Virtualizing SQL Server: 8 Things to Avoid

Today I had another article go live over at SQL Server Pro. Here is a quick excerpt:

I have been involved in virtualization projects for about ten years now. In that time I have had the opportunity to track my own list of best practice items. It’s a list I share freely with customers that seek out virtualization advice. I can tell that virtualization (and Cloud) efforts are on the rise simply by the number of requests I get for help, specifically for virtualizing SQL Server.

I like to call this list my “facepalm” special, as any one of these essentially triggers a facepalm reaction. They have helped my customers in the past and I am certain they will help you.

1. Build Your Own – Don’t build a critical production host from a bunch of spare parts left over from your last data canter move.
2. No Performance Expectations – You need to set realistic expectations regarding performance and uptime.
3. Select Wrong Disk Choice – You have two main options: raw device mappings (RDM) and virtual machine disk format (VMDK). Which one do you want, and when?
4. Thin Provisioning – Thin provisioning is one of those bad ideas that sounds good and often produces the same results as do-it-yourself dentistry.
5. Over-allocation Of Memory/CPU – Over-allocation ultimately leads to over-commit, which means bad performance for everyone.
6. Trusting O/S Counters -You need to rely on the VM performance counters in order to get a complete picture of what is happening.
7. Running It All At Once – Balance your workloads appropriately.
8. Capacity Planning – Business requirements will change, often without warning.

You can read the full article over at SQL Server Pro: http://sqlmag.com/database-virtualization/virtualizing-sql-server-8-things-avoid

If you find that you have been doing one or more of the items on this list and are looking for help with monitoring for database performance in VMWare, then go download a trial copy of IgniteVM and let us help you.