June 2017

By Tsuyoshi Inoue

Reference Architecture Guide

Hitachi Unified Compute Platform 2000 for VMware Horizon with VMware App Volumes

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Revision History

Revision Changes Date

AS-603-00 Initial release June 26, 2017

Table of ContentsSolution Overview ......................................................................................................................................................... 2

Desktop virtualization with VMware Horizon ................................................................................................................. 3

The VMware Instant Clone Technology.......................................................................................................................... 4

Application Delivery with VMware App Volumes ............................................................................................................ 5

Single Rack Configurations ............................................................................................................................................ 7

Solution Components................................................................................................................................................... 9

Hardware Components................................................................................................................................................... 9

Software Components.................................................................................................................................................. 10

Solution Design............................................................................................................................................................ 12

Compute Architecture................................................................................................................................................... 13

Storage Architecture..................................................................................................................................................... 15

Management Architecture ............................................................................................................................................ 20

Solution Validation...................................................................................................................................................... 21

Test Methodology ......................................................................................................................................................... 21

Analysis......................................................................................................................................................................... 21

Effect of FMD DC2 (FMC) Compression .................................................................................................................. 29

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Hitachi Unified Compute Platform 2000 for VMware Horizon with VMware App Volumes

Reference Architecture Guide

Read this paper for sizing tips to accommodate 1000 desktops on Hitachi Unified Compute Platform 2000 for VMware Horizon (UCP 2000 for VMware Horizon). This converged solution for VMware environments has 16 nodes in a pre-designed, pre-configured, and pre-validated reference architecture for combination of VMware App Volumes with either of the following:

A virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) deployment using VMware Instant Clone)

A remote desktop session host (RDSH) deployment

This was validated separately by each compute node configuration for each desktop user profiles with each the following Instant Clone and RDSH deployment:

4 compute node configuration for 250 task users

4 compute node configuration for 250 knowledge users

8 compute node configuration for 500 power users

Using VMware Horizon with instant clones and App Volumes introduces the following technology to solve issues that traditional VDI deployment faces and to change storage sizing requirements.

VMware Instant Clone Technology

Using VMware Instant Clone Technology in VMware Horizon accelerates creating cloned virtual desktops over using VMware View Composer linked-clone technology.

Instant Clone Technology leverages cloning, which generates higher IOPS instead of a boot process, while shorten the total boot time.

VMware App Volumes

With VMware App Volumes, applications become virtual machine-independent objects you can move easily across data centers or to the cloud to share with thousands of virtual machines. In a virtual desktop environment, App Volumes provides the following benefits:

Real-time application delivery

Cost-optimized infrastructure

Note — Testing of this configuration was in a lab environment. Many things affect production environments beyond prediction or duplication in a lab environment. Follow the recommended practice of conducting proof-of-concept testing for acceptable results in a non-production, isolated test environment that otherwise matches your production environment before your production implementation of this solution.

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Solution Overview

This solution provides following benefits:

Hitachi Unified Compute Platform 2000 for VMware Horizon is pre-validated, integrated, and cloud ready. As a complete converged solution for VMware environments, Unified Compute Platform deploys quickly to support mission-critical workloads, applications, and virtualized environments. With industry-leading automation, Unified Compute Platform simplifies infrastructure management to improve operational efficiencies.

There are sizing tips for accommodating 1000 desktop on Unified Compute Platform 2000 for VMware vSphere with 16 nodes. It combines VMware App volumes with the following:

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) deployment using VMware Instant Clone Technology

Remote desktop session host (RDSH) deployment

Figure 1 shows an overview of the components.

Figure 1

For more information about Hitachi Unified Compute Platform 2000 for VMware vSphere, see Hitachi Unified Compute Platform 2000 for VMware vSphere Reference Architecture Guide (PDF, AS-459-01 or later). This reference architecture guide is for IT administrators involved in data center planning and design, particularly for a VMware vSphere infrastructure and VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure.

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You need some familiarity with the following:

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform Fx00 models (VSP Fx00)

Hitachi Storage Navigator (SN)

Brocade Switches

VMware ESXi 6.0 U2

VMware vCenter 6.0 U2

VMware Horizon 7.0.1

VMware App Volumes 2.11

Desktop virtualization with VMware Horizon

VMware Horizon supports virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and remote desktop session host (RDSH) for desktop virtualization.

Figure 2

VDI offers a single virtual desktop for a single desktop user, with one virtual machine per user. With VDI, the following is true:

There are client operating system-based applications available.

This offers users flexible application, desktop delivery, and deployment. This includes full clone and linked clone.

A single RDSH offers Microsoft Windows Server remote desktop services for multiple desktop users, with one session per user. With RDSH, the following is true:

There is reduced license cost and Infrastructure footprint.

There are server operating system-based applications available.

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The VMware Instant Clone Technology

VMware Instant Clone Technology is included in VMware Horizon 7 Enterprise Edition. It improves and accelerates the process of creating cloned virtual desktops over the previous VMware View Composer linked-clone technology.

Instant clones require less storage and less expense to manage and update because the desktop is deleted when the user logs out. When needed, Instant Cline Technology creates a new desktop using the latest master image.

