VMware VROOM! Blog

VMware recently released a white paper on performance and best practices for vCenter Server in VMware vSphere 4.1. This paper addresses four common areas of concerns regarding vCenter Server performance:

• Performance improvements in vSphere 4.1 compared to vSphere 4.0
• vCenter Server sizing guidelines and software requirements
• Best practices in performance monitoring, tuning and troubleshooting
• Case studies demonstrating performance improvements in vSphere 4.1.

The vCenter Server in vSphere 4.1 supports a larger inventory in a vSphere environment when compared with that supported in vSphere 4.0, both at the vCenter Server level and at the single cluster level. A table is provided in the white paper to show the new supported limits. In addition, in vSphere 4.1, vCenter Server can handle a larger number of concurrent tasks at a time when compared with vSphere 4.0.

Significant performance improvements have been made in vSphere 4.1 compared to vSphere 4.0. The following list highlights some of the most important performance improvements:

• Improved performance at higher vCenter Server inventory limits – up to 7 times higher operational throughput and up to 75% reduced operational latency
• Improved performance at higher cluster inventory limits – up to 3 times higher operational throughput and up to 60% reduced operational latency
• Faster vCenter Server startup – around 5 minutes for maximum vCenter Server inventory size
• Better vSphere Client responsiveness, quicker user interaction, and faster user login
• Faster host operations and VM operations on standalone hosts – up to 60% reduction in latency
• Lower resource usage by vCenter agents by up to 40%
• Reduced VM group power-on latency by up to 25%
• Faster VM recovery with HA – up to 60% reduction in total recovery time for 1.6 times more VMs
• Better load balancing with improved DRS/DPM algorithm effectiveness

For more information, please read the full paper: VMware vCenter Server Performance and Best Practices for vSphere 4.1.