VMware View Nutanix Reference Architecture

VMware View on Nutanix

Reference Architecture v1.0 December 2012

Copyright 2013 Nutanix, Inc.

Nutanix, Inc. 1735 Technology Drive, Suite 575 San Jose, CA 95110

All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws.

Nutanix is a trademark of Nutanix, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

Table of Contents

1. Executive Summary ..................................................................................... 6

2. Introduction .................................................................................................. 7

3. Solution Overview ........................................................................................ 8

3.1. What is the Nutanix Architecture? .......................................................................... 8

3.2. What is VMware View? .......................................................................................... 9

3.3. VMware View the Nutanix Way ............................................................................ 12

4. Solution Design .......................................................................................... 14

4.1. VMware View ....................................................................................................... 17

4.2. Desktops .............................................................................................................. 18

4.3. Nutanix Compute/Storage ................................................................................. 20

4.4. Network ................................................................................................................ 21

5. Solution Application ................................................................................... 22

5.1. Scenario: 400 Desktops ....................................................................................... 22

5.2. Scenario: 800 Desktops ....................................................................................... 23

5.3. Scenario: 1,600 Desktops .................................................................................... 24



5.6. Scenario: 12,800 Desktops .................................................................................. 27

5.7. Scenario: 25,600 Desktops .................................................................................. 28

6. Validation & Benchmarking ........................................................................ 29

7. Further Research ....................................................................................... 31

8. Conclusion ................................................................................................. 32

9. Appendix: Configuration ............................................................................. 33

10. References ................................................................................................ 34

10.1. Table of Figures ................................................................................................... 34

5

VMware View on Nutanix | 5

10.2. Table of Tables .................................................................................................... 34

11. About the Author ........................................................................................ 36

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1. Executive Summary Nutanix Complete Cluster is a scalable virtualization platform for desktop, server, and big-data deployments. The Nutanix Complete Cluster consists of modular blocks that include compute, storage, and network. This design greatly reduces cost while increasing performance and scalability empowering you to deliver a reliable and consistent user-experience. Each modular block includes compute, storage and networking along with the vSphere hypervisor preloaded so customers can start provisioning virtual machines in less than 30 minutes. The Nutanix Distributed File System (NDFS), the core of Nutanix Complete Cluster, tethers high-performance solid-state storage directly to enterprise applications while preserving the high capacity that the SATA HDD tier provides through its adaptive information lifecycle management (ILM) capabilities. NDFS amplifies the power of server-attached flash in the realm of enterprise virtualization by colocating high-performance, localized storage I/O with Google-like, scale-out distributed redundancy via high speed 10 GbE top-of-rack switches. The base cluster ships with four industry-standard x86 servers bundled with VMware's hypervisor in a 2U, 85-lb., SAN-free server appliance. This document makes recommendations for the optimization and scaling of VMware View deployments on Nutanix. It shows the scalability of the Nutanix Complete Cluster and provides detailed performance and configuration information on the scale-out capabilities of the cluster.

The solution and testing provided in this document was completed with VMware View 5.1 deployed on VMware vSphere on the Nutanix Complete Cluster.

Simplified. Software Defined. Nutanix

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2. Introduction

Audience

This reference architecture document is part of the Nutanix Solutions Library and is intended for use by individuals responsible for architecting, designing, managing, and/or supporting Nutanix infrastructures. Consumers of this document should be familiar with concepts pertaining to VMware vSphere, VMware View, and Nutanix.

We have broken down this document to address to key items for each role focusing on the enablement of a successful design, implementation, and transition to operation.

Purpose

This document will cover the following subject areas:

o Overview of the Nutanix solution o Overview of VMware View and its usecases o The benefits of VMware View on Nutanix o Architecting a complete VMware View solution on the Nutanix platform o Design and configuration considerations when architecting a VMware View solution on

Nutanix

o Benchmarking VMware View performance on Nutanix

If youre looking for a high-level overview and background on the solution continue with the Solution Overview section below.

