cisco integrated desktop virtualization solution

© 2013 Cisco | Nexenta. All rights reserved.

Cisco Integrated Desktop Virtualization Solution

VMware View 5.1 with VMware vSphere 5 Using Cisco Unified Computing

System, Cisco Nexus Switches, and Nexenta Storage

February 2013


Contents

Objectives ................................................................................................................................................. 4

Summary of Main Findings ........................................................................................................................ 4

Business Value ............................................................................................................................................ 4

Modular Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Overview ................................................................................... 5 Cisco Data Center Infrastructure for Desktop Virtualization ..................................................................... 5

Simplified .............................................................................................................................................. 5 Secure .................................................................................................................................................. 5 Scalable ................................................................................................................................................ 5 Savings and Success ........................................................................................................................... 5

Project Planning and Solution Sizing Sample Questions ......................................................................... 6 The Solution: A Unified, Pretested, and Validated Infrastructure with Cisco, Nexenta, and VMware-Based Reference Architecture ............................................................................................................................. 7

Base Components ................................................................................................................................ 7 Cisco Unified Computing System ......................................................................................................... 7 Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches ...................................................................................................... 8 VMware vSphere 5 ............................................................................................................................... 8 VMware View 5 ..................................................................................................................................... 8 NexentaVSA for View ........................................................................................................................... 8

Solution Overview and Benefits ................................................................................................................ 9 Solution Benefits ..................................................................................................................................... 10 Architecture Overview ............................................................................................................................. 11

Architecture and Design of VMware View 5.1 and NexentaVSA for View on Cisco UCS and Storage Solution ............................................................................................................................................... 11

Overview of Reference Architecture for a Persistent Desktop Pool ....................................................... 11 High Availability and Failover ............................................................................................................. 13 Storage Layer ..................................................................................................................................... 13 Connectivity Layer .............................................................................................................................. 13 Host Layer .......................................................................................................................................... 14

Overview of Reference Architecture for a Low-Cost Desktop Pool ........................................................ 14

Solution Components: Cisco, Storage, and VMware-Based Reference Architecture ....................... 15

Solution Validation .................................................................................................................................... 16

Testing Methodology and Results .......................................................................................................... 16 Testing Methodology and Success Criteria ............................................................................................ 16

Testing Profile Characteristics ............................................................................................................ 16 Load Generation ..................................................................................................................................... 17 User Workload Simulation: Login VSI from Login Consultants .............................................................. 17

About the Heavy Workload ................................................................................................................. 18 Metrics .................................................................................................................................................... 19 Success Criteria: Login VSI .................................................................................................................... 19

Application Response Time Measured by VSImax Dynamic ............................................................. 19

Login VSI Test 1: VSImax Connected for 196 Desktops with Medium-Sized Workload .................... 20 [VSILauncher.ini] - Configuration File for Login VSI Test 1 .................................................................... 20 Results .................................................................................................................................................... 21 IOPS Measured by NexentaVSA for View Management Appliance ....................................................... 22

Login VSI Test 2: Cisco Recommended Number of Desktops for Medium-Sized Workload on Cisco UCS B230 M2 ............................................................................................................................................... 24

[VSILauncher.ini] - Configuration File for Login VSI Test 2 .................................................................... 24


Results .................................................................................................................................................... 24

Login VSI Test 3: Heavy Workload .......................................................................................................... 27 [VSILauncher.ini] - Configuration File for Login VSI Test 3 .................................................................... 27 Results .................................................................................................................................................... 27

Login VSI Test 4: Recommended Number of Desktops for Heavy Workload ..................................... 30 [VSILauncher.ini] - Configuration File ..................................................................................................... 30

VMware View Planner Testing ................................................................................................................. 33 Success Criteria: VMware View Planner ................................................................................................ 33 VMware View Planner - Results File ...................................................................................................... 33 Results .................................................................................................................................................... 34 Success Criteria: IOmeter ....................................................................................................................... 34 IOmeter - Results File ............................................................................................................................. 35

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................... 37

For More Information ................................................................................................................................ 38

Appendix: Bill of Materials for NexentaVSA for View on Cisco UCS .................................................. 38


Objectives

This document describes the reference architecture of the Cisco® Desktop Virtualization solution with storage for

500 to 1000 virtual desktops based on VMware View 5.1, VMware vSphere 5, and NexentaVSA for View (NV4V).

The Cisco Desktop Virtualization solution includes the Cisco UCS® B-Series Blade Servers and Cisco Nexus

®

5000 Series Switches.

The purpose of the reference architecture is to provide tested and modular architecture built with proven best-in-

class technologies to create a complete desktop virtualization solution that includes the desktop software,

hypervisor, computing, networking, and storage elements and that is based on a virtual storage appliance

approach integrated into the Cisco Unified Computing System™

(Cisco UCS) platform. This reference architecture

accelerates your desktop transformation by enabling faster deployment, the flexibility of greater choice, increased

efficiency, and lower risk.

The modular architecture design uses the Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade Server and transforms the Cisco UCS C240

M3 Rack Server into an enterprise storage appliance.

Note that this reference architecture is not intended to be a comprehensive deployment and configuration guide

for every aspect of this solution.

Summary of Main Findings

The combination of Cisco UCS, Cisco Nexus switches, and Nexenta virtual storage appliances with VMware ESXi

5 and VMware View software produces a virtual desktop delivery system with a high density per blade and

chassis.

Cisco maintains industry leadership with the new Cisco UCS Manager 2.0 software, which makes scaling

simple, consistency essentially guaranteed, and maintenance easy.

The Cisco 10 Gigabit Ethernet unified fabric is also validated on second-generation Cisco UCS 6200

Series Fabric Interconnects and second-generation Cisco Nexus 5500 platform access switches through

more challenging workload testing, maintaining unsurpassed user-response times.

Business Value

Customers require a scalable, tiered, and highly available infrastructure on which to deploy their virtual desktop

environments. Several new technologies are available to assist you in designing a virtual desktop solution, but

you need to know how to use these technologies to get the most from your investment, support service-level

agreements (SLAs), and reduce you total cost of ownership (TCO).

This solution builds a replica of a common customer virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) environment and

validates the environment for performance, scalability, and capability. You achieve:

Increased control and security of your global mobile desktop environment, which is typically your

environment most at risk

Better end-user productivity with a more consistent environment

Simplified management, with the environment contained in the data center

Better support for SLAs and compliance initiatives

Lower operating and maintenance costs

High availability and low capital costs using the same footprint without affecting TCO and while

maintaining the performance needed to meet SLA requirements


Modular Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Overview

Cisco Data Center Infrastructure for Desktop Virtualization

Cisco focuses on three main elements to deliver the best desktop virtualization data center infrastructure:

simplification, security, and scalability. The software combined with platform modularity provides a simplified,

secure, and scalable desktop virtualization platform.

