summary of snapvdi features and performance …...by american megatrends, inc. performance lab...
TRANSCRIPT
by American Megatrends, Inc.
Performance Lab Report &
Architecture Overview
Summary of SnapVDI Features and Performance Testing Using Login VSI
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 2
Table of Contents Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 4
1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 5
2. Desktop Virtualization with SnapVDI® ................................................................................................... 5
2.1. SnapVDI® Components .................................................................................................................. 5
2.1.1. SnapVDI® Manager (SVM) ..................................................................................................... 6
2.1.2. SnapVDI® Spark ...................................................................................................................... 6
2.1.3. SnapVDI® Zero Client ............................................................................................................. 6
2.2. SnapVDI® Reference Architecture ................................................................................................. 7
2.2.1. Overview ............................................................................................................................... 7
2.2.2. Architecture Components ..................................................................................................... 7
2.2.3. Infrastructure ........................................................................................................................ 8
2.2.4. Network Design Considerations ............................................................................................ 8
3. Test Results Summary ........................................................................................................................... 9
4. Test Methodology ............................................................................................................................... 10
4.1. Test Objectives ............................................................................................................................ 10
4.2. Test Tool ...................................................................................................................................... 10
4.2.1. Load Generation.................................................................................................................. 10
4.3. Test Criteria ................................................................................................................................. 10
4.4. Test Configuration ....................................................................................................................... 10
5. Test Results and Analysis .................................................................................................................... 11
5.1. Test Scenarios ............................................................................................................................. 11
5.1.1. Storage IOPS ........................................................................................................................ 12
5.1.2. Personal and Pooled Desktop Solution ............................................................................... 12
5.1.2.1. Login VSI Office Worker Workload User Test ................................................................. 12
5.1.2.2. Boot Storm I/O ................................................................................................................ 12
5.1.2.3. Login Storm I/O ............................................................................................................... 12
5.1.2.4. Steady State I/O Workload for Office Users ................................................................... 12
5.1.3. Pooled Desktop Solution ..................................................................................................... 12
5.1.4. Migration of Virtual Desktops During Failover ................................................................... 13
5.2. Test Results ................................................................................................................................. 13
5.2.1. Storage IOPS ........................................................................................................................ 13
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 3
5.2.2. Pooled and Personal Desktop Solution ............................................................................... 13
5.2.2.1. Login VSI Testing ............................................................................................................. 13
5.2.2.2. Boot Storm I/O ................................................................................................................ 14
5.2.2.3. Login Storm I/O ............................................................................................................... 15
5.2.2.4. Steady State I/O .............................................................................................................. 16
5.2.3. Pooled Desktop Solution ..................................................................................................... 16
5.2.3.1. Login VSI Testing ............................................................................................................. 16
5.2.3.2. Steady State I/O .............................................................................................................. 19
5.2.4. High Availability (HA) .......................................................................................................... 19
6. Configuration ...................................................................................................................................... 19
6.1. Server Configuration ................................................................................................................... 19
6.2. SnapVDI® Configuration .............................................................................................................. 20
6.3. Windows 8.1 Virtual Desktop Configuration .............................................................................. 20
6.4. Login VSI Test Configuration ....................................................................................................... 20
7. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................................... 21
8. References .......................................................................................................................................... 22
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 4
Executive Summary Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) deployments have become increasingly prevalent among companies
and organizations due to VDI’s inherent benefits of enhanced security, manageability, mobility, and
productivity. The turnkey, all-in-one SnapVDI® solution from AMI includes both software and hardware
and is deployed in a matter of hours – allowing users to resolve the cost, complexity, and performance
concerns associated with traditional desktop environments.
SnapVDI® Solution
Characteristics Result
Density 120 Mixed Personal/Pooled desktops on High Availability 150 Pooled desktops on High Availability
Performance Login VSI baseline of 1,473 ms with a VSImax 4.1 average of 2164 ms (VSImax not reached)
This technical white paper describes the SnapVDI® solution with detailed notes on its hardware
components and architecture, including patented SnapVDI® Spark Technology, SnapVDI® Manager
(SVM) and SnapVDI® Zero Client.
