Dell DVS Enterprise 6010
Entry Configuration for 50-500 users
VMware View 5 Reference Architecture
Note: See the DVS Enterprise 6010 Rack and Blade Reference Architecture document and the Dell Solution Architecture documents for details of the solution stack to support more than 500 users.
Contact Details
Contact Name Project Role E-mail
Jason Maynard Solutions Architect – DVS [email protected] Reed Martin Technology Marketing Sr. Advisor Reed_ [email protected]
Document Circulation and Approval List
Name Role Company
Andrew Mc Daniel VMware Lead Architect (Eng) Dell
Don McCall View Solutions Manager Dell
Jason Maynard Citrix Solutions Architect (Mktg) Dell Peter Fine Engineering Solutions Architect Dell
Mike Aranda VMware Lead (Eng) Dell
Document Control
Version Description Date Author
Draft v. 1.0 Initial Draft of RA for launch 2/10/12 Reed Martin Draft v. 2.1 Revised Draft of RA for launch 2/10/12 Reed Martin Draft. v. 2.2 Revised Draft of RA for launch 2/20/12 Reed Martin
Contents
1 Introduction ... 1
1.1 Summary ... 1
1.2 Purpose of this document ... 2
2 Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry Bundle Overview ... 3
2.1 Design principles ... 4
2.2 Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Solution Design Criteria ... 6
2.3 Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Solution Architecture Components ... 7
2.3.1 VMware vSphere Cluster and Management ... 7
3 Hardware Components ... 8
3.1 Top of Rack Switching ... 8
3.2 Virtualization Host Server ... 9
3.3 Management Server ... 9
3.3.1 Dell PowerEdge Embedded Server Management ... 10
4 Alternative File Storage with the FS7500 ... 11
4.1 FS7500 Integration Guidelines ... 11
4.1.1 Storage ... 13
5 Networking ... 15
5.1 Logical Network Topology ... 15
5.2 ESXi Host Networking ... 16
5.3 Physical Network Topology ... 17
5.4 Network Attached Storage ... 18
5.5 Software Components ... 18
5.5.1 VMware View 5 ... 18
5.5.2 SQL Server 2008 R2 ... 19
5.5.3 Windows File Services ... 19
5.5.4 Windows Active Directory Integration ... 19
5.5.5 Virtual Desktop Anti-Virus ... 19
6 End-User Workload Characterizations ... 20
6.1 Basic Workload Characterization ... 20
6.2 Standard Workload Characterization ... 20
6.3 Premium Workload Characterization ... 21
7 Solution Stack Functionality ... 22
7.1 Scaling and Sizing ... 22
7.2 Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry Bundle ... 22
7.2.1 Scaling Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry bundle by Workload Characterization 23 7.3 Enterprise Thin Client Support ... 24
7.4 Solution Bundle Bill of Materials Example ... 24
7.5 Host Server Testing Summary ... 24
7.5.1 RDP vs. PCoIP Testing Summary ... 27
7.5.2 How to Order ... 28
7.5.3 Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Solution Stack Order Codes ... 29
7.5.4 Sample Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Order ... 30
7.6 Customer Supplied Stack Components ... 31
7.6.2 Networking Requirements ... 31
8 Conclusion ... 32
1
Introduction
1.1
Summary
The Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 reference architecture (RA) is provided to customers as a summary of the specifications, functionality, performance, and benefits of the solution. It includes details of the basic hardware and components, a primer on how the software elements should be set up, and a section on sizing guidance. The reference architecture is NOT a detailed configuration guide with intricate step-by-step instructions on how to set it up, exact sizing specifics or troubleshooting. Desktop virtualization customers typically have a wide range of end user computing needs. These customers – often from different industry segments – need sophisticated solutions to allow their end users to perform highly-specialized and challenging tasks. Dell DVS has a comprehensive solution portfolio designed to enable customers to experience the benefits of virtual desktop computing and allow their end users to perform at extremely high levels.
Getting the most out of virtual desktops requires a well-developed, reliable architecture. If the virtual desktop architecture is undersized in terms of server processing, memory, or storage, then the end user experience will not match that of a traditional PC. If the architecture is oversized, then the cost per virtual desktop may be prohibitive.
The Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 leverages thousands of hours of testing and hardware, software and service elements to enable a capable architecture that maximizes IT control while delivering a seamless end user experience that is similar to a traditional PC. Dell utilizes industry standard components so customers can see a clear path to upgrades and full support through the life of the solution without sacrificing choice and flexibility. The Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 helps streamline the deployment of desktop virtualization and represents a major step in the journey toward a more secure, more flexible, and fully scalable virtual desktop computing experience.