If youre looking for the detailed items, see Solution Design on page 14.

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3. Solution Overview

3.1. What is the Nutanix Architecture?

Nutanix Complete Cluster is a scale-out cluster of high-performance nodes, or servers, each running a standard hypervisor and containing processors, memory and local storage (consisting of PCIe-SSD Flash and high capacity SATA disk drives). Each node runs virtual machines just like a standard virtual machine host. In addition, local storage from all nodes is virtualized into a unified pool by the Nutanix Distributed File System (NDFS) (Figure 1). In effect, NDFS acts like an advanced SAN that uses local SSDs and disks from all nodes to store virtual machine data. Virtual machines running on the cluster write data to NDFS as if they were writing to a SAN. NDFS is VM aware and provides advanced data management features. It brings data closer to virtual machines by storing the data locally on the system, resulting in higher performance at a lower cost. Nutanix Complete Cluster can horizontally scale from a few nodes to a large number of nodes, enabling organizations to scale their infrastructure as their needs grow.

Figure 1 Nutanix Architecture

Inspired by the Google File System, NDFS delivers a unified pool of storage from all nodes across the cluster, leveraging techniques including striping, replication, auto-tiering, error detection, failover and automatic recovery. This pool can then be presented as shared storage resources to VMs for seamless support of features like vMotion, HA, and DRS, along with industry-leading data management features. Additional nodes can be added in a plug-and-play manner in this high-performance scale-out architecture to build a cluster that will easily grow as your needs do.

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3.2. What is VMware View?

VMware View enables the simplification of desktop and application management while providing an optimized user experiences with high security. View allows IT to centrally manage desktops, applications, and data while increasing flexibility and customization at the endpoint for the user. This enables higher availability and agility of desktop services unmatched by traditional PCs while reducing the total cost of desktop ownership by up to 50%.

Figure 2 shows a simple architectural diagram with the key components of the VMware View architecture:

Thin Client

Desktop

LocalMode

VMWAREVIEW MANAGER

VMWAREVIEW

COMPOSER

VMWARETHINAPP

LinkedClones

Parent Image

Centralized VirtualDesktops

Figure 2 VMware View Architecture

VMware View is usually deployed in one of the scenarios that are highlighted in the following sections.

Platform VMware vSphere Nutanix

Management VMware View Manager, VMware View Composer, VMware ThinApp

User Experience PCoIP, Print, Multi-Monitor Display, Multimedia, USB Redirection, Local Mode

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Deployment Scenario - Remote Office/Branch Office - Centralized

In this scenario, the infrastructure resources and hosted desktops are centralized in a datacenter and provided to the end user over the WAN/LAN or VPN. Figure 3 shows a high-level example and some considerations

Teleworker

Local Office

Remote Office

VPN

WAN LAN / WAN

Linked Clones

VCAI Clones

VAAI Clones

Figure 3 VMware View ROBO (Centralized)

Pros Centralized & consolidated Managed security & compliance Datacenter stability / SLAs Centralized backups

Cons Heavy network I/O Needs high speed link between remote sites

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Deployment Scenario - Remote Office/Branch Office Distributed

In this scenario, the infrastructure resources and hosted desktops are a combination of both centralized services in a datacenter and provided to the end-user over the WAN/LAN or VPN as well as locally hosted services accessed over the LAN. Figure 4 shows a high-level example and some considerations

Teleworker

Local Office

Remote Office

VPN

WAN LAN / WAN

Locally Hosted Services Locally

Hosted Services

Datacenter / Colocation

Linked Clones

VCAI Clones

VAAI Clones

Figure 4 VMware View ROBO (Distributed)

Pros Lower required link speed to datacenter Some applications/data hosted locally Partly centralized backups

Cons Decentralized management Questionable stability (office services)

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3.3. VMware View the Nutanix Way

A Nutanix Block ships as a rackable 2U unit containing four high-performance server nodes with local storage to run and store virtual machines. PCIe-SSD Flash combined with heat-optimized tiering of data deliver the high performance of SSDs at the cost of hard drives to tackle VDI performance issues caused by boot and login storms with ease. This design greatly reduces overall cost and complexity while increasing performance and scalability in a fully integrated multi workload solution.

