Customizing the Delphix Engine System Settings
Deployment / Installation and Initial System Configurations / Customizing the Delphix Engine System Settings

This topic describes how to customize the initial system set up requirements for memory, number of CPUs, storage disks, and network configuration.

The OVA file that you use to install the Delphix Engine is configured for the minimum system requirements. You can customize these to match the capabilities of your specific system.

Prerequisites

  • Follow the initial installation instructions for Installing the Delphix Engine.

Procedure

  1. Shut down the guest operating system and power off the Delphix Engine.
  2. Under Getting Started, select Edit Virtual Machine Settings.
  3. You can now customize the system settings.
SettingOptions
Memory Size  Set to 64GB or larger based on sizing analysis. In the Resource Allocation panel, ensure that Reserve all guest memory is checked.
Number of CPUs  Allocate 8 vCPUs or more based on your Delphix licensing. vCPUs should be fully reserved to ensure that the Delphix Engine does not compete for CPU cycles on an overcommitted host.
Supported ControllersDelphix only supports LSI Parallel controllers.
Disks for Data Storage  Add virtual disks to provide storage for user data such as dSources and VDBs. The underlying storage must be redundant. Add a minimum of 150GB per storage disk. All virtual disks should be the same size and have the same performance characteristics. If using VMFS, use thick provisioned, lazy zeroed disks. To alleviate IO bottlenecks at the virtual controller layer, spread the virtual disks across all 4 virtual SCSI controllers.
Data Storage Multipathing Policy

For EMC storage, the multipathing policy should always be set to round-robin (default for 5.X). Additionally, change the IO Operation Limit from the default of 1000 to 1. This should be strongly considered for other storage platforms as well.

See VMware KB article EMC VMAX and DMX Symmetrix Storage Array Recommendations for Optimal Performance on VMware ESXi/ESX

NetworkThe network configuration is set to have a VMXNET3 network adapter. VMXNET3 is a tuned network interface that is included with the VMtools provided in the OVA file.
It will be assigned to VM Network

JUMBO Frames
VMXNET3 supports Ethernet jumbo frames, and you can use this to maximize throughput and minimize CPU utilization. 

Adding Link Aggregation via VMware NIC Teaming   
To increase throughput or for failover, add multiple physical NICs to the vSwitch that is connected to the Delphix Engine. To increase throughput, NIC Teaming must use the Route Based on IP Hash protocol for load balancing. 

Dedicate Physical NICs to the Delphix Engine
For best performance, assign the Delphix Engine to network adapters that are used exclusively by Delphix. 

Post-Requisites

  • After making any changes to the system settings, power on the Delphix Engine again and proceed with the initial system configuration as described in Setting Up the Delphix Engine.

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