>I have tried two different methods of using Virtual Server 2005 R2 over a
>Gigabit Ethernet network. I tried using SMB/CIFS and performance was very
>poor.
>
> I read some articles on the Microsoft site about Virtual Server and
> WinTarget from StringBeanSoftware and how Microsoft uses WinTarget
> themselves. I figured this would be a good solution so we tried it but get
> the same poor performance using iSCSI that we did with SMB/CIFS so you
> would think this would point to the network but network.
>
> I looked at network utilization and also at errors, discards, retransmits
> during startup of Virtual Machine over both transports and network
> utilization never went above 2%, it took 4 minutes from power on to
> display the login screen. I did a disk benchmark once I logged in and it
> was only 2KB/second
>
> Version: Virtual Server 2005 R2
> Host:
> 2003 Enterprise x64 R2
> Virtual Server 2005 R2
> Dual Opteron 246
> 8GB Ram
> Dual Broadcom lan-on-motherboard (Tyan 2882)GigE
>
> iSCSI Target Server:
> 2003 Enterprise x64 R2
> WinTarget 2.0.95 Eval
> 8GB Ram
> Dual Broadcom lan-on-motherboard (Tyan 2882)
> 2.3 TB Raid 5 array on 3Ware 9550 controller
>
> Disk Benchmarks
> Host to iSCSI: 115MB/sec
> Virtual Server Disk: 1873bytes/sec
> Same Virtual Machine converted to VMWare: 105MB/sec
>
> Boot Time (time from power on till Ctrl-alt-delete is displayed for
> logon):
> Virtual Server: 4 minutes 10 seconds
> VMWare Server: 35 Seconds
>
> Performance with same hardware and same setup is very good with VMWare
> Server, I do not understand why the big difference.
>

> That is what I am doing. The Host is mounting an iSCSI drive which
> contains the Virtual harddrive for the guest and the performance is
> terrible. The virtual server disk benchmarks are the performance figures I
> am getting from within the guest OS with this configuration.
>
> Same config on VMWare Server I am getting 80-100MB/s and boot time is
> 30seconds or less.
>
>
>
>
> "Pat [MSFT]" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>> You will get (significantly) better perf running the iSCSI client from
>> the Host OS and exposing the LUN to the Guest that way vs running iSCSI
>> within the guest.
>>
>>
>> Pat
>>
>> "FFTechnologies" <(email address - cut out)ail> wrote in message
>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>>I have tried two different methods of using Virtual Server 2005 R2 over a
>>>Gigabit Ethernet network. I tried using SMB/CIFS and performance was very
>>>poor.
>>>
>>> I read some articles on the Microsoft site about Virtual Server and
>>> WinTarget from StringBeanSoftware and how Microsoft uses WinTarget
>>> themselves. I figured this would be a good solution so we tried it but
>>> get the same poor performance using iSCSI that we did with SMB/CIFS so
>>> you would think this would point to the network but network.
>>>
>>> I looked at network utilization and also at errors, discards,
>>> retransmits during startup of Virtual Machine over both transports and
>>> network utilization never went above 2%, it took 4 minutes from power on
>>> to display the login screen. I did a disk benchmark once I logged in and
>>> it was only 2KB/second
>>>
>>> Version: Virtual Server 2005 R2
>>> Host:
>>> 2003 Enterprise x64 R2
>>> Virtual Server 2005 R2
>>> Dual Opteron 246
>>> 8GB Ram
>>> Dual Broadcom lan-on-motherboard (Tyan 2882)GigE
>>>
>>> iSCSI Target Server:
>>> 2003 Enterprise x64 R2
>>> WinTarget 2.0.95 Eval
>>> 8GB Ram
>>> Dual Broadcom lan-on-motherboard (Tyan 2882)
>>> 2.3 TB Raid 5 array on 3Ware 9550 controller
>>>
>>> Disk Benchmarks
>>> Host to iSCSI: 115MB/sec
>>> Virtual Server Disk: 1873bytes/sec
>>> Same Virtual Machine converted to VMWare: 105MB/sec
>>>
>>> Boot Time (time from power on till Ctrl-alt-delete is displayed for
>>> logon):
>>> Virtual Server: 4 minutes 10 seconds
>>> VMWare Server: 35 Seconds
>>>
>>> Performance with same hardware and same setup is very good with VMWare
>>> Server, I do not understand why the big difference.
