CODEWITHSUNDEEP
sql-serverperformancevmware
CodeMonkey
CodeMonkey

Reputation: 3668

VmWare SQL Server Integration Services multi core performance?

We run a SQL Server using SSIS. My ops department argue they won't raise the number of cores on the machine because its running on top of WmWare and they say adding more cores slows it down due to overhead of having to find the cores to run on.

My usecase is I have a SSIS job containing of multiple flows, sources, destinations, packages etc. that runs for anything from 10 to 8 hours. I would like to throw some more hardware at it so I asked them if we could up the core count to something like 32.

Price is not an issue. They simple claim that performance would not increase due to VmWare not working well with multiple cores.

I don't trust them. But I can't really counter them since i don't know anything about VmWare other then it sounds wrong. Sure multithreading has overhead etc. but a task running for 8 hours that can utilize multithreading and is not IO/RAM capped.

i do know alot of factors play into performance on a virtual enviorment and i can't really tell you much more then specs i know which are the following:

Upvotes: 0

Views: 167

Answers (2)

benjamin moskovits
benjamin moskovits

Reputation: 5458

Your ops group needs a lot of help. VMWARE is a very, very mature product that has been around for many years and is the most widely used commercial product to virtualize machines. VMWARE knows how to use additional cores. Its like saying better to get a four cylinder instead of an eight cylinder because you will just confuse the engine.

Depending on what is causing the package to run for 8 hours it could not help much but it is very unlikely that it will run slower. It is easy to add the cores, run the package, and see if it runs faster. Please post the results. I would bet good money it will run faster but unless we see the package we won't know. You know that you can create multiple paths (containers) that execute in parallel (if appropriate) that will take advantage of the additional cores.

Upvotes: 0

Kyle Ruddy
Kyle Ruddy

Reputation: 2121

They're not wrong, but... there are a ton of variables that go into properly sizing a VM, so they may not be right either.

There are lots of metrics they can look at to check and see whether the system is starved for resources. Also, if they have access to something like vRealize Operations Manager, there are pre-made dashboards they can use to easily see what vROps recommends the VM's size should be. There are several other operations products out that do similar things too.

Here's some reading that can help you understand their position a little more as well as give you some things to follow up and ask them about:

Upvotes: 0

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