Virtualizing Microsoft SQL Server 2005 on Dell PowerEdge Servers

As IT organizations have become increasingly familiar with virtualization technology and begun using it for more than simple server consolidation, they may also be considering virtualizing additional applications in their environment. Microsoft® SQL Server®, for example, is a widely used database platform that can support other Microsoft applications such as Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Server and Microsoft® System Center, as well as enterprise resource planning (ERP) software such as the SAP® ERP and Oracle® PeopleSoft® applications and custom-developed applications. SQL Server 2005 utilizes a 64-bit architecture that can provide enhanced performance and capacity compared with previous versions as well as enhanced memory utilization by enabling the system to directly address more memory than previous 32-bit versions of SQL Server. Administrators looking to expand their use of virtualization may consider running SQL Server 2005 inside one or more virtual machines (VMs) to enhance the benefits that virtualized environments can provide, including increased management flexibility and cost savings through server consolidation.

To help these organizations understand how SQL Server 2005 might perform in a virtualized environment, in February 2008 Dell Enterprise Technology Center engineers ran a series of tests to characterize its performance on a Dell PowerEdge server running VMware® virtualization software. The testing was designed to evaluate performance and scalability in three different scenarios: when increasing the number of virtual processors (vCPUs) in a single VM, when increasing the number of VMs on a host server, and when migrating a VM between servers using VMware VMotion™ technology. As the results demonstrate, appropriately sized VMs with sufficient disk resources can provide good performance until the VMs begin maximizing use of the server’s resources, and can continue to perform well even when used during VMotion migration events.