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

> You will get (significantly) better perf running the iSCSI client from the
> Host OS and exposing the LUN to the Guest that way vs running iSCSI within
> the guest.
>
>
> Pat
>
> "FFTechnologies" <(email address - cut out)ail> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>I have tried two different methods of using Virtual Server 2005 R2 over a
>>Gigabit Ethernet network. I tried using SMB/CIFS and performance was very
>>poor.
>>
>> I read some articles on the Microsoft site about Virtual Server and
>> WinTarget from StringBeanSoftware and how Microsoft uses WinTarget
>> themselves. I figured this would be a good solution so we tried it but
>> get the same poor performance using iSCSI that we did with SMB/CIFS so
>> you would think this would point to the network but network.
>>
>> I looked at network utilization and also at errors, discards, retransmits
>> during startup of Virtual Machine over both transports and network
>> utilization never went above 2%, it took 4 minutes from power on to
>> display the login screen. I did a disk benchmark once I logged in and it
>> was only 2KB/second
>>
>> Version: Virtual Server 2005 R2
>> Host:
>> 2003 Enterprise x64 R2
>> Virtual Server 2005 R2
>> Dual Opteron 246
>> 8GB Ram
>> Dual Broadcom lan-on-motherboard (Tyan 2882)GigE
>>
>> iSCSI Target Server:
>> 2003 Enterprise x64 R2
>> WinTarget 2.0.95 Eval
>> 8GB Ram
>> Dual Broadcom lan-on-motherboard (Tyan 2882)
>> 2.3 TB Raid 5 array on 3Ware 9550 controller
>>
>> Disk Benchmarks
>> Host to iSCSI: 115MB/sec
>> Virtual Server Disk: 1873bytes/sec
>> Same Virtual Machine converted to VMWare: 105MB/sec
>>
>> Boot Time (time from power on till Ctrl-alt-delete is displayed for
>> logon):
>> Virtual Server: 4 minutes 10 seconds
>> VMWare Server: 35 Seconds
>>
>> Performance with same hardware and same setup is very good with VMWare
>> Server, I do not understand why the big difference.
>>
>
>

> Is the host system seeing latency as well - or is the latency only
> apparent at the Guest OS level?
>
>
> Pat
>
> "FFTechnologies" <(email address - cut out)ail> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>> That is what I am doing. The Host is mounting an iSCSI drive which
>> contains the Virtual harddrive for the guest and the performance is
>> terrible. The virtual server disk benchmarks are the performance figures
>> I am getting from within the guest OS with this configuration.
>>
>> Same config on VMWare Server I am getting 80-100MB/s and boot time is
>> 30seconds or less.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> "Pat [MSFT]" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>> You will get (significantly) better perf running the iSCSI client from
>>> the Host OS and exposing the LUN to the Guest that way vs running iSCSI
>>> within the guest.
>>>
>>>
>>> Pat
>>>
>>> "FFTechnologies" <(email address - cut out)ail> wrote in message
>>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>>>I have tried two different methods of using Virtual Server 2005 R2 over
>>>>a Gigabit Ethernet network. I tried using SMB/CIFS and performance was
>>>>very poor.
>>>>
>>>> I read some articles on the Microsoft site about Virtual Server and
>>>> WinTarget from StringBeanSoftware and how Microsoft uses WinTarget
>>>> themselves. I figured this would be a good solution so we tried it but
>>>> get the same poor performance using iSCSI that we did with SMB/CIFS so
>>>> you would think this would point to the network but network.
