Moved Windows Back To Physical Machines

[longhair]

After about 6 months of testing Proxmox (latest non-subscription version, updated weekly through web console) to put it in a production environment, I am sad to say that things did not work as well as I hoped. I have followed steps outlined in the Wiki, searched the forums & Google for possible answers and in a last ditch effort, went back to bare metal (replaced Proxmox hard drive in same machine) only to find all the issues disappeared. Hopefully the Proxmox team will solve the issues below in a future release.

The problems in no specific order:

• Windows Server 2008 R2 / SBS 2011 - Very high CPU usage 24 to 48 hours after clean install. No updates installed (disabled completely), no accounts created, no programs installed, nothing.
• Windows Server 2008 R2 / SBS 2011 - The only CPU that works is the Default (kvm64) - everything else blue screens. CPU used: Intel Xeon X5770
• Windows Server 2008 R2 / SBS 2011 / Windows 7 - External USB hard drive (WD Passport) disappears after VM reboot / log off or after 5 minutes depending on the VM's operating system.
• Proxmox Web Console - VM quit/powerdown failed - got timeout message after 10 minutes even though shutdown timer was set at 20 minutes (1200 seconds). (Windows VM applying updates during shutdown is the reason for 20 minute delay.)

The test machine used was a Dell T7500 Precision with dual Xeon X5770, 48GB DDR3 1330MHz ECC Registered memory, Intel PCIe NICs, WD VelociRaptor hard drives, WD Passport USB 3.0 external hard drives.

 

[webservio]

I have had no problems so far running a test KVM with Windows 2008 R2. This KVM has been running for a couple of weeks so far on a test Dell 2950 2 X dual core cpu with 12 GB of RAM. I am using raw disk format. Proxmox version is 3.4. What version of Proxmox are you running?

 

[pirateghost]

I've been running a few 2008 R2 servers for a couple of years now on Proxmox without issues....I have no idea what OP is talking about

 

[longhair]

Here some further reading to show I am not alone with the vm high cpu usage issues:

Windows guest: high context switch rate when idle
The Case of the Unexplained High CPU Condition
High CPU usage or irregular behavior occurs in virtual machines that are running in Windows Virtual PC
Advisory: Microsoft SQL Server - ProLiant Servers Running SQL Server 2005 SP3 or SQL Server 2008 May Stop Responding At Random When Running Under Heavy I/O Processing Load

I have had no problems so far running a test KVM with Windows 2008 R2. This KVM has been running for a couple of weeks so far on a test Dell 2950 2 X dual core cpu with 12 GB of RAM. I am using raw disk format. Proxmox version is 3.4. What version of Proxmox are you running?

I've followed the Windows 2008 guest best practices.

proxmox-ve-2.6.32: 3.3-147 (running kernel: 2.6.32-37-pve) 
pve-manager: 3.4-1 (running version: 3.4-1/3f2d890e) 
pve-kernel-2.6.32-37-pve: 2.6.32-147 
lvm2: 2.02.98-pve4 
clvm: 2.02.98-pve4 
corosync-pve: 1.4.7-1 
openais-pve: 1.1.4-3 
libqb0: 0.11.1-2 
redhat-cluster-pve: 3.2.0-2 
resource-agents-pve: 3.9.2-4 
fence-agents-pve: 4.0.10-2 
pve-cluster: 3.0-16 
qemu-server: 3.3-20 
pve-firmware: 1.1-3 
libpve-common-perl: 3.0-24 
libpve-access-control: 3.0-16 
libpve-storage-perl: 3.0-31 
pve-libspice-server1: 0.12.4-3 
vncterm: 1.1-8 
vzctl: 4.0-1pve6 
vzprocps: 2.0.11-2 
vzquota: 3.1-2 
pve-qemu-kvm: 2.1-12 
ksm-control-daemon: 1.1-1 
glusterfs-client: 3.5.2-1

I've been running a few 2008 R2 servers for a couple of years now on Proxmox without issues....I have no idea what OP is talking about

Have you tried any SBS 2011 Standard also?
Have you tried to change the CPU type from the Default (kvm64) to anything else, rebooted and it worked?
Have you used a USB 3.0 Western Digital Passport external drive for your Windows Server Backup Management console?

Please let me know how I am able to have a trouble free experience like you do. Make sure you have used the same hardware and operating systems that I have tested with for the last 6 months.

 

[johnplv]

• Windows Server 2008 R2 / SBS 2011 - Very high CPU usage 24 to 48 hours after clean install. No updates installed (disabled completely), no accounts created, no programs installed, nothing.

Try use lastest Proxmox (i use 3.4) with 3.10 kernel and with VM options: Sockets 2, Enable Numa
it completely solved the problem of high CPU load for me

 

[longhair]

Try use lastest Proxmox (i use 3.4) with 3.10 kernel and with VM options: Sockets 2, Enable Numa
it completely solved the problem of high CPU load for me

Thanks for the suggestion. I will give that a try and let you know my results.