Category Archives: esxi

Using desktop SSD in server

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Five years ago before Christmas I bought my first SSD – Crucial MX300 750GB. I have put it into my linux server running some web hosting (running this blog for example), my emails. Second MX300 was put into Linux MD Raid1. Disk were running two years in this setup, then I have migrated into virtualized setup, running ESXi, booted from USB drive. SSD were re-used and running as hw Raid 1 using LSI-9211 card.

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Performance impact when using VMware snapshots

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Using vmware and snapshots? You probably know about vmware best practices about snapshots, which includes

  • The maximum supported amount of snapshots in a chain is 32. However, VMware recommends that you use only 2-3 snapshots in a chain.
  • Use no single snapshot for more than 24-72 hours. Snapshots should not be maintained over long periods of time for application or Virtual Machine version control purposes.
  • An excessive number of delta files in a chain (caused by an excessive number of snapshots) or large delta files may cause decreased virtual machine and host performance.
  • Be especially diligent with snapshot use on high-transaction virtual machines such as email and database servers

But what is real performance inpact of snapshot?

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VMware backup script

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I have been searching for simple and easy script to backup selected virtual machines running on esxi server, which will:

  • run on linux – do not require windows machine; can’t use PowerCLI
  • do not require direct access to esxi host using ssh (as other backups scripts like ghettoVCB.sh do) and will use API
  • support multiple esxi hosts managed by vcenter
  • have clear code – that means no perl hell (including big vsphere perl sdk)
  • have short code
  • can be put into cron

I was unable to find any to comply my requirements. I’m learning python, so I searched for some python vsphere libs and found psphere. Then backup.py has born.

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