The document also demonstrates how a modular virtual desktop environment can be deployed in a
SnapVDI® VDI infrastructure leveraging two SnapVDI® servers in high-availability (HA) mode.
The SnapVDI® solution was validated using Login VSI and Iometer and was able to host 150 pooled
virtual desktops with no compromise in user experience and performance. The solution includes built-in
failover that guarantees high availability with near-zero downtime along with unprecedented boot
storm and login storm performance.
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 5
1. Introduction Virtual Desktop Infrastructure deployments are replacing traditional PC environments in
organizations of all sizes to simplify management, increase security, and reduce overall IT costs. A
centralized installation of client systems through Virtual Machines (VMs) drastically reduces the
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO), as well as the complexity of infrastructure management that
administrators face with individual PCs. In addition, organizations seeking to increase security with a
private cloud can do so with a VDI solution. SnapVDI® is the end-to-end solution from AMI that helps
to realize the benefits of VDI and avoid the many pitfalls of integrating components from numerous
vendors.
2. Desktop Virtualization with SnapVDI® SnapVDI® is a complete VDI solution that scales from tens of users up to thousands. Unlike most VDI
component-based products, SnapVDI® is shipped as a ‘Ready-to-Deploy’ solution that makes
implementing VDI quick and simple. SnapVDI® was architected to leverage the latest virtual desktop
technologies while keeping in mind the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO).
Most virtual desktop implementations fail due to the complexity and high cost associated with the
project. Hundreds of users have shared their desire for VDI, but expressed concerns over the
roadblocks they had experienced during past VDI evaluations. SnapVDI® resolves these common
concerns by delivering a lower cost per user than traditional desktops while providing unparalleled
functionality and performance.
2.1. SnapVDI® Components The SnapVDI® solution includes:
SnapVDI® Manager (SVM), which allows administrators to manage and monitor the entire VDI
environment from a single interface
SnapVDI® Spark™, a highly patented VDI acceleration algorithm that guarantees intelligent
usage of hardware resources to deliver unrivaled performance
SnapVDI® Zero Client, the end user device with proprietary SnapVDI® VUE firmware for
enhanced user experience
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 6
Figure 1 : SnapVDI® Components
2.1.1. SnapVDI® Manager (SVM)
SnapVDI® Manager is the centralized management software that aids in managing the entire VDI
solution. Using this software, an administrator can monitor, manage, and provision all VDI
components - including VM pool creation, deletion, modification, provisioning and management
of users, storage, zero clients and inventory - all from a single local or remote location. In
addition, SnapVDI® Manager enables the administrator to build a private cloud environment to
greatly increase the utility and cost-effectiveness of the VDI solution.
2.1.2. SnapVDI® Spark
The brain of the SnapVDI® architecture, SnapVDI® Spark™ provides intelligent caching and
storage with unprecedented high performance. Spark™ also enables a seamless user experience
with on-the-fly backup and recovery built in. This layer of SnapVDI® empowers Remote Desktop
Services (RDS), giving users an experience identical to that of a local desktop. SnapVDI® Spark™
is designed for scalability and performance with minimal downtime. In fact, all Virtual Machines
(VMs) in the entire VDI environment can be booted up in a matter of seconds.
2.1.3. SnapVDI® Zero Client
SnapVDI® Zero Client is the physical device given to each user to access the Virtual Desktop
Infrastructure. All zero clients, as well as all users, are simply managed through a single point by
SnapVDI® Manager. The SnapVDI Zero Client is a high performance System-On-Chip (SOC) device
that supports Microsoft RDS-based VDI solutions and uses only 7 watts of power at the
maximum. The client can also be integrated on devices to make a portable workstation.
SnapVDI® Zero Client also supports HD graphics (maximum resolution of 1920x1080) for
workstations and graphics oriented applications.
SnapVDI® Zero Client does not require any OS to be installed by the end user as it comes with an
embedded OS pre-installed.