>>>>
>>>> I looked at network utilization and also at errors, discards,
>>>> retransmits during startup of Virtual Machine over both transports and
>>>> network utilization never went above 2%, it took 4 minutes from power
>>>> on to display the login screen. I did a disk benchmark once I logged in
>>>> and it was only 2KB/second
>>>>
>>>> Version: Virtual Server 2005 R2
>>>> Host:
>>>> 2003 Enterprise x64 R2
>>>> Virtual Server 2005 R2
>>>> Dual Opteron 246
>>>> 8GB Ram
>>>> Dual Broadcom lan-on-motherboard (Tyan 2882)GigE
>>>>
>>>> iSCSI Target Server:
>>>> 2003 Enterprise x64 R2
>>>> WinTarget 2.0.95 Eval
>>>> 8GB Ram
>>>> Dual Broadcom lan-on-motherboard (Tyan 2882)
>>>> 2.3 TB Raid 5 array on 3Ware 9550 controller
>>>>
>>>> Disk Benchmarks
>>>> Host to iSCSI: 115MB/sec
>>>> Virtual Server Disk: 1873bytes/sec
>>>> Same Virtual Machine converted to VMWare: 105MB/sec
>>>>
>>>> Boot Time (time from power on till Ctrl-alt-delete is displayed for
>>>> logon):
>>>> Virtual Server: 4 minutes 10 seconds
>>>> VMWare Server: 35 Seconds
>>>>
>>>> Performance with same hardware and same setup is very good with VMWare
>>>> Server, I do not understand why the big difference.
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>

> Performance on the host is excellent (100MB/s or more and 1ms response
> times). Performance in VMWare with virtual harddrive on iSCSI is excellent
> (85MB/s).
>
>
> "Pat [MSFT]" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
> news:uml%23%23a$(email address - cut out)...
> > Is the host system seeing latency as well - or is the latency only
> > apparent at the Guest OS level?
> >
> >
> > Pat
> >
> > "FFTechnologies" <(email address - cut out)ail> wrote in message
> > news:(email address - cut out)...
> >> That is what I am doing. The Host is mounting an iSCSI drive which
> >> contains the Virtual harddrive for the guest and the performance is
> >> terrible. The virtual server disk benchmarks are the performance figures
> >> I am getting from within the guest OS with this configuration.
> >>
> >> Same config on VMWare Server I am getting 80-100MB/s and boot time is
> >> 30seconds or less.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> "Pat [MSFT]" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
> >> news:(email address - cut out)...
> >>> You will get (significantly) better perf running the iSCSI client from
> >>> the Host OS and exposing the LUN to the Guest that way vs running iSCSI
> >>> within the guest.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Pat
> >>>
> >>> "FFTechnologies" <(email address - cut out)ail> wrote in message
> >>> news:(email address - cut out)...
> >>>>I have tried two different methods of using Virtual Server 2005 R2 over
> >>>>a Gigabit Ethernet network. I tried using SMB/CIFS and performance was
> >>>>very poor.
> >>>>
> >>>> I read some articles on the Microsoft site about Virtual Server and
> >>>> WinTarget from StringBeanSoftware and how Microsoft uses WinTarget
> >>>> themselves. I figured this would be a good solution so we tried it but
> >>>> get the same poor performance using iSCSI that we did with SMB/CIFS so
> >>>> you would think this would point to the network but network.
> >>>>
> >>>> I looked at network utilization and also at errors, discards,
> >>>> retransmits during startup of Virtual Machine over both transports and
> >>>> network utilization never went above 2%, it took 4 minutes from power
> >>>> on to display the login screen. I did a disk benchmark once I logged in
> >>>> and it was only 2KB/second
> >>>>
> >>>> Version: Virtual Server 2005 R2
> >>>> Host:
> >>>> 2003 Enterprise x64 R2
> >>>> Virtual Server 2005 R2
> >>>> Dual Opteron 246
> >>>> 8GB Ram
> >>>> Dual Broadcom lan-on-motherboard (Tyan 2882)GigE
> >>>>
> >>>> iSCSI Target Server:
> >>>> 2003 Enterprise x64 R2
> >>>> WinTarget 2.0.95 Eval
> >>>> 8GB Ram
> >>>> Dual Broadcom lan-on-motherboard (Tyan 2882)
> >>>> 2.3 TB Raid 5 array on 3Ware 9550 controller
> >>>>
> >>>> Disk Benchmarks
> >>>> Host to iSCSI: 115MB/sec
> >>>> Virtual Server Disk: 1873bytes/sec
> >>>> Same Virtual Machine converted to VMWare: 105MB/sec
> >>>>
> >>>> Boot Time (time from power on till Ctrl-alt-delete is displayed for
> >>>> logon):
> >>>> Virtual Server: 4 minutes 10 seconds
> >>>> VMWare Server: 35 Seconds
> >>>>
> >>>> Performance with same hardware and same setup is very good with VMWare
> >>>> Server, I do not understand why the big difference.
