VCDX #181 Marc Huppert

Installation

I/O Analyzer has the following minimum system requirements:

  • VMware ESX/ESXi version 4.0 or later
  • 16.5 GB of storage space (additional space recommended)
  • 1 vCPU and 2048 MB VM memory
  • A supported Internet browser (Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox)

Installation steps:

  • Uncompress the zip file, extracting the I/O Analyzer .ova file.
  • Place the .ova file on a Windows system on which you have the vSphere Client software installed.
  • Within the vSphere Client, click File > Deploy OVF Template…
  • In the Deploy OVF Template window, click the Browse… button, browse to the I/O Analyzer .ova file, click Open.
  • Again at the Deploy OVF Template window, click Next. At the OVF Template Details window click Next.
  • At the Name and Location window, enter a name for this I/O Analyzer virtual appliance (the default isIoAnalyzer), select the cluster or ESX host on which you want this appliance to run, then click Next. 
  • At the Datastore window, select the datastore where you want the I/O Analyzer virtual appliance files tobe stored, then click Next.
  • At the Disk Format window select the radio button for a provisioning type, then click Next.
  • Deploy the appliance always as Thick Eager Zeroed.
  • At the Network Mapping window select the desired network, then click Next.
  • At the IP Address Allocation section select DHCP, then click Next.
  • At the Ready to Complete window click Finish. 

The default username of the appliance is root with vmware as password.

Tuning / Optimizing IO Analyzer appliance

I/O Analyzer uses a secondary virtual disk as a test disk for both Iometer and Trace Replay tests.

The default size of the secondary virtual disk is 100MB. This default size typically fits entirely within the cacheon most storage arrays. 

If you want to test the non-cached performance of the storage array, you can delete thisdefault secondary virtual disk and create a larger one as follows:

  • Shut down the I/O Analyzer virtual appliance.
  • Open the vSphere Client and go to the Summary tab for the I/O Analyzer virtual appliance.
  • Click Edit Settings.
  • Select Hard Disk 2 and click Remove. (NOTE This step is necessary. If you simply add a new disk without removing the exiting disk, I/OAnalyzer will continue to use the 100MB existing disk.)
  • Add a new virtual disk of your desired size, selecting Thick Provision Eager Zeroed.
  • Power on the I/O Analyzer virtual appliance. I/O Analyzer will automatically recognize and use the newvirtual disk. 

Configuring Auto-Login

  • Open a Terminal on the I/O Analyzer worker VM and run the following command: 

Choose System – /etc/sysconfig Editor

Choose Desktop – Display manager – DISPLAYMANAGER_AUTOLOGIN and enter root

Verify settings with a reboot

Check the next section Performance Profiles here.