As in a linked clone, an instant clone shares virtual disks with the replica virtual machine after creating the linked clone. However, the process of creating instant clones differs from that used for linked clones in that the cloning process creates a running parent virtual machine from the replica virtual machine. When created, the instant clone shares the memory of the running parent virtual machine from which it is created.

Instant clones use copy-on-write for memory and disk management. Instant clones, being based on a running parent virtual machine, derives from a master virtual machine. For the terminology, see Table 1, “Virtual Machine Terminology,” on page 4.

When creating an instant clone from a running parent virtual machine, any reads of unchanged information come from the already-existing running parent virtual machine. However, any changes made to the instant clone are written to a delta disk, not to the running parent virtual machine. This strategy preserves security and isolation between the instant clones by ensuring that the following is true:

Each instant clone is immediately accessible.

Changes do not affect the shared data and memory of the running parent virtual machine on which all other instant clones are based. Sharing the memory of a running parent virtual machine at creation time enables instant clones to be created within a few seconds and instantly powered on. An instant clone requires no boot time when finishing the cloning process.

Because an instant clone can be created so quickly, it does not need to persist after a user logs off. Instead, when logging off, the system deletes the instant clone. Depending on the number of spare virtual machines configured for the desktop pool, a new instant clone might be created immediately after deleting a used instant clone. In this manner, users get a newly created desktop whenever they log on. If the master image—the virtual machine snapshot used to create the pool—has been updated since the last log on, the user gets the new image.

Note — The instant clone is deleted when the user logs out, not necessarily when the user disconnects. If the user disconnects the session, the virtual desktop remains, unless the administrator has configured the user to be automatically logged off after disconnecting.

TABLE 1. VIRTUAL MACHINE TERMINOLOGY

Term Definition

Master virtual machine The virtual machine that you create and configure as the model for the virtual desktops you plan to deploy.

Master virtual machine snapshot A reproduction of a master virtual machine exactly as it was when you took the snapshot. The snapshot includes the state of the data on all virtual machine disks

Internal template virtual machine A linked clone of the master virtual machine, based on the master virtual machine snapshot. This virtual machine is used for the AD domain join.

Replica virtual machine A thin-provisioned full cone of the internal template virtual machine. The View Storage Accelerator feature uses a content-based read cache digest of this virtual machine.

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Application Delivery with VMware App Volumes

With VMware App Volumes, applications become virtual machine-independent objects that can be moved easily across data centers or to the cloud and shared with thousands of virtual machines. In a virtual desktop environment, App Volumes provides the following benefits:

Real-time application delivery

Cost-optimized infrastructure

Core Components

These are the core components of VMware App Volumes.

AppStacks

AppStacks are read-only volumes containing applications that can be assigned to any of the following to enable delivery of applications to end users:

Microsoft Active Directory® user accounts

Groups or organizational units

Computer accounts

Administrators can combine core applications into a single AppStack, making possible the assignment of the AppStack to users through Active Directory object assignment.

Writable Volumes

Writable volumes are an optional component that enables a per-user volume, where the following user-centric data can be installed and configured in different ways and can move with the user:

Application settings

Licensing information

Configuration files

User-installed apps

Running parent virtual machine A linked clone of the replica virtual machine, based on a snapshot the system takes of the replica virtual machine.

Instant clone A desktop virtual machine created from the memory and disk of the running parent virtual machine. After the instant clone is created, it shares the read disks of the replica virtual machine, exactly like a linked clone.

TABLE 1. VIRTUAL MACHINE TERMINOLOGY (CONTINUED)

Term Definition

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These are the differences between AppStacks and writable volumes.

AppStack virtual machine disks (VMDKs) are mounted as read-only and shared among all virtual machines within the data center.

Writable volumes are dedicated to individual users and are mounted as the user authenticates to the desktop. Writable volumes are user-centric and can be assigned to specific computers and then reassigned to other computers. Writable volumes cannot be shared or reassigned to multiple users.

Figure 3 shows an overview of the VMware App Volumes Core Components against the traditional one.

Figure 3

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Single Rack Configurations

Figure 4 shows a high-level design of the tested Hitachi Unified Compute Platform 2000 for VMware Horizon with App Volumes. It has Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F400 in a fully-populated single rack.

Figure 4

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Figure 5 shows Unified Compute Platform 2000 for VMware Horizon in a SAN/LAN connect configuration with Virtual Storage Platform F400.

Figure 5

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Solution Components

These are the key hardware and software components available for single rack configurations of Hitachi Unified Compute Platform 2000 for VMware Horizon with App Volumes.

Hardware Components

Table 2 lists the hardware components used in this solution.

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform Fx00 Models

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform Fx00 models deliver superior all-flash performance for business-critical applications, with continuous data availability. High-performance network attached storage with non-disruptive deduplication reduces the required storage capacity by up to 90% with the power to handle large, mixed-workload environments.

Hitachi Storage Virtualization Operating System provides storage virtualization, high availability, superior performance, and advanced data protection for all Virtual Storage Platform Fx00 models. This proven, mature software provides common features to consolidate assets, reclaim space, extend life, and reduce migration effort.