> >>>>
> >>>
> >>>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
>
>
>

> I'm not sure why this performance problem is happening but 2 things to
> verify:
>
> - Ensure that the VM additions are installed.
> - Ensure the VM is connected to the VHD via the virtual SCSI bus rather
> than
> IDE.
>
> Hope that helps.
>
> Jason
>
> "FFTechnologies" wrote:
>
>> Performance on the host is excellent (100MB/s or more and 1ms response
>> times). Performance in VMWare with virtual harddrive on iSCSI is
>> excellent
>> (85MB/s).
>>
>>
>> "Pat [MSFT]" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>> news:uml%23%23a$(email address - cut out)...
>> > Is the host system seeing latency as well - or is the latency only
>> > apparent at the Guest OS level?
>> >
>> >
>> > Pat
>> >
>> > "FFTechnologies" <(email address - cut out)ail> wrote in message
>> > news:(email address - cut out)...
>> >> That is what I am doing. The Host is mounting an iSCSI drive which
>> >> contains the Virtual harddrive for the guest and the performance is
>> >> terrible. The virtual server disk benchmarks are the performance
>> >> figures
>> >> I am getting from within the guest OS with this configuration.
>> >>
>> >> Same config on VMWare Server I am getting 80-100MB/s and boot time is
>> >> 30seconds or less.
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >> "Pat [MSFT]" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>> >> news:(email address - cut out)...
>> >>> You will get (significantly) better perf running the iSCSI client
>> >>> from
>> >>> the Host OS and exposing the LUN to the Guest that way vs running
>> >>> iSCSI
>> >>> within the guest.
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>> Pat
>> >>>
>> >>> "FFTechnologies" <(email address - cut out)ail> wrote in message
>> >>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>> >>>>I have tried two different methods of using Virtual Server 2005 R2
>> >>>>over
>> >>>>a Gigabit Ethernet network. I tried using SMB/CIFS and performance
>> >>>>was
>> >>>>very poor.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> I read some articles on the Microsoft site about Virtual Server and
>> >>>> WinTarget from StringBeanSoftware and how Microsoft uses WinTarget
>> >>>> themselves. I figured this would be a good solution so we tried it
>> >>>> but
>> >>>> get the same poor performance using iSCSI that we did with SMB/CIFS
>> >>>> so
>> >>>> you would think this would point to the network but network.
>> >>>>
>> >>>> I looked at network utilization and also at errors, discards,
>> >>>> retransmits during startup of Virtual Machine over both transports
>> >>>> and
>> >>>> network utilization never went above 2%, it took 4 minutes from
>> >>>> power
>> >>>> on to display the login screen. I did a disk benchmark once I logged
>> >>>> in
>> >>>> and it was only 2KB/second
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Version: Virtual Server 2005 R2
>> >>>> Host:
>> >>>> 2003 Enterprise x64 R2
>> >>>> Virtual Server 2005 R2
>> >>>> Dual Opteron 246
>> >>>> 8GB Ram
>> >>>> Dual Broadcom lan-on-motherboard (Tyan 2882)GigE
>> >>>>
>> >>>> iSCSI Target Server:
>> >>>> 2003 Enterprise x64 R2
>> >>>> WinTarget 2.0.95 Eval
>> >>>> 8GB Ram
>> >>>> Dual Broadcom lan-on-motherboard (Tyan 2882)
>> >>>> 2.3 TB Raid 5 array on 3Ware 9550 controller
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Disk Benchmarks
>> >>>> Host to iSCSI: 115MB/sec
>> >>>> Virtual Server Disk: 1873bytes/sec
>> >>>> Same Virtual Machine converted to VMWare: 105MB/sec
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Boot Time (time from power on till Ctrl-alt-delete is displayed for
>> >>>> logon):
>> >>>> Virtual Server: 4 minutes 10 seconds
>> >>>> VMWare Server: 35 Seconds
>> >>>>
>> >>>> Performance with same hardware and same setup is very good with
>> >>>> VMWare
>> >>>> Server, I do not understand why the big difference.