Unlike many VDI reference architectures that are available today from other vendors, the Nutanix approach of modular scale-out enables customers to select any initial deployment size and grow in more granular 100 virtual desktop increments. This removes the hurdle of a large up-front infrastructure purchase that a customer will need many months or years to grow into, ensuring a faster time-to-value for the VDI implementation.

The Nutanix solution is fully integrated with the VMware APIs for Array Integration (VAAI), View Composer, and View Composer for Array Integration (VCAI) to enable you to provide the best possible experience to the end user with the flexibility of a single modular platform.

Why run VMware View on Nutanix? o Modular incremental scale: With the Nutanix solution you can start small and scale. A

single Nutanix block provides up to 400 desktops in a compact 2U footprint. Given the modularity of the solution, you can granularly scale per-node (100 desktops), per-block (400 desktops), or with multiple blocks giving you the ability to accurately match supply with demand and minimize the upfront CapEx.

o Integrated: The Nutanix platform provides full support for VAAI, VCAI, and View Composer integration allowing you to leverage all the latest advancements from VMware and taking your VDI solution to the next level.

o Blazing fast performance: Up to 25,000 random IOPS and up to 2,000 MB/s of sequential throughput in a compact 2U 4-node cluster.

o Change management: Maintain environmental control and separation between development, test, staging, and production environments. Snapshots and fast clones can help in sharing production data with non-production jobs, without requiring full copies and unnecessary data duplication.

o Business continuity and data protection: Your user desktops are mission critical and need enterprise-grade data management features including backup and DR. With Nutanix these are already provided out of the box and can be managed the same as they would be for virtual environments.

o Data efficiency: The Nutanix solution is truly VM-centric for all compression policies. Contrary to traditional solutions which perform compression mainly at the LUN level, the Nutanix solution provides all of these capabilities at the VM and file level, greatly increasing efficiency and simplicity. These capabilities allow you to ensure get the highest possible compression/decompression performance on a sub-block level. By allowing for both inline and post-process compression capabilities, the Nutanix solution breaks the bounds set by traditional compression solutions.

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o Enterprise-grade cluster management: A simplified and intuitive Apple-like approach to managing large clusters, including a converged GUI that serves as a single pane of glass for servers and storage, alert notifications, and bonjour mechanism to auto-detect new nodes in the cluster. Spend more time enhancing your environment, not maintaining it.

o High-density architecture: Nutanix uses a hyperscale server architecture in which 8 sockets of Intel CPUs and up to 1TB of memory fit in a single 2U spread over 4 distinct server nodes. Coupled with data archiving and compression, Nutanix can reduce desktop hardware footprints by up to 4x.

o Time-sliced clusters: Like public cloud EC2 environments, Nutanix can provide a truly converged cloud infrastructure allowing you to run your server and desktop virtualization on a single converged cloud. Get the efficiency and savings you require with a converged cloud on a truly converged architecture.

Nutanix enables you to run multiple workloads all on the same scalable converged infrastructure

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4. Solution Design With the VMware View on Nutanix solution you have the flexibility to start small with a single block and scale up incrementally a node, a block, or multiple blocks at a time. This provides the best of both worldsthe ability to start small and grow to massive scale without any impact to performance.

Table 1: Solution Design Decisions

Item Detail Rationale General Minimum Size 1 x Nutanix block Minimum size requirement Scale Approach Incremental modular scale

Allow for growth from PoC

(hundreds of desktops) to massive scale (thousands of desktops)

Scale Unit Node: 100 desktops Block: 400 desktops Pod: 1,600 desktops

Granular scale to precisely meet the capacity demands

Scale in n x 100 desktop increments

VMware vSphere Cluster Size 16 ESXi hosts 1,600 desktops per cluster Clusters per vCenter 1 Under 2,000 linked clones

(current validated max linked clones per vCenter)

Task parallelization Datastore(s) 1 x Nutanix DFS datastore per

pod (linked clones, replicas, VAAI clones, etc.)

