Panorama Very Slow on VMware ESXI

[Youssefammari62]

Hello everyone,

I’m running Palo Alto Networks Panorama as a virtual appliance on VMware ESXi, but the system is very slow. This happens even though I have ensured that resources are sufficient, and it persists across multiple Panorama versions.

Environment Details:

• VM configuration: 16 vCPU / 64 GB RAM / SSD storage
• Panorama role: Management + Log Collector
• Disk I/O: normal
• CPU / RAM usage: normal

Symptoms:

• GUI is sluggish and slow to respond
• Commits take longer than expected
• Log queries are slow
• System responsiveness seems degraded despite low resource usage

Steps Tried So Far:

• Upgraded Panorama to multiple versions
• Verified CPU, memory, and disk usage
• Verified disk I/O
• Confirmed NIC is VMXNET3

Request for Advice:

Since resource utilization and storage performance are normal, I suspect the issue may be related to:

• VMware compatibility or VM configuration
• Panorama internal services (like database, logs, or processes)
• Known software bugs or tuning recommendations

I would appreciate if anyone who has seen similar behavior can share diagnostic steps or configuration recommendations to resolve this slowness.

Thank you!

[OtakarKlier]

Hello,

In the past it was recommended to have static resources for the VM. Meaning CPU and Memory should not be dynamic and shared. Also Disk space should be static not thin provisioned.

Regards,

[ozheng]

Hello @Youssefammari62 ,

What is the software version?

Olivier

[Youssefammari62]

Hello,
Yes, in our case as well, we have reserved CPU and memory, and the disk is configured with thick provisioning.

We performed several tests to investigate the slow access reported on the Panorama web interface.

Our observations show that when accessing Panorama from some workstations, the interface loads and operates normally. However, from other workstations, we experience significantly longer loading and navigation times.

Using the browser Network analysis tool, we compared the page loading metrics:

• On a workstation with normal behavior, the Load time is approximately 6.9 seconds.
• On the workstation experiencing the slowdown, the Load time reaches approximately 21 seconds.

It is important to note that the number of HTTP requests and the total volume of resources loaded (around 70 MB) appear to be similar in both cases.

At this stage, we are unable to clearly determine whether the issue is related to the Panorama environment, network conditions, browser behavior, or the local workstation environment.

[Youssefammari62]

version : 11.1.10-h1
We performed several tests to investigate the slow access reported on the Panorama web interface.

Our observations show that when accessing Panorama from some workstations, the interface loads and operates normally. However, from other workstations, we experience significantly longer loading and navigation times.

Using the browser Network analysis tool, we compared the page loading metrics:

• On a workstation with normal behavior, the Load time is approximately 6.9 seconds.
• On the workstation experiencing the slowdown, the Load time reaches approximately 21 seconds.

It is important to note that the number of HTTP requests and the total volume of resources loaded (around 70 MB) appear to be similar in both cases.

At this stage, we are unable to clearly determine whether the issue is related to the Panorama environment, network conditions, browser behavior, or the local workstation environment.

[ozheng]

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@Youssefammari62 wrote:

Our observations show that when accessing Panorama from some workstations, the interface loads and operates normally. However, from other workstations, we experience significantly longer loading and navigation times.

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I would suggest you to compare the differences between the working workstations and the non-working ones.
In your case, Panorama is the same as web server <> clients issue.

Olivier