In a keynote session, VMware Chief Technology Officer Dr. Stephen Herrod unveiled a new high water mark in virtualized database performance. Running a resource-intensive OLTP benchmark, based on a fair-use implementation of the TPC-C workload specification, VMware achieved 85 percent of native performance when running Oracle DB on VMware ESX. This workload, which demonstrated 8900 database transactions per second and 60,000 disk input/outputs per second (IOPS), is the most resource-intensive load ever shown in a virtual environment to date.

To put these numbers in perspective, according to a VMware Capacity Planner study of 15,000 Oracle databases, the average Oracle database executes approximated 100 transactions per second and generates roughly 1200 storage operations per second. This single virtual machine instance that was discussed today served 89 times more transactions than the same deployment, and was capable of performing work that required 50 times more storage throughput than the average four-processor Oracle database. With this demonstration, all but a very small segment of database deployments become attractive targets for VMware virtualization.

"In the past, there was a perception that demanding databases such as Oracle were not suitable candidates for virtualization", stated Dr. Herrod. "These record-setting throughputs at near-native performance prove that VMware's maximum capabilities exceed the server needs of most customers. This makes virtualizing database environments a viable solution for those looking to reduce IT costs by consolidating servers and increasing business continuity."

Dr. Herrod presented these ESX performance results using Oracle as the database next to other results of a test against Microsoft SQL Server. The SQL Server results used an OLTP benchmark based on a fair-use implementation of the TPC-E workload specification. In that case, a virtual machine with four virtual CPUs was shown to run at 90 percent efficiency with respect to native. Both reported numbers were based on a version of ESX being developed by VMware with expected release this year.

Oracle and SQL Server databases require efficient virtual machines capable of very high levels of throughput. Both of the database numbers presented today were based on single VM performance. Paired with VMware's recent announcement of world record consolidated web server performance, VMware has shown new maximums with single virtual machines and multi-VM consolidation environments.