Virtual PC Performance Checklist

• Make sure your Host Operating System's disk is defragmented.

  This includes the System Disk (the disk your OS boots off of) as well as the Disk that holds your Virtual Hard Disk File.
• Run Fewer Applications.
I'm continually amazed when folks complain about VM performance and when I get to their desk I see that they are running Outlook. That 200+megs could be better used by the system. Are you running a VM or checking your email? Consider checking your email on a schedule,  or using Outlook Web Access while you work on your VM.

• Enable Hardware Assisted Virtualization

If you've got this on your computer, turn it on. There IS some concern about really sophisticated Trojans that can use this technology for evil, but for me, it's all good as it speeds most Guest Operating Systems (especially non-Microsoft ones) up quite a bit.
• Give your Virtual Machines LESS MEMORY
o I've found that 512 megs is just about the Ideal Amount of memory for 90% of your Virtual Machines. Don't bother trying to give them 1024 megs, it's just not worth the pressure it'll put on the Host Operating System.

• Considering making a custom Windows install for your VMs.

Rather than going to all the effort to REMOVE things, why not create a Windows installation that can be shared across your organization that doesn't include the crap ahead of time. There's a Windows Installation Customizer called nLite that lets you prepare Windows installations so they never include the stuff you don't want. Makes it easier if Solitaire is never installed

• Make sure the Guest Operating System is defragmented.

Disk Defragmenter that runs in that "Text Mode" place before Windows really starts up. This allows it to get at files that don't always get defragmented.

• Don't use NTFS Compression on the Virtual Machine Hard Drive File in the Host Operating System

NTFS Compression doesn't work on files larger than 4 gigs, and can cause corruption.

• Don't Remote Desktop or VNC into Host Operating Systems that are hosting Virtual Machines.

If you're remoting into a machine where THAT machine is running a VM, note that to the Remote Desktop protocol (and VNC) the VM just looks like a big square bitmap that is constantly changing. That guarantees you slow performance. If you can, instead, Remote Desktop into the Virtual Machine itself.

• Make sure you've install the Virtual Machine Additions (or Tools, or Utilities, or Whatever)

Virtual PC and VMWare and Parallels all include drivers and tools that improve the performance of your Virtual Machine. They are there for good reason, make sure you've installed them.
 Also, if you're running a Virtual Machine created under and older version, like Virtual PC 2004, and you're now running under a newer one, like 2007, pay attention to the upgrade warnings and install the latest drivers and Virtual Machine Additions.

Host CPU Spikes at 100 Percent when install new VM

You experience high CPU usage in the guest operating system. However, when you examine Task Manager, no CPU usage issues are displayed in the host operating system.
There are instances where performance problems or symptoms may arise, but the cause may be due to the VM environment/configuration. The information and screenshots provided below are available to help determine if the performance problem may exist due to virtual instance instead of at the Traveler level.
Please check the following areas to determine if the VM is the cause of the performance related issue.
Check for VM Alarms
Click the Alarms tab to determine if there are any alerts available.

This example shows a high CPU Alarm condition for the timeframe being investigated. Engage your VMWare team as soon as possible to investigate errors such as these.

Check the CPU of the Traveler server by following these steps:
Click the Performance tab.
Click the "Advanced" button

Click the "Chart Options..." link
For CPU, choose "Past week" or the appropriate time frame for investigation.
Under the Counters section, check the boxes for "Usage" and "Ready"

Click Apply / OK
Save the chart (screenshot or click the save icon in the top right)
Notice that one of these (the Usage one) is in percentage of CPU. The key is to look for critical thresholds and peak times. Look for patterns.

Usage = CPU Usage as a percentage during the interval (during the amount of time that was selected)
Ready = Percentage of time that the virtual machine was ready, but could not get scheduled to run on the physical CPU.
A short spike in CPU usage or CPU ready indicates that the system is making the best use of the host resources. However, if both values are constantly high, the hosts are probably overcommitted. Generally, if the CPU usage value for a virtual machine is above 90% and the CPU ready value is above 20%, performance is impacted.
It can be many reason for 100 CPU spike by the host, one of the hardware compatibility issue can be also for 100 CPU spike.

