Server partitioning and VMware
Wondering how you should partition your host server for optimal VMware virtualization? Read this expert response by Andrew Kutz to find out.
Host server partitioning depends upon what OS (operating system) is running on the host. I like to create 2 partitions for Windows host servers -- 1 for system files and 1 for data files. I put the data partition on a separate, faster drive (preferably a RAID of some sort). For Linux host servers my file system table usually resembles:
primary /boot 200 M / 6 G swap 1.5* RAM (VMware recommendation for VMware Server hosts) logical /tmp 1.5* RAM (VMware recommendation for VMware Server hosts) /home 300 M /var 5 G /var/lib/vmware rest of disk
Again, I usually put the VMs (/var/lib/vmware) on a separate physical disk to ensure speed.
As for what is a good partitioning method for the VMs installed on the machine -- that is an impossible question to provide a simple answer to. Use what I have shown you for the hosts as a starting point, but take into account the space requirements and purpose of the servers you will be provisioning and you should do fine.
