Vblock™ Solution for Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp

www.vce.com
Vblock™ Solution for
Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp
Version 1.3
April 2014
THE INFORMATION IN THIS PUBLICATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS." VCE MAKES NO
REPRESENTATIONS OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND WITH RESPECT TO THE INFORMATION IN
THIS PUBLICATION, AND SPECIFICALLY DISCLAIMS IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR
MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
Copyright 2014 VCE Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
VCE believes the information in this publication is accurate as of its publication date. The information is
subject to change without notice.
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Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................................. 5
Solution overview................................................................................................................................... 5
Key results..............................................................................................................................................5
Purpose.................................................................................................................................................. 5
Audience................................................................................................................................................ 6
Feedback................................................................................................................................................6
Technology overview................................................................................................................................. 7
Vblock™ Systems.................................................................................................................................. 7
Vblock Systems 720........................................................................................................................ 8
Vblock Systems 320........................................................................................................................ 8
EMC....................................................................................................................................................... 9
VMware vSphere 5.................................................................................................................................9
VMware ESXi 5.1.............................................................................................................................9
VMware vCenter Server...................................................................................................................9
Citrix....................................................................................................................................................... 9
XenDesktop 5.6............................................................................................................................... 9
XenApp 6.5.................................................................................................................................... 12
Microsoft...............................................................................................................................................13
Active Directory..............................................................................................................................13
Domain Name System................................................................................................................... 13
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol............................................................................................ 13
SQL Server.................................................................................................................................... 13
Architecture...............................................................................................................................................15
Logical configuration............................................................................................................................ 15
Hardware and software........................................................................................................................ 17
Design considerations............................................................................................................................. 19
Storage.................................................................................................................................................19
Network................................................................................................................................................ 20
Virtualization.........................................................................................................................................22
Validation...................................................................................................................................................24
Environment......................................................................................................................................... 24
Objectives and design.......................................................................................................................... 25
Login VSI....................................................................................................................................... 26
EMC Unisphere..............................................................................................................................27
vSphere vCenter Server................................................................................................................ 27
XenDesktop................................................................................................................................... 27
Test procedure...............................................................................................................................27
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Results and analysis............................................................................................................................ 28
Summary........................................................................................................................................28
Individual test results..................................................................................................................... 29
Maximum capacity testing..............................................................................................................32
Scaling example.............................................................................................................................33
Conclusion................................................................................................................................................ 35
Next steps............................................................................................................................................ 35
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Introduction
The proliferation of mobile workers using thin and zero clients is putting companies under increasing
pressure to deliver enterprise applications on hosted virtual desktops over LAN or WAN, with the user
experience and reliability of a conventional physical desktop. IT departments are tasked with providing
these services with quick evaluation and implementation timelines, lower initial and ongoing costs, and
adherence to growing security guidelines and concerns—all with existing skillsets and personnel.
Solution overview
VCE is a leading innovator of intelligent converged infrastructure systems. Customers rely on VCE for the
fastest deployment of infrastructure and applications, the highest application performance and availability,
and the lowest total cost of ownership. The Vblock™ Solution for Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp uses
Vblock Systems to provide a converged virtualized infrastructure comprising best-in-breed components
from Cisco, EMC, and VMware to offer organizations superior performance, high availability, and
simplified management and to deliver a high-definition user experience with Citrix XenDesktop and
XenApp. Vblock Systems are pre-configured for faster, simpler deployments and include management
tools that allow IT departments to simplify and reduce costs for day-to-day operations and maintenance,
as well as seamless support after the sale. Vblock Systems are not just delivered as a converged
package, IT departments manage them and VCE supports them as an integrated IT investment.
Combined with Vblock Systems, Citrix HDX technology provides a high-definition, desktop-quality user
experience over a wide range of devices and network topologies.
Key results
Vblock Systems 320 with EMC VNX 5500 can easily support the following per-blade deployments with
acceptable CPU, memory, and storage utilization; and acceptable application response times:
•
110 XenDesktop PVS streaming hosted virtual desktops
•
140 XenDesktop MCS pooled persistent or non-persistent hosted virtual desktops
•
300 XenApp hosted shared desktops300 XenApp hosted shared desktops
Purpose
This document describes the architecture, design considerations, validation, and performance data for
Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp providing hosted virtual and hosted shared desktops and enterprise-grade
performance on a Vblock Systems 320 with VNX 5500. We have used the results of this validation to
provide a scaling strategy for customer deployments.
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5
Audience
This document is intended for enterprise and service provider decision makers and system administrators
deploying large-scale end-user computing environments with Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp.
Feedback
To suggest documentation changes and provide feedback on this paper, send email to
[email protected]. Include the title of this paper, the name of the topic to which your comment
applies, and your feedback.
