Need to rewrite FreeBSD based database-centric app under VMware server 1.0.2, advice?

[Uwe Laverenz]

On Tue, Jul 24, 2007 at 03:49:09PM -0400, Sten Daniel Soersdal wrote:

> My Dell Inspiron 9400 has 2ghz Core2Due with 4m cache, 2 GB of dual 
> channel memory and a rather slow 5400 rpm "PATA" emulated SATA hard 
> drive. It runs Windows XP Pro SP2.

I've never used XP as host OS for VMware server, but I have several
FreeBSD guests on VMware server 1.0.3 (RHEL 4.x host) and ESX 3.x.

FreeBSD 6.x runs fine as guest OS with one problem: SMP does not work
with FreeBSD i386 guests. It does work well with am64 though. I have no
experiences with 7.0 yet.

> - 64 bit or 32 bit, now or then?

I would prefer amd64 for servers.

> - Any suggestions on which of the FreeBSD versions i should base myself 
> on? I'm thinking 7 but if that is known to be impossible then i should 
> perhaps delay this choice?

For now I would suggest to start with 6.x and upgrade to 7.x when the
time is right. :)

> - Are there any gotcha's that i need to address to get an emulated 
> (32bit or 64bit, FBSD 6 or 7, etc) off the ground at all?

No gotchas, it works except for the i386/SMP problem. Just a few tips:

- use le(4) for the network interface instead of lnc(4) if you
  decide to use i386 (amd64 will get em(4), which works good)
- set kern.hz="100" in your /boot/loader.conf
- install VMware tools that are shipped with VMware server
- after installing VMware tools move /boot/kernel/vmmemctl.ko to
  /boot/modules/ to avoid reinstalling the module after each kernel
  build
- if you want to use both of your CPU-cores with 6.x, use amd64
- disk I/O will be slower in VMware server guests, but that's the
  case for every guest OS

> - Would VMware server 1.0.2 cause many emulation problems running 32bit 
> or 64bit on single or dual core?

No, just the annoying i386/SMP bug.

Uwe