TABLE 2. HARDWARE COMPONENTS

Hardware Description Version

Rack optimized servers for solutions, 2U four node

4-node chassis

2 power supplies

17 compute nodes, each containing the following:

2 Intel Xeon E5-2680 v4 processors @ 2.40 GHz

256 GB DDR4-2, 133 MHz

Emulex LP 12002, 8 Gb/s dual port PCIe HBA

Intel 82599 10 GbE OCP dual port card

BMC: 3.42.00

BIOS: S2S_3B06

CPLD: 08

CMC: 3.37

Intel 82599: 3.7.13.7.14 (inbox driver)

Emulex LPe12002 Boot: 2.20a5

Emulex LPe12002 Firmware: 2.02a0

Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F400

Dual controller

24 × 16 Gb/s Fibre Channel ports

128 GB cache memory

2 DBF disk expansion tray

8 × 1.6 TB FMC

16 × 3.2 TB FMC

83-03-25-40/00

Brocade VDX 6740 switches

2 × 48-port 10 GbE switch NOS 7.0.0a

Brocade ICX 7450 switch 1 × 48-port 1 GbE switch 08.0.30G

Brocade 6510 switches 1 × 48-port 8 Gb/s Fibre Channel switch 7.4.1d

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Hitachi Accelerated Flash

Hitachi Accelerated Flash features a flash module built specifically for enterprise-class workloads. Developed for Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform, Accelerated Flash is available for Hitachi Unified Storage VM and Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform family.

Accelerated Flash features innovative Hitachi-developed embedded flash memory controller technology. Hitachi flash acceleration software speeds I/O processing to increase flash device throughput.

Brocade

Brocade and Hitachi Data Systems partner to deliver storage networking and data center solutions. These solutions reduce complexity and cost, as well as enable virtualization and cloud computing to increase business agility.

This solution uses the Brocade products in Table 3.

Software Components

Table 4 lists software used in this solution.

TABLE 3. BROCADE SWITCHES USED IN HITACHI UNIFIED COMPUTE PLATFORM 2000 FOR VMWARE HORIZON CONFIGURATIONS

Model Ports Description

MGMT ICX 7450 48 × 1 Gb/s Ethernet Rack mounted switch that delivers the performance, flexibility, and scalability require for enterprise gigabit Ethernet access deployment.

LAN VDX 6740 48 × 10 Gb/s Ethernet 10 GbE rack mounted switch that delivers high performance and reduces network congestion with low latency, and deep buffers.

Fibre Channel VDX 6510 48 × 16 Gb/s Fibre Channel 16 Gb/s Fibre Channel rack mounted switch that delivers reliable and high performance storage area network.

TABLE 4. SOFTWARE COMPONENTS

Software Version

Hitachi Storage Virtualization Operating System with the following:

Hitachi Command Suite

Hitachi Dynamic Provisioning

Hitachi Storage Navigator

Microcode Dependent

VMware vCenter Server 6.0 Update 2 Appliance 3634788

VMware ESXi 6.0 U2, Build 3620759

VMware Horizon 7.0.1 Enterprise

VMware Horizon Client 3.4.0 Build 2769709

VMware App Volumes 2.11

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Hitachi Storage Virtualization Operating System

Hitachi Storage Virtualization Operating System (SVOS) spans and integrates multiple platforms. It integrates storage system software to provide system element management and advanced storage system functions. Used across multiple platforms, Storage Virtualization Operating System includes storage virtualization, thin provisioning, storage service level controls, dynamic provisioning, and performance instrumentation.

Storage Virtualization Operating System includes standards-based management software on a Hitachi Command Suite (HCS) base. This provides storage configuration and control capabilities for you.

Storage Virtualization Operating System uses Hitachi Dynamic Provisioning (HDP) to provide wide striping and thin provisioning. Dynamic Provisioning provides one or more wide-striping pools across many RAID groups. Each pool has one or more dynamic provisioning virtual volumes (DP-VOLs) without initially allocating any physical space. Deploying Dynamic Provisioning avoids the routine issue of hot spots that occur on logical devices (LDEVs).

To enable essential management and optimization functions, this solution uses Hitachi Storage Navigator (SN), a part of Sever Virtualization Operating System. Storage Navigator runs on most browsers. A command line interface is available.

VMware vSphere

VMware vSphere is a virtualization platform that provides a datacenter infrastructure. It helps you get the best performance, availability, and efficiency from your infrastructure and applications. Virtualize applications with confidence using consistent management.

VMware vSphere has the following components:

VMware vSphere ESXi

This hypervisor loads directly on a physical server. ESXI provides a robust, high-performance virtualization layer that abstracts server hardware resources and makes them shareable by multiple virtual machines.

VMware vCenter Server

This provides a centralized platform for managing your VMware vSphere environments so you can automate and deliver a virtual infrastructure with confidence:

VMware vSphere vMotion

VMware vSphere Storage vMotion

VMware vSphere Distributed Resource Scheduler

VMware vSphere High Availability

VMware vSphere Fault Tolerance

Microsoft® Windows Server® 2012 R2 Standard Edition 64-bit

Microsoft Windows® 10 Enterprise Edition 32-bit

Microsoft Office® 2013 Professional Plus (using non-retail installation file)

Microsoft Office 2013 KMS

TABLE 4. SOFTWARE COMPONENTS (CONTINUED)

Software Version

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VMware Horizon

VMware Horizon transforms static desktops into secure, virtual workspaces that can be delivered on demand. Provision virtual or remote desktops and applications through a single VDI platform to streamline management and easily entitle end users.

