I have a bare-bones Windows 2008 R2 Enterprise production server running SQL Server 2008 R2 Enterprise. We have a faster server that isn't being utilized and I'd like to move the production database onto it. However, I also wanted to use the faster server for something else, so my IT dept suggested building the machine as a XenServer and loading it up with 2 VMs. The second VM isn't resource intensive, so I'm not concerned about it (and for the purposes of this question, let's just imagine it doesn't even exist). What I want to know is: what are the performance implications of installing SQL Server 2008 R2 (Enterprise) on a VM? I am guessing I/O performance will suffer, but by how much? What things should I consider when making this decision?
I realize the answer to this question will probably be "it depends." So I'm looking for general info and tips/suggestions. Here are some of the specs for the server we're thinking of using for the VM:
- Intel Xeon Quad Core @ 2.4GHz (x2)
- 12 GB RAM
- 5 7200 RPM HDDs (approx 4TB) in a Raid-5 array
EDIT: By the way, the database instance isn't huge. It's only about 8GB (including tables, indexes, etc).