Best Practices for Deploying Virtual Desktop Infrastructure on the Unified Computing System

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UCS-4793 Cisco Public

Best Practices for Deploying Virtual

Desktop Infrastructure on the Unified

Computing System

Shawn Kaiser & Doron Chosnek

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Focus of this session



Touch on VDI market



Touch on balance of resources



Focus on compute needs



Focus on Acme Corp case study

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Why VDI Now?

Who, What, When, Where, How and Why?

3



Solutions are

FINALLY

mature

• VMware View evolution

• Citrix XenDesktop evolution

• VXI (Cisco Virtualization Experience Infrastructure)



Hypervisor improvements and support



CPU and Server architecture improvements

• Nehalem/Westmere/Romley/…

• Cost effective 8GB dimms



Windows 7

• XP (Oct 25, 2001) = 10.5 years old!

• SP1 for Win7 (Feb 9, 2011)

• 32bit = 1GB

• 64bit = 2GB

• ASLR

Source: IDC, 2011

strategy

capabi

lity

*includes XenApp

Source: Gartner (June 2011)

Brokers

x86 Server Virt

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The four basic food groups



Networking



Storage



CPU profile

‒ RAS features (empty calories)

‒ Cores

‒ MHz vs. SPECint/SPECfp



Memory footprint / memory speed



(and dessert) Cost

Fuel for a healthy VDI deployment

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Networking/Storage

5

Networking

Dual 10Gb adequate

for server

Cisco VIC adds

bandwidth, features

Client side WAN speed,

reliability issues

Storage

Cost, scale,

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Burst vs. Capacity vs. Cost

Intel E7-2860

10 Core x 2.0GHz

130 Watt

Cint=213

CFP=127

Blend=170

Blend/Core=17

1KU= $2,558

Capacity

Intel E5-2640

6 Core x 2.5GHz

95 Watt

Cint = 231

CFP = 187

Blend = 209

Blend/Core = 34.75

1KU = $795

231 Cint/CPU

213 Cint/CPU

Core Burst

_{CPU Cost}

E5-2640

2.5GHz

Blend=34.75

E7-2860

2.0GHz

Blend=17

E5-2640

1KU=$795

E7-2860

1KU=$2,558

You can have it all!

1. Lower CPU cost

2. Lower power

3. Higher Burst

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Memory Bus Speed

B250M2

X5680

192GB

B250M2

X5680

192GB

66%

more

VM’s!



Same server



_{Same memory}



_{Same CPU’s}

Just a change to

memory speed

Tested with

Medium

workload

generator on

VMware View

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Cost

Where does your VDI money go?

8

Source: 2011 Morgan Stanley Desktop Survey

Server, Storage and Networking on average comprise 50% of solution TCO per desktop

$160

$125

$40

$150

$125

$50

Storage

Server

Networking

Endpoint

Broker

Licensing

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What makes UCS unique

How to best utilize UCS for VDI

9

Service Profiles

Memory Expansion

FEX Technology

Unified Fabric

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Industry Game Changers

Cisco B200 M3

Latest generation blade

Flex Flash, Internal USB

Up to 80Gb of IO

Unsurpassed density in ½ width blade

with cost effective Intel E5 processors.

Cisco B230 M2

Unsurpassed density in

½ width blade, and

highest capacity with

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Background on ACME



Manufacturer of anvils, traps, rockets, and TNT



Limited data provided

‒ 2,000 users

‒ 1vCPU and 3GB RAM per user

‒ Desire to use Windows 7



Conflicting recommendations from other

vendors

Hoping to gain efficiencies through VDI

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6000𝐺𝐵 × 90% = 5400𝐺𝐵

Calculating blade quantity

14

2000𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑠 × 3𝐺𝐵 = 6000𝐺𝐵

128GB

43 blades

160GB

34 blades

256GB

22 blades

512GB

11 blades

Over 270 users/blade!

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6000𝐺𝐵 × 90% = 5400𝐺𝐵 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝐴𝑀

Calculating blade quantity

15

2000𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑠 × 3𝐺𝐵 = 6000𝐺𝐵 𝑜𝑓 𝑅𝐴𝑀

128GB

43 blades

160GB

34 blades

256GB

22 blades

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Cisco Recommendation



2,000 users, 3GB/User, 10% overcommit on memory



Cisco testing and validation finds “sweet spot” for CPU

‒ 300MHz Nehalem based reservation or…

‒ More importantly Cint2006Rate/VM of 2.85



Cisco ResComp scores most efficient configurations

16

This is a very efficient

configuration:

• Low cost

• Good density

• Good CPU

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Vendor 1 Recommendation



2,000 users, 3GB/User, 10% overcommit on memory



Vendor 1 is attempting a cost play by recommending a very low end CPU and

low memory count:

Over-aggressive E5 system (not enough RAM)

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Configuration

Servers

VMs/Srv

VMs/Core

MHz/VM

CINT/VM

GB/VM

Watts/VM

Cost/VM

Cisco B200M3/E5-2640/256GB

22

91

8

330

5.071

3.1

2.09 $17.49

Vendor 1/E5-2620/160GB

28

71

6

336

4.690

2.46

2.66 $10.22

Not enough memory to satisfy

the guest OS requirements or

overaggressive memory

overcommit.

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Vendor 2 Recommendation



2,000 users, 3GB/User, 10% overcommit on memory



Vendor 2 is using a 10 core E7-2850 proc, loading it up with a bunch of Ram

and trying to sell as few nodes as possible:

Under-spec E7 system

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Configuration

Servers

VMs/Srv

VMs/Core

MHz/VM

CINT/VM

GB/VM

Watts/VM

Cost/VM

Cisco B200M3/E5-2640/256GB

22

91

8

330

5.071

3.1

2.09 $17.49

Vendor 2/E7-2650/512GB

11

182

9

220

2.349

3.1

1.43 $28.14

Not enough CPU

Too much RAM

High Cost

Too dense

Generally unbalanced system

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Vendor 3 Recommendation



2,000 users, 3GB/User, 10% overcommit on memory



Vendor 3 is using 4 socket AMD systems in an attempt to satisfy “Bigger is

Better:

Over-spec AMD system

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Configuration

Servers

VMs/Srv

VMs/Core

MHz/VM

CINT/VM

GB/VM

Watts/VM

Cost/VM

Burst/Core

Cisco B200M3/E5-2640/256GB

22

91

8

330

5.071

3.1

2.09 $17.49

34.75 Vendor 3/AMD-6176/512GB

16

125

3

883

6.432

4.51

2.56 $48.38

15.08 Too much RAM

High Cost

Enough CPU,

but…

Another

dimension…

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ACME Corp Summary



Liked Cisco Compute/Memory recommendation

for its efficiency



Liked Cisco UCS for its innovative platform

benefits



ACME sees substantial value in the VXI end to

end VDI solution

Selecting a partner for success

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Additional Resources

Next steps: Research

21



175 Desktops on B230 M2



Knowledge Worker Profile (no

Flash)



384 G memory, Dual E7-2870 /

10 Core CPU

• 186 Desktops on B200 M3

• Knowledge Worker Profile (no Flash)

• 384 G memory, Dual E5-2690 / 8

Core CPU

Industry-leading

Density on

2-socket servers

Cisco VXI TCO tool:

https://express.salire.com/Go/Cisco/Cisco-VXI-TCO-Advisor-results.aspx

White Papers:

Cisco VXI:

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

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

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