Re: [PLUG] Need Troubleshooting Advice: Disk Errors in Virtual Machines

[Lee Marzke <lee@marzke.net>]

On 09/21/2010 06:04 PM, Casey Bralla wrote:
> I've got a weird problem which I hope somebody here can help me figure out.
>
> I'm running about a dozen virtual machines (mostly web servers) on a triple-
> core AMD system running Debian Lenny (ie: "Stable").  Each of the virtual
> machines is also running Debian Lenny.
>
> I am having repeated disk errors on the Virtual Machines, but no disk errors
> on the host machine.  These disk errors often cause a Kernel Panic within the
> VM, or otherwise crash the web server on the VM.
>
> There appears to be no overall pattern to the crashes.  It can happen after an
> hour, or a week.  It can happen in any of the Virtual Machines.  However, I
> have noticed that it often happens in several (2 or 3) VMs at the same time.
>
> I haven't found anything in the logs (yet) to identify a culprit.
>
> I've tried using both IDE and SATA disk interfaces to the virtual disks.  I've
> tried running both VirtualBox and VMware Server.  I've mucked around with
> several BIOS setting related to Disk I/O and virtualization.
>
> I've run Memtest86 (but just for a half-hour) and found no memory errors.  My
> disk SMART interface records no errors with the physical disk.
>
>
> The host machine is somewhat RAM-constrained, but does not appear to be
> unreasonably so.  The CPUs do not seem to be overly loaded, although I suspect
> that the problem occurs when one of the VMs gets taxed.  (No real data for
> this, however... just a hunch.)
>
> Anybody have any thoughts on what might cause these disk errors, or what I
> might check?
>
> TIA!
>    

What are the specs on the host,  memory,  number/type of disks,   vmware 
server version
amount of RAM allocated to VM's  and amount left over for the host.


>    


--
"Between subtle shading and the absence of light lies the nuance of iqlusion..."  - Kryptos

Lee Marzke,     lee@marzke.net                              http://marzke.net/lee/

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