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Technology overview
Vblock™ Systems
VCE represents the next evolution of IT, one focused on the next generation data center and the future of
cloud computing. VCE seeks to eliminate the challenges that consume today's data center resources.
VCE designs and delivers Vblock Systems, which seamlessly integrate leading compute, network and
storage technologies. Through intelligent discovery, awareness and automation, Vblock Systems provide
the highest levels of virtualization and application performance. Vblock Systems are unique in their ability
to be managed as a single entity with a common interface that provides customers' end-to-end visibility.
The Vblock System 300 is an agile and efficient data center class system, providing flexible and scalable
performance. It features a high-density, compact fabric switch, tightly integrated fabric-based blade
servers, and best-in-class unified storage.
The Vblock System 700 is an enterprise-class mission-critical system for the world's most demanding
workloads and service levels. It includes the industry's best director-class fabric switch, the most
advanced fabric-based blade server, and the most trusted storage platform.
Each Vblock System has a base configuration, which is a minimum set of compute and storage
components as well as fixed network resources. Within the base configuration, certain hardware aspects
can be customized. Together, the components offer balanced CPU, I/O bandwidth, and storage capacity
relative to the compute and storage arrays in the system.
For more information, go to www.vce.com http://www.vce.com.
Compute components
The compute components in Vblock Systems are built on the Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS) line
of products. The individual components include one or more blade server chassis, included compute
blades, I/O modules, and the fabric interconnects that connect the unified fabric to the rest of the
environment.
Network components
The network components in Vblock Systems consist of various models of Cisco Nexus and MDS storage
switches. This includes the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series, Cisco Nexus 5000 Series, Cisco Nexus 1000V,
Cisco Catalyst 3000 Series, and the Cisco MDS 9000 Series switches.
Storage components
Vblock Systems are built with either EMC VNX or Symmetrix VMAX-based storage arrays. The Vblock
300 ships with VNX-based arrays and the Vblock 700 ships with VMAX arrays.
Virtualization components
Virtualization components include VMware ESXi, VMware vCenter Server, and VMware vSphere.
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Management components
All Vblock System 300 and 700 models include an Advanced Management Pod (AMP). The AMP
provides a single management point for Vblock Systems that provides the following benefits:
•
Monitors and manages Vblock System health, performance, and safety
•
Provides fault isolation for management
•
Eliminates Vblock System resource overhead
•
Provides a clear demarcation point for remote operations
The AMP has two deployment options: mini-AMP and high availability (HA) AMP.
•
The mini-AMP is an economical single-server system with reduced costs for switches and
licenses and optional packages for networking, backups, and data duplication.
•
The HA AMP is a two-server system that uses a local disk to boot VMware vSphere ESXi and
shared storage for the Vblock Systems management servers. It is designed to be a highly
available, out-of-band management environment.
In addition to the components described above, the AMP leverages Cisco UCS rack-mount servers, Cisco
Catalyst 3000 Series switches, and EMC storage.
Vblock Systems 720
The Vblock System 720 is an enterprise, service provider class mission-critical system in the Vblock™
System 700 family, for the most demanding IT environments - supporting enterprise workloads and SLAs
that run thousands of virtual machines and virtual desktops. It is architecturally designed to be modular,
providing flexibility and choice of configurations based on demanding workloads. These workloads
include business-critical enterprise resource planning (ERP), customer relationship management (CRM),
and database, messaging, and collaboration services. The Vblock 720 leverages the industry's best
director-class fabric switch, the most advanced fabric based blade server, and the most trusted storage
platform. The Vblock 720 delivers greater configuration choices, 2X performance and scale from prior
generations, flexible storage options, denser compute, five 9s of availability, and converged network and
support for a new virtualization platform that accelerates time to service and reduces operations costs.
Vblock Systems 320
The Vblock System 320 is an enterprise and service provider ready system in the Vblock™ System 300
family, designed to address a wide spectrum of virtual machines, users, and applications. It is ideally
suited to achieve the scale required in both private and public cloud environments. The Vblock 320 has
been engineered for greater scalability and performance to support large enterprise deployments of
mission-critical applications, cloud services, VDI, mixed workloads and application development and
testing. The Vblock 320 delivers greater configuration choices, 2X performance and scale from prior
generations, flexible storage options, denser compute, five 9s of availability, and converged network and
support for a new virtualization platform that accelerates time to service and reduces operations costs.
Every Vblock 320 is available with the market-leading EMC VNX storage arrays.
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EMC
The Vblock Solution for Citrix XenDesktop uses the VNX-based storage arrays provided in Vblock
Systems.
The EMC VNX series is a dedicated network server optimized for file and block access that delivers highend features in a scalable and easy-to-use package.