Simplified

High per-server virtual desktop density

Unified management providing common view of the platform

Predefined, validated infrastructure

Uniformity achieved through a single hardware platform that includes storage, computing, and networking

resources

Virtual appliance that manages the provisioning of desktops and simultaneously deploys storage to

reduce VDI complexity.

Secure

Virtual desktop-aware access and control policies

Virtual desktop-aware networking and on-demand provisioning

Segmentation and network security policies across the LAN and WAN

Scalable

Capability to linearly scale up to thousands of desktops in a single domain

Rapid desktop provisioning through service profiles

Low-latency, high-bandwidth network for delivery of virtual desktops and multimedia

Virtual storage appliance that uses a local server for linear storage scalability based on demand

Savings and Success

The simplified, secure, scalable Cisco data center infrastructure solution for desktop virtualization saves time and

money. It provides faster payback and ongoing savings (better return on investment [ROI] and lower TCO) with

the industry’s highest virtual desktop density per server, meaning that fewer servers are needed, reducing both

capital expenditures (CapEx) and operating expenses (OpEx). For example, NexentaVSA for View reduces

server and storage costs by implementing a virtual storage appliance (VSA) on the same hardware on which

virtual desktops are deployed. Network infrastructure costs also are much lower, with fewer cables per server and

fewer ports required, using the Cisco UCS architecture and unified fabric.

The simplified deployment of Cisco UCS for desktop virtualization makes you more productive faster and

enhances business agility. IT staff and end users are more productive more quickly, and the business can

respond to new opportunities simply by deploying virtual desktops whenever and wherever needed. The high-

performance Cisco platform and network deliver a near-native end-user experience, allowing users to be

productive anytime, anywhere.


Project Planning and Solution Sizing Sample Questions

Now that we understand user groups, their applications and their data requirements. In planning your solution,

you need to consider some project and solution sizing questions.

Here are some general project questions that should be addressed at the outset:

Has a VDI pilot plan been created based on business analysis of the organization’s desktop groups,

applications, and data?

Is the necessary infrastructure and budget in place to run the pilot program?

Are the skill sets required to run the VDI project available? If not, can you hire or contract for them?

Do you have end-user experience performance metrics identified for each desktop subgroup?

How will you measure success or failure?

What are the future implications of success or failure?

Here is a partial list of sizing questions that should be addressed for each user subgroup:

What desktop OS is planned? Microsoft Windows 7 or Windows XP?

Will the OS be 32-bit or 64-bit?

How many virtual desktops will be deployed in the pilot project? In production?

Using Microsoft Windows 7?

How much memory is needed per target desktop group desktop?

Do you have any multimedia, Adobe Flash, or graphics-intensive workloads?

What is the endpoint graphics processing capability?

Are any Citrix XenApp hosted applications planned? Are they packaged or installed?

What is the storage configuration in the existing environment?

Are sufficient I/O operations per second (IOPS) available for the write-intensive VDI workload?

Will you have storage dedicated and tuned for VDI service?

Does the desktop have a voice component?

Is antivirus software a part of the image?

Is user profile management (nonroaming profile-based management) part of the solution?

What are your fault-tolerance, failover, and disaster-recovery plans?

Do you have any additional desktop subgroup-specific questions?


The Solution: A Unified, Pretested, and Validated Infrastructure with Cisco, Nexenta, and VMware-Based Reference Architecture

Cisco’s desktop virtualization solution binds together the three critical elements of an end-to-end deployment: the

end user, the network, and the data center. It draws on Cisco’s architectural advantage to provide a solution that

supports a diversity of endpoint devices, extends pervasive security and policy management to each virtual

desktop, and uses a new and innovative virtualization-optimized stateless server computing model (Cisco UCS).

Base Components

Computing platform with Cisco UCS includes:

– Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects

– Cisco UCS 2200 Series Fabric Extenders

– Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis

– Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade Servers for virtual desktop hosting

– Cisco UCS B200 M2 Blade Servers for infrastructure

Cisco Nexus 5500 platform switches

Hypervisor: VMware ESXi 5

Virtual desktop connection broker: VMware View 5.1

Storage: NexentaVSA for View and NexentaStor

Cisco Unified Computing System

Cisco UCS is the first truly unified data center platform that combines industry-standard, x86-architecture blade

and rack servers with networking and storage access into a single system. The main innovations in the platform

include a standards-based unified network fabric, Cisco virtual interface card (VIC) support, and Cisco Extended

Memory Technology. The system uses a wire-once architecture with a self-aware, self-integrating, intelligent

infrastructure that eliminates the time-consuming, manual, error-prone assembly of components into systems.

Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers provide a comprehensive line of 2- and 4-socket servers to deliver world-

record-setting performance to a wide range of workloads. Based on the Intel® Xeon

® processor E7 and E5

product families, these servers are excellent for virtualized and nonvirtualized applications. These servers:

Reduce CapEx and OpEx with converged network fabrics and integrated systems management

Deliver performance, versatility, and density without compromise

Address a broad set of workloads, from IT and web infrastructure through distributed databases for both

virtualized and nonvirtualized environments

Increase IT staff productivity and business agility through just-in-time provisioning and mobility support for

both virtualized and nonvirtualized environments


Cisco Nexus 5000 Series Switches

The Cisco Nexus 5000 Series delivers an innovative architecture to simplify data center transformation by

enabling a high-performance, standards-based, multiprotocol, multipurpose, Ethernet-based fabric. These

switches help consolidate separate LAN, SAN, and server cluster network environments into a single 10 Gigabit

Ethernet fabric. This unification enables network consolidation and greater utilization of previously separate

infrastructure and cabling, reducing by up to 50 percent the number of adapters and cables required and

eliminating redundant switches. This infrastructure displacement also lowers power and cooling costs

significantly.

VMware vSphere 5

VMware vSphere 5 is the market-leading virtualization platform and is used in thousands of IT environments

around the world. VMware vSphere 5 transforms a computer’s physical resources by virtualizing the CPU, RAM,

hard disk, and network controller. This transformation creates fully functional virtual desktops that run isolated and

encapsulated operating systems and applications just like physical computers.

The high-availability features of VMware vSphere 5 are coupled with VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler

(DRS) and vMotion, which enable the transparent migration of virtual desktops from one VMware vSphere server

to another with little or no degradation of the customer’s experience.

This reference architecture uses VMware vSphere Desktop Edition for deploying desktop virtualization. It provides

the full range of VMware vSphere Enterprise Plus Edition features and functions, allowing customers to achieve

scalability, high availability, and optimal performance for all of their desktop workloads. Also, VMware vSphere

Desktop comes with unlimited vRAM entitlement. VMware vSphere Desktop Edition is intended for customers

who want to purchase only VMware vSphere licenses to deploy desktop virtualization.

