XtremIO & XenDesktop for the Best User Experience | Whitepaper

XtremIO and
XenDesktop for
the Best User
Experience

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XtremIO & XenDesktop for the Best User Experience | Whitepaper

Executive Summary
Citrix XenDesktop and EMCs all-flash XtremIO storage array are leading solutions for
desktop virtualization and enterprise storage respectively. Together, they provide the best
end user experience and unprecedented ease of administration at the best $/desktop
for any XenDesktop deployment. 750 virtual desktops provisioned on a single XtremIO
X-Brick were rigorously tested with the following results:
a) The total IO requirements of 750 concurrent knowledge worker desktops never
exceeded a small fraction of the total IO capability of the X-Brick.
b) The end user experience was excellent all throughout with average storage response
times of sub-1milisecond. There was no evidence of any IO hiccups or write cliffs
during the testing.
c) Administrators simply configured XtremIO in three simple steps and left it running.
During normal desktop operations most IOs to XtremIO were random WRITEs but
there was no cache sizing or tuning required at any time.
d) The entire deployment occupied 57% less space due to XtremIOs inline data
reduc tion technology yielding the best $/desktop economics.

The Business Challenge

There are many strategies for solving the storage problem of virtualized desktop
infrastructure (VDI). They range from the deliberate under-sizing of storage requirements
to the crippling of desktops so that they dont issue too many IOs, to introducing additional layers of hardware and software (and their associated management pain). All ruin
end user experience and often cause VDI projects to stall or end prematurely.
XtremIOan all-flash storage solution with built in inline data reduction, innovative data
protection and load balancing, VAAI integration and excellent performance for random I/
Osenables enterprises to provision virtual desktops for users that provide user experiences similar to tablets, ultrabooks or physical desktops containing SSDs (as opposed
to typical VDI that tries to mimic the experience of a desktop PC with an HDD). By ensuring the best user experience for VDI end users, simplifying the management of virtual
machines for administrators, and providing an attractive cost per desktop, XtremIOs
customers achieve great return on their VDI investment.
For more insight into VDI challenges, consider these top 10 mistakes and how XtremIO effectively addresses them. http://support.citrix.com/servlet/KbServlet/download/24559-102-647931/

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Overview: Citrix VDI Capacity Program for Storage Partners

In Q1 2014, Citrix launched a new program designed specifically to address the
storage needs of customers who are implementing XenDesktop using the VDI FlexCast
approach. VDI presents multiple types of data, each with its own unique requirements,
to the storage infrastructure tier. Storage in turn can respond to with these requirements
using a variety of HW and SW based approaches, some of which can be combined with
hybrid solutions. The variety of choices and the differences between them has led to
some confusion for customers and partners. To resolve this, Citrix constructed a turnkey
VDI Capacity test rig in their Santa Clara Solutions Lab. This rig contained the
necessary server capacity to generate 750 users of a reference XenDesktop workload.
The VDI farm was complete and fully operational with the exception of storage. Citrix
storage partners were invited to connect their storage to the VDI farm and participate in
a VDI Capacity test that simulated of a day in the life of a 750 user Citrix farm.
Test methodology
The focus of the VDI Capacity Program for Storage Partners is on provisioning the
appropriate amount of storage performance and capacity with a cost-efficient design.
Using a simple, binary pass/fail methodology, if a partners provided storage solution can
successfully support a days run to the defined user capacity, while sustaining required
performance metrics, the partner passes and the test ends. Once passed, Citrix will
describe the storage partner as 750 User Verified for XenDesktop.
Login VSI, a highly regarded and respected tool for standardized VDI performance and
capacity testing, was used to generate VDI workloads and to measure performance.
750 desktops were created, launched and executed a workload program that simulates
a typical workday. Pass/fail was determined by whether or not the storage system used
could successfully handle the storage demands placed on it without reaching a latency
limit called VSI Max. More about Login VSI can be found here:
Partner Overview
As the market leader in enterprise storage, EMCs goal is to provide comprehensive cutting edge solutions for VDI and not just point products. We offer our customers technologies that are not only best-of-breed by themselves but also well integrated among
themselves to provide a seamless, superior, experience for both administrators and end
users. Here are a few examples of EMCs holistic solutions for VDI:
Vblock: EMC XtremIO is powering the most advanced converged infrastructure VDI
solution: the Vblock Specialized System for Extreme Applications. This Vblock system
is designed and certified for Citrix XenDesktop. It brings compute, network, all- flash
storage, and virtualization technologies together into a tightly integrated system, enabling
the infrastructure to be deployed, provisioned, operated, and supported as a single entity. The simplicity of the VCE design allows your IT team to focus on business priorities,
not infrastructure requirements. Vblock Systems can be up and running within days after
arrival at your data centerproviding dynamic pools of resources that can be intelligently
leveraged to respond to changing demands and opportunities.
http://www.vce.com/products/specialized/extreme-apps
http://xtremio.com/vblock

