Best NVMe SSD for VMWare workstation?

everapt

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Apr 23, 2016
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I'm currently running a SATA SSD and it seems to me that performance can be improved for 4x VMs. Would an NVMe SSD improve performance? I've looked at a few benchmarks, maybe I'm reading them wrong but it looks like NVMes have a cache that allows them to run fast for a short duration and then they go down to almost SATA speeds. Is this true or did I misunderstand the benchmarks?

Either way, which SSD would be best to get the highest raw read speeds?
 
an NVMe, depending which, do come with cache which does help with performance. You would be looking at something like the Samsung Pro series of WD Black models, all of the cheaper sub $200 1TB NVMe do not have cache and you can see in benchmarks when their performance tanks.

You will also want something that has good random 4k performance. most OS read and writes are small.
 
For my esxi server I upgraded to a inland premium 1tb nvme drive I got from Microcenter. I was replacing 6 200gb sas ssds in raid 5. The inland drive is rated for a pretty decent write endurance which is why I leaned to it (Especially when running multiple intensive vms).

Many of samsungs offerings are also very good for a similar application. You will notice the difference going to a good nvme drive on a esxi host.
 
For VMs a storage needs low latency, high steady write iops and if you want to avoid corrupted guest filesystems after a crash during write powerloss protection.

For the question "what is the best" the answer is Intel Optane as they work like RAM (can adress each Byte directly) - no RAM cache or Trim/garbage collection required to reach steady 500k iops. Sadly quite expensive.
 
For VMs a storage needs low latency, high steady write iops and if you want to avoid corrupted guest filesystems after a crash during write powerloss protection.

For the question "what is the best" the answer is Intel Optane as they work like RAM (can adress each Byte directly) - no RAM cache or Trim/garbage collection required to reach steady 500k iops. Sadly quite expensive.
Thank you, I forgot about Optane. I will look into getting one but it looks like they aren't made anymore. Can't find anywhere where they still sell them, and I'm not sure I trust ebay shipped from China Optane 900Ps.

I don't really have a problem with crashes and corruption, and if that did happen, it wouldn't affect me much. I just have a preloaded app and a script that runs on it in 4 windows VMs.

If I can't find an Optane, what would be the next best thing? Samsung 980 Pro? Perhaps 2 of them in raid 0?
 
Desktop SSD are mostly a bad choice for server use as their write performance usually go down massively after some time of writing. Prefer the datacenter models like Intel DC.. or Samsung PM...(datacenter edition of Pro)

ex (EU, but best options to filter models)
https://geizhals.eu/?cat=hdssd&asuch=dc++&v=e&hloc=at&hloc=de&hloc=pl&hloc=uk&hloc=eu&sort=p&bl1_id=30&xf=1035_Intel~4832_3~4832_6~4832_7

btw
The (gamer) Optane 900 is EoL.
Current Optane are the datacenter DC 4800X, DC 5800X and the upcoming entry level DC 1600X
https://www.intel.de/content/www/de...ge/data-center-ssds/optane-dc-ssd-series.html
 
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Desktop SSD are mostly a bad choice for server use as their write performance usually go down massively after some time of writing. Prefer the datacenter models like Intel DC.. or Samsung PM...(datacenter edition of Pro)

ex (EU, but best options to filter models)
https://geizhals.eu/?cat=hdssd&asuch=dc++&v=e&hloc=at&hloc=de&hloc=pl&hloc=uk&hloc=eu&sort=p&bl1_id=30&xf=1035_Intel~4832_3~4832_6~4832_7

btw
The (gamer) Optane 900 is EoL.
Current Optane are the datacenter DC 4800X, DC 5800X and the upcoming entry level DC 1600X
https://www.intel.de/content/www/de...ge/data-center-ssds/optane-dc-ssd-series.html
That's the info I was looking for, thank you!
 
You should also check Micron, they have a business series, up to 15.36TB
* For U.2 ----> 9300 Max or Pro
* For M.2 ----> 7300 Max or Pro (careful these are 22110 no the usual 2280)
* For Sata ---> 5300 Max or Pro
 
@_Gea This is for VMWare workstation to run 4 VM's.....i presume this is not a business case use for any critical production workloads, so the DC variants and the price are total overkill for the users needs. If the OP is using VMware workstation for any production workloads, they should quit their job now and look for a new field of work...

A standard Samsung / WD NVMe for 4 general use VM's is going to be more than sufficient for them. I have run 8 [EDIT - My home lab] VM's off a WD 1TB Blue 2.5" SSD and performance was perfectly fine (2x AD/1 Exchange/ Monitoring tools / BMC Discovery / Junk VM for random crap)
 
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@_Gea This is for VMWare workstation to run 4 VM's.....i presume this is not a business case use for any critical production workloads, so the DC variants and the price are total overkill for the users needs. If the OP is using VMware workstation for any production workloads, they should quit their job now and look for a new field of work...

A standard Samsung / WD NVMe for 4 general use VM's is going to be more than sufficient for them. I have run 8 VM's off a WD 1TB Blue 2.5" SSD and performance was perfectly fine (2x AD/1 Exchange/ Monitoring tools / BMC Discovery / Junk VM for random crap)
I would agree. My inland 1tb premium runs a handful of vms very well. It can also be found for quite abit cheaper and if the endurance is accurate should last a good while.
 
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