Zero Client manageability, including access to desktops, user privileges, and peripheral device
control, are managed by SVM through user policies. If any unauthorized access to the device is
attempted, the device will be locked by SVM and it can be unlocked only by the administrator
through SVM.
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 7
2.2. SnapVDI® Reference Architecture
2.2.1. Overview
This paper is intended to help customers, IT architects, consultants, and administrators involved
in the early phases of planning, designing, or deploying SnapVDI®-based VDI solutions. The
purpose is to provide a standard, repeatable, and highly scalable design that can be easily
adapted to specific environments and customer requirements.
Some key features that can help an organization get started quickly with a solution that
integrates easily into existing IT processes and procedures include:
Standardized, validated, readily available components
Scalable designs that allow room for future growth
Validated and tested designs that reduce implementation and operational risks
Quick implementation, reduced costs, and minimized risk
2.2.2. Architecture Components
This reference architecture uses common components to minimize support costs and
deployment risks.
The desktop virtualization solution referenced in this whitepaper, the SnapVDI B150 brick,
combines the best of breed of data center, virtualization, and network technologies. The B150
employs the below tabulated hardware and software components:
Component Quantity
Host Hardware 2U SnapVDI® Server (HA) 2
2U SnapVDI® Dual Controller Storage Console 1
Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2630 v4 2
32GB DIMM RAM 48
SAS HBA 2
1TB SAS HDD 16
Network 20 x1Gbps Ports, 4 x10Gbps Ports -
Software Microsoft® Windows Server 2012 R2 Data Center 2 Processors 2
Microsoft® WINENT Software Assurance Pack OLV License 1 YR 1
Microsoft® Windows Remote Desktop Service Cal 1 YR Per User
Microsoft® VDA Single Sub 1 Month Per Device (12 Months) Per User
SnapVDI® Manager 1
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 8
SnapVDI® Spark 1
SnapVDI® User License Per User
Table 1 : Architecture components
2.2.3. Infrastructure
The below reference architectural block diagram represents the logical infrastructure SnapVDI®
solution with the hardware and software components in place.
Figure 2 : Reference Architecture
2.2.4. Network Design Considerations
The figure below shows the network layout of the two host 2U SnapVDI servers. Out of the two
10 Gbps network ports, one is connected to the 10 Gbps port of the network switch and the
other 10 Gbps port is connected in crossover between the two servers assisting in monitoring
heartbeat for the High Availability (HA).
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 9
Figure 3 : Network Consideration
3. Test Results Summary The table below provides the summary of the test results based on testing methods that were used
to demonstrate the performance of SnapVDI® solution (on high-availability). A more in depth
analysis is provided in the testing sections to explain how these results were achieved.
IOMeter Test Summary
VDI load (4KiB 20% Read and 80% Write with 80% random distribution) test for storage IOPS
2,612 IOPS
4KiB 50% Read 50% Write with 100% Sequential distribution test for storage IOPS
12,514 IOPS
Login VSI Test Summary
Test for Personal and Pooled Desktop collection (30 – 70%)
120 user sessions ran successfully VSImax office worker 4.1 not reached with VSIbase of 1621 ms
Test for Pooled Desktop 150 user sessions ran successfully VSImax office worker 4.1 not reached with VSIbase of 1576 ms
High Availability Test Summary
Failover Test All virtual desktops in both simulations were available and running in approx. 15 minutes
Table 2: Test Results Summary
Speed 10 Gbps Speed 10 Gbps for SnapVDI® Heartbeat Speed 1 Gbps
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 10
4. Test Methodology This section outlines the test objectives along with the test tools and criteria used to determine the
maximum number of desktops that can be supported in the environment.
4.1. Test Objectives The test objectives are:
Determine how many virtual desktops can be deployed in this environment using SnapVDI
servers with acceptable user experience indicators for an office user workload profile.
Determine the performance impact on the Spark disk during peak I/O activity such as boot and
login storms.
Determine the time taken for the virtual desktops to migrate from one server to another server
during failover.