The VNX series delivers a single-box block and file solution that offers a centralized point of management
for distributed environments. This makes it possible to dynamically grow, share, and cost-effectively
manage multiprotocol file systems and provide multiprotocol block access. Administrators can take
advantage of simultaneous support for NFS and CIFS protocols by enabling Windows and Linux/UNIX
clients to share files by using the sophisticated file-locking mechanisms of VNX for File and VNX for Block
for high-bandwidth or for latency-sensitive applications.
VMware vSphere 5
When using VMware vSphere 5 as the hypervisor for XenDesktop, the vSphere 5 components are built
on an infrastructure incorporating ESXi 5 hosts connected to local and shared storage. Shared storage
can be on a network file system (NFS), Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI), or Fibre
Channel SAN, as dictated by the enterprise.
VMware ESXi 5.1
VMware ESXi delivers the base hypervisor functions for the vSphere environment that hosts the virtual
desktops.
VMware vCenter Server
VMware vCenter Server provides the infrastructure to manage multiple ESXi hypervisors as a single
infrastructure cluster. The vCenter Server allows administrators to configure resource clusters and
manage storage and high-availability functions across the environment. In a XenDesktop configuration.
VMware vCenter can be configured as a virtual machine (VM) running on the ESXi infrastructure, or on a
physical server, based on high-availability requirements.
Citrix
XenDesktop 5.6
The Vblock Solution for Citrix contains the following XenDesktop components:
•
XenDesktop site
•
Provisioning Services
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•
Machine Creation Services
•
Web Interface
•
Licensing Server
•
Desktop Delivery Controller
•
Software and tools
XenDesktop site
A XenDesktop site forms the boundary of the Citrix VDI management. It includes the brokers,
Provisioning Servers, Web Interface, SQL Servers, and all the hypervisor pools where the VMs are
located.
Provisioning Services 6.1
PVS can be used for provisioning non-persistent hosted virtual desktops. PVS takes a different approach
from traditional imaging solutions by changing the relationship between hardware and the software that
runs on it by streaming a single shared virtual disk image rather than copying individual images to
individual machines. Unique user settings are preserved in a personal vDisk.
At the top level of the PVS infrastructure is the PVS farm. The farm provides a farm administrator with a
method of representing, defining, and managing logical groups of PVS components into sites. All sites
within a farm share the farm's Microsoft SQL database. A PVS farm also includes local or network shared
storage and collections of target devices.
Web Interface
The Web Interface provides user access into the XenDesktop environment. It accepts user credentials
and passes them to the XenDesktop site for authentication and enumeration using an ICA connection
between the user and the connection broker. Once authenticated, Web Interface manages the initiation of
the end user sessions to their virtual desktop. A high-availability configuration is recommended for the
Web Interface to avoid service disruption.
Licensing Server
The Licensing Server is responsible for managing the licenses for all XenDesktop 5.6 components.
Licensing Servers have a 30-day grace period, which allows the system to function normally if the server
becomes unavailable. Because of this grace period, redundancy in the Licensing Server component is not
required.
Desktop Delivery Controller
The Desktop Delivery Controller provides the link between the Web Interface and the XenDesktop site. It
serves as the brokerage service between the end device and the desktops. The Desktop Delivery
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Controller enumerates resources for the users and directs user launch requests to the appropriate hosted
virtual desktop. It is recommended that at least two controllers be deployed per XenDesktop site to
provide high availability. As the site grows, additional controllers may be required for scalability.
Machine Creation Services
MCS can be used to provision both persistent and non-persistent hosted virtual desktops. MCS connects
vCenter to the ESXi hosts using the vSphere API. The API then directs the ESXi host to build the hosted
virtual desktops from the master image VM and to create, start, stop, and delete VMs.
MCS uses the same mechanism to thin-provision a hosted virtual desktop from a master image in the
hypervisor pool and uses identity management functionality to overcome the security identity (SID)
requirements typical with cloning.
MCS snapshots or replicas created with MCS must reside on the same logical unit number (LUN) where
they will be provisioned to the end devices.
Software and tools
Virtual Desktop Agent
Virtual Desktop Agent (VDA) is a software agent that resides on the hosted virtual desktop and provides
the communication interface between the XenDesktop infrastructure and the Windows desktop operating
system. A user cannot connect to a VM unless the VDA is installed in the image.
PVS Agent
The Provisioning Services (PVS) Agent is the software that is installed in the virtual disk that allows PVS
to control the machine and to use its NIC as a substitute hard drive controller.
Citrix Receiver
Receiver is easy-to-install client software that lets the user access enterprise data, applications, and
desktops from any computing device, including iPhones, Android-based smartphones, iPads, Windows
Mobile devices, Blackberry devices, and Windows, Mac OS X, or Linux desktops.