>> >>>>
>> >>>
>> >>>
>> >>
>> >>
>> >
>> >
>>
>>
>>

>I guess no one at Microsoft cares to pursue this further? I do not
>understand why you would not want to get to the bottom of such a
>performance problem. I am interested in seeing it through, but in the
>meantime, I have converted virtual machines to VMWare in order to improve
>performance and to centralized storage on a NAS (iSCSI and NAS gave same
>performance so we choose to use NAS for cost reasons).
>
> Thanks
> Michael
>
>
> "FFTechnologies" <(email address - cut out)ail> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>> Already done, but thanks for replying.
>>
>> --
>> Michael
>>
>>
>> "JasonF" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>> I'm not sure why this performance problem is happening but 2 things to
>>> verify:
>>>
>>> - Ensure that the VM additions are installed.
>>> - Ensure the VM is connected to the VHD via the virtual SCSI bus rather
>>> than
>>> IDE.
>>>
>>> Hope that helps.
>>>
>>> Jason
>>>
>>> "FFTechnologies" wrote:
>>>
>>>> Performance on the host is excellent (100MB/s or more and 1ms response
>>>> times). Performance in VMWare with virtual harddrive on iSCSI is
>>>> excellent
>>>> (85MB/s).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> "Pat [MSFT]" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>>>> news:uml%23%23a$(email address - cut out)...
>>>> > Is the host system seeing latency as well - or is the latency only
>>>> > apparent at the Guest OS level?
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>> > Pat
>>>> >
>>>> > "FFTechnologies" <(email address - cut out)ail> wrote in message
>>>> > news:(email address - cut out)...
>>>> >> That is what I am doing. The Host is mounting an iSCSI drive which
>>>> >> contains the Virtual harddrive for the guest and the performance is
>>>> >> terrible. The virtual server disk benchmarks are the performance
>>>> >> figures
>>>> >> I am getting from within the guest OS with this configuration.
>>>> >>
>>>> >> Same config on VMWare Server I am getting 80-100MB/s and boot time
>>>> >> is
>>>> >> 30seconds or less.
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >> "Pat [MSFT]" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>>>> >> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>>> >>> You will get (significantly) better perf running the iSCSI client
>>>> >>> from
>>>> >>> the Host OS and exposing the LUN to the Guest that way vs running
>>>> >>> iSCSI
>>>> >>> within the guest.
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> Pat
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>> "FFTechnologies" <(email address - cut out)ail> wrote in message
>>>> >>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>>> >>>>I have tried two different methods of using Virtual Server 2005 R2
>>>> >>>>over
>>>> >>>>a Gigabit Ethernet network. I tried using SMB/CIFS and performance
>>>> >>>>was
>>>> >>>>very poor.
>>>> >>>>
>>>> >>>> I read some articles on the Microsoft site about Virtual Server
>>>> >>>> and
>>>> >>>> WinTarget from StringBeanSoftware and how Microsoft uses WinTarget
>>>> >>>> themselves. I figured this would be a good solution so we tried it
>>>> >>>> but
>>>> >>>> get the same poor performance using iSCSI that we did with
>>>> >>>> SMB/CIFS so
>>>> >>>> you would think this would point to the network but network.