VMware View 5

VMware View is a desktop virtualization solution that simplifies IT manageability and control while delivering a

high- fidelity end-user experience across devices and networks. VMware View helps IT departments automate

desktop and application management, reduce costs, and increase data security through centralization of the

desktop environment. This centralization results in greater end-user freedom and increased control for IT

departments. By encapsulating the operating systems, applications, and user data in isolated layers, IT

departments can deliver a modern desktop. They can then deliver dynamic, elastic desktop cloud services, such

as applications, unified communications, and 3D graphics for real-world productivity and greater business agility.

Unlike other desktop virtualization products, VMware View is built on and tightly integrated with VMware vSphere,

the industry-leading virtualization platform that allows customers to extend the value of the VMware infrastructure

and enterprise-class features, such as high availability, disaster recovery, and business continuity.

NexentaVSA for View

NV4V, from Nexenta, combines Nexenta's third-generation network-attached storage (NAS) and SAN storage

appliance with a powerful VDI deployment and management server. NV4V is designed to interoperate

transparently with VMware vCenter and View servers.

Based on the Z File System (ZFS) architecture, NV4V is designed to use local storage devices with

comprehensive ZFS features and provide calibration and measurement. You can use NV4V to deploy a new

desktop pool, reconfigure an existing pool provisioned by NV4V to enhance resource utilization, calibrate an

existing pool provisioned by NV4V, and run a performance benchmark on an existing pool provisioned by NV4V.

NV4V is designed from the foundation to absorb and hide the complexity of virtual desktop data center

deployment and management. The product provides fully automated, GUI-driven VDI provisioning, recalibration of

existing desktop pools, I/O acceleration, performance graphics and analytics, built-in snapshots, and replication. It

is a massively scalable, ready-to-use (turnkey) VDI solution.


NV4V includes the following components:

NexentaVSA for View Management Appliance is the main management component of NexentaVSA for

View. The NV4V Management Appliance must be installed on the VMware ESXi Server that supports the

management components. This NV4V component provides the wizards that deploy a desktop pool,

calibrate the number of virtual desktops as, well as the amount of memory for the existing desktop pool,

and run the performance benchmark tests.

NexentaStor VSA provides storage for the NexentaVSA for View virtual desktops through a NV4V

vSphere plug-in, which communicates with VMware View and VMware vCenter to perform desktop virtual

machine (DVM) provisioning and management. During the deployment of a desktop pool, NexentaStor

VSA is automatically installed on each VMware ESXi Server that is dedicated to virtual desktop storage.

NexentaVSA for View Server Agent manages the communication between NexentaVSA for View and the

VMware components. The server agent is installed on the VMware View Connection Server.

NexentaVSA for View Desktop Agent provides communication between NexentaVSA for View and virtual

desktops. The desktop agent is installed on the virtual desktop template.

NV4V provides the following main features:

Deployment automation

Real-time monitoring and analytics

Benchmarking and calibration

Complete storage appliance

I/O acceleration

Local snapshot

Remote backup and restore

Replicated high availability

NAS VMware vSphere Storage APIs and Array Integration (VAAI)

Solution Overview and Benefits

This solution uses Cisco UCS, Cisco Nexus 5548UP Switches, and VMware vSphere 5 to provide resources for a

VMware View 5.1 environment of Microsoft Windows 7 virtual desktops provisioned by VMware View Composer.

Careful planning and design of the server, networking, and storage infrastructure for the VMware View

environment is critical. T server infrastructure needs to be sized to handle both the density and scale of the

desktop workload, the networking infrastructure needs to provisioned to handle bursts of data traffic, and the

shared storage needs to be able to absorb large bursts of I/O traffic that occur during a workday.

To provide cost-effective and predictable performance for VDI, the infrastructure must be able to:

Support a high density of virtual desktops per server

Scale linearly with an increase in the number of virtual desktops

Support rapidly provisioned scale-out infrastructure


Provide low latency and high bandwidth for the clustering, provisioning, and storage interconnect

networks

Handle the peak I/O load from the clients while keeping response time quick

Solution Benefits

The NV4V solution on Cisco UCS blade servers enables you to use the Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade Server as a

computing node and the Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack Server as storage for any VDI environment. In addition, the

NV4V Management Appliance simplifies the time-consuming and complicated desktop pool deployment process

with a six-step wizard.

With traditional storage systems, customers must manually calculate the required IOPS and then calibrate the

storage appliance without having received any real-time data from the VDI. This theoretical calibration can lead to

guessing that often results in higher TCO and added complexity. By deploying local storage on the same

computing node on which the VDI machines are deployed, NexentaVSA for View reduces the performance

barriers that result from network constraints, storage protocol limitations, and external storage bottlenecks.

The advantages include:

Improved scalability: You can expand the existing VDI infrastructure when necessary. When you add

VMware ESXi servers to support an increasing number of virtual desktops, you can reconfigure a desktop

pool to use additional resources without the need to re-create the desktop pool.

Reduced network load: NexentaStor VSA eliminates the need to provision additional network cables and

network interface cards (NICs) for storage traffic, because it is installed on the same hardware as the

virtual desktops and uses the internal network for storage traffic.

Use of ZFS features: NexentaVSA for View inherits and uses the following ZFS features of the

NexentaStor storage architecture:

– Hybrid storage pool: The hybrid storage pool enables you to use the fast solid-state drives as cache

or log devices in a storage pool. NexentaStor VSA can provision a ZFS-based pool as storage for

virtual desktops.

– ZFS compression: Default ZFS compression both improves IOPS and reduces the volume of storage

space required for desktop pools.

– ZFS snapshot: NV4V provides fully integrated snapshot, backup and restore, and replicated high

availability (RHA) features that use the underlying ZFS capabilities, which include unlimited

snapshots.

– NAS VAAI plug-in: The plug-in offloads Network File System (NFS) traffic between NexentaStor VSA

and VMware ESXi.

Automatic reconfiguration and resource balancing: NexentaVSA for View enables you to optimize

computing, memory, and storage parameters of new or existing desktop pools; it also configures the

desktop pool according to parameters that you specify.

Benchmarking and tuning: NexentaVSA for View provides sophisticated tools that analyze performance

and enable you to calibrate a desktop pool. Calibration benchmarks adjust the number of desktops in a

desktop pool based on the number of IOPS that are required.

High availability for persistent desktop pool: Data integrity is crucial in persistent desktop pool

deployments. NexentaVSA for View provides software data mirroring on a block level that enables

automatic failover if a disk failure occurs.


Performance analyzer: NV4V provides a set of performance analyzer utilities that help you monitor

desktop pool activity and identify any potential performance bottlenecks. The performance analyzer

utilities include:

– Built-in IOmeter tool that monitors the performance of a single desktop in a desktop pool

– Real-time performance charts that provide continuously updated statistical information

Architecture Overview

Figure 1 provides a high-level overview of the solution architecture.