Dynamically allocate resources with virtual storage, virtual compute and virtual networking to simplify management and drive down costs. With Horizon, reduce day-to-day operations costs with a single platform that allows you to extend virtualization from the data center to your devices.

VMware App Volumes

VMware App Volumes is a portfolio of industry-leading application and user management solutions for VMware Horizon, Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop, and remote desktop session host (RDSH) virtual environments. App Volumes is a key component of JMP, the next generation of desktop and application delivery.

By leveraging VMware’s Instant Clones, App Volumes, and User Environment Management, JMP untangles the operating system, applications, and user personalization. All the component pieces can be reconstituted on-demand to deliver just-in-time desktops and apps across any infrastructure topologies, delivered to any device.

Solution Design

This is the detailed design for Hitachi Unified Compute Platform 2000 for VMware Horizon with VMware App Volumes:

Figure 6 gives a high-level overview of the infrastructure and component placement.

Figure 6

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Compute Architecture

Table 5, “VMware High Availability Cluster Configuration for VDI,” on page 13 and Table 6, “VMware High Availability Cluster Configuration for RDSH,” on page 13 show the number of compute nodes required for each desktop user profile on Hitachi Unified Compute Platform 2000 for VMware Horizon for each VDI and RDSH deployment. This sizing is based on both VMware best practices and validation testing results.

Configure a VMware High Availability cluster for the hosts for each desktop user profile group.

Calculate and determine the sizing for remote desktop session host (RDSH) compute resources includes virtual machines and hosts with VMware High Availability Cluster using the following information;

You can serve four RDSH desktop users (sessions) per physical CPU core on the RDSH virtual machines to have a response time in less than 3 seconds with high CPU usage (around 90%), based on VMware best practices. One compute node has 28 CPU cores. You can serve a total of 112 desktop users (sessions) on one node.

Considering vSphere High Availability cluster resource consumption, this reference architecture uses 63 desktop users (sessions) per node.

Assign eight vCPUs to each RDSH virtual machine, based on VMware best practices.

If you have a low power consumption server, you can serve fewer than 50 desktop users (sessions) per one RDSH virtual machine, based on VMware best practices. Determining the number of users (sessions) served by RDSH virtual machine for each user profile is based on the validation results in this reference architecture.

Assign 20-21 users (sessions) to each RDSH for task users and knowledge users.

Assign 15-16 users (sessions) to each RDSH for power users.

Decide the number of RDSH virtual machines per compute node to not exceeding the limits of 63 desktop users (sessions) per node.

TABLE 5. VMWARE HIGH AVAILABILITY CLUSTER CONFIGURATION FOR VDI

User Profile Desktop Pool Type

IOPS per Desktop

Number of Users

Number of Chassis

Number of Nodes

Number of Users per Node

Task User Automated desktop pool by using the instant linked clone

3-7 250 1 4 62-63

Knowledge User 8-16 250 1 4 62-63

Power User 25-35 500 2 8 62-63

TABLE 6. VMWARE HIGH AVAILABILITY CLUSTER CONFIGURATION FOR RDSH

User Profile

Desktop Pool Type

IOPS per Desktop

Number of Users

Number of

Chassis

Number of

Nodes

Number of Users

per Node

Number of RDSHs per Node

Number of Users

per RDSH

Task User RDS desktop pool

3-7 250 1 4 62-63 3 20-21

Knowledge User

8-16 250 1 4 62-63 3 20-21

Power User 25-35 500 2 8 62-63 4 15-16

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Table 7 lists the configuration details of the virtual machine template used for each profile. The virtual machine template was prepared for VDI use by following the VMware operating system optimization guide.

TABLE 7. INFORMATION DETAILS OF VIRTUAL MACHINE TEMPLATES

User profile Specification of virtual machine

Task User for VDI Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise, 32-bit

1 vCPU

1.0 GB Memory (No Reserved *default)

24 GB (Thin)

LSI Logic SAS

Knowledge User for VDI Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise, 32-bit

2 vCPU

1.5 GB Memory (No Reserved *default)

24 GB (Thin)

LSI Logic SAS

Power User for VDI Microsoft Windows 10 Enterprise, 32-bit

2 vCPU

4.0 GB Memory (No Reserved *default)

34 GB (Thin)

LSI Logic SAS

All User for RDSH Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard Edition, 64-bit

8 vCPU

64 GB Memory (No Reserved *default)

30 GB (Thin)

LSI Logic SAS

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Storage Architecture

This is the storage architecture for this solution.

Pool Configuration

Create two dynamic provisioning pools on Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F400 using Hitachi Dynamic Provisioning, a part of Hitachi Storage Virtualization Operating System.

HDP Pool 1

This is for the following:

SAN operating system boot

Infrastructure and management virtual machines

HDP Pool 2

This for the following:

Tenant virtual machines

AppStack and writable volume

Figure 7 shows the storage configuration used for VDI validation.

Figure 7

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Figure 8 shows the storage configuration used for remote desktop session host (RDSH) validation.

Figure 8

Table 8 lists storage configuration used in this reference architecture. The DP-VOL size used for VDI is based on Setting Up Desktop and Application Pools in View (PDF) from VMware. The total capacity listed includes full-allocated user data capacity.

