Prepare a lab for murano¶

System prerequisites¶

sudo apt-get install gcc python-pip python-dev \
libxml2-dev libxslt-dev libffi-dev \
libpq-dev python-openssl mysql-client

sudo yum install gcc python-pip python-devel libxml2-devel \
libxslt-devel libffi-devel postgresql-devel pyOpenSSL \
mysql

Test your lab host performance¶

We have measured time required to boot 1 to 5 instances of Windows system simultaneously. You can use this data as the baseline to check if your system is fast enough.

You should use sysprepped images for this test, to simulate VM first boot.

Steps to reproduce test:

1. Prepare Windows 2012 Standard (with GUI) image in QCOW2 format. Let’s assume that its name is ws-2012-std.qcow2

2. Ensure that there is NO KVM PROCESSES on the host. To do this, run command:

   ps aux | grep kvm
   

3. Make 5 copies of Windows image file:

   for i in $(seq 5); do \
   cp ws-2012-std.qcow2 ws-2012-std-$i.qcow2; done
   

4. Create script start-vm.sh in the folder with .qcow2 files:

   #!/bin/bash
   [ -z $1 ] || echo "VM count not provided!"; exit 1
   for i in $(seq $1); do
   echo "Starting VM $i ..."
   kvm -m 1024 -drive file=ws-2012-std-$i.qcow2,if=virtio -net user -net nic,model=virtio -nographic -usbdevice tablet -vnc :$i & done
   

5. Start ONE instance with command below (as root) and measure time between VM’s launch and the moment when Server Manager window appears. To view VM’s desktop, connect with VNC viewer to your host to VNC screen :1 (port 5901):

   sudo ./start-vm.sh 1
   

6. Turn VM off. You may simply kill all KVM processes by

   sudo killall kvm
   

7. Start FIVE instances with command below (as root) and measure time interval between ALL VM’s launch and the moment when LAST Server Manager window appears. To view VM’s desktops, connect with VNC viewer to your host to VNC screens :1 thru :5 (ports 5901-5905):

   sudo ./start-vm.sh 5
   

8. Turn VMs off. You may simply kill all KVM processes by

   sudo killall kvm
   

Baseline data¶

The table below provides baseline data which we’ve got in our environment.

Avg. Time refers to the lab with recommended hardware configuration, while Max. Time refers to minimal hardware configuration.

Host optimizations¶

Default KVM installation could be improved to provide better performance.

The following optimizations may improve host performance up to 30%:

• change default scheduler from CFQ to Deadline
• use ksm
• use vhost-net