Figure 1: High-Level Architecture Overview

Architecture and Design of VMware View 5.1 and NexentaVSA for View on Cisco UCS and Storage Solution

Nexenta and Cisco provide the following joint solutions for VDI deployments:

NV4V solution on Cisco UCS blade servers for highly available desktops

NV4V solution on Cisco UCS blade servers for a persistent or stateless desktop pool

Overview of Reference Architecture for a Persistent Desktop Pool

The reference architecture for the solution includes hardware and software components that provide a reliable,

scalable, and cost-effective solution for deployment of a persistent desktop pool with high-availability storage.


The software components include:

VMware ESXi cluster for virtual desktops

VMware ESXi cluster for management components, such as Microsoft Active Directory (AD)

NV4V Management Appliance

NexentaVSA for View, which provides a virtual storage appliance and management functions

For a fully redundant solution, the hardware components include:

Cisco UCS 5100 Series Blade Server Chassis with eight Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade Servers for virtual

desktops and management components

Two Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack Servers for storage

Two Cisco Nexus 5548UP Switches for network access for the Cisco UCS C240 M3 chassis

Two Cisco UCS 6248UP 48-Port Fabric Interconnects to provide network connectivity and management

capabilities to all Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade Servers

Figure 2 shows a NV4V solution on a Cisco UCS blade server for a persistent desktop pool. The components that

are highlighted and enclosed in the red outline represent the tested configuration. The entire configuration as

noted depicts fully configured Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade Servers with a full complement of supporting storage on

the Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack Servers. For this highly available storage for VDI, two Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack

Servers are required to support one or two Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade Servers for up to a total of 310 desktops.

Figure 2: NV4V Solution on Cisco UCS Blade Server for Highly Available Virtual Desktops


In the NV4V solution on Cisco blade servers for highly available desktops, storage is mirrored between two Cisco

UCS C240 M3 Rack Servers serving NFS to the Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade Servers. It provides a redundant and

highly available infrastructure that is essential for a persistent desktop pool.

Highly Available Storage for a Persistent Desktop Pool

Software mirroring of two Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack Servers provides highly-available storage. If one of the Cisco

UCS C240 M3 servers fails, the other server is automatically used as storage. No additional plug-ins or

administrative actions are required for this function. Figure 3 shows disk software mirroring on block-level storage.

Figure 3: Block-Level Software Mirroring

High Availability and Failover

The NV4V solution on Cisco UCS blade servers for a persistent desktop pool provides a highly available virtual

desktop infrastructure. Each component is configured to provide a reliable and scalable solution for all layers.

Storage Layer

The reference architecture for the NV4V solution on Cisco UCS blade servers for a persistent desktop pool is

designed to mirror the hybrid pools on the Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack Servers that you use as storage. If a

hardware failure occurs on one of the Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack Servers, the second server continues to

operate. The redundant configuration of the disks on the back end protects against data loss resulting from hard-

disk failures.

Connectivity Layer

The NV4V solution on Cisco hardware provides redundancy on the connectivity layer. It includes use of two Cisco

UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects and two Cisco Nexus 5500 platform switches.


Host Layer

The VMware ESXi hosts have extra power supplies and network connections that help to reduce the number of

failures on VMware ESXi Server components. In addition, the high-availability feature is enabled on the VMware

ESXi cluster, which helps promptly recover virtual desktops if a major host failure occurs.

Overview of Reference Architecture for a Low-Cost Desktop Pool

The reference architecture for a low-cost desktop pool solution includes hardware and software components that

are similar to the components that are used for the NV4V solution on Cisco UCS blade servers for a persistent

desktop pool. The NV4V solution on Cisco UCS blade servers for a low-cost desktop pool includes a single Cisco

UCS C240 M3 Rack Server. When you deploy a stateless desktop pool, data integrity and disaster recovery are

not primary concerns. Therefore, server mirroring is not needed for this solution. The software components

include VMware ESXi clusters for virtual desktops and VMware ESXi clusters for management components such

as Microsoft Active Directory, NV4V Management Appliance, and NexentaVSA for View, which provides a VSA as

well as management functions.

The hardware components include:

Cisco UCS 5100 Series Blade Server Chassis with eight Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade Servers for the

virtual desktops and management components

Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack Server for storage

One Cisco Nexus 5548UP Switch for network access

One Cisco UCS 6248UP fabric interconnect to provide network connectivity and management capabilities

to all Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade Servers in a chassis

One 10 Gigabit Ethernet Intel E10G42BFSR X520-SR2 network card for NFS traffic

Figure 4 shows the NV4V solution on Cisco UCS blade server for a persistent or stateless desktop pool. The

components that are highlighted and enclosed in the red outline represent the tested configuration. The entire

configuration as noted depicts a fully configured Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade chassis with a full complement of

supporting storage on the Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack servers. For this scalable configuration, one Cisco UCS

C240 M3 Rack Server can support up to two Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade Servers. The trade-off of this lower-cost

solution is no storage, switch, or fiber interconnect fault tolerance.


Figure 4: Lower-Cost NV4V Solution on Cisco UCS Blade Servers for a Persistent or Stateless Desktop Pool

Solution Components: Cisco, Storage, and VMware-Based Reference Architecture

Cisco’s desktop virtualization solution binds the following critical elements of an end-to-end deployment:

End user

Network

Data center


It draws on Cisco’s architectural advantage to provide a solution that supports a diversity of endpoint devices,

extends pervasive security and policy management to each virtual desktop, and uses a new and innovative

virtualization-optimized stateless server computing model: Cisco UCS.

Solution Validation

The solution validation includes implementation, testing, and analysis of the obtained results. The solution

validation helps ensure that the reference architecture meets the requirements of the VDI environment.

The following workload generator tools were used to validate the NexentaVSA for View solution on Cisco UCS:

Login VSI

View Planner

IOmeter

Testing Methodology and Results

This section discusses the testing methodology, success criteria, and results.

Testing Methodology and Success Criteria

The testing results focused on the entire process of the virtual desktop lifecycle by capturing metrics during the

desktop boot-up, user logon, and virtual desktop acquisition (also referred to as ramp-up); user workload

execution (also referred to as steady state); and user logoff for the hosted VDI model under test. Test metrics

were gathered from the hypervisor, virtual desktop, storage, and load generation software to assess the overall

success of an individual test cycle. Each test cycle was not considered to have passed unless all the planned test

users completed the ramp-up and steady-state phases (described in the following sections) and unless all metrics

were within the permissible thresholds and noted as success criteria. Three completed test cycles were

conducted for each hardware configuration, and results were found to be relatively consistent from one test to the

next.

Testing Profile Characteristics

Table 1 provides profile characteristics for the testing environment that was used to validate this solution.