Key benefits of the solution include:
Enhanced Productivity: Transform work environments to enable robust and secure access from most any device virtually anywhere, anytime to help optimize end user productivity.
o End Point Flexibility: Support for most enpoint devices including smartphones, iPads, thin client and re-purposed legacy desktops and laptops
o Security: Data is protected in the data center as screen information is encrypted enroute to the end point with no data stored on the endpoint
o Reduced support costs: Self healing images (just reboot to get a clean image) and a rip and replace end point service model (user can just plug in a new device ―like a phone‖)
o Data Center Flexibility: The solution can be deployed into data centers with non-Dell networking and/or storage
Easy to Buy & Deploy: Streamlined selection and deployment of desktop virtualization for 50 to 500 users
o Rapid deployment of an end to end solution for 500 users
o Designed to scale from 2 servers with 50 users to 15,000 users over time Easy to Support: The right services to meet the needs of your business including
1.2
Purpose of this document
This document provides a reference architecture (RA) of the DVS Enterprise 6010 solution. It is intended to help customers understand how to select and rapidly deploy pilot installations of the Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 solution. Target pilot deployment size is from 50 to 500 users. The solution shares software and most hardware components with the DVS Enterprise 6010 Rack and Blade configurations so customers can add components and easily scale from 50 to 15,000 users. Note: See the DVS Enterprise 6010 Rack and Blade Reference Architecture document and the Dell ISS Solution Architecture documents for details of the solution stack to support more than 500 users.
2
Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry Bundle Overview
Dell Desktop Virtualization Solutions are combination of purpose built horizontal architectures designed to be modular and scalable for an array of customer needs and a defined and tested services methodology.
To provide a simplified Desktop Virtualization Solution stack we have designed three bundles to address the majority of customer needs and use cases for Desktop Virtualization. These bundles are:
Entry – Rack Servers and 1Gb networking to support 50-500 users Rack – Rack Servers and 1Gb networking to support over 500 users
Blade – Blade Servers, 10 Gb networking, shared storage for over 500 users
This document covers the Entry configuration for 50-500 users. Details of the Rack and Blade configurations are included in the Dell DVS 6010 Rack & Blade Reference Architecture and Solution Architecture documents.
To provide a prescriptive and scalable architecture, the bundles have limited configuration. Whether the customer requires a managed solution from Dell or prefers to manage the solution in-house the Dell DVS Enterprise solutions are consistent and will be leverage as the horizontal platform. If the prescribed configurations do not meet customer needs then a custom solution can be provided.
This reference architecture focuses on the Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry bundle which is marketed as a minimal configuration to serve as pure entry point to VDI deployments supporting up to 500 users. All management roles will be virtualized on a dedicated server. Per server user estimations are based on one of the following
● 80 users per server running a basic workload. ● 60 users per server running a standard workload. ● 42 users per server running a premium workload. See Section 4 for details on workload characterizations.
The Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 entry bundle can optionally provide centralized user and profile data storage on the Dell EqualLogic PS4100E series array. The virtual machine vDisk images can be stored on the PS4100 as well. This provides a robust, mid-market entry-level solution. Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 entry bundle is also an excellent choice for customers wishing to implement a VDI proof-of-concept with the intent of scaling up the solution at a later time.
2.1
Design principles
The design principles for the flexible computing solution are:
● Secure – Security risks, concerns and policies are addressed or mitigated.
● Manageable – The solution includes the tools and software services required to manage the environment.
● Standards based – Makes use of commodity, off-the-shelf components wherever possible. ● Distributed – Non-blocking and built with distributed components to maximise the use of
available computing resources and eliminate bottlenecks.
● Scalable – Capable of scaling up / down to support business needs.
● Resilient – The solution must be able to withstand the failure of a single infrastructure component.
The architecture has been designed to allow future horizontal and vertical scaling with the objective of reducing the future cost of ownership of the infrastructure. The table below summarizes the scalability options for the components of the infrastructure:
Component Horizontal scalability Vertical scalability
Virtual Desktop Host servers Additional hosts and clusters added as
necessary Additional RAM Higher specification servers View Connection Servers Additional Connection Servers to achieve
higher VDI session connections
Additional CS servers can be added once the number of sessions approaches 2000
Database Services Migrate databases to a dedicated SQL servers and implement cluster nodes
Additional RAM and CPU File Services Split user profiles and home directories
between multiple file servers in a cluster
Additional RAM and CPU VMware vCenter Deploy additional servers and use linked
mode to optimise management
Additional RAM and CPU for the cluster nodes (limited to 1000 hosts/10000 VM’s per vCenter)
2.2
Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Solution Design Criteria
To provide a scalable and predictive solution stack Dell developed scalability and design criteria based on extensive testing and validation within our Global Solutions Lab. Based on this analysis the following design criteria have been established. This drives the design criteria to allow modular scalability which requires certain design constraints as outlined below.
Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry bundle:
● Two R710 physical servers in a VMware vSphere 5 cluster.
● One Dell EqualLogic PS4100E Tier 2 storage array (optional).
● Management server’s virtual machine OS disks reside on local Tier 1 storage but can optionally reside on PS4100E.