Nutanix handles I/O distribution/localization

n-Controller model Isolated fault domains

VMware View Pool Size Up to 800 desktops Ideal number below 1,000

desktop per pool max (View Composer limit)

Supported Clone Types

Linked Clone (VAAI (w/ VCAI) /non-VAAI), VAAI Full/Quick Clone

Support various desktop scenarios/use cases

Datastore(s) 1 x Nutanix DFS datastore for all (linked clones, replicas, VAAI clones, etc.)

Nutanix handles I/O distribution/localization

n-Controller model Load Balancing Load balancer between

connection servers OR round-robin DNS (not preferred)

Ensures availability of connection servers

Balances load between pods Desktops Desktops per Core ~8-9 desktops per physical core

~16 vCPU to per physical core ~1-1.1 vRAM per physical RAM

Optimized for performance/capacity

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Given the ability to grow to very large scales with the Nutanix solution, weve chosen to design to a pod-based approach. This approach allows us to start extremely small and scale a node, a block, or multiple blocks at a time up towards a pod capacity. Once weve filled a pod, we then begin to scale a new pod and continue to incrementally scale as your environment grows.

A high-level snapshot of the VMware View on Nutanix Pod highlights can be seen below

Table 2: Pod Highlights

Item Qty Pod # of Nutanix Blocks Up to 4 # of vCenter Servers 1 # of ESXi Hosts Up to 16 # of Datastore(s) 1 # of Desktop Pools Up to 2 @ 800 desktops each (can be higher if using

smaller pool sizes) # of Desktops Up to 1600

Figure 5 shows a detailed view of the pod

Figure 5 VMware View on Nutanix - Pod Detail

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Figure 6 shows an example of what this larger scale Pod based design might look like

Figure 6 VMware View on Nutanix Pod Architecture

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4.1. VMware View

This section covers the design decisions and configurations for the VMware View services.

Table 3 VMware View Design Decisions

Item Detail Pool Size Up to 800 Desktops ESXi Cluster Size 16 Hosts (4 Nutanix Blocks) Datastore(s) 1 x NFS datastore for all VMs (linked clone, replica, VAAI, etc.) Host Caching Enabled, digest re-computation scheduled for off-work hours

(M-F/9-5) User Data Dont redirect Use home directory redirection or profile

management platform Disposable Disks Redirect Connection Protocols RDP / PCoIP (preferred)

Figure 7 shows a high-level view of the VMware View components and integration

Figure 7 VMware View Component Integration

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4.2. Desktops

This section covers the design decisions and configurations for the desktop use cases and configuration.

Desktop Sizing

The following are examples of some typical scenarios for desktop deployment and utilization.

Table 4: Desktop Scenario Definition

Scenario Definition Kiosk Users These users need to share a desktop that is located in a public place.

Examples of kiosk users include students using a shared computer in a classroom, nurses at nursing stations, and computers used for job placement and recruiting. These desktops require automatic login. Authentication can be done through certain applications if necessary.

Task Workers Task workers and administrative workers perform repetitive tasks within a small set of applications, usually at a stationary computer. The applications are usually not as CPU- and memory-intensive as the applications used by knowledge workers. Task workers who work specific shifts might all log in to their virtual desktops at the same time. Task workers include call center analysts, retail employees, and warehouse workers.

Knowledge Workers Knowledge workers daily tasks include accessing the Internet, using email, and creating complex documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. Knowledge workers include accountants, sales managers, and marketing research analysts.

Power Users Power users include application developers and people who use graphics-intensive applications.

Below are some initial recommendations for desktop sizing for a Windows 7 desktop

Table 5: Desktop Scenario Sizing

Scenario vCPU Memory Disks Kiosk Users 1 1 25GB (OS) Task Workers 1-2 1 40GB (OS) Knowledge Workers 1-2 2 40GB (OS) Power Users 2+ 2+ 40GB (OS)

Note: These are recommendations for sizing and should be modified after a current state analysis.

