As part of the SQLIOSim tests, we added an additional virtual machine instance, this time running only Windows Server 2003 and IIS, without any tests running. In this configuration the performance results of the SQLIOSim test dropped 129 percent. That is, while the SQLIOSim test completed in 7:59 without any other virtual machines running, the load associated with LoadSim and a relatively inactive virtual machine running during the SQLIOSim test stretched the time required to complete the test to 18:24.
In tests of Exchange Server 2003 running on a server with multiple virtual machines, we saw a fairly small decline in application performance. For example, when we added another virtual machine running IIS to the test scenario of SQLIOSim and LoadSim, performance declined roughly 6 percent. We also saw a 6 percent performance decline when we ran LoadSim on a system that included a virtual machine running SQL Server 2005, but not performing any SQLIOSim tests.
Odds And Ends
We noticed a number of small performance problems during our tests that you'll want to be aware of, both when assessing performance and when managing a virtual machine environment.
»During testing, rely on a stopwatch rather than the system clock because a virtual machine doesn't necessarily display accurate time. This issue isn't likely to break applications, but in tests where a difference of five to 10 seconds could matter, watching the system clock won't cut it. When running the SQLIOSim test, for example, we could see the system clock in the lower right corner of the screen catch up to real time as we timed tests manually.
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