● Tier 3 storage solution is optional for data replication. ● One PowerConnect 6248 1GB top of rack switch (500 users).
● A second 6248 1GB top of rack switch is optional for HA and is recommended.
● Up to seven physical servers can provide VDI services to up to 520 users characterized as a
Basic workload. Up to this level, only the original PowerConnect 6248 and EqualLogic PS4100E are required.
The design assumptions for user densities is based on workload characterization completed for the Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 entry bundle that was done within the Global Solutions Center lab. These are the same user densities that are used for the Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Rack and Blade bundles with either VMware View 4.5 or View 5.0. Here are the design point assumptions for the DVS Workloads:
● 80 Basic User Sessions ● 60 Standard User Session ● 42 Premium User Sessions
These sessions will run on R710’s with 96GB, Intel x5670 processors and 8 x 146GB 15k SAS drives in a RAID 10 configuration. In addition to these workloads the management host is not dedicated solely to the purpose of running the management virtual machines. It will run a small number of VDI sessions; the following estimates for VDI sessions on the management host Server will be used:
● 40 Basic User Sessions ● 30 Standard User Session ● 21 Premium User Sessions
It is expected that using these densities the resource utilization will not exceed 80% for any physical resource.
2.3
Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Solution Architecture Components
2.3.1
VMware vSphere Cluster and Management
All View Virtual Desktops run as virtual instances hosted on the VMware vSphere infrastructure. In addition to the Virtual Desktops, the Management virtual machines are also run within the same HA/DRS vSphere Cluster, separation and performance management from the VDI sessions is provided through the use of resource pools to reserve memory and CPU. The management pool reserves the maximum resources required for vCenter, View Connection Server, Microsoft SQL and File Services servers. The advantage of this configuration is high availability is available for the management VM’s, without requiring the purchase of two separate management hosts.
As shown in the Solution Overview the Virtual Infrastructure is configured into a single cluster with two resource pools. The first pool will deliver Infrastructure services whilst the second pool delivers resources for the Virtual Desktops themselves.
When calculating the number of virtualisation hosts, each host has been allowed a minimum of 1GB RAM for the hypervisor itself. The management environment configuration details are outlined below.
Role vCPU RAM
(GB) NIC OS vDisk (GB) Data vDisk (GB) OS
VMware vCenter 2 8 1 25 100 Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard View Connection
Server
2 10 1 25 0 Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard SQL Server VM 2 8 1 20 200 Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise File Server VM 2 4 1 20 1024 Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
3
Hardware Components
3.1
Top of Rack Switching
A single PC-6248 switch will be used to serve a full Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry bundle stack without high availability (HA) but by adding a second switch, VMware View provides full HA. Routing decisions should be assumed to be made at the network core. All top of rack (ToR) switches in this configuration should be configured as Layer2 edge switches. All VLANs could potentially exist in the core switch and be trunked down to all edge switches. This configuration will consist of four primary VLANs: iSCSI (L2-non-routable), VDI (L3-routable), Production (L3-routable), and
Management Network (L3-routable). Note: A customer-provided switch can be used in lieu of the PC6248.
Model Features Options
PowerConnect 6248 48 x BaseT (10/100/1000) + 4 x SFP combo ports
4 x 10Gbe uplink ports 184 Gbps switching capacity 131 Mbps forwarding rate
IEEE 802.1Q tagging and port-based; up to 4,000 VLANs; Voice VLANs, private VLANs, Protocol VLANs 409.5 BTU/hr
120 watts of power consumption
Up to 4 x SX or LX optics (1Gb) 48Gb stacking module (Bay1 only) Dual SFP+ module
Single or dual LR or SR optics (10Gb) RPS-600 (redundant power supply)
3.2
Virtualization Host Server
The Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry bundle virtualization host server is the Dell PowerEdge R710. The solution is based on VMware View 5 Premier with vSphere 5.
PowerEdge R710
2x Intel Xeon E5660 Processor 96GB Memory
8x 146GB SAS 6Gbps 15k Disks - RAID10 w/ 1 Drive hot spare PERC H700 Integrated RAID Controller
Embedded SD Card for ESXi 5.0
Embedded Broadcom 5709 GbE LOM with TCP/IP Engine (4 Port) iDRAC6 Enterprise
3.3
Management Server
In addition to the Virtual Desktop hosts there will be a dedicated management server that will provide compute resources for infrastructure services such as Web servers, desktop broker services, Provisioning services, SQL/File, and load balancing services. These services will be provided by virtual servers. These servers are also based off a PowerEdge R710 with the following specifications:
PowerEdge R710
2x Intel Xeon E5670 Processor 96GB Memory
8x 146GB SAS 6Gbps 15k Disks - RAID10 PERC H700 Integrated RAID Controller Embedded SD Card for ESXi 4.1 Update 2
Embedded Broadcom 5709 GbE LOM with TCP/IP Engine (4 Port) iDRAC6 Enterprise
Management Component vCPU RAM
(GB) NIC Tier 1 vDisk (GB) Tier 2 vDisk (GB) OS
VMware vCenter 2 8 1 25 50 Windows Server 2008 R2
View Connection Server 2 8 1 25 0 Windows Server 2008 R2
SQL Server 2 8 1 25 200 Windows Server 2008 R2
File Server 2 8 1 25 2048 Windows Server 2008 R2
TOTALS 8 32 4 100 2298
3.3.1
Dell PowerEdge Embedded Server Management
The Lifecycle Controller is the engine for advanced embedded management and is delivered as part of iDRAC Enterprise in 11th-generation Dell PowerEdge blade and rack servers. It includes 1GB of managed and persistent storage that embeds systems management features directly on the server, thus eliminating the media-based delivery of system management tools and utilities previously needed for systems management. Embedded management includes:
● Unified Server Configurator (USC) aims at local 1-to-1 deployment via a graphical user interface (GUI) for operating system install, updates, configuration, and for performing diagnostics, on single, local servers. This eliminates the need for multiple option ROMs for hardware configuration.