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Desktop Optimizations

Following are some high-level desktop optimizations we followed for this design:

Size desktops appropriately for your particular use case.

Use a mix of applications installed in gold images and application virtualization, depending on the scenario.

Disable unnecessary OS services and applications.

Redirect home directories or use a profile management tool for user profiles and documents.

For more detail on desktop optimizations refer to the VMware View on Nutanix Best Practices document on http://www.nutanix.com/resources.html

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4.3. Nutanix Compute/Storage

The Nutanix Complete Cluster provides an ideal combination of both high-performance compute with localized storage with the agility to meet any demand. True to this capability we performed zero reconfiguration or customization to the Nutanix product to optimize for the VMware View use case.

Figure 8 shows a high-level example of the relationship between a Nutanix block, node, storage pool and container

Figure 8 Nutanix Component Architecture

Below we show the Nutanix storage pool and container configuration.

Table 6: Nutanix Storage Configuration

Name Role Details SP01 Main storage pool for all data PCI-e SSD, SATA-HDD CTR-RF2-VM-01 Container for all VMs ESXi - Datastore

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4.4. Network

Designed for true linear scaling, we leverage a Leaf Spine network architecture. A Leaf Spine architecture consists of two network tiers: an L2 Leaf and an L3 Spine based on 40 GbE and non-blocking switches. This architecture maintains consistent performance without any throughput reduction due to a static maximum of two hops from any node in the network.

Figure 9 shows a design of a scale-out Leaf Spine network architecture which provides 20 Gb active throughput from each node to its L2 Leaf and scalable 80 Gb active throughput from each Leaf to Spine switch providing scale from 1 Nutanix block to thousands without any impact to available bandwidth

Figure 9 Leaf Spine Network Architecture

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5. Solution Application This section applies the VMware View on Nutanix reference architecture to real world scenarios and outlines the sizing metrics and components.

NOTE: Detailed hardware configuration and product models can be found in the appendix.

5.1. Scenario: 400 Desktops

Table 7: Detailed Component Breakdown - 400 Desktops

Item Value Item Value Components Infrastructure # of Nutanix Desktop Pods 1 (partial) # of vCenter Servers 1 # of Nutanix Blocks 1 # of ESXi Hosts 4 # of 10GbE Ports 8 # of vSphere Clusters 1 # of 100/1000 Ports (IPMI) 4 # of Datastore(s) 1 # of L2 Leaf Switches 2 # of Desktop Pools 1 # of L3 Spine Switches 1

Figure 10 Rack Layout - 400 Desktops

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5.2. Scenario: 800 Desktops

Table 8: Detailed Component Breakdown - 800 Desktops

Item Value Item Value Components Infrastructure # of Nutanix Desktop Pods 1 (partial) # of vCenter Servers 1 # of Nutanix Blocks 2 # of ESXi Hosts 8 # of 10GbE Ports 16 # of vSphere Clusters 1 # of 100/1000 Ports (IPMI) 8 # of Datastore(s) 1 # of L2 Leaf Switches 2 # of Desktop Pools 1 # of L3 Spine Switches 1


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5.3. Scenario: 1,600 Desktops

Table 9: Detailed Component Breakdown 1,600 Desktops

Item Value Item Value Components Infrastructure # of Nutanix Desktop Pods 1 # of vCenter Servers 1 # of Nutanix Blocks 4 # of ESXi Hosts 16 # of 10GbE Ports 32 # of vSphere Clusters 1 # of 100/1000 Ports (IPMI) 16 # of Datastore(s) 1 # of L2 Leaf Switches 2 # of Desktop Pools 2 # of L3 Spine Switches 2


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Figure 13 Rack Layout 3,200 Desktops

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6. Validation & Benchmarking The solution and testing provided in this document was completed with VMware View 5.1 deployed on VMware vSphere 5.1 on Nutanix Complete Cluster.