Table 1: Profile Characteristics

Profile Characteristic Value

Number of virtual desktops 196

Virtual desktop OS Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise (32-bit)

CPUs per virtual desktop 1 virtual CPU (vCPU)

Number of virtual desktops per CPU core 10

RAM per virtual desktop 1 GB

Average storage available for each virtual desktop 2 GB

Maximum IOPS running IOmeter tests 148.29

Number of data stores used to store linked clones 1

Number of data stores used to store replicas 1


Profile Characteristic Value

Number of deployed virtual desktops per data

store

225

Disk and RAID types for data stores RAID 10

20 x 300-GB 15,000-rpm SAS

2 x 300-GB 15,000-rpm SAS for NexentaStor

1 x 200-GB SSD for log (ZIL)

1 x 200-GB SSD for cache (L2ARC)

Number of VMware clusters 1

Number of VMware ESXi Servers in each cluster 1

Number of virtual desktops in each cluster 1000

Load Generation

In each test environment, load generators were used to simulate a load with multiple users accessing the VMware

View 5 environment and processing a typical end-user workflow. To generate load within the environment, an

auxiliary software application was required to generate the end-user connection to the VMware View environment,

to provide unique user credentials, to initiate the workload, and to evaluate the end-user experience.

In the hosted VDI test environment, session launchers were used simulate a scenario in which multiple users

make direct connections to VMware View 5.

User Workload Simulation: Login VSI from Login Consultants

A critical factor in validating a VMware View desktop deployment is identification of a real-world user workload

that is easy for customers to replicate and is standardized across platforms to allow customers to realistically test

the effects of a variety of worker tasks. To accurately represent a real-world user workload, a third-party tool from

Login Consultants was used throughout the hosted VDI testing.

The tool measures the in-session response time, providing an objective measure of the expected user experience

for individual desktops throughout large-scale testing, including during login storms.

The Login Virtual Session Indexer (Login VSI 3.6) methodology, designed for benchmarking server-based

computing (SBC) and VDI environments, is completely platform and protocol independent and hence allows

customers to easily replicate the testing results in their environments.

Note: The testing described here used the tool to benchmark the VDI environment only.

Login VSI calculates an index based on the number of simultaneous sessions that can be run on a single

machine. It simulates a medium-sized user workload (also known as a knowledge worker workload) running

generic applications such as Microsoft Office 2007 or 2010, Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 8 including Adobe

Flash applets, and Adobe Acrobat Reader.

Note: For the purposes of this test, applications were installed locally, not streamed or hosted on Citrix XenApp.


To simulate real users, the scripted Login VSI session leaves multiple applications open at the same time. The

medium-sized workload is the default workload in Login VSI and was used for this testing. MediumNoFlash is a

workload based on the medium-sized workload with only the Adobe Flash components disabled. Here is a

summary of the testing:

The workload emulated the medium-sized workload of a knowledge worker using Microsoft Office and IE

and PDF files.

After a session was started, the medium-sized workload repeated every 12 minutes.

During each loop, the response time was measured every two minutes.

The medium-sized workload opened up to five applications simultaneously.

The type rate was 160 milliseconds (ms) for each character.

Approximately two minutes of idle time was included to simulate real-world users.

Each loop opened and used:

Microsoft Outlook 2007 or 2010: 10 messages were browsed.

Microsoft IE: One instance was left open (BBC.co.uk), and one instance was browsed to Wired.com,

Lonelyplanet.com, and the heavy 480p Adobe Flash application gettheglass.com (not used with

MediumNoFlash workload).

Microsoft Word 2007 or 2010: One instance was used to measure response time, and one instance was

opened to review and edit a document.

Bullzip PDF Printer and Acrobat Reader: The Microsoft Word document was printed and reviewed as a

PDF file.

Microsoft Excel 2007 or 2010: A very large randomized sheet was opened.

Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 or 2010: A presentation was reviewed and edited.

7-Zip: Using the command line, the output of the session was zipped.

About the Heavy Workload

The heavy workload required more memory and CPU consumption because additional applications ran in the

background.

The heavy workload had these characteristics:

This workload simulated a power user.

This workload was based on a medium-sized workload.

The heavy workload differed from the medium-sized workload as follows:

– Type rate is 130 ms per character.

– Idle time total is only 40 seconds.

The heavy workload opens up to eight applications simultaneously


Metrics

Multiple metrics were captured during each test run, but the success criteria for considering a single test run as

pass or fail was based on these metrics: Login VSI Max, VMware View Planer, and IOmeter.

The Login VSI Max metric evaluates the user response time during increasing user load and assesses the

successful start-to-finish processing of all the initiated virtual desktop sessions.

VMware View Planner is a VMware workload generator that you can use to simulate the workload in your VMware

View environment. VMware View Planner is a tool that helps you determine the size and best characteristics of

VDI deployments. It can be used as an alternative workload simulation tool to compare and validate the results of

the Login VSI test. The VMware View Planner test results can be submitted to the VMware Rapid Desktop

Program.

IOmeter is a workload generator and a storage performance analyzer that you can use to measure the

performance of a single desktop in a desktop pool. IOmeter is an industry-standard I/O subsystem measurement

and characterization tool that is built into the NexentaVSA for View software.

Success Criteria: Login VSI

Application Response Time Measured by VSImax Dynamic

The VSImax Dynamic test simulates the real-world VDI workload by constantly generating application loads that

use computing and storage resources such as CPU, memory, disk capacity, and network bandwidth, through

which the following operations generate the VSImax Dynamic score:

Copying a new document from the document pool in the home drive

Starting Microsoft Word with a document

Opening the File Open dialog box

Starting Notepad

Opening the Print dialog box

Opening the Search and Replace dialog box

Compressing the document into a zip file using the 7-Zip command line

These operations run simultaneously in the VSImax Dynamic test environment. To balance the operations and

simulate a practical workload, you must properly weight the operations to reflect an accurate and practical test

score.

In this test, VSImax Dynamic with a 25-second logon interval was used to establish the benchmark of 196

desktops per Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade Server. VSImax Dynamic takes a sample baseline measure of the Login

VSI sessions and then performs a calculation to determine when the dynamic response-time threshold is reached,

representing the density of the 196 desktops in the test that the server can support without degrading the user

experience.

In the baseline measures, an average response time of less than 4000 ms (4 seconds) was required for a passing

test run. The NexentaVSA for View configuration achieved a 1264-ms baseline response time. In practice, the

baseline response time is typically 1400 to 1800 ms without application virtualization or antivirus software.

Table 2 and Figure 5 show the application response time by VSImax Dynamic for NexentaVSA for View with

Cisco UCS B230 M2 and C240 M3 servers.


For more information about Login VSI, please refer http://www.loginvsi.com/documentation/v3/calculating-vsimax.

Table 2: Sample VSImax Dynamic Response-Time Calculation

Activity Result (MS) Weight (Percent) Weight Result (MS)

Refresh a document (RFS) 24 100% 24

Start Microsoft Word with a

new document (LOAD)

1487 33% 493

Launch the File Open dialog

box (OPEN)

104 100% 104

Start Notepad (NOTEPAD) 33 300% 99

Launch the Print dialog box

(PRINT)

44 200% 88

Launch the Replace dialog

box (FIND)

28 400% 112

Zip the document (ZIP) 172 200% 344

VSImax Dynamic Response Time 1264

Figure 5: VSImax Dynamic Activity

Login VSI Test 1: VSImax Connected for 196 Desktops with Medium-Sized Workload

Test 1 was a Login VSI test using a VSImax Connected parameter for 196 desktops with a medium-sized

workload.