● Remote Services are standards-based interfaces that enable consoles to integrate, for example, bare-metal provisioning and one-to-many OS deployments, for servers located remotely. Dell’s Lifecycle Controller takes advantage of the capabilities of both USC and Remote Services to deliver significant advancement and simplification of server
deployment. ●
Lifecycle Controller Serviceability aims at simplifying server re-provisioning and/or replacing failed parts and thus reduces maintenance downtime.
4
Alternative File Storage with the FS7500
The Dell EqualLogic FS7500 is a unified, scale-out NAS solution that works with EqualLogic PS Series arrays to combine both NAS and SAN storage in a single, flexible architecture designed to optimize both performance and capacity. It can be used in the DVS stack to replace the virtual file server, bringing greater scalability for file services to the solution.
While many storage solutions tend to experience performance degradations as you increase their capacity, the FS7500 offers almost linear scalability; that is, as you increase the number of
controller pairs or EqualLogic PS Series arrays, the FS7500 delivers a proportional increase in storage performance. This is a key feature because consolidating virtual workloads can cause unexpected demand bursts in your storage capacity and performance. The scalability of performance with capacity eases this common stumbling block.
The FS7500 system can be quickly added to an existing EqualLogic SAN environment to create a NAS service. Because workloads in virtual environments can be deployed or moved quickly to meet business needs, it is not uncommon to experience high volatility in storage demand. As a result, the ability to add or move NAS or SAN storage quickly and easily, without disrupting operations, is a great advantage—especially as more and more applications are virtualized.
4.1
FS7500 Integration Guidelines
The FS7500 may be an optional or a required component in a DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry deployment depending on a few key factors;
● Whether or not the HA option is being deployed. ● What the intended total supported user count is.
If the DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry is deployed in a high availability configuration, the FS7500 is a necessary component to ensure file services maximum uptime, data protection and file server redundancy in the event of a component failure. If the HA option is not required, but the total
supported user count exceeds 500, the 7500 is recommended to ensure file service performance as well as support the addition of an additional storage array. Refer to the diagram below for details. If an optional FS7500 NAS head is used, the File Services role will be migrated to the NAS and the virtual file server instance(s) removed.
User Count With HA Without HA 1-50 Required No
50 - 500 Required Optional 500 - 1000 Required Optional >1000 Required Required
4.1.1
Storage
As noted previously a RAID 10 volume across 8 x 146GB 15k SAS drives on each R710 hosts the linked clone and replicas for the VDI sessions as Tier 1.
The Dell EqualLogic PS4100E (or equivalent) can be optionally leveraged as Tier 2 storage which is used to store management virtual machines, user home and profile directories, and SQL database and logs. Additional arrays can be added for scalability if the solution is a pilot that is expected to eventually scale beyond 500 users. In that case, consideration for a larger array should be made prior to deployment for investment protection. The volume space outlined here consumes double the amount of disk space listed as an equal amount for each volume has been reserved as snapshot space for each volume, this can be scaled back as required to make more disk space available to the servers to use. (Reserved snapshot space was 100% of the provisioned volumes allowing customers to reduce the amount of space they reserve to create more usable disk space for users, as required.) The Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry bundle Tier 2 storage is configured as outlined below. Note: Customer-provided storage can be used in lieu of the PS4100E. See section 6.4.1 for details.
Names Size (GB) Storage Array VM’s Purpose
Management 300 PS4100 vCenter, Connection Server,
File Server and SQL Base Images
Fileshare 1024 PS4100 FS1 Data Home drive and
Profiles for users
SQLDATA 100 PS4100 SQL SQL Database volume
SQLLOGS 100 PS4100 SQL SQL Logs volume
UpdateMan 50 PS4100 Update Manager VM Patch Repository
Free 200 PS4100 Expand other volumes
as required
Model Features
Equallogic PS4100E 12 drive bays (NL-SAS/ 7200k RPM), dual HA controllers, Snaps/Clones, Async replication, SAN HQ. Configured with 6TB – 12 x 1TB HDDs.