Poor performance when virtual machines reside on local storage on VMware ESXi 5.0 Affected configurations The system may be any of the following IBM servers: BladeCenter HS23, type 7875, any model The system is configured with at least one of the following: UpdateXpress Service Pack Installer, any version VMware vSphere Hypervisor 5.0 with IBM Customization Installable, Base Install This tip is not option specific. The mpt2sas device driver for the VMware ESXi 5.0 is affected. VMware ESXi 5.0 Solution Issue the following esxcli commands in the ESXi Shell to remove ilfu and LSIProvider VIBs.   esxcli software vib remove -n ilfu esxcli software vib remove -n LSIProvider

How to install VM Tool

VMware Tools is a suite of utilities that enhances the performance of the virtual machine's guest operating system and improves management of the virtual machine. Without VMware Tools installed in your guest operating system, guest performance lacks important functionality. Installing VMware Tools eliminates or improves these issues:

• Low video resolution
• Inadequate color depth
• Incorrect display of network speed
• Restricted movement of the mouse
• Inability to copy and paste and drag-and-drop files
• Missing sound
• Provides the ability to take quiesced snapshots of the guest OS

VMware Tools includes these components:

• VMware Tools service
• VMware device drivers
• VMware user process
• VMware Tools control panel

Installing VMware Tools

The following are general steps used to start the VMware Tools installation in most VMware products. Certain guest operating systems may require different steps, but these steps work for most operating systems. Links to more detailed steps for different operating systems are included in this article. Make sure to review the VMware documentation for the product you are using.

To install VMware Tools in most VMware products:

1. Power on the virtual machine.
2. Log in to the virtual machine using an account with Administrator or root privileges.
3. Wait for the desktop to load and be ready.
4. Click Install/Upgrade VMware Tools. There are two places to find this option:
• Right-click on the running virtual machine object and choose Install/Upgrade VMware Tools.
• Right-click on the running virtual machine object and click Open Console. In the Console menu click VM and click Install/Upgrade VMware Tools.

How to install and configure DHCP server on fedora

$ yum install dhcp*

$ chkconfig dhcpd on

Copy dhcp ‘s sample file and configure dhcp server

usr/share/doc/dhcp*/dhcpd.conf.sample

$ cp /usr/share/doc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf.sample /etc/dhcpd.conf

$ vim /etc/dhcpd.conf

ddns-update-style interim;
ignore client-updates;

subnet 192.168.10.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {

# --- default gateway
option routers 192.168.10.1;
option subnet-mask 255.255.255.0;

#option nis-domain "abc.com";
#option domain-name "abc.com";
option domain-name-servers 192.168.10.1;

option time-offset -18000; # Eastern Standard Time
# option ntp-servers 192.168.1.1;
option netbios-name-servers 192.168.10.1;
# --- Selects point-to-point node (default is hybrid). Don't change this
unless
# -- you understand Netbios very well
# option netbios-node-type 2;

*#** range dynamic-bootp 192.168.1.100 192.168.1.100;*
default-lease-time 21600;
max-lease-time 43200;


#If you want to release IP for only your registered MAC address in your configuration

# we want the nameserver to appear at a fixed address

host COMPUTERNAME {
hardware ethernet 00:1A:64:A2:BB:88;
fixed-address 192.168.10.3;
}

host COMPUTERNAME2 {
hardware ethernet 00:1C:90:25:92:G1;
fixed-address 192.168.10.4;
}

Apache server load balancing with Multiple Tomcat Clustering-

Apache server load balancing with Multiple Tomcat Clustering- :





Load Balancing -: Load balancer accept request from external client and forward them to one of the available Backend servers according to a scheduling algorithm.
We can use dedicated hardware and any load balancing software for load balancing
Mod_proxy_balancer- : Apache web server’s module of mod_proxy_balancer the apache module developed to provide to load balancing over a set of web server. Load balancer it can keep track of session
Sticky Session- A single user always deals with the same backend server.

Installation -:

Apache modules- Download from apache’s web site, mod_proxy module for load balancing

Windows-: Download mod_proxy modules and copy in modules directory.
Linux- Download mod_proxy modules and run following command for compile.

#./configure --enable-proxy --enable-proxy-balancer [run ./configure –h
# make
# make install

Configuration-:

Windows-: Enable following load modules in and add require modules in httpd.conf file

C:\Program Files\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\conf\httpd.conf

LoadModule proxy_module modules/mod_proxy.so
LoadModule proxy_ajp_module modules/mod_proxy_ajp.so
LoadModule proxy_balancer_module modules/mod_proxy_balancer.so
LoadModule proxy_connect_module modules/mod_proxy_connect.so
LoadModule proxy_ftp_module modules/mod_proxy_ftp.so
LoadModule proxy_http_module modules/mod_proxy_http.so

Now we can add following lines for proxy-balancer (Cluster name is domain.abc.net with two member)

ProxyRequests Off
ProxyPass / balancer://domain.abc.net/ lbmethod=byrequests stickysession=jsessionid nofailover=On maxattempts=15

ProxyPreserveHost On

BalancerMember http://192.168.10.10:84
BalancerMember http://192.168.100.10:85



Linux-

We need three servers one is load balancer and other two workers nodes
Http Server configuration file “/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf” add following lines

Include conf/extra/httpd-proxy-balancer.conf

Now create the httpd-proxy-balancer.conf file in the “/etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf” and add the following lines.