[VSILauncher.ini] - Configuration File for Login VSI Test 1

[Launcher]

Servername=

Username=

Password=

Domain=

CommandPassword=

ConnectionType=Custom

ConnectionNumber=User

http://www.loginvsi.com/documentation/v3/calculating-vsimax


CCL=C:\Program Files\VMware\VMware View\Client\bin\wswc.exe -serverURL 10.0.101.72 -

username Login_VSI%count% -password Q1w2e3r4! -domainname cisco -desktopname CiscoTest -

Standalone -logInAsCurrent False -connectUSBOnStartup False -noninteractive

/novmwareaddins

CSV=

Launchmode=Sequential

PreTestScript=

PostTestScript=

ParallelDelay=10

ParallelTimeframe=1800

InitialStartNumber=1

NumberOfSessions=215

SequentialInterval=25

Fancy_number=1

Autologoff=1

LogoffTimeOut=900

CreateProfile=0

UseLocalLauncher=1

Results

Figure 6 shows the results of a Login VSI test run for a medium-sized workload.

Figure 6: Login VSI Test Results for Medium-Sized Workload

Figure 7 shows the results of a Login VSI test that uses 196 virtual desktop during 2 hours with a medium-sized

workload. The VSImax parameter is 196. The achieved Dynamic VSImax parameter is 4580 with a 1264 baseline,

with an average read latency 0.639 ms (peak of 2 ms) and an average write latency 2.71 ms (peak of 6 ms).

Figure 7 shows CPU utilization during the Login VSI test with a medium-sized workload.

Figure 7: CPU Utilization During the Login VSI Test with a Medium-Sized Workload


Figure 8 shows the data store read/write latency during the Login VSI test with a medium-sized workload.

Figure 8: Data Store (Read/Write Latency) During the Login VSI Test with a Medium-Sized Workload for 196

Desktops

Figure 8 shows the data store latency during the Login VSI test that uses 196 virtual desktop during a 2-hour

period with a medium-sized workload. The achieved read latency was 0.639 ms and the achieved write latency

was 2.711 ms, which is better than the average enterprise-class storage read latency results of 10 to 15 ms.

IOPS Measured by NexentaVSA for View Management Appliance

With traditional storage systems, customers have to manually calculate the required IOPS and then calibrate their

storage appliances without any real-time data from their VDI infrastructure. This theoretical calibration can lead to

guessing, often resulting in higher TCO and added complexity. By deploying local storage on the Cisco UCS

B230 M2 and C240 M3 servers on which the VDI machines are deployed, the integration of NexentaVSA for View

on the Cisco UCS platform enables rapid desktop provisioning using the NV4V Management Appliance. The

NV4V Management Appliance can deploy virtual desktops and associate storage simultaneously from a single

management console. In this case, the joint solution eliminates performance barriers to provide 148.29 IOPS per

user.

The NV4V Management Appliance runs Microsoft SQLIO and IOmeter to measure IOPS for a selected desktop

pool. The IOPS results are displayed in real time through the NexentaVSA for View Management Appliance GUI.

Testing parameters are set at a rigorous standard of 75 percent write operations and 25 percent read operations

for 196 virtual desktops achieved; standard-industry practice is 75 percent read operations and 25 percent write

operations.


Figure 9 shows the NV4V IOmeter test results.

Figure 9: IOPS for 196 Desktops from NV4V IOmeter Benchmarking Tool

Figure 9 shows the results of a NV4V IOmeter benchmark test that uses 196 virtual desktops. The achieved

results were 148.29 IOPS, with 25 percent read operations and 75 percent write operations.

Figure 10 shows the NV4V Bootstorm test results.

Figure 10: Bootstorm for 196 Desktops from NV4V Bootstorm Benchmarking Tool


Figure 10 shows the results of a NV4V Bootstorm benchmark test that uses 196 virtual desktops. The achieved

boot time is 1.71 seconds per desktop, with a total bootstorm 335 seconds.

Login VSI Test 2: Cisco Recommended Number of Desktops for Medium-Sized Workload on Cisco UCS B230 M2

Test 2 was a Login VSI test with 155 desktops with approximately 90 percent CPU utilization.


Servername=

Username=

Password=

Domain=

CommandPassword=






/novmwareaddins

Launchmode=Parallel

PreTestScript=

PostTestScript=

ParallelDelay=10





Fancy_number=1

Autologoff=1

LogoffTimeOut=900

CreateProfile=0

UseLocalLauncher=1

Results

Figure 11 shows the results of a Login VSI test run for a medium-sized workload with approximately 90 percent

CPU utilization.

Figure 11: Login VSI Test Results for Recommended Medium-Sized Workload with 155 Desktops


Figure 11 shows the results of a Login VSI test that uses 155 virtual desktops during 1 hour with a medium-sized

workload. The results showed an achieved 1264 baseline with an average read latency of 1.37 ms (peak of 4 ms)

and an average write latency of 2.48 ms (peak of 14 ms). The VSImax value was not reached due to the low

desktop count and low CPU utilization (approximately 90 percent).

Figure 12 shows CPU utilization during the Login VSI test with a medium-sized workload.

Figure 12: CPU Utilization During the Login VSI Test with a Medium-Sized Workload for 155 Desktops

Figure 13 shows the data store read/write latency during the Login VSI test with a medium-sized workload.

Figure 13: Data Store (Read/Write Latency) During the Login VSI Test with a Medium-Sized Workload for 155

Desktops

Figure 13 shows the data store latency during a Login VSI test that uses 155 virtual desktop during a 2-hour

period with a medium-sized workload. The achieved read latency is 1.372 ms and the achieved write latency is

2.483 ms, which is better than the average enterprise-class storage read latency of 10 to 15 ms.


Figure 14 shows the results of the NV4V IOmeter benchmark test.

Figure 14: IOPS for 155 Desktops from NV4V IOmeter Benchmarking Tool


result is 220.43 IOPS with 25 percent read operations and 75 percent write operations.

Figure 15 shows the NV4V Bootstorm test results.

Figure 15: Bootstorm for 155 Desktops from NV4V Bootstorm Benchmarking Tool


boot time is 2.05 seconds per desktop with a total bootstorm of 318 seconds.


Login VSI Test 3: Heavy Workload

Test 3 was a Login VSI test with 168 desktops with a heavy workload.


Servername=

Username=

Password=

Domain=

CommandPassword=






/novmwareaddins

Launchmode=Parallel

PreTestScript=

PostTestScript=

ParallelDelay=10





Fancy_number=1

Autologoff=1

LogoffTimeOut=900

CreateProfile=0

UseLocalLauncher=1

Results

Figure 16 shows the Login VSI test for a heavy workload.