HDX Technology
HDX technology is a set of capabilities that delivers a high-definition desktop virtualization user
experience for any application, device, or network. By incorporating network and performance
optimizations, hardware products, and advanced software algorithms, HDX technology unleashes the full
power of virtualized applications and desktops. This technology enables enterprises to offer virtualized
applications and desktops with a LAN-like experience over a WAN connection.
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XenApp 6.5
The Vblock Solution for Citrix contains the following XenApp components:
•
XenApp server farm
•
Zone data collectors
•
Web Interface
•
Data Store
•
Licensing Server (see XenDesktop)
XenApp Server Farm
A XenApp server farm is the top-level administrative unit of the XenApp management service. All servers
within a farm are managed as a unit, enabling the configuration of features and settings for the entire
farm, rather than configuring each server individually. Applications or resources are published for
availability to users at the farm level, establishing configuration settings that pertain to all instances of the
application running in the farm. Servers in a farm share a single data store of the farm's configuration
information.
Zone data collectors
A zone is a collection of XenApp servers that share the same data collector.
The zone data collector is responsible for managing all of the dynamic information in the farm. Dynamic
information consists of items that change often, such as connected sessions, disconnected sessions, and
server loads. Data collectors are responsible for knowing the global state of the farm by maintaining the
list of connected sessions. The other main responsibility of the data collector is to determine the leastloaded server that is hosting a load-balanced published application or desktop.
Web Interface
The Web Interface provides access to XenApp applications through a standard Web browser using
dynamic HTML pages.
All published applications are accessed through the Web Interface, as well as through Citrix Receiver
(formerly called Online Plugin or ICS client). Users connect to a specified URL with a browser or through
the Receiver, and are presented with all of their available applications.
Data Store
The data store is the database where servers store static farm information, such as configuration
information about published applications, users, printers, and servers. Each server farm has a single data
store.
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Microsoft
The Vblock Solution for Citrix contains the following Microsoft components:
•
Active Directory
•
Domain Name System
•
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
•
Microsoft SQL Server
Active Directory
Active Directory is required in a XenDesktop deployment for authentication and authorization. VDI
desktops in a XenDesktop environment need to be able to register with a controller or multiple controllers
so that they can be managed by the broker and allow connections by clients.
Remote Desktop Service and license is installed as part of Citrix XenApp validation.
Domain Name System
To register target devices with the Display Data Channel (DDC), Domain Name System (DNS) is
required. During the registration process, the DDC performs a DNS query and attempts to communicate
with the target device using the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) of the registering machine. The
target devices typically obtain their IP addresses through Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
and then dynamically update their Host (A) records in DNS.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol
Another key infrastructure component is DHCP. Desktops created using the MCS deployment (linked
clones) method use DHCP for connectivity. Desktops running XenDesktop from PVS use DHCP as part
of the Preboot Execution Process (PXE).
SQL Server
SQL Server, a relational database management system, provides the foundation for the overall
XenDesktop solution. All information pertaining to configuration, hosted virtual desktops, and current
usage is kept within the database. The SQL Server is critical to the continuous operation of the
XenDesktop site. If the database goes offline, no new users can connect to a hosted virtual desktop, but
currently connected desktops continue to function. The SQL database should be made highly available
through the implementation of SQL load balancing or clustering.
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SQL Server provides a repository of persistent information for vCenter Servers, as well as for the farm
settings in XenDesktop Controller, including the following:
•
Farm configuration information
•
Published application configurations
•
Server configurations
•
XenApp administrator accounts
•
Printer configurations
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Architecture
Logical configuration
A standard Vblock System 320 configuration with VNX 5500 is combined with Citrix XenDesktop and
XenApp servers and Web Interfaces to provide shared, streamed, and pooled desktops to users with
appropriate security and authentication. Redundancies are built in for virtualization and desktop
management, and workloads are balanced across the Web Interfaces to ensure high availability and
optimum performance.
The Vblock Solution for Citrix is configured in the following fashion, as illustrated in the following figure:
•
End point devices connect through the firewall to the load balancers, reaching the Web Interface
in the DMZ.
•
The private network connection goes to the network aggregation core load balancer in the
network aggregation layer to provide load balancing for the Web Interfaces.
•
The Web Interface performs initial authentication and enumeration operations.
•
The Citrix License Server allocates the license.
•
Redundant XenDesktop controllers control desktop management.
•
The management infrastructure is installed and configured on a two-host cluster.
•
The SQL data store contains the system configurations and object tracking.
•
vCenter Server hosts the hosted virtual desktops.
•
vSphere Servers, along with the VDI infrastructure and connection brokers, are installed on the
Vblock System.
•
Machine Creation Services (MCS) or Provisioning Services (PVS) provides desktop image
creation and delivery.
•
The Network core provides the interactions necessary to establish a VDI session using a
XenDesktop controller.