ProxyRequests Off
ProxyPass / balancer://domain.abc.net/ lbmethod=byrequests stickysession=jsessionid nofailover=On maxattempts=15

ProxyPreserveHost On

BalancerMember http://192.168.10.10:84
BalancerMember http://192.168.100.10:85



Load balancing method-:

There are three type of load balancing method used in mod_prxy
Byrequests-:Weighted request count balancing
Bytraffic-: Weighted traffic byte count balancing
Bybusyiness-: Pending request balancing

Where method is one of the three listed before. Default is byrequests



BalancerMember http://192.168.10.10:84 loadfactor=4
BalancerMember http://192.168.100.10:85 loadfactor=6

A load factor will be applied member of the cluster, in order to define and sharing load balancing between members of cluster.

In the following example 40% of the requests will be forwarded to the first and reaming 60% will be forward to second cluster.



ProxyPass / balancer://domain.abc.net/ lbmethod=byrequests stickysession=jsessionid

SESSION_ID is the name of the variable at the application level storing the session identifier.

How to Configure Two Tomcat instance in Linux

Download Java SE Development Kit. http://java.sun.com/javase/downloads/index.jsp.

# mkdir -p /opt/test
# cd /opt/test
# chmod 755 jdk-6u10-linux-x64.bin
# sh /opt/test/jdk-6u10-linux-x64.bin

# export JAVA_HOME=/opt/test/jdk1.6.0_10/bin
# export PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin:$PATH

now check java version-
# java -version

Install Tomcat6
Download tomcat6 from the http://tomcat.apache.org/download-60.cgi
extract in /tmp folder.

Download httpd-2.64.tar.gz
now extract in /opt/test directory

Apache compile process-: Compile process we need GCC and lib file must be require
# yum install gcc*
# yum install lib
# cd /test/httpd-2.64
#./configure -prefix=/opt/httpd-2.64
# make
# make install
# cd /opt/test/httpd-2.64
# cd /bin
# apachectl start

Set permanent variable -: In Linux we can set up path

#vim /root/.bashrc
JAVA_HOME=/opt/test/jdk-1.6.0/
export JAVA_HOME
PATH=$JAVA_HOME/bin/;$PATH


We can set new installation JDK java path
#alternative --config Java

Install Tomcat6 and configuration-:

#cp apache-tomcat-6.0.20/opt/test/tomcat-1

Set CATALINA_HOME environment
CATALINA_HOME=/opt/test/tomcat-1

#cd /opt/test/tomcat-1/bin
# sh startup.sh

Configure tomcat2 instance

#cp apache-tomcat-6.0.20/opt/test/tomcat-2

Set CATALINA_HOME environment
CATALINA_HOME=/opt/test/tomcat-2

#cd /opt/test/tomcat-2/bin


Now check first jvm tomcat instance is working or not
http://localhost:8080

Configuring Tomcat Network Ports-:
Since this is the first tomcat that's being created here,the default port numbers can be unchanged in tomcat1
#vim /opt/test/tomcat1/conf/server.xml


connectionTimeout="20000"
redirectPort="8443" />



Second Tomcat we need to be changed
# vim /opt/test/tomcat2/conf/server.xml




connectionTimeout="20000"
redirectPort="8444" />



Install tomcat-connector-1.2.30-src.tar.gz
Unzip directory
tomcat-connector-1.2.30-src

Compile tomcat-connector
# cd /tomcat-connector-1.2.30-src
# cd native
# ./configure -with-apxs=/opt/test/httpd-2.64/bin/apxs
# make
# make install

Now we can find mod_jk.so file will be put on /opt/test/httpd-2.64/modules/

# chmod 755 /opt/test/httpd-2.64/modules/mod_jk.so

Now create workers.properties
# cd /opt/test/httpd-2.64/conf/
# touch workers.properties
Add the following lines

Define list of workers that will be used
# for mapping requests
worker.list=loadbalancer,status

