Xen users - May 2008 - Windows 2008

Dear Kri

I read the thread on the "shim" that you wrote to help Windows 2008
run on
top of XEN with more efficiency.

I need to install Windows 2008 Virtualized on top of SLES10 SP2.

I bought a machine with 16 cores and 128 GB of RAM.

The question is: will I get the "shim" that you wrote automatically or
can
you supply  it to me?

Also, when I install Windows 2008, should I use Full Virtualization or not?
I mean, the Intel hardware extensions will be used or it will be
para-virtualized somehow?

Is there any measurable performance gains to either approach? 

I am going to install SQL Server on the virtualized Windows 2008. Do you
think that the performance hit will be substantial?

Is Suse going to support Xen 3.2 soon? Is there any substantial performance
gain between Xen 3.2 and pre- 3.2 versions.

 

 

Yours

Federico Alves

 

 

 



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Dear Ky

I installed SLES 10, but could  not upgrade to SP1 or SP2. How do I get a
full DVD with Sp2 already incorporated? Or do I have to reinstall my box
with SP1 and then upgrade on-line? I would rather have a DVD of SLES 10 SP2.
I am going to test this to the fullest, with SQL server 2005 non Windows
2008, and let you know the performance benchmarks. My box has 16 cores 2.93
GHZ  and 128 GB or ram.
Yours
Federico

-----Original Message-----
From: Ky Srinivasan [mailto:ksrinivasan@novell.com] 
Sent: Monday, May 05, 2008 12:43 PM
To: Venefax
Cc: xen-users@lists.xensource.com
Subject: Re: Windows 2008


>>> On Sat, May 3, 2008 at  2:02 PM, in message
<000f01c8ad47$cc1bdb00$64539100$@com>, "Venefax"
<venefax@gmail.com> wrote: 
> Dear Kri
> 
> I read the thread on the "shim" that you wrote to help Windows
2008 run on
> top of XEN with more efficiency.
> 
> I need to install Windows 2008 Virtualized on top of SLES10 SP2.
The shim is shipping with sles10 sp2.
> 
> I bought a machine with 16 cores and 128 GB of RAM.
Good for you!
> 
> The question is: will I get the "shim" that you wrote
automatically or can
> you supply  it to me?
The shim is part of the sles10 sp2 distribution. The shim will be enabled
when you install windows 2008 server using our installation tools
(virtualization manager)
> 
> Also, when I install Windows 2008, should I use Full Virtualization or
not?
> I mean, the Intel hardware extensions will be used or it will be
> para-  virtualized somehow?
You should select "Full Virtualization". Windows enlightening depends
on
hardware virtualization support.
> 
> Is there any measurable performance gains to either approach?
The shim expects hardware virtualization support. The shim is expected to
improve performance. In addition to the shim, you will want to get the PV
driver pack for additional I/O performance boost.  
> 
> I am going to install SQL Server on the virtualized Windows 2008. Do you
> think that the performance hit will be substantial?
This would be a good performance test. Let us know what you see when you run
SQL server with and without the shim.
> 
> Is Suse going to support Xen 3.2 soon? Is there any substantial
performance
> gain between Xen 3.2 and pre-   3.2 versions.
Sles10 sp2 is based on xen 3.2. Xen 3.2 has a number of key features that
are not available in pre xen 3.2 versions.

Regards,

K. Y
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Yours
> 
> Federico Alves
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
>  


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Dear Lynn
I just installed finally SLES SP2 and I was ready to launch the installation
of Windows 2008 after installing and booting in XEN, but when I select
Windows 2008, either 32 or 64, the graphic manager says: "your processors
do
not support full virtualization", But in fact, they do:
grep vmx /proc/cpuinfo
flags           : fpu de tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr mca cmov pat
pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm syscall nx lm constant_tsc
pni monitor ds_cpl vmx est tm2 cx16 xtpr dca lahf_lm

So are my options at this point? Is there an additional seting in the BIOS?
I need to virtualize windows 2008.



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