Cisco Desktop Virtualization Solution for EMC
VSPEX with Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 for 1000
Seats
July 2014
Building Architectures to Solve Business Problems
About Cisco Validated Design (CVD) Program
The CVD program consists of systems and solutions designed, tested, and documented to
facilitate faster, more reliable, and more predictable customer deployments. For more information
visit www.cisco.com/go/designzone.
ALL DESIGNS, SPECIFICATIONS, STATEMENTS, INFORMATION, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
(COLLECTIVELY, "DESIGNS") IN THIS MANUAL ARE PRESENTED "AS IS," WITH ALL FAULTS.
CISCO AND ITS SUPPLIERS DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION,
THE WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND
NONINFRINGEMENT OR ARISING FROM A COURSE OF DEALING, USAGE, OR TRADE PRACTICE.
IN NO EVENT SHALL CISCO OR ITS SUPPLIERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, SPECIAL,
CONSEQUENTIAL, OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, LOST
PROFITS OR LOSS OR DAMAGE TO DATA ARISING OUT OF THE USE OR INABILITY TO USE THE
DESIGNS, EVEN IF CISCO OR ITS SUPPLIERS HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF
SUCH DAMAGES.
THE DESIGNS ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. USERS ARE SOLELY
RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR APPLICATION OF THE DESIGNS. THE DESIGNS DO NOT
CONSTITUTE THE TECHNICAL OR OTHER PROFESSIONAL ADVICE OF CISCO, ITS SUPPLIERS
OR PARTNERS. USERS SHOULD CONSULT THEIR OWN TECHNICAL ADVISORS BEFORE
IMPLEMENTING THE DESIGNS. RESULTS MAY VARY DEPENDING ON FACTORS NOT TESTED
BY CISCO.
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, Ci sco,
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 ot her countries.
All other trademarks mentioned in this document or website are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word pa rtner does
not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. (0809R)
© 2014 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved
Contents
About the Authors ......................................................................................................................................................... 9
Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................................... 9
Overview ..................................................................................................................................................................... 10
Solution Component Benefits ................................................................................................................................. 10
Benefits of Cisco Unified Computing System .................................................................................................... 10
Benefits of Cisco Nexus Physical Switching ...................................................................................................... 11
Cisco Nexus 5548UP Unified Port Layer 2 Switches ......................................................................................... 11
Cisco Nexus 1000V Distributed Virtual Switch ................................................................................................. 11
Cisco Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX) ........................................................................................... 12
Benefits of EMC VSPEX Proven Infrastructure ................................................................................................. 12
EMC VSPEX End User Computing with the Next-Generation VNX Series .......................................................... 13
Flash-Optimized Hybrid Array ........................................................................................................................... 13
VNX Intel MCx Code Path Optimization ........................................................................................................... 13
Benefits of VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5 .............................................................................................................. 15
Benefits of Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 ...................................................................................................................... 15
Audience ................................................................................................................................................................. 16
Summary of Main Findings ......................................................................................................................................... 16
Architecture ................................................................................................................................................................. 17
Hardware Deployed................................................................................................................................................. 17
Logical Architecture ........................................................................................................................................... 20
Software Revisions ............................................................................................................................................. 21
Configuration Guidelines .................................................................................................................................... 21
VMware Clusters ................................................................................................................................................ 22
Infrastructure Components .......................................................................................................................................... 23
Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS)................................................................................................................ 23
Cisco Unified Computing System Components ................................................................................................. 23
Citrix XenDesktop 7.5............................................................................................................................................. 27
Enhancements in XenDesktop 7.5 ...................................................................................................................... 27
High-Definition User Experience (HDX) Technology ....................................................................................... 29
Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 Desktop and Application Services ................................................................................. 29
Citrix Provisioning Services 7.1 ......................................................................................................................... 30
EMC VNX Series .................................................................................................................................................... 31
EMC VNX5400 Used in Testing ........................................................................................................................ 31
Modular Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Technical Overview................................................................................. 33
Modular Architecture .......................................................................................................................................... 33
Cisco Data Center Infrastructure for Desktop Virtualization .................................................................................. 34
Simplified ........................................................................................................................................................... 35
Secure ................................................................................................................................................................. 35
Scalable ............................................................................................................................................................... 35
Savings and Success ........................................................................................................................................... 35
Cisco Services ..................................................................................................................................................... 36
Cisco Networking Infrastructure......................................................................................................................... 36
Features and Benefits .......................................................................................................................................... 37
Architecture and Design of XenDesktop 7.5 on Cisco Unified Computing System and EMC VNX Storage Design
Fundamentals .......................................................................................................................................................... 37
Understanding Applications and Data ................................................................................................................ 38
Project Planning and Solution Sizing Sample Questions .................................................................................... 38
Hypervisor Selection........................................................................................................................................... 39
Desktop Virtualization Design Fundamentals ......................................................................................................... 39
Citrix Design Fundamentals ............................................................................................................................... 39
Citrix Provisioning Services ............................................................................................................................... 40
Example XenDesktop Deployments ................................................................................................................... 42
Designing a XenDesktop Environment for a Mixed Workload .......................................................................... 44
Citrix Unified Design Fundamentals .................................................................................................................. 45
Storage Architecture Design ................................................................................................................................... 46
Solution Validation ...................................................................................................................................................... 46
Configuration Topology for a Scalable XenDesktop 7.5 Mixed Workload Desktop Virtualization Solution ........ 47
Cisco Unified Computing System Configuration .................................................................................................... 48
Base Cisco UCS System Configuration .............................................................................................................. 48
QoS and CoS in Cisco Unified Computing System ............................................................................................ 80
System Class Configuration ................................................................................................................................ 80
Cisco UCS System Class Configuration ............................................................................................................. 81
The Steps to Enable QOS on the Cisco Unified Computing System .................................................................. 81
LAN Configuration ................................................................................................................................................. 82
Cisco UCS and EMC VNX Ethernet Connectivity ............................................................................................. 82
Cisco Nexus 1000V Configuration in L3 Mode ................................................................................................. 83
Configuring Cisco UCS VM-FEX ...................................................................................................................... 98
SAN Configuration ............................................................................................................................................... 109
Boot from SAN Benefits ................................................................................................................................... 109
Configuring Boot from SAN Overview ............................................................................................................ 110
SAN Configuration on Cisco Nexus 5548UP ................................................................................................... 110
Configuring Boot from iSCSI SAN on EMC VNX5400 .................................................................................. 113
iSCSI SAN Configuration on Cisco UCS Manager .......................................................................................... 117
EMC VNX5400 Storage Configuration ................................................................................................................ 117
Example EMC Volume Configuration for PVS Write Cache ........................................................................... 118
EMC Storage Configuration for PVS vDisks ................................................................................................... 119
EMC Storage Configuration for VMWare ESXi 5.5 Infrastructure and VDA Clusters ................................... 119
Example EMC Boot LUN Configuration ......................................................................................................... 119
EMC FAST Cache in Practice .......................................................................................................................... 120
EMC Additional Configuration Information .................................................................................................... 122
NFS active threads per Data Mover .................................................................................................................. 122
Installing and Configuring ESXi 5.5 ..................................................................................................................... 123
Log in to Cisco UCS 6200 Fabric Interconnect ................................................................................................ 123
Set Up VMware ESXi Installation .................................................................................................................... 124
Install ESXi ....................................................................................................................................................... 124
Set Up Management Networking for ESXi Hosts ............................................................................................ 124
Download VMware vSphere Client and vSphere Remote CLI ........................................................................ 125
Log in to VMware ESXi Hosts by Using VMware vSphere Client .................................................................. 125
Download Updated Cisco VIC enic and fnic Drivers ....................................................................................... 125
Download EMC PowerPath/VE Driver and VAAI plug-in for File ................................................................. 126
Load Updated Cisco VIC enic and fnic Drivers and EMC Bundles ................................................................. 126
Set Up VMkernel Ports and Virtual Switch ...................................................................................................... 127
Mount Required Datastores .............................................................................................................................. 131
Configure NTP on ESXi Hosts ......................................................................................................................... 132
Move VM Swap File Location ......................................................................................................................... 132
Install and Configure vCenter and Clusters........................................................................................................... 132
Build Microsoft SQL Server VM...................................................................................................................... 133
Install Microsoft SQL Server 2012 for vCenter ................................................................................................ 134
Build and Set Up VMware vCenter VM ........................................................................................................... 140
Install VMware vCenter Server ........................................................................................................................ 143
Set Up ESXi 5.5 Cluster Configuration ............................................................................................................ 147
Installing and Configuring Citrix Licensing and Provisioning Components......................................................... 149
Installing Citrix License Server ........................................................................................................................ 149
Installing Provisioning Services ....................................................................................................................... 153
Installation of Additional PVS Servers ............................................................................................................. 171
Installing and Configuring XenDesktop 7.5 Components ..................................................................................... 177
Installing the XenDesktop Delivery Controllers ............................................................................................... 177
XenDesktop Controller Configuration .............................................................................................................. 182
Additional XenDesktop Controller Configuration ............................................................................................ 187
Adding Host Connections and Resources with Citrix Studio ........................................................................... 190
Installing and Configuring StoreFront .............................................................................................................. 192
Desktop Delivery Golden Image Creation and Resource Provisioning ..................................................................... 201
Overview of Desktop Delivery.............................................................................................................................. 201
Overview of PVS vDisk Image Management ................................................................................................... 202
Overview – Golden Image Creation ................................................................................................................. 202
Write-cache drive sizing and placement ........................................................................................................... 203
Preparing the Master Targets ................................................................................................................................ 203
Installing the PVS Target Device Software ...................................................................................................... 204
Installing XenDesktop Virtual Desktop Agents ................................................................................................ 208
Installing Applications on the Master Targets .................................................................................................. 212
Creating vDisks ..................................................................................................................................................... 214
Creating Desktops with the PVS XenDesktop Setup Wizard ............................................................................... 219
Creating Delivery Groups ..................................................................................................................................... 227
Citrix XenDesktop Policies and Profile Management ........................................................................................... 230
Configuring Citrix XenDesktop Policies .......................................................................................................... 230
Configuring User Profile Management ............................................................................................................. 231
Test Setup and Configurations................................................................................................................................... 232
Cisco UCS Test Configuration for Single Blade Scalability ................................................................................. 233
Cisco UCS Configuration for Two Chassis – Eight Mixed Workload Blade Test 1000 Users ............................. 235
Testing Methodology and Success Criteria ........................................................................................................... 236
Load Generation ............................................................................................................................................... 236
User Workload Simulation – LoginVSI From Login VSI Inc. ........................................................................ 236
Testing Procedure ............................................................................................................................................. 238
Success Criteria................................................................................................................................................. 239
Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 Hosted Virtual Desktop and RDS Hosted Shared Desktop Mixed Workload on Cisco UCS
B200 M3 Blades, EMC VNX5400 Storage and VMware ESXi 5.5 Test Results ..................................................... 243
Single-Server Recommended Maximum Workload.............................................................................................. 244
XenDesktop 7.5 Hosted Virtual Desktop Single Server Maximum Recommended Workload ........................ 244
XenDesktop 7.5 RDS Hosted Shared Desktop Single Server Maximum Recommended Workload................ 247
Full Scale Mixed Workload XenDesktop 7.5 Hosted Virtual and RDS Hosted Shared Desktops ........................ 249
Key EMC VNX5400 Performance Metrics During Scale Testing ................................................................... 253
Performance Result ........................................................................................................................................... 254
Citrix PVS Workload Characteristics.................................................................................................................... 254
Key Infrastructure Server Performance Metrics During Scale Testing ................................................................. 255
Scalability Considerations and Guidelines ................................................................................................................ 268
Cisco UCS System Scalability .............................................................................................................................. 268
Scalability of Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 Configuration ............................................................................................. 268
EMC VNX5400 storage guidelines for Mixed Desktops Virtualization workload ............................................... 269
References ................................................................................................................................................................. 269
Cisco Reference Documents ................................................................................................................................. 269
Citrix Reference Documents ................................................................................................................................. 269
EMC References ................................................................................................................................................... 270
VMware References .............................................................................................................................................. 270
Login VSI .............................................................................................................................................................. 270
Appendix A–Cisco Nexus 5548UP Configurations .................................................................................................. 271
Appendix B–Cisco Nexus 1000V VSM Configuration ............................................................................................. 281
Appendix C–Server Performance Charts for Mixed Workload Scale Test Run ........................................................ 284
About the Authors
Frank Anderson, Senior Solutions Architect, Cisco Systems, Inc.
Frank is Senior Solutions Architect, focusing on building and testing desktop virtualization solutions with partners.
Frank has been involved with creating VDI-based Cisco Validated Designs since 2010 with over 17 years of
experience working with Citrix and Microsoft products holding various roles as an Administrator, Consultant, Sales
Engineer, Testing Engineer, TME, and Solutions Architect.
Mike Brennan, Cisco Unified Computing System Architect, Cisco Systems, Inc.
Mike is a Cisco Unified Computing System architect, focusing on Virtual Desktop Infrastructure solutions with
extensive experience with EMC VNX, VMware ESX/ESXi, XenDesktop and Provisioning Services. He has expert
product knowledge in application and desktop virtualization across all three major hypervisor platforms, both major
desktop brokers, Microsoft Windows Active Directory, User Profile Management, DNS, DHCP and Cisco
networking technologies.
Ka-kit Wong, Solutions Engineer, Strategic Solutions Engineering, EMC
Ka-Kit Wong is a solutions engineer for desktop virtualization in EMC’s Strategic Solutions Engineering group,
where he focuses on developing End User Computing (EUC) validated solutions. He has been at EMC for more than
13 years, and his roles have included systems, performance and solutions testing in various positions. He holds a
Master of Science degree in computer science from Vanderbilt University.
Acknowledgements
Hardik Patel, Technical Marketing Engineer, Cisco Systems, Inc.
Cisco Desktop Virtualization Solution for EMC
VSPEX with Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 for 1000
Seats
Overview
This document provides a Reference Architecture for a 1000-Seat Virtual Desktop Infrastructure using Citrix
XenDesktop 7.5 built on Cisco UCS B200-M3 blades with an EMC VNX5400 and the VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
hypervisor platform.
The landscape of desktop virtualization is changing constantly. New, high performance Cisco UCS Blade Servers
and Cisco UCS unified fabric combined as part of the EMC VSPEX Proven Infrastructure with the latest generation
EMC VNX arrays result in a more compact, more powerful, more reliable and more efficient platform.
In addition, the advances in the Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 system, which now incorporates both traditional hosted
virtual Windows 7 or Windows 8 desktops, hosted applications and hosted shared Server 2008 R2 or Server 2012
R2 server desktops (formerly delivered by Citrix XenApp,) provide unparalleled scale and management simplicity
while extending the Citrix HDX FlexCast models to additional mobile devices
This document provides the architecture and design of a virtual desktop infrastructure for 1000 mixed use-case
users. The infrastructure is 100% virtualized on VMware ESXi 5.5 with third-generation Cisco UCS B-Services
B200 M3 blade servers booting via iSCSI from an EMC VNX5400 storage array. The virtual desktops are powered
using Citrix Provisioning Server 7.1 and Citrix XenDesktop 7.5, with a mix of hosted shared desktops (70%) and
pooled hosted virtual Windows 7 desktops (30%) to support the user population. Where applicable, the document
provides best practice recommendations and sizing guidelines for customer deployments of XenDesktop 7.5 on the
Cisco Unified Computing System.
Solution Component Benefits
Each of the components of the overall solution materially contributes to the value of functional design contained in
this document.
Benefits of Cisco Unified Computing System
Cisco Unified Computing System™ is the first converged data center platform that combines industry-standard,
x86-architecture servers with networking and storage access into a single converged system. The system is entirely
programmable using unified, model-based management to simplify and speed deployment of enterprise-class
applications and services running in bare-metal, virtualized, and cloud computing environments.
Benefits of the Cisco Unified Computing System include:
Architectural flexibility




Cisco B-Series blade servers for infrastructure and virtual workload hosting
Cisco C-Series rack-mount servers for infrastructure and virtual workload Hosting
Cisco 6200 Series second generation fabric interconnects provide unified blade, network and storage
connectivity
Cisco 5108 Blade Chassis provide the perfect environment for multi-server type, multi-purpose workloads
in a single containment
Infrastructure Simplicity

Converged, simplified architecture drives increased IT productivity



Cisco UCS management results in flexible, agile, high performance, self-integrating information
technology with faster ROI
Fabric Extender technology reduces the number of system components to purchase, configure and maintain
Standards-based, high bandwidth, low latency virtualization-aware unified fabric delivers high density,
excellent virtual desktop user-experience
Business Agility




Model-based management means faster deployment of new capacity for rapid and accurate scalability
Scale up to 20 Chassis and up to 160 blades in a single Cisco UCS management domain
Scale to multiple Cisco UCS Domains with Cisco UCS Central within and across data centers globally
Leverage Cisco UCS Management Packs for VMware vCenter 5.1 for integrated management
Benefits of Cisco Nexus Physical Switching
The Cisco Nexus product family includes lines of physical unified port layer 2, 10 GB switches, fabric extenders,
and virtual distributed switching technologies. In our study, we utilized Cisco Nexus 5548UP physical switches,
Cisco Nexus 1000V distributed virtual switches and Cisco VM-FEX technology to deliver amazing end user
experience.
Cisco Nexus 5548UP Unified Port Layer 2 Switches
The Cisco Nexus 5548UP Switch delivers innovative architectural flexibility, infrastructure simplicity, and business
agility, with support for networking standards. For traditional, virtualized, unified, and high-performance computing
(HPC) environments, it offers a long list of IT and business advantages, including:
Architectural Flexibility



Unified ports that support traditional Ethernet, Fiber Channel (FC), and Fiber Channel over Ethernet
(ISCSI)
Synchronizes system clocks with accuracy of less than one microsecond, based on IEEE 1588
Offers converged Fabric extensibility, based on emerging standard IEEE 802.1BR, with Fabric Extender
(FEX) Technology portfolio, including the Nexus 1000V Virtual Distributed Switch
Infrastructure Simplicity





Common high-density, high-performance, data-center-class, fixed-form-factor platform
Consolidates LAN and storage
Supports any transport over an Ethernet-based fabric, including Layer 2 and Layer 3 traffic
Supports storage traffic, including iSCSI, NAS, FC, RoE, and IBoE
Reduces management points with FEX Technology
Business Agility



Meets diverse data center deployments on one platform
Provides rapid migration and transition for traditional and evolving technologies
Offers performance and scalability to meet growing business needs
Specifications At-a -Glance




A 1 -rack-unit, 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet switch
32 fixed Unified Ports on base chassis and one expansion slot totaling 48 ports
The slot can support any of the three modules: Unified Ports, 1/2/4/8 native Fiber Channel, and Ethernet or
ISCSI
Throughput of up to 960 Gbps.
Cisco Nexus 1000V Distributed Virtual Switch
Get highly secure, multitenant services by adding virtualization intelligence to your data center network with the
Cisco Nexus 1000V Switch for VMware vSphere. This switch:



Extends the network edge to the hypervisor and virtual machines
Is built to scale for cloud networks
Forms the foundation of virtual network overlays for the Cisco Open Network Environment and Software
Defined Networking (SDN)
Important differentiators for the Cisco Nexus 1000V for VMware vSphere include:






Extensive virtual network services built on Cisco advanced service insertion and routing technology
Support for vCloud Director and vSphere hypervisor
Feature and management consistency for easy integration with the physical infrastructure
Exceptional policy and control features for comprehensive networking functionality
Policy management and control by the networking team instead of the server virtualization team
(separation of duties)
Use Virtual Networking Services
The Cisco Nexus 1000V Switch optimizes the use of Layer 4 - 7 virtual networking services in virtual machine and
cloud environments through Cisco vPath architecture services.
Cisco vPath 2.0 supports service chaining so you can use multiple virtual network services as part of a single traffic
flow. For example, you can simply specify the network policy, and vPath 2.0 can direct traffic:


First, through the Cisco ASA1000V Cloud Firewall for tenant edge security
Then, through the Cisco Virtual Security Gateway for Nexus 1000V Switch for a zoning firewall
In addition, Cisco vPath works on VXLAN to support movement between servers in different Layer 2 domains.
Together, these features promote highly secure policy, application, and service delivery in the cloud.
Cisco Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX)
Cisco Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX) collapses virtual and physical networking into a single
infrastructure. Data center administrators can now provision, configure, manage, monitor, and diagnose virtual
machine network traffic and bare metal network traffic within a unified infrastructure.
The VM-FEX software extends Cisco fabric extender technology to the virtual machine with the following
capabilities:



Each virtual machine includes a dedicated interface on the parent switch
All virtual machine traffic is sent directly to the dedicated interface on the switch
The software-based switch in the hypervisor is eliminated
Benefits of EMC VSPEX Proven Infrastructure
VSPEX Proven Infrasture accelerates deployment of provate cloud. Built with best-of-breed virtualization, server,
network, storage and backup, VSPEX enables faster deployment, more simplicity, greater choice, higher efficiency,
and lower risk. Validation by EMC ensures predictable performance and enables customers to select product that
leverages their existing IT infrastructure while eliminating planning, sizing, and configuration burdens. VSPEX
provides a virtual infrastructure for customers looking to gain simplicity that is characteristic of truly converged
infrastructures while at the same time gaining more choice in individual stack components.
As part of the EMC VSPEX End User Computing solution, the EMC VNX flash-optimized unified storage platform
delivers innovation and enterprise capabilities for file, block, and object storage in a single, scalable, and easy-to-use
solution. Ideal for mixed workloads in physical or virtual environments, VNX combines powerful and flexible
hardware with advanced efficiency, management, and protection software to meet the demanding needs of today’s
virtualized application environments.
VNX storage includes the following components:


Host adapter ports (for block)—Provide host connectivity through fabric into the array.
Data Movers (for file)—Front-end appliances that provide file services to hosts (optional if providing
CIFS/SMB or NFS services).


Storage processors (SPs)—The compute component of the storage array. SPs handle all aspects of data
moving into, out of, and between arrays.
Disk drives—Disk spindles and solid state drives (SSDs) that contain the host/application data and their
enclosures.
The term Data Mover refers to a VNX hardware component, which has a CPU, memory, and
input/output (I/O) ports. It enables the CIFS (SMB) and NFS protocols on the VNX array.
EMC VSPEX End User Computing with the Next-Generation
VNX Series
Next-generation VNX includes many features and enhancements designed and built upon the first generation’s
success. These features and enhancements include:





More capacity with multicore optimization with multicore cache, multicore RAID, and multicore FAST
Cache (MCx™)
Greater efficiency with a flash-optimized hybrid array
Better protection by increasing application availability with active/active
Easier administration and deployment with the new Unisphere® Management Suite
VSPEX is built with next-generation VNX to deliver even greater efficiency, performance, and scale than
ever before.
Flash-Optimized Hybrid Array
VNX is a flash-optimized hybrid array that provides automated tiering to deliver the best performance to your
critical data, while intelligently moving less frequently accessed data to lower-cost disks.
In this hybrid approach, a small percentage of flash drives in the overall system can provide a high percentage of the
overall IOPS. Flash-optimized VNX takes full advantage of the low latency of flash to deliver cost-saving
optimization and high performance scalability. EMC Fully Automated Storage Tiering Suite (FAST Cache and
FAST VP) tiers both block and file data across heterogeneous drives and boosts the most active data to the flash
drives, ensuring that customers never have to make concessions for cost or performance.
Data generally is accessed most frequently at the time it is created; therefore, new data is first stored on flash drives
to provide the best performance. As the data ages and becomes less active over time, FAST VP tiers the data from
high-performance to high-capacity drives automatically, based on customer-defined policies. This functionality has
been enhanced with four times better granularity and with new FAST VP solid-state disks (SSDs) based on
enterprise multilevel cell (eMLC) technology to lower the cost per gigabyte.
FAST Cache uses flash drives as an expanded cache layer for the array to dynamically absorb unpredicted spikes in
system workloads. Frequently accessed data is copied to the FAST Cache in 64 KB increments. Subsequent reads
and/or writes to the data chunk are serviced by FAST Cache. This enables immediate promotion of very active data
to flash drives. This dramatically improves the response times for the active data and reduces data hot spots that can
occur within the LUN.
All VSPEX use cases benefit from the increased efficiency provided by the FAST Suite. Furthermore, VNX
provides out-of-band, block-based deduplication that can dramatically lower the costs of the flash tier.
VNX Intel MCx Code Path Optimization
The advent of flash technology has been a catalyst in making significant changes in the requirements of midrange
storage systems. EMC redesigned the midrange storage platform to efficiently optimize multicore CPUs to provide
the highest performing storage system at the lowest cost in the market.
MCx distributes all VNX data services across all cores (up to 32), as shown in Figure 1. Figure 1: The VNX series
with MCx has dramatically improved the file performance for transactional applications like databases or virtual
machines over network-attached storage (NAS).
Figure 1:
Next-generation VNX with multicore optimization
Multicore Cache
The cache is the most valuable asset in the storage subsystem; its efficient use is the key to the overall efficiency of
the platform in handling variable and changing workloads. The cache engine has been modularized to take
advantage of all the cores available in the system.
Multicore RAID
Another important improvement to the MCx design is how it handles I/O to the permanent back-end storage—hard
disk drives (HDDs) and SSDs. The modularization of the back-end data management processing, which enables
MCx to seamlessly scale across all processors, greatly increases the performance of the VNX system.
Performance Enhancements
VNX storage, enabled with the MCx architecture, is optimized for FLASH 1st and provides unprecedented overall
performance; it optimizes transaction performance (cost per IOPS), bandwidth performance (cost per GB/s) with
low latency, and capacity efficiency (cost per GB).
VNX provides the following performance improvements:




Up to four times more file transactions when compared with dual controller arrays
Increased file performance for transactional applications (for example, Microsoft Exchange on VMware
over NFS) by up to three times, with a 60 percent better response time
Up to four times more Oracle and Microsoft SQL Server OLTP transactions
Up to six times more virtual machines
Active/Active Array Storage Processors
The new VNX architecture provides active/active array storage processors, as shown in Figure 2: , which eliminate
application timeouts during path failover because both paths are actively serving I/O.
Figure 2:
Active/active processors increase performance, resiliency, and efficiency
Load balancing is also improved, providing up to double the performance for applications. Active/active for block is
ideal for applications that require the highest levels of availability and performance, but do not require tiering or
efficiency services like compression, deduplication, or snapshot.
Note: The active/active processors are available only for RAID LUNs, not for pool LUNs.
Benefits of VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere® 5.5 is the latest release of the flagship virtualization platform from VMware. VMware vSphere,
known in many circles as "ESXi", for the name of the underlying hypervisor architecture, is a bare-metal hypervisor
that installs directly on top of your physical server and partitions it into multiple virtual machines. Each virtual
machine shares the same physical resources as the other virtual machines and they can all run at the same time.
Unlike other hypervisors, all management functionality of vSphere is possible through remote management tools.
There is no underlying operating system, reducing the install footprint to less than 150MB.
Here are some key features included with vSphere 5.5:








Improved Security
Extensive Logging and Auditing
Enhanced vMotion
New Virtual Hardware
Active Directory Integration
Centralized Management
Stateless Firewall
Centralized Management of Host Image and Configuration via Auto Deploy.
For more information on the vSphere ESXi hypervisor, go to:
http://www.vmware.com/products/esxi-and-esx/overview.html
Benefits of Citrix XenDesktop 7.5
Enterprise IT organizations are tasked with the challenge of provisioning Microsoft Windows apps and desktops
while managing cost, centralizing control, and enforcing corporate security policy. Deploying Windows apps to
users in any location, regardless of the device type and available network bandwidth, enables a mobile workforce
that can improve productivity. With Citrix XenDesktop™ 7.5, IT can effectively control app and desktop
provisioning while securing data assets and lowering capital and operating expenses.
The XenDesktop™ 7.5 release offers these benefits:

Comprehensive virtual desktop delivery for any use case. The XenDesktop 7.5 release incorporates the
full power of XenApp, delivering full desktops or just applications to users. Administrators can deploy both



XenApp published applications and desktops (to maximize IT control at low cost) or personalized VDI
desktops (with simplified image management) from the same management console. Citrix XenDesktop 7.5
leverages common policies and cohesive tools to govern both infrastructure resources and user access.
Simplified support and choice of BYO (Bring Your Own) devices. XenDesktop 7.5 brings thousands of
corporate Microsoft Windows-based applications to mobile devices with a native-touch experience and
optimized performance. HDX technologies create a “high definition” user experience, even for graphicsintensive design and engineering applications.
Lower cost and complexity of application and desktop management. XenDesktop 7.5 helps IT
organizations take advantage of agile and cost-effective cloud offerings, allowing the virtualized
infrastructure to flex and meet seasonal demands or the need for sudden capacity changes. IT organizations
can deploy XenDesktop application and desktop workloads to private or public clouds, including Amazon
AWS, Citrix Cloud Platform, and (in the near future) Microsoft Azure.
Protection of sensitive information through centralization. XenDesktop decreases the risk of corporate
data loss, enabling access while securing intellectual property and centralizing applications since assets
reside in the datacenter.
Audience
This document describes the architecture and deployment procedures of an infrastructure comprised of Cisco, EMC,
and VMware hypervisor and Citrix desktop virtualization products. The intended audience of this document
includes, but is not limited to, sales engineers, field consultants, professional services, IT managers, partner
engineering, and customers who want to deploy the solution described in this document.
Summary of Main Findings
The combination of technologies from Cisco Systems, Inc., Citrix Systems, Inc., EMC, and VMware Inc. produced
a highly efficient, robust and affordable desktop virtualization solution for a hosted virtual desktop and hosted
shared desktop mixed deployment supporting different use cases. Key components of the solution included:






This solution is Cisco’s Desktop Virtualization Converged Design with VSPEX providing our customers
with a turnkey physical and virtual infrastructure specifically designed to support 1000 desktop users in a
highly available proven design. This architecture is well suited for large departmental and enterprise
deployments of virtual desktop infrastructure.
More power, same size. Cisco UCS B200 M3 half-width blade with dual 10-core 2.8 GHz Intel Xeon Ivy
Bridge (E5-2680v2) processors and 384GB of memory for XenDesktop hosted virtual desktop hosts and
256GB of memory for XenDesktop hosted shared desktop hosts supports ~25% more virtual desktop
workloads than the previously released Sandy Bridge processors on the same hardware. The Intel Xeon E52680 v2 10-core processors used in this study provided a balance between increased per-blade capacity and
cost.
Fault-tolerance with high availability built into the design. The 1000-user design is based on using two
Unified Computing System chassis with eight B200 M3 blades for virtualized desktop workloads and two
B200 M3 blades for virtualized infrastructure workloads. The design provides N+1 Server fault tolerance
for hosted virtual desktops, hosted shared desktops and infrastructure services.
Stress-tested to the limits during aggressive boot scenario. The 1000-user mixed hosted virtual desktop and
hosted shared desktop environment booted and registered with the XenDesktop 7.5 Delivery Controllers in
under 15 minutes, providing our customers with an extremely fast, reliable cold-start desktop virtualization
system.
Stress-tested to the limits during simulated login storms. All 1000 simulated users logged in and started
running workloads up to steady state in 30-minutes without overwhelming the processors, exhausting
memory or exhausting the storage subsystems, providing customers with a desktop virtualization system
that can easily handle the most demanding login and startup storms.
Ultra-condensed computing for the datacenter. The rack space required to support the 1000-user system is
less than a single rack, 34 rack units, conserving valuable data center floor space.











Pure Virtualization: This CVD presents a validated design that is 100% virtualized on VMware ESXi 5.5.
All of the virtual desktops, user data, profiles, and supporting infrastructure components, including Active
Directory, Provisioning Servers, SQL Servers, XenDesktop Delivery Controllers, and XenDesktop RDS
(XenApp) servers were hosted as virtual machines. This provides customers with complete flexibility for
maintenance and capacity additions because the entire system runs on the VSPEX converged infrastructure
with stateless Cisco UCS Blade servers, and EMC unified storage.
Cisco maintains industry leadership with the new Cisco UCS Manager 2.2(1d) software that simplifies
scaling, guarantees consistency, and eases maintenance. Cisco’s ongoing development efforts with Cisco
UCS Manager, Cisco UCS Central, and Cisco UCS Director insure that customer environments are
consistent locally, across UCS Domains and across the globe, our software suite offers increasingly
simplified operational and deployment management and it continues to widen the span of control for
customer organizations’ subject matter experts in compute, storage and network.
Our 10G unified fabric story gets additional validation on second generation 6200 Series Fabric
Interconnects as Cisco runs more challenging workload testing, while maintaining unsurpassed user
response times.
EMC VNX and the FAST suite provide industry-leading storage solutions that efficiently handle the most
demanding IO bursts (e.g. login storms), profile management, and user data management, provide VM
backup and restores, deliver simple and flexible business continuance, and help reduce storage cost per
desktop.
EMC VNX provides comprehensive storage architecture for hosting all user data components (VMs,
profiles, user data, vDisks and PXE boot images) on the same storage array.
EMC VNX system enables seamlessly add, upgrade or remove storage infrastructure to meet the needs of
the virtual desktops.
EMC Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) plugin for VMware has deep integration with VMware vSphere
provides easy button automation for key storage tasks like datastore provisioning, storage resize, data
deduplication, etc. directly from within vCenter server.
EMC PowerPath/VE combines multiple path I/O capabilities, automatic load balancing, and path failover
functions into one integrated package
Latest and greatest virtual desktop and application product. Citrix XenDesktop™ 7.5 follows a new unified
product architecture that supports both hosted-shared desktops and applications (RDS) and complete virtual
desktops (VDI). This new XenDesktop release simplifies tasks associated with large-scale VDI
management. This modular solution supports seamless delivery of Windows apps and desktops as the
number of users increase. In addition, HDX enhancements help to optimize performance and improve the
user experience across a variety of endpoint device types, from workstations to mobile devices including
laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
Optimized to achieve the best possible performance and scale. For hosted shared desktop sessions, the best
performance was achieved when the number of vCPUs assigned to the XenDesktop 7.5 RDS virtual
machines did not exceed the number of hyper-threaded cores available on the server. In other words,
maximum performance is obtained when not overcommitting the CPU resources for the virtual machines
running RDS.
Provisioning desktop machines made easy. Citrix Provisioning Services 7.1 created hosted virtual desktops
as well as hosted shared desktops for this solution using a single method for both, the “PVS XenDesktop
Setup Wizard”.
Architecture
Hardware Deployed
The architecture deployed is highly modular. While each customer’s environment might vary in its exact
configuration, once the reference architecture contained in this document is built, it can easily be scaled as
requirements and demands change. This includes scaling both up (adding additional resources within a Cisco UCS
Domain) and out (adding additional Cisco UCS Domains and EMC VNX Storage arrays).
The 1000-user XenDesktop 7.5 solution includes Cisco networking, Cisco UCS and EMC VNX storage, which fits
into a single data center rack, including the access layer network switches.
This validated design document details the deployment of the 1000-user configuration for a mixed XenDesktop
workload featuring the following software:










Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 Pooled Hosted Virtual Desktops with PVS write cache on NFS storage
Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 Shared Hosted Virtual Desktops with PVS write cache on NFS storage
Citrix Provisioning Server 7.1
Citrix User Profile Manager
Citrix StoreFront 2.1
Cisco Nexus 1000V Distributed Virtual Switch
Cisco Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX)
VMware vSphere ESXi 5.5 Hypervisor
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 and Windows 7 32-bit virtual machine Operating Systems
Microsoft SQL Server 2012 SP1
Figure 3:
Workload Architecture
The workload contains the following hardware as shown in Figure 3:








Two Cisco Nexus 5548UP Layer 2 Access Switches
Two Cisco UCS 6248UP Series Fabric Interconnects
Two Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis with two 2204XP IO Modules per chassis
Three Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade servers with Intel E5-2680v2 processors, 384GB RAM, and VIC1240
mezzanine cards for the 300 hosted Windows 7 virtual desktop workloads with N+1 server fault tolerance.
Five Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade servers with Intel E5-2680v2 processors, 256 GB RAM, and VIC1240
mezzanine cards for the 700 hosted shared Windows Server 2012 server desktop workloads with N+1
server fault tolerance.
Two Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade servers with Intel E5-2650 processors, 128 GB RAM, and VIC1240
mezzanine cards for the infrastructure virtualized workloads
EMC VNX5400 dual controller storage system, 4 disk shelves, 10GE ports for iSCSI and NFS/CIFS
connectivity respectively.
(Not Shown) One Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis with 3 UCS B200 M3 Blade servers with Intel
E5-2650 processors, 128 GB RAM, and VIC1240 mezzanine cards for the Login VSI launcher
infrastructure
The EMC VNX5400 disk shelf configurations are detailed in section EMC VNX Series later in this document.
Logical Architecture
The logical architecture of the validated is designed to support 1000 users within two chassis and fourteen blades,
which provides physical redundancy for the chassis and blade servers for each workload.
Figure 4: outlines the logical architecture of the test environment.
Figure 4:
Logical Architecture Overview
Table 1. outlines all the servers in the configurations.
Table 1.
Infrastructure Architecture
Server Name
Location
Purpose
vSphere1
Physical – Chassis 1
Windows 2012 Datacenter VMs ESXi 5.5 host
(Infrastructure Guests)
vSphere4,5
Physical – Chassis 1
XenDesktop 7.5 RDS ESXi 5.5 Hosts
vSphere 2,3
Physical – Chassis 1
XenDesktop 7.5 HVD ESXi 5.5 Host
vSphere 9
Physical – Chassis 2
Windows 2012 Datacenter VMs ESXi 5.1 host
(Infrastructure Guests)
vSphere 11,12,13
Physical – Chassis 2
XenDesktop 7.5 RDS ESXi 5.5 Hosts
vSphere 10
Physical – Chassis 2
XenDesktop 7.5 HVD ESXi 5.5 Hosts
AD
Virtual – vsphere1
Active Directory Domain Controller
XDC1
Virtual – vsphere1
XenDesktop 7.5 controller
PVS1
Virtual – vsphere1
Provisioning Services 7.1 streaming server
VCENTER
Virtual – vsphere1
vCenter 5.5 Server
StoreFront1
Virtual – vsphere1
StoreFront Services server
SQL
Virtual – vsphere1
SQL Server (clustered)
XenVSM_Primary
Virtual – vsphere1
Nexus 1000-V VSM HA node
LIC
Virtual – vsphere1
XenDesktop 7.5 License server
N1KV-VSM-1
Virtual – vsphere1
Nexus 1000-V VSM HA primary node
AD1
Virtual – vsphere9
Active Directory Domain Controller
XDC2
Virtual – vsphere9
XenDesktop 7.5 controller
PVS2
Virtual – vsphere9
Provisioning Services 7.1 streaming server
StoreFront2
Virtual – vsphere9
StoreFront Services server
SQL2
Virtual – vsphere9
SQL Server (clustered)
N1KV-VSM-1
Virtual – vsphere9
Nexus 1000-V VSM HA backup node
Software Revisions
This section includes the software versions of the primary products installed in the environment.
Table 2.
Software Revisions
Vendor
Product
Version
Cisco
UCS Component Firmware
2.2(1d)
Cisco
UCS Manager
2.2(1d)
Cisco
Nexus 1000V for vSphere
4.2.1SV2.2.
Citrix
XenDesktop
7.5.0.4531
Citrix
Provisioning Services
7.1.0.4022
Citrix
StoreFront Services
2.5.0.29
VMware
vCenter
5.5.0 Build 1476327
VMware
vSphere ESXi 5.5
5.5.0 Build 1331820
EMC
VAAI Plugin
1.0-11
EMC
Power Path for VMware
5.9 SP1 Build 011
EMC
VNX Block Operating System
05.33.000.5.051
EMC
VNX File Operating System
8.1.2-51
Configuration Guidelines
The 1000 User Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 solution described in this document provides details for configuring a fully
redundant, highly-available configuration. Configuration guidelines are provided that refer to which redundant
component is being configured with each step, whether that be A or B. For example Nexus A and Nexus B identify
the pair of Cisco Nexus switches that are configured. The Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnects are configured similarly.
This document is intended to allow the reader to configure the Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 customer environment as
stand-alone solution.
VLAN
The VLAN configuration recommended for the environment includes a total of seven VLANs as outlined in the
table below.
Table 3.
VLAN Configuration