•
There is one cluster of pooled hosted virtual desktops (PoD) and one cluster of streamed hosted
virtual desktops.
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•
The virtualization layer provides management through vCenter.
Figure 1: Vblock Solution for Citrix logical configuration
The following table describes the VMs in the Citrix management stack used in this solution:
Table 1: VMs used in the Citrix management stack for this solution
Application
version
Virtual
Desktops
XenDeskto Provisionin
p Controller g server
(MCS)
(PVS)
XenApp
Controller
Web
Interface
License
Server
SQL Server
database
NA
5.6 FP1
6.5
5.4.0.59
11.10.0
build 12012
2008 R2
Standard
6.1
Operating
system
Windows 7
Enterprise
Edition 64bit
vCPU
1
4
4
4
2
1
2
RAM (GB)
2
4
40
8
4
4
4
Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise
16
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Table 1: VMs used in the Citrix management stack for this solution
Virtual
Desktops
XenDeskto Provisionin
p Controller g server
(MCS)
(PVS)
XenApp
Controller
Web
Interface
License
Server
vDisk
storage
(GB)
40
40
40
40
40
40
Hardware and software
The following tables list the hardware and software used to validate this solution.
Table 2: Hardware
Layer
Hardware
Quantity
Compute
Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server
chassis1
1
Cisco UCS B200 M3 (management
and virtual desktops)
6
Cisco UCS B200 M2 (Login VSI)
1
Cisco UCS 6248UP Series Fabric
Interconnects or Cisco UCS 61x0XP
Series Fabric Interconnect
2
RAM (GB/blade)
256
CPU, 8 cores per socket
16
Cisco Nexus 1000V Series virtual
Switch
1
Cisco Nexus 5548UP Series IP
Switch
2
Cisco MDS 9148 Series Fibre
Channel storage Switch
2
Network
1
The Vblock Systems 320 with VNX 5500 can hold up to 64 Cisco UCS B200 M3 blades.
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17
SQL Server
database
•
40 GB
(C:) for
OS
•
60 GB
(D:) for
SQL
databas
e and
transact
ion logs
Table 2: Hardware
Layer
Hardware
Quantity
Storage
VNX 5500
1
Table 3: Software
Software
Version
Citrix XenDesktop
5.6 FP1
Citrix XenApp
6.5
Provisioning Server
6.1
VMware vSphere
5.1
MMicrosoft SQL Server
2008 R2 Standard
Windows server OS
2008 R2 Enterprise
Windows desktop OS
Windows 7 Enterprise Edition 64-bit
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Design considerations
Storage
EMC VNX 5500
This solution uses the following VNX storage features:
•
Block-based storage over Fibre Channel (FC) to store the VMDK files for XenApp. The Unified
Storage Management plug-in provides seamless integration with VMware vSphere to simplify the
provisioning of data stores or VMs.
•
File-based storage over the NFS protocol to store hosted MCS hosted virtual desktop, and CIFS
protocol to store hosted MCS hosted virtual desktop, and CIFS protocol to store user data and
the Citrix Profile management repository. This has the following benefits:
—
Redirection of user data and Citrix Profile Manager data to a central location for easy backup
and administration
—
Single instancing and compression of unstructured user data to provide the highest storage
utilization and efficiency
VMware vSphere
The storage configuration provisioned over FC allows the vSphere cluster to store the VMDK images for
management, PVS, and XenApp servers; the storage provisioned over NFS to support the MCS hosted
desktops; and CIFS to redirect user data and provide storage for the Citrix Profile Manager data.
This solution uses the following storage deployment:
•
5 SAS disks in RAID 5 RAID GROUP 0 to boot the ESXi hosts, with 20 GB boot LUNs for each of
the hosts
•
10 x 600 GB SAS 15K disks in RAID 5 Storage Pool 1 to store virtual desktops, with FAST Cache
enabled for the entire pool
—
2 x 1 TB FC LUNs for the management VMs
—
1 x 1 TB FC LUN for 10 XenApp Servers providing hosted shared desktops
—
1 x 2 TB FC LUNs for PVS streaming hosted virtual desktops
•
8 x 200 GB Flash drives for EMC VNX FAST Cache, with no user-configurable LUNs on these
drives
•
20 x 300 GB SAS 15K drives in RAID 5 Storage Pool 2 with NFS to store MCS hosted virtual
desktops
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19
•
5 x 500 GB NFS mount points carved out of the storage pool to support MCS hosted virtual
desktops
•
1 x 500 GB NFS mount point carved out of the storage pool to support a write cache on the local
hard drive for PVS streaming hosted virtual desktops
•
—
8 NL-SAS disks in the RAID 6 Storage Pool 3 to store user data and roaming profiles, with
FAST Cache enabled for the entire pool
—
4 x 2 TB LUNs carved out of the storage pool to create two CIFS file systems
—
FAST Cache enabled on both storage pools to store the FC and CIFS file systems used by
the hosted virtual desktops
2 shared file systems for profiles and user data management hosted virtual desktops:
—
One file system for the Citrix Profile Manager repository
—
One file system to redirect user storage residing in home directories. (Redirecting user data
out of the base image to the VNX for files enables centralized administration, backup, and
recovery, and makes the desktops more stateless. Each file system is exported to the
environment through a CIFS share.)