>>>> >>>>
>>>> >>>> I looked at network utilization and also at errors, discards,
>>>> >>>> retransmits during startup of Virtual Machine over both transports
>>>> >>>> and
>>>> >>>> network utilization never went above 2%, it took 4 minutes from
>>>> >>>> power
>>>> >>>> on to display the login screen. I did a disk benchmark once I
>>>> >>>> logged in
>>>> >>>> and it was only 2KB/second
>>>> >>>>
>>>> >>>> Version: Virtual Server 2005 R2
>>>> >>>> Host:
>>>> >>>> 2003 Enterprise x64 R2
>>>> >>>> Virtual Server 2005 R2
>>>> >>>> Dual Opteron 246
>>>> >>>> 8GB Ram
>>>> >>>> Dual Broadcom lan-on-motherboard (Tyan 2882)GigE
>>>> >>>>
>>>> >>>> iSCSI Target Server:
>>>> >>>> 2003 Enterprise x64 R2
>>>> >>>> WinTarget 2.0.95 Eval
>>>> >>>> 8GB Ram
>>>> >>>> Dual Broadcom lan-on-motherboard (Tyan 2882)
>>>> >>>> 2.3 TB Raid 5 array on 3Ware 9550 controller
>>>> >>>>
>>>> >>>> Disk Benchmarks
>>>> >>>> Host to iSCSI: 115MB/sec
>>>> >>>> Virtual Server Disk: 1873bytes/sec
>>>> >>>> Same Virtual Machine converted to VMWare: 105MB/sec
>>>> >>>>
>>>> >>>> Boot Time (time from power on till Ctrl-alt-delete is displayed
>>>> >>>> for
>>>> >>>> logon):
>>>> >>>> Virtual Server: 4 minutes 10 seconds
>>>> >>>> VMWare Server: 35 Seconds
>>>> >>>>
>>>> >>>> Performance with same hardware and same setup is very good with
>>>> >>>> VMWare
>>>> >>>> Server, I do not understand why the big difference.
>>>> >>>>
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>>
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >
>>>> >
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>
>>
>
>

> Already done, but thanks for replying.
>
> --
> Michael
>
>
> "JasonF" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
> news:(email address - cut out)...
>> I'm not sure why this performance problem is happening but 2 things to
>> verify:
>>
>> - Ensure that the VM additions are installed.
>> - Ensure the VM is connected to the VHD via the virtual SCSI bus rather
>> than
>> IDE.
>>
>> Hope that helps.
>>
>> Jason
>>
>> "FFTechnologies" wrote:
>>
>>> Performance on the host is excellent (100MB/s or more and 1ms response
>>> times). Performance in VMWare with virtual harddrive on iSCSI is
>>> excellent
>>> (85MB/s).
>>>
>>>
>>> "Pat [MSFT]" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>>> news:uml%23%23a$(email address - cut out)...
>>> > Is the host system seeing latency as well - or is the latency only
>>> > apparent at the Guest OS level?
>>> >
>>> >
>>> > Pat
>>> >
>>> > "FFTechnologies" <(email address - cut out)ail> wrote in message
>>> > news:(email address - cut out)...
>>> >> That is what I am doing. The Host is mounting an iSCSI drive which
>>> >> contains the Virtual harddrive for the guest and the performance is
>>> >> terrible. The virtual server disk benchmarks are the performance
>>> >> figures
>>> >> I am getting from within the guest OS with this configuration.
>>> >>
>>> >> Same config on VMWare Server I am getting 80-100MB/s and boot time is
>>> >> 30seconds or less.
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >> "Pat [MSFT]" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>>> >> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>> >>> You will get (significantly) better perf running the iSCSI client
>>> >>> from
>>> >>> the Host OS and exposing the LUN to the Guest that way vs running
>>> >>> iSCSI
>>> >>> within the guest.
>>> >>>
>>> >>>
>>> >>> Pat
>>> >>>
>>> >>> "FFTechnologies" <(email address - cut out)ail> wrote in message
>>> >>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>> >>>>I have tried two different methods of using Virtual Server 2005 R2
>>> >>>>over
>>> >>>>a Gigabit Ethernet network. I tried using SMB/CIFS and performance
>>> >>>>was
>>> >>>>very poor.