TABLE 8. STORAGE CONFIGURATION

Pool RAID Level

Number of Parity Groups

Drive Capacity DP-VOL Size Purpose

Type Quantity

1 RAID-6 (6D+2P)

1 1.6 TB FMC

8 9.6 TB 100 GB × 17 DP-VOLs (17 nodes)

SAN operating system boot

500 GB × 1 DP-VOL Infrastructure and management virtual machines

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Note — Since a writable volume is not supported for remote desktop session host (RDSH), the design of this reference architecture stores each user (session) data in the RDSH server operating system area (Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2), instead. The total capacity for RDSH listed in Table 8, “Storage configuration,” on page 16 includes only the requirement for Windows Server 2012 R2 OS, not the user data capacity.

Storage Port Configuration

Configure the storage ports for a single chassis using the following policy.

Assign eight dedicated storage ports for the SAN operating system boot.

Assign eight dedicated storage ports for the tenant virtual machines.

Assign two dedicated storage ports for the infrastructure and management virtual machines.

Beyond chassis, share these storage ports with the following:

Four tenant chassis

One management chassis

2 RAID-6 (6D+2P)

2 3.2 TB FMC

16 38.4 TB 100 GB × 4 DP-VOLs (62-63 users per DP-VOL)

Tenant virtual machines for 250 VDI task users

200 GB × 4 DP-VOLs (62-63 users per DP-VOL)

Tenant virtual machines for 250 VDI knowledge users

600 GB × 8 DP-VOLs (62-63 users per DP-VOL)

Tenant virtual machines for 500 VDI power users

120 GB × 16 DP-VOLs (16 nodes)

RDSH for all users

500 GB × 1 DP-VOL AppStack for all users

5.6 TB × 1 DP-VOL Writable for 250 VDI task users

5.8 TB × 1 DP-VOL Writable for 250 VDI knowledge users

15.0 TB × 1 DP-VOL Writable for 500 VDI power users

TABLE 8. STORAGE CONFIGURATION (CONTINUED)

Pool RAID Level

Number of Parity Groups

Drive Capacity DP-VOL Size Purpose

Type Quantity

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Table 9 lists the storage port design for this solution.

Table 10 shows the property settings for the storage ports.

Host Mode Option Configuration

Table 11 lists the host mode option settings for the VMware VAAI functions. Enable this option on all host groups.

TABLE 9. STORAGE PORT DESIGN

Compute Chassis Number Compute Node

Port Purpose

For tenant virtual machines:

Chassis 1

Chassis 2

Chassis 3

Chassis 4

Node 1 1A/4A SAN operating system boot

1C/4C Tenant virtual machines

Node 2 2A/3A SAN operating system boot

2C/3C Tenant virtual machines

Node 3 5A/8A SAN operating system boot

5C/8C Tenant virtual machines

Node 4 6A/7A SAN operating system boot

6C/7C Tenant virtual machines

For management virtual machines:

Chassis 5

Node 1 1A/4A SAN operating system boot

1B/4B Infrastructure and management virtual machines

TABLE 10. PROPERTY SETTINGS FOR THE STORAGE PORTS

For this Use This

Port Attribute Target

Port Security Enabled

Port Speed Auto

Fabric ON

Connection Type P-to-P

TABLE 11. HOST MODE OPTION SETTINGS FOR THE VMWARE VAAI FUNCTIONS

For This Use This

63 Enabled

54 Enabled

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LDEV Ownership Configuration

Distribute the LDEV ownership across all four MPUs.

Figure 9 shows the SAN connect configuration.

Figure 9

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Management Architecture

Managing the infrastructure for Hitachi Unified Compute Platform 2000 for VMware Horizon with VMware App Volumes is critical to the health and operation of the compute, storage, and networking resources. Use these software tools for management:

Hitachi Storage Navigator

VMware vCenter

VMware Horizon View Administrator

VMware App Volumes Manager

Table 12 describes the details of the management server components required for VMware Horizon.

TABLE 12. MANAGEMENT SERVER COMPONENT REQUIREMENTS FOR VMWARE HORIZON

Management Components Specification of virtual machine

VMware vCenter Server appliance 8 vCPU/24GB memory

458 GB VMDK

Eager Zeroed Thick

SUSE Linux Enterprise 11

VMware Horizon View connection server 8 vCPU/16 GB memory

40 GB VMDK

Eager Zeroed Thick

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2, Standard Edition, 64-bit

Domain Controller Microsoft Office® 2013 KMS 2 vCPU/8 GB memory

40 GB VMDK

Eager Zeroed Thick

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2, Standard Edition, 64-bit

VMware App Volumes Manager 4 vCPU/8 GB memory

80 GB VMDK

Eager Zeroed Thick

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2, Standard Edition, 64-bit

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Solution Validation

This describes the tools, test methodology, and test results used to validate this solution using Hitachi Unified Compute Platform 2000 for VMware Horizon with VMware App Volumes.

Test Methodology

This was the test methodology used to validate this solution:

1. Run administrative tasks and LoginVSI to simulate the workload that occurs daily.

2. Measure the compute and storage performance metrics when running each task or workload.

Each test was run separately for each desktop user profile.