VLAN Name

VLAN ID

Use

Default

1

Native VLAN

VM-Network

272

Virtual Machine Network, NFS, CIFS

MGMT-OB

517

Out of Band Management Network

MGMT-IB

516

In Band Management Network

iSCSI-a

275

IP Storage VLAN for Boot

iSCSI-b

276

IP Storage VLAN for Boot

vMOTION

273

vMotion
VMware Clusters
We utilized four VMware Clusters in two data centers to support the solution and testing environment:
CVSPEX-DT


XenDesktop RDS Clusters (Windows Server 2012 R2 hosted shared desktops)
XenDesktop Hosted Virtual Desktop Cluster (Windows 7 SP1 32-bit pooled virtual desktops)
CVSPEX-INF


Figure 5:
Citrix VSPEX Desktop Data Center
Citrix VSPEX Infrastructure and Launcher Data Center
Infrastructure Cluster (vCenter, Active Directory, DNS, DHCP, SQL Clusters, XenDesktop Controllers,
Provisioning Servers, and Nexus 1000V Virtual Switch Manager appliances, etc.)
Launcher Cluster (The Login Consultants Login VSI launcher infrastructure was hosted on the same Cisco
UCS Domain sharing switching, but running on separate storage.)
vCenter Data Centers and Clusters Deployed
Infrastructure Components
This section describes the infrastructure components used in the solution outlined in this study.
Cisco Unified Computing System (UCS)
Cisco Unified Computing System is a set of pre-integrated data center components that comprises blade servers,
adapters, fabric interconnects, and extenders that are integrated under a common embedded management system.
This approach results in far fewer system components and much better manageability, operational efficiencies, and
flexibility than comparable data center platforms.
Cisco Unified Computing System Components
Cisco UCS components are shown in Figure 6: .
Figure 6:
Cisco Unified Computing System Components
The Cisco UCS is designed from the ground up to be programmable and self integrating. A server’s entire hardware
stack, ranging from server firmware and settings to network profiles, is configured through model-based
management. With Cisco virtual interface cards, even the number and type of I/O interfaces is programmed
dynamically, making every server ready to power any workload at any time.
With model-based management, administrators manipulate a model of a desired system configuration, associate a
model’s service profile with hardware resources and the system configures itself to match the model. This
automation speeds provisioning and workload migration with accurate and rapid scalability. The result is increased
IT staff productivity, improved compliance, and reduced risk of failures due to inconsistent configurations.
Cisco Fabric Extender technology reduces the number of system components to purchase, configure, manage, and
maintain by condensing three network layers into one. It eliminates both blade server and hypervisor-based switches
by connecting fabric interconnect ports directly to individual blade servers and virtual machines. Virtual networks
are now managed exactly as physical networks are, but with massive scalability. This represents a radical
simplification over traditional systems, reducing capital and operating costs while increasing business agility,
simplifying and speeding deployment, and improving performance.
Fabric Interconnect
Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnects create a unified network fabric throughout the Cisco UCS. They provide uniform
access to both networks and storage, eliminating the barriers to deploying a fully virtualized environment based on a
flexible, programmable pool of resources.
Cisco Fabric Interconnects comprise a family of line-rate, low-latency, lossless 10-GE, Cisco Data Center Ethernet,
and FCoE interconnect switches. Based on the same switching technology as the Cisco Nexus 5000 Series, Cisco
UCS 6000 Series Fabric Interconnects provide the additional features and management capabilities that make them
the central nervous system of Cisco UCS.
The Cisco UCS Manager software runs inside the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnects. The Cisco UCS 6000 Series
Fabric Interconnects expand the UCS networking portfolio and offer higher capacity, higher port density, and lower
power consumption. These interconnects provide the management and communication backbone for the Cisco UCS
B-Series Blades and Cisco UCS Blade Server Chassis.
All chassis and all blades that are attached to the Fabric Interconnects are part of a single, highly available
management domain. By supporting unified fabric, the Cisco UCS 6200 Series provides the flexibility to support
LAN and SAN connectivity for all blades within its domain right at configuration time. Typically deployed in
redundant pairs, the Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect provides uniform access to both networks and storage,
facilitating a fully virtualized environment.
The Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect family is currently comprised of the Cisco 6100 Series and Cisco 6200 Series of
Fabric Interconnects.
Cisco UCS 6248UP 48-Port Fabric Interconnect
The Cisco UCS 6248UP 48-Port Fabric Interconnect is a 1 RU, 10-GE, Cisco Data Center Ethernet, FCoE
interconnect providing more than 1Tbps throughput with low latency. It has 32 fixed ports of Fibre Channel, 10-GE,
Cisco Data Center Ethernet, and FCoE SFP+ ports.
One expansion module slot can be up to sixteen additional ports of Fibre Channel, 10-GE, Cisco Data Center
Ethernet, and FCoE SFP+.
Note: Cisco UCS 6248UP 48-Port Fabric Interconnects were used in this study.
Cisco UCS 2200 Series IO Module
The Cisco UCS 2100/2200 Series FEX multiplexes and forwards all traffic from blade servers in a chassis to a
parent Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect over from 10-Gbps unified fabric links. All traffic, even traffic between
blades on the same chassis, or VMs on the same blade, is forwarded to the parent interconnect, where network
profiles are managed efficiently and effectively by the Fabric Interconnect. At the core of the Cisco UCS Fabric
Extender are ASIC processors developed by Cisco that multiplex all traffic.
Note: Up to two fabric extenders can be placed in a blade chassis.
Cisco UCS 2104 has eight 10GBASE-KR connections to the blade chassis mid-plane, with one connection per
fabric extender for each of the chassis’ eight half slots. This gives each half-slot blade server access to each of two
10-Gbps unified fabric-based networks via SFP+ sockets for both throughput and redundancy. It has 4 ports
connecting up the fabric interconnect.
Cisco UCS 2208 has thirty-two 10GBASE-KR connections to the blade chassis midplane, with one connection per
fabric extender for each of the chassis’ eight half slots. This gives each half-slot blade server access to each of two
4x10-Gbps unified fabric-based networks via SFP+ sockets for both throughput and redundancy. It has 8 ports
connecting up the fabric interconnect.
Note: Cisco UCS 2208 fabric extenders were utilized in this study.
Cisco UCS Chassis
The Cisco UCS 5108 Series Blade Server Chassis is a 6 RU blade chassis that will accept up to eight half-width
Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers or up to four full-width Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers, or a combination of
the two. The Cisco UCS 5108 Series Blade Server Chassis can accept four redundant power supplies with automatic
load-sharing and failover and two Cisco UCS (either 2100 or 2200 series ) Fabric Extenders. The chassis is managed
by Cisco UCS Chassis Management Controllers, which are mounted in the Cisco UCS Fabric Extenders and work in
conjunction with the Cisco UCS Manager to control the chassis and its components.
A single Cisco UCS managed domain can theoretically scale to up to 40 individual chassis and 320 blade servers. At
this time Cisco supports up to 20 individual chassis and 160 blade servers.
Basing the I/O infrastructure on a 10-Gbps unified network fabric allows the Cisco UCS to have a streamlined
chassis with a simple yet comprehensive set of I/O options. The result is a chassis that has only five basic
components:





The physical chassis with passive midplane and active environmental monitoring circuitry
Four power supply bays with power entry in the rear, and hot-swappable power supply units accessible
from the front panel
Eight hot-swappable fan trays, each with two fans
Two fabric extender slots accessible from the back panel
Eight blade server slots accessible from the front panel
Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server
Cisco UCS B200 M3 is a third generation half-slot, two-socket Blade Server. The Cisco UCS B200 M3 harnesses
the power of the latest Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 v2 product family, with up to 768 GB of RAM (using 32GB
DIMMs), two optional SAS/SATA/SSD disk drives, and up to dual 4x 10 Gigabit Ethernet throughput, utilizing our
VIC 1240 LAN on motherboard (LOM) design. The Cisco UCS B200 M3 further extends the capabilities of Cisco
UCS by delivering new levels of manageability, performance, energy efficiency, reliability, security, and I/O
bandwidth for enterprise-class virtualization and other mainstream data center workloads.
In addition, customers who initially purchased Cisco UCS B200 M3 blade servers with Intel E5-2600 series
processors, can field upgrade their blades to the second generation E5-2600 processors, providing increased
processor capacity and providing investment protection
Figure 7:
Cisco UCS B200 M3 Server
Cisco UCS VIC1240 Converged Network Adapter
A Cisco® innovation, the Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card (VIC) 1240 (Figure 1) is a 4-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet,
Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)-capable modular LAN on motherboard (mLOM) designed exclusively for the
M3 generation of Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers. When used in combination with an optional Port Expander,
the Cisco UCS VIC 1240 capabilities can be expanded to eight ports of 10 Gigabit Ethernet.
The Cisco UCS VIC 1240 enables a policy-based, stateless, agile server infrastructure that can present up to 256
PCIe standards-compliant interfaces to the host that can be dynamically configured as either network interface cards
(NICs) or host bus adapters (HBAs). In addition, the Cisco UCS VIC 1240 supports Cisco Data Center Virtual
Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX) technology, which extends the Cisco UCS fabric interconnect ports to virtual
machines, simplifying server virtualization deployment.
Figure 8:
Cisco UCS VIC 1240 Converged Network Adapter
Figure 9:
The Cisco UCS VIC1240 virtual interface cards deployed in the Cisco UCS B-Series B200 M3 blade servers
Citrix XenDesktop 7.5
Enhancements in XenDesktop 7.5
Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 includes significant enhancements to help customers deliver Windows apps and desktops as
mobile services while addressing management complexity and associated costs. Enhancements in this release
include:







Unified product architecture for XenApp and XenDesktop—the FlexCast Management Architecture
(FMA). This release supplies a single set of administrative interfaces to deliver both hosted-shared
applications (RDS) and complete virtual desktops (VDI). Unlike earlier releases that separately provisioned
Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop farms, the XenDesktop 7.5 release allows administrators to deploy a single
infrastructure and use a consistent set of tools to manage mixed application and desktop workloads.
Support for extending deployments to the cloud. This release provides the ability for hybrid cloud
provisioning from Amazon Web Services (AWS) or any Cloud Platform-powered public or private cloud.
Cloud deployments are configured, managed, and monitored through the same administrative consoles as
deployments on traditional on-premises infrastructure.
Enhanced HDX technologies. Since mobile technologies and devices are increasingly prevalent, Citrix has
engineered new and improved HDX technologies to improve the user experience for hosted Windows apps
and desktops.
A new version of StoreFront. The StoreFront 2.5 release provides a single, simple, and consistent
aggregation point for all user services. Administrators can publish apps, desktops, and data services to
StoreFront, from which users can search and subscribe to services.
Remote power control for physical PCs. Remote PC access supports “Wake on LAN” that adds the ability
to power on physical PCs remotely. This allows users to keep PCs powered off when not in use to conserve
energy and reduce costs.
Full AppDNA support. AppDNA provides automated analysis of applications for Windows platforms and
suitability for application virtualization through App-V, XenApp, or XenDesktop. Full AppDNA
functionality is available in some editions.
Additional virtualization resource support. As in this Cisco Validated Design, administrators can configure
connections to VMware vSphere 5.5 hypervisors.
FlexCast Management Architecture
In Citrix XenDesktop 7.5, FlexCast Management Architecture (FMA) technology is responsible for delivering and
managing hosted-shared RDS apps and complete VDI desktops. By using Citrix Receiver with XenDesktop 7.5,
users have access to a device-native experience on a variety of endpoints, including Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS,
Android, ChromeOS, and Blackberry devices.
Figure 10:








Key Components in a typical deployment
Director — Director is a web-based tool that enables IT support and help desk teams to monitor an
environment, troubleshoot issues before they become system-critical, and perform support tasks for end
users.
Receiver — Installed on user devices, Citrix Receiver provides users with quick, secure, self-service access
to documents, applications, and desktops. Receiver provides on-demand access to Windows, Web, and
Software as a Service (SaaS) applications.
StoreFront — StoreFront authenticates users to sites hosting resources and manages stores of desktops and
applications that users can access.
Studio — Studio is the management console to set up the environment, create workloads to host
applications and desktops, and assign applications and desktops to users.
License server —At least one license server is needed to store and manage license files.
Delivery Controller — Installed on servers in the data center, the Delivery Controller consists of services
that communicate with the hypervisor to distribute applications and desktops, authenticate and manage user
access, and broker connections between users and their virtual desktops and applications. The Controller
manages the desktop state, starting and stopping them based on demand and administrative configuration.
Each XenDesktop site has one or more Delivery Controllers.
Hypervisor —Hypervisor technology is used to provide an enterprise-class virtual machine infrastructure
that is the foundation for delivering virtual applications and desktops. Citrix XenDesktop is hypervisoragnostic and can be deployed with Citrix XenServer, Microsoft Hyper-V, or VMware vSphere. For this
CVD, the hypervisor used was VMware ESXi 5.5.
Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA) — Installed on server or workstation operating systems, the VDA enables
connections for desktops and apps. For Remote PC Access, install the VDA on the office PC.




Machine Creation Services (MCS) — A collection of services that work together to create virtual servers
and desktops from a master image on demand, optimizing storage utilization and providing a pristine
virtual machine to users every time they log on. Machine Creation Services is fully integrated and
administrated in Citrix Studio.
Windows Server OS machines — These are VMs or physical machines based on Windows Server
operating system used for delivering applications or hosted shared desktops to users.
Desktop OS machines — These are VMs or physical machines based on Windows Desktop operating
system used for delivering personalized desktops to users, or applications from desktop operating systems.
Remote PC Access — User devices that are included on a whitelist, enabling users to access resources on
their office PCs remotely, from any device running Citrix Receiver.
In addition, Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS) technology is responsible for streaming a shared virtual disk (vDisk)
image to the configured Server OS or Desktop OS machines. This streaming capability allows VMs to be
provisioned and re-provisioned in real-time from a single image, eliminating the need to patch individual systems
and conserving storage. All patching is done in one place and then streamed at boot-up. PVS supports image
management for both RDS and VDI-based machines, including support for image snapshots and rollbacks.
High-Definition User Experience (HDX) Technology
High-Definition User Experience (HDX) technology in this release is optimized to improve the user experience for
hosted Windows apps on mobile devices. Specific enhancements include:



HDX Mobile™ technology, designed to cope with the variability and packet loss inherent in today’s mobile
networks. HDX technology supports deep compression and redirection, taking advantage of advanced
codec acceleration and an industry-leading H.264-based compression algorithm. The technology enables
dramatic improvements in frame rates while requiring significantly less bandwidth. Real-time multimedia
transcoding improves the delivery of Windows Media content (even in extreme network conditions). HDX
technology offers a rich multimedia experience and optimized performance for voice and video
collaborations.
HDX Touch technology enables mobile navigation capabilities similar to native apps, without rewrites or
porting of existing Windows applications. Optimizations support native menu controls, multi-touch
gestures, and intelligent sensing of text-entry fields, providing a native application look and feel.
HDX 3D Pro uses advanced server-side GPU resources for compression and rendering of the latest
OpenGL and DirectX professional graphics apps. GPU support includes both dedicated user and shared
user workloads. In this release, HDX 3D Pro has been upgraded to support Windows 8.
Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 Desktop and Application Services
IT departments strive to deliver application services to a broad range of enterprise users that have varying
performance, personalization, and mobility requirements. Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 allows IT to configure and deliver
any type of virtual desktop or app, hosted or local, and optimize delivery to meet individual user requirements, while
simplifying operations, securing data, and reducing costs.
Figure 11:
XenDesktop Single Infrastructure
As illustrated in Figure 11: , the XenDesktop 7.5 release allows administrators to create a single infrastructure that
supports multiple modes of service delivery, including:




Application Virtualization and Hosting (through XenApp). Applications are installed on or streamed to
Windows servers in the data center and remotely displayed to users’ desktops and devices.
Hosted Shared Desktops (RDS). Multiple user sessions share a single, locked-down Windows Server
environment running in the datacenter and accessing a core set of apps. This model of service delivery is
ideal for task workers using low intensity applications, and enables more desktops per host compared to
VDI.
Pooled VDI Desktops. This approach leverages a single desktop OS image to create multiple thinly
provisioned or streamed desktops. Optionally, desktops can be configured with a Personal vDisk to
maintain user application, profile and data differences that are not part of the base image. This approach
replaces the need for dedicated desktops, and is generally deployed to address the desktop needs of
knowledge workers that run more intensive application workloads.
VM Hosted Apps (16 bit, 32 bit, or 64 bit Windows apps). Applications are hosted on virtual desktops
running Windows 7, XP, or Vista and then remotely displayed to users’ physical or virtual desktops and
devices.
This CVD focuses on delivering a mixed workload consisting of hosted shared desktops (HSD based on RDS) and
hosted virtual desktops (VDI).
Citrix Provisioning Services 7.1
A significant advantage to service delivery through RDS and VDI is how these technologies simplify desktop
administration and management. Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS) takes the approach of streaming a single shared
virtual disk (vDisk) image rather than provisioning and distributing multiple OS image copies across multiple virtual
machines. One advantage of this approach is that it constrains the number of disk images that must be managed,
even as the number of desktops grows, ensuring image consistency. At the same time, using a single shared image
(rather than hundreds or thousands of desktop images) significantly reduces the required storage footprint and
dramatically simplifies image management.
Since there is a single master image, patch management is simple and reliable. All patching is done on the master
image, which is then streamed as needed. When an updated image is ready for production, the administrator simply
reboots to deploy the new image. Rolling back to a previous image is done in the same manner. Local hard disk
drives in user systems can be used for runtime data caching or, in some scenarios, removed entirely, lowering power
usage, system failure rates, and security risks.
After installing and configuring PVS components, a vDisk is created from a device’s hard drive by taking a snapshot
of the OS and application image, and then storing that image as a vDisk file on the network. vDisks can exist on a
Provisioning Server, file share, or in larger deployments (as in this CVD), on a storage system with which the
Provisioning Server can communicate (via iSCSI, SAN, NAS, and CIFS). vDisks can be assigned to a single target
device in Private Image Mode, or to multiple target devices in Standard Image Mode.
When a user device boots, the appropriate vDisk is located based on the boot configuration and mounted on the
Provisioning Server. The software on that vDisk is then streamed to the target device and appears like a regular hard
drive to the system. Instead of pulling all the vDisk contents down to the target device (as is done with some
imaging deployment solutions), the data is brought across the network in real time, as needed. This greatly improves
the overall user experience since it minimizes desktop startup time.
This release of PVS extends built-in administrator roles to support delegated administration based on groups that
already exist within the network (Windows or Active Directory Groups). All group members share the same
administrative privileges within a XenDesktop site. An administrator may have multiple roles if they belong to more
than one group.
EMC VNX Series
The desktop solutions described in this document are based on the EMC VNX5400 storage array. The EMC VNX
series supports a wide range of business-class features that ideal for the end-user computing environment, including:









EMC Fully Automated Storage Tiering for Virtual Pools (FAST VP™)
EMC FAST™ Cache
File-level data deduplication and compression
Block deduplication
Thin provisioning
Replication
Snapshots and checkpoints
File-level retention
Quota management
EMC VNX5400 Used in Testing
The EMC VNX family delivers industry-leading innovation and enterprise capabilities for file, block, and object
storage in a scalable, easy-to-use solution. This next-generation storage platform combines powerful and flexible
hardware with advanced efficiency, management, and protection software to meet the demanding needs of today’s
enterprises.
This solution was validated using a VNX5400 that is versatile in its storage protocol support. It provides iSCSI
storage for hypervisor SAN boot, NFS storage to be used as VMware datastores, CIFS shares for user profiles, home
directories, and vDisk store, and TFTP services to allow PVS-based desktops to PXE boot.
Unisphere Management Suite
EMC Unisphere Management Suite extends Unisphere’s easy-to-use, interface to include VNX Monitoring and
Reporting for validating performance and anticipating capacity requirements. As shown in figure below, the suite
also includes Unisphere Remote for centrally managing up to thousands of VNX and VNXe systems with new
support for XtremSW Cache.
Figure 12:
Unisphere Management Suite
EMC Virtual Storage Integrator for VMware vCenter
Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) is a no-charge VMware vCenter plug-in available to all VMware users with EMC
storage. VSPEX customers can use VSI to simplify management of virtualized storage. VMware administrators can
gain visibility into their VNX storage using the same familiar vCenter interface to which they are accustomed.
With VSI, IT administrators can do more work in less time. VSI offers unmatched access control that enables you to
efficiently manage and delegate storage tasks with confidence. Perform daily management tasks with up 90 percent
fewer clicks and up to 10 times higher productivity.
VMware vStorage APIs for Array Integration
VMware vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) offloads VMware storage-related functions from the server to
the VNX storage system, enabling more efficient use of server and network resources for increased performance and
consolidation.
VMware vStorage APIs for Storage Awareness
VMware vStorage APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) is a VMware-defined API that displays storage information
through vCenter. Integration between VASA technology and VNX makes storage management in a virtualized
environment a seamless experience.
PowerPath Virtual Edition
PowerPath is a host-based software that provides automated data path management and load-balancing capabilities
for heterogeneous server, network, and storage deployed in physical and virtual environments. PowerPath uses
multiple I/O data paths to share the workload, and automated load balancing to ensure the efficient use of data paths.
The PowerPath/VE plug-in is installed using the vSphere Update Manager. PowerPath/VE for VMware vSphere
Installation and Administration Guide describes the process to distribute the plug-in and apply the required licenses.
VMware ESXi 5.5
VMware vSphere® 5.5 introduces many new features and enhancements to further extend the core capabilities of
the vSphere platform. These features and capabilities include vSphere ESXi Hypervisor™, VMware vSphere High
Availability (vSphere HA), virtual machines, VMware vCenter Server™, storage, networking and vSphere Big Data
Extensions.
Key Features and Enhancements:

vSphere ESXi Hypervisor Enhancements
– Hot-Pluggable SSD PCI Express (PCIe) Devices
– Support for Reliable Memory Technology ––Enhancements for CPU C-States

Virtual Machine Enhancements
– Virtual Machine Compatibility with VMware ESXi™ 5.5
– Expanded Virtual Graphics Support ––Graphic Acceleration for Linux Guests

VMware vCenter Server Enhancements
–
–
–
–
–

VMware vSphere Web Client
VMware vCenter Server Appliance™
vSphere App HA
vSphere HA and VMware vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler™ (vSphere DRS) Virtual
Machine–Virtual Machine Affinity Rules Enhancements ––vSphere Big Data Extensions
vSphere Storage Enhancements
–
–
–
–
–
–
–

VMware® vCenter™ Single Sign-On
Support for 62TB VMDK
MSCS Updates
vSphere 5.1 Feature Updates
16GB E2E support
PDL AutoRemove
vSphere Replication Interoperability
vSphere Replication Multi-Point-in-Time Snapshot Retention ––vSphere Flash Read Cache
vSphere Networking Enhancements
–
–
–
–
–
–
Link Aggregation Control Protocol Enhancements
Traffic Filtering
Quality of Service Tagging
SR-IOV Enhancements
Enhanced Host-Level Packet Capture
40GB NIC support
Learn more about vSphere 5.5 at the following website:
http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/resources.html
Modular Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Technical Overview
Modular Architecture
Today’s IT departments are facing a rapidly-evolving workplace environment. The workforce is becoming
increasingly diverse and geographically distributed and includes offshore contractors, distributed call center
operations, knowledge and task workers, partners, consultants, and executives connecting from locations around the
globe at all times.
An increasingly mobile workforce wants to use a growing array of client computing and mobile devices that they
can choose based on personal preference. These trends are increasing pressure on IT to ensure protection of
corporate data and to prevent data leakage or loss through any combination of user, endpoint device, and desktop
access scenarios (Figure 10). These challenges are compounded by desktop refresh cycles to accommodate aging
PCs and bounded local storage and migration to new operating systems, specifically Microsoft Windows 7 and
Windows 8.
Figure 13:
The Evolving Workplace Landscape
Some of the key drivers for desktop virtualization are increased data security and reduced TCO through increased
control and reduced management costs.
Cisco Data Center Infrastructure for Desktop Virtualization
Cisco focuses on three key 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 (Figure 14: ).
Figure 14:
Citrix XenDesktop on Cisco UCS
Simplified
Cisco UCS provides a radical new approach to industry standard computing and provides the heart of the data center
infrastructure for desktop virtualization and user mobility. Among the many features and benefits of Cisco UCS are
the drastic reductions in the number of servers needed and number of cables per server and the ability to very
quickly deploy or re-provision servers through Cisco UCS Service Profiles. With fewer servers and cables to
manage and with streamlined server and virtual desktop provisioning, operations are significantly simplified.
Thousands of desktops can be provisioned in minutes with Cisco Service Profiles and Cisco storage partners’
storage-based cloning. This speeds time to productivity for end users, improves business agility, and allows IT
resources to be allocated to other tasks.
IT tasks are further simplified through reduced management complexity, provided by the highly integrated Cisco
UCS Manager, along with fewer servers, interfaces, and cables to manage and maintain. This is possible due to the
industry-leading, highest virtual desktop density per blade of Cisco UCS along with the reduced cabling and port
count due to the unified fabric and unified ports of Cisco UCS and desktop virtualization data center infrastructure.
Simplification also leads to improved and more rapid success of a desktop virtualization implementation. Cisco and
its partners–Citrix (XenDesktop and Provisioning Server) and EMC–have developed integrated, validated
architectures, including available pre-defined, validated infrastructure packages, known as FlexPod.
Secure
While virtual desktops are inherently more secure than their physical world predecessors, they introduce new
security considerations. Desktop virtualization significantly increases the need for virtual machine-level awareness
of policy and security, especially given the dynamic and fluid nature of virtual machine mobility across an extended
computing infrastructure. The ease with which new virtual desktops can proliferate magnifies the importance of a
virtualization-aware network and security infrastructure. Cisco UCS and Nexus data center infrastructure for
desktop virtualization provides stronger data center, network, and desktop security with comprehensive security
from the desktop to the hypervisor. Security is enhanced with segmentation of virtual desktops, virtual machineaware policies and administration, and network security across the LAN and WAN infrastructure.
Scalable
Growth of a desktop virtualization solution is all but inevitable and it is critical to have a solution that can scale
predictably with that growth. The Cisco solution supports more virtual desktops per server and additional servers
scale with near linear performance. Cisco data center infrastructure provides a flexible platform for growth and
improves business agility. Cisco UCS Service Profiles allow for on-demand desktop provisioning, making it easy to
deploy dozens or thousands of additional desktops.
Each additional Cisco UCS server provides near linear performance and utilizes Cisco’s dense memory servers and
unified fabric to avoid desktop virtualization bottlenecks. The high performance, low latency network supports high
volumes of virtual desktop traffic, including high resolution video and communications.
The Cisco UCS and Nexus data center infrastructure is an ideal platform for growth, with transparent scaling of
server, network, and storage resources to support desktop virtualization.
Savings and Success
As demonstrated above, the simplified, secure, scalable Cisco data center infrastructure solution for desktop
virtualization will save time and cost. There will be faster payback, better ROI, and lower TCO with the industry’s
highest virtual desktop density per server, meaning there will be fewer servers needed, reducing both capital
expenditures (CapEx) and operating expenditures (OpEx). There will also be much lower network infrastructure
costs, with fewer cables per server and fewer ports required, through the Cisco UCS architecture and unified fabric.
The simplified deployment of Cisco UCS for desktop virtualization speeds up time to productivity and enhances
business agility. IT staff and end users are more productive more quickly and the business can react to new
opportunities by simply deploying virtual desktops whenever and wherever they are needed. The high performance
Cisco systems and network deliver a near-native end-user experience, allowing users to be productive anytime,
anywhere.
Cisco Services
Cisco offers assistance for customers in the analysis, planning, implementation, and support phases of the VDI
lifecycle. These services are provided by the Cisco Advanced Services group. Some examples of Cisco services
include:



Cisco VXI Unified Solution Support
Cisco VXI Desktop Virtualization Strategy Service
Cisco VXI Desktop Virtualization Planning and Design Service
The Solution: A Unified, Pre-Tested and Validated Infrastructure
To meet the challenges of designing and implementing a modular desktop infrastructure, Cisco, Citrix, and EMC
have collaborated to create the data center solution for virtual desktops outlined in this document.
Key elements of the solution include:


A shared infrastructure that can scale easily
A shared infrastructure that can accommodate a variety of virtual desktop workloads
Cisco Networking Infrastructure
This section describes the Cisco networking infrastructure components used in the configuration.
Cisco Nexus 5548 Switch
The Cisco Nexus 5548 Switch is a 1RU, 10 Gigabit Ethernet, FCoE access-layer switch built to provide more than
500 Gbps throughput with very low latency. It has 20 fixed 10 Gigabit Ethernet and FCoE ports that accept modules
and cables meeting the Small Form-Factor Pluggable Plus (SFP+) form factor. One expansion module slot can be
configured to support up to six additional 10 Gigabit Ethernet andFCoE ports, up to eight FC ports, or a combination
of both. The switch has a single serial console port and a single out-of-band 10/100/1000-Mbps Ethernet
management port. Two N+1 redundant, hot-pluggable power supplies and five N+1 redundant, hot-pluggable fan
modules provide highly reliable front-to-back cooling.
Figure 15:
Cisco Nexus 5548UP Unified Port Switch
Cisco Nexus 5500 Series Feature Highlights
The switch family's rich feature set makes the series ideal for rack-level, access-layer applications. It protects
investments in data center racks with standards-based Ethernet and FCoE features that allow IT departments to
consolidate networks based on their own requirements and timing.


The combination of high port density, wire-speed performance, and extremely low latency makes the
switch an ideal product to meet the growing demand for 10 Gigabit Ethernet at the rack level. The switch
family has sufficient port density to support single or multiple racks fully populated with blade and rackmount servers.
Built for today‘s data centers, the switches are designed just like the servers they support. Ports and power
connections are at the rear, closer to server ports, helping keep cable lengths as short and efficient as
possible. Hot-swappable power and cooling modules can be accessed from the front panel, where status
lights offer an at-a-glance view of switch operation. Front-to-back cooling is consistent with server designs,

supporting efficient data center hot-aisle and cold-aisle designs. Serviceability is enhanced with all
customer replaceable units accessible from the front panel. The use of SFP+ ports offers increased
flexibility to use a range of interconnect solutions, including copper for short runs and fibre for long runs.
FCoE and IEEE data center bridging features support I/O consolidation, ease management of multiple
traffic flows, and optimize performance. Although implementing SAN consolidation requires only the
lossless fabric provided by the Ethernet pause mechanism, the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series switches provide
additional features that create an even more easily managed, high-performance, unified network fabric.
Features and Benefits
This section details the specific features and benefits provided by the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series.
10GB Ethernet, FCoE, and Unified Fabric Features
The Cisco Nexus 5500 Series is first and foremost a family of outstanding access switches for a 10 Gigabit Ethernet
connectivity. Most of the features on the switches are designed for high performance with 10 Gigabit Ethernet. The
Cisco Nexus 5500 Series also supports FCoE on each 10 Gigabit Ethernet port that can be used to implement a
unified data center fabric, consolidating LAN, SAN, and server clustering traffic.
Low Latency
The cut-through switching technology used in the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series ASICs enables the product to offer a low
latency of 3.2 microseconds, which remains constant regardless of the size of the packet being switched. This
latency was measured on fully configured interfaces, with access control lists (ACLs), QoS, and all other data path
features turned on. The low latency on the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series enables application-to-application latency on
the order of 10 microseconds (depending on the NIC). These numbers, together with the congestion management
features described in the next section, make the Cisco Nexus 5500 Series a great choice for latency-sensitive
environments.
Other features include: Nonblocking Line-Rate Performance, Single-Stage Fabric, Congestion Management, Virtual
Output Queues, Lossless Ethernet (Priority Flow Control), Delayed Drop FC over Ethernet, Hardware-Level I/O
Consolidation, and End-Port Virtualization.
Architecture and Design of XenDesktop 7.5 on Cisco Unified
Computing System and EMC VNX Storage Design
Fundamentals
There are many reasons to consider a virtual desktop solution such as an ever growing and diverse base of user
devices, complexity in management of traditional desktops, security, and even Bring Your Own Computer (BYOC)
to work programs. The first step in designing a virtual desktop solution is to understand the user community and the
type of tasks that are required to successfully execute their role. The following user classifications are provided:





Knowledge Workers today do not just work in their offices all day – they attend meetings, visit branch
offices, work from home, and even coffee shops. These anywhere workers expect access to all of their
same applications and data wherever they are.
External Contractors are increasingly part of your everyday business. They need access to certain
portions of your applications and data, yet administrators still have little control over the devices they use
and the locations they work from. Consequently, IT is stuck making trade-offs on the cost of providing
these workers a device vs. the security risk of allowing them access from their own devices.
Task Workers perform a set of well-defined tasks. These workers access a small set of applications and
have limited requirements from their PCs. However, since these workers are interacting with your
customers, partners, and employees, they have access to your most critical data.
Mobile Workers need access to their virtual desktop from everywhere, regardless of their ability to
connect to a network. In addition, these workers expect the ability to personalize their PCs, by installing
their own applications and storing their own data, such as photos and music, on these devices.
Shared Workstation users are often found in state-of-the-art university and business computer labs,
conference rooms or training centers. Shared workstation environments have the constant requirement to
re-provision desktops with the latest operating systems and applications as the needs of the organization
change, tops the list.
After the user classifications have been identified and the business requirements for each user classification have
been defined, it becomes essential to evaluate the types of virtual desktops that are needed based on user
requirements. There are essentially five potential desktops environments for each user:






Traditional PC: A traditional PC is what ―typically‖ constituted a desktop environment: physical device
with a locally installed operating system.
Hosted Shared Desktop: A hosted, server-based desktop is a desktop where the user interacts through a
delivery protocol. With hosted, server-based desktops, a single installed instance of a server operating
system, such as Microsoft Windows Server 2012, is shared by multiple users simultaneously. Each user
receives a desktop "session" and works in an isolated memory space. Changes made by one user could
impact the other users.
Hosted Virtual Desktop: A hosted virtual desktop is a virtual desktop running either on virtualization
layer (ESX) or on bare metal hardware. The user does not work with and sit in front of the desktop, but
instead the user interacts through a delivery protocol.
Published Applications: Published applications run entirely on the XenApp RDS server and the user
interacts through a delivery protocol. With published applications, a single installed instance of an
application, such as Microsoft Office 2012, is shared by multiple users simultaneously. Each user receives
an application "session" and works in an isolated memory space.
Streamed Applications: Streamed desktops and applications run entirely on the user‘s local client device
and are sent from a server on demand. The user interacts with the application or desktop directly but the
resources may only available while they are connected to the network.
Local Virtual Desktop: A local virtual desktop is a desktop running entirely on the user‘s local device and
continues to operate when disconnected from the network. In this case, the user’s local device is used as a
type 1 hypervisor and is synced with the data center when the device is connected to the network.
For the purposes of the validation represented in this document both XenDesktop 7.1 hosted virtual desktops and
hosted shared server desktops were validated. Each of the sections provides some fundamental design decisions for
this environment.
Understanding Applications and Data
When the desktop user groups and sub-groups have been identified, the next task is to catalog group application and
data requirements. This can be one of the most time-consuming processes in the VDI planning exercise, but is
essential for the VDI project’s success. If the applications and data are not identified and co-located, performance
will be negatively affected.
The process of analyzing the variety of application and data pairs for an organization will likely be complicated by
the inclusion cloud applications, like SalesForce.com. This application and data analysis is beyond the scope of this
Cisco Validated Design, but should not be omitted from the planning process. There are a variety of third party tools
available to assist organizations with this crucial exercise.
Project Planning and Solution Sizing Sample Questions
Now that user groups, their applications and their data requirements are understood, some key project and solution
sizing questions may be considered.
General project questions should be addressed at the outset, including:






Has a VDI pilot plan been created based on the business analysis of the desktop groups, applications and
data?
Is there infrastructure and budget in place to run the pilot program?
Are the required skill sets to execute the VDI project available? Can we hire or contract for them?
Do we have end user experience performance metrics identified for each desktop sub-group?
How will we measure success or failure?
What is the future implication of success or failure?
Provided below is a short, non-exhaustive list of sizing questions that should be addressed for each user sub-group:


