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> I read some articles on the Microsoft site about Virtual Server and
>>> >>>> WinTarget from StringBeanSoftware and how Microsoft uses WinTarget
>>> >>>> themselves. I figured this would be a good solution so we tried it
>>> >>>> but
>>> >>>> get the same poor performance using iSCSI that we did with SMB/CIFS
>>> >>>> so
>>> >>>> you would think this would point to the network but network.
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> I looked at network utilization and also at errors, discards,
>>> >>>> retransmits during startup of Virtual Machine over both transports
>>> >>>> and
>>> >>>> network utilization never went above 2%, it took 4 minutes from
>>> >>>> power
>>> >>>> on to display the login screen. I did a disk benchmark once I
>>> >>>> logged in
>>> >>>> and it was only 2KB/second
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> Version: Virtual Server 2005 R2
>>> >>>> Host:
>>> >>>> 2003 Enterprise x64 R2
>>> >>>> Virtual Server 2005 R2
>>> >>>> Dual Opteron 246
>>> >>>> 8GB Ram
>>> >>>> Dual Broadcom lan-on-motherboard (Tyan 2882)GigE
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> iSCSI Target Server:
>>> >>>> 2003 Enterprise x64 R2
>>> >>>> WinTarget 2.0.95 Eval
>>> >>>> 8GB Ram
>>> >>>> Dual Broadcom lan-on-motherboard (Tyan 2882)
>>> >>>> 2.3 TB Raid 5 array on 3Ware 9550 controller
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> Disk Benchmarks
>>> >>>> Host to iSCSI: 115MB/sec
>>> >>>> Virtual Server Disk: 1873bytes/sec
>>> >>>> Same Virtual Machine converted to VMWare: 105MB/sec
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> Boot Time (time from power on till Ctrl-alt-delete is displayed for
>>> >>>> logon):
>>> >>>> Virtual Server: 4 minutes 10 seconds
>>> >>>> VMWare Server: 35 Seconds
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>> Performance with same hardware and same setup is very good with
>>> >>>> VMWare
>>> >>>> Server, I do not understand why the big difference.
>>> >>>>
>>> >>>
>>> >>>
>>> >>
>>> >>
>>> >
>>> >
>>>
>>>
>>>
>
>

> There are a couple of things you can do:
>
> 1) Make sure that the Virtual SCSI driver (part of the VM Additions) is
> being used and not the Adaptec - this may require re-installing the
> additions
> 2) Contact MS-Support for deeper troubleshooting - that would probably be
> by far the fastest way to go since it will be interactive vs. daily
> post/responses.
>
>
> Pat
>
> "FFTechnologies" <(email address - cut out)ail> wrote in message
> news:%2398$(email address - cut out)...
>>I guess no one at Microsoft cares to pursue this further? I do not
>>understand why you would not want to get to the bottom of such a
>>performance problem. I am interested in seeing it through, but in the
>>meantime, I have converted virtual machines to VMWare in order to improve
>>performance and to centralized storage on a NAS (iSCSI and NAS gave same
>>performance so we choose to use NAS for cost reasons).
>>
>> Thanks
>> Michael
>>
>>
>> "FFTechnologies" <(email address - cut out)ail> wrote in message
>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>> Already done, but thanks for replying.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Michael
>>>
>>>
>>> "JasonF" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>>> I'm not sure why this performance problem is happening but 2 things to
>>>> verify:
>>>>
>>>> - Ensure that the VM additions are installed.
>>>> - Ensure the VM is connected to the VHD via the virtual SCSI bus rather
>>>> than
>>>> IDE.
>>>>
>>>> Hope that helps.
>>>>
>>>> Jason
>>>>
>>>> "FFTechnologies" wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Performance on the host is excellent (100MB/s or more and 1ms response
>>>>> times). Performance in VMWare with virtual harddrive on iSCSI is
>>>>> excellent
>>>>> (85MB/s).
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> "Pat [MSFT]" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>>>>> news:uml%23%23a$(email address - cut out)...
>>>>> > Is the host system seeing latency as well - or is the latency only
>>>>> > apparent at the Guest OS level?
>>>>> >
>>>>> >
>>>>> > Pat
>>>>> >
>>>>> > "FFTechnologies" <(email address - cut out)ail> wrote in message
>>>>> > news:(email address - cut out)...