4.2. Test Tool The tests were conducted using Login VSI 4.1 as the workload generator and user experience
analyzer tool and Iometer as both workload generator and the measurement tool along with
Windows built-in Performance monitor for IOPS.
Login VSI is the industry standard load testing solution for centralized virtualized desktop
environments. (More information can be found at www.loginvsi.com.)
Iometer is an I/O subsystem measurement and characterization tool for single and clustered
systems. (More information can be found at http://www.iometer.org/)
4.2.1. Load Generation
The “Office worker” workload from Login VSI was used to simulate the user workload. Although
Login VSI provides other workloads, the office worker workload is selected as it focuses on
broad Office and Internet Explorer usage and is designed to run within 1vCPU virtual desktops
which closely resemble the test setup.
VDI workload (4KiB 20% Read and 80% Write with 80% random distribution) and 4KiB 50% Read
and 50% Write with 100% sequential distribution workload is generated in Iometer to get the
IOPS from the disks.
4.3. Test Criteria The primary focus of the test was to determine the maximum number of desktops that can be
supported on SnapVDI servers in high-availability mode while using SnapVDI® Spark and SnapVDI®
Manager. Virtual desktop user experience was also monitored.
4.4. Test Configuration A SnapVDI B150 brick was used in both test scenarios. The desktop (pooled and personal) collections
were configured using the SnapVDI® Manager interface. Each pool was built from a Windows 8.1
base image. The following section explains the desktop pool configuration used for testing.
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 11
Desktop pool configurations
The first configuration was comprised of four Pooled collections with 80 desktops and two
Personal collections with 40 Desktops for 120 combined desktops. The second configuration
was comprised of eight Pooled desktop collections for 152 pooled virtual desktops.
The disk(s) that contained the collection was de-duplicated for storage efficiency.
Six launch systems were used for the mixed Pooled and Personal test, while eight launcher
systems were used in the Pooled only test in Login VSI.
Setup Pooled – 150VMs Pooled/Personal – 120 VMs
Storage Pool 2 Pools with 4 Physical Disks mirrored
Virtual Disk Resiliency
Mirror, 2 Columns, 256 KB Interleave 2 Virtual Disks for three Sparkdisk
Sparkdisk Configuration
Polling Intervals : 0.5ms (write, stream, delete) Processing Window Size : 5000 (write, stream) 1000 (delete)
Collections Pooled – 6 collections of 25 VMs each Pooled/Personal – 4 collections of 20 VMs (Pooled), 2 collections of 20 VMs (Personal)
LoginVSI Pooled – Office worker workload, 2880 seconds as launch window with 8 launchers launching 19 VMs each Pooled/Personal - Office worker workload, 2880 seconds as launch window with 6 launchers launching 20 VMs each
SVM VM Running -- SVM 2027 (RC version)
Operating System for VM
Windows 8.1 running Windows Office 2010 and other Login VSI test suite apps.
VM Details 2 vCPU per user 2GB Dynamic vRAM per user
Server Details HA Server Setup running Server 2012 R2 OS Server configuration:
- 10 Core CPU - 768 GB RAM
5. Test Results and Analysis This section presents the results from the different SnapVDI® characterization tests and the key findings
from each test. The office worker workload represents a majority of the VDI users in the industry today,
and the testing was focused on this workload profile.
5.1. Test Scenarios The following tests were conducted to gather results and analyze the solution:
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 12
5.1.1. Storage IOPS
The typical industry standard IOPS recommended for an office worker is 20 IOPS/user.
Maintaining this limit ensures good user application response times when there are no other
bottlenecks at the infrastructure layer.
5.1.2. Personal and Pooled Desktop Solution
In these tests, the solution is configured with 40 personal desktop collections and with 80
pooled desktop collections and the below test cases are carried out. The intent of this test was
to show that the solution can offer the standard VDI solution configuration of 70% pooled and
30% personal desktop collection. The testing was performed on a SnapVDI B150 brick (two
SnapVDI Servers and a SnapVDI Storage console).