Mgmt VM’s 300GB VMFS Free Space 200GB Fileshares 2TB VMFS 4100E Update Manager 50GB SQL Data 100GB VMFS SQL Logs 100GB VMFS TempDB Data 5GB TempDB Logs 5GB
Note: This disk array map represents the solution footprint only. It does not include disk array space that is used for snapshots. Snapshot footprint is equal to the solution footprint for a total initial footprint of 3.5 TB.
A RAID 10 volume across 8 x 146GB 15k SAS drives on each R710 hosted the linked clone and replicas for the VDI sessions. A Storage pool was created for PS4100 to reside in, this was used to store management VM’s, user home and profile directories, and SQL, additional arrays can be added for scalability. RAID 50 was used for each LUN (Volume), configured with a maximum size of 500GB in line with best practice with the exception of the LUN presented for file storage (Homes and Profile directories) which were configured as 1024GB. This configuration ensured that there is at least 10% of each array available for system overhead which is required for optimal performance.
The following table details the disk configuration of the local storage and the anticipated number of desktops supported for each workload on each host data store.
LUN (Volume) Size (GB) Basic Workload Standard Workload Premium Workload
Local R710 Vol 584 194 155 97
The number of VM’s exceeds the number targeted in the Enterprise 6010 stack indicating there is sufficient disk space; however IOPS would become critical before the above numbers were
achieved. The space required for each desktop in the above table had been calculated as follows for the shared disk image machines.
● Page File (1.5x RAM to a maximum of 4GB) + Temporary Session Data +VMware Swap File (1x non-reserved RAM)
o Basic - (1 x 1.5) + 1 + 0.5 = 3.0GB o Standard – (1.5 x 1.5) + 1 + 0.5 = 3.75GB o Premium – 4 + 1 + 1 = 6GB
The base 6010 Entry configuration includes the EQ4100E’s 6TB option. Considering that this solution is not IOPS bound with regard to the storage array, increased capacity can opted for if necessary. An additional 4100E, or another approved storage array should be added above 500 users to keep array performance consistent with
5
Networking
5.1
Logical Network Topology
Below is a diagram of the logical network topology for the Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry bundle. There are a number of VLANs to isolate and manage traffic.
● VMotion VLAN configured for use with VMware VMotion: configured as a swtitched only VLAN.
● iSCSI VLAN: configured as a switched only VLAN: configured as a switched only VLAN. ● Mgmt VMK VLAN: configured for ESX Service Console traffic – routed.
● VDI VLAN: Configured for VDI infrastructure traffic – routed.
● Hardware Management VLAN: configured for all hardware management traffic, managing the ESX hosts, EqualLogic storage units, and network switches– routed.
Three VLANs have routing interfaces on the core network. An OSPF single area design was used during testing to provide IP routing.
The network will comprise of five VLAN, two of which will be switched-only VLANs for iSCSI and vMotion. There will also be 3 routed VLANs; one for ESXi Service Console, one for Hardware
Management and one for VDI infrastructure traffic. The Hardware Management VLAN (DRAC) will be configured for all hardware management traffic, managing the ESX hosts, EqualLogic storage units, and network switches.
5.2
ESXi Host Networking
All R710 ESXi Servers have an identical networking configuration. In the VMware View stack an Enterprise Plus license is available for the ESXi hosts. The switch configuration is automatically placed on each associated ESXi host using Host Profiles. This will allow additional ESXi hosts to get networking configured quickly and easily.
This will ensure connectivity across the bundle and allow for ease of configuration and management.
R710-esx-dt-XX
Dell PowerEdge R710
2 x Intel Xeon X5670 6-core 2.93GHz 96GB RAM 4 x GigE VMware vSphere 5.0 VMKernel Port (Mgmt) 10.50.144.x VMKernel Port (iSCSI1) 10.10.21.x VMKernel Port (VMotion) 10.10.20.x DRAC 10.50.129.x KEY
Service Console vLAN VMKernel Port (iSCSI2) 10.10.21.x Management Network VMKernel Port
View Desktop Network vCenter VM View Connection Server File Server SQL Server Production Network
Top of Rack Switch
VM VM VMware VirtualCenter 4.1 VDI_vLAN VDI_vLAN Port Group vSwitch 1 VM VM VM
iSCSI/NFS VMKernel Port VMKernel Port iSCSI/NFS VMKernel Port VMotion vSwitch 0 VMNic1 VMNic0 VMNic2 VMNic3 iSCSI_vLAN ESX_MGMT_vL AN Vmotion_vLAN ESX_MGMT_vL AN Vmotion_vLAN iSCSI_vLAN DRAC View Sessions
Each server has 4 NICS, connected to a PowerConnect 6248 TOR switch. All adapters run at 1Gbps. Two of the 1Gbps adapters serve the ―VDI VLAN‖ on each server i.e. the network the VM’s
communicate over and the other two NICs serve all other traffic (iSCSI, Management Network and vMotion). The main design decision here was to keep the iSCSI on a separate physical network for maximum throughput and put the VM network traffic on the other 1Gbps network. Management Network and vMotion network traffic is minimal and will therefore have minimal impact on the iSCSI traffic.
