up vote 1 down vote favorite
share [g+] share [fb]

Does anyone have any suggestions for running DB2 in VMWare? We've been told not to do it, but I see VMWare as a supported environment from IBM.

link|improve this question
feedback

6 Answers

up vote 1 down vote

Why were you told not to do it? I've been working with VMware for many years now and can't recall an application or server I've tried to virtualize that had any issues.

If it is a supported environment, I would do it. The hardest part about running any app under VMware is application vendors that stick their head in the sand and refuse to support their app running on VMware because they don't understand it.

link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 1 down vote

Same as you'd do with any other virtualized Database.

Keep an eye on what you can do to max out I/O performance and cache availability. Have multiple cores available.

VMWare ESXi and ESX are supported hypervisors for DB2, by the way.

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/wikis/display/im/DB2+Virtualization+Support

Are there any specific concerns you have?

link|improve this answer
1  
The concerns come from our application support team. They are not sure they can get as much IO through the SAN infrastructure using VMWare, they are also concerned that they are going to have decreased application performance. We are going to have to do some load testing to prove the concept. – iBuys Jun 8 '09 at 15:51
1  
I've read some stuff about VMware showing some lag under high performance circumstances versus XenServer and HyperV, but that test wasn't conducted as well as it could have. It sounds like testing is whats required. As far as leaving the question open, you might do better in closing this one off and asking separately for advise on running DBs in general with VMWare. – Rizwan Kassim Jun 10 '09 at 1:55
I/O is often the bottleneck on virtualized DBMS. It can work, just make sure your SAN and connectivity (iSCSI? Fibre?) are up to snuff. – Matt Rogish Jan 8 '10 at 17:18
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

I am running in ubuntu jaunty vmware server 3, with app hittin it all the time, no issues.

link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

I've done it for years; the only caveat is make sure you can assign enough memory and cpu to the virtual or you may get some strange results if it runs out of resources.

link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

I talked about that topic the other day with our admin and he said vmware used to have performance issues with db2 (Databases usually go a little bit deeper into the OS layer than other software in regards with writing on hard drives to achieve better persistence). I think he mentioned that the optimization algorithm had troubles with the way db2 access the drives.

However, he was aware that vmware supports db2 now and decided to wait with virtualizing db2 servers until first adopters have eliminated the most issues.

link|improve this answer
feedback
up vote 0 down vote

You can always create a raw LUN for the DB2 databases. This is usually faster than using a .vmdk file.

I'd make sure you're using vSphere 4 and ensure the VMs have the v7 hardware/tools loaded.

link|improve this answer
feedback

Your Answer

 
or
required, but never shown
discard

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.