1. VDI administrative task

(1) Boot all virtual machines simultaneously (boot storm), running from the VMware vSphere web client.

Due to the nature of instant clone deployment (always on), it does not allow us to select Power-off VM (not available) and run reboot operation for boot storm test.

(2) Change the image of an instant-clone desktop pool run from Horizon View Administrator.

2. Desktop user experience

Logon storm and steady state using LoginVSI.

Analysis

This discusses the results and provides an analysis of each test case.

Boot Storm for Virtual Desktops

Table 13 shows the boot time for each test case.

The boot time observed for remote desktop session host (RDSH) was faster than VDI with instant clone because of the overwhelming smaller number of virtual machines (RDSH server) to be turned on.

TABLE 13. BOOT TIME FOR EACH TEST CASE

Test Case Overall boot time based on VMware vCenter Task

Number of Virtual Machines

1 VDI 250 Task Users 30 Seconds 250 virtual machines

2 VDI 250 Knowledge Users 31 Seconds 250 virtual machines

3 VDI 500 Power Users 65 Seconds 500 virtual machines

4 RDSH 250 Task Users 2 Seconds 12 virtual machines (12 RDSH virtual machines)

5 RDSH 250 Knowledge Users 2 Seconds 12 virtual machines (12 RDSH virtual machines)

6 RDSH 500 Power Users 3 Seconds 32 virtual machines (32 RDSH virtual machines)

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Table 14 shows the CPU load of the compute node during a boot storm.

In Test Case 3, the CPU load measured on tenant nodes peaked at 2.75 during the boot storm. As it was temporary condition, there was no problem.

Table 15 shows the storage performance during boot storm.

The total IOPS observed on remote desktop session host (RDSH) was lower than VDI with instant clone because of overwhelming smaller number of virtual machines (RDSH server) to be turned on.

The total IOPS observed on VDI with instant clone was approximately 2 times higher than VDI with the traditional linked clone observed in the previous testing. The instant clone leverages cloning. This generates intensively higher IOPS, instead of a boot process while shortening the total boot time.

In all test cases, the following is true during the boot storm:

MPU usage did not rise above 58%,

Cache write pending (CWP) did not rise above 27%.

FMC parity group busy rate did not rise above 26%.

In all test cases, the average port latency did not rise above 1.0 ms during the boot storm.

Note — This reference architecture requires 16 FMC (2 parity groups: RAID-6 (6D+2P)) for full allocated capacity. Meanwhile, 8 FMC (1PG: RAID-6 (6D+2P)) were used for tenant VMs through all test cases.

TABLE 14. CPU LOAD OF THE COMPUTE NODE DURING A BOOT STORM

Test Case

CPU Load For Management Node CPU Load For Tenant Nodes

Maximum Average Maximum Average

1 0.09 0.07 1.22 0.62

2 0.13 0.08 1.68 0.71

3 0.18 0.09 2.75 1.44

4 0.06 0.04 0.03 0.02

5 0.06 0.04 0.03 0.02

6 0.06 0.05 0.03 0.02

TABLE 15. STORAGE PERFORMANCE DURING BOOT STORM

Test Case MPU Usage

CWP FMC PG Usage Port Response DP Pool IOPS

MGMT Tenant MGMT Tenant MGMT Tenant

1 Max 24 % 14 % 0.23 % 6.20 % 0.2 ms 0.3 ms 480 IOPS 21,850 IOPS

Avg 11 % 4 % 0.13 % 3.27 % 0.2 ms 0.2 ms 311 IOPS 10,443 IOPS

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Table 16 shows the I/O characteristic observed in the boot storm.

Logon Storm and Steady State Using Login VSI

Login VSI was used to measure the end user application response time and to determine the maximum number of desktops that can be supported on the tested infrastructure running the specified workloads.

Login VSI reported the time required for various operations to complete within the desktop during the test.

Figure 10 on page 24 shows the 250 task users application experience metrics as reported by LoginVSI.

Other than the workload profile in LoginVSI (WSLD), which is the only application delivered to user by VMware App Volumes, all user operations simulated by Login VSI completed in less than 1 second on each user profile for VDI and remote desktop session host (RDSH).

WSLD observed in VDI with each user profile was maximum 1.5 seconds longer than RDSH due to the larger number of virtual machine objects mounting a single AppStack VMDK with each other.

VDI environment — Mount a single AppStack VMDK file with 250 VDI (virtual machines)

RDSH environment — Mount a single AppStack VMDK file with12 RDSH (virtual machines)

