Performance issues when third party file filter drivers co-exist with Guest Introspection drivers

Products

• VMware NSX Networking

Issue/Introduction

Symptoms:

• User may experience performance issue for the file operations mainly rename operations when certain third party file filter drivers are present in the stack along with Guest introspection file filter driver.
• Application may freeze.
• File operations may be delayed.

Environment

VMware NSX for vSphere 6.1.x
VMware NSX for vSphere 6.4.x
VMware NSX for vSphere 6.2.x
VMware NSX for vSphere 6.0.x
VMware NSX for vSphere 6.3.x

Cause

This issue occurs due to Guest Introspection drivers compatibility issues with third party filter drivers.

Resolution

VMware Guest Introspection certified to work with multiple partners. If there are any inter-operability issues with the GI drivers and third party drivers, you may see performance issues in the environment.

To work around this issue:

VMware recommends to have only single AV solution or driver in the file introspection path. Having multiple file filter drivers may degrade the performance.

Note: This issue may not occur with all the third party file filter drivers along with Guest Introspection drivers.