Network
The following network configurations are important for this solution.
•
A Nexus 7000 Switch in the aggregation layer provides all layer 3 VLAN network capabilities to
Vblock systems, as well as other core components like the ACE load balancer.
•
The load balancer is connected to the Nexus 7000 with a specified VLAN.
•
The Nexus 5548 Switches built into the Vblock Systems 320 are connected directly to the Nexus
7000 for all network services.
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•
Downstream from the Nexus 5548s, everything is connected per a standard Vblock System 320.
All the hosts and VMs are inside the Vblock System 320, receiving layer 3 network service from
the Nexus 7000.
Figure 2: Vblock 320 network aggregation
In the Citrix XenDesktop solution, all network interfaces on the vSphere Servers use 10 GbE connections.
All hosted virtual desktops are assigned an IP address by using a DHCP server. The following table
shows the Nexus 1000V distributed Switch configuration in the vCenter Server.
Table 4: Nexus 1000V configuration
Port group name
Use
VSPHERE-DATA-UPLINK
Uplink port group for vSphere hosts
Vblock_infra_mgmt
Citrix XenDesktop management infrastructure
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21
Table 4: Nexus 1000V configuration
Port group name
Use
Vblock_esx_mgmt
vSphere host management networks
Vblock_esx_vmotion
vSphere host vMotion networks
Vblock_cifs
Citrix XenDesktop User Share repository for Profile
management
Hosted_desktop_2392
MCS hosted virtual desktops and hosted shared
desktops
Streamed_desktop_2393
PVS hosted virtual desktops
Virtualization
Vblock Systems virtualization uses vSphere components ESXi and vCenter Server.
For a Citrix XenDesktop solution, clustering uses vSphere for the virtual container design. The
XenDesktop environment clustering design implementation, components, and characteristics are
described in the following tables for the Cisco UCS B200 M3 used in this solution:
•
Citrix management infrastructure cluster
•
XenDesktop MCS persistent and non-persistent pooled hosted virtual desktops
•
XenDesktop PVS streaming hosted virtual desktops
•
XenApp hosted shared desktops
vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) is enabled on the management cluster and continuously
monitors utilization across vSphere hosts in the management and security clusters and intelligently
allocates available resources among VMs. It also balances computing capacity within the cluster.
VMware HA is enabled for the management cluster to provide easy-to-use and effective high availability
for all the management VMs in the event of physical server failure. In the case of server failure, HA will
restart the affected VM on the spare server.
DRS and HA were disabled on the production clusters for validation since each validation was done on a
single blade.
Table 5: Citrix management infrastructure cluster
Component
Characteristic
ESXi hosts
3
Data store (FC)
1 x 2 TB
Network
2 x 10 GbE uplink connectivity for each host
DRS
Enabled
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Table 5: Citrix management infrastructure cluster
Component
Characteristic
HA
Enabled
Table 6: XenDesktop MCS persistent and non-persistent pooled hosted virtual desktops
Component
Characteristic
ESXi hosts
1
Data store (NFS)
5 x 500 GB
Network
2 x 10 GbE uplink connectivity for each host
DRS
Disabled for validation
HA
Disabled for validation
Table 7: XenDesktop PVS streaming hosted virtual desktops
Component
Characteristic
ESXi hosts
1
Data store (FC LUN)
1 x 2 TB
Write cache on local drive (NFS LUN)
1 x 500 GB
Network
2 x 10 GbE uplink connectivity for each host
DRS
Disabled for validation
HA
Disabled for validation
Table 8: XenApp hosted shared desktops
Component
Characteristic
ESXi hosts
1
Data store (FC)
1 TB
Network
2 x 10 GbE uplink connectivity for each host
DRS
Disabled for validation
HA
Disabled for validation
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23
Validation
This section describes how VCE validated the Vblock Solution for Citrix:
•
Environment
•
Objectives and design
•
Results and analysis
Environment
The Citrix test environment was as described in the Architecture section.
We used Login VSI to generate desktop workloads and gathers in-session VDI performance data in order
to validate the solution under simulated Knowledge Worker medium workload conditions.