What is the desktop OS planned? Windows 7 or Windows 8?
32 bit or 64 bit desktop OS?
How many virtual desktops will be deployed in the pilot? In production? All Windows 7/8?
How much memory per target desktop group desktop?
Are there any rich media, Flash, or graphics-intensive workloads?
What is the end point graphics processing capability?
Will XenDesktop RDS be used for Hosted Shared Server Desktops or exclusively XenDesktop HVD?
Are there XenDesktop hosted applications planned? Are they packaged or installed?
Will Provisioning Server or Machine Creation Services be used for virtual desktop deployment?
What is the hypervisor for the solution?
What is the storage configuration in the existing environment?
Are there sufficient IOPS available for the write-intensive VDI workload?
Will there be storage dedicated and tuned for VDI service?
Is there a voice component to the desktop?
Is anti-virus a part of the image?
Is user profile management (e.g., non-roaming profile based) part of the solution?
What is the fault tolerance, failover, disaster recovery plan?
Are there additional desktop sub-group specific questions?
Hypervisor Selection
Citrix XenDesktop is hypervisor-agnostic, so any of the following three hypervisors can be used to host RDS- and
VDI-based desktops:



VMware vSphere: VMware vSphere comprises the management infrastructure or virtual center server
software and the hypervisor software that virtualizes the hardware resources on the servers. It offers
features like Distributed Resource Scheduler, vMotion, high availability, Storage vMotion, VMFS, and a
multipathing storage layer. More information on vSphere can be obtained at the VMware web site:
http://www.vmware.com/products/datacenter-virtualization/vsphere/overview.html.
Hyper-V: Microsoft Windows Server with Hyper-V is available in a Standard, Server Core and free HyperV Server versions. More information on Hyper-V can be obtained at the Microsoft web site:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/windows-server/default.aspx.
XenServer: Citrix® XenServer® is a complete, managed server virtualization platform built on the
powerful Xen® hypervisor. Xen technology is widely acknowledged as the fastest and most secure
virtualization software in the industry. XenServer is designed for efficient management of Windows and
Linux virtual servers and delivers cost-effective server consolidation and business continuity. More
information
on
XenServer
can
be
obtained
at
the
web
site:
http://www.citrix.com/products/xenserver/overview.html.
Note: For this CVD, the hypervisor used was VMware ESXi 5.5.
Desktop Virtualization Design Fundamentals
An ever growing and diverse base of user devices, complexity in management of traditional desktops, security, and
even Bring Your Own (BYO) device to work programs are prime reasons for moving to a virtual desktop solution.
When evaluating a Desktop Virtualization deployment, consider the following:
Citrix Design Fundamentals
Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 integrates Hosted Shared and VDI desktop virtualization technologies into a unified
architecture that enables a scalable, simple, efficient, and manageable solution for delivering Windows applications
and desktops as a service.
Users can select applications from an easy-to-use “store” that is accessible from tablets, smartphones, PCs, Macs,
and thin clients. XenDesktop delivers a native touch-optimized experience with HDX high-definition performance,
even over mobile networks.
Machine Catalogs
Collections of identical Virtual Machines (VMs) or physical computers are managed as a single entity called a
Machine Catalog. In this CVD, VM provisioning relies on Citrix Provisioning Services to make sure that the
machines in the catalog are consistent. In this CVD, machines in the Machine Catalog are configured to run either a
Windows Server OS (for RDS hosted shared desktops) or a Windows Desktop OS (for hosted pooled VDI
desktops).
Delivery Groups
To deliver desktops and applications to users, you create a Machine Catalog and then allocate machines from the
catalog to users by creating Delivery Groups. Delivery Groups provide desktops, applications, or a combination of
desktops and applications to users. Creating a Delivery Group is a flexible way of allocating machines and
applications to users. In a Delivery Group, you can:



Use machines from multiple catalogs
Allocate a user to multiple machines
Allocate multiple users to one machine
As part of the creation process, you specify the following Delivery Group properties:



Users, groups, and applications allocated to Delivery Groups
Desktop settings to match users' needs
Desktop power management options
The graphic below illustrates how users access desktops and applications through machine catalogs and delivery
groups. (Note that only Server OS and Desktop OS Machines are configured in this CVD configuration to support
hosted shared and pooled virtual desktops.)
Citrix Provisioning Services
Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 can be deployed with or without Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS). The advantage of using
Citrix PVS is that it allows virtual machines to be provisioned and re-provisioned in real-time from a single shared-
disk image. In this way administrators can completely eliminate the need to manage and patch individual systems
and reduce the number of disk images that they manage, even as the number of machines continues to grow,
simultaneously providing the efficiencies of a centralized management with the benefits of distributed processing.
The Provisioning Services solution’s infrastructure is based on software-streaming technology. After installing and
configuring Provisioning Services components, a single shared disk image (vDisk) is created from a device’s hard
drive by taking a snapshot of the OS and application image, and then storing that image as a vDisk file on the
network. A device that is used during the vDisk creation process is the Master target device. Devices or virtual
machines that use the created vDisks are called target devices.
When a target device is turned on, it is set to boot from the network and to communicate with a Provisioning Server.
Unlike thin-client technology, processing takes place on the target device (Step 1).
The target device downloads the boot file from a Provisioning Server (Step 2) and boots. Based on the boot
configuration settings, the appropriate vDisk is mounted on the Provisioning Server (Step 3). The vDisk software is
then streamed to the target device as needed, appearing as a regular hard drive to the system.
Instead of immediately pulling all the vDisk contents down to the target device (as with traditional imaging
solutions), the data is brought across the network in real-time as needed. This approach allows a target device to get
a completely new operating system and set of software in the time it takes to reboot. This approach dramatically
decreases the amount of network bandwidth required and making it possible to support a larger number of target
devices on a network without impacting performance
Citrix PVS can create desktops as Pooled or Private:


Pooled Desktop: A pooled virtual desktop uses Citrix PVS to stream a standard desktop image to multiple
desktop instances upon boot.
Private Desktop: A private desktop is a single desktop assigned to one distinct user.
The alternative to Citrix Provisioning Services for pooled desktop deployments is Citrix Machine Creation Services
(MCS), which is integrated with the XenDesktop Studio console.
Locating the PVS Write Cache
When considering a PVS deployment, there are some design decisions that need to be made regarding the write
cache for the target devices that leverage provisioning services. The write cache is a cache of all data that the target
device has written. If data is written to the PVS vDisk in a caching mode, the data is not written back to the base
vDisk. Instead it is written to a write cache file in one of the following locations:



Cache on device hard drive. Write cache exists as a file in NTFS format, located on the target-device’s hard
drive. This option frees up the Provisioning Server since it does not have to process write requests and does
not have the finite limitation of RAM.
Cache on device hard drive persisted. (Experimental Phase) This is the same as “Cache on device hard
drive”, except that the cache persists. At this time, this method is an experimental feature only, and is only
supported for NT6.1 or later (Windows 7 and Windows 2008 R2 and later). This method also requires a
different bootstrap.
Cache in device RAM. Write cache can exist as a temporary file in the target device’s RAM. This provides
the fastest method of disk access since memory access is always faster than disk access.



Cache in device RAM with overflow on hard disk. This method uses VHDX differencing format and is
only available for Windows 7 and Server 2008 R2 and later. When RAM is zero, the target device write
cache is only written to the local disk. When RAM is not zero, the target device write cache is written to
RAM first. When RAM is full, the least recently used block of data is written to the local differencing disk
to accommodate newer data on RAM. The amount of RAM specified is the non-paged kernel memory that
the target device will consume.
Cache on a server. Write cache can exist as a temporary file on a Provisioning Server. In this configuration,
all writes are handled by the Provisioning Server, which can increase disk I/O and network traffic. For
additional security, the Provisioning Server can be configured to encrypt write cache files. Since the writecache file persists on the hard drive between reboots, encrypted data provides data protection in the event a
hard drive is stolen.
Cache on server persisted. This cache option allows for the saved changes between reboots. Using this
option, a rebooted target device is able to retrieve changes made from previous sessions that differ from the
read only vDisk image. If a vDisk is set to this method of caching, each target device that accesses the
vDisk automatically has a device-specific, writable disk file created. Any changes made to the vDisk image
are written to that file, which is not automatically deleted upon shutdown.
In this CVD, PVS 7.1 was used to manage Pooled Desktops with cache on device storage for each virtual machine.
This design enables good scalability to many thousands of desktops. Provisioning Server 7.1 was used for Active
Directory machine account creation and management as well as for streaming the shared disk to the hypervisor
hosts.
Example XenDesktop Deployments
Two examples of typical XenDesktop deployments are the following:


A distributed components configuration
A multiple site configuration
Since XenDesktop 7.5 is based on a unified architecture, both configurations can deliver a combination of Hosted
Shared Desktops (HSDs, using a Server OS machine) and Hosted Virtual Desktops (HVDs, using a Desktop OS).
Distributed Components Configuration
You can distribute the components of your deployment among a greater number of servers, or provide greater
scalability and failover by increasing the number of controllers in your site. You can install management consoles on
separate computers to manage the deployment remotely. A distributed deployment is necessary for an infrastructure
based on remote access through NetScaler Gateway (formerly called Access Gateway).
The diagram below shows an example of a distributed components configuration. A simplified version of this
configuration is often deployed for an initial proof-of-concept (POC) deployment. The CVD described in this
document deploys Citrix XenDesktop in a configuration that resembles this distributed components configuration
shown.
Multiple site configuration
If you have multiple regional sites, you can use Citrix NetScaler to direct user connections to the most appropriate
site and StoreFront to deliver desktops and applications to users.
In the diagram below depicting multiple sites, a site was created in two data centers. Having two sites globally,
rather than just one, minimizes the amount of unnecessary WAN traffic. Two Cisco blade servers host the required
infrastructure services (AD, DNS, DHCP, Profile, SQL, Citrix XenDesktop management, and web servers).
You can use StoreFront to aggregate resources from multiple sites to provide users with a single point of access with
NetScaler. A separate Studio console is required to manage each site; sites cannot be managed as a single entity.
You can use Director to support users across sites.
Citrix NetScaler accelerates application performance; load balances servers, increases security, and optimizes the
user experience. In this example, two NetScalers are used to provide a high availability configuration. The
NetScalers are configured for Global Server Load Balancing and positioned in the DMZ to provide a multi-site,
fault-tolerant solution.
Designing a XenDesktop Environment for a Mixed Workload
With Citrix XenDesktop 7.5, the method you choose to provide applications or desktops to users depends on the
types of applications and desktops you are hosting and available system resources, as well as the types of users and
user experience you want to provide.
Server
machines
OS You want: Inexpensive server-based delivery to minimize the cost of delivering applications to a
large number of users, while providing a secure, high-definition user experience.
Your users: Perform well-defined tasks and do not require personalization or offline access to
applications. Users may include task workers such as call center operators and retail workers, or
users that share workstations.
Application types: Any application.
Desktop
machines
OS You want: A client-based application delivery solution that is secure, provides centralized
management, and supports a large number of users per host server (or hypervisor), while
providing users with applications that display seamlessly in high-definition.
Your users: Are internal, external contractors, third-party collaborators, and other provisional
team members. Users do not require off-line access to hosted applications.
Application types: Applications that might not work well with other applications or might
interact with the operating system, such as .NET framework. These types of applications are ideal
for hosting on virtual machines.
Applications running on older operating systems such as Windows XP or Windows Vista, and
older architectures, such as 32-bit or 16-bit. By isolating each application on its own virtual
machine, if one machine fails, it does not impact other users.
Remote
Access
PC You want: Employees with secure remote access to a physical computer without using a VPN.
For example, the user may be accessing their physical desktop PC from home or through a public
WIFI hotspot. Depending upon the location, you may want to restrict the ability to print or copy
and paste outside of the desktop. This method enables BYO device support without migrating
desktop images into the datacenter.
Your users: Employees or contractors that have the option to work from home, but need access
to specific software or data on their corporate desktops to perform their jobs remotely.
Host: The same as Desktop OS machines.
Application types: Applications that are delivered from an office computer and display
seamlessly in high definition on the remote user's device.
For the Cisco Validated Design described in this document, a mix of Hosted Shared Desktops (HSDs) using Server
OS machines and Hosted Virtual Desktops (HVDs) using Desktop OS machines were configured and tested. The
mix consisted of 70% HSDs to 30% HVDs. The following sections discuss design decisions relative to the Citrix
XenDesktop deployment, including the CVD test environment.
Citrix Unified Design Fundamentals
Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 integrates Hosted Shared and VDI desktop virtualization technologies into a unified
architecture that enables a scalable, simple, efficient, and manageable solution for delivering Windows applications
and desktops as a service.
Users can select applications from an easy-to-use “store” that is accessible from tablets, smartphones, PCs, Macs,
and thin clients. XenDesktop delivers a native touch-optimized experience with HDX high-definition performance,
even over mobile networks.
Machine Catalogs
Collections of identical Virtual Machines (VMs) or physical computers are managed as a single entity called a
Machine Catalog. In this CVD, VM provisioning relies on Citrix Provisioning Services to make sure that the
machines in the catalog are consistent. In this CVD, machines in the Machine Catalog are configured to run either a
Windows Server OS (for RDS hosted shared desktops) or a Windows Desktop OS (for hosted pooled VDI
desktops).
Delivery Groups
To deliver desktops and applications to users, you create a Machine Catalog and then allocate machines from the
catalog to users by creating Delivery Groups. Delivery Groups provide desktops, applications, or a combination of
desktops and applications to users. Creating a Delivery Group is a flexible way of allocating machines and
applications to users. In a Delivery Group, you can:



Use machines from multiple catalogs
Allocate a user to multiple machines
Allocate multiple users to one machine
As part of the creation process, you specify the following Delivery Group properties:



Users, groups, and applications allocated to Delivery Groups
Desktop settings to match users' needs
Desktop power management options
The graphic below shows how users access desktops and applications through machine catalogs and delivery
groups. (Note that both Server OS and Desktop OS Machines are configured in this CVD to support a combination
of hosted shared and pooled virtual desktops.)
Storage Architecture Design
The EMC VNX™ family is optimized for virtual applications delivering industry-leading innovation and enterprise
capabilities for file, block, and object storage in a scalable, easy-to-use solution. This next-generation storage
platform combines powerful and flexible hardware with advanced efficiency, management, and protection software
to meet the demanding needs of today’s enterprises.
EMC VNX5400 used in this solution provides comprehensive storage architecture for hosting all virtual desktop
components listed below on a unified storage platform.





ESXi OS is stored on an iSCSI LUN from which each vSphere host is booted. The boot from SAN design
allows UCS service profiles to be portable from one blade to another when the blades do not use local
disks.
PVS vDisk is hosted on a VNX CIFS share to provide central management of vDisk by eliminating
duplicated copies of the same vDisk image.
PVS write cache hosted on NFS datastores simplifies VM storage provisioning.
PXE boot image for PVS-based desktop is serviced by the TFTP server hosted on the VNX5400.
User profiles defined by Citrix User Profile Management (UPM) and user home directories both reside on
VNX CIFS shares that can leverage VNX deduplication, compression, and data protection.
Solution Validation
This section details the configuration and tuning that was performed on the individual components to produce a
complete, validated solution.
Configuration Topology for a Scalable XenDesktop 7.5 Mixed
Workload Desktop Virtualization Solution
Figure 16:
Cisco Solutions for EMC VSPEX XenDesktop 7.5 1000 Seat Architecture Block
Figure 16: captures the architectural diagram for the purpose of this study. The architecture is divided into four
distinct layers:




Cisco UCS Compute Platform
The Virtual Desktop Infrastructure and Virtual Desktops that run on Cisco UCS blade hypervisor hosts
Network Access layer and LAN
Storage Access via iSCSI on EMC VNX5400 deployment
Figure 17: details the physical configuration of the 2000 seat Citrix XenDesktop 7.1 environment.
Figure 17:
Detailed Architecture of the EMC VSPEX XenDesktop 7.5 1000 Seat Mixed Workload
Cisco Unified Computing System Configuration
This section talks about the UCS configuration that was done as part of the infrastructure build out. The racking,
power and installation of the chassis are described in the install guide (see www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/serversunified-computing/ucs-manager/products-installation-guides-list.html) and it is beyond the scope of this document.
More details on each step can be found in the following documents:

Cisco UCS Manager Configuration Guides –
Cisco UCS Manager - Configuration Guides - Cisco
GUI
and
Command
Line
Interface
(CLI)
Base Cisco UCS System Configuration
To configure the Cisco Unified Computing System, perform the following steps:
1
Bring up the Fabric Interconnect (FI) and from a serial console connection set the IP address, gateway, and the
hostname of the primary fabric interconnect. Now bring up the second fabric interconnect after connecting the dual
cables between them. The second fabric interconnect automatically recognizes the primary and ask if you want to be
part of the cluster, answer yes and set the IP address, gateway and the hostname. Once this is done all access to the
FI can be done remotely. You will also configure the virtual IP address to connect to the FI, you need a total of
three IP address to bring it online. You can also wire up the chassis to the FI, using either 1, 2, 4 or 8 links per IO
Module, depending on your application bandwidth requirement. We connected four links to each module.
2
Now connect using your favorite browser to the Virtual IP and launch the UCS-Manager. The Java based UCSM
will let you do everything that you could do from the CLI. We will highlight the GUI methodology here.
3
First check the firmware on the system and see if it is current. Visit: Download Software for
Cisco UCS Infrastructure and UCS Manager Software to download the most current Cisco UCS Infrastructure and
Cisco UCS Manager software. Use the UCS Manager Equipment tab in the left pane, then the Firmware
Management tab in the right pane and Packages sub-tab to view the packages on the system. Use the Download
Tasks tab to download needed software to the FI. The firmware release used in this paper is 2.2(1d).
If the firmware is not current, follow the installation and upgrade guide to upgrade the UCS Manager firmware. We
will use UCS Policy in Service Profiles later in this document to update all UCS components in the solution.
Note: The Bios and Board Controller version numbers do not track the IO Module, Adapter, nor CIMC
controller version numbers in the packages.
4
Configure and enable the server ports on the FI. These are the ports that will connect the chassis to the FIs.
5
Configure and enable uplink Ethernet ports:
5a
On the LAN tab in the Navigator pane, configure the required Port Channels and Uplink Interfaces on both Fabric
Interconnects (using the ethernet uplink port channels using the ethernet Network ports configured above).
6
On the Equipment tab, expand the Chassis node in the left pane, the click on each chassis in the left pane, then click
Acknowledge Chassis in the right pane to bring the chassis online and enable blade discovery.
7
Use the Admin tab in the left pane, to configure logging, users and authentication, key management,
communications, statistics, time zone and NTP services, and Licensing. Configuring your Management IP Pool
(which provides IP based access to the KVM of each UCS Blade Server,) Time zone Management (including NTP
time source(s)) and uploading your license files are critical steps in the process.
8
Create all the pools: MAC pool, UUID pool, IQN suffix pool, iSCSI Initiator IP Address Pool, External
Management IP Address Pool and Server pools
8.1
From the LAN tab in the navigator, under the Pools node, we created a MAC address pool of sufficient size for the
environment. In this project, we created a single pool with two address ranges for expandability.
8.2
From the LAN tab under the Pools node, we created two iSCSI Initiator address pools to service the fault tolerant
pair iSCSI virtual NICs that will be created later. Each pool has 16 addresses. Pool “a” is on network
172.16.96.1/19 and pool-b is on network 172.16.128.1/19.
8.3
From the LAN under the Pools node, we created an External Management IP address pool for use by the Cisco UCS
KVM connections to the blade servers in the study.
8.4
The next pool we created is the Server UUID pool. On the Servers tab in the Navigator page under the Pools node
we created a single UUID Pool for the test environment. Each Cisco UCS Blade Server requires a unique UUID to
be assigned by its Service profile.
8.5
We created three Server Pools for use in our Service Profile Templates as selection criteria for automated profile
association. Server Pools were created on the Servers tab in the navigation page under the Pools node. Only the pool
name was created, no servers were added:
Note: We created two iSCSI initiator ip address pools.
8.6
We created one IQN suffix pools for the iSCSI environment. From the SAN tab, SAN node, Pools, root, right-click
the IQN Pools node and click Create IQN Suffix Pool.
8.7
We created three Server Pool Policy Qualifications to identify the blade server model, its processor and the amount
of RAM onboard for placement into the correct Server Pool using the Service Profile Template. In this case we used
processors to select the Infrastructure blades running E5-2650 processors and memory to select HVD (384GB
RAM) or HSD (256GB RAM.) (We could have used a combination of chassis, slot, server model, or any
combination of those things to make the selection.)
8.8
The next step in automating the server selection process is to create corresponding Server Pool Policies for each
Cisco UCS Blade Server configuration, utilizing the Server Pool and Server Pool Policy Qualifications created
earlier.
To create the policy, right-click the Server Pool Policy node, select Create Server Pool Policy, provide a name,
description (optional,) select the Target Pool from the dropdown, the Qualification from the dropdown and click
OK. Repeat for each policy to be created.
9
On the LAN tab in the navigator pane, configure the VLANs for the environment:
In this project we utilized six VLANs to accommodate our four traffic types and a separate native VLAN for all
traffic that was not tagged on the network. The Storage iSCSI VLANs provided boot communications and carried
NFS and CIFS storage traffic.
11
On the LAN tab in the navigator pane, under the policies node configure the vNIC templates that will be used in the
Service Profiles. In this project, we utilize four virtual NICs per host, two to each Fabric Interconnect for resiliency.
Two of the four vNIC templates, eth2 and eth3 are utilized exclusively for iSCSI boot and file protocol traffic. QoS
is handled by Cisco Nexus 1000V or by Cisco VM-FEX for the VM-Network, so no QoS policy is set on the
templates. Both in-band and out-of-band management VLANs are trunked to the eth0 and eth1 vNIC templates. The
Default VLAN is not used, but is marked as the only Native VLAN in the environment.
11b
To create vNIC templates for eth0 and eth1 on both fabrics, select the Fabric ID, select all VLANs except iSCSI-A,
iSCSI-B and Default, set the MTU size to 9000, select the MAC Pool, then click OK.
For eth2 and eth3, select the Fabric ID, select VLAN iSCSI-a for eth2 or VLAN iSCSI-b for eth3, set the MTU size
to 9000, select the MAC Pool, select Native, then click OK
12
12a
We utilized the included Default Cisco UCS B200 M3 BIOS policy for the XenDesktop 7.5 HVD virtual machines.
To support VM-FEX for the XenDesktop RDS/HSD VMs, we created a performance BIOS Policy. The policy will
be applied to all Cisco UCS B200 M3 blade servers hosting XenDesktop 7.5 RDS and Infrastructure.
Prepare the Perf-Cisco BIOS Policy. From the Server tab, Policies, Root node, right-click the BIOS Policies
container and click Create BIOS Policy. Provide the policy name and step through the wizard making the choices
indicated on the screen shots below:
The Advanced Tab Settings
13
The remaining Advanced tab settings are at platform default or not configured. Similarly, the Boot Options and
Server Management tabs‘settings are at defaults. Many of the settings in this policy are the Cisco UCS B200 M3
BIOS default settings. We created this policy to illustrate the combined effect of the Platform Default and specific
settings for this use case.
Note: Be sure to Save Changes at the bottom of the page to preserve this setting. Be sure to add this policy
to your blade service profile template.
14
New in UCS Manager since version 2.1(1a) is a way Host Firmware Package polices can be set by package version
across the UCS domain rather than by server model: (Note: You can still create specific packages for different
models or for specific purposes.) In our study, we did create a Host Firmware Package for the UCS B200 M3 blades
which were all assigned the UCS Firmware version 2.2(1d). Right-click the Host Firmware Packages container,
click Create Host Firmware Package, provide a Name, Description (optional) and then click the Advanced
configuration radio button.
Note: The Simple configuration option allows you to create the package based on a particular UCS Blade
and/or Rack Server package that is uploaded on the FIs. We used the included Cisco UCS B200 M3 host
firmware package. The following screen shots illustrate how to create a custom package, selecting only
those packages that apply to the server as configured.
Continue through the CIMC, BIOS, Board Controller and Storage Controller tabs as follows:
Note: We did not use legacy nor third party FC Adapters or HBA’s so there was no configuration required
on those tabs.
The result is a customized Host Firmware Package for the Cisco UCS B200 M3 blade servers.
15a
For the RDS template that will leverage Cisco VM-FEX, from the LAN tab, Policies, Root, right-click Dynamic
vNIC Connection Policies and click Create Dynamic vNIC Connection Policy. Provide a Name, Number of
Dynamic vNICs, the Adapter Policy and Protection preference as shown below, then click OK
15b
In the Servers tab, expand the Policies > root nodes, then select Adapter Policies. Right-click and choose Create
iSCSI Adapter Policy from the context menu.
15c
In the Servers tab, expand Policies > root nodes. Select the Boot Policies node. Right-click and choose Create
Boot Policy from the context menu.
In the Create Boot Policy dialog complete the following:
Expand Local Devices
Select Add CD-ROM
Expand iSCSI vNICs
Select Add iSCSI Boot (iSCSI0) as Primary
Select Add iSCSI Boot (iSCSI1) as Secondary
Adjust boot order so it is CD-ROM, iSCSI0, iSCSI1.
Click Save Changes.
Create a service profile template using the pools, templates, and policies configured above. We created a total of
three Service Profile Templates, one for each workload type, XenDesktop HVD and XenDesktop Hosted Shared
Desktop (RDS) and Infrastructure Hosts (Infra)as follows:
To create a Service Profile Template, right-click the Service Profile Templates node on the Servers tab and click
Create Service Profile Template. The Create Service Profile template wizard will open.
Follow through each section, utilizing the policies and objects you created earlier, then click Finish.


On the Operational Policies screen, select the appropriate performance BIOS policy you created earlier to
insure maximum LV DIMM performance.
For automatic deployment of service profiles from your template(s), you must associate a server pool that
contains blades with the template.
16a
On the Create Service Profile Template wizard, we entered a unique name, selected the type as updating, and
selected the VSPEX-UUIDs Suffix Pool created earlier, then clicked Next.
16b
We selected the Expert configuration option on the Networking page and clicked Add in the adapters window:
16c
In the Create vNIC window, we entered a unique Name, checked the Use LAN Connectivity Template checkbox,
selected the vNIC Template from the drop-down, and the Adapter Policy the same way.
For the HSD template, we specified the VMware Passthru Policy and Dynamic Connection Policy for eth0 and
eth1.
16d
We repeated the process for the remaining vNIC, resulting in the following:
Click Next to continue.
16e
On the storage page, click Next.
16f
On the Zoning page, click Next to continue.
On the vNIC/vHBA Placement page, click Next to continue:
16g
On the Server Boot Order page, select the iSCSI Boot policy iSCSIBoot, created earlier from the drop-down, then
click Next to proceed:
16h
Highlight Primary iSCSI vNIC iSCSI0, then click Modify iSCSI vNIC. Select the following values from the dropdown menus:



Overlay vNIC: eth2 for iSCSI0; eth3 for iSCSI1
iSCSI Adapter Policy: iSCSI for both
VLAN: iSCSI-A for iSCSI0; iSCSI-B for iSCSI1
Click OK
16i
Repeat the process for the Secondary iSCSI adapter, iSCSI1, using eth3, the iSCSI Adapter Policy, and VLAN
iSCSI-B. Highlight the Primary iSCSI adapter, iSCSI0, then click Set iSCSI Boot Parameters.
16j
Complete the following fields by selecting the IQN Initiator Name Pool and iSCSI Initiator IP address pool created
earlier.
16k
Next, select the iSCSI Static Target Interface radio button, then the “+” sign at the right edge of the window below
it and enter the EMC VNX5400 IQN target interface names, iSCSI IPV address and LUN Id as 0. Repeat for the
second target interface as shown above.
Repeat the process for the Secondary iSCSI adapter, using the same Initiator Name Assignment, iscsi-initiator-poolb and the appropriate EMC VNX5400 target interface names, iSCSI IPV address and LUN Id as 0.
16l
We did not create a Maintenance Policy for the project. Click Next to continue:
16
m
On the Server Assignment page, make the following selections from the drop-downs and click the expand arrow on
the Firmware Management box as shown:
For the other two Service Profile Templates that were created for the project, we choose HostedVirtual or
Infrastructure for Pool Assignments and HVD or Infra for the Server Pool Qualification.
In all three cases, we utilized the Default Host Firmware Management policy for the Cisco UCS B200 M3 blades.
16n
16o
On the Operational Policies page, we expanded the BIOS Configuration drop-down and selected the
VMwarePassthru policy for Hosted Shared desktops that utilize VMFEX created earlier. Click Finish to complete
the Service Profile Template:
For the Hosted Virtual desktop and Infrastructure Service Profile Templates, we used the Default BIOS policy by
choosing <not set> in the BIOS Configuration section of the Operational Policies node of the Wizard.
Repeat the Create Service Profile Template for the two remaining templates.
The result is a Service Profile Templates for each use case in the study and an Infrastructure template as shown
below:
17
Now that we had created the Service Profile Templates for each UCS Blade Server model used in the project, we
used them to create the appropriate number of Service Profiles. To do so, in the Servers tab in the navigation page,
in the Service Profile Templates node, we expanded the root and selected Service Template Compute-Fabric-A,
then clicked on Create Service Profiles from Template in the right pane, Actions area:
18
We provided the naming prefix, starting number and the number of Service Profiles to create and clicked OK
We created the following number of Service Profiles from the respective Service Profile Templates:
Service
Template
19
Profile
Service Profile Name
Prefix
Starting Number
Number of Profiles
from Template
Compute-Fabric-A
XenDesktopHVD-0
1
2
Compute-Fabric-B
XenDesktopHVD-0
3
1
RDS-Fabric-A
XenDesktopRDS-0
1
2
RDS-Fabric-B
XenDesktopRDS-0
3
3
VM-Host-Infra-FabricA
VM-Host-Infra-0
1
1
VM-Host-Infra-FabricB
VM-Host-Infra-0
2
1
Cisco UCS Manager created the requisite number of profiles and because of the Associated Server Pool and Server
Pool Qualification policy, the Cisco UCS B200 M3 blades in the test environment began automatically associating
with the proper Service Profile.
Note: The LoginVSI profiles were created to support the End User Experience testing manually.
20
We verified that each server had a profile and that it received the correct profile from the Equipment tab
At this point, the Cisco UCS Blade Servers are ready for hypervisor installation.
QoS and CoS in Cisco Unified Computing System
Cisco Unified Computing System provides different system class of service to implement quality of service
including:



System classes that specify the global configuration for certain types of traffic across the entire system
QoS policies that assign system classes for individual vNICs
Flow control policies that determine how uplink Ethernet ports handle pause frames.
Applications like the Cisco Unified Computing System and other time sensitive applications have to adhere to a
strict QOS for optimal performance.
System Class Configuration
Systems Class is the global operation where entire system interfaces are with defined QoS rules.


By default system has Best Effort Class and FCoE Class.
Best effort is equivalent in MQC terminology as “match any”
– FCoE is special Class define for FCoE traffic. In MQC terminology “match cos 3”

System class allowed with 4 more users define class with following configurable rules.
–
–
–
–

CoS to Class Map
Weight: Bandwidth
Per class MTU
Property of Class (Drop v/s no drop)
Max MTU per Class allowed is 9217.



Through Cisco Unified Computing System we can map one CoS value to particular class.
Apart from FcoE class there can be only one more class can be configured as no-drop property.
Weight can be configured based on 0 to 10 numbers. Internally system will calculate the bandwidth based
on following equation (there will be rounding off the number).
(Weight of the given priority * 100)

% b/w shared of given Class = ________________________________
Sum of weights of all priority
Cisco UCS System Class Configuration
Cisco UCS defines user class names as follows.