The industry standard VMware View Planner and VMware RAWC benchmarks were both leveraged to detail the desktop performance on Nutanix Complete Cluster.

Test Environment Configuration

Assumptions:

o Knowledge worker use case o Per-desktop IOPS: 10 sustained/20 peak (boot/logon) o Using View Composer Linked Clones

Hardware:

o Storage/Compute: 12 Nutanix Complete Blocks o Network: Arista 7050Q/7050S Series Switches

Desktop Configuration:

o OS: Windows 7 x86 o 2 vCPU & 1 GB memory (locked) o 1 x 30GB OS o Applications:

Microsoft Office 2010

Adobe Acrobat Reader

Mozilla Firefox

Test Execution 1. Prepare VMware View Desktop Pools.

2. Execute View Planner/RAWC testing @ desired desktop quantity.

3. Compile and compute results.

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Results

The VMware View on Nutanix solution provides the highest density desktop deployment footprint with unparalleled performance. Given our n-Controller model, the desktop performance remains consistent as the number of node / blocks scale.

The graph below compares the relative application response times as we scale from 300 to 3,000 desktops:

Figure 17 Relative Application Performance

Enabled by the Nutanix architecture the performance per desktop remains consistent when scaling from 300 to 3,000 desktops with an average variance of less than 0.002642 seconds.

As you can see in the graph below, the Nutanix solution provides the highest possible density with consistent performance at scale. In a single rack worth of space (40U) you can get over 8,000 desktops; about 1/3 the rackspace than what the next leading solution can provide.

Figure 18 Desktop Quantity at Scale

00.20.40.60.8

11.21.41.61.8

Word Doc Open PowerPoint Open Outlook Open Excel Open Adobe PDF Open

Relative Application Performance (in seconds)

300 VMs

600 VMs

1200 VMs

1500 VMs

3000 VMs

02000400060008000

1000012000

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24

# of

Des

ktop

s

# of Nutanix Blocks (2U)

Desktop Quantity at Scale

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7. Further Research As part of its continuous determination to deliver the best possible solutions, Nutanix will continue to research into the following areas:

o Performance optimizations. o Scale testing. o Detailed use-case application. o Joint solutions with partners.

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8. Conclusion The Nutanix VMware View solution provides the best of many worlds: industry-leading performance with the ability to run multiple mixed workloads on a single converged architecture. Of the converged architectures in the market today, none can truly provide the optimal configuration for all workloads; however, this is changing with Nutanix. Below we take a look at the various key items of the solution from key perspectives: For the end user

o The performance and experience you would expect from your desktop. o Increased system and data availability no more annoying downtime. o Access to your desktop wherever you may be enable true mobility.

For IT o Ease of integration and management-manage it the same as you do with existing virtual

environments.

o Modular scalability - incrementally scale your environment granularly match demand as it grows.

o Datacenter consolidation and convergence around a single, simple product.

For the business leader o Increased speed of delivery-Get rid of the long procurement cycles. o Enable IT to be a strategic department. o Standardized, simple and scalable.

Nutanix provides a revolutionary architecture enabling you and your business for the future.

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9. Appendix: Configuration

Hardware o Storage / Compute

Nutanix NX-3000 Series

Node Configuration

o CPU: Intel Xeon E5-2660 o Memory: 128 GB Memory

o Network Arista 7050Q - L3 Spine

Arista 7050S - L2 Leaf

Software o Nutanix

NOS 3.0 o Desktop

Windows 7 x64 o Infrastructure

vSphere 5.1.0a VMware View 5.1

VM o Desktop

CPU: 2 vCPU Memory: 1 GB (locked)

o Storage: 1 x 30GB OS Disk on CTR-RF2-VM-01 NDFS backed NFS datastore

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10. References

10.1. Table of Figures

Figure 1 Nutanix Architecture ..................................................................................................... 8

Figure 2 VMware View Architecture ........................................................................................... 9

Figure 3 VMware View ROBO (Centralized) .............................................................................10