# Define Node1
# modify the host as your host IP or DNS name.
worker.node1.port=8005
worker.node1.type=ajp13
worker.node1.lbfactor=1
worker.node1.cachesize=10

# Define Node2
# modify the host as your host IP or DNS name.
worker.node2.port=8006

worker.node2.type=ajp13
worker.node2.lbfactor=1
worker.node2.cachesize=10

# Load-balancing behavior
worker.loadbalancer.type=lb
worker.loadbalancer.balance_workers=node1,node2
worker.loadbalancer.sticky_session=1
#worker.list=loadbalancer

# Status worker for managing load balancer
worker.status.type=status

Edit httpd.conf file-:
# /opt/test/httpd-2.64/conf/
# vim httpd.conf
LoadModule jk_module modules/mod_jk.so
JkWorkersFile conf/workers.properties
JkMount /* myworker


Start the httpd server
#/bin/apachctl start

start both Tomcat server
#/bin/startup.sh

Configure Squid with Dansguardian

Scenario-:
1. Configure squid Server
2. Configure Dan guardian
3. Configure Iptables
4. Configure Proxy server as a router.

Our purpose of proxy server is to sharing internet connection for web browsing performance & configures Dan guardian for content and site blocking.

A. Allow Internal to all user with restricted web site and content.
B. Allow limited user can access all site
C. Publish local server as a web server in different-different port.
D. All user can send receive mail from the Outlook but they can’t access restricted site.
E. Allow vnc, Sql server and Remote Desktop Connection access form to internet to External Network.
F. Allow company’s website access to all users




Process-:


External LAN Card- eth0 (10.10.10.1)
Internal LAN Card- eth1(192.168.10.1)

1. Configure and install Squid Server-:

# yum install squid*

Cp /etc/squid/squid.conf /etc/squid/squid.conf.bkp

Vim /etc/squid/squid.conf

visible hostname vsnl.com
http_port 3128

# Restrict Web access by IP address

Acl special_client src “/etc/squid/special_client_ip_txt” # allow all site access users ‘s ip list
Acl our_networks src 192.168.10.0/24 # allow network
Acl bed url_regex “ /etc/squid/squid/squid-block.acl” # list of block site ‘s name
http_access allow bed special_client # allow access all site to special client list
http_access deny bed our_networks # allow limited access
http_access allow our_networks # allow access to network

vim /etc/squid/special_client_ip_txt
192.168.10.126
192.168.10.200
192.168.10.251
vim /etc/squid/squid_block_acl
orkut.com
yahoo.com
gmial.com

Service squid start
# Service squid stop
# Service squid restart


Install and Configure Dansguardain -:
Yum install dans*

Cp /etc/dansguardain/dansguardian.conf /etc/dansguardain/dansguardian.conf.bkp

Vim /etc/dansguardian/dansguardain.conf

Filter ip = 192.168.10.1
Filter port = 8080
Proxy ip = 127.0.0.1
Proxy port = 3128

Vim /etc/dansguardian/list/bandsitelist
Gmail.com # list of block site
Yahoo.com
Facebook.com
Orkut.com
Vim /etc/dansguardain/list/bannedregexpurllist

# Hard core phase ( for content blocking)

Orkut|youtube|sport|gmail|facebook|orkut|sex|video|virus|audio

Vim /etc/dansguardian/lists/exceptionsitelist
# following site will not be filter by dansguardain. Allow for all users.

www.online-linux.blogspot.com
www.xyz.com

vim/etc/dansguardian/exceptioniplist

# list of ip allow all fitler site.

192.168.10.126
192.168.10.200
192.168.10.251

Configure Iptables-:
# masquerade local lan(eth1)
# redirect all request 80 to 8080 from eth1(local lan)
# publish local website
# allow 80 and 8080 port
$ iptables –t nat –A POSTROUTING –I eth1 –j MASQUERADE
$ iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -i eth1 -p tcp --dport 80 -j REDIRECT --to-port 8080
$ iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -i eth1 -p tcp --dport 3128 -j REDIRECT --to-port 8080
$ iptables -t nat -A PREROUTING -p tcp -d 10.10.10.1 --dport 8090 -j DNAT --to-destination 192.168.10.10:8090
$ iptables –I INPUT –s 192.168.10.0/24 –p tcp –-dport 80 –J ACCEPT
$ iptables –I INPUT –s 192.168.10.0/24 –p tcp –dport 8080 –J ACCEPT





Client Site-

Lan setting- 192.168.100.1:8080