VMware: Virtualize SQL Server?

Op deze vraag heeft VMware een antwoord namelijk de volgende whitepaper: SQLServerWorkloads.pdf.

De bovenstaande whitepaper is een performance study van VMware en HP over hoe je een  SQL server wel of niet moet Virtualiseren.

Dit is de conclusie van de performance study:

The performance results we describe in this paper support the conclusion that running Microsoft SQL Server 2005 inside VMware virtual machines can provide an effective production-ready platform for running transaction-processing workloads.
Your IT organization can leverage the sizing data we present in this white paper to deploy Microsoft SQL Server successfully using VMware Infrastructure 3. By comparing effective workload throughput and resource utilization for your datacenter with the results presented in this paper, you can design and size your virtualized environment to meet your SLA targets.
The number of actual users and transactions you can support in a production environment will, of course, depend on the specific applications used and the intensity of user activity. The results of
Conclusions 12 VMware SQL Server Performance in a VMware Infrastructure 3 Environment
our tests clearly demonstrate that in a VMware Infrastructure 3 environment, the transaction throughput scales almost linearly even as the number of clients increases, for every configuration we tested. Our results show that the throughput rate of UP virtual machine is comparable for 32-bit and 64-bit environments. However, for SMP virtual machines, the throughput rate is slightly higher in a 64-bit environment compared to a 32-bit environment. Further, SMP virtual machines can service a higher number of users. One disadvantage of SMP virtual machines is that they have higher CPU costs per transaction than UP virtual machines. From a performance perspective, we recommend using SMP virtual machines rather than UP virtual machines for Microsoft SQL Server, and if possible, a 64-bit environment if your application stack supports it.