case study; university of connecticut - desktop virtualization project

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University of Connecticut vPC Desktop Virtualization Project

Jeremy PollackDirector of IT, University of Connecticut Library System

University of Connecticut

• Main campus - Storrs, CT

• Ten campuses

• 30,000 students

• 9,500 faculty/staff

• 1,500 lab computers

Confidential

Collaboration

• Desire to collaborate

• We use the same technologies

• Success with server virtualization

• Next stop: virtual desktops

• Couldn't have done it on our own

• Alignment of business needs and IT

Confidential

University of Connecticut vPC

School of Business•Successor to student laptop program

•Distance and online education

•Faculty/staff workstations

School of Engineering•Computer labs•Distance and online education

•Staff workstations

University Library System•Computer labs•Classrooms•Service desks•Staff workstations

700-seat desktop virtualization deployment, including VMware view, Dell desktop virtualization solutions, Dell Wyse endpoints, and Unidesk software

Confidential

Technical architecture:three design tenets

Manageability• By leveraging existing skill sets and selecting the right products, the

UConn vPC architecture required very little retraining for existing IT staff.

Scalability• By adopting best practices and assuming an eventual scale out, we

have designed a solution that can grow.

Cutting Edge• By striving to achieve the best performance and highest density, we

deployed the fastest virtualization platform at UConn.

Confidential

Who is accessing?

• 37% of UConn students

• 25 users over 100 logins

• 310 over 50• 1,358 over 25

Metrics

Affiliation %

Undergrad 76%

Grad 17%

Faculty/ Staff 7%

• Unique users since 9/1/12: 11,058

• Total logins: 126,965

• Max concurrent sessions: 310

• http://status.vpc.uconn.edu

Statistics What are they accessing?

Confidential

Student access metrics

Plus Asia & Europe!

What time are students accessing? Where are they

accessing from?

Lessons learned

What we found out

Initial expectations:• Extend existing computer lab

access. Anywhere. Anytime.• Reliable computing platform.• Provide infrastructure for online

and distance ed, remote students• Reduce overall CapEx over 5 years• Reimage faster, deploy faster,

extend reach of computing platforms

• Magic!

Additional benefits:• Happy Mac users!• Physical space reclamation• Size of the value prop to online ed• Save students money• Trust and relationships built through

this collaborative project

Confidential

Observations

VDI is not a panacea! Manage

expectations.

VDI is complicated. It is a new mindset

and new operating model.

Collect tons of data

Talk to your end users, understand their needs, get

continuous feedback

Labs are easier, persistence is

harder. (without the right tools)

Application virtualization has

a place for scalability and

flexibility

You won't save on CapEx. You will

save on OpEx – eventually

But the added value and

functionality is priceless

Confidential

Hard lessons learned

• Too many assumptions about VDI• Not involving full cross functional team

early enough• Confusing concurrency vs. totals• Underestimating VDI's hunger for IOPS.

Use SSD or hybrid SANs• Don't forget capacity for infrastructure• Scale carefully. Keep scaling carefully!

Confidential

Licensing

• VDI licensing is not cheap!• Microsoft campus agreement student

option is required if you want student-owned devices to connect

• Software licenses and vendor support are all over the place

• It is getting better

Issue # of tickets

Installing View client / password issues

162

Connection problems / network issues

121

How to use SW on vPC (e.g. File menu on minitab)

34

How do I save my work? 12

Total logins:

126,965

Total users: 11,058

Total tickets:

239

Support has been surprisingly easy

Confidential

User feedback has been overwhelmingly positive

“You are so fast. I tested it and it works really well.”•Brian Hartman, Mathematics (after R

was delivered to the vPC in four days)

“The VPC is one of the most interesting developments in IT that I have seen at UConn in a long time!”•George Gibson, Physics

“This is a fantastic solution. It is working perfectly for my class!”•Ram Gopal, OPIM department head

“This is the biggest technological leap since the library’s card catalogue was computerized.”•Grad student

"I love using the vPC for SolidWorks. Its faster than my personal computer, and so easy."•Sean Vincent, undergraduate student

Successes• Increased capacity & accessibility of LIBR & ENGR

labs

• Delivering minitab to 4,500 STATS students/semester

• Provided reliable instructional platform for BUSN faculty and students

• Delivering equitable computing solution to all students at all campuses, online education programs

• Delivering persistent desktops to hybrid Masters program with View + Unidesk

• Momentum and success to drive support for growth via a new student technology fee

• A new collaborative model for distributed IT groups at UConn

Why?• Carefully defined use cases• Delivered value first without

disrupting existing services• "If you build it, they will

come"• Limited scope.• Slow & Steady• Non-persistence first• Unidesk for persistence• Communication,

collaboration, open sharing, celebrating our success

Confidential

Future plans

• Student technology fee approved: supports growth to all of UConn!

• Provide virtual lab access for all students and faculty• Universal access. All campuses, all locations• Deploy secondary site for redundancy• Scalable management of h/w and s/w with an eye on more

research and faculty/staff usage into the future• Leverage Sassafras K2 license platform for license mgmt• Convert existing labs into UConn vPC access points• Provision and support file services for students• Modify Microsoft agreement to add students• Vision of a persistent-like desktop for every student.

21

Comprehensive & competent sales staff

Can deliver on tight timelinesWhy Dell

?Understands & remembers our needs

Cost competitive

Confidential

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