Guidance on running CatDV Server in a VMware virtual environment

CatDV can support a variety of deployment options: on premise, in the data centre, private and public cloud, native and virtualised. This document provides guidance on good practice when deploying CatDV in virtualised environments.

CatDV is a Client facing real-time system so resources must be allocated carefully when setting up the Virtual environment to prevent bottlenecks and a negative user experience.

CatDV server is a Database based product so Memory, Storage Speed and Throughput (maximum IO) all have an impact on system performance. Excessive contention for Vcpu’s will also significantly affect responsiveness, so a 1 to 1 allocation (of Vcpu’s to CPU’s) or close to this is recommended.

The CatDV database will grow with time so sufficient resources should be allocated initially, catering for this growth, alternatively regular reviews leading to additional resource allocation should be undertaken.

The size of the CatDV database is dependent on the number of records and the number and size of thumbnails for each record, thumbnails can affect this significantly.

General Guidance on hardware requirements for Virtualization

Storage

Use a RAID configuration that works well for databases. E.g. 0+1

Use a hardware RAID and not a software-based RAID (e.g. a volume manager)

for optimum performance separate the OS and database disks.

Spread virtual disks across physical disks

SSD’s provide Parallel Access and low latency so are significantly better Performing for Database IO

be careful not to dynamically reconfigure virtual disks with the MySQL database running.

CPU networking and hardware

To optimize the throughput of HBA card(s), it is desirable to change (increase) their maximum Queue depth setting within the Hypervisor configuration.

Reduce the number of Vcpu’s in virtual machines to the minimum, as larger numbers of Vcpu’s will incur more scheduling overhead. For example, if running on a four Vcpu’s virtual Machine with only 30% CPU utilization, reduce the number of Vcpu’s to two and expect to run at around 55 to 60% + CPU utilization.

Disable the floppy drive, CD ROM and USB adaptors in virtual machines. This reduces Overhead slightly, and can also reduce the chances of IRQ conflicts on the system.

Use physical systems that have multiple physical NICs available, and separate network traffic Across the NICs to reduce network contention.

Further Guidance can be found on the MySQL website and from the developer of the hypervisor.

E.g.

http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/10007

http://downloads.mysql.com/docs/mysql-ha-vm-en.pdf

Please note

Maintenance support covers the functioning of our software only. It does not in general cover workflow consultancy, training and installation, configuration of the software, integration with 3rd party products, or questions relating to IT infrastructure.

From <http://www.squarebox.com/support/support-contracts/>

Square Box would be pleased to give specific advice, training and configuration of CatDV in virtual environments as part of our professional services offering.

http://www.squarebox.com/professional-services/

Glossary

IO – input output the number of red and write file operations or bandwidth used talking with the storage

CPU – central processing unit or processor core

Vcpu’s – Virtualized central processing unit or processor core, more than one Vcpu can run on a single physical CPU

RAID – Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks, storage made from multiple hard drives logically joined together

NIC – Network Interface Card, hardware to provide network access for a computer