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Powerpath: A industry proven solution, PowerPath is EMCs host-based software for

automated data path management, failover and recovery, and optimized load balancing.
PowerPath automates, standardizes, and optimizes data paths in physical and virtual
environments as well as cloud deployments to deliver high availability and performance.
XtremIO is well integrated with PowerPath to provide the best host connectivity.
Backup and Recovery solutions: A wide range of solutions from DataDomain to Data
Protection Suite to Mozy ensure that customers have ample choices to backup, recover
and archive their entire VDI storage footprint.
Isilon: EMC Isilon scale-out storage solutions are designed for enterprises that want
to manage their data, not their storage. With 20PBs of network-attached-storage (NAS)
capacity per cluster, Isilon efficiently stores all VDI end user data, files and folders.
VPLEX: For tiering, replication, and high availability/disaster recovery purposes, EMC
XtremIO is fully integrated with EMC VPLEX. VPLEX delivers data mobility and availability
across arrays and sites. VPLEX is a unique virtual storage technology that enables mission critical applications to remain up and running during any of a variety of planned and
unplanned downtime scenarios. VPLEX permits painless, non-disruptive data movement,
taking technologies like VMware and other clusters that were built assuming a single
storage instance and enabling them to function across arrays and across distance.
ESRS: XtremIO is fully integrated with EMC Secure Remote Support (ESRS), which
proactively identifies and resolves potential issues before they impact your operations by
providing secure, high-speed, around-the-clock remote support for your VDI
infrastructure.

Partner Solution
Configuring XtremIO
XtremIO configures in three easy steps and does not require any RAID sizing or configuration of any kind. XtremIO data protection is custom built for flash and extends the
longevity of flash while ensuring very low wasted capacity to parity overhead. There are
no caches to worry about despite the high skew of WRITE IOs.
A demonstration of the configuration steps is available at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXvTeeiIVao
Highlights of XtremIOs performance
As expected (http://blogs.citrix.com/2013/04/17/why-pvs-isnt-going-away/), the IOs
from XenDesktop are heavily skewed towards Write IOs. The total aggregate peak
bandwidth of about 250 MB/s occurs during boot storms while the total IO bandwidth
averages about 80MB/s during Login VSI runs. All IOs are achieved at less than 0.5 millisecond of latency per IO on average. This is only a tiny fraction of the total write IOPS
and bandwidth supported by each X-Brick. Though the tests mandated that we run no
more than 750 desktops, each X-Brick has been proven to run 3,500 PVS XenDesktops
easily (with and without Personal vdisks):
http://portugal.emc.com/collateral/technical-documentation/h12817-xtremio-citrixhyperv-psg.pdf

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XtremIO & XenDesktop for the Best User Experience | Whitepaper

Boot-storm IOs: IOPS view.

Boot-storm IOs: Bandwidth view

Steady State IOs during Login VSI runs: IOPS View. Notice the high percentage of write
IOs (dark blue in the graph).

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XtremIO & XenDesktop for the Best User Experience | Whitepaper

Steady State IOs during Login VSI runs: Bandwidth View

Steady State IOs during Login VSI runs: Latency View. Notice the consistent latency, on
average below 0.5 milliseconds (500 microseconds in the graph).

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XtremIO & XenDesktop for the Best User Experience | Whitepaper

VSI Max was never reached XtremIO was much lower than the VSI Max limits at all
times during the test.

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XtremIO & XenDesktop for the Best User Experience | Whitepaper

Data Reduction

Solution components/ Architecture Design

A single XtremIO X-Brick was used. Please refer to the datasheet below for more details
on X-Bricks:
https://www.emc.com/collateral/software/specification-sheet/h12451-XtremIO-ss.pdf
A single XtremIO X-Brick supports up to 3,500 all flash VDI desktops with pricing of
$100/desktop at small scale and less than $45/desktop when fully utilized.

Additional solution data

XtremIO brings major advantages to all key VDI stakeholders the desktop administrator,
the storage administrator, the end user, and the virtualization administrator.