Table 9: Login VSI launcher characteristics
Component
Value
Cisco UCS B200 M2
1
CPU cores
12
RAM
96 GB
Login VSI version
3.7
Launcher VMs
6
Sessions per aluncher VM
25
Launcher VM vCPU
2
Launcher VM RAM
4 GB
Table 10: XenDesktop MCS characteristics
Component
Value
Cisco UCS B200 M2
1
CPU cores
16
RAM
256 GB
NFS LUNs for XenDesktop
5 x 500 GB
24
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Table 10: XenDesktop MCS characteristics
Component
Value
Hosted virtual desktops per LUN
35
Table 11: XenDesktop PVS characteristics
Component
Value
Cisco UCS B200 M2
1
CPU cores
16
RAM
256 GB
FC LUN
1 x 2 TB
NFS LUNs for write cache local
1 x 500 GB
CIFS share for vDisk repository
1 x 500 GB
Table 12: XenApp characteristics
Component
Value
Cisco UCS B200 M2
1
CPU cores
16
RAM
256 GB
FC LUNs
1 x 1 TB
XenApp Servers
8
Objectives and design
The objective of this validation is to quantify scalability by measuring the number of XenDesktop hosted
virtual desktops and XenApp hosted shared desktops that can be deployed on a single Cisco UCS B200
M3 blade with acceptable utilization and user experience. We performed this validation using MCS for
persistent and non-persistent desktops, and PVS for non-persistent desktops. Target ranges for this
validation are:
•
CPU: maximum 85-90%
•
Memory: maximum <100%
•
Storage processor: maximum <50%
•
Application response times: <4 seconds
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25
Login VSI
We used Login VSI to:
•
Simulate medium application workloads
•
Measure in-session resource utilization and response times to ensure target utilization and user
experience
Workload
We used a Knowledge Worker medium workload because it consumes more memory and CPU resources
due to the increased number of applications simultaneously running, which addresses most hosted virtual
desktop user classes.
•
Eight applications simultaneously open
•
Minimum 20% user activity, with simulated users opening and closing files every 30 seconds
We allocated 2 GB RAM to each hosted virtual desktop and used the Login VSI parameters in addition to
the medium workload:
•
130 ms per character type rate
•
Reduced idle time to 40 seconds
We used 20 instances of the Login VSI launcher to generate the application workloads described in the
table below, using locally installed applications and increasing workspaces to determine the optimum
number the solution can support with acceptable user experience.
Table 13: Application workloads
Application
Workload
Microsoft Outlook
Browse 10 messages
Internet Explorer
Leave one instance continuously open and continuously
browse a second instance
Microsoft Word
Measure response time for one instance; review and edit
document in a second instance
Microsoft Excel
Open a very large randomized spreadsheet
Microsoft PowerPoint
Review and edit one presentation
Bullzip PDF Printer and Acrobat Reader
Print Microsoft Word document to PDF and review in
Acrobat Reader
7-Zip
Use the CLI to zip all session output
Notepad
Open and print a file
26
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Metrics
We measured response times for the following transactions:
Transaction
Description
Refresh (RFS)
Copy a random document, a PowerPoint file, and an
Outlook file from the server to the local drive
Load
Launch Microsoft Word
Open
Open a Microsoft Word document
Notepad
Launch Notepad
Print
Print a Notepad file
Find
Find a term within a Notepad file
Zip
Zips a random PowerPoint file
EMC Unisphere
We collected storage processor data from EMC Unisphere, which is used to manage the VNX array.
vSphere vCenter Server
We collected XenApp Server CPU and memory utilization data from vCenter Server.
XenDesktop
We tested the deployment using Login VSI to launch and run the applications listed in the previous table
using VSI launcher clients hosted on a separate LUN so as not to interfere with performance testing and
validation. During testing we measured CPU utilization, memory utilization, storage processor utilization,
and application response times.
Test procedure
We used the following test procedure to ensure consistent results:
•
Before each test, all desktop VMs and clients were cleanly started.
•
All desktop VMs and client launchers were idled until start up services on the operating system
settled down and memory and CPU on the launchers showed no utilization.
•
Test Phase: At least two Login VSI loops were executed in each active session.
•
Logoff: All users logged off after VSI completion.
© 2014 VCE Company, LLC.
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27
•
Test run reports and data were generated.
•
All desktop VMs and clients were shut down.
Results and analysis
Summary
In all validations, CPU, memory, storage processor, and application response times were within
acceptable ranges, validating 140 MCS hosted virtual desktops, 110 PVS hosted virtual desktops, and
300 XenApp hosted shared desktops per Cisco UCS B200 M3 blade.
Type
Desktop
count
ESXi CPU
(%)
ESXi
memory
(GB)
XenApp
XenApp
Server CPU Server
(%)
memory
(GB)
PVS
110
35
84
<10
<900
MCS
persistent
140
88
72
<10
<900
MCS nonpersistent
140
88
91
<20
<700
XenApp
300
85
32
<5
<4,000
81
28
68
Storage (%) Application
response
time (ms)
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Individual test results
CPU and memory utilization
CPU and memory were within acceptable ranges of ~90% for this solution.
