VDI Architecture Chris House, VCP Senior Network Analyst DataCenter Team.

VDI Architecture

Chris House, VCP

Senior Network Analyst

DataCenter Team

Quick facts

• 1,500 Windows XP SP2 “sessions”• 1 or more statically assigned to users• 2 datacenters, 750 sessions per datacenter• 2 VirtualCenter servers (1 per datacenter)• 38 ESX servers (19 per datacenter/VC)• 4 ESX clusters (2 per datacenter/VC)• 15 datastores per cluster/server• 25 sessions per datastore• 2 HP StorageWorks XP1024 Fibre-Channel SAN

Arrays (1 per datacenter)

Concept• Concurrent VDI and blade PC deployment• Complete desktop replacement for office and clinical staff• Reduce PC maintenance costs/time• Provide fastest possible access for roaming users to desktop and

apps• All sessions run 24x7• Users encouraged to leave apps running• Sessions statically assigned (no pooling)• Support multiple sessions per user (software testing)• Wyse dual-monitor & HP thin terminals, 19-inch LCD monitors,

biometric keyboards, Windows XP Embedded• Manually failover sessions to remote datacenter if disaster

Sessions

• Windows XP SP2• 10GB C: drive• 512MB RAM (pagefile 768-

1536MB), 1 vCPU, 1 NIC• Sessions never

suspended/shut down– Will reboot every 2 weeks

once idle for 8 hours

• Reimaged as needed using Altiris (PXE boot)

• “My Documents” redirected to network drive

• Sessions not backed up

Session Deployment

• Sessions deployed once using ESX service console shell script (bash)

• VM name & hostname same as custom MAC address– 00:50:56:0A for VDC sessions– 00:50:56:0D for BDC sessions

• Deployment process– Create directory, customize new VMX– vmkfstools clone sysprep-ready VMDK– register with server and power on for sysprep

Location-based computing

• Sessions aware of user location within the enterprise

• Printing & applications require user location to function properly

• Specific printers dynamically installed at RDP login depending on user’s location– “Roaming Printer Agent”

• Custom solution developed in-house

– Microsoft Terminal Services API used to obtain thin terminal hostname, correlate to a location

Application deployment

• Initially considered SVS/Appstream

• Currently use Novell ZENWorks, Altiris

• Application objects assigned to users in eDirectory

• Icons for ZEN applications presented on desktop

• Application installed at first launch

• Moving to ZEN 10 for Active Directory

• Custom broker developed in-house

• Brokers RDP connections to VDI and other endpoints:– VDI– CCI (HP blade PCs)– Desktop PCs

• Assignments made in Active Directory

• Based on “Remote Operator” property of computer object in AD

• Supports multiple endpoints per user

Broker:

Clusters & Servers• 38 x ESX 3.0.1 Enterprise• 2 x VirtualCenter 2.0.2• 40 sessions per server (DRS

balances load)• 4 clusters, 9-10 servers per cluster• HA & DRS enabled• 375 sessions per cluster

• HP BL480c G1 c-Class blades• Dual Intel Xeon Quad-Core

processors @ 2.666GHz• 24 GB memory• 4 x 1000MB NICs• Dual-port 4GB FC HBA

Network

• 4 x 1000MB NICs• c-Class enclosures with two Cisco switches• ESX vSwitch vmnics uplink to ports on both

enclosure switches (two nics per vSwitch)• Cisco switches have 2 x 1000MB Etherchannel

uplinks, link state tracking enabled• vSwitch0

– Service Console (VLAN for servers)– VMKernel (VLAN for VMotion)

• vSwtich1– Multiple Virtual Machine portgroups (separate VLANs)

Storage

• Dual-port 4GB Qlogic FC HBA• c-Class enclosures with two 4/12 Brocade 4GB

switches, single uplinks to core switches• HBA connects to each switch• Metro has dual-fabric FC ‘star’ layout (core &

edge switches, 32 total)• 15 datastores per cluster• 25 sessions per datastore• 263GB datastore size• 9-10 hosts per datastore

Storage

• 2 x HP StorageWorks XP1024 arrays• 7.89TB dedicated to local datacenter VM disks• 7.89TB dedicated on remote array for synchronous

continuous replication of local VM disks• 15.78TB/array, 31.5TB total• Dedicated array ports for VDI ESX (4 per fabric, 8 total)• Datastores balanced across all paths (8)• 18 RAID5(7D+1P) disk groups per array

– Local VDI LDEVs– Replicated VDI LDEVs from remote array

• 1 LUN per datastore (no extents)• Datastore LUNs are XP LUSEs of 17 LDEVs (from

different disk groups - 136 spindles per LUN)

Achievements• Staff appreciate lightning-fast access to applications and improved mobility• Performance on par with and sometimes faster than PCs/BladePCs (server-

class hardware)• Decreased time to access information – improves patient safety• Very convenient• Information secure in Datacenter• Reduced PC support calls• Reduced electricity usage through fewer PCs/CRTs• Streamlined infrastructure• Safe from ESX server failure with HA• Safe from runaway CPU/memory hogging apps in sessions affecting

servers with DRS load balancing• Service desk has more tools to manage sessions (VM reset and View

console through VC WebAccess)• Able to perform server maintenance during the day by utilizing VMotion to

shuffle sessions around

Issues

• Multimedia limits of RDP– streaming video/Flash– high-res images/animation– Currently using Wyse multimedia redirector, supports

only few codecs– USB support

• VDI performance suffers when all sessions perform high disk I/O at same time– Windows Updates – disabled, failing retries– Antivirus – randomized across week– Large software deployment/updates – Epic– Re-imaging

VMware vClient / VDM3

• Metro invited to private beta at Palo Alto HQ• Several features of VDM could be beneficial for

our environment• Herculean effort to move existing environment to

VDM– rip & replace would be quickest (versus migration)– What to do with 1,500 displaced users?

• Conflicts exist between current session management processes/configuration and VDM’s methods = retraining

Future

• Software vendors working on multimedia improvements for RDP

• Considering switching to RGS or another protocol

• Introducing session pooling• Eliminating array replication or switching to

asynchronous• Finding cheaper storage that performs• Continuing to evaluate VDM

Questions?

[email protected]

http://communities.vmware.com/people/chouse