VM OS size...

[digitalex]

What have you found to be the best OS size for Windows 2003 Server machines? I am looking to create each VM with 25-30GB C:Volume since the page file is about 2-4GB. I have thought about doing 15GB with 2-4GB but this may not work since we install a few programs on the OS volume besides the OS. Ideally I wish we had a D; Volume where I could place the page file and the programs. Any input or what you normally do in your environment would help.

[VMKR9]

We normally use 12 or 16gb, you can add a second vmdk to the vm for the page file if you want to seperate it onto another disk?

[JonRoderick]

We generally start with a 15GB system partition (including pagefile) for Windows 2003 boxes. 10 is too small but 15/20 should last you the life of the box (if space isn't an issue go for 20GB).

Thanks.

[vmroyale · Accepted solution]

15-20Gb with the pagefile on it - depends on new install or p2v conversion.

[digitalex]

20 GB for a new install sounds good. Good question on P2V, we are going to P2V about 10 machines of the 20 being put on the 3 bladesystem cluster. What is different with P2V? I thought you could choose the size of the target?

[vmroyale]

With the P2V, I have found that I am often dealing with systems that were built before my time. Someone else may have installed all the apps (and even data soemtimes) on the C: drive and that sort of forces me to use 20Gb or larger, but if there is lots of free space then I will shrink it down during the conversion process. Just thought I would throw it out there as a situation that might come up, if you are trying to standardize on a particular size.

[JonRoderick]

I agree re: shrinking, we often have to deal with system partitions setup on 70GB drives - no point converting the whole shebang so take what you need.

Take a look at the rest of your estate, how are your 2003 boxes coping with the partitions they have. I've generally seen an increase from around 4GB (NT 4) to 10GB (Windows 2000) to 15GB (Windows 2003) to 20GB (Windows 2008).

[Devarapalli]

Blue screen memory dumps typically land on the c: drive or system partition. It is considered a best

practice to make the page file on the system partition the minimum size allowed by the OS - usually the

exact memory size - then set the maximum size to be equal to the minimum.

Add a page file to cover the rest of the page file size requirements on the second partition.

Incase you don't have second partition then .. set the min and max to 1.5 of ram.

You should also conside to move the logs off the system/boot partion to ensure that the files are available in case of a blue screen or a volume corruption that requires the sytem partition to be reformatted.

By Default event viewer log files are located in %SystemRoot%\System32\config

to move the Event viewer log files

locate and change the registry key

HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\EventLog

Select Application subkey and double-click file in Right Pane.

Type the complete path to new location including the log file name in the value data box.

Repeat the above steps for Security, System and other event log files.

If you can separate log files and keep an eye on that 15 GB is enough for c Drive including page file size of 6 GB.

I would prefer another 3 or 5 GB to ensure there are no space constraints on long run.

[digitalex]

Thank you all. I wish I could assign more correct answers or helpful tips. I will shoot for 20-25g with 10-15max OS on a 500GB lun.