2 Max 33 % 16 % 0.19 % 20.10 % 0.2 ms 0.5 ms 415 IOPS 43,504 IOPS

Avg 16 % 7 % 0.11 % 5.78 % 0.2 ms 0.3 ms 176 IOPS 14,421 IOPS

3 Max 57 % 26 % 0.43 % 25.66 % 0.2 ms 0.6 ms 946 IOPS 82,126 IOPS

Avg 16 % 9 % 0.16 % 9.23 % 0.2 ms 0.3 ms 364 IOPS 19,067 IOPS

4 Max 8 % 1 % 0.06 % 1.52 % 0.2 ms 0.2 ms 149 IOPS 7,390 IOPS

Avg 3 % 1 % 0.03 % 0.56 % 0.2 ms 0.2 ms 87 IOPS 2,642 IOPS

5 Max 8 % 1 % 0.06 % 1.52 % 0.2 ms 0.2 ms 149 IOPS 7,390 IOPS

Avg 3 % 1 % 0.03 % 0.56 % 0.2 ms 0.2 ms 87 IOPS 2,642 IOPS

6 Max 10 % 2 % 0.09 % 2.65 % 0.2 ms 0.2 ms 174 IOPS 13,225 IOPS

Avg 6 % 1 % 0.05 % 1.15 % 0.2 ms 0.2 ms 116 IOPS 5,310 IOPS

TABLE 16. I/O CHARACTERISTIC IN THE BOOT STORM

% Random Read % Random Write % Sequential Read % Sequential Write

VDI 51 30 14 5

RDSH 66 4 29 1

TABLE 15. STORAGE PERFORMANCE DURING BOOT STORM (CONTINUED)

Test Case MPU Usage

CWP FMC PG Usage Port Response DP Pool IOPS

MGMT Tenant MGMT Tenant MGMT Tenant

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Figure 10

Figure 11 shows the 250 knowledge users application experience metrics, as reported by LoginVSI.

Figure 11

Figure 12 shows the 500 power users application experience metrics, as reported by LoginVSI.

Figure 12

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Table 17 shows the operation abbreviations used in Login VSI and a description of the action taken during the operation.

Table 18 shows an average logon time per desktop user.

The average logon time, other than Test Case 3, was approximately 27 seconds.

TABLE 17. LOGINVSI OPERATION DESCRIPTIONS

Login VSI Operation Description

FCDL File Copy Document Local

FCDS File Copy Document Share

FCTL File Copy Text Local

FCTS File Copy Text Share

NFP Notepad File Print

NSLD Notepad Start/Load File

WFO Windows File Open

WSLD Word Start/Load File

ZHC Zip High Compression

ZNC Zip No Compression

TABLE 18. AVERAGE LOGON TIME PER DESKTOP USER

Test Case Average Logon Time per Desktop User

1 VDI 250 Task Users 25 Seconds

2 VDI 250 Knowledge Users 27 Seconds

3 VDI 500 Power Users 65 Seconds

4 RDSH 250 Task Users 26 Seconds

5 RDSH 250 Knowledge Users 27 Seconds

6 RDSH 500 Power Users 29 Seconds

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Table 19 shows the CPU load of the compute nodes during the desktop user workload.

In Test Case 3, the CPU load of the tenant nodes peaked at 1.47 during the logon storm. It was temporary condition. There was no problem.

In all test cases, the CPU Load of the tenant nodes was approximately 0.5 equal to 50% CPU usage) during steady state.

Table 20 shows the storage performance during desktop user workload.

In all test cases, the following is true during the logon storm:

MPU usage did not rise above 50%.

Cache write pending (CWP) did not rise above 24%.

FMC parity group busy rate did not rise above 16%.

In all test cases, the average port latency did not rise above 1.0 ms during the logon storm.

TABLE 19. CPU LOAD OF COMPUTE NODE DURING USER WORKLOAD

Test Case CPU Load For Management Node CPU Load For Tenant Nodes

Maximum Average Maximum Average

1 VDI 250 Task Users 0.06 0.04 0.64 0.39

2 VDI 250 Knowledge Users 0.07 0.05 0.69 0.43

3 VDI 500 Power Users 0.10 0.05 1.47 0.84

4 RDSH 250 Task Users 0.06 0.04 0.54 0.41

5 RDSH 250 Knowledge Users 0.07 0.04 0.63 0.48

6 RDSH 500 Power Users 0.08 0.04 0.84 0.62

TABLE 20. STORAGE PERFORMANCE DURING DESKTOP USER WORKLOAD

Test Case

MPU Usage

CWP FMC Parity Group Usage

Port Response Dynamic Provisioning Pool IOPS

MGMT Tenant MGMT Tenant MGMT Tenant

1 Max 12 % 7 % 0.24 % 3.63 % 0.3 ms 0.3 ms 554 IOPS 7,997 IOPS

Avg 5 % 4 % 0.04 % 0.48 % 0.2 ms 0.2 ms 90 IOPS 1,073 IOPS

2 Max 22 % 13 % 0.15 % 4.39 % 0.3 ms 0.3 ms 543 IOPS 8,728 IOPS

Avg 8 % 2 % 0.03 % 1.90 % 0.2 ms 0.2 ms 75 IOPS 3,521 IOPS

3 Max 49 % 23 % 0.15 % 15.07 % 0.4 ms 0.4 ms 483 IOPS 28,290 IOPS

Avg 25 % 14 % 0.05 % 9.06 % 0.2 ms 0.3 ms 127 IOPS 13,681 IOPS

4 Max 9 % 4 % 0.14 % 1.46 % 0.3 ms 0.4 ms 286 IOPS 2,258 IOPS

Avg 5 % 3 % 0.03 % 1.02 % 0.2 ms 0.3 ms 70 IOPS 1,537 IOPS

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Table 21 shows the I/O characteristic observed in the logon storm.

Change the Image of an Instant-Clone Desktop Pool by using the Horizon View Administrator

Table 22 shows the duration time of the master image recomposition. This is the time to change the image of an instant-clone desktop pool for each test case.