5.1.2.1. Login VSI Office Worker Workload User Test
The Login VSI office worker workload was run for at least for one hour with the standard
recommended launch window setting of 2880 seconds to simulate the real world scenario of
users performing their daily tasks. The VSImax (Dynamic) parameter from Login VSI is used
to evaluate the user experience of a simulated user working on the virtual desktop
throughout this test.
5.1.2.2. Boot Storm I/O
Boot storms represent the worst-case scenario where many virtual desktops are powered
on at the same time and they all contend for the system resources simultaneously. This test
was used to evaluate if the storage array hosting the desktops was capable of handling large
spikes in storage I/O without causing significant impact on user experience and other
services.
5.1.2.3. Login Storm I/O
Login storms also represent a heavy I/O scenario where many users are logging into their
virtual desktops at the beginning of a work day or a shift at the same time. In this test, all of
the desktops were pre-booted and left in an idle state for more than 20 minutes to let their
I/O settle prior to running the Login VSI Office worker workload to simulate users logging
into their virtual desktops.
5.1.2.4. Steady State I/O Workload for Office Users
The test is intended to study the steady state of I/O that is required for the desktops to
perform optimally during the Login VSI office worker workload.
5.1.3. Pooled Desktop Solution
In these tests, the solution is configured with 150 pooled/non-persistent desktop collections
running on a SnapVDI B150 brick (two SnapVDI Servers and a SnapVDI Storage console). The
boot storm, login storm, and steady state tests were repeated for this configuration.
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 13
5.1.4. Migration of Virtual Desktops During Failover
Highly available systems build redundancy into the application and architecture layers to protect
against disasters. Maintaining reliable, recoverable, and continuous operable resources with
minimal downtime ensures a highly redundant system.
5.2. Test Results
5.2.1. Storage IOPS
To study on the storage capacity and capability of the Spark disks, Iometer is made to generate
different workloads and made to run for 20 minutes. Below are the findings from the Iometer
test:
Load Total IOPS
4KiB 50% Read 50% Write with 100% Sequential distribution 12,514
4KiB 50% Read 50% Write with 100% Random distribution 3,414
4KiB 50% Read 50% Write with 50% Sequential and 50% Random distribution 3,948
VDI Load (4KiB 20% Read and 80% Write with 80% random distribution) 2,612
Table 3 : Test results for Storage IOPS
5.2.2. Pooled and Personal Desktop Solution
5.2.2.1. Login VSI Testing
To test the SnapVDI® solution in a real-world scenario, Login VSI was configured with office
user workloads and was made to launch and test 120 VMs for about an hour with launch
window of 2880 seconds across six launchers. Below is the Login VSI user experience graph
and it can be observed that VSI v4 max was not reached – indicating it’s likely that more
desktops are able to run on this system.
(Login VSI is the industry standard load testing solution for centralized virtualized environments.
Enterprise IT departments use Login VSI to test the performance and scalability of VMware Horizon
View, Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp, Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (Terminal Services) or any
other Windows based virtual desktop solution. Login VSI benefits IT organizations in all phases of their
deployment—from capacity planning, to load testing, to change impact prediction--for more
predicable performance, higher availability and a more consistent end user experience.
For more information, download a trial at www.loginvsi.com.)
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 14
Figure 4 : Login VSI Test result for Pooled and Personal desktop solution
5.2.2.2. Boot Storm I/O
To simulate a boot storm, the 120 virtual desktops were started simultaneously from the
management interface. The below figure shows the storage characteristics during the boot
storm – the Spark disk delivered 4,000 IOPS under the peak load during this test at an
average of 18-20 IOPS per VM. All 120 of the virtual desktops were booted up and were
available in about 148 seconds, approximately 1.2 seconds per VM.
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 15
(The mark on the graph represents the time when all 120 VMs booted up.)
Figure 5 : Boot Storm IOPS for Pooled and Personal desktop Solution
5.2.2.3. Login Storm I/O
Login VSI was programmed to launch 120 virtual desktops over a period of about 5 minutes
after pre-booting the virtual desktops. The peak IOPS observed during the login storm was
about 3,350 IOPS at an average of 12-15 IOPS per VM.
