CentOS virt - Jan 2010 - Xen Database vms

Are "centralized" database (SQL) servers best left out of
virtualization
and committed to their own hardware like the "old days" or are there 
some guidelines one should consider in setting them up? I'm not talking 
mega-large recordsets, but large enough to handle multiple years of CRMs 
and intensive querying, Accounting Systems and so forth.

Fundamental website CMS database is a no-sweat issue.

This would be on plain vanilla CentOS/Xen stock. All usual SQL server 
flavors considered. I'm trying to get an idea of where I am ultimately 
heading in my LANs.

Ben:
> Are "centralized" database (SQL) servers best left out of 
> virtualization 
 ...
> and intensive querying, Accounting Systems and so forth.
It really depends on the hardware you allocate to the VM
and how intensive the usage is.

Personally, if I have an intensively queried database
server, I want it directly on hardware.

	Neil

--
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Neil Aggarwal wrote:
> Ben:
> 
>> Are "centralized" database (SQL) servers best left out of 
>> virtualization 
>  ...
>> and intensive querying, Accounting Systems and so forth.
> 
> It really depends on the hardware you allocate to the VM
> and how intensive the usage is.
> 
> Personally, if I have an intensively queried database
> server, I want it directly on hardware.
> 
> 	Neil
Neil:

What if it were the only "real" active vm? I know that might sound a
bit
of a waste, but I am really enjoying the backup and duplication 
abilities of running in a Xen hypervisor as well as its other features. 
It seems to be saving me a lot of time in production settings. And there 
is also a comfort level in uniformity on a LAN.

Would there still be a significant hit on resource performance by the 
hypervisor if running that database server alone in it, or alongside a 
few rarely used, lightweight or spurious vms? I am talking about the 
database activities running during the biz day and backups, batches and 
other maintenance in the off hours. Nothing urgent here, just trying to 
plan out the future, mull over the possibilities and where to head.

- Ben