Platinum
Gold
Silver
Bronze
Table 4.
Name Table Map between Cisco Unified Computing System and the NXOS
Cisco UCS Names
NXOS Names
Best effort
Class-default
FCoE
Class-fc
Platinum
Class-Platinum
Gold
Class-Gold
Silver
Class-Silver
Bronze
Class-Bronze
Table 5.
Class to CoS Map by default in Cisco Unified Computing System
Cisco UCS Class Names
Cisco UCS Default Class Value
Best effort
Match any
Fc
3
Platinum
5
Gold
4
Silver
2
Bronze
1
Table 6.
Default Weight in Cisco Unified Computing System
Cisco UCS Class Names
Weight
Best effort
5
Fc
5
The Steps to Enable QOS on the Cisco Unified Computing System
For this study, we utilized four UCS QoS System Classes to priorities four types of traffic in the infrastructure:
Table 7.
QoS Priority to vNIC and VLAN Mapping
Cisco UCS Qos Priority
vNIC Assignment
Platinum
eth0, eth1
VLAN Supported
VM-Network
Gold
eth0, eth1
Not Assigned
Silver
eth0, eth1
VLAN516 (Management)
Bronze
eth0, eth1
vMotion
In this study, all VLANs were trunked to eth0 and eth1 and both use Best Effort QoS. Detailed QoS was handled by
the Cisco Nexus 1000V or Cisco VM-FEX and Nexus 5548 switches, but it is important that the UCS QoS System
Classes match what the switches are using.
Configure Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze policies by checking the enabled box. For the Platinum Policy, used
for NFS and CIFS storage, Bronze for vMotion and Best Effort were configured for Jumbo Frames in the MTU
column. Notice the option to set no packet drop policy during this configuration. Click Save Changes at the bottom
right corner prior to leaving this node.
Figure 18:
Cisco UCS QoS System Class Configuration
This is a unique value proposition for Cisco Unified Computing System with respect to end-to-end QOS. For
example, we have a VLAN for the NetApp storage, configured Platinum policy with Jumbo frames and get an endto-end QOS and performance guarantees from the Blade Servers running the Nexus 1000V virtual distributed
switches or Cisco VM-FEX through the Cisco Nexus 5548UP access layer switches.
LAN Configuration
The access layer LAN configuration consists of a pair of Cisco Nexus 5548s (N5Ks,) a family member of our lowlatency, line-rate, 10 Gigabit Ethernet and FCoE switches for our VDI deployment.
Cisco UCS and EMC VNX Ethernet Connectivity
Two 10 Gigabit Ethernet uplink ports are configured on each of the Cisco UCS 6248 fabric interconnects, and they
are connected to the Cisco Nexus 5548 pair in a bow tie manner as shown below in a port channel.
The 6248 Fabric Interconnect is in End host mode, as we are doing both iSCSI as well as Ethernet (NAS) data
access as per the recommended best practice of the Cisco Unified Computing System. We built this out for scale and
have provisioned 20 GB per Fabric Interconnect for ethernet and NAS (Figure 19: ).
The EMC VNX5400 is also equipped with two dual-port SLICs which are connected to the pair of N5Ks
downstream. Both paths are active providing failover capability. This allows end-to-end 10G access for file-based
storage traffic. We have implemented jumbo frames on the ports and have priority flow control on, with Platinum
CoS and QoS assigned to the vNICs carrying the storage data access on the Fabric Interconnects.
The upstream configuration is beyond the scope of this document; there are some good reference document [4] that
talks about best practices of using the Cisco Nexus 5000 and 7000 Series Switches. New with the Cisco Nexus 5500
series is an available Layer 3 module that was not used in these tests and that will not be covered in this document.
Figure 19:
Ethernet Network Configuration with Upstream Cisco Nexus 5500 Series from the Cisco Unified Computing
System 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects and EMC VNX5400
Cisco Nexus 1000V Configuration in L3 Mode
1.
To download the Nexus1000 V 4.2(1) SV1 (5.2), click the link below:
http://www.cisco.com/cisco/software/release.html?mdfid=282646785&flowid=3090&softwareid=2820881
29&release=4.2(1)SV1(5.2)&relind=AVAILABLE&rellifecycle=&reltype=latest
2.
Extract the downloaded N1000V .zip file on the Windows host.
3.
To start the N1000V installation, run the command below from the command prompt. (Make sure the
Windows host has the latest Java version installed)
4.
After running the installation command, you will see the “Nexus 1000V Installation Management Center”
5.
Type the vCenter IP and the logon credentials.
6.
Select the ESX host on which to install N1KV Virtual Switch Manager.
7.
Select the OVA file from the extracted N1KV location to create the VSM.
8.
Select the System Redunancy type as “HA” and type the virtual machine name for the N1KV VSM and
choose the Datastore for the VSM.
9.
To configure L3 mode of installation, choose the “L3 : Configure port groups for L3”
a.
Create Port-group as Control and specify the VLAN ID and select the corresponding vSwitch.
b.
Select the existing port group “VM Network” for N1K Mgmt and choose mgmt0 with the VLAN ID for the
SVS connection between vCenter and VSM.
c.
In the option for L3 mgmt0 interface port-profile enter the vlan that was pre-defined for ESXi mgmt and
accordingly it will create a port-group which will have L3 capability. In this case it is n1kv-L3 port-group
as shown in the screenshot below.
10. To Configure VSM, Type the Switch Name and Enter the admin password for the VSM. Type the IP
address, subnet mask, Gateway, Domain ID (if there are multiple instance of N1KV VSM need to be
install, make sure they each configured with different Domain ID) and select the SVS datacenter Name and
Type the vSwitch0 Native vlan ID. (Make sure the Native VLAN ID specified should match the Native
VLAN ID of Cisco Unified Computing System and the Cisco Nexus 5000)
11. Review the configuration and Click Next to proceed with the installation.
12. Wait for the Completion of Nexus 1000V VSM installation.
13. Click Finish to complete the VSM installation.
14. Logon (ssh or telnet) to the N1KV VSM with the IP address and configure VLAN for ESX Mgmt, Control,
N1K Mgmt and also for Storage and vMotion purposes as mentioned below (VLAN ID differs based on
your Network). First, create ip access lists for each QoS policy:
xenvsm# conf t
Enter the following configuration commands, one per line.
CNTL/Z.
ip access-list mark_Bronze
10 permit ip any 172.20.75.0/24
20 permit ip 172.20.75.0/24 any
ip access-list mark_Gold
10 permit ip any 172.20.48.0/20
20 permit ip 172.20.48.0/20 any
ip access-list mark_Platinum
10 permit ip any 172.20.74.0/24
20 permit ip 172.20.74.0/24 any
ip access-list mark_Silver
10 permit ip any 172.20.73.0/24
20 permit ip 172.20.73.0/24 any
15. Create class maps for QoS policy
class-map type qos match-all Gold_Traffic
match access-group name mark_Gold
class-map type qos match-all Bronze_Traffic
match access-group name mark_Bronze
class-map type qos match-all Silver_Traffic
match access-group name mark_Silver
class-map type qos match-all Platinum_Traffic
match access-group name mark_Platinum
16. Create policy maps for QoS and set class of service
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
policy-map type qos FlexPod
class Platinum_Traffic
set cos 5
class Gold_Traffic
set cos 4
class Silver_Traffic
set cos 2
class Bronze_Traffic
set cos 1
17. Set vlans for QoS
vlan 1, ,517,272-276
vlan 1
name Native-VLAN
End with
vlan 272
name VM-Network
vlan 517
name IB-MGMT-VLAN
vlan 276
name vMotion-VLAN
18. Create port profile for system uplinks and vethernet port groups.
There are existing port profiles created during the install. Do not modify or delete these port profiles.
port-profile type ethernet system-uplink
vmware port-group
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk native vlan 6
switchport trunk allowed vlan 517,272-276
system mtu 9000
channel-group auto mode on mac-pinning
no shutdown
system vlan 517,272-276
state enabled
port-profile type vethernet IB-MGMT-VLAN
vmware port-group
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 517
service-policy type qos input VSPEX
no shutdown
system vlan 517
max-ports 254
state enabled
port-profile type vethernet vMotion-VLAN
vmware port-group
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 276
service-policy type qos input VSPEX
no shutdown
system vlan 276
state enabled
port-profile type vethernet VM-Network
vmware port-group
port-binding static auto expand
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 272
service-policy type qos input VSPEX
no shutdown
system vlan 272
state enabled
port-profile type vethernet n1k-L3
capability l3control
vmware port-group
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 517
service-policy type qos input VSPEX
no shutdown
system vlan 517
state enabled
19. Set the MTU size to 9000 on the Virtual Ethernet Modules
interface port-channel1
inherit port-profile system-uplink
vem 3
mtu 9000
interface port-channel2
inherit port-profile system-uplink
vem 5
mtu 9000
interface port-channel3
inherit port-profile system-uplink
vem 6
mtu 9000
interface port-channel4
inherit port-profile system-uplink
vem 4
mtu 9000
interface port-channel5
inherit port-profile system-uplink
vem 7
mtu 9000
interface port-channel6
inherit port-profile system-uplink
vem 8
mtu 9000
interface port-channel7
inherit port-profile system-uplink
vem 9
mtu 9000
interface port-channel8
inherit port-profile system-uplink
vem 10
mtu 9000
interface port-channel9
inherit port-profile system-uplink
vem 12
mtu 9000
20. After creating port profiles, make sure vCenter shows all the port profiles and port groups under the
respective N1KV VSM. Then, Add the ESXi host to the VSM.
– Go to Inventory networking select DVS for N1KV click on tab for hosts.
21. Right-click and select add host to vSphere Distributed Switch.
This brings up ESXi hosts which are not part of existing configuration.
22. Select the ESX host to add, choose the vNICs to be assigned, click Select an Uplink Port-Group and select
system-uplink for both vmnic0 and vmnic1.
23. After selecting appropriate uplinks click Next.
24. Network Connectivity tab select Destination port group for vmk0, then click Next
25. On the tab for virtual machine networking, select VMs and assign them to a destination port-group if there
is any. Otherwise click Next to Ready to complete.
26. Verify the Settings and click Finish to add the ESXi host part of N1KV DVS.
Note: This will invoke VMware update manger (VUM) to automatically push the VEM installation for the
selected ESXi hosts. After successful staging, install and remediation process, now the ESXi host will be
added to N1KV VSM. From the vCenter task manager, quickly check the process of VEM installation.
27. In the absence of Update manager:
– Upload vib file cross_cisco-vem-v162-4.2.1.2.2.1a.0-3.1.1.vib for VEM installation to local or remote
datastore which can be obtained by browsing to the management IP address for N1KV VSM.
28. Login to each ESXi host using ESXi shell or SSH session.
29. Run following command:
esxcli software vib install –v /vmfs/volumes/ datastore/ cross_ciscovem-v162-4.2.1.2.2.1a.0-3.1.1.vib
30. Verify the successful installation of ESXi VEM and the status of ESXi host.
31. Verify putty into N1KV VSM. Run sh module command which will show all the ESXi hosts attached to
that VSM.
xenvsm(config)# sh module
Configuring Cisco UCS VM-FEX
1.
Click the download link given below to install latest VEM software installer.
http://software.cisco.com/download/release.html?mdfid=283853163&flowid=25821&softwareid=2838531
58&release=2.0%285b%29&relind=AVAILABLE&rellifecycle=&reltype=latest
2.
From the retrieved ISO file unzip it and browse to \ucs-bxxx-drivers.2.2.1d\VMware\VMFEX\Cisco\MLOM\ESXi_5.5\ cisco-vem- v161-5.5-1.2.7.1.vib
Select your Network Interface card and ESXi hypervisor version. Current Supported NICs are 1280, M81KR,
MLOM and ESX/ESXi 4.1 U2, ESX/ESXi4.1 U3, ESXi 5.0 U1, ESXi 5.5.
Installing Cisco VEM Software Bundle Using SSH or ESXi Shell cmdline
1. Upload VEM installer vib file to datastore on ESXi host. Preferably on the shared storage
2.
Login into ESXi host using ssh or ESXi shell. Run the command shown below:
# esxcli software vib install –v /vmfs/volumes/xxxxx/cisco-vem- v1615.5-1.2.7.1.vib
3.
To further verify run following command:
vmkload_mod –l |grep pts
You can also install using the VMware Update Manager.
Please refer to the link given below for different method of installation or updragding VEM software on ESX/ESXi
host:
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/unified_computing/ucs/sw/vm_fex/vmware/gui/config_guide/GUI_VMware_VM
-FEX_UCSM_Configuration_Guide_chapter3.html
Configuring VM-FEX on Cisco UCS Manager and Integration with vCenter
1. Add Cisco UCSM extension for VM-FEX on vCenter.
2.
Export vCenter Extension.
3.
On the Cisco UCS Manager go to VM tab. Click VMware and click Export vCenter Extension. Save the
extension file and click OK.
4.
Login to vCenter Client. Select Plug-ins and select Plug-in Manager.
5. Right-click in the empty pane for Plug-in Manager and select New Plug-in.
6. Click Browse and select saved vCenter Extension file.
7. Click Ignore.
8.
Verify that Plug-in registered and shows in Available Plug-ins.
9.
Configure VMware Integration.
10. From the Cisco UCS Manger, go to VM tab, click VMware and on the right side pane click Configure
VMware Integration.
11. Login to vCenter Client, go to networking and create a Folder to use with VM-FEX distributed virtual
switch.
12. Install Plug-in on vCenter Server; which was completed in steps above section x.1.
13. Click Next.
14. Fill out the section for Define VMware Distributed Virtual Switch.
15. Click Enable in the DVS section. Click Next.
16. Define Port Profile.
17. Select a name for port-profile, QoS Policy, Max Ports, VLANs.
18. Select Datacenter, Folder, Distributed Virtual Switch.
19. Click Next.
20. Apply Port Profile to Virtual Machines in vCenter Server.
21. Click Finish.
22. Click Ok.
23. Above completed configuration is shown in the screenshot below.
24. Under VMware node vCenter Datacenter Folder VM-FEX switch port-profile.
25. Select port-profile created and set the Host Network IO performance to High Performance.
26. On vCenter console, go to networking tab. Select Distributed virtual switch for VM-FEX.
27. Click Hosts tab.
28. Right-click in the empty field and select Add host to vSphere Distributed Switch.
29. Check the box next to the ESXi host and vmnic needed to be add on VM-FEX vDS.
30. Click Next.
31. On the tab for the Virtual machine networking, click the check box.
32. Migrate the destination port-group for all the desired VMs to port-group created for the VM networking.
33. Click Next.
34. 34. Click Finish.
35. Select the virtual machines that are part of the VM-FEX configuration.
36. Right-click and select edit settings.
37. Click the Resources tab and select Memory.
38. Check the box to reserve all guest memory.
39. Select the ESXi host that is part of the VM-FEX vDS configuration.
40. Select the appropriate uplink port-profile as per the vmnic assignment and associated VLAN.
41. Verify the label for the network adapter is connected to the desired port-group on VM-FEX vDS.
42. Power on the virtual machine.
43. Go to the Cisco UCS Manager, VM tab and under the Virtual Machines node expand the Host Blade. It will
show the Host Blade Chassis/Blade. Expand the virtual machines node and verify the virtual machines are
part of the VM-FEX vDS configuration on that blade with its associated VLAN.
44. Edit the setting for the powered on virtual machine that was added to VM-FEX vDS. Select Network
adapter.
45. Check the status for DirectPath I/O: it shows as Active.
Follow this procedure to add the remaing ESXi hosts and virtual machines as part of the VM-FEX configuration.
SAN Configuration
The pair of Nexus 5548UP switches was used in the configuration to connect between the 10 Gbps iSCSI ports on
the EMC VNX5400 and the 10 GE ports of the UCS 6248 Fabric Interconnects.
Boot from SAN Benefits
Booting from SAN is another key feature which helps in moving towards stateless computing in which there is no
static binding between a physical server and the OS/applications it is tasked to run. The OS is installed on a SAN
LUN and boot from SAN policy is applied to the service profile template or the service profile. If the service profile
were to be moved to another server, the pwwn of the HBAs and the Boot from SAN (BFS) policy also moves along
with it. The new server now takes the same exact character of the old server, providing the true unique stateless
nature of the UCS Blade Server.
The key benefits of booting from the network:






Reduce Server Footprints: Boot from SAN alleviates the necessity for each server to have its own directattached disk, eliminating internal disks as a potential point of failure. Thin diskless servers also take up
less facility space, require less power, and are generally less expensive because they have fewer hardware
components.
Disaster and Server Failure Recovery: All the boot information and production data stored on a local SAN
can be replicated to a SAN at a remote disaster recovery site. If a disaster destroys functionality of the
servers at the primary site, the remote site can take over with minimal downtime.
Recovery from server failures is simplified in a SAN environment. With the help of snapshots, mirrors of a
failed server can be recovered quickly by booting from the original copy of its image. As a result, boot
from SAN can greatly reduce the time required for server recovery.
High Availability: A typical data center is highly redundant in nature - redundant paths, redundant disks
and redundant storage controllers. When operating system images are stored on disks in the SAN, it
supports high availability and eliminates the potential for mechanical failure of a local disk.
Rapid Redeployment: Businesses that experience temporary high production workloads can take advantage
of SAN technologies to clone the boot image and distribute the image to multiple servers for rapid
deployment. Such servers may only need to be in production for hours or days and can be readily removed
when the production need has been met. Highly efficient deployment of boot images makes temporary
server usage a cost effective endeavor.
Centralized Image Management: When operating system images are stored on networked disks, all
upgrades and fixes can be managed at a centralized location. Changes made to disks in a storage array are
readily accessible by each server.
With Boot from SAN, the image resides on a SAN LUN and the server communicates with the SAN through a host
bus adapter (HBA). The HBAs BIOS contain the instructions that enable the server to find the boot disk. All FCoEcapable Converged Network Adapter (CNA) cards supported on Cisco UCS B-series blade servers support Boot
from SAN.
After power on self-test (POST), the server hardware component fetches the boot device that is designated as the
boot device in the hardware BOIS settings. Once the hardware detects the boot device, it follows the regular boot
process.
Configuring Boot from SAN Overview
There are three distinct phases during the configuration of Boot from SAN. The high level procedures are:
1.
SAN configuration on the Nexus 5548UPs
2.
Storage array host initiator configuration
3.
Cisco UCS configuration of Boot from SAN policy in the service profile
In each of the following sections, each high level phase will be discussed.
SAN Configuration on Cisco Nexus 5548UP
ISCSI boot from SAN is configured on the Cisco Nexus 5548UP switches simply by provisioning the required ports
and VLAN(s) to support this boot protocol.
Make sure you have 10 GB SFP+ modules connected to the Nexus 5548UP ports. The port mode is set to AUTO as
well as the speed is set to AUTO. Rate mode is “dedicated
The steps to prepare the Nexus 5548UPs for boot from SAN follow. We show only the configuration on Fabric A.
The same commands are used to configure the Nexus 5548UP for Fabric B, but are not shown here. The complete
configuration for both Cisco Nexus 5548UP switches is contained in the appendix to this document.
1.
Enter configuration mode on each switch:
config t
2.
Start by adding the npiv feature to both Nexus 5548UP switches:
feature npiv
3.
Verify that the feature is enabled on both switches
show feature | grep npiv
npiv
1
4.
enabled
Configure the iSCSI VLANs on both switches (275 for Fabric A and 276 for Fabric B)
vlan 275
name iSCSI_Fabric_A (N5K-A)
vlan 276
name iSCSI_Fabric_B (N5K-B)
5.
Configure required port channels on both Nexus 5548UPs.
interface port-channel1
description VPC-Peerlink
switchport mode trunk
spanning-tree port type network
speed 10000
vpc peer-link
interface port-channel13
description to FI-5A
switchport mode trunk
vpc 13
interface port-channel14
description to FI-5B
switchport mode trunk
vpc 14
interface port-channel25
description to DM2-0
switchport mode trunk
untagged cos 5
switchport trunk allowed vlan 275-276
vpc 25
interface port-channel26
description to DM3-0
switchport mode trunk
untagged cos 5
switchport trunk allowed vlan 275-276
vpc 26
6.
Configure Ethernet interfaces on both Nexus 5548Ups:
interface Ethernet1/1
description uplink to rtpsol-ucs5-A14
switchport mode trunk
channel-group 13 mode active
interface Ethernet1/2
description uplink to rtpsol-ucs5-B14
switchport mode trunk
channel-group 14 mode active
interface Ethernet1/5
description to rtpsol44-dm2-0
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 275-276
spanning-tree port type edge trunk
channel-group 25 mode active
interface Ethernet1/6
description to rtpsol44-dm3-0
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 275-276
spanning-tree port type edge trunk
channel-group 26 mode active
interface Ethernet1/17 (N5K-A)
description iSCSI link SPA-1 Boot
untagged cos 5
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,275
spanning-tree port type edge trunk
interface Ethernet1/18 (N5K-A)
description iSCSI link SPB-1 Boot
untagged cos 5
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk native vlan 1
switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,276
spanning-tree port type edge trunk
interface Ethernet1/17 (N5K-B)
description iSCSI link SPA-2 Boot
untagged cos 5
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,275
spanning-tree port type edge trunk
interface Ethernet1/18 (N5K-B)
description iSCSI link SPB-2 Boot
untagged cos 5
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk native vlan 1
switchport trunk allowed vlan 1,276
spanning-tree port type edge trunk
The iSCSI connection was used for configuring boot from SAN for all of server blades.
Figure 20:
EMC VNX5400 Target Ports
For detailed Nexus 5500 series switch configuration, refer to Cisco Nexus 5500 Series NX-OS SAN Switching
Configuration Guide. (See the References section of this document for a link.)
Configuring Boot from iSCSI SAN on EMC VNX5400
The steps required to configure boot from SAN LUNs on EMC VNX are as follows:
1.
Create a storage pool from which LUNs will be provisioned. RAID type, drive number and type are
specified in the dialogue box below. Five 600GB SAS drives are used in this example to create a RAID 5
pool. Uncheck “Schedule Auto-Tiering” to disable automatic tiering.
2.
Provision LUNs from the storage pool created in step 1. Each LUN is 50GB in size to store the ESXi
hypervisor OS. Uncheck “Thin” to create thick LUNs.
3.
Create a storage group, the container used for host to LUN mapping, for each of the ESXi hosts.
4.
Register host initiators with the storage array to associate a set of initiators with a given host. The
registered host will be mapped to a specific boot LUN in the following step.
5.
Assign each registered host to a separate storage group as shown below.
6.
Assign a boot LUN to each of the storage groups. A host LUN ID is chosen to make visible to the host. It
does not need to match the array LUN ID. All boot LUNs created for the testing are assigned host LUN ID
0. After the LUN assignment is complete, the boot LUN should be visible to the ESXi host during
hypervisor installation.
iSCSI SAN Configuration on Cisco UCS Manager
Refer to section Cisco Unified Computing System Configuration for instructions on configuring iSCSI SAN boot
detailed instructions.
EMC VNX5400 Storage Configuration
The figure below shows the physical storage layout of the disks in the reference architecture.
The above storage layout is used for the following configurations:











Four SAS disks (0_0_0 to 0_0_3) are used for the VNX OE.
The VNX series does not require a dedicated hot spare drive. Disks 0_0_4 and 1_0_2 to 1_0_4 are
unbound disks that can be used as hot spares when needed. These disks are marked as hot spares in the
diagram.
Two 100GB Flash drives are used for EMC VNX FAST Cache. See the “EMC FAST Cache in Practice”
section below to follow the FAST Cache configuration best practices.
Five SAS disks (1_0_5 to 1_0_9) on the RAID 5 storage pool 1 are used to store the iSCSI boot LUNs for
vSphere hosts.
Five SAS disks (1_0_10 to 1_0_14) on the RAID 5 storage pool 2 are used to store the infrastructure virtual
machines.
Five SAS disks (0_1_0 to 0_1_4) on the RAID 5 storage pool 3 are used to store the PVS vDisks and TFTP
images.
Sixteen SAS disks (0_1_5 to 0_1_14 and 1_1_0 to 1_1_5) on the RAID 10 storage pool 4 are used to store
PVS write cache allocated for the virtual desktops.
Twenty four NL-SAS disks (1_1_6 to 1_1_14 and 0_2_0 to 0_2_14) on the RAID 6 storage pool 5 are used
to store the user profiles and home directories.
FAST Cache is enabled on all storage pools.
Disks 0_0_5 to 0_0_24 are unbound. They are not used for testing this solution.
All SAS disks used for this solution are 600GB.
Example EMC Volume Configuration for PVS Write Cache
The figure below shows the layout of the NFS file systems used to store the PVS write cache for both HVD and
HSD based virtual desktops:
Ten LUNs of 417GB each are carved out of a RAID 10 storage pool configured with 16 SAS drives. The LUNs are
presented to VNX File as dvols that belong to a system defined NAS pool. Four 1TB file systems are then carved
out of the NAS pool and are presented to the ESXi servers as four NFS datastores, which are provisioned seamlessly
using EMC Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) plug-in for vSphere.
EMC Storage Configuration for PVS vDisks
Similar to the PVS write cache storage, ten LUNs of 208GB each are carved out of the RAID 5 storage pool
configured with 5 SAS drives to support a 250GB NFS file system that is designated to store PVS vDisks for the
desktops.
EMC Storage Configuration for VMWare ESXi 5.5 Infrastructure and VDA
Clusters
One LUN of 1TB is carved out of a RAID 5 storage pool configured with 5 SAS drives. The LUN is used to store
infrastructure virtual machines such as domain controllers, SQL servers, vCenter server, XenDesktop controllers,
PVS servers, and Nexus 1000V VSMs.
Example EMC Boot LUN Configuration
Each vSphere host requires an iSCSI boot LUN from SAN for the hypervisor OS. A total of 10 LUNs are carved
out of a 5-disk RAID 5 pool. Each LUN is 50GB in size.
EMC FAST Cache in Practice
FAST Cache is best for small random I/O where data has skew. The higher the locality, the better the benefits wil
be from FAST Cache.
General Considerations
EMC recommends first utilizing available flash drives for FAST Cache, which can globally benefit all LUNs in the
storage system. Then supplement performance as needed with additional flash drives in storage pool tiers.

Match the FAST Cache size to the size of active data set.
– For existing EMC VNX/CX4 customers, EMC Pre-Sales have tools that can help determine active data
set size.


If active dataset size is unknown, size FAST Cache to be 5 percent of your capacity, or make up any
shortfall with a flash tier within storage pools.
Consider the ratio of FAST Cache drives to working drives. Although a small FAST Cache can satisfy a
high IOPS requirement, large storage pool configurations will distribute I/O across all pool resources. A
large pool of HDDs might be able to provide better performance than a few drives of FAST Cache.
Preferred application workloads for FAST Cache:



Small-block random I/O applications with high locality
High frequency of access to the same data
Systems where current performance is limited by HDD capability, not SP capability
Avoid enabling FAST Cache for LUNs that are not expected to benefit, such as when:


The primary workload is sequential.
The primary workload is large-block I/O.
Avoid enabling FAST Cache for LUNs where the workload is small-block sequential, including:



Database logs
Circular logs
VNX OE for File SavVol (snapshot storage)
Enabling FAST Cache on a Running System
When adding FAST Cache to a running system, it is recommended to enable FAST Cache on a few LUNs at a time,
and then wait until those LUNs have equalized in FAST Cache before adding more LUNs.
FAST Cache can improve overall system performance if the current bottleneck is drive-related, but boosting the
IOPS will result in greater CPU utilization on the SPs. Systems should be sized so that the maximum sustained
utilization is 70 percent. On an existing system, check the SP CPU utilization of the system, and then proceed as
follows:



Less than 60 percent SP CPU utilization – enable groups of LUNs or one pool at a time; let them equalize
in the cache, and ensure that SP CPU utilization is still acceptable before turning on FAST Cache for more
LUNs/pools.
60-80 percent SP CPU utilization – scale in carefully; enable FAST Cache on one or two LUNs at a time,
and verify that SP CPU utilization does not go above 80 percent.
CPU greater than 80 percent – DON’T activate FAST Cache.
Avoid enabling FAST Cache for a group of LUNs where the aggregate LUN capacity exceeds 20 times the total
FAST Cache capacity.

Enable FAST Cache on a subset of the LUNs first and allow them to equalize before adding the other
LUNs.
FAST Cache is enabled as an array-wide feature in the system properties of the array in EMC Unisphere. Click the
FAST Cache tab, then click Create and select the Flash drives to create the FAST Cache. RAID 1 is the only RAID
type allowed. There are no user-configurable parameters for FAST Cache. In this solution, two 100GB SSD drives
were used for FAST Cache. 0shows the FAST Cache settings for VNX5400 array used in this solution.
Figure 21:
VNX5400–FAST Cache tab
To enable FAST Cache for a particular pool, navigate to the Storage Pool Properties page in Unisphere, and then
click the Advanced tab. Select Enabled to enable FAST Cache as shown in 0.
Figure 22:
VNX5400–Enable FAST Cache for a storage pool
EMC Additional Configuration Information
The following tuning configurations optimize NFS/CIFS performance on the VNX5400 Data Movers:
NFS active threads per Data Mover
The default number of threads dedicated to serve NFS/CIFS requests is 384 per Data Mover on VNX5400. Some
use cases such as the scanning of desktops might require more number of NFS active threads. It is recommended to
increase the number of active NFS and CIFS threads to 1024 on the active Data Mover to support up to 1000
desktops. The nthreads parameters can be set by using the following commands:
# server_param server_2 –facility nfs –modify nthreads –value 1024
# server_param server_2 –facility cifs –modify nthreads –value 1024
Reboot the Data Mover for the change to take effect.
Type the following command to confirm the value of the parameter:
# server_param server_2
server_2 :
name
facility_name
default_value
current_value
configured_value
user_action
change_effective
range
description
and memory dependent.
-facility nfs -info nthreads
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
=
nthreads
nfs
384
1024
1024
none
immediate
(32,2048)
Number of threads dedicated to serve nfs requests,
The values of NFS and CIFS active threads can also be configured by editing the properties of the nthreads Data
Mover parameter in Settings–Data Mover Parameters menu in Unisphere, as shown in Figure 23: . Type
nthreads in the filter field, highlight the nthreads value you want to edit and select Properties to open the nthreads
properties window. Update the Value field with the new value and click OK as shown in Figure 23: . Perform this
procedure for each of the nthreads Data Mover parameters listed menu. Reboot the Data Movers for the change to
take effect.
Figure 23:
VNX5400–nThreads properties
Installing and Configuring ESXi 5.5
Log in to Cisco UCS 6200 Fabric Interconnect
Cisco UCS Manager
The IP KVM enables the administrator to begin the installation of the operating system (OS) through remote media.
It is necessary to log in to the UCS environment to run the IP KVM.
To log in to the Cisco UCS environment, complete the following steps:
1.
Open a Web browser and enter the IP address for the Cisco UCS cluster address. This step launches the Cisco
UCS Manager application.
2.
Log in to Cisco UCS Manager by using the admin user name and password.
3.
From the main menu, click the Servers tab.
4.
Select Servers > Service Profiles > root > VM-Host-Infra-01.
5.
Right-click VM-Host-Infra-01 and select KVM Console.
6.
Select Servers > Service Profiles > root > VM-Host-Infra-02.
7.
Right-click VM-Host-Infra-02 and select KVM Console Actions > KVM Console.
Set Up VMware ESXi Installation
ESXi Hosts VM-Host-Infra-01 and VM-Host-Infra-02
To prepare the server for the OS installation, complete the following steps on each ESXi host:
1.
In the KVM window, click the Virtual Media tab.
2.
Click Add Image.
3.
Browse to the ESXi installer ISO image file and click Open.
4.
Select the Mapped checkbox to map the newly added image.
5.
Click the KVM tab to monitor the server boot.
6.
Boot the server by selecting Boot Server and clicking OK. Then click OK again.
Install ESXi
To install VMware ESXi to the SAN-bootable LUN of the hosts, complete the following steps on each host:
1.
On reboot, the machine detects the presence of the ESXi installation media. Select the ESXi installer from the
menu that is displayed.
2.
After the installer is finished loading, press Enter to continue with the installation.
3.
Read and accept the end-user license agreement (EULA). Press F11 to accept and continue.
4.
Select the EMC LUN that was previously set up as the installation disk for ESXi and press Enter to continue
with the installation.
5.
Select the appropriate keyboard layout and press Enter.
6.
Enter and confirm the root password and press Enter.
7.
The installer issues a warning that existing partitions will be removed from the volume. Press F11 to continue
with the installation.
8.
After the installation is complete, clear the Mapped checkbox (located in the Virtual Media tab of the KVM
console) to unmap the ESXi installation image.
The ESXi installation image must be unmapped to make sure that the server reboots into ESXi and
not into the installer.
9.
The Virtual Media window might issue a warning stating that it is preferable to eject the media from the guest.
Because the media cannot be ejected and it is read-only, simply click Yes to unmap the image.
10. From the KVM tab, press Enter to reboot the server.
Set Up Management Networking for ESXi Hosts
Adding a management network for each VMware host is necessary for managing the host. To add a management
network for the VMware hosts, complete the following steps on each ESXi host:
To configure the ESXi host with access to the management network, complete the following steps:
1.
After the server has finished rebooting, press F2 to customize the system.
2.
Log in as root and enter the corresponding password.
3.
Select the Configure the Management Network option and press Enter.
4.
Select the VLAN (Optional) option and press Enter.
5.
Enter the <<var_ib-mgmt_vlan_id>> and press Enter.
6.
From the Configure Management Network menu, select IP Configuration and press Enter.
7.
Select the Set Static IP Address and Network Configuration option by using the space bar.
8.
Enter the IP address for managing the first ESXi host: <<var_vm_host_infra_01_ip>>.
9.
Enter the subnet mask for the first ESXi host.
10. Enter the default gateway for the first ESXi host.
11. Press Enter to accept the changes to the IP configuration.
12. Select the IPv6 Configuration option and press Enter.
13. Using the spacebar, unselect Enable IPv6 (restart required) and press Enter.
14. Select the DNS Configuration option and press Enter.
Note: Because the IP address is assigned manually, the DNS information must also be entered manually.
15. Enter the IP address of the primary DNS server.
16. Optional: Enter the IP address of the secondary DNS server.
17. Enter the fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for the first ESXi host.
18. Press Enter to accept the changes to the DNS configuration.
19. Press Esc to exit the Configure Management Network submenu.
20. Press Y to confirm the changes and return to the main menu.
21. The ESXi host reboots. After reboot, press F2 and log back in as root.
22. Select Test Management Network to verify that the management network is set up correctly and press Enter.
23. Press Enter to run the test.
24. Press Enter to exit the window.
25. Press Esc to log out of the VMware console.
Download VMware vSphere Client and vSphere Remote CLI
To download the VMware vSphere Client and install Remote CLI, complete the following steps:
1.
Open a Web browser on the management workstation and navigate to the VM-Host-Infra-01 management IP
address.
2.
Download and install both the vSphere Client and the Windows version of vSphere Remote Command Line.
Note: These applications are downloaded from the VMware Web site and Internet access is required on the
management workstation.
Log in to VMware ESXi Hosts by Using VMware vSphere Client
To log in to the ESXi host by using the VMware vSphere Client, complete the following steps:
1.
Open the recently downloaded VMware vSphere Client and enter the IP address as the host you are trying to
connect to: <<var_vm_host_infra_01_ip>>.
2.
Enter root for the user name.
3.
Enter the root password.
4.
Click Login to connect.
Download Updated Cisco VIC enic and fnic Drivers
To download the Cisco virtual interface card (VIC) enic and fnic drivers, complete the following steps:
Note: The enic version used in this configuration is 2.1.2.42, and the fnic version is 1.6.0.5.
1.
Open a Web browser on the management workstation and navigate to
http://software.cisco.com/download/release.html?mdfid=283853163&softwareid=283853158&release=2.0(5)&
relind=AVAILABLE&rellifecycle=&reltype=latest. Login and select the driver ISO for version 2.2(1d).
Download the ISO file. Once the ISO file is downloaded, either burn the ISO to a CD or map the ISO to a drive
letter. Extract the following files from within the VMware directory for ESXi 5.5:


2.
Network – enic-2.1.2.42-550-bundle.zip
Storage – fnic-1.6.0.5-550-bundle.zip
Document the saved location.
Download EMC PowerPath/VE Driver and VAAI plug-in for File
To download EMC PowerPath/VE driver and VAAI plug-in for File, complete the following steps:
Note: The PowerPath/VE version used in this configuration is 5.9 SP1 build 11, and the VAAI plug-in
version is 1.0.11.
1.
Open a Web browser on the management workstation and navigate to https://support.emc.com. Login and
download/extract the following files:


2.
PowerPath/VE – EMCPower.VMWARE.5.9.SP1.b011.zip
VAAI plug-in – EMCNasPlugin-1.0-11.zip
Document the saved location.
Load Updated Cisco VIC enic and fnic Drivers and EMC Bundles
To load the updated versions of the enic and fnic drivers for the Cisco VIC, complete the following steps for the
hosts on each vSphere Client:
1.
From each vSphere Client, select the host in the inventory.
2.
Click the Summary tab to view the environment summary.
3.
From Resources > Storage, right-click datastore1 and select Browse Datastore.
4.
Click the fourth button and select Upload File.
5.
Navigate to the saved location for the downloaded enic driver version and select net-enic-2.1.2.421OEM.550.0.0.472560.x86_64.zip.
6.
Click Open to open the file.
7.
Click Yes to upload the .zip file to datastore1.
8.
Click the fourth button and select Upload File.
9.
Navigate to the saved location for the downloaded fnic driver version and select scsi-fnic-1.6.0.51OEM.550.0.0.472560.x86_64.zip.
10. Click Open to open the file.
11. Click Yes to upload the .zip file to datastore1.
12. Click the fourth button and select Upload File.
13. Navigate to the saved location for the downloaded PowerPath/VE driver version and select
EMCPower.VMWARE.5.9.SP1.b011.zip.
14. Click Open to open the file.
15. Click Yes to upload the .zip file to datastore1.
16. Click the fourth button and select Upload File.
17. Navigate to the saved location for the downloaded VAAI plug-in version and select EMCNasPlugin-1.0-11.zip.
18. Click Open to open the file.
19. Click Yes to upload the .zip file to datastore1.
20. From the management workstation, open the VMware vSphere Remote CLI that was previously installed.
21. At the command prompt, run the following commands to account for each host (enic):
esxcli –s <<var_vm_host_infra_01_ip>> -u root –p <<var_password>> software vib install –-no-sigcheck –d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/net-enic-2.1.2.42-1OEM.550.0.0.472560.x86_64.zip
esxcli –s <<var_vm_host_infra_02_ip>> -u root –p <<var_password>> software vib install –-no-sigcheck –d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/net-enic-2.1.2.42-1OEM.550.0.0.472560.x86_64.zip
22. At the command prompt, run the following commands to account for each host (fnic):
esxcli –s <<var_vm_host_infra_01_ip>> -u root –p <<var_password>> software vib install –-no-sigcheck –d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/scsi-fnic-1.6.0.5-1OEM.550.0.0.472560.x86_64.zip
esxcli –s <<var_vm_host_infra_02_ip>> -u root –p <<var_password>> software vib install –-no-sigcheck –d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/scsi-fnic-1.6.0.5-1OEM.550.0.0.472560.x86_64.zip
23. At the command prompt, run the following commands to account for each host (PowerPath/VE):
esxcli –s <<var_vm_host_infra_01_ip>> -u root –p <<var_password>> software vib install –-no-sigcheck –d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/EMCPower.VMWARE.5.9.SP1.b011.zip
esxcli –s <<var_vm_host_infra_02_ip>> -u root –p <<var_password>> software vib install –-no-sigcheck –d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/EMCPower.VMWARE.5.9.SP1.b011.zip
24. At the command prompt, run the following commands to account for each host (VAAI plug-in):
esxcli –s <<var_vm_host_infra_01_ip>> -u root –p <<var_password>> software vib install –-no-sigcheck –d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/EMCNasPlugin-1.0-11.zip
esxcli –s <<var_vm_host_infra_02_ip>> -u root –p <<var_password>> software vib install –-no-sigcheck –d /vmfs/volumes/datastore1/EMCNasPlugin-1.0-11.zip
25. From the vSphere Client, right-click each host in the inventory and select Reboot.
26. Select Yes to continue.
27. Enter a reason for the reboot and click OK.
28. After the reboot is complete, log back in to both hosts using the vSphere Client.
Set Up VMkernel Ports and Virtual Switch
To set up the VMkernel ports and the virtual switches on the VM-Host-Infra-01 ESXi host, complete the following
steps:
1.
From each vSphere Client, select the host in the inventory.
2.
Click the Configuration tab.
3.
Click Networking in the Hardware pane.
4.
Click Properties on the right side of vSwitch0.
5.
Select the vSwitch configuration and click Edit.
6.
From the General tab, change the MTU to 9000.
7.
Click OK to close the properties for vSwitch0.
8.
Select the Management Network configuration and click Edit.
9.
Change the network label to VMkernel-MGMT and select the Management Traffic checkbox.
10. Click OK to finalize the edits for Management Network.
11. Select the VM Network configuration and click Edit.
12. Change the network label to IB-MGMT Network and enter <<var_ib-mgmt_vlan_id>> in the VLAN ID
(Optional) field.
13. Click OK to finalize the edits for VM Network.
14. Click Add to add a network element.
15. Select VMkernel and click Next.
16. Change the network label to VMkernel-NFS and enter <<var_nfs_vlan_id>> in the VLAN ID (Optional) field.
17. Click Next to continue with the NFS VMkernel creation.
18. Enter the IP address <<var_nfs_vlan_id_ip_host-01>> and the subnet mask <<var_nfs_vlan_id_mask_host01>>
for the NFS VLAN interface for VM-Host-Infra-01.
19. Click Next to continue with the NFS VMkernel creation.
20. Click Finish to finalize the creation of the NFS VMkernel interface.
21. Select the VMkernel-NFS configuration and click Edit.
22. Change the MTU to 9000.
23. Click OK to finalize the edits for the VMkernel-NFS network.
24. Click Add to add a network element.
25. Select VMkernel and click Next.
26. Change the network label to VMkernel-vMotion and enter <<var_vmotion_vlan_id>> in the VLAN ID
(Optional) field.
27. Select the Use This Port Group for vMotion checkbox.
28. Click Next to continue with the vMotion VMkernel creation.
29. Enter the IP address <<var_vmotion_vlan_id_ip_host-01>> and the subnet mask
<<var_vmotion_vlan_id_mask_host-01>> for the vMotion VLAN interface for VM-Host-Infra-01.
30. Click Next to continue with the vMotion VMkernel creation.
31. Click Finish to finalize the creation of the vMotion VMkernel interface.
32. Select the VMkernel-vMotion configuration and click Edit.
33. Change the MTU to 9000.
34. Click OK to finalize the edits for the VMkernel-vMotion network.
35. Close the dialog box to finalize the ESXi host networking setup. The networking for the ESXi host should be
similar to the following example:
To set up the VMkernel ports and the virtual switches on the VM-Host-Infra-02 ESXi host, complete the following
steps:
36. From each vSphere Client, select the host in the inventory.
37. Click the Configuration tab.
38. Click Networking in the Hardware pane.
39. Click Properties on the right side of vSwitch0.
40. Select the vSwitch configuration and click Edit.
41. From the General tab, change the MTU to 9000.
42. Click OK to close the properties for vSwitch0.
43. Select the Management Network configuration and click Edit.
44. Change the network label to VMkernel-MGMT and select the Management Traffic checkbox.
45. Click OK to finalize the edits for the Management Network.
46. Select the VM Network configuration and click Edit.
47. Change the network label to IB-MGMT Network and enter <<var_ib-mgmt_vlan_id>> in the VLAN ID
(Optional) field.
48. Click OK to finalize the edits for the VM Network.
49. Click Add to add a network element.
50. Select VMkernel and click Next.
51. Change the network label to VMkernel-NFS and enter <<var_nfs_vlan_id>> in the VLAN ID (Optional) field.
52. Click Next to continue with the NFS VMkernel creation.
53. Enter the IP address <<var_nfs_vlan_id_ip_host-02>> and the subnet mask <<var_nfs_vlan_id_mask_host-02>>
for the NFS VLAN interface for VM-Host-Infra-02.
54. Click Next to continue with the NFS VMkernel creation.
55. Click Finish to finalize the creation of the NFS VMkernel interface.
56. Select the VMkernel-NFS configuration and click Edit.
57. Change the MTU to 9000.
58. Click OK to finalize the edits for the VMkernel-NFS network.
59. Click Add to add a network element.
60. Select VMkernel and click Next.
61. Change the network label to VMkernel-vMotion and enter <<var_vmotion_vlan_id>> in the VLAN ID
(Optional) field.
62. Select the Use This Port Group for vMotion checkbox.
63. Click Next to continue with the vMotion VMkernel creation.
64. Enter the IP address <<var_vmotion_vlan_id_ip_host-02>> and the subnet mask
<<var_vmotion_vlan_id_mask_host-02>> for the vMotion VLAN interface for VM-Host-Infra-02.
65. Click Next to continue with the vMotion VMkernel creation.
66. Click Finish to finalize the creation of the vMotion VMkernel interface.
67. Select the VMkernel-vMotion configuration and click Edit.
68. Change the MTU to 9000.
69. Click OK to finalize the edits for the VMkernel-vMotion network.
70. Close the dialog box to finalize the ESXi host networking setup. The networking for the ESXi host should be
similar to the following example:
Mount Required Datastores
To mount the required datastores, complete the following steps on each ESXi host:
1.
From each vSphere Client, select the host in the inventory.
2.
Click the Configuration tab to enable configurations.
3.
Click Storage in the Hardware pane.
4.
From the Datastore area, click Add Storage to open the Add Storage wizard.
5.
Select Network File System and click Next.
6.
The wizard prompts for the location of the NFS export. Enter <<var_nfs_lif02_ip>> as the IP address for
nfs_lif02.
7.
Enter /infra_datastore_1 as the path for the NFS export.
8.
Make sure that the Mount NFS read only checkbox is NOT selected.
9.
Enter infra_datastore_1 as the datastore name.
10. Click Next to continue with the NFS datastore creation.
11. Click Finish to finalize the creation of the NFS datastore.
12. From the Datastore area, click Add Storage to open the Add Storage wizard.
13. Select Network File System and click Next.
14. The wizard prompts for the location of the NFS export. Enter <<var_nfs_lif01_ip>> as the IP address for
nfs_lif01.
15. Enter /infra_swap as the path for the NFS export.
16. Make sure that the Mount NFS read only checkbox is NOT selected.
17. Enter infra_swap as the datastore name.
18. Click Next to continue with the NFS datastore creation.
19. Click Finish to finalize the creation of the NFS datastore.
Configure NTP on ESXi Hosts
To configure Network Time Protocol (NTP) on the ESXi hosts, complete the following steps on each host:
1.
From each vSphere Client, select the host in the inventory.
2.
Click the Configuration tab to enable configurations.
3.
Click Time Configuration in the Software pane.
4.
Click Properties at the upper right side of the window.
5.
At the bottom of the Time Configuration dialog box, click Options.
6.
In the NTP Daemon Options dialog box, complete the following steps:
a.
Click General in the left pane and select Start and stop with host.
b.
Click NTP Settings in the left pane and click Add.
7.
In the Add NTP Server dialog box, enter <<var_global_ntp_server_ip>> as the IP address of the NTP server and
click OK.
8.
In the NTP Daemon Options dialog box, select the Restart NTP Service to Apply Changes checkbox and click
OK.
9.
In the Time Configuration dialog box, complete the following steps:
a.
Select the NTP Client Enabled checkbox and click OK.
b.
Verify that the clock is now set to approximately the correct time.
Note: The NTP server time may vary slightly from the host time.
Move VM Swap File Location
To move the VM swap file location, complete the following steps on each ESXi host:
1.
From each vSphere Client, select the host in the inventory.
2.
Click the Configuration tab to enable configurations.
3.
Click Virtual Machine Swapfile Location in the Software pane.
4.
Click Edit at the upper right side of the window.
5.
Select Store the swapfile in a swapfile datastore selected below.
6.
Select infra_swap as the datastore in which to house the swap files.
7.
Click OK to finalize moving the swap file location.
Install and Configure vCenter and Clusters
The procedures in the following subsections provide detailed instructions for installing VMware vCenter 5.5 in a
VSPEX environment. After the procedures are completed, a VMware vCenter Server will be configured along with
a Microsoft SQL Server database to provide database support to vCenter. These deployment procedures are
customized to include the environment variables.
Note: This procedure focuses on the installation and configuration of an external Microsoft SQL Server
2012 database, but other types of external databases are also supported by vCenter. To use an alternative
database, refer to the VMware vSphere 5.5 documentation for information about how to configure the
database and integrate it into vCenter.
To install VMware vCenter 5.5, an accessible Windows Active Directory® (AD) Domain is necessary. If an existing
AD Domain is not available, an AD virtual machine, or AD pair, can be set up in this VSPEX environment.
Build Microsoft SQL Server VM
To build a SQL Server virtual machine (VM) for the VM-Host-Infra-01 ESXi host, complete the following steps:
1.
Log in to the host by using the VMware vSphere Client.
2.
In the vSphere Client, select the host in the inventory pane.
3.
Right-click the host and select New Virtual Machine.
4.
Select Custom and click Next.
5.
Enter a name for the VM. Click Next.
6.
Select infra_datastore_1. Click Next.
7.
Select Virtual Machine Version: 8. Click Next.
8.
Verify that the Windows option and the Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2(64-bit) version are selected. Click
Next.
9.
Select two virtual sockets and one core per virtual socket. Click Next.
10. Select 4GB of memory. Click Next.
11. Select one network interface card (NIC).
12. For NIC 1, select the IB-MGMT Network option and the VMXNET 3 adapter. Click Next.
13. Keep the LSI Logic SAS option for the SCSI controller selected. Click Next.
14. Keep the Create a New Virtual Disk option selected. Click Next.
15. Make the disk size at least 60GB. Click Next.
16. Click Next.
17. Select the checkbox for Edit the Virtual Machine Settings Before Completion. Click Continue.
18. Click the Options tab.
19. Select Boot Options.
20. Select the Force BIOS Setup checkbox.
21. Click Finish.
22. From the left pane, expand the host field by clicking the plus sign (+).
23. Right-click the newly created SQL Server VM and click Open Console.
24. Click the third button (green right arrow) to power on the VM.
25. Click the ninth button (CD with a wrench) to map the Windows Server 2012 R2 ISO, and then select Connect to
ISO Image on Local Disk.
26. Navigate to the Windows Server 2012 R2SP1 ISO, select it, and click Open.
27. Click in the BIOS Setup Utility window and use the right arrow key to navigate to the Boot menu. Use the
down arrow key to select CD-ROM Drive. Press the plus (+) key twice to move CD-ROM Drive to the top of
the list. Press F10 and Enter to save the selection and exit the BIOS Setup Utility.
28. The Windows Installer boots. Select the appropriate language, time and currency format, and keyboard. Click
Next.
29. Click Install Now.
30. Make sure that the Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard (Full Installation) option is selected. Click Next.
31. Read and accept the license terms and click Next.
32. Select Custom (Advanced). Make sure that Disk 0 Unallocated Space is selected. Click Next to allow the
Windows installation to complete.
33. After the Windows installation is complete and the VM has rebooted, click OK to set the Administrator
password.
34. Enter and confirm the Administrator password and click the blue arrow to log in. Click OK to confirm the
password change.
35. After logging in to the VM desktop, from the VM console window, select the VM menu. Under Guest, select
Install/Upgrade VMware Tools. Click OK.
36. If prompted to eject the Windows installation media before running the setup for the VMware tools, click OK,
then click OK.
37. In the dialog box, select Run setup64.exe.
38. In the VMware Tools installer window, click Next.
39. Make sure that Typical is selected and click Next.
40. Click Install.
41. Click Finish.
42. Click Yes to restart the VM.
43. After the reboot is complete, select the VM menu. Under Guest, select Send Ctrl+Alt+Del and then enter the
password to log in to the VM.
44. Set the time zone for the VM, IP address, gateway, and host name. Add the VM to the Windows AD domain.
Note: A reboot is required.
45. If necessary, activate Windows.
46. Log back in to the VM and download and install all required Windows updates.
Note: This process requires several reboots.
Install Microsoft SQL Server 2012 for vCenter
To install SQL Server on the vCenter SQL Server VM, complete the following steps:
1.
Connect to an AD Domain Controller in the Windows Domain and add an admin user using the Active
Directory Users and Computers tool. This user should be a member of the Domain Administrators security
group.
2.
Log in to the vCenter SQL Server VM as the admin user. Open Server Manager and select Local Server.
3.
Click Add Roles and Features.
4.
Select Role-based or feature-based installation and click Next.
5.
Select the current server as the destination server and click Next.
6.
Click Next
7.
Expand .NET Framework 3.5 Features and select only .NET Framework 3.5.
8.
Click Next.
9.
Select Specify an alternate source path if necessary.
10. Click Install.
11. Click Close.
12. Open Windows Firewall with Advanced Security by navigating to Start > Administrative Tools > Windows
Firewall with Advanced Security.
13. Select Inbound Rules and click New Rule.
14. Select Port and click Next.
15. Select TCP and enter the specific local port 1433. Click Next.
16. Select Allow the Connection. Click Next, and then click Next again.
17. Name the rule SQL Server and click Finish.
18. Close Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.
19. In the vCenter SQL Server VMware console, click the ninth button (CD with a wrench) to map the Microsoft
SQL Server 2012 with SP1 ISO. Select Connect to ISO Image on Local Disk.
20. Navigate to the SQL Server 2012 with SP1 ISO, select it, and click Open.
21. In the dialog box, click Run setup.exe.
22. In the SQL Server Installation Center window, click Installation on the left.
23. Select New SQL Server stand-alone Installation or add features to an existing installation.
24. Click OK.
25. Select Enter the Product Key. Enter a product key and click Next.
26. Read and accept the license terms and choose whether to select the second checkbox. Click Next.
27. Click Install to install the setup support files.
28. Address any warnings except for the Windows firewall warning. Click Next.
The Windows firewall issue was addressed in Step 15.
29. Select SQL Server Feature Installation and click Next.
30. Under Instance Features, select only Database Engine Services.
31. Under Shared Features, select Management Tools - Basic and Management Tools - Complete. Click Next.
32. Click Next.
33. Keep Default Instance selected. Click Next.
34. Click Next for Disk Space Requirements.
35. For the SQL Server Agent service, click in the first cell in the Account Name column and then click
<<Browse…>>.
36. Enter the local machine administrator name (for example, systemname\Administrator), click Check
Names, and click OK.
37. Enter the administrator password in the first cell under Password.
38. Change the startup type for SQL Server Agent to Automatic.
39. For the SQL Server Database Engine service, select Administrator in the Account Name column and enter the
administrator password again. Click Next.
40. Select Mixed Mode (SQL Server Authentication and Windows Authentication). Enter and confirm the password
for the SQL Server system administrator (sa) account, click Add Current User, and Click Next.
41. Choose whether to send error reports to Microsoft. Click Next.
42. Click Next.
43. Click Install.
44. After the installation is complete, click Close to close the SQL Server installer.
45. Close the SQL Server Installation Center.
46. Install all available Microsoft Windows updates by navigating to Start > Control Panel > Windows Update.
47. Open the SQL Server Management Studio by selecting Start > SQL Server Management Studio.
48. Under Server Name, select the local machine name. Under Authentication, select SQL Server Authentication.
Enter sa in the Login field and enter the sa password. Click Connect.
49. Click New Query.
50. Run the following script, substituting the vpxuser password for <Password>:
use [master]
go
CREATE DATABASE [VCDB] ON PRIMARY
(NAME = N'vcdb', FILENAME = N'C:\VCDB.mdf', SIZE = 3000KB, FILEGROWTH = 10% )
LOG ON
(NAME = N'vcdb_log', FILENAME = N'C:\VCDB.ldf', SIZE = 1000KB, FILEGROWTH = 10%)
COLLATE SQL_Latin1_General_CP1_CI_AS
go
use VCDB
go
sp_addlogin @loginame=[vpxuser], @passwd=N'<Password>', @defdb='VCDB',
@deflanguage='us_english'
go
ALTER LOGIN [vpxuser] WITH CHECK_POLICY = OFF
go
CREATE USER [vpxuser] for LOGIN [vpxuser]
go
use MSDB
go
CREATE USER [vpxuser] for LOGIN [vpxuser]
go
use VCDB
go
sp_addrolemember @rolename = 'db_owner', @membername = 'vpxuser'
go
use MSDB
go
sp_addrolemember @rolename = 'db_owner', @membername = 'vpxuser'
go
This example illustrates the script.
51. Click Execute and verify that the query executes successfully.
52. Close Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio.
53. Disconnect the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 ISO from the SQL Server VM.
Build and Set Up VMware vCenter VM
Build VMware vCenter VM
To build the VMware vCenter VM, complete the following steps:
1.
Using the instructions for building a SQL Server VM provided in the section “The procedures in the following
subsections provide detailed instructions for installing VMware vCenter 5.5 in a VSPEX environment. After the
procedures are completed, a VMware vCenter Server will be configured along with a Microsoft SQL Server
database to provide database support to vCenter. These deployment procedures are customized to include the
environment variables.
Note: This procedure focuses on the installation and configuration of an external Microsoft SQL Server
2012 database, but other types of external databases are also supported by vCenter. To use an alternative
database, refer to the VMware vSphere 5.5 documentation for information about how to configure the
database and integrate it into vCenter.
To install VMware vCenter 5.5, an accessible Windows Active Directory® (AD) Domain is necessary. If an existing
AD Domain is not available, an AD virtual machine, or AD pair, can be set up in this VSPEX environment.
2.
Build Microsoft SQL Server VM,” build a VMware vCenter VM with the following configuration in the
<<var_ib-mgmt_vlan_id>> VLAN:



3.
4GB RAM
Two CPUs
One virtual network interface
Start the VM, install VMware Tools, and assign an IP address and host name to it in the Active Directory
domain.
Set Up VMware vCenter VM
To set up the newly built VMware vCenter VM, complete the following steps:
1.
Log in to the vCenter VM as the admin user. Open Server Manager and select Local Server.
2.
Click Add Roles and Features.
3.
Select Role-based or feature-based installation and click Next.
4.
Select the current server as the destination server and click Next.
5.
Click Next.
6.
Expand .NET Framework 3.5 Features and select only .NET Framework 3.5.
7.
Click Next.
8.
Select Specify an alternate source path if necessary.
9.
Click Install.
10. Click Close to close the Add Features wizard.
11. Close Server Manager.
12. Download and install the client components of the Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Native Client from the
Microsoft Download Center.
13. Create the vCenter database data source name (DSN). Open ODBC Data Sources (64-bit) by selecting Start >
Administrative Tools > ODBC Data Sources (64-bit).
14. Click the System DSN tab.
15. Click Add.
16. Select SQL Server Native Client 11.0 and click Finish.
17. Name the data source VCDB. In the Server field, enter the IP address of the vCenter SQL server. Click Next.
18. Select With SQL Server authentication using a login ID and password entered by the user. Enter vpxuser as
the login ID and the vpxuser password. Click Next.
19. Select Change the Default Database To and select VCDB from the list. Click Next.
20. Click Finish.
21. Click Test Data Source. Verify that the test completes successfully.
22. Click OK and then click OK again.
23. Click OK to close the ODBC Data Source Administrator window.
24. Install all available Microsoft Windows updates by navigating to Start > Control Panel > Windows Update.
A restart might be required.
Install VMware vCenter Server
To install vCenter Server on the vCenter Server VM, complete the following steps:
1.
In the vCenter Server VMware console, click the ninth button (CD with a wrench) to map the VMware vCenter
ISO and select Connect to ISO Image on Local Disk.
2.
Navigate to the VMware vCenter 5.5 (VIMSetup) ISO, select it, and click Open.
3.
In the dialog box, click Run autorun.exe.
4.
In the VMware vCenter Installer window, make sure that VMware vCenter Simple Install is selected and click
Install.
5.
Click Next to install vCenter Single Sign On.
6.
Accept the terms of the license agreement and click Next.
7.
Click Next for Simple Install Prerequisites Check.
8.
Enter and confirm <<var_password>> for Administrator@vsphere.local. Click Next.
9.
Enter a site name and click Next.
10. Click Next to select the default HTTPS port for vCenter Single Sign-On.
11. Click Next to select the default destination folder.
12. Click Install to begin the Simple Install
13. Click Yes to accept the certificate for vSphere Web Client.
14. Enter the vCenter 5.5 license key and click Next.
15. Select Use an Existing Supported Database. Select VCDB from the Data Source Name list and click Next.
16. Enter the vpxuser password and click Next.
17. Click Next to use the SYSTEM Account.
18. Click Next to accept the default ports.
19. Select the appropriate inventory size. Click Next.
20. Click Install.
21. Click Yes to accept the certificate for vCenter Server.
22. Click Finish.
23. Click OK to confirm the installation.
24. Click Exit in the VMware vCenter Installer window.
25. Disconnect the VMware vCenter ISO from the vCenter VM.
26. Install all available Microsoft Windows updates by navigating to Start > Control Panel > Windows Updates.
A restart might be required.
Set Up ESXi 5.5 Cluster Configuration
To set up ESX 5.5 cluster configuration on the vCenter Server VM, complete the following steps:
1.
Using the vSphere Client, log in to the newly created vCenter Server as the admin user.
2.
Click Create a data center.
3.
Enter VSPEX_DC_1 as the data center name.
4.
Right-click the newly created VSPEX_DC_1 data center and select New Cluster.
5.
Name the cluster VSPEX_Management and select the checkboxes for Turn On vSphere HA and Turn on
vSphere DRS. Click Next.
6.
Accept the defaults for vSphere DRS. Click Next.
7.
Accept the defaults for Power Management. Click Next.
8.
Accept the defaults for vSphere HA. Click Next.
9.
Accept the defaults for Virtual Machine Options. Click Next.
10. Accept the defaults for VM Monitoring. Click Next.
11. Accept the defaults for VMware EVC. Click Next.
If mixing UCS B or C-Series M2 and M3 servers within a vCenter cluster, it is necessary to enable
VMware Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC) mode. For more information about setting up EVC
mode, refer to Enhanced vMotion Compatibility (EVC) Processor Support.
12. Select Store the swapfile in the same directory as the virtual machine (recommended). Click Next.
13. Click Finish.
14. Right-click the newly created VSPEX_Management cluster and select Add Host.
15. In the Host field, enter either the IP address or the host name of the VM-Host-Infra_01 host. Enter root
as the user name and the root password for this host. Click Next.
16. Click Yes.
17. Click Next.
18. Select Assign a New License Key to the Host. Click Enter Key and enter a vSphere license key. Click OK, and
then click Next.
19. Click Next.
20. Click Next.
21. Click Finish. VM-Host-Infra-01 is added to the cluster.
22. Repeat this procedure to add VM-Host-Infra-02 to the cluster.
23. Create two additional clusters named XenDesktopHVD and XenDesktopRDS
24. Add hosts XenDesktopHVD-01 thru XenDesktopHVD-03 to the XenDesktopHVD cluster
25. Add hosts XenDesktopRDS-01 thru XenDesktopRDS-05 to the XenDesktopRDS cluster
Installing and Configuring Citrix Licensing and Provisioning
Components
To prepare the required infrastructure to support the Citrix XenDesktop Hosted Virtual Desktop and Hosted Shared
Desktop environment, the following procedures were followed.
Installing Citrix License Server
XenDesktop requires Citrix licensing to be installed. For this CVD, we implemented a dedicated server for
licensing. If you already have an existing license server, then Citrix recommends that you upgrade it to the latest
version when you upgrade or install new Citrix products. New license servers are backwards compatible and work
with older products and license files. New products often require the newest license server to check out licenses
correctly.
Instructions
Insert the Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 ISO and launch the
installer.
Click Start under XenDesktop
Visual
Instructions
To begin the installation of Citrix License Server,
click on “Extend Deployment – Citrix License
Server.”
Read the Citrix License Agreement.
If acceptable, indicate your acceptance of the license
by selecting the “I have read, understand, and
accept the terms of the license agreement” radio
button.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
A dialog appears to install the License Server.
Click Next
Select the default ports and automatically configured
firewall rules.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
A Summary screen appears.
Click the Install button to begin the installation.
A message appears indicating that the installation has
completed successfully.
Click Finish
Copy the license files to the default location
(C:\Program Files (x86)\Citrix\Licensing\ MyFiles)
on the license server (XENLIC in this CVD). Restart
the server or services so that the licenses are
activated.
Visual
Instructions
Visual
Run the application Citrix License Administration.
Confirm that the license files have been read and
enabled correctly.
Installing Provisioning Services
In most implementations, there is a single vDisk providing the standard image for multiple target devices.
Thousands of target devices can use a single vDisk shared across multiple Provisioning Services (PVS) servers in
the same farm, simplifying virtual desktop management. This section describes the installation and configuration
tasks required to create a PVS implementation.
The PVS server can have many stored vDisks, and each vDisk can be several gigabytes in size. Your streaming
performance and manageability can be improved using a RAID array, SAN, or NAS. PVS software and hardware
requirements are available at http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/provisioning-7/pvs-install-task1-plan-60.html.
Prerequisites
Only one MS SQL database is associated with a farm. You can choose to install the Provisioning Services database
software on an existing SQL database, if that machine can communicate with all Provisioning Servers within the
farm, or with a new SQL Express database machine, created using the SQL Express software that is free from
Microsoft.
The following MS SQL 2008, MS SQL 2008 R2, and MS SQL 2012 Server (32 or 64-bit editions) databases can be
used for the Provisioning Services database: SQL Server Express Edition, SQL Server Workgroup Edition, SQL
Server Standard Edition, SQL Server Enterprise Edition. Microsoft SQL was installed separately for this CVD.
Instructions
Insert the Citrix Provisioning Services 7.1 ISO and
let AutoRun launch the installer.
Click the Server Installation button.
Click the Install Server button.
The installation wizard will check to resolve
dependencies and then begin the PVS server
installation process. It is recommended that you
temporarily disable anti-virus software prior to the
installation.
Visual
Instructions
Click Install on the prerequisites dialog.
Click Yes when prompted to install the SQL Native
Client.
Click Next when the Installation wizard starts.
Visual
Instructions
Visual
Review the license agreement terms.
If acceptable, select the radio button labeled
accept the terms in the license agreement.”
Click Next
Provide User Name, and Organization information.
Select who will see the application.
Click Next
“I
Instructions
Accept the default installation location.
Click Next
Click Install to begin the installation.
Visual
Instructions
Click Finish when the install is complete.
Click OK to acknowledge the PVS console has not
yet been installed.
The PVS Configuration Wizard starts automatically.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Since the PVS server is not the DHCP server for the
environment, select the radio button labeled, “The
service that runs on another computer.”
Click Next
Since this server will be a PXE server, select the
radio button labeled, “The service that runs on this
computer.”
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Since this is the first server in the farm, select the
radio button labeled, “Create farm”.
Click Next
Enter the name of the SQL server.
Note: If using a cluster, instead of AlwaysOn groups,
you will need to supply the instance name as well.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Optionally provide a Database name, Farm name,
Site name, and Collection name for the PVS farm.
Select the Administrators group for the Farm
Administrator group.
Click Next
Provide a vDisk Store name and the storage path to
the EMC vDisk share.
NOTE: Create the share using EMC’s native support
for SMB3.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Provide the FQDN of the License Server.
Optionally, provide a port number if changed on the
license server.
Click Next
If an active directory service account is not already
setup for the PVS servers, create that account prior to
clicking Next on this dialog.
Select the Specified user account radio button.
Complete the User name, Domain, Password, and
Confirm password fields, using the PVS account
information created earlier.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Set the Days between password updates to 30.
NOTE: This will vary per environment. “30 days”
for the configuration was appropriate for testing
purposes.
Click Next
Keep the defaults for the network cards.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Disable the Use the Provisioning Services TFTP
service checkbox as the TFTP service will be hosted
on the EMC VNX storage.
Click Next
Click Finish to start the installation.
Visual
Instructions
When the installation is completed, click the Done
button.
From the main installation screen, select Console
Installation.
Visual
Instructions
Click Next
Read the Citrix License Agreement.
If acceptable, select the radio button labeled “I
accept the terms in the license agreement.”
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Optionally provide User Name and Organization.
Click Next
Accept the default path.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Leave the Complete radio button selected.
Click Next
Click the Install button to start the console
installation.
Visual
Instructions
Visual
When the installation completes, click Finish to
close the dialog box.
Configuring Store and Boot Properties for PVS1
Instructions
From the Windows Start screen for the Provisioning
Server PVS1, launch the Provisioning Services
Console.
Visual
Instructions
Select Connect to Farm.
Enter localhost for the PVS1 server.
Click Connect.
Visual
Instructions
Visual
Select Store Properties from the pull-down menu.
In the Store Properties dialog, add the Default store
path to the list of Default write cache paths.
Click Validate. If the validation is successful, click
OK to continue.
Installation of Additional PVS Servers
Complete the same installation steps on the additional PVS servers up to the configuration step where it asks to
Create or Join a farm. In this CVD, we repeated the procedure to add the second and third PVS servers.
Instructions
On the Farm Configuration dialog, select “Join
existing farm.”
Click Next
Provide the FQDN of the SQL Server.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Accept the Farm Name.
Click Next.
Accept the Existing Site.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Accept the existing vDisk store.
Click Next
Provide the PVS service account information.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Set the
to 30.
Visual
Days
between
password
Click Next
Accept the network card settings.
Click Next
updates
Instructions
Disable the Use the Provisioning Services TFTP
service checkbox as the TFTP service will be hosted
on the EMC VNX storage.
Click Next
Click Finish to start the installation process.
Visual
Instructions
Visual
Click Done when the installation finishes.
You can optionally install the Provisioning Services console on the second and third PVS virtual machines
following the procedure in section 6.8.2 Installing Provisioning Services.
After completing the steps to install the second and third PVS servers, launch the Provisioning Services Console to
verify that the PVS Servers and Stores are configured and that DHCP boot options are defined.
Installing and Configuring XenDesktop 7.5 Components
This section details the installation of the core components of the XenDesktop 7.5 system.
Installing the XenDesktop Delivery Controllers
This CVD installs two XenDesktop Delivery Controllers to support both hosted shared desktops (RDS) and pooled
virtual desktops (VDI).
Installing the XenDesktop Delivery Controller and Other Software Components
The process of installing the XenDesktop Delivery Controller also installs other key XenDesktop software
components, including Studio, which is used to create and manage infrastructure components, and Director, which is
used to monitor performance and troubleshoot problems.
Instructions
Citrix recommends that you use Secure HTTP
(HTTPS) and a digital certificate to protect vSphere
communications. Citrix recommends that you use a
digital certificate issued by a certificate authority
(CA) according to your organization's security
policy. Otehrwise, if security policy allows, use the
VMware-installed self-signed certificate. To do this:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Add the FQDN of the computer running vCenter
Server to the hosts file on that server, located at
SystemRoot/
WINDOWS/system32/Drivers/etc/. This step is
required only if the FQDN of the computer
running vCenter Server is not already present in
DNS.
Open Internet Explorer and enter the address of
the computer running vCenter Server (e.g.,
https://FQDN as the URL).
Accept the security warnings.
Click the Certificate Error in the Security Status
bar and select View certificates.
Click Install certificate, select Local Machine,
and then click Next.
Select Place all certificates in the following store
and then click Browse.
Select Show physical stores.
Select Trusted People.
Click Next and then click Finish.
To begin the installation, connect to the first
XenDesktop server and launch the installer from the
Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 ISO.
Click Start
Visual
Instructions
The installation wizard presents a menu with three
subsections.
Click on “Get Started - Delivery Controller.”
Read the Citrix License Agreement.
If acceptable, indicate your acceptance of the license
by selecting the “I have read, understand, and
accept the terms of the license agreement” radio
button.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Select the components to be installed:



Delivery Controller
Studio
Director
In this CVD, the License Server has already been
installed and StoreFront is installed on separate
virtual machines. Uncheck License Server and
StoreFront.
Click Next
The Microsoft SQL Server is installed separately and
Windows Remote Assistance is not required, so
uncheck the boxes to install these components.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Select the default ports and automatically configured
firewall rules.
Click Next
The Summary screen is shown.
Click the Install button to begin the installation.
The installer displays a message when the installation
is complete.
Visual
Instructions
Visual
Confirm all selected components were successfully
installed.
Verify the Launch Studio checkbox is enabled.
Click Finish
XenDesktop Controller Configuration
Citrix Studio is a management console that allows you to create and manage infrastructure and resources to deliver
desktops and applications. Replacing Desktop Studio from earlier releases, it provides wizards to set up your
environment, create workloads to host applications and desktops, and assign applications and desktops to users.
Citrix Studio launches automatically after the XenDesktop Delivery Controller installation, or if necessary, it can be
launched manually. Studio is used to create a Site, which is the core XenDesktop 7 environment consisting of the
Delivery Controller and the Database.
Instructions
Click on the Deliver applications and desktops to
your users button.
Visual
Instructions
Select the “A fully configured, production-ready Site
(recommended for new users)” radio button.
Enter a site name.
Click Next
Provide the Database Server location.
Click the Test connection… button to verify that the
database is accessible.
NOTE: If using a clustered database instead of the
AlwaysOn configuration, then the SQL instance
name must also be supplied. Ignore any errors and
continue.
Visual
Instructions
Click OK to have the installer create the database.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Visual
Provide the FQDN of the license server.
Click Connect to validate and retrieve any licenses
from the server.
NOTE: If no licenses are available, you can use the
30-day free trial or activate a license file.
Select the appropriate product edition using the
license radio button
Click Next
Select the Host Type of VMware vSphere.
Enter the FQDN of the vSphere server.
Enter the username (in domain\username format) for
the vSphere account.
Provide the password for the vSphere account.
Provide a connection name.
Select the Other tools radio
Provisioning Services will be used.
button
since
Click Next
Enter a resource name.
Select a VMware cluster and virtual network that will
be used by the virtual desktops.
Click Next
Instructions
Select a datastore on the Storage dialog
Click Next
Click Next on the App-V Publishing dialog
Click Finish to complete the deployment.
Visual
Instructions
Visual
Once the deployment is complete, click the Test Site
button.
All 178 tests should pass successfully.
Click Finish
Additional XenDesktop Controller Configuration
After the first controller is completely configured and the Site is operational, you can add additional controllers. In
this CVD, we created two Delivery Controllers.
Instructions
To begin the installation of the second Delivery
Controller, connect to the second XenDesktop server
and launch the installer from the Citrix XenDesktop
7.5 ISO.
Click Start
Visual
Instructions
Repeat the same steps used to install the first
Delivery Controller, including the step of importing
an SSL certificate for HTTPS between the controller
and vSphere.
Review the Summary configuration.
Click Install
Confirm all selected components were successfully
installed.
Verify the Launch Studio checkbox is enabled.
Click Finish
Visual
Instructions
Click on the Connect this Delivery Controller to an
existing Site button.
Enter the FQDN of the first delivery controller.
Click OK
Click Yes to allow the database to be updated with
this controller’s information automatically.
Visual
Instructions
Visual
When complete, verify the site is functional by
clicking the Test Site button.
Click Finish to close the test results dialog.
Adding Host Connections and Resources with Citrix Studio
Citrix Studio provides wizards to guide the process of setting up an environment and creating desktops. The steps
below set up a host connection for a cluster of VMs for the HVD and HSD desktops.
Note: The instructions below outline the procedure to add a host connection and resources for HVD desktops. When
you’ve completed these steps, repeat the procedure to add a host connection and resources for HSDs.
Instructions
Connect to the XenDesktop server and launch Citrix
Studio.
From the Configuration menu, select Hosting.
Select Add Connection and Resources.
On the Connections dialog, specify vSphere55 as the
existing connection to be used.
Click Next
On the Resources dialog, specify a resource name,
cluster, and an appropriate network.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Visual
On the Storage dialog, specify the shared storage for
the new VMs. This applies to the PVS Write Cache
datastores.
Click Next
Review the Summary.
Click Finish
Installing and Configuring StoreFront
Citrix StoreFront stores aggregate desktops and applications from XenDesktop sites, making resources readily
available to users. In this CVD, StoreFront is installed on a separate virtual machine from other XenDesktop
components. Log into that virtual machine and start the installation process from the Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 ISO.
The installation wizard presents a menu with three subsections.
Instructions
To begin the installation of StoreFront, click on
Citrix StoreFront under the “Extend Deployment”
heading.
Read the Citrix License Agreement.
If acceptable, indicate your acceptance of the license
by selecting the “I have read, understand, and
accept the terms of the license agreement” radio
button.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
StoreFront is shown as the component to be
installed.
Click Next
Select the default ports and automatically configured
firewall rules.
Click Next
The Summary screen is shown.
Click the Install button to begin the installation.
The installer displays a message when the installation
is complete.
Visual
Instructions
Visual
Verify that the checkbox to “Open the StoreFront
Management Console“ is enabled.
Click Finish
The StoreFront Management Console launches automatically after installation, or if necessary, it can be launched
manually.
Instructions
Click on the “Create a new deployment” button.
Visual
Enter the Base URL to be used to access StoreFront
services.
Click Next
Enter a Store Name.
Click Next
On the Create Store page, specify the XenDesktop
Delivery Controller and servers that will provide
resources to be made available in the store.
Click Add.
In the Add Delivery Controller dialog box, add
servers for the XenDesktop Delivery Controller. List
the servers in failover order.
Click OK to add each server to the list.
After adding the list of servers, specify a Display
name for the Delivery Controller. For testing
purposes, set the default transport type and port to
HTTP on port 80.
Click OK to add the Delivery Controller.
NOTE: HTTPS is recommended for production
deployments.
On the Remote Access page, accept None (the
default).
Click the Create button to begin creating the store.
A message indicates when the store creation process
is complete. The Create Store page lists the Website
for the created store.
Click Finish
On the second StoreFront server, complete the previous installation steps up to the configuration step where the
StoreFront Management Console launches. At this point, the console allows you to choose between “Create a new
deployment” or “Join an existing server group.”
Instructions
For the additional StoreFront server, select “Join an
existing server group.”
In the Join Server Group dialog, enter the name of
the first Storefront server.
Before the additional Storefront server can join the
server group, you must connect to the first Storefront
server, add the second server, and obtain the required
authorization information.
Connect to the first Storefront server.
Visual
Using the StoreFront menu on the left, you can scroll
through the StoreFront management options.
Select Server Group from the menu.
At this point, the Server Group contains a single
Storefront server.
Select Generate Security Keys from the Actions
menu on the right. Security keys are needed for
signing and encryption.
A dialog window appears.
Click Generate Keys
Select Server Group from the menu.
To generate the authorization information that allows
the additional StoreFront server to join the server
group, select Add Server.
Copy the Authorization code from the Add Server
dialog.
Connect to the second Storefront server and paste the
Authorization code into the Join Server Group
dialog.
Click Join
A message appears when the second server has
joined successfully.
Click OK
The Server Group now lists both StoreFront servers
in the group.
Desktop Delivery Golden Image Creation and
Resource Provisioning
This section provides details on how to use the Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 delivery infrastructure to create virtual
desktop golden images and to deploy the virtual machines.
Overview of Desktop Delivery
The advantage of using Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS) is that it allows VMs to be provisioned and reprovisioned in real-time from a single shared disk image called a virtual Disk (vDisk). By streaming a vDisk rather
than copying images to individual machines, PVS allows organizations to manage a small number of disk images
even when the number of VMs grows, providing the benefits of centralized management, distributed processing, and
efficient use of storage capacity.
In most implementations, a single vDisk provides a standardized image to multiple target devices. Multiple PVS
servers in the same farm can stream the same vDisk image to thousands of target devices. Virtual desktop
environments can be customized through the use of write caches and by personalizing user settings though Citrix
User Profile Management.
This section describes the installation and configuration tasks required to create standardized master vDisk images
using PVS. This section also discusses write cache sizing and placement considerations, and how policies in Citrix
User Profile Management can be configured to further personalize user desktops.
Overview of PVS vDisk Image Management
After installing and configuring PVS components, a vDisk is created from a device’s hard drive by taking a snapshot
of the OS and application image, and then storing that image as a vDisk file on the network. vDisks can exist on a
Provisioning Server, file share, or in larger deployments (as in this CVD) on a storage system with which the
Provisioning Server can communicate (via iSCSI, SAN, NAS, and CIFS). A PVS server can access many stored
vDisks, and each vDisk can be several gigabytes in size. For this solution, the vDisk was stored on a CIFS share
located on the EMC storage.
vDisks can be assigned to a single target device in Private Image Mode, or to multiple target devices in Standard
Image Mode. In Standard Image mode, the vDisk is read-only, which means that multiple target devices can stream
from a single vDisk image simultaneously. Standard Image mode reduces the complexity of vDisk management and
the amount of storage required since images are shared. In contrast, when a vDisk is configured to use Private Image
Mode, the vDisk is read/write and only one target device can access the vDisk at a time.
When a vDisk is configured in Standard Image mode, each time a target device boots, it always boots from a “clean”
vDisk image. Each target device then maintains a Write Cache to store any writes that the operating system needs to
make, such as the installation of user-specific data or applications. Each virtual desktop is assigned a Write Cache
disk (a differencing disk) where changes to the default image are recorded. Used by the virtual Windows operating
system throughout its working life cycle, the Write Cache is written to a dedicated virtual hard disk created by thin
provisioning and attached to each new virtual desktop.
Overview – Golden Image Creation
For this CVD, PVS supplies these master (or “golden”) vDisk images to the target devices:
Table 8.
Golden Image Descriptions
To build the vDisk images, OS images of Microsoft Windows 7 and Windows Server 2012, along with additional
software, were initially installed and prepared as standard virtual machines on vSphere. These master target VMs
(called Win7 and W2012) were then converted into a separate Citrix PVS vDisk files. Citrix PVS and the
XenDesktop Delivery Controllers use the golden vDisk images to instantiate new desktop virtual machines on
vSphere.
In this CVD, virtual machines for the hosted shared and hosted virtual desktops were created using the XenDesktop
Setup Wizard. The XenDesktop Setup Wizard (XDSW) does the following:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Creates VMs on a XenDesktop hosted hypervisor server from an existing template.
Creates PVS target devices for each new VM within a new or existing collection matching the XenDesktop
catalog name.
Assigns a Standard Image vDisk to VMs within the collection.
Adds virtual desktops to a XenDesktop Machine Catalog.
In this CVD, virtual desktops were optimized according to best practices for performance. (The “Optimize
performance” checkbox was selected during the installation of the VDA, and the “Optimize for Provisioning
Services” checkbox was selected during the PVS image creation process using the PVS Imaging Wizard.)
Write-cache drive sizing and placement
When considering a PVS deployment, there are some design decisions that need to be made regarding the write
cache for the virtual desktop devices that leverage provisioning services. The write cache is a cache of all data that
the target device has written. If data is written to the PVS vDisk in a caching mode, the data is not written back to
the base vDisk. Instead it is written to a write cache file.
It is important to consider Write Cache sizing and placement when scaling virtual desktops using PVS server.
There are several options as to where the Write Cache can be placed, such as on the PVS server, in hypervisor
RAM, or on a device local disk (this is usually an additional vDisk for VDI instances). For this study, we used PVS
7.1 to manage desktops with write cache placed on the target device’s storage (e.g., EMC Write Cache volumes) for
each virtual machine, which allows the design to scale more effectively. Optionally, write cache files can be stored
on SSDs located on each of the virtual desktop host servers.
For Citrix PVS pooled desktops, write cache size needs to be calculated based on how often the user reboots the
desktop and type of applications used. We recommend using a write cache twice the size of RAM allocated to each
individual VM. For example, if VM is allocated with 1.5GB RAM, use at least a 3GB write cache vDisk for each
VM.
For this solution, 6GB virtual disks were assigned to the Windows 7-based virtual machines used in the desktop
creation process. The PVS Target device agent installed in the Windows 7 gold image automatically places the
Windows swap file on the same drive used by the PVS Write Cache when this mode is enabled. 50GB write cache
virtual disks were used for the Server 2012 desktop machines.
Preparing the Master Targets
This section provides guidance around creating the golden (or master) images for the environment. VMs for the
master targets must first be installed with the software components needed to build the golden images. For this
CVD, the images contain the basics needed to run the Login VSI workload.
To prepare the master VMs for the Hosted Virtual Desktops (HVDs) and Hosted Shared Desktops (HSDs), there are
three major steps: installing the PVS Target Device x64 software, installing the Virtual Delivery Agents (VDAs),
and installing application software.
The master target HVD and HSD VMs were configured as follows:
Table 9.
OS Configurations
vDisk Feature
Virtual CPUs
Memory
Hosted Virtual Desktops
1 vCPU
1.5 GB
Hosted Shared Desktops
5 vCPUs
24GB
vDisk size
Virtual NICs
vDisk OS
40 GB
1 virtual VMXNET3 NIC
Microsoft Windows 7 Enterprise
(x86)
Microsoft Office 2010, Login VSI
3.7
Login VSI “medium” workload
(knowledge worker)
60 GB
1 virtual VMXNET3 NIC
Microsoft Windows Server 2012
Additional
software
Test workload
Microsoft Office 2010, Login VSI
3.7
Login VSI “medium” workload
(knowledge worker)
The software installed on each image before cloning the vDisk included:



Citrix Provisioning Server Target Device (32-bit for HVD and 64-bit for HSD)
Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 SP1
Internet Explorer 8.0.7601.17514 (HVD only; Internet Explorer 10 is included with Windows Server 2012
by default)

Login VSI 3.7 (which includes additional software used for testing: Adobe Reader 9.1, Macromedia Flash,
Macromedia Shockwave, Bullzip PDF Printer, etc.).
Installing the PVS Target Device Software
The Master Target Device refers to the target device from which a hard disk image is built and stored on a vDisk.
Provisioning Services then streams the contents of the vDisk created to other target devices. This procedure installs
the PVS Target Device software that is used to build the HVD and HSD golden images.
The instructions below outline the installation procedure to configure a vDisk for HVD desktops. When
you’ve completed these installation steps, repeat the procedure to configure a vDisk for HSDs.
Instructions
On the Master Target Device, first run Windows
Update and install any identified updates.
Click Yes to install.
Note: This step only applies to Windows 7.
Restart the machine when the installation is
complete.
Launch the PVS installer from the Provisioning
Services DVD.
Click the Target Device Installation button
Visual
Instructions
Click the Target Device Installation button.
The installation wizard will check to resolve
dependencies and then begin the PVS target device
installation process.
The wizard's Welcome page appears.
Click Next.
Visual
Instructions
Read the license agreement. If you agree, check the
radio button “I accept the terms in the license
agreement.”
Click Next
Enter a User and Organization names and click Next.
Visual
Instructions
Select the Destination Folder for the PVS Target
Device program and click Next.
Confirm the installation settings and click Install.
Visual
Instructions
Visual
A confirmation screen appears indicating that the
installation completed successfully.
Unclick the checkbox to launch the Imaging Wizard
and click Finish.
Reboot the machine to begin the VDA installation
process.
Installing XenDesktop Virtual Desktop Agents
Virtual Delivery Agents (VDAs) are installed on the server and workstation operating systems, and enable
connections for desktops and apps. The following procedure was used to install VDAs for both HVD and HSD
environments.
By default, when you install the Virtual Delivery Agent, Citrix User Profile Management is installed silently on
master images. (Using profile management as a profile solution is optional but was used for this CVD, and is
described in a later section.)
Instructions
Launch the XenDesktop installer from the ISO image
or DVD.
Click Start on the Welcome Screen.
Visual
To install the VDA for the Hosted VDI Desktops,
select Virtual Delivery Agent for Windows
Desktop OS. (After the VDA is installed for Hosted
VDI Desktops, repeat the procedure to install the
VDA for Hosted Shared Desktops. In this case, select
Virtual Delivery Agent for Windows Server OS
and follow the same basic steps.)
Select “Create a Master Image”.
Click Next
For the HVD vDisk, select “No, install the standard
VDA”.
Click Next
Select Citrix Receiver.
Click Next
Select “Do it manually” and specify the FQDN of
the Delivery Controllers.
Click Next
Accept the default features.
Click Next.
Allow the firewall
Automatically.
rules
to
be
configured
Click Next
Verify the Summary and click Install.
Check “Restart Machine”.
Click Finish
automatically.
and
the
machine
will
reboot
Repeat the procedure so that VDAs are installed for both HVD (using the Windows 7 OS image) and the HSD
desktops (using the Windows Server 2012 image).
Installing Applications on the Master Targets
After the VDA is installed on the target device, install the applications stack on the target. The steps below install
Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 SP1 and Login VSI 3.7 (which also installs Adobe Reader 9.1, Macromedia
Flash, Macromedia Shockwave, Bullzip PDF Printer, KidKeyLock, Java, and FreeMind).
Instructions
Locate the installation wizard or script to install
Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010 SP1. In this
CVD, we used the installation script shown to install
it on the target.
Run the script. The installation will begin.
Visual
Next, install the Login VSI 3.7 software. Locate and
run the Login VSI Target Setup Wizard.
Specify the Login VSI Share path.
Click Start
The Setup Wizard installs the Login VSI and
applications on the target. The wizard indicates when
the installation is complete.
A pop-up outlines a few follow-up configuration
steps.
One of those configuration steps involves moving the
Active Directory OU for the target (Win7 or W2012)
to the OU for the Login VSI Computers.
Restart the target VM.
Confirm that the VM contains the required
applications for testing.
Clear the NGEN queues for the recently installed
applications:
"C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v2.0.5072
7\ngen.exe" executeQueuedItems
"C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.3031
9\ngen.exe" executeQueuedItems
Creating vDisks
The PVS Imaging Wizard automatically creates a base vDisk image from the master target device.
Note: The instructions below describe the process of creating a vDisk for HVD desktops. When
you’ve completed these steps, repeat the procedure to build a vDisk for HSDs.
Instructions
The PVS Imaging Wizard's Welcome page appears.
Click Next.
The Connect to Farm page appears. Enter the name
or IP address of a Provisioning Server within the
farm to connect to and the port to use to make that
connection.
Use the Windows credentials (default) or enter
different credentials.
Click Next.
Select Create new vDisk.
Click Next.
Visual
Instructions
The New vDisk dialog displays. Enter the name of
the vDisk, such as Win7 for the Hosted VDI Desktop
vDisk (Windows 7 OS image) or W2012 for the
Hosted Shared Desktop vDisk (Windows Server
2012 image). Select the Store where the vDisk will
reside. Select the vDisk type, either Fixed or
Dynamic, from the drop-down menu. (This CVD
used Dynamic rather than Fixed vDisks.)
Click Next.
On the Microsoft Volume Licensing page, select the
volume license option to use for target devices. For
this CVD, volume licensing is not used, so the None
button is selected.
Click Next.
Define volume sizes on the Configure Image
Volumes page. (For the HVDs and HSDs, vDisks of
40GB and 60GB, respectively, were defined.)
Click Next.
Visual
Instructions
The Add Target Device page appears.
Select the Target Device Name, the MAC address
associated with one of the NICs that was selected
when the target device software was installed on the
master target device, and the Collection to which
you are adding the device.
Click Next.
A Summary of Farm Changes appears.
Select Optimize for Provisioning Services.
The PVS Optimization Tool appears. Select the
appropriate optimizations and click OK.
Review the configuration and click Finish.
Visual
Instructions
The vDisk creation process begins. A dialog appears
when the creation process is complete.
Reboot and then configure the BIOS/VM settings for
PXE/network boot, putting Network boot from
VMware VMXNET3 at the top of the boot device
list.
After restarting, log into the HVD or HSD master
target. The PVS Imaging conversion process begins,
converting C: to the PVS vDisk. A message is
displayed when the conversion is complete.
Visual
Instructions
Visual
Connect to the PVS server and validate that the
vDisk image is visible.
On the vDisk Properties dialog, change Access
mode to “Standard Image (multi-device, read-only
access)”.
Set the Cache Type to “Cache on device hard
drive.”
Click OK
Repeat this procedure to create vDisks for both the Hosted VDI Desktops (using the Windows 7 OS image) and the
Hosted Shared Desktops (using the Windows Server 2012 image).
Creating Desktops with the PVS XenDesktop Setup Wizard
Provisioning Services includes the XenDesktop Setup Wizard, which automates the creation of virtual machines to
support HVD and HSD use cases.
Note: The instructions below outline the procedure to run the wizard and create VMs for HVD
desktops. When you’ve completed these steps, repeat the procedure to create VMs for HSD
desktops.
Instructions
Start the XenDesktop Setup Wizard from the
Provisioning Services Console.
Right-click on the Site.
Choose XenDesktop Setup Wizard… from the
context menu.
On the opening dialog, click Next.
Visual
Instructions
Enter the XenDesktop Controller address that will
be used for the wizard operations.
Click Next
Select the Host Resources on which the virtual
machines will be created.
Click Next
Provide the Host Resources Credentials
(Username and Password) to the XenDesktop
controller when prompted.
Click OK
Visual
Instructions
Select the Template created earlier.
Click Next
Select the vDisk that will be used to stream to the
virtual machine.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Select “Create a new catalog”.
NOTE: The catalog name is also used as the
collection name in the PVS site.
Click Next
On the Operating System dialog, specify the
operating system for the catalog. Specify Windows
Desktop Operating System for HVDs and
Windows Server Operating System for HSDs.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
If you specified a Windows Desktop OS for HVDs, a
User Experience dialog appears. Specify that the
user will connect to “A fresh new (random)
desktop each time.”
Click Next
On the Virtual machines dialog, specify:
- The number of VMs to create. (Note that it is
recommended to create 40 or less per run, and
we create a single VM at first to verify the
procedure.)
- Number of vCPUs for the VM
(1 for HVDs, 5 for HSDs)
- The amount of memory for the VM
(1.5GB for HVDs, 24GB for HSDs)
- The write-cache disk size
(6GB for HVDs, 50GB for HSDs)
- PXE boot as the Boot Mode
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Select the Create new accounts radio button.
Click Next
Specify the Active Directory Accounts and
Location. This is where the wizard should create the
computer accounts.
Provide the Account naming scheme (e.g.,
TestHVD### or TestHSD###). An example name is
shown in the text box below the name scheme
selection location.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Click Finish to begin the virtual machine creation.
Then the wizard is done creating the virtual
machines, click Done.
NOTE: VM setup takes ~45 seconds per provisioned
virtual desktop.
Visual
Instructions
Visual
Start one of the newly created virtual machines and
confirm that it boots and operates successfully.
Using vCenter, the Virtual Machines tab should also
show that the VM is Powered On and operational.
Creating Delivery Groups
Delivery Groups are collections of machines that control access to desktops and applications. With Delivery
Groups, you can specify which users and groups can access which desktops and applications.
Note: The instructions below outline the procedure to create a Delivery Group for HSD desktops.
When you’ve completed these steps, repeat the procedure to a Delivery Group for HVD desktops.
Instructions
Connect to a XenDesktop server and launch Citrix
Studio.
Choose Create Delivery Group from the pull-down
menu.
Visual
Instructions
An information screen may appear.
Click Next
Specify the Machine Catalog and increment the
number of machines to add.
Click Next
Specify what the machines in the catalog will deliver:
Desktops,
Desktops
and
Applications,
or
Applications.
Select Desktops.
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
To make the Delivery Group available, you must add
users.
Click Add Users
In the Select Users or Groups dialog, add users or
groups.
Click OK. When users have been added, click Next
on the Assign Users dialog (shown above).
Enter the StoreFront configuration for how Receiver
will be installed on the machines in this Delivery
Group. Click “Manually, using a StoreFront server
address that I will provide later.”
Click Next
Visual
Instructions
Visual
On the Summary dialog, review the configuration.
Enter a Delivery Group name and a Display name
(e.g., HVD or HSD).
Click Finish
Citrix Studio lists the created Delivery Groups and
the type, number of machines created, sessions, and
applications for each group in the Delivery Groups
tab.
On the pull-down menu,
Maintenance Mode.”
select
“Turn
on
Citrix XenDesktop Policies and Profile Management
Policies and profiles allow the Citrix XenDesktop environment to be easily and efficiently customized.
Configuring Citrix XenDesktop Policies
Citrix XenDesktop policies control user access and session environments, and are the most efficient method of
controlling connection, security, and bandwidth settings. You can create policies for specific groups of users,
devices, or connection types with each policy. Policies can contain multiple settings and are typically defined
through Citrix Studio. (The Windows Group Policy Management Console can also be used if the network
environment includes Microsoft Active Directory and permissions are set for managing Group Policy Objects). The
screenshot below shows policies for Login VSI testing in this CVD.
Figure 24:
XenDesktop Policy
Configuring User Profile Management
Profile management provides an easy, reliable, and high-performance way to manage user personalization settings in
virtualized or physical Windows environments. It requires minimal infrastructure and administration, and provides
users with fast logons and logoffs. A Windows user profile is a collection of folders, files, registry settings, and
configuration settings that define the environment for a user who logs on with a particular user account. These
settings may be customizable by the user, depending on the administrative configuration. Examples of settings that
can be customized are:





Desktop settings such as wallpaper and screen saver
Shortcuts and Start menu setting
Internet Explorer Favorites and Home Page
Microsoft Outlook signature
Printers
Some user settings and data can be redirected by means of folder redirection. However, if folder redirection is not
used these settings are stored within the user profile.
The first stage in planning a profile management deployment is to decide on a set of policy settings that together
form a suitable configuration for your environment and users. The automatic configuration feature simplifies some
of this decision-making for XenDesktop deployments. Screenshots of the User Profile Management interfaces that
establish policies for this CVD’s HVD and HSD users (for testing purposes) are shown below. Basic profile
management policy settings are documented here: http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xendesktop-71/cdspolicies-rules-pm.html.
Figure 25:
HVD User Profile Manager Policy
Figure 26:
HSD User Profile Manager Policy
Test Setup and Configurations
In this project, we tested a single UCS B200 M3 blade in a single chassis and eight B200 M3 blades in 2 chassis to
illustrate linear scalability for each workload studied.
Cisco UCS Test Configuration for Single Blade Scalability
Figure 27:
Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server for Single Server Scalability XenDesktop 7.5 HVD with PVS 7.1 Login
VSImax
Figure 28:
Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server for Single Server Scalability XenDesktop 7. 5 RDS with VM-FEX and PVS
7.1 Login VSImax
Hardware components







1 X Cisco UCS B200-M3 (E5-2680v2 @ 2.8 GHz) blade server with 384GB RAM (24 X 16 GB DIMMS
@ 1866 MHz) running ESXi 5.5 as Windows 7 SP1 32-bit Virtual Desktop hosts or 256GB RAM (16 X
16 GB DIMMS at 1866 MHZ) running ESXi 5.5 as Windows Server 2012 virtual desktop session hosts
2 X Cisco UCS B200-M3 (E5-2650v2) blade servers with 128 GB of memory (16 GB X 8 DIMMS @
1866 MHz) Infrastructure Servers
4 X Cisco UCS B200-M3 (E5-2680 @ 2.7 GHz) blade servers with 128 GB of memory (16 GB X 8
DIMMS @ 1866 MHz) Load Generators (Optional for testing purposes only)
1X VIC1240 Converged Network Adapter/Blade (B200 M3)
2 X Cisco UCS 6248UP Fabric Interconnects
2 X Cisco Nexus 5548UP Access Switches
1 X EMC VNX5400 system with 32 x 600GB SAS drives, 25 x 2TB Near Line SAS Drives, 3 x 100GB
Flash Drives (Fast Cache) including hot spares.
Software components





Cisco UCS firmware 2.2(1d)
Cisco Nexus 1000V virtual distributed switch
Cisco Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX)
VMware ESXi 5.5 VDI Hosts
Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 Hosted Virtual Desktops and RDS Hosted Shared Desktops




Citrix Provisioning Server 7.1
Citrix User Profile Manager
Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 32 bit, 1vCPU, 1.5 GB RAM, 17 GB hard disk/VM
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 SP1, 5vCPU, 24GB RAM, 50 GB hard disk/VM
Cisco UCS Configuration for Two Chassis – Eight Mixed
Workload Blade Test 1000 Users
Figure 29:
Two Chassis Test Configuration - 12 B200 M3 Blade Servers – 2000 Mixed Workload Users
Hardware components


3 X Cisco UCS B200-M3 (E5-2680v2 @ 2.8 GHz) blade server with 384GB RAM (24 GB X 16 DIMMS
@ 1866 MHz) running ESXi 5.5 as Windows 7 SP1 32-bit Virtual Desktop hosts (300 Desktops with
Server N+1 Fault Tolerance)
5X Cisco UCS B200-M3 (E5-2680v2 @ 2.8 GHz) blade server with 256GB RAM (16GB X 16 DIMMS @
1866 MHZ) running ESXi 5.5 as Windows Server 2012 virtual desktop session hosts (700 RDS Sessions
with Server N+1 Fault Tolerance)






2 X Cisco UCS B200-M3 (E5-2650v2) blade servers with 128 GB of memory (16 GB X 8 DIMMS @
1866 MHz) Infrastructure Servers
4 X Cisco UCS B200-M3 (E5-2680 @ 2.7 GHz) blade servers with 128 GB of memory (16 GB X 8
DIMMS @ 1866 MHz) Load Generators (Optional for testing purposes only)
1X VIC1240 Converged Network Adapter/Blade (B200 M3)
2 X Cisco UCS 6248UP Fabric Interconnects
2 X Cisco Nexus 5548UP Access Switches
1 X EMC VNX5400 system with 32 x 600GB SAS drives, 25 x 2TB Near Line SAS Drives, 3 x 100GB
Flash Drives (Fast Cache) including hot spares.
Software components









Cisco UCS firmware 2.2(1d)
Cisco Nexus 1000V virtual distributed switch
Cisco Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX)
VMware ESXi 5.5 VDI Hosts
Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 Hosted Virtual Desktops and RDS Hosted Shared Desktops
Citrix Provisioning Server 7.1
Citrix User Profile Manager
Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 32 bit, 1vCPU, 1.5 GB RAM, 17 GB hard disk/VM
Microsoft Windows Server 2012 SP1, 5 vCPU, 24GB RAM, 50 GB hard disk/VM
Testing Methodology and Success Criteria
All validation testing was conducted on-site within the EMC labs in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina.
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 XenDesktop 7.5 Hosted Virtual Desktop and RDS Hosted
Shared models 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 passing unless all of the planned test
users completed the ramp-up and steady state phases (described below) and unless all metrics were within the
permissible thresholds as noted as success criteria.
Three successfully completed test cycles were conducted for each hardware configuration and results were found to
be relatively consistent from one test to the next.
Load Generation
Within each test environment, load generators were utilized to put demand on the system to simulate multiple users
accessing the XenDesktop 7.5 environment and executing 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 XenDesktop
7.5 environment, to provide unique user credentials, to initiate the workload, and to evaluate the end user
experience.
In the Hosted VDI test environment, sessions launchers were used simulate multiple users making a direct
connection to XenDesktop 7.5 via a Citrix HDX protocol connection.
User Workload Simulation – LoginVSI From Login VSI Inc.
One of the most critical factors of validating a desktop virtualization deployment is identifying a real-world user
workload that is easy for customers to replicate and standardized across platforms to allow customers to realistically
test the impact of a variety of worker tasks. To accurately represent a real-world user workload, a third-party tool
from Login VSI Inc was used throughout the Hosted VDI testing.
The tool has the benefit of taking measurements of the in-session response time, providing an objective way to
measure the expected user experience for individual desktop throughout large scale testing, including login storms.
The Login Virtual Session Indexer (Login VSI Inc’ Login VSI 3.7) methodology, designed for benchmarking Server
Based Computing (SBC) and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) environments is completely platform and
protocol independent and hence allows customers to easily replicate the testing results in their environment. NOTE:
In this testing, we utilized the tool to benchmark our VDI environment only.
Login VSI calculates an index based on the amount of simultaneous sessions that can be run on a single machine.
Login VSI simulates a medium workload user (also known as knowledge worker) running generic applications such
as: Microsoft Office 2007 or 2010, Internet Explorer 8 including a Flash video applet and Adobe Acrobat Reader
(Note: For the purposes of this test, applications were installed locally, not streamed by ThinApp).
Like real users, the scripted Login VSI session will leave multiple applications open at the same time. The medium
workload is the default workload in Login VSI and was used for this testing. This workload emulated a medium
knowledge working using Office, IE, printing and PDF viewing.





Once a session has been started the medium workload will repeat every 12 minutes.
During each loop the response time is measured every 2 minutes.
The medium workload opens up to 5 apps simultaneously.
The type rate is 160ms for each character.
Approximately 2 minutes of idle time is included to simulate real-world users.
Each loop will open and use:








Outlook 2007/2010, browse 10 messages.
Internet Explorer, one instance is left open (BBC.co.uk), one instance is browsed to Wired.com,
Lonelyplanet.com and heavy
480 p Flash application gettheglass.com.
Word 2007/2010, one instance to measure response time, one instance to review and edit document.
Bullzip PDF Printer & Acrobat Reader, the word document is printed and reviewed to PDF.
Excel 2007/2010, a very large randomized sheet is opened.
PowerPoint 2007/2010, a presentation is reviewed and edited.
7-zip: using the command line version the output of the session is zipped.
A graphical representation of the medium workload is shown below.
Graphical overview:
You can obtain additional information and a free test license from http://www.loginvsi.com.
Testing Procedure
The following protocol was used for each test cycle in this study to insure consistent results.
Pre-Test Setup for Single and Multi-Blade Testing
All virtual machines were shut down utilizing the XenDesktop 7.5 Administrator and vCenter.
All Launchers for the test were shut down. They were then restarted in groups of 10 each minute until the required
number of launchers was running with the Login VSI Agent at a “waiting for test to start” state.
All VMware ESXi 5.5 VDI host blades to be tested were restarted prior to each test cycle.
Test Run Protocol
To simulate severe, real-world environments, Cisco requires the log-on and start-work sequence, known as Ramp
Up, to complete in 30 minutes. Additionally, we require all sessions started, whether 195 single server users or 600
full scale test users to become active within 2 minutes after the last session is launched.
In addition, Cisco requires that the Login VSI Parallel Launching method is used for all single server and scale
testing. This assures that our tests represent real-world scenarios. (NOTE: The Login VSI Sequential Launching
method allows the CPU, storage and network components to rest between each logins. This does not produce results
that are consistent with the real-world scenarios that our Customers run in.)
For each of the three consecutive runs on single server tests, the same process was followed:
1.





2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
Time 0:00:00 Started ESXTOP Logging on the following systems:
VDI Host Blades used in test run
DDCs used in test run
Profile Server(s) used in test run
SQL Server(s) used in test run
3 Launcher VMs
Time 0:00:10 Started EMC Logging on the controllers
Time 0:00:15 Started Perfmon logging on key infrastructure VMs
Time 0:05 Take test desktop Delivery Group(s) out of maintenance mode on XenDesktop 7.5
Studio
Time 0:06 First machines boot
Time 0:26 Test desktops or RDS servers booted
Time 0:28 Test desktops or RDS servers registered with XenDesktop 7.5 Studio
Time 1:28 Start Login VSI 3.6 Test with test desktops utilizing Login VSI Launchers (25
Sessions per)
Time 1:58 All test sessions launched
Time 2:00 All test sessions active
Time 2:15 Login VSI Test Ends
Time 2:30 All test sessions logged off
Time 2:35 All logging terminated
Success Criteria
There were multiple metrics that were captured during each test run, but the success criteria for considering a single
test run as pass or fail was based on the key metric, VSImax. The Login VSImax evaluates the user response time
during increasing user load and assesses the successful start-to-finish execution of all the initiated virtual desktop
sessions.
Login VSImax
VSImax represents the maximum number of users the environment can handle before serious performance
degradation occurs. VSImax is calculated based on the response times of individual users as indicated during the
workload execution. The user response time has a threshold of 4000ms and all users response times are expected to
be less than 4000ms in order to assume that the user interaction with the virtual desktop is at a functional level.
VSImax is reached when the response times reaches or exceeds 4000ms for 6 consecutive occurrences. If VSImax is
reached, that indicates the point at which the user experience has significantly degraded. The response time is
generally an indicator of the host CPU resources, but this specific method of analyzing the user experience provides
an objective method of comparison that can be aligned to host CPU performance.
Note: In the prior version of Login VSI, the threshold for response time was 2000ms. The workloads
and the analysis have been upgraded in Login VSI 3 to make the testing more aligned to real-world
use. In the medium workload in Login VSI 3.0, a CPU intensive 480p flash movie is incorporated in
each test loop. In general, the redesigned workload would result in an approximate 20% decrease in
the number of users passing the test versus Login VSI 2.0 on the same server and storage hardware.
Calculating VSIMax
Typically the desktop workload is scripted in a 12-14 minute loop when a simulated Login VSI user is logged on.
After the loop is finished it will restart automatically. Within each loop the response times of seven specific
operations is measured in a regular interval: six times in within each loop. The response times if these seven
operations
are
used
to
establish
VSImax.
The seven operations from which the response times are measured are:

Copy new document from the document pool in the home drive
– This operation will refresh a new document to be used for measuring the response time. This activity is
mostly a file-system operation.

Starting Microsoft Word with a document
– This operation will measure the responsiveness of the Operating System and the file system. Microsoft
Word is started and loaded into memory, also the new document is automatically loaded into Microsoft
Word. When the disk I/O is extensive or even saturated, this will impact the file open dialogue
considerably.

Starting the “File Open” dialogue
– This operation is handled for small part by Word and a large part by the operating system. The file
open dialogue uses generic subsystems and interface components of the OS. The OS provides the
contents of this dialogue.

Starting “Notepad”
– This operation is handled by the OS (loading and initiating notepad.exe) and by the Notepad.exe itself
through execution. This operation seems instant from an end-user’s point of view.

Starting the “Print” dialogue
– This operation is handled for a large part by the OS subsystems, as the print dialogue is provided by
the OS. This dialogue loads the print-subsystem and the drivers of the selected printer. As a result, this
dialogue is also dependent on disk performance.

Starting the “Search and Replace” dialogue \
– This operation is handled within the application completely; the presentation of the dialogue is almost
instant. Serious bottlenecks on application level will impact the speed of this dialogue.

Compress the document into a zip file with 7-zip command line
– This operation is handled by the command line version of 7-zip. The compression will very briefly
spike CPU and disk I/O.
These measured operations with Login VSI do hit considerably different subsystems such as CPU (user and kernel),
Memory, Disk, the OS in general, the application itself, print, GDI, etc. These operations are specifically short by
nature. When such operations are consistently long: the system is saturated because of excessive queuing on any
kind of resource. As a result, the average response times will then escalate. This effect is clearly visible to end-users.
When such operations consistently consume multiple seconds the user will regard the system as slow and
unresponsive.
With Login VSI 3.0 and later it is now possible to choose between ‘VSImax Classic’ and 'VSImax Dynamic’ results
analysis. For these tests, we utilized VSImax Dynamic analysis.
VSIMax Dynamic
VSImax Dynamic is calculated when the response times are consistently above a certain threshold. However, this
threshold is now dynamically calculated on the baseline response time of the test.
Five individual measurements are weighted to better support this approach:







A
Copy new doc from the document pool in the home drive: 100%
Microsoft Word with a document: 33.3%
Starting the “File Open” dialogue: 100%
Starting “Notepad”: 300%
Starting the “Print” dialogue: 200%
Starting the “Search and Replace” dialogue: 400%
Compress the document into a zip file with 7-zip command line 200%
sample
of
the
VSImax
Dynamic
response
time
calculation
is
displayed
below:
Then the average VSImax response time is calculated based on the amount of active Login VSI users logged on to
the system. For this the average VSImax response times need to consistently higher than a dynamically calculated
threshold.
To determine this dynamic threshold, first the average baseline response time is calculated. This is done by
averaging the baseline response time of the first 15 Login VSI users on the system.
The formula for the dynamic threshold is: Avg. Baseline Response Time x 125% + 3000. As a result, when the
baseline response time is 1800, the VSImax threshold will now be 1800 x 125% + 3000 = 5250ms.
Especially when application virtualization is used, the baseline response time can wildly vary per vendor and
streaming strategy. Therefore it is recommend to use VSImax Dynamic when comparisons are made with
application virtualization or anti-virus agents. The resulting VSImax Dynamic scores are aligned again with
saturation on a CPU, Memory or Disk level, also when the baseline response time are relatively high.
Determining VSIMax
The Login VSI analyzer will automatically identify the “VSImax”. In the example below the VSImax is 98. The
analyzer will automatically determine “stuck sessions” and correct the final VSImax score.


Vertical axis: Response Time in milliseconds
Horizontal axis: Total Active Sessions
Figure 30:




Sample Login VSI Analyzer Graphic Output
Red line: Maximum Response (worst response time of an individual measurement within a single session)
Orange line: Average Response Time within for each level of active sessions
Blue line: the VSImax average.
Green line: Minimum Response (best response time of an individual measurement within a single session)
In our tests, the total number of users in the test run had to login, become active and run at least one test loop and log
out automatically without reaching the VSImax to be considered a success.
Note: We discovered a technical issue with the VSIMax dynamic calculation in our testing on Cisco
UCS B200 M3 blades where the VSIMax Dynamic was not reached during extreme conditions.
Working with Login VSI Inc, we devised a methodology to validate the testing without reaching
VSIMax Dynamic until such time as a new calculation is available.
Our Login VSI “pass” criteria, accepted by Login VSI Inc for this testing follows:
a.
Cisco will run tests at a session count level that effectively utilizes the blade capacity measured by CPU
utilization, Memory utilization, Storage utilization and Network utilization.
b.
We will use Login VSI to launch version 3.7 medium workloads, including flash.
c.
Number of Launched Sessions must equal Active Sessions within two minutes of the last session launched
in a test.
d.
The XenDesktop 7.5 Studio will be monitored throughout the steady state to insure that:
– All running sessions report In Use throughout the steady state
– No sessions move to Agent unreachable or disconnected state at any time during Steady State
e.
Within 20 minutes of the end of the test, all sessions on all Launchers must have logged out automatically
and the Login VSI Agent must have shut down.
f.
We will publish our CVD with our recommendation following the process above and will note that we did
not reach a VSIMax dynamic in our testing due to a technical issue with the analyzer formula that
calculates VSIMax.
Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 Hosted Virtual Desktop and
RDS Hosted Shared Desktop Mixed Workload on
Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blades, EMC VNX5400
Storage and VMware ESXi 5.5 Test Results
The purpose of this testing is to provide the data needed to validate Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 Hosted Virtual Desktops
and Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 RDS Hosted Shared Desktop models with Citrix Provisioning Services 7.1 using ESXi
5.5 and vCenter 5.5 to virtualize Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 desktops and Microsoft Windows Server 2012 sessions
on Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Servers using a EMC VNX5400 storage system.
The information contained in this section provides data points that a customer may reference in designing their own
implementations. These validation results are an example of what is possible under the specific environment
conditions outlined here, and do not represent the full characterization of XenDesktop with VMware vSphere.
Two test sequences, each containing three consecutive test runs generating the same result, were performed to
establish single blade performance and multi-blade, linear scalability.
One series of stress tests on a single blade server was conducted to establish the official Login VSI Max Score.
To reach the Login VSI Max with XenDesktop 7.5 Hosted Virtual Desktops, we ran 202 Medium workload with
flash Windows 7 SP1 sessions on a single blade. The consistent Login VSI score was achieved on three consecutive
runs and is shown below.
Figure 31:
Login VSI Max Reached: 187 Users XenDesktop 7.5 Hosted VDI with PVS write-cache on VNX5400
To reach the Login VSI Max with XenDesktop 7.5 RDS Hosted Shared Desktop, we ran 256 Medium workload
with flash Windows Server 2012 desktop sessions on a single blade. The consistent Login VSI score was achieved
on three consecutive runs and is shown below.
Figure 32:
Login VSI Max Reached: 235 Users XenDesktop 7.5 RDS Hosted Shared Desktops
Single-Server Recommended Maximum Workload
For both the XenDesktop 7.5 Hosted Virtual Desktop and RDS Hosted Shared Desktop use cases, a recommended
maximum workload was determined that was based on both Login VSI Medium workload with flash end user
experience measures and blade server operating parameters.
This recommended maximum workload approach allows you to determine the server N+1 fault tolerance load the
blade can successfully support in the event of a server outage for maintenance or upgrade.
Our recommendation is that the Login VSI Average Response and VSI Index Average should not exceed the
Baseline plus 2000 milliseconds to insure that end user experience is outstanding. Additionally, during steady state,
the processor utilization should average no more than 90-95%. (Memory should never be oversubscribed for
Desktop Virtualization workloads.)
XenDesktop 7.5 Hosted
Recommended Workload
Virtual
Desktop
Single
Server
Maximum
The maximum recommended workload for a B200 M3 blade server with dual E5-2680 v2 processors and 384GB of
RAM is 160 Windows 7 32-bit virtual machines with 1 vCPU and 1.5GB RAM. Login VSI and blade performance
data follow.
1:03:36 AM
1:06:51 AM
1:10:06 AM
1:13:21 AM
1:16:38 AM
1:19:57 AM
1:23:16 AM
1:26:35 AM
1:29:55 AM
1:33:15 AM
1:36:35 AM
1:39:55 AM
1:43:15 AM
1:46:35 AM
1:49:55 AM
1:53:15 AM
1:56:35 AM
1:59:55 AM
2:03:16 AM
2:06:36 AM
2:09:57 AM
2:13:18 AM
2:16:40 AM
2:20:05 AM
2:23:31 AM
2:26:56 AM
2:30:22 AM
2:33:47 AM
2:37:12 AM
2:40:36 AM
2:43:56 AM
2:47:16 AM
2:50:36 AM
2:53:55 AM
Performance data for the server running the workload follows:
Figure 33:
XenDesktopHVD-01 Hosted Virtual Desktop Server CPU Utilization
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Physical
Cpu(_Total)\% Core Util Time
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Figure 34:
XenDesktopHVD-01 Hosted Virtual Desktop Server Memory Utilization
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Memory\No
nKernel MBytes
300000
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
1:03:36 AM
1:07:01 AM
1:10:26 AM
1:13:52 AM
1:17:20 AM
1:20:49 AM
1:24:19 AM
1:27:49 AM
1:31:19 AM
1:34:49 AM
1:38:20 AM
1:41:51 AM
1:45:21 AM
1:48:52 AM
1:52:23 AM
1:55:53 AM
1:59:24 AM
2:02:54 AM
2:06:26 AM
2:09:57 AM
2:13:29 AM
2:17:02 AM
2:20:37 AM
2:24:14 AM
2:27:50 AM
2:31:26 AM
2:35:03 AM
2:38:38 AM
2:42:11 AM
2:45:42 AM
2:49:12 AM
2:52:42 AM
0
Figure 35:
XenDesktopHVD-01 Hosted Virtual Desktop Server Network Utilization
1400
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108876:vmnic0)\MBits
Received/sec
1200
1000
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108876:vmnic0)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
800
600
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108877:vmnic1)\MBits
Received/sec
400
200
1:03:36 AM
1:08:54 AM
1:14:13 AM
1:19:36 AM
1:25:01 AM
1:30:26 AM
1:35:53 AM
1:41:19 AM
1:46:46 AM
1:52:12 AM
1:57:38 AM
2:03:05 AM
2:08:32 AM
2:14:00 AM
2:19:33 AM
2:25:09 AM
2:30:43 AM
2:36:18 AM
2:41:50 AM
2:47:16 AM
2:52:42 AM
0
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108877:vmnic1)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
XenDesktop 7.5 RDS Hosted Shared Desktop Single Server Maximum
Recommended Workload
The maximum recommended workload for a B200 M3 blade server with dual E5-2680 v2 processors and 256GB of
RAM is 200 Server 2012 R2 Hosted Shared Desktops. Each blade server ran 8 Server 2012 R2 Virtual Machines.
Each virtual server was configured with 5 vCPUs and 24GB RAM
Figure 36:
Login VSI Results for 200 XenDesktop 7 RDS Hosted Shared Desktop Sessions.
Performance data for the server running the workload follows:
Figure 38:
2:36:33 PM
2:39:26 PM
2:42:20 PM
2:45:13 PM
2:48:06 PM
2:51:00 PM
2:53:53 PM
2:56:46 PM
2:59:40 PM
3:02:33 PM
3:05:26 PM
3:08:19 PM
3:11:12 PM
3:14:06 PM
3:16:59 PM
3:19:52 PM
3:22:46 PM
3:25:40 PM
3:28:34 PM
3:31:28 PM
3:34:23 PM
3:37:17 PM
3:40:12 PM
3:43:06 PM
3:46:01 PM
3:48:55 PM
3:51:49 PM
3:54:42 PM
3:57:36 PM
4:00:29 PM
4:03:22 PM
4:06:15 PM
4:09:08 PM
2:36:33 PM
2:39:26 PM
2:42:20 PM
2:45:13 PM
2:48:06 PM
2:51:00 PM
2:53:53 PM
2:56:46 PM
2:59:40 PM
3:02:33 PM
3:05:26 PM
3:08:19 PM
3:11:12 PM
3:14:06 PM
3:16:59 PM
3:19:52 PM
3:22:46 PM
3:25:40 PM
3:28:34 PM
3:31:28 PM
3:34:23 PM
3:37:17 PM
3:40:12 PM
3:43:06 PM
3:46:01 PM
3:48:55 PM
3:51:49 PM
3:54:42 PM
3:57:36 PM
4:00:29 PM
4:03:22 PM
4:06:15 PM
4:09:08 PM
Figure 37:
XENDESKTOPRDS-01 Hosted Shared Desktop Server CPU Utilization
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Physical
Cpu(_Total)\% Core Util Time
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
XENDESKTOPRDS-01 Hosted Shared Desktop Server Memory Utilization
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Memory\No
nKernel MBytes
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000
0
Figure 39:
XENDESKTOPRDS-01 Hosted Shared Desktop Server Network Utilization
600
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108881:vmnic0)\MBits
Received/sec
500
400
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108881:vmnic0)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
300
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108882:vmnic1)\MBits
Received/sec
200
100
2:36:33 PM
2:40:58 PM
2:45:23 PM
2:49:48 PM
2:54:13 PM
2:58:38 PM
3:03:04 PM
3:07:28 PM
3:11:53 PM
3:16:18 PM
3:20:43 PM
3:25:09 PM
3:29:35 PM
3:34:02 PM
3:38:29 PM
3:42:56 PM
3:47:23 PM
3:51:49 PM
3:56:14 PM
4:00:39 PM
4:05:04 PM
0
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108882:vmnic1)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
Full Scale Mixed Workload XenDesktop 7.5 Hosted Virtual and
RDS Hosted Shared Desktops
The combined mixed workload for the study was 1000 seats. To achieve the target, we launched the sessions against
both clusters concurrently. We specify in the Cisco Test Protocol for XenDesktop described in Section 8 above that
all sessions must be launched within 30 minutes and that all launched sessions must become active within 32
minutes.
The configured system efficiently and effectively delivered the following results. (Note: Appendix B contains
performance charts for all eight blades in one of three scale test runs.)
9:13:29 PM
9:16:43 PM
9:19:57 PM
9:23:13 PM
9:26:29 PM
9:29:46 PM
9:33:03 PM
9:36:20 PM
9:39:37 PM
9:42:54 PM
9:46:11 PM
9:49:29 PM
9:52:46 PM
9:56:03 PM
9:59:21 PM
10:02:38 PM
10:05:55 PM
10:09:12 PM
10:12:29 PM
10:15:47 PM
10:19:04 PM
10:22:22 PM
10:25:39 PM
10:28:57 PM
10:32:14 PM
10:35:32 PM
10:38:49 PM
10:42:06 PM
10:45:23 PM
10:48:41 PM
10:51:58 PM
10:55:15 PM
10:58:32 PM
11:01:49 PM
11:05:06 PM
Figure 40:
1000 User Mixed Workload XenDesktop 7.5 Login VSI End User Experience Graph
Figure 41:
Representative UCS B200 M3 XenDesktop 7.5 HVD Blade CPU Utilization
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Physical
Cpu(_Total)\% Core Util Time
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Figure 42:
Representative UCS B200 M3 XenDesktop 7.5 HVD Blade Memory Utilization
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Memory\No
nKernel MBytes
180000
160000
140000
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
9:13:29 PM
9:17:03 PM
9:20:38 PM
9:24:15 PM
9:27:52 PM
9:31:29 PM
9:35:07 PM
9:38:45 PM
9:42:23 PM
9:46:01 PM
9:49:39 PM
9:53:17 PM
9:56:55 PM
10:00:33 PM
10:04:11 PM
10:07:49 PM
10:11:27 PM
10:15:05 PM
10:18:43 PM
10:22:22 PM
10:26:00 PM
10:29:38 PM
10:33:16 PM
10:36:55 PM
10:40:33 PM
10:44:11 PM
10:47:49 PM
10:51:27 PM
10:55:04 PM
10:58:42 PM
11:02:20 PM
11:05:58 PM
0
Figure 43:
Representative UCS B200 M3 XenDesktop 7.5 HVD Blade Network Utilization
1800
1600
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108876:vmnic0)\MBits
Received/sec
1400
1200
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108876:vmnic0)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
1000
800
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108877:vmnic1)\MBits
Received/sec
600
400
200
9:13:29 PM
9:18:56 PM
9:24:25 PM
9:29:56 PM
9:35:28 PM
9:41:00 PM
9:46:32 PM
9:52:05 PM
9:57:37 PM
10:03:09 PM
10:08:41 PM
10:14:13 PM
10:19:45 PM
10:25:18 PM
10:30:51 PM
10:36:24 PM
10:41:56 PM
10:47:28 PM
10:53:00 PM
10:58:32 PM
11:04:04 PM
0
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108877:vmnic1)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
Figure 45:
9:13:31 PM
9:17:04 PM
9:20:38 PM
9:24:12 PM
9:27:46 PM
9:31:20 PM
9:34:54 PM
9:38:28 PM
9:42:02 PM
9:45:36 PM
9:49:10 PM
9:52:44 PM
9:56:18 PM
9:59:52 PM
10:03:26 PM
10:07:00 PM
10:10:33 PM
10:14:07 PM
10:17:41 PM
10:21:15 PM
10:24:49 PM
10:28:24 PM
10:31:58 PM
10:35:33 PM
10:39:07 PM
10:42:41 PM
10:46:16 PM
10:49:50 PM
10:53:24 PM
10:56:57 PM
11:00:31 PM
11:04:05 PM
11:07:39 PM
9:13:31 PM
9:16:54 PM
9:20:18 PM
9:23:42 PM
9:27:05 PM
9:30:29 PM
9:33:53 PM
9:37:17 PM
9:40:41 PM
9:44:04 PM
9:47:28 PM
9:50:52 PM
9:54:16 PM
9:57:40 PM
10:01:03 PM
10:04:27 PM
10:07:50 PM
10:11:14 PM
10:14:38 PM
10:18:02 PM
10:21:26 PM
10:24:49 PM
10:28:13 PM
10:31:38 PM
10:35:02 PM
10:38:26 PM
10:41:50 PM
10:45:14 PM
10:48:38 PM
10:52:02 PM
10:55:26 PM
10:58:49 PM
11:02:13 PM
11:05:37 PM
Figure 44:
Representative UCS B200 M3 XenDesktop 7.5 RDS HSD Blade CPU Utilization
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Physical
Cpu(_Total)\% Core Util Time
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Representative UCS B200 M3 XenDesktop 7.5 RDS HSD Blade Memory Utilization
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Memory\No
nKernel MBytes
200000
180000
160000
140000
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
Figure 46:
Representative UCS B200 M3 XenDesktop 7.5 RDS HSD Blade Network Utilization
600
500
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108881:vmnic0)\MBits
Received/sec
400
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108881:vmnic0)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
300
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108882:vmnic1)\MBits
Received/sec
200
100
9:13:31 PM
9:19:07 PM
9:24:43 PM
9:30:19 PM
9:35:55 PM
9:41:32 PM
9:47:08 PM
9:52:44 PM
9:58:20 PM
10:03:56 PM
10:09:32 PM
10:15:08 PM
10:20:45 PM
10:26:21 PM
10:31:58 PM
10:37:35 PM
10:43:12 PM
10:48:49 PM
10:54:25 PM
11:00:01 PM
11:05:37 PM
0
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108882:vmnic1)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
Key EMC VNX5400 Performance Metrics During Scale Testing
Key performance metrics were captured on the EMC storage during the full scale testing.
Table 10.
Test cases
Worklo
ad
Test Cases
Boot
All 300 HVD and 32 RDS virtual machines at the same time.
Login
The test assumed one user logging in and beginning work every 1.8 seconds until the
maximum of 1000 users were reached at which point “steady state” was assumed.
Steady
state
The steady state workload all users performed various tasks using Microsoft Office, Web
browsing, PDF printing, playing Flash videos, and using the freeware mind mapper
application.
Logoff
Logoff all 1000 users at the same time.
Storage used for the tests including:




VNX5400 unified storage
Five shelves contain a mix of 100GB SSD, 600GB SAS 15K RPM, and 2TB NL-SAS 7.2K RPM drives
VNX File 8.1.2-51 and Block 05.33.000.5.051.
10GbE storage network for NFS, CIFS, iSCSI, and TFTP
Performance Result
Findings




EMC FAST Cache decreases IOPS during boot and login phase
Storage can easily handle the 1000 user virtual desktop workload with average less than 3 ms read latency
and less than 1 ms write latency
Citrix UPM exclusion rule is essential to lower user login IOPS and login time
Boot time is seven minutes and login time for 1000 user is 30 min consistently
Table 11.
Shows 1000 user CIFS workload.
read ops
Boot
Login
Steady
Logoff
Table 12.
75
565
841
275
Table 13.
read latency us
24
45
23
103
2395
961
1326
1279
0
650
1077
295
write
write latency us
ops/s
1049
428
4728
791
4108
824
3448
780
Shows average CPU on the storage processors during boot, login, steady state and log off
SP A
Boot
Login
Steady
Logoff
868
540
606
1876
write
latenc
y us
112
263
364
443
Shows 1000 desktop users’ average IOPS during boot, login, steady state and log off.
read
ops/s
Boot
Login
Steady
Logoff
read latency write ops
us
SP B
6%
20%
22%
17%
5%
19%
21%
16%
Citrix PVS Workload Characteristics
The vast majority of workload generated by PVS is to the write cache storage. Comparatively, the read operations
constitute very little of the total I/O except at the beginning of the VM boot process. After the initial boot reads to
the OS vDisk are mostly served from the PVS server’s cache.
The write portion of the workload includes all the OS and application-level changes that the VMs incur. The entire
PVS solution is approximately 90% write from the storage’s perspective in all cases.
With non-persistent pooled desktops, the PVS write cache comprises the rest of the I/O. The storage that contains
the read-only OS vDisk incurred almost no I/O activity after initial boot and averaged zero IOPs per desktop to the
storage (due to the PVS server cache). The write cache showed a peak average of 10 IOPs per desktop during the
login storm, with the steady state showing 15-20% fewer I/Os in all configurations. The write cache workload op
size averaged 8k, with 90% of the workload being writes.
The addition of CIFS profile management had an effect of taking some workload off of the write cache. LoginVSI
tests showed three IOPs per desktop were removed from write cache and served from CIFS. The additional four
IOPs per desktop seen on the CIFS side were composed of metadata operations (open/close, getattr, lock).
Sizing for CIFS home directories should be done as a separate workload from the virtual desktop workload. The
storage resource needs for CIFS home directories will be highly variable and dependent on the needs of the users
and applications in the environment.
Key Infrastructure Server Performance Metrics During Scale
Testing
It is important to verify that key infrastructure servers are performing optimally during the scale test run. The
following performance parameters were collected and charted.
They validate that the designed infrastructure supports the mixed workload.
Figure 47:
Active Directory Domain Controller CPU Utilization
\\172.16.64.1\Processor(_Total)\% Processor
Time
5:13:36 PM
5:17:01 PM
5:20:26 PM
5:23:51 PM
5:27:16 PM
5:30:41 PM
5:34:06 PM
5:37:31 PM
5:40:56 PM
5:44:21 PM
5:47:46 PM
5:51:12 PM
5:54:37 PM
5:58:02 PM
6:01:27 PM
6:04:52 PM
6:08:17 PM
6:11:42 PM
6:15:07 PM
6:18:32 PM
6:21:57 PM
6:25:22 PM
6:28:47 PM
6:32:12 PM
6:35:37 PM
6:39:02 PM
6:42:27 PM
6:45:52 PM
6:49:17 PM
6:52:42 PM
6:56:07 PM
6:59:32 PM
7:02:57 PM
7:06:22 PM
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Figure 49:
5:13:36 PM
5:17:06 PM
5:20:36 PM
5:24:06 PM
5:27:36 PM
5:31:06 PM
5:34:36 PM
5:38:06 PM
5:41:36 PM
5:45:06 PM
5:48:37 PM
5:52:07 PM
5:55:37 PM
5:59:07 PM
6:02:37 PM
6:06:07 PM
6:09:37 PM
6:13:07 PM
6:16:37 PM
6:20:07 PM
6:23:37 PM
6:27:07 PM
6:30:37 PM
6:34:07 PM
6:37:37 PM
6:41:07 PM
6:44:37 PM
6:48:07 PM
6:51:37 PM
6:55:07 PM
6:58:37 PM
7:02:07 PM
7:05:37 PM
5:13:36 PM
5:17:01 PM
5:20:26 PM
5:23:51 PM
5:27:16 PM
5:30:41 PM
5:34:06 PM
5:37:31 PM
5:40:56 PM
5:44:21 PM
5:47:46 PM
5:51:12 PM
5:54:37 PM
5:58:02 PM
6:01:27 PM
6:04:52 PM
6:08:17 PM
6:11:42 PM
6:15:07 PM
6:18:32 PM
6:21:57 PM
6:25:22 PM
6:28:47 PM
6:32:12 PM
6:35:37 PM
6:39:02 PM
6:42:27 PM
6:45:52 PM
6:49:17 PM
6:52:42 PM
6:56:07 PM
6:59:32 PM
7:02:57 PM
7:06:22 PM
Figure 48:
Active Directory Domain Controller Memory Utilization
\\172.16.64.1\Memory\Available MBytes
3175
3170
3165
3160
3155
3150
3145
3140
3135
Active Directory Domain Controller Network Utilization
700000
600000
500000
400000
300000
200000
100000
0
\\172.16.64.1\Network Interface(vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter)\Bytes Received/sec
\\172.16.64.1\Network Interface(vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter)\Bytes Sent/sec
Figure 50:
Active Directory Domain Controller Disk Queue Lengths
1.2
1
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.2
5:13:36 PM
5:16:56 PM
5:20:16 PM
5:23:36 PM
5:26:56 PM
5:30:16 PM
5:33:36 PM
5:36:56 PM
5:40:16 PM
5:43:36 PM
5:46:56 PM
5:50:17 PM
5:53:37 PM
5:56:57 PM
6:00:17 PM
6:03:37 PM
6:06:57 PM
6:10:17 PM
6:13:37 PM
6:16:57 PM
6:20:17 PM
6:23:37 PM
6:26:57 PM
6:30:17 PM
6:33:37 PM
6:36:57 PM
6:40:17 PM
6:43:37 PM
6:46:57 PM
6:50:17 PM
6:53:37 PM
6:56:57 PM
7:00:17 PM
7:03:37 PM
7:06:57 PM
0
\\172.16.64.1\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Current Disk Queue Length
\\172.16.64.1\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Avg. Disk Queue Length
\\172.16.64.1\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Avg. Disk Read Queue Length
\\172.16.64.1\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Avg. Disk Write Queue Length
Figure 51:
Active Directory Domain Controller Disk IO Operations
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
1
42
83
124
165
206
247
288
329
370
411
452
493
534
575
616
657
698
739
780
821
862
903
944
985
1026
1067
1108
1149
1190
1231
1272
1313
1354
0
\\172.16.64.1\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Disk Transfers/sec
\\172.16.64.1\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Disk Reads/sec
\\172.16.64.1\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Disk Writes/sec
5:13:34 PM
5:16:59 PM
5:20:24 PM
5:23:49 PM
5:27:14 PM
5:30:39 PM
5:34:04 PM
5:37:29 PM
5:40:54 PM
5:44:19 PM
5:47:44 PM
5:51:09 PM
5:54:34 PM
5:57:59 PM
6:01:24 PM
6:04:49 PM
6:08:14 PM
6:11:39 PM
6:15:04 PM
6:18:29 PM
6:21:54 PM
6:25:19 PM
6:28:44 PM
6:32:09 PM
6:35:34 PM
6:38:59 PM
6:42:24 PM
6:45:49 PM
6:49:14 PM
6:52:39 PM
6:56:04 PM
6:59:29 PM
7:02:54 PM
7:06:19 PM
5:13:34 PM
5:16:59 PM
5:20:24 PM
5:23:49 PM
5:27:14 PM
5:30:39 PM
5:34:04 PM
5:37:29 PM
5:40:54 PM
5:44:19 PM
5:47:44 PM
5:51:09 PM
5:54:34 PM
5:57:59 PM
6:01:24 PM
6:04:49 PM
6:08:14 PM
6:11:39 PM
6:15:04 PM
6:18:29 PM
6:21:54 PM
6:25:19 PM
6:28:44 PM
6:32:09 PM
6:35:34 PM
6:38:59 PM
6:42:24 PM
6:45:49 PM
6:49:14 PM
6:52:39 PM
6:56:04 PM
6:59:29 PM
7:02:54 PM
7:06:19 PM
Figure 52:
Figure 53:
vCenter Server CPU Utilization
\\172.16.64.4\Processor(_Total)\% Processor
Time
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
vCenter Server Memory Utilization
\\172.16.64.4\Memory\Available MBytes
3000
2900
2800
2700
2600
2500
2400
5:13:34 PM
5:16:54 PM
5:20:14 PM
5:23:34 PM
5:26:54 PM
5:30:14 PM
5:33:34 PM
5:36:54 PM
5:40:14 PM
5:43:34 PM
5:46:54 PM
5:50:14 PM
5:53:34 PM
5:56:54 PM
6:00:14 PM
6:03:34 PM
6:06:54 PM
6:10:14 PM
6:13:34 PM
6:16:54 PM
6:20:14 PM
6:23:34 PM
6:26:54 PM
6:30:14 PM
6:33:34 PM
6:36:54 PM
6:40:14 PM
6:43:34 PM
6:46:54 PM
6:50:14 PM
6:53:34 PM
6:56:54 PM
7:00:14 PM
7:03:34 PM
7:06:54 PM
5:13:34 PM
5:17:04 PM
5:20:34 PM
5:24:04 PM
5:27:34 PM
5:31:04 PM
5:34:34 PM
5:38:04 PM
5:41:34 PM
5:45:04 PM
5:48:34 PM
5:52:04 PM
5:55:34 PM
5:59:04 PM
6:02:34 PM
6:06:04 PM
6:09:34 PM
6:13:04 PM
6:16:34 PM
6:20:04 PM
6:23:34 PM
6:27:04 PM
6:30:34 PM
6:34:04 PM
6:37:34 PM
6:41:04 PM
6:44:34 PM
6:48:04 PM
6:51:34 PM
6:55:04 PM
6:58:34 PM
7:02:04 PM
7:05:34 PM
Figure 54:
Figure 55:
vCenter Server Network Utilization
2000000
1800000
1600000
1400000
1200000
1000000
800000
600000
400000
200000
0
\\172.16.64.4\Network Interface(vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter)\Bytes Received/sec
\\172.16.64.4\Network Interface(vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter)\Bytes Sent/sec
vCenter Server Disk Queue Lengths
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
\\172.16.64.4\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Current Disk Queue Length
\\172.16.64.4\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Avg. Disk Queue Length
\\172.16.64.4\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Avg. Disk Read Queue Length
\\172.16.64.4\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Avg. Disk Write Queue Length
5:13:35 PM
5:17:00 PM
5:20:25 PM
5:23:50 PM
5:27:15 PM
5:30:40 PM
5:34:05 PM
5:37:30 PM
5:40:55 PM
5:44:20 PM
5:47:45 PM
5:51:10 PM
5:54:35 PM
5:58:00 PM
6:01:25 PM
6:04:50 PM
6:08:15 PM
6:11:40 PM
6:15:05 PM
6:18:30 PM
6:21:55 PM
6:25:20 PM
6:28:45 PM
6:32:10 PM
6:35:35 PM
6:39:00 PM
6:42:26 PM
6:45:51 PM
6:49:16 PM
6:52:41 PM
6:56:06 PM
6:59:31 PM
7:02:56 PM
7:06:21 PM
5:13:34 PM
5:16:59 PM
5:20:24 PM
5:23:49 PM
5:27:14 PM
5:30:39 PM
5:34:04 PM
5:37:29 PM
5:40:54 PM
5:44:19 PM
5:47:44 PM
5:51:09 PM
5:54:34 PM
5:57:59 PM
6:01:24 PM
6:04:49 PM
6:08:14 PM
6:11:39 PM
6:15:04 PM
6:18:29 PM
6:21:54 PM
6:25:19 PM
6:28:44 PM
6:32:09 PM
6:35:34 PM
6:38:59 PM
6:42:24 PM
6:45:49 PM
6:49:14 PM
6:52:39 PM
6:56:04 PM
6:59:29 PM
7:02:54 PM
7:06:19 PM
Figure 56:
Figure 57:
vCenter Server Disk IO Operations
1400
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
\\172.16.64.4\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Disk Transfers/sec
\\172.16.64.4\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Disk Reads/sec
\\172.16.64.4\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Disk Writes/sec
XDSQL1 SQL Server CPU Utilization
\\172.16.64.3\Processor(_Total)\% Processor
Time
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Figure 59:
5:13:35 PM
5:17:05 PM
5:20:35 PM
5:24:05 PM
5:27:35 PM
5:31:05 PM
5:34:35 PM
5:38:05 PM
5:41:35 PM
5:45:05 PM
5:48:35 PM
5:52:05 PM
5:55:35 PM
5:59:05 PM
6:02:35 PM
6:06:05 PM
6:09:35 PM
6:13:05 PM
6:16:35 PM
6:20:05 PM
6:23:35 PM
6:27:05 PM
6:30:35 PM
6:34:05 PM
6:37:35 PM
6:41:06 PM
6:44:36 PM
6:48:06 PM
6:51:36 PM
6:55:06 PM
6:58:36 PM
7:02:06 PM
7:05:36 PM
5:13:35 PM
5:17:00 PM
5:20:25 PM
5:23:50 PM
5:27:15 PM
5:30:40 PM
5:34:05 PM
5:37:30 PM
5:40:55 PM
5:44:20 PM
5:47:45 PM
5:51:10 PM
5:54:35 PM
5:58:00 PM
6:01:25 PM
6:04:50 PM
6:08:15 PM
6:11:40 PM
6:15:05 PM
6:18:30 PM
6:21:55 PM
6:25:20 PM
6:28:45 PM
6:32:10 PM
6:35:35 PM
6:39:00 PM
6:42:26 PM
6:45:51 PM
6:49:16 PM
6:52:41 PM
6:56:06 PM
6:59:31 PM
7:02:56 PM
7:06:21 PM
Figure 58:
XDSQL1 SQL Server Memory Utilization
\\172.16.64.3\Memory\Available MBytes
3640
3630
3620
3610
3600
3590
3580
3570
3560
3550
XDSQL1 SQL Server Network Utilization
1200000
1000000
800000
600000
400000
200000
0
\\172.16.64.3\Network Interface(vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter)\Bytes Received/sec
\\172.16.64.3\Network Interface(vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter)\Bytes Sent/sec
Figure 60:
XDSQL1 SQL Server Disk Queue Lengths
5:13:35 PM
5:16:55 PM
5:20:15 PM
5:23:35 PM
5:26:55 PM
5:30:15 PM
5:33:35 PM
5:36:55 PM
5:40:15 PM
5:43:35 PM
5:46:55 PM
5:50:15 PM
5:53:35 PM
5:56:55 PM
6:00:15 PM
6:03:35 PM
6:06:55 PM
6:10:15 PM
6:13:35 PM
6:16:55 PM
6:20:15 PM
6:23:35 PM
6:26:55 PM
6:30:15 PM
6:33:35 PM
6:36:55 PM
6:40:16 PM
6:43:36 PM
6:46:56 PM
6:50:16 PM
6:53:36 PM
6:56:56 PM
7:00:16 PM
7:03:36 PM
7:06:56 PM
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
\\172.16.64.3\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Current Disk Queue Length
\\172.16.64.3\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Avg. Disk Queue Length
\\172.16.64.3\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Avg. Disk Read Queue Length
\\172.16.64.3\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Avg. Disk Write Queue Length
\\172.16.64.3\PhysicalDisk(1 E:)\Current Disk Queue Length
\\172.16.64.3\PhysicalDisk(1 E:)\Avg. Disk Queue Length
\\172.16.64.3\PhysicalDisk(1 E:)\Avg. Disk Read Queue Length
\\172.16.64.3\PhysicalDisk(1 E:)\Avg. Disk Write Queue Length
Figure 61:
XDSQL1 SQL Server Disk IO Operations
600
500
400
300
200
100
1
42
83
124
165
206
247
288
329
370
411
452
493
534
575
616
657
698
739
780
821
862
903
944
985
1026
1067
1108
1149
1190
1231
1272
1313
1354
0
\\172.16.64.3\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Disk Transfers/sec
\\172.16.64.3\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Disk Reads/sec
\\172.16.64.3\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Disk Writes/sec
\\172.16.64.3\PhysicalDisk(1 E:)\Disk Transfers/sec
\\172.16.64.3\PhysicalDisk(1 E:)\Disk Reads/sec
\\172.16.64.3\PhysicalDisk(1 E:)\Disk Writes/sec
5:13:37 PM
5:17:02 PM
5:20:27 PM
5:23:52 PM
5:27:17 PM
5:30:42 PM
5:34:07 PM
5:37:32 PM
5:40:57 PM
5:44:22 PM
5:47:47 PM
5:51:12 PM
5:54:37 PM
5:58:02 PM
6:01:27 PM
6:04:52 PM
6:08:17 PM
6:11:42 PM
6:15:07 PM
6:18:32 PM
6:21:57 PM
6:25:22 PM
6:28:47 PM
6:32:12 PM
6:35:37 PM
6:39:02 PM
6:42:27 PM
6:45:52 PM
6:49:17 PM
6:52:42 PM
6:56:08 PM
6:59:33 PM
7:02:58 PM
7:06:23 PM
5:13:37 PM
5:17:02 PM
5:20:27 PM
5:23:52 PM
5:27:17 PM
5:30:42 PM
5:34:07 PM
5:37:32 PM
5:40:57 PM
5:44:22 PM
5:47:47 PM
5:51:12 PM
5:54:37 PM
5:58:02 PM
6:01:27 PM
6:04:52 PM
6:08:17 PM
6:11:42 PM
6:15:07 PM
6:18:32 PM
6:21:57 PM
6:25:22 PM
6:28:47 PM
6:32:12 PM
6:35:37 PM
6:39:02 PM
6:42:27 PM
6:45:52 PM
6:49:17 PM
6:52:42 PM
6:56:08 PM
6:59:33 PM
7:02:58 PM
7:06:23 PM
Figure 62:
Figure 63:
XENPVS1 Provisioning Server CPU Utilization
\\172.16.64.10\Processor(_Total)\% Processor
Time
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
XENPVS1 Provisioning Server Memory Utilization
\\172.16.64.10\Memory\Available MBytes
7400
7200
7000
6800
6600
6400
6200
6000
5:13:37 PM
5:17:02 PM
5:20:27 PM
5:23:52 PM
5:27:17 PM
5:30:42 PM
5:34:07 PM
5:37:32 PM
5:40:57 PM
5:44:22 PM
5:47:47 PM
5:51:12 PM
5:54:37 PM
5:58:02 PM
6:01:27 PM
6:04:52 PM
6:08:17 PM
6:11:42 PM
6:15:07 PM
6:18:32 PM
6:21:57 PM
6:25:22 PM
6:28:47 PM
6:32:12 PM
6:35:37 PM
6:39:02 PM
6:42:27 PM
6:45:52 PM
6:49:17 PM
6:52:42 PM
6:56:08 PM
6:59:33 PM
7:02:58 PM
7:06:23 PM
5:13:37 PM
5:17:17 PM
5:20:57 PM
5:24:37 PM
5:28:17 PM
5:31:57 PM
5:35:37 PM
5:39:17 PM
5:42:57 PM
5:46:37 PM
5:50:17 PM
5:53:57 PM
5:57:37 PM
6:01:17 PM
6:04:57 PM
6:08:37 PM
6:12:17 PM
6:15:57 PM
6:19:37 PM
6:23:17 PM
6:26:57 PM
6:30:37 PM
6:34:17 PM
6:37:57 PM
6:41:37 PM
6:45:17 PM
6:48:57 PM
6:52:37 PM
6:56:18 PM
6:59:58 PM
7:03:38 PM
7:07:18 PM
Figure 64:
Figure 65:
XENPVS1 Provisioning Server Network Utilization
350000000
300000000
250000000
200000000
150000000
100000000
50000000
0
\\172.16.64.10\Network Interface(vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter)\Bytes Received/sec
\\172.16.64.10\Network Interface(vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter)\Bytes Sent/sec
XENPVS1 Provisioning Server Disk Queue Lengths
0.03
0.025
0.02
0.015
0.01
0.005
0
\\172.16.64.10\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Current Disk Queue Length
\\172.16.64.10\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Avg. Disk Queue Length
\\172.16.64.10\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Avg. Disk Read Queue Length
\\172.16.64.10\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Avg. Disk Write Queue Length
5:13:35 PM
5:17:00 PM
5:20:26 PM
5:23:51 PM
5:27:16 PM
5:30:41 PM
5:34:06 PM
5:37:31 PM
5:40:56 PM
5:44:21 PM
5:47:46 PM
5:51:11 PM
5:54:36 PM
5:58:01 PM
6:01:26 PM
6:04:51 PM
6:08:16 PM
6:11:41 PM
6:15:06 PM
6:18:31 PM
6:21:56 PM
6:25:21 PM
6:28:46 PM
6:32:11 PM
6:35:36 PM
6:39:01 PM
6:42:26 PM
6:45:51 PM
6:49:16 PM
6:52:41 PM
6:56:06 PM
6:59:31 PM
7:02:56 PM
7:06:21 PM
5:13:37 PM
5:16:57 PM
5:20:17 PM
5:23:37 PM
5:26:57 PM
5:30:17 PM
5:33:37 PM
5:36:57 PM
5:40:17 PM
5:43:37 PM
5:46:57 PM
5:50:17 PM
5:53:37 PM
5:56:57 PM
6:00:17 PM
6:03:37 PM
6:06:57 PM
6:10:17 PM
6:13:37 PM
6:16:57 PM
6:20:17 PM
6:23:37 PM
6:26:57 PM
6:30:17 PM
6:33:37 PM
6:36:57 PM
6:40:17 PM
6:43:37 PM
6:46:57 PM
6:50:17 PM
6:53:37 PM
6:56:58 PM
7:00:18 PM
7:03:38 PM
7:06:58 PM
Figure 66:
Figure 67:
XENPVS1 Provisioning Server Disk IO Operations
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
\\172.16.64.10\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Disk Transfers/sec
\\172.16.64.10\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Disk Reads/sec
\\172.16.64.10\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Disk Writes/sec
XENDESKTOP1 Broker Server CPU Utilization
\\172.16.64.8\Processor(_Total)\% Processor
Time
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Figure 69:
5:13:35 PM
5:17:05 PM
5:20:36 PM
5:24:06 PM
5:27:36 PM
5:31:06 PM
5:34:36 PM
5:38:06 PM
5:41:36 PM
5:45:06 PM
5:48:36 PM
5:52:06 PM
5:55:36 PM
5:59:06 PM
6:02:36 PM
6:06:06 PM
6:09:36 PM
6:13:06 PM
6:16:36 PM
6:20:06 PM
6:23:36 PM
6:27:06 PM
6:30:36 PM
6:34:06 PM
6:37:36 PM
6:41:06 PM
6:44:36 PM
6:48:06 PM
6:51:36 PM
6:55:06 PM
6:58:36 PM
7:02:06 PM
7:05:36 PM
5:13:35 PM
5:17:00 PM
5:20:26 PM
5:23:51 PM
5:27:16 PM
5:30:41 PM
5:34:06 PM
5:37:31 PM
5:40:56 PM
5:44:21 PM
5:47:46 PM
5:51:11 PM
5:54:36 PM
5:58:01 PM
6:01:26 PM
6:04:51 PM
6:08:16 PM
6:11:41 PM
6:15:06 PM
6:18:31 PM
6:21:56 PM
6:25:21 PM
6:28:46 PM
6:32:11 PM
6:35:36 PM
6:39:01 PM
6:42:26 PM
6:45:51 PM
6:49:16 PM
6:52:41 PM
6:56:06 PM
6:59:31 PM
7:02:56 PM
7:06:21 PM
Figure 68:
XENDESKTOP1 Broker Server Memory Utilization
\\172.16.64.8\Memory\Available MBytes
4100
4050
4000
3950
3900
3850
3800
3750
3700
3650
3600
XENDESKTOP1 Broker Server Network Utilization
700000
600000
500000
400000
300000
200000
100000
0
\\172.16.64.8\Network Interface(vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter)\Bytes Received/sec
\\172.16.64.8\Network Interface(vmxnet3 Ethernet Adapter)\Bytes Sent/sec
5:13:35 PM
5:17:00 PM
5:20:26 PM
5:23:51 PM
5:27:16 PM
5:30:41 PM
5:34:06 PM
5:37:31 PM
5:40:56 PM
5:44:21 PM
5:47:46 PM
5:51:11 PM
5:54:36 PM
5:58:01 PM
6:01:26 PM
6:04:51 PM
6:08:16 PM
6:11:41 PM
6:15:06 PM
6:18:31 PM
6:21:56 PM
6:25:21 PM
6:28:46 PM
6:32:11 PM
6:35:36 PM
6:39:01 PM
6:42:26 PM
6:45:51 PM
6:49:16 PM
6:52:41 PM
6:56:06 PM
6:59:31 PM
7:02:56 PM
7:06:21 PM
5:13:35 PM
5:16:55 PM
5:20:16 PM
5:23:36 PM
5:26:56 PM
5:30:16 PM
5:33:36 PM
5:36:56 PM
5:40:16 PM
5:43:36 PM
5:46:56 PM
5:50:16 PM
5:53:36 PM
5:56:56 PM
6:00:16 PM
6:03:36 PM
6:06:56 PM
6:10:16 PM
6:13:36 PM
6:16:56 PM
6:20:16 PM
6:23:36 PM
6:26:56 PM
6:30:16 PM
6:33:36 PM
6:36:56 PM
6:40:16 PM
6:43:36 PM
6:46:56 PM
6:50:16 PM
6:53:36 PM
6:56:56 PM
7:00:16 PM
7:03:36 PM
7:06:56 PM
Figure 70:
Figure 71:
XENDESKTOP1 Broker Server Disk Queue Lengths
3.5
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
\\172.16.64.8\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Current Disk Queue Length
\\172.16.64.8\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Avg. Disk Queue Length
\\172.16.64.8\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Avg. Disk Read Queue Length
\\172.16.64.8\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Avg. Disk Write Queue Length
XENDESKTOP1 Broker Server Disk IO Operations
250
200
150
100
50
0
\\172.16.64.8\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Disk Transfers/sec
\\172.16.64.8\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Disk Reads/sec
\\172.16.64.8\PhysicalDisk(0 C:)\Disk Writes/sec
Scalability Considerations and Guidelines
There are many factors to consider when you begin to scale beyond 1000 Users, two chassis 8 mixed workload
VDI/HSD host server configuration, which this reference architecture has successfully tested. In this section we give
guidance to scale beyond the 1000 user system.
Cisco UCS System Scalability
As our results indicate, we have proven linear scalability in the Cisco UCS Reference Architecture as tested.





