Running SIM on Virtual Machine?

[Dan White_1]

Is anyone out there running SIM on a VM instead of a physical server? Are there any issues?

I am thinking of migrating our SIM instance to a VM to retire some old hardware.

Thanks,

Dan

[David Claypool]

Yes, it can be done. Generally speaking, don't do it unless you have to. If you have to, maximize the resources available.

I have done it for demo purposes and the results are okay. If I wanted to do it in production, my general recommendations would be to

- Configure 2GB of memory
- Do not use a dynamically expanding virtual disk
- >1 processor not needed, but try not to share the physical processor with any other VMs
- Do NOT share the network port with any other VMs; definitely spend the extra $100 to get a dedicated network connection for it
- If you have some big hairy SQL Server box somewhere, consider letting it host the database rather than locally

[Dan White_1]

I am using my big SQL server for the DB instead of the local box. Our ESX servers have 32GB of RAM so that shouldn't be an issue. I also have 3 GIG network connecttions trunked. Would you think that you would still dedicate one NIC to this machine?

Thanks,

Dan

[Ole Thomsen_1]

I did test the first SIM release on GSX, and I had no problems. Data were not locally stored, so I cannot tell how that scenario would perform.

Due to the memory consumption (had other servers better suited for VM) I chose to move to physical server.

But if one can afford the extra expenses to dedicated virtualization software for SIM, future hardwaremigration will be so much easier.

[David Claypool]

As far as a dedicated network port, it really depends on how many targets you are trying to manage. You're going to consume a lot of bandwidth when autodiscovery, identification and polling occurs. This could make the other VMs sharing the NIC to appear unavailable.

[RHagen_1]

I'm testing SIM 4.2 on a ESX 2.5 session.

So most of the concerns are with GSX that I see here...

but other than resources or a dedicated NIC, if I have enough of those components on my ESX 2.5, does HP have any other concerns running SIM on ESX?

R & R in PDX

[David Claypool]

From the HP SIM Quickspecs:

"HP SIM 4.2 also supported when running in Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 virtual machines, VMWare ESX Server 2.1 virtual machines, or a VMWare GSX Server 3.1 virtual machine hosting this operating system."

where "this operating system" refers to virtual machines running

Microsoft® Windows 2000 Server, Service Pack 4
Microsoft Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Service Pack 4
Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 1
Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 2

http://www.hp.com/go/hpsim --> QuickSpe

[Dan White_1]

Thanks David,

The link you provided doesn't seem to be complete. I migrated my SIM server to a VM this morning with no issues. The network also seems to be very quiet so there does't seem to be an issue there either. We are only discovering our ~150 servers and no destops so I think it will be fine.

Thanks again,

Dan

[David Claypool]

I fixed the URL.