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* running in a virtual environment
@ 2010-08-27 15:21 David Bear <David.Bear@asu.edu>
2010-08-27 15:56 ` Re: running in a virtual environment Joshua D. Drake <jd@commandprompt.com>
2010-08-27 16:07 ` Re: running in a virtual environment Willy-Bas Loos <willybas@gmail.com>
0 siblings, 2 replies; 4+ messages in thread
From: David Bear @ 2010-08-27 15:21 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: pgsql-admin
I'm wondering what experience people have had running pg 8.x in a
virtualized environment. Are there any best practices to follow that
differen when running on a real metal? Are there performance issue? What
virtual environment seems most friendly to pg ? Xen, VMWare, other? What
about storage; is it best to keep the cluster in a filesystem that is part
of the vm-image or on a mounted file system that exists external to the
image? (in other words, a /dev/sdxx that is really some NAS type of device,
or NFS? CIFS?)
--
David Bear
College of Public Programs at ASU
602-494-0424
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 4+ messages in thread
* Re: running in a virtual environment
2010-08-27 15:21 running in a virtual environment David Bear <David.Bear@asu.edu>
@ 2010-08-27 15:56 ` Joshua D. Drake <jd@commandprompt.com>
1 sibling, 0 replies; 4+ messages in thread
From: Joshua D. Drake @ 2010-08-27 15:56 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: David Bear <David.Bear@asu.edu>; +Cc: pgsql-admin
On Fri, 2010-08-27 at 08:21 -0700, David Bear wrote:
> I'm wondering what experience people have had running pg 8.x in a
> virtualized environment.
Just to be a pain, there is no 8.x. There is 8.0.x, or more specifically
the current version 8.4.x. The only reason I say this is we recently
spent way too many bytes on the inner tubes trying to have that
argument.
> Are there any best practices to follow that differen when running on
> a real metal?
You need to spec your IO higher. You take an IO hit by virtualizing and
it is significant. Considering provisioning at least 15% more IO than
you would on bare metal.
> Are there performance issue?
Just the minor IO one I mentioned.
> What virtual environment seems most friendly to pg ? Xen, VMWare,
> other?
For servers?
KVM, VMWare, Xen are all perfectly serviceable. Depends on your actual
business requirements.
> What about storage; is it best to keep the cluster in a filesystem
> that is part of the vm-image or on a mounted file system that exists
> external to the image? (in other words, a /dev/sdxx that is really
> some NAS type of device, or NFS? CIFS?)
This has to do with actual business requirements. I tend to prefer DAS
but a good SAN or NAS (iSCSI) configuration works well. I personally
would avoid anything that is just a network mount like NFS or CIFS.
Joshua D. Drake
--
PostgreSQL.org Major Contributor
Command Prompt, Inc: http://www.commandprompt.com/ - 509.416.6579
Consulting, Training, Support, Custom Development, Engineering
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^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 4+ messages in thread
* Re: running in a virtual environment
2010-08-27 15:21 running in a virtual environment David Bear <David.Bear@asu.edu>
@ 2010-08-27 16:07 ` Willy-Bas Loos <willybas@gmail.com>
2010-08-27 16:18 ` Re: running in a virtual environment Richard Sickler <richard.sickler@avagotech.com>
1 sibling, 1 reply; 4+ messages in thread
From: Willy-Bas Loos @ 2010-08-27 16:07 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: David Bear <David.Bear@asu.edu>; +Cc: pgsql-admin
Good question. I hear about putting WAL/indexes/tables on separate spindles
and all that, but what if all IO is virtualized?
I would guess that IO and OS page cache would be the main issues here.
i haven't dared to put my db on a virtual box though, because i don't know
what happens inside of it.
On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 5:21 PM, David Bear <David.Bear@asu.edu> wrote:
> I'm wondering what experience people have had running pg 8.x in a
> virtualized environment. Are there any best practices to follow that
> differen when running on a real metal? Are there performance issue? What
> virtual environment seems most friendly to pg ? Xen, VMWare, other? What
> about storage; is it best to keep the cluster in a filesystem that is part
> of the vm-image or on a mounted file system that exists external to the
> image? (in other words, a /dev/sdxx that is really some NAS type of device,
> or NFS? CIFS?)
>
> --
> David Bear
> College of Public Programs at ASU
> 602-494-0424
>
--
"Patriotism is the conviction that your country is superior to all others
because you were born in it." -- George Bernard Shaw
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 4+ messages in thread
* Re: running in a virtual environment
2010-08-27 15:21 running in a virtual environment David Bear <David.Bear@asu.edu>
2010-08-27 16:07 ` Re: running in a virtual environment Willy-Bas Loos <willybas@gmail.com>
@ 2010-08-27 16:18 ` Richard Sickler <richard.sickler@avagotech.com>
0 siblings, 0 replies; 4+ messages in thread
From: Richard Sickler @ 2010-08-27 16:18 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: Willy-Bas Loos <willybas@gmail.com>; +Cc: David Bear <David.Bear@asu.edu>; pgsql-admin
I have an 8.3.7 system running on a virtual machine hosted on Windows Server
2008 Hyper-V. I mapped virtual disks to real disks, (DAS), so that I have
two physical spindles and two virtual spindles mapped to them, one each.
Then followed normal good practices. WAL on one spindle, tables on the
other. I have a script that runs every night and backs up the enter virtual
machine.
On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 9:07 AM, Willy-Bas Loos <willybas@gmail.com> wrote:
> Good question. I hear about putting WAL/indexes/tables on separate spindles
> and all that, but what if all IO is virtualized?
> I would guess that IO and OS page cache would be the main issues here.
> i haven't dared to put my db on a virtual box though, because i don't know
> what happens inside of it.
>
>
>
> On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 5:21 PM, David Bear <David.Bear@asu.edu> wrote:
>
>> I'm wondering what experience people have had running pg 8.x in a
>> virtualized environment. Are there any best practices to follow that
>> differen when running on a real metal? Are there performance issue? What
>> virtual environment seems most friendly to pg ? Xen, VMWare, other? What
>> about storage; is it best to keep the cluster in a filesystem that is part
>> of the vm-image or on a mounted file system that exists external to the
>> image? (in other words, a /dev/sdxx that is really some NAS type of device,
>> or NFS? CIFS?)
>>
>> --
>> David Bear
>> College of Public Programs at ASU
>> 602-494-0424
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "Patriotism is the conviction that your country is superior to all others
> because you were born in it." -- George Bernard Shaw
>
^ permalink raw reply [nested|flat] 4+ messages in thread
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-- links below jump to the message on this page --
2010-08-27 15:21 running in a virtual environment David Bear <David.Bear@asu.edu>
2010-08-27 15:56 ` Joshua D. Drake <jd@commandprompt.com>
2010-08-27 16:07 ` Willy-Bas Loos <willybas@gmail.com>
2010-08-27 16:18 ` Richard Sickler <richard.sickler@avagotech.com>
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