0
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2500
3000
3500
4000
4500IO
PS
Duration (secs)
Boot Storm IOPS
Total IOPS Read IOPS Write IOPS
0
500
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Total IOPS Read IOPS Write IOPS
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 16
Figure 6 : Login Storm IOPS for Pooled and Personal desktop Solution
5.2.2.4. Steady State I/O
The average IOPS on the Spark disks during the steady state with all 120 users logged in was
around 1,100 (8-10 IOPS per VM). Of this, the read IOPS accounted for about 330
(approximately 30 % of the total I/O load) and the remaining 770 IOPS or 70% were write
IOPS.
Figure 7 : Steady State IOPS for Pooled and Personal desktop Solution
5.2.3. Pooled Desktop Solution
5.2.3.1. Login VSI Testing
Login VSI testing was carried out with office user workloads and was made to launch and
test 150 VMs for about an hour with launch window of 2880 seconds across eight launchers.
Below is a chart listing the hardware and software components utilized in the test, as well as
a Login VSI user experience graph. It can be observed from the graph that VSI v4 max was
not reached; therefore it’s likely that more desktops are able to run on this system as well.
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 17
Setup 150VMs
Storage Pool 2 Pools with 4 Physical Disks mirrored
Virtual Disk Resiliency
Mirror, 2 Columns, 256 KB Interleave 2 Virtual Disks for three Sparkdisk Pool1 -> vDisk1 Pool2 -> vDisk2 Pool2 -> vDisk1
Sparkdisk 3 disks of 140 GB with write-through and mirroring enabled for Pooled Desktop Collection
Sparkdisk Configuration
Threshold : 495K-500K Polling Intervals : 0.5ms (write, stream, delete) Processing Window Size : 5000 (write, stream) 1000 (delete)
Collections Pooled-6 collections of 25VMs each(2 on each RAM Disk)
Write-through mode
Sparkdisk 1 -> vDisk1 Sparkdisk 2 -> vDisk2 Sparkdisk 3 -> vDisk1
LoginVSI Office worker (1vCPU), 2880 seconds as launch window with 8 launchers launching 19 VMs each
SVM VM Running -- SVM 2027 (RC version)
Operating System for VM
Windows 8.1 running Windows Office 2010 and other Login VSI test suite apps.
VM Details Pooled – 2 vCPU and 2GB Dynamic vRAM per user Personal – 2 vCPU and 4GB Dynamic vRAM per user
Server Details HA Server Setup running Server 2012 R2 OS Server configuration:
- 10 Core CPU per server (2x) - 768 GB RAM per server (2x)
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 18
Figure 8 : Login VSI Test result for Pooled desktop solution
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 19
5.2.3.2. Steady State I/O
The total IOPS on the Spark disks averaged during the steady state with all the 150 users
logged in was approx. 2,100 (14-15 IOPS per VM). Of this, the read IOPS accounted for about
630 (approximately 30 % of the total I/O load) and the remaining 1,470 IOPS or 70% were
write IOPS.
Figure 9 : Steady State IOPS for Pooled desktop Solution
5.2.4. High Availability (HA)
The high availability of the solution is determined by simulating failover. The active server was
shut down properly, keeping all 120 virtual desktops actively running in the mixed user test, as
well as all 150 users in the pooled user test. After the changing of nodes (i.e. the passive node
becoming active), all virtual desktops were available up and running in approximately 15
minutes in both simulations.
6. Configuration
6.1. Server Configuration The 2U SnapVDI® Servers are configured as below:
The server was equipped with two Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2630 v4, 10 cores @ 2.2 GHz,
48x32GB DIMM RAM, two SAS HDDs and one LSI SAS HBA controller.
The SnapVDI® Storage console is populated with 12 SAS HDD and is connected to the server
via the LSI SAS HBA controller.
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 20
The HDDs for the server is RAID1 configured for resiliency and high availability with
Microsoft Windows server 2012 R2 64 bit OS is installed on it.
Remote Desktop Services, Hyper-V and Cluster Manager Roles and Features are installed
alongside SnapVDI® Spark for hosting virtual desktops.