>>>>> >> That is what I am doing. The Host is mounting an iSCSI drive which
>>>>> >> contains the Virtual harddrive for the guest and the performance is
>>>>> >> terrible. The virtual server disk benchmarks are the performance
>>>>> >> figures
>>>>> >> I am getting from within the guest OS with this configuration.
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> Same config on VMWare Server I am getting 80-100MB/s and boot time
>>>>> >> is
>>>>> >> 30seconds or less.
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >> "Pat [MSFT]" <(email address - cut out)> wrote in message
>>>>> >> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>>>> >>> You will get (significantly) better perf running the iSCSI client
>>>>> >>> from
>>>>> >>> the Host OS and exposing the LUN to the Guest that way vs running
>>>>> >>> iSCSI
>>>>> >>> within the guest.
>>>>> >>>
>>>>> >>>
>>>>> >>> Pat
>>>>> >>>
>>>>> >>> "FFTechnologies" <(email address - cut out)ail> wrote in message
>>>>> >>> news:(email address - cut out)...
>>>>> >>>>I have tried two different methods of using Virtual Server 2005 R2
>>>>> >>>>over
>>>>> >>>>a Gigabit Ethernet network. I tried using SMB/CIFS and performance
>>>>> >>>>was
>>>>> >>>>very poor.
>>>>> >>>>
>>>>> >>>> I read some articles on the Microsoft site about Virtual Server
>>>>> >>>> and
>>>>> >>>> WinTarget from StringBeanSoftware and how Microsoft uses
>>>>> >>>> WinTarget
>>>>> >>>> themselves. I figured this would be a good solution so we tried
>>>>> >>>> it but
>>>>> >>>> get the same poor performance using iSCSI that we did with
>>>>> >>>> SMB/CIFS so
>>>>> >>>> you would think this would point to the network but network.
>>>>> >>>>
>>>>> >>>> I looked at network utilization and also at errors, discards,
>>>>> >>>> retransmits during startup of Virtual Machine over both
>>>>> >>>> transports and
>>>>> >>>> network utilization never went above 2%, it took 4 minutes from
>>>>> >>>> power
>>>>> >>>> on to display the login screen. I did a disk benchmark once I
>>>>> >>>> logged in
>>>>> >>>> and it was only 2KB/second
>>>>> >>>>
>>>>> >>>> Version: Virtual Server 2005 R2
>>>>> >>>> Host:
>>>>> >>>> 2003 Enterprise x64 R2
>>>>> >>>> Virtual Server 2005 R2
>>>>> >>>> Dual Opteron 246
>>>>> >>>> 8GB Ram
>>>>> >>>> Dual Broadcom lan-on-motherboard (Tyan 2882)GigE
>>>>> >>>>
>>>>> >>>> iSCSI Target Server:
>>>>> >>>> 2003 Enterprise x64 R2
>>>>> >>>> WinTarget 2.0.95 Eval
>>>>> >>>> 8GB Ram
>>>>> >>>> Dual Broadcom lan-on-motherboard (Tyan 2882)
>>>>> >>>> 2.3 TB Raid 5 array on 3Ware 9550 controller
>>>>> >>>>
>>>>> >>>> Disk Benchmarks
>>>>> >>>> Host to iSCSI: 115MB/sec
>>>>> >>>> Virtual Server Disk: 1873bytes/sec
>>>>> >>>> Same Virtual Machine converted to VMWare: 105MB/sec
>>>>> >>>>
>>>>> >>>> Boot Time (time from power on till Ctrl-alt-delete is displayed
>>>>> >>>> for
>>>>> >>>> logon):
>>>>> >>>> Virtual Server: 4 minutes 10 seconds
>>>>> >>>> VMWare Server: 35 Seconds
>>>>> >>>>
>>>>> >>>> Performance with same hardware and same setup is very good with
>>>>> >>>> VMWare
>>>>> >>>> Server, I do not understand why the big difference.
>>>>> >>>>
>>>>> >>>
>>>>> >>>
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >>
>>>>> >
>>>>> >
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
>