Figure 4 VMware View ROBO (Distributed) ..............................................................................11

Figure 5 VMware View on Nutanix - Pod Detail .........................................................................15

Figure 6 VMware View on Nutanix Pod Architecture .................................................................16

Figure 7 VMware View Component Integration .........................................................................17

Figure 8 Nutanix Component Architecture .................................................................................20

Figure 9 Leaf Spine Network Architecture .................................................................................21

Figure 10 Rack Layout - 400 Desktops .....................................................................................22

Figure 11 Rack Layout - 800 Desktops .....................................................................................23

Figure 12 Rack Layout - 1600 Desktops ...................................................................................24

Figure 13 Rack Layout 3,200 Desktops ..................................................................................25

Figure 14 Rack Layout 6,400 Desktops ..................................................................................26

Figure 15 Rack Layout 12,800 Desktops ................................................................................27

Figure 16 Rack Layout 25,600 Desktops ................................................................................28

Figure 17 Relative Application Performance .............................................................................30

Figure 18 Desktop Quantity at Scale .........................................................................................30

10.2. Table of Tables

Table 1: Solution Design Decisions ...........................................................................................14

Table 2: Pod Highlights .............................................................................................................15

Table 3 VMware View Design Decisions ...................................................................................17

Table 4: Desktop Scenario Definition ........................................................................................18

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Table 5: Desktop Scenario Sizing .............................................................................................18

Table 6: Nutanix Storage Configuration ....................................................................................20

Table 8: Detailed Component Breakdown - 400 Desktops ........................................................22

Table 9: Detailed Component Breakdown - 800 Desktops ........................................................23

Table 10: Detailed Component Breakdown 1,600 Desktops ...................................................24



Table 13: Detailed Component Breakdown 12,800 Desktops .................................................27

Table 14: Detailed Component Breakdown 25,600 Desktops .................................................28

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11. About the Author Steven Poitras is a Solution Architect on the Technical Marketing team at Nutanix, Inc. In this role, Steven helps design architectures combining applications with the Nutanix platform creating solutions helping solve critical business needs and requirements and disrupting the infrastructure space. Prior to joining Nutanix he was one of the key solution architects at the Accenture Technology Labs where he was focused on the Next Generation Infrastructure (NGI) and Next Generation Datacenter (NGDC) domains. In these spaces he has developed methodologies, reference architectures, and frameworks focusing on the design and transformation to agile, scalable, and cost-effective infrastructures which can be consumed in a service-oriented or cloud-like manner.

Follow Steven on Twitter at @StevenPoitras.

About Nutanix

Nutanix is the first company to offer a radically simple compute and storage infrastructure for implementing enterprise-class virtualization without complex and expensive external network storage (SAN or NAS). Founded in 2009 by a team that built scalable systems such as Google File System and enterprise-class systems such as Oracle Database/Exadata, Nutanix is based in San Jos, California, and is backed by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Khosla Ventures and Blumberg Capital.

Follow the Nutanix blogs at http://www.nutanix.com/blog/

Follow Nutanix on Twitter at @Nutanix

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VMware View on NutanixReference Architecturev1.0 December 2012Table of Contents

1. Executive Summary2. Introduction3. Solution Overview3.1. What is the Nutanix Architecture?3.2. What is VMware View?3.3. VMware View the Nutanix Way

4. Solution Design4.1. VMware View4.2. Desktops4.3. Nutanix Compute/Storage4.4. Network

5. Solution Application5.1. Scenario: 400 Desktops5.2. Scenario: 800 Desktops5.3. Scenario: 1,600 Desktops5.4. Scenario: 3,200 Desktops5.5. Scenario: 6,400 Desktops5.6. Scenario: 12,800 Desktops5.7. Scenario: 25,600 Desktops

6. Validation & Benchmarking7. Further Research8. Conclusion9. Appendix: Configuration10. References10.1. Table of Figures10.2. Table of Tables

11. About the Author

Documents

VMware View Nutanix Reference Architecture