vSwitch0 is connected to vmnic2 and vmnic3. Within this vSwitch there are 4 VMKernel ports; Management Network, vMotion, iSCSI1 and iSCSI2. Both NICs are set to Active –Auto on the vSwitch. All Security and Traffic Shaping Settings are set to the default setting. VLAN tagging is used on all vmkernel ports.
vSwitch1 is connected to vmnic0 and vmnic1. On this virtual switch, there is a single port group with all the default security and traffic shaping options. A combination of scripting and manual
configuration steps can be used to configure ESXi networking. However, vSphere Host profiles are a simple option for configuring the vSwitches.
5.3
Physical Network Topology
Below is a diagram of the physical topology of the network. This represents the physical nature of the network showing how connectivity is gained between the PowerConnect 6248, PowerEdge R710 and the EqualLogic Storage unit.
5.4
Network Attached Storage
The EQL NAS device applies to the HA bundle and >500 user scale out options.
Model Features Options
Equallogic FS7500 Dual clustered active-active controllers, 24GB cache per controller, battery backup array, supports up to 8 EQL PS series storage arrays + an additional FS7500, CIFS & NFS support, AD-integration.
No configurable hardware options.
5.5
Software Components
5.5.1
VMware View 5
View 5 simplifies desktop and application management while increasing security and control with VMware View. It also delivers a personalized high fidelity experience for end-users across sessions and devices. Enable higher availability and agility of desktop services unmatched by traditional PCs while reducing the total cost of desktop ownership. End-users can enjoy new levels of productivity
REPO OUT REPO IN
12 5V – 1 5A O UT PU T IN PU T 1 00 V– 12 5V~
REPO OUT REPO IN
12 5V – 1 5A O UT PU T IN PU T 1 00 V– 12 5V~ 2 Gb Gb1 Gb3 Gb4 2 1 2 Gb Gb1 Gb3 Gb4 2 1 IPMI ports N o d e 2 B a tt e ry N o d e 1
● View Persona Management is used to manage the user profiles; it preserves user profiles and dynamically synchronizes them with a remote profile repository.
● vSphere 5 is the next generation of the VMware’s industry leading hypervisor.
5.5.2
SQL Server 2008 R2
The VMware View databases will be hosted by a single dedicated SQL 2008 R2 Server VM in a virtual server on the vSphere cluster:
View Composer
VMware vCenter
VMware Update Manager
5.5.3
Windows File Services
The File Services role will run on an additional Windows 2008 RS SP1 virtual machine and will be used to store user profile and home drive data. View Persona Management is used to manage the user profiles, it preserves user profiles and dynamically synchronizes them with a remote profile repository, in this case a shared folder on the virtual File Server.
5.5.4
Windows Active Directory Integration
Windows Active Directory integration for View 5 is required for authentication services only, unlike previous versions where the controllers were discovered using Service Principle names which were maintained as objects in the Active Directory structure.
5.5.5
Virtual Desktop Anti-Virus
In order to ensure the environment is as representative of a production environment as possible Anti-Virus should be deployed to all servers and virtual desktops. For example, the environment can add the use of McAfee VirusScan SMB 8.7i, which can be managed centrally by the ePolicy Orchestrator which can control agent deployment, definition updates and policies.
Since the Virtual desktops will be based on a single read-only image streamed from the provisioning servers there are a number of exclusions that can be configured to optimise performance of the On-Access scanning features of McAfee.
6
End-User Workload Characterizations
It is important to understand the user workloads when designing a Desktop Virtualization Solution. The Dell Desktop Virtualization Solution methodology includes a Blueprint process to assess and categorize a customer’s environment according to the workloads defined in this section. In the Dell Desktop Virtualization solution this will map directly to the SLA levels we offer in our Integrated Stack. There are three levels, each of which is bound by specific metrics and capabilities.
6.1
Basic Workload Characterization
The Basic User workload profile consists of simple task worker workloads. Typically a repetitive application use profile with a non-personalized virtual desktop image. Sample use cases may be a kiosk or call center use cases which do not require a personalized desktop environment and the application stack is static. In a virtual desktop environment the image is dynamically created from a template for each user and returned to the desktop pool for reuse by other users. The workload requirements for a basic user are the lowest in terms of CPU, memory, network and Disk I/O requirements and will allow the greatest density and scalability of the infrastructure.
