I was recently sent the following link that describes disk partition alignment best practices for SQL Server:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd758814.aspx
This is a really good article — it describes the performance implication of mis-aligned drives — which apply to all Windows installs, not just SQL servers. I’ve participated in alignment discussions several times — specifically as it relates to virtual machine disks. What I like about this article and the ‘performance impact’ section is the test description. The results are not VMware or SAN/array specific — they relate to local disk (SAS DAS). The issue of alignment is not a VMware discussion — it is primarily a Windows OS discussion.