Cisco UCS 2.2(1d) management software supports up to 20 chassis within a single Cisco UCS domain on
our second generation Cisco UCS Fabric Interconnect 6248 and 6296 models. Our single UCS domain can
grow to 160 blades.
With Cisco UCS 2.2(1d) management software, released in March 2014, each UCS 2.2(1c) Management
domain is extensibly manageable by UCS Central, our new manager of managers, vastly increasing the
reach of the UCS system.
As scale grows, the value of the combined UCS fabric, Nexus physical switches and Nexus virtual switches
increases dramatically to define the Quality of Services required to deliver excellent end user experience
100% of the time.
To accommodate the Cisco Nexus 5500 upstream connectivity in the way we describe in the LAN and
SAN Configuration section, we need two Ethernet uplinks to be configured on the Cisco UCS Fabric
interconnect. And based on the number of uplinks from each chassis, we can calculate number of desktops
can be hosted in a single UCS domain. Assuming eight links per chassis, four to each 6248, scaling beyond
10 chassis would require a pair of Cisco UCS 6296 fabric interconnects.
A 25,000 virtual desktop building block, managed by a single UCS domain, with its support infrastructure
services can be built out from the RA described in this study with eight links per chassis and 152 Cisco
UCS B200 M3 Servers and 8 infrastructure blades configured per the specifications in this document in 20
chassis.
Of course, the backend storage has to be scaled accordingly, based on the IOP considerations as described in the
EMC scaling section. Please refer the EMC section that follows this one for scalability guidelines.
Scalability of Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 Configuration
XenDesktop environments can scale to large numbers. When implementing Citrix XenDesktop, consider the
following in scaling the number of hosted shared and hosted virtual desktops:




Types of storage in your environment
Types of desktops that will be deployed
Data protection requirements
For Citrix Provisioning Server pooled desktops, the write cache sizing and placement
These and other various aspects of scalability considerations are described in greater detail in “XenDesktop Modular Reference Architecture” document and should be a part of any XenDesktop design.
When designing and deploying this CVD environment, best practices were followed including the following:



Citrix recommends using N+1 schema for virtualization host servers to accommodate resiliency. In all
Reference Architectures (such as this CVD), this recommendation is applied to all host servers.
All Provisioning Server Network Adapters are configured to have a static IP and management.
We used the XenDesktop Setup Wizard in PVS. Wizard does an excellent job of creating the desktops
automatically and it's possible to run multiple instances of the wizard, provided the deployed desktops are
placed in different catalogs and have different naming conventions. To use the PVS XenDesktop Setup
Wizard, at a minimum you need to install the Provisioning Server, the XenDesktop Controller, and
configure hosts, as well as create VM templates on all datastores where desktops will be deployed.
EMC VNX5400 storage guidelines for Mixed Desktops
Virtualization workload
Sizing VNX storage system to meet virtual desktop IOPS requirement is a complicated process. When an I/O
reaches the VNX storage, it is served by several components such as Data Mover (NFS), backend dynamic random
access memory (DRAM) cache, FAST Cache, and disks. To reduce the complexity, EMC recommends using a
building block approach to scale to thousands of virtual desktops.
For more information on storage sizing guidelines to implement your end-user computing solution on VNX unified
storage systems, refer to https://mainstayadvisor.com/Default.aspx?t=EMC&atid=224a9bcc-caa3-48f4-8ff833051513c410
References
This section provides links to additional information for each partner’s solution component of this document.
Cisco Reference Documents
Cisco Unified Computing System Manager Home Page
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10281/index.html
Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server Resources
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10280/index.html
Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps11544/index.html
Cisco Nexus 5500 Series Switches Resources
http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps9670/index.html
Download Cisco UCS Manager and Blade Software Version 2.2(1d)
http://software.cisco.com/download/release.html?mdfid=283612660&softwareid=283655658&release=1.4(4l)&reli
nd=AVAILABLE&rellifecycle=&reltype=latest
Download Cisco UCS Central Software Version 1.1(1b)
http://software.cisco.com/download/release.html?mdfid=284308174&softwareid=284308194&re
lease=1.1(1b)&relind=AVAILABLE&rellifecycle=&reltype=latest&i=rs
Citrix Reference Documents
Citrix Product Downloads
http://www.citrix.com/downloads/xendesktop.html
Citrix Knowledge Center
http://support.citrix.com
Citrix XenDesktop 7.5 Documentation
http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/xenapp-xendesktop/cds-xenapp-xendesktop-75-landing.html
Citrix Provisioning Services
http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/provisioning-7/pvs-provisioning-7.html
Citrix User Profile Management
http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/topic/user-profile-manager-5-x/upm-wrapper-kib.html
EMC References
EMC VSPEX End User Computing Solution Overview
EMC VSPEX End-User Computing: Citrix XenDesktop 7 and VMware vSphere for up to 2,000 Virtual Desktops –
Design Guide
EMC VSPEX End-User Computing: Citrix XenDesktop 7 and VMware vSphere for up to 2,000 Virtual Desktops –
Implementation Guide
EMC VSPEX End-User Computing: Citrix XenDesktop 7 and Microsoft Hyper-V for up to 2,000 Virtual Desktops
– Design Guide
EMC VSPEX End-User Computing: Citrix XenDesktop 7 and Microsoft Hyper-V for up to 2,000 Virtual Desktops
– Implementation Guide
VMware References
VMware vCenter Server
http://www.vmware.com/products/vcenter-server/overview.html
VMware vSphere:
http://www.vmware.com/products/vsphere/
Login VSI
http://loginvsi.com
Appendix A–Cisco Nexus 5548UP Configurations
Nexus5K-1
version 5.2(1)N1(7)
feature fcoe
hostname l4a12-nexus5k-1
feature
feature
cfs eth
feature
feature
feature
npiv
telnet
distribute
lacp
vpc
lldp
username admin password
network-admin
no password strength-check
5
$1$dXHe/D1d$bzimTuTVfEl3xH8MV63R7/
role
banner motd #Nexus 5000 Switch
#
ip domain-lookup
policy-map type network-qos pm-nq-global
class type network-qos class-default
mtu 9216
multicast-optimize
set cos 5
system qos
service-policy type queuing input fcoe-default-in-policy
service-policy type queuing output fcoe-default-out-policy
service-policy type network-qos pm-nq-global
policy-map type control-plane copp-system-policy-customized
class copp-system-class-default
police cir 2048 kbps bc 6400000 bytes
slot 1
port 29-32 type fc
snmp-server
user
admin
network-admin
auth
md5
0xcf27bcafe85f702841ec8eb8b1685651 priv 0xcf27bcafe85f702841ec8eb8b1685651
localizedkey
vrf context management
ip route 0.0.0.0/0 10.6.116.1
vlan 1
vlan 272
name cisco-vspex
vlan 273
name solutions-vdi-1
vlan 274
name solutions-vdi-2
vlan 275
name solutions-vdi-3
vlan 276
name solutions-vdi-4
vlan 277
name solutions-vdi-5
vlan 278
name Solutions-vdi-6
vlan 279
name solutions-vdi-7
vlan 516
name solutions-10.6.116
vlan 517
name solutions-10.6.117
vpc domain 101
peer-keepalive destination 10.6.116.40
peer-gateway
port-profile default max-ports 512
interface port-channel1
description VPC-Peerlink
switchport mode trunk
spanning-tree port type network
speed 10000
vpc peer-link
interface port-channel13
description to FI-5A
switchport mode trunk
vpc 13
interface port-channel14
description to FI-5B
switchport mode trunk
vpc 14
interface port-channel18
description to FI-6A
switchport mode trunk
vpc 18
interface port-channel19
description to FI-6B
switchport mode trunk
vpc 19
interface port-channel25
description to DM2-0
switchport mode trunk
untagged cos 5
switchport trunk allowed vlan 272-276,514-527
vpc 25
interface port-channel26
description to DM3-0
switchport mode trunk
untagged cos 5
switchport trunk allowed vlan 272-276,514-527
vpc 26
interface port-channel28
description uplink to nex1-rack700h
switchport mode trunk
vpc 28
interface Ethernet1/1
description uplink to rtpsol-ucs5-A14
switchport mode trunk
channel-group 13 mode active
interface Ethernet1/2
description uplink to rtpsol-ucs5-B14
switchport mode trunk
channel-group 14 mode active
interface Ethernet1/3
description uplink to rtpsol-ucs6-A14
switchport mode trunk
channel-group 18 mode active
interface Ethernet1/4
description uplink to rtpsol-ucs6-B14
switchport mode trunk
channel-group 19 mode active
interface Ethernet1/5
description to rtpsol44-dm2-0
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 272-276,514-527
spanning-tree port type edge trunk
channel-group 25 mode active
interface Ethernet1/6
description to rtpsol44-dm3-0
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 272-276,514-527
spanning-tree port type edge trunk
channel-group 26 mode active
interface Ethernet1/7
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/8
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/9
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/10
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/11
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/12
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/13
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/14
description uplink to .116 g/7
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 174,272-276,516-527
speed 1000
interface Ethernet1/15
switchport mode trunk
channel-group 1 mode active
interface Ethernet1/16
description uplink to l4a12-nexus5k-2 16
switchport mode trunk
channel-group 1 mode active
interface Ethernet1/17
description rtpsol44-iscsi-a0
untagged cos 5
switchport mode trunk
spanning-tree port type edge trunk
interface Ethernet1/18
description rtpsol44-iscsi-a1
untagged cos 5
switchport mode trunk
spanning-tree port type edge trunk
interface Ethernet1/19
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/20
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/21
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/22
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/23
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/24
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/25
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/26
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/27
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/28
description uplink to nex1-rack700h
switchport mode trunk
channel-group 28 mode active
interface Ethernet2/1
interface Ethernet2/2
interface Ethernet2/3
interface Ethernet2/4
interface Ethernet2/5
interface Ethernet2/6
interface Ethernet2/7
interface Ethernet2/8
interface Ethernet2/9
interface Ethernet2/10
interface Ethernet2/11
interface Ethernet2/12
interface Ethernet2/13
interface Ethernet2/14
interface Ethernet2/15
interface Ethernet2/16
interface mgmt0
ip address 10.6.116.39/24
line console
line vty
boot kickstart bootflash:/n5000-uk9-kickstart.5.2.1.N1.7.bin
boot system bootflash:/n5000-uk9.5.2.1.N1.7.bin
Nexus5K-2
version 5.2(1)N1(7)
hostname l4a12-nexus5k-2
feature
cfs eth
feature
feature
feature
telnet
distribute
lacp
vpc
lldp
username admin password
network-admin
no password strength-check
5
$1$jzWGzfZr$Qx3wA4jPr7JjPPBccxiYh.
role
banner motd #Nexus 5000 Switch
#
ip domain-lookup
policy-map type network-qos pm-nq-global
class type network-qos class-default
mtu 9216
multicast-optimize
set cos 5
system qos
service-policy type network-qos pm-nq-global
service-policy type queuing input fcoe-default-in-policy
service-policy type queuing output fcoe-default-out-policy
policy-map type control-plane copp-system-policy-customized
class copp-system-class-default
police cir 2048 kbps bc 6400000 bytes
slot 1
port 29-32 type fc
snmp-server
user
admin
network-admin
auth
md5
0xb1447442e6fec90ed20f37faec36f07f priv 0xb1447442e6fec90ed20f37faec36f07f
localizedkey
vrf context management
ip route 0.0.0.0/0 10.6.116.1
vlan 1
vlan 272
name cisco-vspex
vlan 273
name solutions-vdi-1
vlan 274
name solutions-vdi-2
vlan 275
name solutions-vdi-3
vlan 276
name solutions-vdi-4
vlan 277
name solutions-vdi-5
vlan 278
name Solutions-vdi-6
vlan 279
name solutions-vdi-7
vlan 516
name solutions-10.6.116
vlan 517
name solutions-10.6.117
vpc domain 101
peer-keepalive destination 10.6.116.39
peer-gateway
port-profile default max-ports 512
interface port-channel1
description VPC-Peerlink
switchport mode trunk
spanning-tree port type network
speed 10000
vpc peer-link
interface port-channel13
description to FI-5A
switchport mode trunk
vpc 13
interface port-channel14
description to FI-5B
switchport mode trunk
vpc 14
interface port-channel18
description to FI-6A
switchport mode trunk
vpc 18
interface port-channel19
description to FI-6B
switchport mode trunk
vpc 19
interface port-channel25
description to DM2-1
switchport mode trunk
untagged cos 5
switchport trunk allowed vlan 272-276,514-527
vpc 25
interface port-channel26
description to DM3-1
switchport mode trunk
untagged cos 5
switchport trunk allowed vlan 272-276,514-527
vpc 26
interface port-channel28
description uplink to nex1-rack700h
switchport mode trunk
vpc 28
interface Ethernet1/1
description uplink to rtpsol-ucs5-A13
switchport mode trunk
channel-group 13 mode active
interface Ethernet1/2
description uplink to rtpsol-ucs5-B13
switchport mode trunk
channel-group 14 mode active
interface Ethernet1/3
description uplink to rtpsol-ucs6-A13
switchport mode trunk
channel-group 18 mode active
interface Ethernet1/4
description uplink to rtpsol-ucs6-B13
switchport mode trunk
channel-group 19 mode active
interface Ethernet1/5
description to rtpsol44-dm2-1
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 272-276,514-527
spanning-tree port type edge trunk
channel-group 25 mode active
interface Ethernet1/6
description to rtpsol44-dm3-1
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 272-276,514-527
spanning-tree port type edge trunk
channel-group 26 mode active
interface Ethernet1/7
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/8
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/9
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/10
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/11
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/12
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/13
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/14
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/15
switchport mode trunk
channel-group 1 mode active
interface Ethernet1/16
description uplink to l4a12-nexus5k-1 16
switchport mode trunk
channel-group 1 mode active
interface Ethernet1/17
description rtpsol44-iscsi-b0
untagged cos 5
switchport mode trunk
spanning-tree port type edge trunk
interface Ethernet1/18
description rtpsol44-iscsi-b1
untagged cos 5
switchport mode trunk
spanning-tree port type edge trunk
interface Ethernet1/19
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/20
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/21
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/22
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/23
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/24
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/25
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/26
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/27
switchport mode trunk
interface Ethernet1/28
switchport mode trunk
channel-group 28 mode active
interface mgmt0
ip address 10.6.116.40/24
line console
line vty
boot kickstart bootflash:/n5000-uk9-kickstart.5.2.1.N1.7.bin
boot system bootflash:/n5000-uk9.5.2.1.N1.7.bin
Appendix B–Cisco Nexus 1000V VSM
Configuration
version 4.2(1)SV2(2.2)
svs switch edition essential
feature telnet
username admin
network-admin
password
5
$1$hHzgvfVd$OHHoGrgtWHxOhUW3SLg48/
role
banner motd #Nexus 1000v Switch#
ssh key rsa 2048
ip domain-lookup
ip host N1KVswitch 172.16.64.39
hostname N1KVswitch
errdisable recovery cause failed-port-state
policy-map type qos jumbo-mtu
policy-map type qos n1kv-policy
class class-default
set cos 5
vem 3
host id f45487e9-e5ee-e211-600d-000000000012
vem 4
host id f45487e9-e5ee-e211-600d-000000000002
vem 5
host id f45487e9-e5ee-e211-600d-000000000007
vem 6
host id f45487e9-e5ee-e211-600d-000000000008
snmp-server
user
admin
network-admin
auth
md5
0xe90e1fbf4aa6dd0ccde9bb8f2db21c3f priv 0xe90e1fbf4aa6dd0ccde9bb8f2db21c3f
localizedkey
vrf context management
ip route 0.0.0.0/0 172.16.64.1
vlan 1,272,516
vlan 272
name private
vlan 516
name public
port-channel load-balance ethernet source-mac
port-profile default max-ports 32
port-profile type ethernet Unused_Or_Quarantine_Uplink
vmware port-group
shutdown
description Port-group created for Nexus1000V internal usage. Do not
use.
state enabled
port-profile type vethernet Unused_Or_Quarantine_Veth
vmware port-group
shutdown
description Port-group created for Nexus1000V internal usage. Do not
use.
state enabled
port-profile type ethernet system-uplink
vmware port-group
switchport mode trunk
switchport trunk allowed vlan 272,516
mtu 9000
channel-group auto mode on mac-pinning
no shutdown
system vlan 272,516
state enabled
port-profile type vethernet n1kv-l3
capability l3control
vmware port-group
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 272
service-policy type qos input n1kv-policy
no shutdown
system vlan 272
state enabled
port-profile type vethernet vm-network
vmware port-group
switchport mode access
switchport access vlan 272
service-policy type qos input n1kv-policy
no shutdown
system vlan 272
max-ports 1024
state enabled
vdc N1KVswitch id 1
limit-resource vlan minimum 16 maximum 2049
limit-resource monitor-session minimum 0 maximum 2
limit-resource vrf minimum 16 maximum 8192
limit-resource port-channel minimum 0 maximum 768
limit-resource u4route-mem minimum 1 maximum 1
limit-resource u6route-mem minimum 1 maximum 1
interface port-channel1
inherit port-profile system-uplink
vem 3
interface port-channel2
inherit port-profile system-uplink
vem 4
interface mgmt0
ip address 172.16.64.39/19
interface control0
line console
boot kickstart bootflash:/nexus-1000v-kickstart.4.2.1.SV2.2.2.bin sup-1
boot system bootflash:/nexus-1000v.4.2.1.SV2.2.2.bin sup-1
boot kickstart bootflash:/nexus-1000v-kickstart.4.2.1.SV2.2.2.bin sup-2
boot system bootflash:/nexus-1000v.4.2.1.SV2.2.2.bin sup-2
svs-domain
domain id 1
control vlan 1
packet vlan 1
svs mode L3 interface mgmt0
svs connection vcenter
protocol vmware-vim
remote ip address 172.16.64.4 port 80
vmware dvs uuid "49 40 31 50 7e 6a d6 e8-a3 c2 f7 e5 00 32 8b 5d"
datacenter-name CVSPEX-DT
admin user n1kUser
max-ports 8192
connect
vservice global type vsg
tcp state-checks invalid-ack
tcp state-checks seq-past-window
no tcp state-checks window-variation
no bypass asa-traffic
vnm-policy-agent
registration-ip 0.0.0.0
shared-secret **********
log-level
9:13:29 PM
9:17:03 PM
9:20:38 PM
9:24:15 PM
9:27:52 PM
9:31:29 PM
9:35:07 PM
9:38:45 PM
9:42:23 PM
9:46:01 PM
9:49:39 PM
9:53:17 PM
9:56:55 PM
10:00:33 PM
10:04:11 PM
10:07:49 PM
10:11:27 PM
10:15:05 PM
10:18:43 PM
10:22:22 PM
10:26:00 PM
10:29:38 PM
10:33:16 PM
10:36:55 PM
10:40:33 PM
10:44:11 PM
10:47:49 PM
10:51:27 PM
10:55:04 PM
10:58:42 PM
11:02:20 PM
11:05:58 PM
Appendix C–Server Performance Charts for Mixed
Workload Scale Test Run
1000u-mix-32l-bm-0607-1713-vsphere2
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Memory\No
nKernel MBytes
180000
160000
140000
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
9:13:29 PM
9:16:43 PM
9:19:57 PM
9:23:13 PM
9:26:29 PM
9:29:46 PM
9:33:03 PM
9:36:20 PM
9:39:37 PM
9:42:54 PM
9:46:11 PM
9:49:29 PM
9:52:46 PM
9:56:03 PM
9:59:21 PM
10:02:38 PM
10:05:55 PM
10:09:12 PM
10:12:29 PM
10:15:47 PM
10:19:04 PM
10:22:22 PM
10:25:39 PM
10:28:57 PM
10:32:14 PM
10:35:32 PM
10:38:49 PM
10:42:06 PM
10:45:23 PM
10:48:41 PM
10:51:58 PM
10:55:15 PM
10:58:32 PM
11:01:49 PM
11:05:06 PM
9:13:29 PM
9:18:56 PM
9:24:25 PM
9:29:56 PM
9:35:28 PM
9:41:00 PM
9:46:32 PM
9:52:05 PM
9:57:37 PM
10:03:09 PM
10:08:41 PM
10:14:13 PM
10:19:45 PM
10:25:18 PM
10:30:51 PM
10:36:24 PM
10:41:56 PM
10:47:28 PM
10:53:00 PM
10:58:32 PM
11:04:04 PM
1800
1600
1400
1200
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108876:vmnic0)\MBits
Received/sec
1000
800
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108876:vmnic0)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
600
400
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108877:vmnic1)\MBits
Received/sec
200
0
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108877:vmnic1)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Physical
Cpu(_Total)\% Core Util Time
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
9:13:30 PM
9:17:04 PM
9:20:40 PM
9:24:16 PM
9:27:53 PM
9:31:31 PM
9:35:09 PM
9:38:47 PM
9:42:25 PM
9:46:03 PM
9:49:41 PM
9:53:19 PM
9:56:57 PM
10:00:35 PM
10:04:13 PM
10:07:51 PM
10:11:29 PM
10:15:06 PM
10:18:45 PM
10:22:23 PM
10:26:02 PM
10:29:40 PM
10:33:18 PM
10:36:56 PM
10:40:34 PM
10:44:12 PM
10:47:50 PM
10:51:28 PM
10:55:07 PM
10:58:44 PM
11:02:22 PM
11:06:00 PM
9:13:29 PM
9:16:43 PM
9:19:57 PM
9:23:13 PM
9:26:29 PM
9:29:46 PM
9:33:03 PM
9:36:20 PM
9:39:37 PM
9:42:54 PM
9:46:11 PM
9:49:29 PM
9:52:46 PM
9:56:03 PM
9:59:21 PM
10:02:38 PM
10:05:55 PM
10:09:12 PM
10:12:29 PM
10:15:47 PM
10:19:04 PM
10:22:22 PM
10:25:39 PM
10:28:57 PM
10:32:14 PM
10:35:32 PM
10:38:49 PM
10:42:06 PM
10:45:23 PM
10:48:41 PM
10:51:58 PM
10:55:15 PM
10:58:32 PM
11:01:49 PM
11:05:06 PM
\\vsphere2.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Physical
Cpu(_Total)\% Util Time
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1000u-mix-32l-bm-0607-1713-vsphere3
\\vsphere3.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Memory\No
nKernel MBytes
180000
160000
140000
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
9:13:30 PM
9:16:44 PM
9:19:58 PM
9:23:14 PM
9:26:31 PM
9:29:47 PM
9:33:04 PM
9:36:21 PM
9:39:39 PM
9:42:56 PM
9:46:13 PM
9:49:31 PM
9:52:48 PM
9:56:05 PM
9:59:22 PM
10:02:40 PM
10:05:57 PM
10:09:14 PM
10:12:31 PM
10:15:48 PM
10:19:06 PM
10:22:23 PM
10:25:41 PM
10:28:59 PM
10:32:16 PM
10:35:33 PM
10:38:50 PM
10:42:08 PM
10:45:25 PM
10:48:42 PM
10:52:00 PM
10:55:17 PM
10:58:34 PM
11:01:51 PM
11:05:08 PM
9:13:30 PM
9:18:57 PM
9:24:26 PM
9:29:58 PM
9:35:29 PM
9:41:02 PM
9:46:34 PM
9:52:06 PM
9:57:38 PM
10:03:11 PM
10:08:43 PM
10:14:14 PM
10:19:47 PM
10:25:20 PM
10:30:53 PM
10:36:25 PM
10:41:57 PM
10:47:30 PM
10:53:02 PM
10:58:34 PM
11:04:06 PM
1800
1600
1400
1200
\\vsphere3.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108876:vmnic0)\MBits
Received/sec
1000
800
\\vsphere3.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108876:vmnic0)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
600
400
200
\\vsphere3.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108877:vmnic1)\MBits
Received/sec
0
\\vsphere3.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108877:vmnic1)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
\\vsphere3.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Physical
Cpu(_Total)\% Core Util Time
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
9:13:34 PM
9:17:08 PM
9:20:43 PM
9:24:20 PM
9:27:57 PM
9:31:35 PM
9:35:13 PM
9:38:51 PM
9:42:29 PM
9:46:07 PM
9:49:45 PM
9:53:24 PM
9:57:02 PM
10:00:40 PM
10:04:18 PM
10:07:56 PM
10:11:34 PM
10:15:12 PM
10:18:50 PM
10:22:28 PM
10:26:07 PM
10:29:45 PM
10:33:23 PM
10:37:02 PM
10:40:40 PM
10:44:19 PM
10:47:57 PM
10:51:35 PM
10:55:13 PM
10:58:51 PM
11:02:29 PM
11:06:07 PM
9:13:30 PM
9:16:44 PM
9:19:58 PM
9:23:14 PM
9:26:31 PM
9:29:47 PM
9:33:04 PM
9:36:21 PM
9:39:39 PM
9:42:56 PM
9:46:13 PM
9:49:31 PM
9:52:48 PM
9:56:05 PM
9:59:22 PM
10:02:40 PM
10:05:57 PM
10:09:14 PM
10:12:31 PM
10:15:48 PM
10:19:06 PM
10:22:23 PM
10:25:41 PM
10:28:59 PM
10:32:16 PM
10:35:33 PM
10:38:50 PM
10:42:08 PM
10:45:25 PM
10:48:42 PM
10:52:00 PM
10:55:17 PM
10:58:34 PM
11:01:51 PM
11:05:08 PM
\\vsphere3.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Physical
Cpu(_Total)\% Util Time
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1000u-mix-32l-bm-0607-1713-vsphere10
\\vsphere10.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Memory\N
onKernel MBytes
180000
160000
140000
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
9:13:34 PM
9:16:48 PM
9:20:02 PM
9:23:18 PM
9:26:34 PM
9:29:51 PM
9:33:08 PM
9:36:25 PM
9:39:43 PM
9:43:00 PM
9:46:18 PM
9:49:35 PM
9:52:52 PM
9:56:10 PM
9:59:27 PM
10:02:45 PM
10:06:02 PM
10:09:19 PM
10:12:36 PM
10:15:53 PM
10:19:11 PM
10:22:28 PM
10:25:46 PM
10:29:03 PM
10:32:21 PM
10:35:39 PM
10:38:56 PM
10:42:14 PM
10:45:31 PM
10:48:49 PM
10:52:07 PM
10:55:24 PM
10:58:41 PM
11:01:58 PM
11:05:15 PM
9:13:34 PM
9:19:21 PM
9:25:12 PM
9:31:04 PM
9:36:57 PM
9:42:50 PM
9:48:43 PM
9:54:36 PM
10:00:30 PM
10:06:23 PM
10:12:15 PM
10:18:08 PM
10:24:02 PM
10:29:55 PM
10:35:49 PM
10:41:43 PM
10:47:37 PM
10:53:30 PM
10:59:22 PM
11:05:15 PM
2000
1800
1600
1400
\\vsphere10.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc
.com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108876:vmnic0)\MBits
Received/sec
1200
1000
800
\\vsphere10.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc
.com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108876:vmnic0)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
600
400
200
\\vsphere10.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc
.com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108877:vmnic1)\MBits
Received/sec
0
\\vsphere10.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc
.com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108877:vmnic1)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
\\vsphere10.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Physical
Cpu(_Total)\% Core Util Time
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
9:13:31 PM
9:17:04 PM
9:20:38 PM
9:24:12 PM
9:27:46 PM
9:31:20 PM
9:34:54 PM
9:38:28 PM
9:42:02 PM
9:45:36 PM
9:49:10 PM
9:52:44 PM
9:56:18 PM
9:59:52 PM
10:03:26 PM
10:07:00 PM
10:10:33 PM
10:14:07 PM
10:17:41 PM
10:21:15 PM
10:24:49 PM
10:28:24 PM
10:31:58 PM
10:35:33 PM
10:39:07 PM
10:42:41 PM
10:46:16 PM
10:49:50 PM
10:53:24 PM
10:56:57 PM
11:00:31 PM
11:04:05 PM
11:07:39 PM
9:13:34 PM
9:16:48 PM
9:20:02 PM
9:23:18 PM
9:26:34 PM
9:29:51 PM
9:33:08 PM
9:36:25 PM
9:39:43 PM
9:43:00 PM
9:46:18 PM
9:49:35 PM
9:52:52 PM
9:56:10 PM
9:59:27 PM
10:02:45 PM
10:06:02 PM
10:09:19 PM
10:12:36 PM
10:15:53 PM
10:19:11 PM
10:22:28 PM
10:25:46 PM
10:29:03 PM
10:32:21 PM
10:35:39 PM
10:38:56 PM
10:42:14 PM
10:45:31 PM
10:48:49 PM
10:52:07 PM
10:55:24 PM
10:58:41 PM
11:01:58 PM
11:05:15 PM
\\vsphere10.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Physical
Cpu(_Total)\% Util Time
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1000u-mix-32l-bm-0607-1713-vsphere4
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Memory\No
nKernel MBytes
200000
180000
160000
140000
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
9:13:31 PM
9:16:54 PM
9:20:18 PM
9:23:42 PM
9:27:05 PM
9:30:29 PM
9:33:53 PM
9:37:17 PM
9:40:41 PM
9:44:04 PM
9:47:28 PM
9:50:52 PM
9:54:16 PM
9:57:40 PM
10:01:03 PM
10:04:27 PM
10:07:50 PM
10:11:14 PM
10:14:38 PM
10:18:02 PM
10:21:26 PM
10:24:49 PM
10:28:13 PM
10:31:38 PM
10:35:02 PM
10:38:26 PM
10:41:50 PM
10:45:14 PM
10:48:38 PM
10:52:02 PM
10:55:26 PM
10:58:49 PM
11:02:13 PM
11:05:37 PM
9:13:31 PM
9:19:07 PM
9:24:43 PM
9:30:19 PM
9:35:55 PM
9:41:32 PM
9:47:08 PM
9:52:44 PM
9:58:20 PM
10:03:56 PM
10:09:32 PM
10:15:08 PM
10:20:45 PM
10:26:21 PM
10:31:58 PM
10:37:35 PM
10:43:12 PM
10:48:49 PM
10:54:25 PM
11:00:01 PM
11:05:37 PM
600
500
400
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108881:vmnic0)\MBits
Received/sec
300
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108881:vmnic0)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
200
100
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108882:vmnic1)\MBits
Received/sec
0
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108882:vmnic1)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Physical
Cpu(_Total)\% Core Util Time
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
9:13:32 PM
9:17:05 PM
9:20:39 PM
9:24:13 PM
9:27:47 PM
9:31:21 PM
9:34:55 PM
9:38:29 PM
9:42:03 PM
9:45:37 PM
9:49:11 PM
9:52:45 PM
9:56:19 PM
9:59:53 PM
10:03:27 PM
10:07:01 PM
10:10:34 PM
10:14:08 PM
10:17:42 PM
10:21:16 PM
10:24:50 PM
10:28:24 PM
10:31:59 PM
10:35:34 PM
10:39:08 PM
10:42:43 PM
10:46:17 PM
10:49:51 PM
10:53:25 PM
10:56:59 PM
11:00:32 PM
11:04:06 PM
11:07:40 PM
9:13:31 PM
9:16:54 PM
9:20:18 PM
9:23:42 PM
9:27:05 PM
9:30:29 PM
9:33:53 PM
9:37:17 PM
9:40:41 PM
9:44:04 PM
9:47:28 PM
9:50:52 PM
9:54:16 PM
9:57:40 PM
10:01:03 PM
10:04:27 PM
10:07:50 PM
10:11:14 PM
10:14:38 PM
10:18:02 PM
10:21:26 PM
10:24:49 PM
10:28:13 PM
10:31:38 PM
10:35:02 PM
10:38:26 PM
10:41:50 PM
10:45:14 PM
10:48:38 PM
10:52:02 PM
10:55:26 PM
10:58:49 PM
11:02:13 PM
11:05:37 PM
\\vsphere4.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Physical
Cpu(_Total)\% Util Time
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1000u-mix-32l-bm-0607-1713-vsphere5
\\vsphere5.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Memory\No
nKernel MBytes
200000
180000
160000
140000
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
9:13:32 PM
9:16:55 PM
9:20:19 PM
9:23:43 PM
9:27:06 PM
9:30:30 PM
9:33:54 PM
9:37:18 PM
9:40:42 PM
9:44:06 PM
9:47:29 PM
9:50:53 PM
9:54:17 PM
9:57:41 PM
10:01:05 PM
10:04:28 PM
10:07:52 PM
10:11:15 PM
10:14:39 PM
10:18:03 PM
10:21:26 PM
10:24:50 PM
10:28:14 PM
10:31:39 PM
10:35:03 PM
10:38:27 PM
10:41:51 PM
10:45:16 PM
10:48:40 PM
10:52:04 PM
10:55:27 PM
10:58:51 PM
11:02:14 PM
11:05:38 PM
9:13:32 PM
9:19:07 PM
9:24:44 PM
9:30:20 PM
9:35:56 PM
9:41:33 PM
9:47:09 PM
9:52:45 PM
9:58:22 PM
10:03:58 PM
10:09:33 PM
10:15:09 PM
10:20:46 PM
10:26:22 PM
10:31:59 PM
10:37:36 PM
10:43:13 PM
10:48:50 PM
10:54:26 PM
11:00:02 PM
11:05:38 PM
700
600
500
\\vsphere5.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108881:vmnic0)\MBits
Received/sec
400
300
\\vsphere5.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108881:vmnic0)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
200
100
\\vsphere5.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108882:vmnic1)\MBits
Received/sec
0
\\vsphere5.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.
com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108882:vmnic1)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
\\vsphere5.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Physical
Cpu(_Total)\% Core Util Time
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
9:13:35 PM
9:17:08 PM
9:20:42 PM
9:24:16 PM
9:27:50 PM
9:31:24 PM
9:34:58 PM
9:38:32 PM
9:42:06 PM
9:45:40 PM
9:49:14 PM
9:52:48 PM
9:56:22 PM
9:59:56 PM
10:03:29 PM
10:07:03 PM
10:10:36 PM
10:14:10 PM
10:17:44 PM
10:21:17 PM
10:24:51 PM
10:28:25 PM
10:31:59 PM
10:35:33 PM
10:39:07 PM
10:42:41 PM
10:46:15 PM
10:49:48 PM
10:53:22 PM
10:56:55 PM
11:00:29 PM
11:04:03 PM
11:07:37 PM
9:13:32 PM
9:16:55 PM
9:20:19 PM
9:23:43 PM
9:27:06 PM
9:30:30 PM
9:33:54 PM
9:37:18 PM
9:40:42 PM
9:44:06 PM
9:47:29 PM
9:50:53 PM
9:54:17 PM
9:57:41 PM
10:01:05 PM
10:04:28 PM
10:07:52 PM
10:11:15 PM
10:14:39 PM
10:18:03 PM
10:21:26 PM
10:24:50 PM
10:28:14 PM
10:31:39 PM
10:35:03 PM
10:38:27 PM
10:41:51 PM
10:45:16 PM
10:48:40 PM
10:52:04 PM
10:55:27 PM
10:58:51 PM
11:02:14 PM
11:05:38 PM
\\vsphere5.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Physical
Cpu(_Total)\% Util Time
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1000u-mix-32l-bm-0607-1713-vsphere12
\\vsphere12.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Memory\N
onKernel MBytes
160000
140000
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
9:13:35 PM
9:16:58 PM
9:20:22 PM
9:23:45 PM
9:27:09 PM
9:30:33 PM
9:33:57 PM
9:37:20 PM
9:40:44 PM
9:44:08 PM
9:47:32 PM
9:50:56 PM
9:54:19 PM
9:57:43 PM
10:01:07 PM
10:04:30 PM
10:07:54 PM
10:11:17 PM
10:14:40 PM
10:18:04 PM
10:21:28 PM
10:24:51 PM
10:28:15 PM
10:31:39 PM
10:35:03 PM
10:38:26 PM
10:41:50 PM
10:45:14 PM
10:48:37 PM
10:52:01 PM
10:55:24 PM
10:58:47 PM
11:02:11 PM
11:05:35 PM
9:13:35 PM
9:19:10 PM
9:24:47 PM
9:30:23 PM
9:35:59 PM
9:41:35 PM
9:47:11 PM
9:52:48 PM
9:58:24 PM
10:04:00 PM
10:09:35 PM
10:15:11 PM
10:20:47 PM
10:26:23 PM
10:31:59 PM
10:37:35 PM
10:43:11 PM
10:48:47 PM
10:54:23 PM
10:59:58 PM
11:05:35 PM
350
300
250
\\vsphere12.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc
.com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108881:vmnic0)\MBits
Received/sec
200
150
\\vsphere12.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc
.com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108881:vmnic0)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
100
50
\\vsphere12.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc
.com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108882:vmnic1)\MBits
Received/sec
0
\\vsphere12.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc
.com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108882:vmnic1)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
\\vsphere12.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Physical
Cpu(_Total)\% Core Util Time
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
9:13:36 PM
9:17:09 PM
9:20:43 PM
9:24:17 PM
9:27:51 PM
9:31:25 PM
9:34:59 PM
9:38:33 PM
9:42:07 PM
9:45:41 PM
9:49:15 PM
9:52:48 PM
9:56:22 PM
9:59:56 PM
10:03:30 PM
10:07:04 PM
10:10:37 PM
10:14:11 PM
10:17:44 PM
10:21:18 PM
10:24:52 PM
10:28:26 PM
10:32:00 PM
10:35:34 PM
10:39:08 PM
10:42:42 PM
10:46:16 PM
10:49:50 PM
10:53:24 PM
10:56:58 PM
11:00:31 PM
11:04:05 PM
11:07:39 PM
9:13:35 PM
9:16:58 PM
9:20:22 PM
9:23:45 PM
9:27:09 PM
9:30:33 PM
9:33:57 PM
9:37:20 PM
9:40:44 PM
9:44:08 PM
9:47:32 PM
9:50:56 PM
9:54:19 PM
9:57:43 PM
10:01:07 PM
10:04:30 PM
10:07:54 PM
10:11:17 PM
10:14:40 PM
10:18:04 PM
10:21:28 PM
10:24:51 PM
10:28:15 PM
10:31:39 PM
10:35:03 PM
10:38:26 PM
10:41:50 PM
10:45:14 PM
10:48:37 PM
10:52:01 PM
10:55:24 PM
10:58:47 PM
11:02:11 PM
11:05:35 PM
\\vsphere12.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Physical
Cpu(_Total)\% Util Time
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
1000u-mix-32l-bm-0607-1713-vsphere13
\\vsphere13.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Memory\N
onKernel MBytes
160000
140000
120000
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
9:13:36 PM
9:16:59 PM
9:20:23 PM
9:23:46 PM
9:27:10 PM
9:30:34 PM
9:33:58 PM
9:37:21 PM
9:40:45 PM
9:44:09 PM
9:47:33 PM
9:50:56 PM
9:54:20 PM
9:57:44 PM
10:01:08 PM
10:04:31 PM
10:07:54 PM
10:11:18 PM
10:14:41 PM
10:18:05 PM
10:21:28 PM
10:24:52 PM
10:28:16 PM
10:31:40 PM
10:35:03 PM
10:38:27 PM
10:41:51 PM
10:45:15 PM
10:48:39 PM
10:52:03 PM
10:55:26 PM
10:58:50 PM
11:02:13 PM
11:05:37 PM
9:13:36 PM
9:19:11 PM
9:24:48 PM
9:30:24 PM
9:36:00 PM
9:41:36 PM
9:47:12 PM
9:52:48 PM
9:58:25 PM
10:04:01 PM
10:09:36 PM
10:15:12 PM
10:20:48 PM
10:26:24 PM
10:32:00 PM
10:37:36 PM
10:43:13 PM
10:48:49 PM
10:54:25 PM
11:00:01 PM
11:05:37 PM
600
500
400
\\vsphere13.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc
.com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108881:vmnic0)\MBits
Received/sec
300
\\vsphere13.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc
.com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108881:vmnic0)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
200
100
\\vsphere13.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc
.com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108882:vmnic1)\MBits
Received/sec
0
\\vsphere13.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc
.com\Network Port(DvsPortset0:67108882:vmnic1)\MBits
Transmitted/sec
\\vsphere13.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Physical
Cpu(_Total)\% Core Util Time
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
9:13:36 PM
9:16:59 PM
9:20:23 PM
9:23:46 PM
9:27:10 PM
9:30:34 PM
9:33:58 PM
9:37:21 PM
9:40:45 PM
9:44:09 PM
9:47:33 PM
9:50:56 PM
9:54:20 PM
9:57:44 PM
10:01:08 PM
10:04:31 PM
10:07:54 PM
10:11:18 PM
10:14:41 PM
10:18:05 PM
10:21:28 PM
10:24:52 PM
10:28:16 PM
10:31:40 PM
10:35:03 PM
10:38:27 PM
10:41:51 PM
10:45:15 PM
10:48:39 PM
10:52:03 PM
10:55:26 PM
10:58:50 PM
11:02:13 PM
11:05:37 PM
\\vsphere13.cvspex.rtp.lab.emc.com\Physical
Cpu(_Total)\% Util Time
60
50
40
30
20
10
0