User
Workload Memory VM
Allocation
VM Memory
Reservation Disk Space User Data OS Image Notes
Basic 1GB 0.5GB 5GB This user workload leverages a shared desktop image emulating a task worker. Only two apps are open simultaneously and session idle time is approximately one hour and forty-five minutes.
6.2
Standard Workload Characterization
The Standard User workload profile consists of e-mail, typical office productivity applications and web browsing for research/training. There is minimal image personalization required in a standard user workload profile. The workload requirement for a Standard User is moderate and most closely matches the majority of office worker profiles in terms of CPU, memory, network and Disk I/O. This will allow moderate density and scalability of the infrastructure.
User
Workload Memory VM
Allocation
VM Memory
Reservation Disk Space User Data OS Image Notes
Standard 1.5GB 1GB 10GB This user workload leverages a shared desktop image emulating a a medium knowledge worker. Five applications are open
6.3
Premium Workload Characterization
The Premium User workload is an advanced knowledge worker. All office applications are configured and utilized. The user has moderate-to-large file size (access, save, transfer requirements). There is some graphics creation or editing done for presentations or content creation tasks. Web browsing use is typically research/training driven, similar to Standard Users. The Premium User requires extensive image personalization, for shortcuts, macros, menu layouts etc. The workload
requirements for a Premium User are heavier than typical office workers in terms of CPU, memory, Network and Disk I/O. This will limit density and scalability of the infrastructure.
User Workload VM Memory Allocation VM Memory Reservation User Data Disk Space OS Image Notes
Premium 2.5GB 1.5GB 20GB This user workload leverages a shared desktop image emulating a high level knowledge worker. Eight applications are open simultaneously and session idle time is approximately two minutes.
7
Solution Stack Functionality
7.1
Scaling and Sizing
The entry level Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry stack is designed to support up to 120 virtual desktop users at the Basic workload. The stack can then easily scale up to a maximum of 520 basic users. The scaling-up of the stack is simple to accomplish and only requires increasing the number of Desktop Virtualization Host servers. The Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry bundle with VMware View can be made highly available by adding a second PowerConnect 6248 switch and is recommended.
The flexibility of the 6010 Entry stack enables scaling up to 500 users within a single configuration. This is accomplished by merely adding the required number of Virtualization Host Servers to meet the desired user load. See diagram below.
7.2.1
Scaling Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry bundle by Workload
Characterization
The following is an example of how to properly size and scale a Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry bundle by user workload characterization.
* testing including running VDI sessions on the management host It ran the following: Basic=40, Standard=30, Premium=21.
7.3
Enterprise Thin Client Support
Optionally customers can leverage the Dell FX100 zero client for PCoIP or can use software clients for various devices including notebooks and even iPads.
7.4
Solution Bundle Bill of Materials Example
7.5
Host Server Testing Summary
The Desktop Host performance graphs shown in this section are a summary of key performance metrics within each desktop host during each test run. During testing the Dell Solutions Centre team found that if memory was significantly over allocated this resulted in the ESXi hosts needing to start ―swapping‖ memory, the result of this was a jump in the IOPs on the local storage and a jump in CPU usage as the host was trying to ―recover‖ available memory from each of the virtual
desktops. The net effect of this was that user experience was degraded. The target for CPU utilization was a peak of between 80 and 85% this allows the host additional headroom for real-world spikes in user activity in production while maximizing the desktop density on a given host.
Below shows the Read and Write IOPS activity independently for one of the hosts shown above, as we can see there is very high read activity at the start of the graph, this is attributed to the boot of the VDI sessions. The smaller second write spike seen at about 21.20, is attributed to the start of the login activity, we see a steady rise after this as sessions continue to login and sessions already logged in generate their workload. Excluding the boot storm the Read/Write Ratio is 40/60.
At the same stage of the test run the hosts were all consuming approximately 90GB of RAM which brings the hosts to approximately 93% of installed RAM being consumed, at this level there is no swap file in use therefore the need to swap memory to disk is having no effect on CPU or storage IOPS.
Looking at Memory utilization during the same period we can see that this is substantially lower. The difference between Consumed and Active is; Consumed is amount of machine memory allocated to the VM, accounting for savings from memory sharing with other VMs, while Active is amount of guest physical memory recently used by the VM, which is estimated by VMkernel statistical sampling.
The following network usage graphs show the combined receive and transmit rates for all physical network interfaces in the desktop hosts. A single host shows much higher network utilization than the other hosts. This is again Host 1 which is used as a combine management and compute node, running Management VMs and a reduced number of VDI session. The high network utilization can be attributed to management traffic between the various management VMs and the ESXi hosts. Since the traffic is split reasonably between the NICs in this host it is clear that no single interface in the
7.5.1
RDP vs. PCoIP Testing Summary
Below is a side by side comparison of each of the performance charts gathered for PCoIP and RDP Basic full bundle tests with 500 VDI Sessions. Each test utilized the same basic workload generated by Login VSI with the only difference been the connection protocol.