The servers are clustered and the RDS is configured in high availability mode with SnapVDI®
Spark disk mirrored making the solution resilient to disaster.
The media storage in the SnapVDI® Storage Console is advertised storage spaces for the
clustered servers and is primarily used for backing up the contents of the SnapVDI® Spark
disk.
6.2. SnapVDI® Configuration The SnapVDI® Manager is installed on the centralized desktop and is configured to manage the
entire solution from a single point. The Create Desktop collection in the SnapVDI® Manager was
used to create the virtual desktop collection.
6.3. Windows 8.1 Virtual Desktop Configuration Following the guideline from Login VSI, the Windows 8.1 base image was generated based on
the below generic template with the following properties:
SnapVDI® Host Agent 2.0
Two virtual CPU
Dynamic RAM, 4GB for Personal virtual desktop and 2 GB for Pooled virtual desktop
30 GB virtual hard drive
One virtual NIC connected to the VDI network
Windows 8.1 64 bit OS with the latest guest additions installed
6.4. Login VSI Test Configuration Login VSI is an industry-standard solution that simulates typical user behavior in centralized
virtualized desktop environments. When used for benchmarking, the software measures the total
response time of several specific user operations being performed within a desktop workload in a
scripted loop. The baseline is the measurement of the response time of specific operations
performed in the desktop workload, which is measured in milliseconds (ms).
There are two values in particular that are important to note: VSIbase and VSImax.
1. VSIbase
A score reflecting the response time of specific operations performed in the desktop workload
when there is little or no stress on the system. A low baseline indicates a better user experience,
resulting in applications responding faster in the environment
2. VSImax
The maximum number of desktop sessions attainable on the host before experiencing
degradation in host and desktop performance
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 21
Based on the Login VSI guideline, this reference architecture uses the below logical infrastructure for
using Login VSI and testing the desktops using Login VSI.
Figure 10 : Login VSI test configuration
7. Conclusion The SnapVDI® solution serves as an entry point for SMBs to migrate from the conventional desktop
architecture to a more affordable and manageable virtual desktop infrastructure.
The results in the document demonstrate how a modular office worker virtual desktop environment can
be deployed using SnapVDI® Manager. Extensive workload, operations, and resiliency testing shows that
the SnapVDI® solution delivers high levels of performance, a great end-user experience, and solid
system resiliency, all at a low price point with failover built-in. Organizations can leverage this modular
VDI solution to start small and then grow as needed with zero disruption.
Copyright © 2016 | American Megatrends Inc. | Technical White Paper 22
8. References 1. Login VSI documentation - http://www.loginvsi.com/documentation/Login_VSI
2. IOMETER - http://www.iometer.org/
3. Performance Data collection and IOPS collection through Microsoft counters -
http://blogs.technet.com/b/askpfeplat/archive/2013/09/23/using-powershell-to-gather-
performance-data.aspx and https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh849685.aspx
4. Super Micro Servers datasheet and reference -
http://www.supermicro.com/products/chassis/2U/829/SC829BTQ-R920W.cfm
5. VDI workload - https://community.atlantiscomputing.com/blog/Atlantis/August-2013/How-to-use-
Iometer-to-Simulate-a-Desktop-Workload.aspx
Login VSI, Inc. delivers industry-standard testing solutions for virtualized desktop and server environments. The
world’s leading virtualization vendors use the flagship product, Login VSI, to benchmark the performance and
scalability of their solutions. Enterprise IT departments use Login VSI in all phases of their virtual desktop
deployment—from capacity planning, to load testing, to change impact prediction—for more predictable
performance, higher availability and a more consistent end user experience. With minimal configuration, Login VSI
works in VMware Horizon View, Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp, Microsoft Remote Desktop Services (Terminal
Services) and any other Windows-based virtual desktop solution.
For more information, download a trial at www.loginvsi.com.
Login VSI bears no responsibility for this publication in any way and cannot be held liable for any damages following from or related to any information in this publication or any conclusions that may be drawn from it.