Extreme slowness deploying images to Virtual Machines
I know this is kind of a hybrid Altiris/VMWare question, but I have to imagine someone here has seen this before.
I'm trying to deploy an image to a new VM using DOS
- yes...i tried using WinPE but that crashes with random .sys file memory errors when loading (so if anyone can help with that one let me know as well!)
- yes, if I image on our regular network using DOS it works just fine (and quickly).
Anyway, it's deploying, but unbelievably slowly. It's going between 4/5MB per minute. I have no idea what the problem may be, but this will literally take about 12-14 hours to deploy an image this way. Granted, I don't need to do this often, but wow...this is painful.
Any Altiris/VMWare users out there have any suggestions as to what might be causing the bottleneck or why the speed might be restricted?
Thanks!
RC
Comments
We ditched the DOS automation
We ditched the DOS automation environment a long time ago. Mostly we use the LinuxPE for image deployments - I have one running now to an ESX 3.5 VM and it's throughput is between 150 and 200 MB/min
It could be that the DOS drivers for the vm virtual network card are really poor?
DOS = worst pe environment
DOS = worst pe environment possible.
We've found that Windows PE 2.1 beats everything hands down. It's easy to add drivers, has great performance, and works with almost anything. It's weird to say this, but it's the best boot environment for deploying linux images :D
I build VMware vms all the time with Windows PE 2.1 with not issues. Just install the AMD pcnet driver into Windows PE and it's off to the races. Hopefully Symantec will give us PE 3.0 with SP4 before all development on DS stops.
I'd reccommend WinPE 2.1
If you're determined to use dos you might want to try switching from the UNDI nic driver to the specific vmware driver (amd pcnet?). Another idea might be to switch to the e1000 nic if you can. Theres plenty of help online how to do this.
For Winpe crashing you might be short on memory. Try increasing to 512MB or more.
WinPE 2.1 is reccommended as it has the best driver support and you'll get the most support from this community (over the other pe environments)
Please "Mark as Solution" those posts which resolve your problem - its a free way to give something back to those who contribute their time and knowledge to these forums.
I image into ESXi4 VM's. I
I image into ESXi4 VM's. I use WinPE with standard Intel NIC drivers and e1000 nics in my VM's
It takes about 12 minutes to build a virtual Using WinPE 2.1 from a PXE menu item. (There are 25 active Windows VM's on the specific blade right now and i tested this speed today. I have 4GB LACP to my DS but only 1GB to the blade NIC that supports the network-facing IP connection for my VM's.
Your WinPE errors sound like typical 1.6 PE problems, so Just go with 2.1 PCE automation from DS 6.9 SP3 with the patched express.exe
DS + SVS = IT Bliss
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