Figure 3: CPU and memory validation results for XenDesktop and XenApp
© 2014 VCE Company, LLC.
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29
Storage processor utilization
Storage processor performance ranged from less than 5% to less than 20%, well below our goal of less
than 50%.
Figure 4: MCS persistent virtual desktop 140-user storage processor utilization
Figure 5: MCS non-persistent virtual desktop 140-user storage processor utilization
30
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Figure 6: PVS non-persistent virtual desktop 110-user storage processor utilization
Figure 7: XenApp 300-user storage processor utilization
© 2014 VCE Company, LLC.
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31
Application response times
Application response times were well below our target of 4,000 ms for all XenDesktop deployments and
below our target of 4,000 ms for the XenApp deployment.
Figure 8: XenDesktop application response times
Figure 9: XenApp application response time
Maximum capacity testing
After completing validation for 140 MCS hosted virtual desktops, 110 PVS hosted virtual desktops, and
300 XenApp hosted shared desktops, we increased to 150 and 120 XenDesktop hosted virtual desktops,
and 320 XenApp hosted shared desktops and recorded the following results. Many of the figures are
32
© 2014 VCE Company, LLC.
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within the 95–100% range, indicating this is near the maximum a single Cisco UCS B200 M3 can support
on a Vblock 320.
Table 14: Maximum capacity results
Type
Desktop
count
ESXi CPU
(%)
ESXi
memory
(GB)
XenApp
XenApp
Server CPU Server
(%)
memory
(GB)
PVS
120
44
89
<20
<900
MCS
persistent
150
97
75
<10
<900
MCS nonpersistent
150
96
98
<20
<700
XenApp
320
95
32
<20
<4,000
82
70
Storage (%) Application
response
time (ms)
Scaling example
You can scale resources for larger XenDesktop and XenApp deployments on Vblock Systems. For
example, based on our validation results you can host 1,000 XenDesktop hosted virtual desktops or
XenApp hosted shared desktops on a Vblock Systems 320 with VNX 5500 using the following
components.
Component
MCS
PVS
XenApp
Cisco UCS B200 M3
blades for virtual desktops
8
10
4
Cisco UCS B200 M3
blades for management
2 (n+1)
2 (n+1)
2 (n+1)
Controllers (VM)
2 (n+1)
2 (n+1)
2 (n+1)
SQL Server databases
(VM)
1
1
1
Storage
18 TB NFS data store
•
•
XenApp Servers (VM)
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•
2 TB shared file
systems used for
profiles
•
10 TB shared file
systems used for user
data management
NA
2.5 TB write cache
2 TB FC LUN
500 GB vDisk
repository
•
•
18 TB FC LUN
2 TB shared file
systems used for
profiles
•
2 TB shared file
systems used for
profiles
•
10 TB shared file
systems used for user
data management
•
10 TB shared file
systems used for user
data management
NA
33
20
Component
MCS
PVS
XenApp
Web interfaces (VM)
2 (n+1)
2 (n+1)
2 (n+1)
34
© 2014 VCE Company, LLC.
All Rights Reserved.
Conclusion
The Vblock Solution for Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp provides service providers and organizations a
high-level architectural description with detailed design considerations for providing Citrix hosted and
virtual shared desktops on a Vblock Systems 320. Using a building block approach, we validated this
solution on a single Cisco UCS B200 M3 and have provided sample scaling recommendations for a
1,000-desktop deployment example. This solution provides intelligent and optimal resource utilization,
enterprise-class user experience for medium workloads, and HA for rapid failover in the event of physical
server failure.
Next steps
To learn more about this and other solutions, contact a VCE representative or visit www.vce.com.
© 2014 VCE Company, LLC.
All Rights Reserved.
35
www.vce.com
About VCE
VCE, formed by Cisco and EMC with investments from VMware and Intel, accelerates the adoption of converged
infrastructure and cloud-based computing models that dramatically reduce the cost of IT while improving time to market for
our customers. VCE, through Vblock Systems, delivers the industry's only fully integrated and fully virtualized cloud
infrastructure system. VCE solutions are available through an extensive partner network, and cover horizontal applications,
vertical industry offerings, and application development environments, allowing customers to focus on business innovation
instead of integrating, validating, and managing IT infrastructure.
For more information, go to http://www.vce.com.
© 2014 VCE Company, LLC. All rights reserved. VCE, Vblock, VCE Vision, and the VCE logo are registered trademarks or
trademarks of VCE Company, LLC. and/or its affiliates in the United States or other countries. All other trademarks used
herein are the property of their respective owners.

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