, consider running an SP2 VMI enabled kernel (with paravirtualization checked - in Virtual Centre --> Edit Settings --> Options --> Parvitualization) using NTP for time synchronisation. Ensure that the VMwareTools time synch with host is disabled. Refer - VMware KB article - Timekeeping best practices for Linux

VMware Tools

• Automating VMware Tools Installs and Upgrades in Linux Guests

Tweaks

• Swappiness parameter - if you find your VM's are swapping while RAM is available, consider adding 'vm.swappiness = 40' to the bottom of /etc/sysctl.conf refer: http://www.novell.com/support/search.do?cmd=displayKC&sliceId=SAL_Public&externalId=3469718
• Noatime - consider adding this parameter to /etc/fstab to prevent the access time from being updated unless the access involves a modification of a file’s or directory’s metadata or content. This may be useful for backup, news servers, and mail servers where the extra disk activity associated with updating the access time is not desired. Avoiding the writes associated with updating the access time can result in measurable performance gains. Refer: http://www.novell.com/documentation/oes2/stor_nss_lx_nw/index.html?page=/documentation/oes2/stor_nss_lx_nw/data/b55ln8c.html
• Consider turning off unnecessary services such as:
  • portmap
  • nfslock
  • netfs
  • autofs
  • smartd
  • acpid
  • gpm
  • nfs
  • nfsboot
  • splash
  • splash_early

Guest Installation

• Linux manages the memory up to 896MB RAM linearly. This memory section is faster and more efficient. Bear this in mind with your VM guests - try to plan around using less than 896MB RAM to keep your guests running optimally.
• VMware ESX Server guest OS performance tips - part 1
• VMware ESX Server guest OS performance tips - part 2
• VMware ESX Server guest OS performance tips - part 3
• Linux guest time drift issue
• Linux guest time drift issue - later kernels

General Tips

• There are a lot of complaints about the free VMware's remote console being slow and unreliable. All the VMware documentation for all versions of VMware suggest the use of the native remote access tools (ssh, RDP, etc) instead of the console if possible.
• Check out Rob Bastiaansen's website. He's got some great tips relating to NetWare as a guest OS!
• See this cool tip from Paul McKeith, covering various issues relating to VMware guests.
• Be sure to read the guest OS notes for your OS, referenced from this page on the VMware website.
• The online documentation for VMware Server (free) is here.
• Read this article from Portlock for physical-to-vm migration.