Performance Scaling with Quad-Core Dell PowerEdge2950 Servers and VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3

When deciding how to implement a virtualized environment with industry-standard components such as Dell PowerEdge servers and VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3 software, two key factors are how many virtual machines (VMs) a single server can run and what level of performance these VMs can provide. Although the answer depends on many different factors, testing with common applications and workloads can provide a starting point for enterprises planning such an environment.

In September and October 2006, Dell engineers tested virtualized environments based on VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3 on two differently configured PowerEdge 2950 servers and one previous-generation PowerEdge 2850 server. Using three different workloads, the test team assessed the number of VMs that each server could host and the overall system performance, and found that the PowerEdge 2950 servers offered significant gains in both regards compared to the PowerEdge 2850. These tests are intended to provide an example of the scalability and performance increases possible when migrating to a new enterprise IT environment.