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© 360is Ltd
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Virtualization Security Performanc
e
Case Study
Accommodating Difficult Workloads In XenDesktop
UK Citrix User Group
The Co-operative Group Ltd, Manchester
17th May 2012
About 360is
Three Sixty is a specialist consultancy company focused on
technology infrastructure. We are experts in Virtualisation, Security,
and Performance Tuning.
We deliver high-risk, high-return, projects that transform our client’s
business critical systems. We are often called upon to rescue failing
projects or those where software and equipment suppliers have fled.
We are practitioners with a track record in hyper-growth, technology-
driven markets. Our founders introduced TCP/IP to the UK business
market, and were part of the team that built the UK’s largest ISP
(Unipalm-PIPEX) in the early 90s.
We work in the sole interest of our clients, and are free to
recommend the right technology or product for their project.
Clients: Credit Suisse, Barclays Capital, RBS, Carphone Warehouse, COLT Telecom, BT, Easynet, Tesco, Pepsico, RyanAir, IOmart, Bet365, Multimap…
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Services & Expertise
Business Technology Strategy
Architecture Execution Analysis
Services
Virtualization
Security
Performance
Expertise
100% more users
supported by
existing hardware
platform
Maintenance
window reduced by
85%
10:1 transactional
20:1 data
warehouse
50:1 web hosting
Formulate
managed services
business plan and
restructure to
deliver £10m
revenue in year 1
1200 user
implementation of
Desktop
Virtualization
80% reduction in
(non staff related) IT
OPEX identified
Enabled strategic
BPO while meeting
compliance and
security
requirements
New “from scratch”
3G network
infrastructure
secured for launch
Reduced “book to
bill” period from 8
weeks to 1 week
Identified
performance
bottlenecks with
SAN, specified
appropriate
upgrade
Multi-tenant VDI
platform for large
hosting provider
Today’s Project
Business Technology Strategy
Architecture Execution Analysis
Services
Virtualization
Security
Performance
Expertise
One of the world’s leading companies in the field of Polymer Light
Emitting Diodes (P-OLEDs).
Employing a few hundred people in the UK, mostly engineers,
scientists, industrial designers, and supporting staff.
The Client
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Materials Development Prototype Manufacture Device Modelling Intellectual Property
Improve Enterprise Desktop Provision
Faster build/rebuild/migration time for desktops
Higher availability
Quicker/easier new application deployment
Increased security
Better remote access
Something that would last them “several years”
The Driver
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A work-force of ~250 distributed over several UK offices.
A small IT team, split between locations.
Working environment ranges from ordinary office to machine room to
clean rooms to demo-suites.
Valuable intellectual property being created and stored constantly.
Some sites have limited data centre space/cooling.
Some have limited network bandwidth.
The Challenge
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At First Glance…
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…doesn’t look that
difficult
Scientists. Extremely bright, IT savvy people, with strong opinions of
what they want, running scientific applications, some of which are
very demanding of performance.
Some working environments have limited space for computers,
potentially inaccessible to IT staff for prolonged periods due to H&S
or clean-room requirements.
No shared storage at most of the sites.
Little data centre/comms room space at most of the sites.
High Availability is mandatory.
The Landmines
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6GB RAM per VDI, 2 vCPUs minimum, Windows 7 64bit
Scientists run long-lived jobs that burn CPU for days
Relatively “write heavy” desktops, sometimes working with large files
Somewhat constrained for budget (end of year)
The Landmines (continued)
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ChemDraw GaussView LabView MATLAB
At First Glance…
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Dell & HP systems struggled to offer the required memory and CPU
density within the physical space, power, and cooling constraints.
IBM, Oracle, Bull, and Fujitsu were excluded on the basis of cost or
vendor lock-in.
Lack of enterprise shared storage would prove a challenge both in
terms of achieving high availability and sufficient performance to
satisfy end users.
3 classes of end user (regular, heavy, and power user) could be
easily serviced via a carefully chosen “gold image” and selective
publishing of specialty applications via XenApp.
This project was an “IT idea”, and had not been completely
socialised with the end-user community.
The Solution Design
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Dedicated Virtualisation Appliances were used in-place of
mainstream servers, high memory density, small physical size, low
power, in-built performance monitoring software.
Local storage was used in the appliances, hardware IOPS sink for
fast write access.
High availability without shared storage, achieved with a combination
of DNS and XenDesktop configuration, plus manual procedure for
fail-back once any faults were cleared.
4 physical systems, 2 sites, N+1 per site.
Lack of project socialisation with the end user community meant
several cycles of “snagging” would likely be required.
The Solution Deployed
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Performance was always going to be a focus with the end-user
community.
Using data from Virtual Estate Manager on the appliances, after 2
months of use (Dec/Jan) we conducted tuning work.
Performance Tuning
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CPU Reduced by 50-60% IO Latency Reduced by 50%
Performance
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0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Processor Memory Graphics Graphics3D
Hard Disk
Windows Experience Index Score For VMCo Appliances
Citrix XenServer 6.0, Windows 7 x64, 2vCPUs, 6GB RAM
Case Study: VDI For Demanding Users
Client Brief A high performance VDI environment for scientific and office workers. Virtual desktops to be provisioned to fat and
thin clients over several sites, offering the full range of applications from office automation to technical and
scientific computing.
Our Solution Detailed architecture/design report, user numbers, performance numbers, budget numbers
Configuration of hardware and software to meet design goals
2-month “trial by fire” followed by performance tuning, snagging
Documentation, training, operating procedures, ongoing support
Outcome 100% of target users successfully accommodated on VDI
High-Availability achieved (and tested)
Better footing for Enterprise Desktops for next 5 years
© 360is Ltd
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© 360is Ltd
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Virtualization Security Performanc
e
Call us to discuss your project with one of our consultants
Project Enquiries: +44 (0)208 123 1740
General: +44 (0)208 133 6049
Fax: +44 (0)870 130 0399
A work-force of ~250 distributed over several UK offices.
A small IT team, split between locations.
Working environment ranges from ordinary office to machine room to
clean rooms to demo-suites.
Valuable intellectual property being created and stored constantly.
Some sites have limited data centre space/cooling.
Some have limited network bandwidth.
The Challenge
© 360is Ltd
360is.com
A work-force of ~250 distributed over several UK offices.
A small IT team, split between locations.
Working environment ranges from ordinary office to machine room to
clean rooms to demo-suites.
Valuable intellectual property being created and stored constantly.
Some sites have limited data centre space/cooling.
Some have limited network bandwidth.
The Challenge
© 360is Ltd
360is.com
A work-force of ~250 distributed over several UK offices.
A small IT team, split between locations.
Working environment ranges from ordinary office to machine room to
clean rooms to demo-suites.
Valuable intellectual property being created and stored constantly.
Some sites have limited data centre space/cooling.
Some have limited network bandwidth.
The Challenge
© 360is Ltd
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