As expected these tests generated the highest CPU utilization, due mainly to the fact that it generated the highest number of vCPUs, 80 per host. The lowest blue line is the management host, which also ran 40 VDI sessions. PCoIP, as expected, generated slightly higher CPU usage than RDP.
7.5.2
How to Order
Work with your Dell Sales team to define your exact requirements. The following questions can help guide your decision making and will allow the Dell sales team to quickly configure and quote your solutions:
Select the solution bundle that is appropriate for your business
o Entry – Rack Servers and 1Gb networking to support 50-520 users (This RA document) o Rack – Rack Servers and 1Gb networking to support over 520 users (See Rack Bundle
RA)
o Blade – Blade Servers, 10 Gb networking, shared storage for over 500 users (See Rack & Blade Bundle RA)
Select High Availability Options if needed Redundant Switch
Redundant Host Server Addition of NAS Head
Redundant Management Server
Select Investment Protection Options if needed
(For customer that plan to scale out using blade servers) 10Gb Networking
10Gb iSCSI SAN instead of Equalogic PS4100E Select Virtualization Solution
VMware View(this document)
Citrix XenDesktop(see DVS Enterprise 6010 RA for Citrix) Determine the number of Users
Reserved (Always available- NOT included in the number below!) Named (All users who may use the solution)
Concurrent (Maximum number of Named users that may be using the solution at one time)
Determine the percent mix of users for each workload for Named and Concurrent Users Windows 7 Basic, Standard, Premium
Windows XP Basic, Standard, Premium
Determine which licenses Dell should include in the solution Microsoft Server OS Licenses
End Points
o Dell FX100, FX130 or FX170
o VDI Blaster™ software to re-deploy existing desktops or notebooks o VMware View client for PCs, Smart Phones and Tablets
7.5.3
Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Solution Stack Order Codes
List Item FamilyID ChassisID Order Code Comments
PowerEdge R710-DVS-H 1782 1481 Dellstar_1481_DVD_HOST Enterprise 6010 Host and Management Rack Server EqualLogic PS4100E-DVS 9577 1357 Dellstar_1357_DVS_4100E Enterprise 6010 Tier 2 Storage
Array
PowerConnect 6248-DVS 574 1851 Dellstar_1851_DVS_TOR Enterprise 6010 Top-of-Rack Switch
7.5.4
Sample Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Order
Pre-configured orders are available by logging into DellStar and clicking on Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 RA.
7.6
Customer Supplied Stack Components
7.6.1
Storage Requirements
In the event that a customer wishes to provide his or her own storage array solution for a Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry bundle solution, the following minimum hardware requirements must be met.
Feature
Minimum Requirement
Notes
Total Storage Space 1.5 TB minimum 1.5 TB is the minimum required free space to support 80 users. For
additional users, see Section 4 (End-user Workload Characterizations) for
additional per user disk space requirements.
Drive Support 6x 7200rpm 3.5‖ NLSAS The minimum optimal drive
configuration utilizes 6 drives for the best RAID 50 performance.
Data Networking 6x 1GbE RJ45 Management Networking None Required
Drive Controllers 1 with >4GB cache 4GB of cache minimum per controller is recommended for optimal performance and data protection.
RAID Support 50 RAID 50 is used on the external storage array. RAID 10 is leveraged only for local storage on host servers.
7.6.2
Networking Requirements
In the event that a customer wishes to provide his or her own rack network switching solution for a Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry bundle solution, the following minimum hardware requirements must be met.
Feature
Minimum Requirement
Notes
Switching Capacity 180Gbps
10Gbps Ports None Required The Dell DVS Enterprise 6010 Entry bundle solution is based on 1Gbps network connectivity.
1Gbps Ports 5x per Management server 5x per Host Server 6x per Storage Array VLAN Support IEEE 802.1Q tagging and
port-based VLAN support.
Stacking Capability Yes The ability to stack switches into a single management view for an HA configuration is highly recommended.
8
Conclusion
Dell’s Enterprise 6010 solution is a well-developed, reliable, and flexible solution with the ability to scale as needed. Customers who choose Enterprise 6010 as their first desktop virtualization option can rest assured that the solution will provide excellent performance at a reasonable cost over the long term, with the ability to scale as deployment needs expand. The Dell Enterprise 6010 leverages purpose-built hardware, software, and Dell services to provide all of the benefits of desktop virtualization: enhanced security, greater end user flexibility, and easier maintenance and IT support. The 6010 solution can be deployed into data centers with Non-Dell networking and storage and can scale from only tw servers serving 50 users in a test deployment, up to 15,000 users in an enterprise-wide roll-out. Dell Desktop Virtualization Solutions provide have provided customers with a dynamic way to harness the benefits of virtual desktop computing. and the The Dell Team is with customers every step of the way to ensure extremely high levels of performance that meet or exceed end users legacy desktop experience. Your Dell sales representative will help you work through any remaining questions or provide any additional information.
