bennice

Sizing is important, as is the SQL server behind the NS. If you're running a dedicated SQL server that is configured well then it makes all the difference in the world. A VM with 2GB RAM on fast disk should suffice to service at least a few hundred clients.

The biggest problem with hosting most any server in VMware is disk speed/throughput. If your ESX environment is well-architected then you'd be surprised at how much performance you can squeeze from the physical host.

These days I have a couple ESX servers running 40+ VM guests, and some with less than 10, but most have between 15-20. As a practice, I run 2 ESX servers in a cluster and leave enough free headroom on each server to take over running all the guests in case of a failure.

edwardelawrence

We have a great ESX layout, however I was wondering more specifically on the configuration of the Altiris virtual machine. I see in the postings that several users are having great success with virtualizing their NS and others are not. I'm more interested in what the virtual machine configurations contributed to the successful migrations to the virtual world. I hope I'm making sense.

ikhar

I too would like to know what would be the best setup for an NS on a VM. I have 4 NS's with roughly 5000 clients on each along with a report server to whom they all forward inventory. SQL is off-box.

The VMware servers are handled by another team as is the sql-servers. I have a good dialogue with the SQL people but I have no knowledge whatsoever about how the VMware should be configured. I would like to know some figures for RAM, number of CPU's etc that would be needed so I am not totally at the mercy of the VMware guys. They tend to claim that VMware runs fine and the problems are elsewhere.

I appreciate any help.

Thanks

jdelator

I would also like to know this info!