RDA Corp - Business Intelligence and SQL Server: Hosting SQL Server on VMWare - BeyeBLOGS.com

October 30, 2009

One of our clients was investigating the logistics of running SQL Server on VMWare. In discussions with Microsoft, the response includedfour (4) important links. I personally have seen various SQL Server performance issues when virtualizing especially in a SharePoint environment and I would never trust that configuration. There have been many enhancements with SQL Server 2005 and now SQL Server 2008 in order to consolidate servers and take advantage of reducing hardware needs and license costs. A good SQL Server 2008 consolidation white paper can be found here.

Here is the info from the Microsoft technician:

If you are running ESX V3.5 the latest hotfixes from VMware to disable write-caching are included in update3 and update 4.

1. The Microsoft Virtual Server support policy

2. The VMware knowledge base article that you can contact VMware about for hosting SQL Server

3. This article that explains the issueanddiscussesthe problem domain

4. Here is an presentation from VMWare about how to disable the disk write issue.

Posted by Steve Mann at October 30, 2009 1:08 PM