5 Max 9 % 4 % 0.14 % 1.49 % 0.2 ms 0.4 ms 316 IOPS 3,027 IOPS

Avg 5 % 3 % 0.03 % 1.15 % 0.2 ms 0.4 ms 78 IOPS 2,278 IOPS

6 Max 26 % 20 % 0.15 % 5.27 % 0.3 ms 0.4 ms 278 IOPS 15,151 IOPS

Avg 18 % 13 % 0.03 % 3.98 % 0.2 ms 0.3 ms 71 IOPS 11,092 IOPS

TABLE 21. I/O CHARACTERISTIC OF THE LOGON STORM

% Random Read % Random Write % Sequential Read % Sequential Write

VDI 14 74 4 8

RDSH 39 53 1 6

TABLE 22. THE DURATION TIME OF THE MASTER IMAGE RECOMPOSITION

Test Case Overall Time Based on VMware vCenter Task

1 VDI 250 Task Users 15 Minutes and 41 Seconds

2 VDI 250 Knowledge Users 20 Minutes and 44 Seconds

3 VDI 500 Power Users 34 Minutes and 43 Seconds

TABLE 20. STORAGE PERFORMANCE DURING DESKTOP USER WORKLOAD (CONTINUED)

Test Case

MPU Usage

CWP FMC Parity Group Usage

Port Response Dynamic Provisioning Pool IOPS

MGMT Tenant MGMT Tenant MGMT Tenant

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Table 23 shows the CPU load of the compute node during master image recomposition.

Table 24 shows the storage performance during master image recomposition.

In all test cases, the following is true during master image recomposition:

MPU usage did not rise 41%.

Cache write pending (CWP) did not rise above 23%.

FMC parity group busy rate did not rise above 11%.

In all test cases, the average port latency did not rise above 1.0 ms during master image recomposition.

Table 25 shows the I/O characteristic observed in master image recomposition.

TABLE 23. CPU LOAD OF THE COMPUTE NODE DURING MASTER IMAGE RECOMPOSITION

Test Case CPU Load For Management Node CPU Load For Tenant Nodes

Maximum Average Maximum Average

1 VDI 250 Task User 0.11 0.07 0.34 0.19

2 VDI 250 Knowledge User 0.11 0.06 0.60 0.24

3 VDI 500 Power User 0.13 0.07 0.80 0.24

TABLE 24. STORAGE PERFORMANCE DURING THE MASTER IMAGE RECOMPOSITION

Test Case

MPU Usage

CWP FMC Parity Group Usage

Port Response Dynamic Provisioning Pool IOPS

MGMT Tenant MGMT Tenant MGMT Tenant

1 Max 22 % 10 % 0.31 % 4.33 % 0.3 ms 0.3 ms 686 IOPS 8,963 IOPS

Avg 7 % 4 % 0.13 % 1.80 % 0.1 ms 0.2 ms 304 IOPS 3,768 IOPS

2 Max 38 % 19 % 0.33 % 9.51 % 0.2 ms 0.3 ms 700 IOPS 13,824 IOPS

Avg 8 % 4 % 0.11 % 2.37 % 0.1 ms 0.2 ms 253 IOPS 4,623 IOPS

3 Max 40 % 22 % 0.43 % 10.19 % 0.3 ms 0.3 ms 1,026 IOPS 16,226 IOPS

Avg 10 % 7 % 0.19 % 3.43 % 0.1 ms 0.2 ms 459 IOPS 7,614 IOPS

TABLE 25. I/O CHARACTERISTIC OF MASTER IMAGE RECOMPOSITION

% Random Read % Random Write % Sequential Read % Sequential Write

VDI 24 52 13 10

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Effect of FMD DC2 (FMC) Compression

This shows how scalable Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F400 is with FMD DC2 (FMC). It has a tremendous high density, device capacity, and compression technology.

The key factor affecting accommodation on the flash device is not performance, but capacity. Inherent raw device capacity and the compression ratio comes from VDI user consumption. The compression ratio (% saving) was observed during validation where 250 virtual machines for instant linked clones with 24 GB thin provisioning.

Table 26 shows the saving ratio observed on the physical FMD DC2 (FMC) device against the logical used capacity observed in the FMD DC2 (FMC) logical pool. The used capacity value indicates increased amount after completion of each test case. Each test case was performed in order.

There was no difference regarding saving ratio between all profiles.

Note — These results do not include the full-consumed user data. The saving ratio is valid, depending on the consumption of user application and data. When you apply these results to designing your production environment, do a proof of concept or use estimation tools which calculate the expected saving ratio against existing data user consumed.

TABLE 26. EFFECT OF THE FMD DC2 COMPRESSION FOR EACH TEST CASE

Step Test Case Used Capacity (GB) Saving (GB)

Saving (%)

Physical FMC Pool Volumes

FMC Pool Volumes

1 VDI 250 Knowledge Users Boot Storm + 1.05 GB + 1.83 GB 0.88 GB 43 %

2 VDI 250 Knowledge Users Workload + 131.02 GB + 212.60 GB 81.58 GB 38 %

3 VDI 250 Knowledge Users Recompose + 18.29 GB + 31.24 GB 12.94 GB 41 %

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