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XtremIO & XenDesktop for the Best User Experience | Whitepaper

https://www.emc.com/collateral/white-paper/p12439-xio-citrixxendesktop-vsphere-ra.
pdf
https://www.emc.com/collateral/software/technical-documentation/h11773-emc-infrastructure-for-superior-enduser-computing-experience-ra.pdf

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XtremIO & XenDesktop for the Best User Experience | Whitepaper

Conclusion and Call to Action

i.









ii.

Summarize scope of solution

XtremIO delivers a much faster and more enjoyable user experience to XenDesktop
end users at a lower $/desktop than traditional storage or other flash arrays.
By leveraging industry-leading innovations such as high-performance data reduction
and flash-optimized data protection, XtremIO radically lowers the $/desktop while
bringing high performance to PVS XenDesktops. It provides unprecedented
simplicity and acceleration to ongoing administrative activities such as desktop
rollout and maintenance and enterprises gain the ability to deploy full clones with the
efficiency of linked clones. With XtremIO, Citrix XenDesktop has no limits and
XenDesktop projects will roll out faster and with assured success.
Provide quick links/reference guides
http://xtremio.com/vdi

Addendum
Minimum storage requirements as determined by Citrix for 750 concurrent VDI
desktop users:

Write Cache Files:

6 GB Write cache file per user

4.5 TB minimum required

Additional 2.5 TB added to LUN for overhead

User Data:

30 GB allowed for each user

750 * 30 = 22 TB of required space

3 TB added for overhead
Total storage capacity required:

7 TB for write cache + 25 TB for user data = 32 TB required
Citrix Provided Server Configuration
A single HP C7000 enclosure will be used hold the servers
The enclosure will be in a separate isolated environment
Servers will be BL460c G7 with 2 Procs and 192 GB of memory

1 server to contained the necessary infrastructure VMs

4 servers will contain client VMs necessary to drive work load

A separate Login VSI 4.0 license will be obtained to further provide isolation
VM Configuration - 32-bit Win7 1.5GB memory, 1 vCPU

11 servers will contain XD7 desktops

VM Configuration 64-bit Win7 1.5 GB memory, 1 vCPU

Servers will be Windows 2012 Hyper-V

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XtremIO & XenDesktop for the Best User Experience | Whitepaper

Citrix Provided Configuration

Network Configuration
FlexFabric will be configured to allow for either Ethernet or Fibre connectivity from the
blades. These will be connected to a 4gb Brocade switch

Four networks will be created:

Network 1 internal to HP Virtual Connect for PXE boot of VMs, 5 gb

Network 2 Connection to lab storage and management, 1gb
Network 3 Production network for connection between clients and XD VMs,

5 gb
Network 4 will be either:

Connection to vendor storage for using iSCSI, 9 gb OR

Fibre connection to SAN for vendor storage
There will be no HA or redundancy across the NICs

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XenDesktop Configuration
XenDesktop 7 will be used
Provisioning will be done with PVS version 7.0.0.46. Due to MCS working best with
file based storage and not all vendors supporting file based storage (NFS), PVS will
be used to provision the desktop VMs. This will create a write-intensive environment.
One each broker (DDC) and PVS VM will be created to support the Infrastructure
Storage Configuration completed by Vendor
Vendor controls setup of their storage: Number of LUNs, Cache Usage, iSCSI vs
Fibre, etc.
Citrix will provide any necessary configuration information prior to vendor on-site (IP
addresses, etc)
Vendor must provide full disclosure of configuration. Citrix must sign-off on
configuration.
All configurations must contain best practices as would be recommended to
customers in productivity environment
Vendor must disclose street price of storage configuration, that number will be used
to determine cost per user for 750 users

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13

Definitions
VM definitions
Infrastructure VMs:

All will be 64-Bit Windows 2012

AD VM 4GB memory, 1 vCPU

DDC VM 8 GB memory, 2 vCPU locally configured SQL

PVS VM 4 GB memory, 2 vCPU locally configured SQL

Client VMs

32-bit Win7, 1.5 GB memory, 1 vCPU

XD VMs

64-bit Win8, 1.5 GB memory, 1 vCPU

Login VSI
Login VSI 3.7 will be used

VSIShare will be inside the chassis

IOPs medium work load will be used

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Fort Lauderdale, FL, USA

India Development Center

Bangalore, India

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Coral Gables, FL, USA

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Santa Clara, CA, USA

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Santa Barbara, CA, USA

UK Development Center
Chalfont, United Kingdom

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Schaffhausen, Switzerland

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Hong Kong, China

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