Reducing physical systems, conserving energy and consolidating data through virtual storage come at a cost. Controlling virtual storage systems requires data managers to wade through a minefield of problems related to narrow bottlenecks concerning virtual machines which compete for storage resources. Server, desktop and storage administrators can best tackle these issues by teaming up to manage virtual storage.
Minimize I/O Operations
Manage your virtual storage intelligently by cutting down on the amount of disk I/O your virtual server creates. Uninstall unnecessary apps, limit the amount of logging that applications and operating systems generate, disable file indexing and also disable any Windows services which are not needed to place a lighter load on your storage. Making these small changes enables your storage subsystem to reach optimal efficiency.
Gauge Your Storage Workloads
Avoid the hazard of instant resource bottlenecks by knowing the difference of storage workloads between virtual servers and virtual desktops. Use performance monitoring tools to get a feel for average and peak usage statistics. Be aware that virtual machines might run off of multiple hosts. Since VMs are mobile you might run the risk of placing multiple Exchange servers on a single host. Making this critical mistake could cause a crash of the entire disk subsystem. Balance the workload among hosts based on memory usage and CPU to avoid this potentially catastrophic situation.
Utilize the Proper Storage for Your Workloads
Make shared virtual storage and local storage available for your hosts. Take into account varying hard drive speeds, hard drive interfaces and different storage characteristics to find the right level of storage for your workloads. Use faster tiers to handle your more critical virtual machines and slower tiers to handle less critical virtual machines. Consider dividing your virtual machine into disk partitions whose files can be placed on varying storage levels based on performance needs.
Make Proper Use of Space
Control the amount of space used by virtual machines by employing linked clones. Linked clones allow a virtual machine’s virtual disk file to move into read-only mode. In addition to this feature any disk writes that may transpire are handled by a delta disk. One virtual disk image can be read by multiple virtual machines but each machine’s delta disk handles writes. Delegating writes to each virtual machine’s delta disk results in a significant saving of storage.
Reduce Intense Disk I/O
Depending on the performance of your virtual machines you might experience intense disk I/O for sustained periods. These intense intervals can drastically slow down your virtual machines. If the majority of your users turn on their desktops at approximately the same time each day you might experience a situation referred to as a “boot storm.” Although you typically cannot avoid such a circumstance due to business requirements you can address the issue by adding large cache controllers to optimize your storage device. Consider utilizing automated storage tiering tech that can leverage faster storage devices during these critical periods.
About the Author: Ryan Biddulph helps you manage virtual storage. If you require self-healing hosting he suggests researching Cloud VPS.