VMware has released a paper titled: Performance of Virtualizaed SQL Server-Based VMware vCenter Database. The paper which contains 17 pages contains a performance study on the impact of a virtualized SQL Server-based vCenter database which is virtualized on vSphere 4.1.
In order to test the performance both a physical and a virtual installation of Windows was used but running SQL Server 2008 R2. Using a script the database was populated with data equally to a full year of inventory, alarms events and tasks and performance statistics, representing a large vCenter implementation.
By creating stored procedures which mimic the vCenter daily operations, execution time was measured of several operations was measured. Rollup Operations, TopN stats and Purge stats
Results:
- The most resource-intensive operations of a SQL Server–based vCenter database perform at a level comparable to that of native.
- A SQL Server–based vCenter database managing a vSphere virtual environment—which consists of any number of clusters, hosts and virtual machines—can be virtualized on vSphere.
- SQL databases, in general, perform at a near-native level when virtualized on vSphere 4.1.