Figure 16: VSImax Test Results for a Heavy Workload

Figure 16 shows the results of a VSImax test that uses 195 virtual desktops during a 2-hour period with a heavy

workload. The VSImax parameter is 168. The achieved Dynamic VSImax parameter value is 5153 with a 1722

baseline, with an average read latency of 0.69 ms (peak of 4 ms) and an average write latency 3.34 ms (peak of

19 ms).


Figure 17 shows CPU utilization during the Login VSI test with a heavy workload.

Figure 17: CPU Utilization During a Login VSI Test Run with a Heavy Workload for 168 Desktops

Figure 18 shows the data store read/write latency during the Login VSI test with a heavy workload.

Figure 18: Data Store (Read/Write Latency) During the Login VSI Test with a Heavy Workload for 168 Desktops

Figure 18 shows the data store latency during the Login VSI test that uses 168 virtual desktops during a 2-hour

period with a heavy workload. The achieved read latency is 0.694 ms and the achieved write latency is 3.339 ms,

which is better than the average enterprise-class storage read latency of 10 to 15 ms.



Figure 19: IOPS for 168 Desktops from NV4V IOmeter



Figure 20 shows the results of the NV4V Bootstorm benchmark test.

Figure 20: Bootstorm for 168 Desktops




Login VSI Test 4: Recommended Number of Desktops for Heavy Workload

Test 4 was a Login VSI test with 125 desktops with a heavy workload.

[VSILauncher.ini] - Configuration File

Servername=

Username=

Password=

Domain=

CommandPassword=






/novmwareaddins

Launchmode=Parallel

PreTestScript=

PostTestScript=

ParallelDelay=10





Fancy_number=1

Autologoff=1

LogoffTimeOut=900

CreateProfile=0

UseLocalLauncher=1

Figure 21 shows the results of the test.

Figure 21: Login VSI Test Results for Recommended Heavy Workload with 125 Desktops

Figure 21 shows the results of a Login VSI test that uses 125 virtual desktop during a 1-hour period with a heavy

workload. The results showed an achieved baseline of 1264 with an average read latency of 1.40 ms (peak of 3

ms) and an average write latency of 2.19 ms (peak of 5 ms).


Figure 22 shows CPU utilization during the Login VSI test with a heavy workload.

Figure 22: CPU Utilization During the Login VSI Test with a Heavy Workload for 125 Desktops

Figure 23 shows the data store read/write latency during the Login VSI test with a heavy workload.

Figure 23: Data Store (Read/Write Latency) During the Login VSI Test with a Heavy Workload for 125 Desktops

Figure 23 shows the data store latency during a Login VSI test that uses 125 virtual desktop during a 2-hour

period with a heavy workload. The achieved read latency is 1.397 ms and the achieved write latency is 2.192 ms,

which is better than the average enterprise-class storage read latency of 10 to 15 ms.



Figure 24: IOPS for 125 Desktops from NV4V IOmeter



Figure 25 shows the results of the NV4V Bootstorm benchmark test.

Figure 25: Bootstorm Results for 120 Desktops




VMware View Planner Testing

To simulate a medium-sized user workload, the VMware View Planner runs the following applications:

Adobe Reader

Microsoft Excel

Mozilla Firefox

Microsoft Internet Explorer

Microsoft Outlook

Microsoft PowerPoint

Microsoft Word

Video applications

7-Zip

Success Criteria: VMware View Planner

The success of the VMware View Planner test run is determined by the VMware View Planner score. A VMware

View Planner score represents the number of concurrent virtual desktops that participate in a successful test run.

A successful test run must meet the following requirements:

It must run all the standard VMware View Planner applications and no other applications.

The think time must be set to 20 seconds.

It must include at least five iterations (including ramp-up and ramp-down).

At least 95 percent of the application response times during steady-state activity must be 1.5 seconds or

less.

VMware View Planner - Results File

Test Name: CiscoTest2

Test Mode: local

QoS Summary

-----------

Group A : PASSED

The 95th percentile was: 0.742654 seconds

(To pass, this must not be more than 1.5 seconds)

Workload Summary

-----------------

Users: 200

Iterations (Total): 5 (to pass, this must be at least 5)

Iterations (Scored): 3

Workload Status: PASSED


Results

Figure 26 shows the results from the VMware View Planner CPU test.

Figure 26: Results from VMware View Planner CPU Test

Figure 26 shows the results from a VMware View Planner CPU test that ran using 200 desktops during a 6-hour

period with a medium-sized workload. The 95th percentile value for the application response time was 0.742654

second, which is below the defined threshold of 1.5 seconds.

Success Criteria: IOmeter

Figure 27 shows different types of VDI users with their storage performance requirements and IOPS.

Figure 27: Types of VDI Users and Performance Requirements

According to third-party studies, the expected number of IOPS for task users is 4 to 6, for knowledge workers it is

7 to 12, and for power users it is 25 to 50; the average number of IOPS for mobile users is 20.


During the IOmeter test, the results that were achieved compared well with the results that are usually expected

for a power users workload. During the test, with 25 percent read operations and 75 percent write operations, a

total equal to 69,76 IOPS was achieved. Therefore, any available desktops can provide more performance than is

required for power users. Thus, the performance requirements of users with less-demanding workloads are also

met.

IOmeter - Results File

+======================================================================

| Benchmark type: iometer

+======================================================================

Benchmark ID: ec638f8a2fa74b889e0e03d4525d22e7

Started: Sat Sep 29 19:52:29 2012

Finished: Sat Sep 29 21:19:50 2012

Duration: 01h 27m 21s

Benchmark finished successfully.

+======================================================================

| Benchmark parameters

+======================================================================

Desktop pool: /View/10.0.101.72/vCenter/10.0.101.71/Cluster/VDI/DesktopPool/Test2

Number of desktops: 200

Duration: 600 seconds

Reads: 25%

Writes: 75%

+======================================================================

| Environment

+======================================================================

Cluster: VDI

-------------------------------------------------------------------

CPU total: 47920MHz

CPU effective: 44104MHz

Memory total: 511.85GB

Memory effective: 497.69GB

Desktop pool: Test2

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Max Desktops: 215

Min Desktops: 202

Spare Desktops: 1

Alive Desktops: 202

Error Desktops: 0

Desktop template: VDT-WIN7GOLD-LOGINVSI3

-------------------------------------------------------------------

CPU: 1

Memory: 1.00GB

Desktop resource pool: NV4V_VDI_42887362

-------------------------------------------------------------------

CPU limit: unlimited


CPU reservation: 0

Memory limit: unlimited

Memory reservation: 238171

ESX: 10.0.101.35

-------------------------------------------------------------------

Memory: 511.85GB

CPU: 2.23GHz

CPU cores: 20

CPU threads: 40

CPU packages: 2

+======================================================================

| Benchmark results (200 desktops under benchmark)

+======================================================================

Write operations : 52.44 IOPS

Read operations : 17.32 IOPS

Average write bandwidth : 209.7777KB/s

Average read bandwidth : 69.2944KB/s

Write latency : 4.2616 ms

Read latency : 0.5368 ms

+==================================================

| ESX CPU statistics: /View/10.0.101.72/vCenter/10.0.101.71/Cluster/VDI/ESX/10.0.101.35

+==================================================

TIME VALUE

20:00:00 12

20:30:00 12

21:00:00 15


Figure 28 shows the results of VMware View Planner memory utilization during the test run.

