VMware hosts tips

Some of the usual things I do when setting up a VMware host;

GNU/Linux;

-Add noatime to the mount options in /etc/fstab: /dev/sdc1  /usr/vmware/machines  xfs  rw,noatime  0  0
-If there's enough RAM in the server, don't use a swap partition


Windows;

-in a command prompt, typ fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1 to turn off the last access time updates on files
-Set the pagefile size to an equal minimum and maximum size: min 512MB, max 512MB
-Set desktop colour depth to 16 bit, turn off all effects
-under the advanced computer properties, turn off all visual effects
-use the classic start menu and desktop theme
-turn on DEP only for essential programs and services
-turn off error reporting and automatic updates
-disable unneeded services
-open gpedit.msc (or use a group policy in Active Directory) and set up all options which will reduce CPU processing and I/O
-set the network cards to a fixed speed instead of automatic or hardware detected


VMware server;

-if RAM size on the host isn't a constraint, turn on Fit all virtual machine memory into reserved host RAM in the memory settings