Figure 28: Results from the VMware View Planner Memory Utilization Test

Conclusion

Table 3 summarizes the main test results.

Table 3: Summary of Main Test Results

NV4V on Cisco UCS

Performance Focus Tested Maximum Users Per Blade Recommended Users Per Blade

VSImax at 100% CPU Utilization VSImax at 90% CPU Utilization

Workload Heavy

(8 applications)

Medium sized

(4 applications)

Heavy

(8 applications)

Medium sized

(4 applications)

Users density per blade 168 196 125 155

IOPS per desktop 178.26 148.29 270.76 220.43

Boot time per desktop

and with bootstorm

1.94 sec.

325.0 sec.

1.71 sec.

335.0 sec.

1.92 sec.

241 sec.

2.05 sec.

318 sec.

Cisco UCS C240 M3

storage latency with

NV4V

(W = write and R = read)

5.29 ms (W)

2.97 ms (R)

4.78 ms (W)

2.52 ms (R)

2.19 ms (W)

1.40 ms (R)

2.48 ms (W)

1.37 ms (R)


According to the Login VSI test results, the maximum virtual desktop density for a single Cisco UCS B230 M2 with

NexentaVSA for View is 196 virtual desktops.

Table 3 lists the results of the integration of the NV4V software with the Cisco UCS platform. NexentaVSA for

View runs as a virtual storage appliance on the Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade Server that uses the local storage

devices. It then uses them to cache with extremely low latency for write and read buffering. The ZFS file system

that is the core of NexentaVSA for View is intelligent enough to sequentially flush the random I/O data in and out

of the local storage devices. This capability builds on the advantages of the unique Cisco UCS architecture, which

helps ensure quality of service (QoS) and bandwidth integrity for desktop pools and virtualization.

This document also described the reference architecture of the Cisco Desktop Virtualization solution on the Cisco

UCS platform. The architecture includes the NV4V Management Appliance, an integrated application that

provides a deployment wizard that reduces the complexity of the VDI deployment. NexentaVSA for View provides

real-time analytics that enables you to more predictably build out of the VDI infrastructure without compromise.

For More Information

Cisco Validated Design for Desktop Virtualization: http://www.cisco.com/vdidesigns

Login Consultants: http://www.loginvsi.com/documentation/v3/calculating-vsimax

VMware View overview: http://www.vmware.com/products/view/overview.html

NexentaVSA for View hardware reference guide:

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/partners/nexenta/NexentaVSA_VMware_View_HW_Reference_Guide.p

df

Nexenta Systems: http://nexenta.com

Appendix: Bill of Materials for NexentaVSA for View on Cisco UCS

Tables 4, 5, and 6 provide bills of materials for NexentaVSA for View on Cisco UCS.

Table 4: Bill of Materials for Management Server

VMware vSphere 5 Enterprise Management

Hardware Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers Model Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server

OS VMware ESXi 5.0u1 NIC Cisco UCS VIC 1240

CPU 2 x 8 cores; Intel Xeon processors

E5-2665 at 2.4 GHz

RAM 128 GB

Disk 2 x 200-GB SSD

Table 5: Bill of Materials for VDI Host Server

VMware vSphere 5 Enterprise VDI Host

Hardware Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers Model Cisco UCS B230 M2 Blade Server

OS VMware ESXi 5.0u1 NIC Cisco UCS M81KR VIC


E7-2870 at 2.4 GHz

RAM 512 GB

Disk 2 x 200-GB SSD

http://www.cisco.com/vdidesigns

http://www.loginvsi.com/documentation/v3/calculating-vsimax

http://www.vmware.com/products/view/overview.html

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/partners/nexenta/NexentaVSA_VMware_View_HW_Reference_Guide.pdf

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/partners/nexenta/NexentaVSA_VMware_View_HW_Reference_Guide.pdf

http://nexenta.com/


© 2013 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco and the Cisco logo are trademarks or registered

trademarks of Cisco and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. To view a list of Cisco trademarks, go to

this URL: www.cisco.com/go/trademarks. Third-party trademarks mentioned are the property of their respective

owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other

company. (1110R)

© 2008 - 2013 Nexenta Systems, Inc. Nexenta, Nexenta Systems and NexentaStor are all trademarks of

Nexenta Systems. All Rights Reserved.

C11-726772-00 02/13

Table 6: Bill of Materials for NAS Storage Server

VDI Storage Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack Server

Hardware Cisco UCS C-Series Rack Servers Model Cisco UCS C240 M3 Rack Server

OS NV4V 2.0 - NexentaStor NIC Intel X520 dual-port 10 Gbps


E5-2690 at 2.9 GHz

RAM 192 GB

Disk 2 x 200-GB SSD (L2ARC and ZIL) 2 x 300-GB SAS

HDD (OS)

20 x 300-GB SAS 15,000-rpm

HDD (data)

CCDE, CCENT, Cisco Eos, Cisco Lumin, Cisco Nexus, Cisco StadiumVision, Cisco TelePresence, Cisco WebEx,

the Cisco logo, DCE, and Welcome to the Human Network are trademarks; Changing the Way We Work, Live,

Play, and Learn and Cisco Store are service marks; and Access Registrar, Aironet, AsyncOS, Bringing the

Meeting To You, Catalyst, CCDA, CCDP, CCIE, CCIP, CCNA, CCNP, CCSP, CCVP, Cisco, the Cisco Certified

Internetwork Expert logo, Cisco IOS, Cisco Press, Cisco Systems, Cisco Systems Capital, the Cisco Systems

logo, Cisco Unity, Collaboration Without Limitation, EtherFast, EtherSwitch, Event Center, Fast Step, Follow Me

Browsing, FormShare, GigaDrive, HomeLink, Internet Quotient, IOS, iPhone, iQuick Study, IronPort, the IronPort

logo, LightStream, Linksys, MediaTone, MeetingPlace, MeetingPlace Chime Sound, MGX, Networkers,

Networking Academy, Network Registrar, PCNow, PIX, PowerPanels, ProConnect, ScriptShare, SenderBase,

SMARTnet, Spectrum Expert, StackWise, The Fastest Way to Increase Your Internet Quotient, TransPath,

WebEx, and the WebEx logo are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United

States and certain other countries.

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