EMC PROVEN END-USER COMPUTING SOLUTION ENABLED BY EMC · PDF fileWhite Paper EMC Proven...

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EMC Proven Solutions

Abstract

This document describes an EMC® end user computing solution for 5000 desktops with Citrix XenDesktop and Provisioning Services.

December, 2012

EMC PROVEN END-USER COMPUTING SOLUTION ENABLED BY EMC VMAX Citrix XenDesktop 5.6 with Provisioning Services 6.1 for 5000 Desktops Including:

• Citrix XenDesktop

• Citrix Provisioning Services • EMC Symmetrix VMAX

EMC Proven End User Computing Solution Enabled by EMC VMAX Citrix XenDesktop with Provisioning Services for 5000 Desktops

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Copyright © 2012 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved. Published in the USA.

Published December, 2012

EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate of its publication date. The information is subject to change without notice.

The information in this publication is provided as is. EMC Corporation makes no representations or warranties of any kind with respect to the information in this publication, and specifically disclaims implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. Use, copying, and distribution of any EMC software described in this publication requires an applicable software license.

EMC2, EMC, and the EMC logo are registered trademarks or trademarks of EMC Corporation in the United States and other countries. All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

For the most up-to-date regulatory document for your product line, go to the technical documentation and advisories section on the EMC online support website.

EMC PROVEN END USER COMPUTING SOLUTION Enabled by EMC VMAX Citrix XenDesktop 5.6 with Provisioning Services 6.1 for 5000 Desktops Including: Citrix XenDesktop, Citrix Provisioning Services, and EMC Symmetrix VMAX

White Paper

Part Number H11316


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Contents

Chapter 1 Executive Summary 11

Introduction ................................................................................................... 12

Document purpose......................................................................................... 12

Target audience.............................................................................................. 12

Business needs.............................................................................................. 13

Chapter 2 Solution Overview 15

Solution overview........................................................................................... 16

Chapter 3 Solution Technology Overview 19

The technology solution ................................................................................. 20

Citrix XenDesktop 5.6..................................................................................... 20 Citrix Personal vDisk ....................................................................................... 20 Citrix Profile Manager...................................................................................... 20

Citrix Provisioning Services 6.1 ...................................................................... 21

Virtualization.................................................................................................. 21 VMware vSphere 5 ......................................................................................... 21 EMC Virtual Storage Integrator for VMware........................................................ 21 vStorage API for Array Integration Support ........................................................ 22

Storage........................................................................................................... 22 EMC VMAX Series ........................................................................................... 22 EMC FAST VP for VMAX .................................................................................... 22 EMC Unisphere for VMAX ................................................................................ 22 EMC VNX Series.............................................................................................. 23

Chapter 4 Solution Architectural Overview 25

Overview of solution ...................................................................................... 26 Solution purpose............................................................................................ 26 Solution validation ......................................................................................... 26

Reference workload........................................................................................ 26 Defining the reference workload ...................................................................... 26

Contents


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Solutions architecture .................................................................................... 27 Key Components ............................................................................................ 28

Server configuration guidelines ..................................................................... 32 vSphere memory virtualization ........................................................................ 32 Memory configuration guidelines..................................................................... 32

Network configuration guidelines .................................................................. 33 Link Aggregation for EMC VNX.......................................................................... 33 VLAN ............................................................................................................. 33

Storage configuration guidelines ................................................................... 34

Chapter 5 Configuration Guidelines 35

Configuration overview .................................................................................. 36 Deployment process ....................................................................................... 36

Pre-deployment tasks .................................................................................... 37 Overview ....................................................................................................... 37 Deployment prerequisites ............................................................................... 37

Prepare servers .............................................................................................. 39

Prepare switches, connect network, and configure switches ......................... 39 Overview ....................................................................................................... 39 Configure infrastructure network...................................................................... 39 Configure storage network .............................................................................. 40 Configure VLANs............................................................................................. 40 Complete network cabling............................................................................... 40

Prepare and configure the VMAX storage array .............................................. 40 Overview ....................................................................................................... 40 Set up initial VMAX configuration..................................................................... 41 Provision storage for VMFS datastores ............................................................. 41 Configure initiator groups................................................................................ 42 Configure port groups ..................................................................................... 43 Configure masking views ................................................................................ 44 Configure FAST policy ..................................................................................... 45

Prepare and configure the VNX storage array ................................................. 46 Overview ....................................................................................................... 46 Set up initial VNX configuration ....................................................................... 46 Provision storage for CIFS shares ..................................................................... 46

Install and configure vSphere hosts and vSphere management infrastructure .............................................................. 48

Overview ....................................................................................................... 48 Install vSphere ............................................................................................... 48

Contents


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Configure vSphere networking ......................................................................... 48 Connect VMware datastores ............................................................................ 49

Install and configure SQL server database ..................................................... 49 Create a virtual machine for Microsoft SQL Server.............................................. 49 Install Microsoft Windows on the virtual machine.............................................. 50 Install SQL Server ........................................................................................... 50 Configure database for VMware vCenter ........................................................... 50 Configure database for VMware Update Manager .............................................. 50

VMware vCenter Server deployment............................................................... 51 Overview ....................................................................................................... 51 Create the vCenter host virtual machine ........................................................... 52 Install vCenter guest OS .................................................................................. 52 Create vCenter ODBC connections.................................................................... 52 Install vCenter Server...................................................................................... 52 Apply vSphere license keys ............................................................................. 52 Install the EMC VSI plug-in .............................................................................. 52

Citrix XenDesktop Controller deployment....................................................... 53 Install server-side components of XenDesktop .................................................. 53 Configure a site .............................................................................................. 53 Add a second controller .................................................................................. 54 Install Desktop Studio .................................................................................... 54 Prepare master virtual machine ....................................................................... 54

Citrix Provisioning Server deployment............................................................ 55 Run the Provisioning Servers Configuration Wizard............................................ 56 Configure provisioning server inbound communication options.......................... 57 Configure the PVS bootstrap file ...................................................................... 58 Change the master virtual desktop vDisk to Standard Image mode ..................... 58 Set the master virtual desktop vDisk to cache on device hard drive..................... 58

Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 59

Appendix A References 61

References ..................................................................................................... 61 EMC documentation ....................................................................................... 61 Other documentation...................................................................................... 61

Contents


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Figures

Figure 1. Solution architecture ...................................................................... 17Figure 2. Reference Architecture ................................................................... 28Figure 3. vSwitch configuration ..................................................................... 34Figure 4. Create Storage Group ..................................................................... 41Figure 5. Hosts - Create Initiator Group .......................................................... 42Figure 6. Configure Port Group ...................................................................... 43Figure 7. Create Masking View ...................................................................... 44Figure 8. VDI FAST Policy .............................................................................. 45Figure 9. VNX storage pool for file layout ....................................................... 47

Figures


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Tables

Table 1. Virtual desktop characteristics ........................................................ 27Table 2. Solution hardware ......................................................................... 29Table 3. Solution Software .......................................................................... 31Table 4. Reference virtual desktop parameters .............................................. 33Table 5. Deployment process overview ......................................................... 36Table 6. Tasks for pre-deployment ............................................................... 37Table 7. Deployment prerequisites checklist ................................................. 37Table 8. Tasks for switch and network configuration ...................................... 39Table 9. Tasks for VMAX storage configuration .............................................. 40Table 10. Tasks for VNX storage configuration ................................................ 46Table 11. Tasks for installing and configuring hosts

and management structure ............................................................. 48Table 12. Tasks for SQL Server database setup ............................................... 49Table 13. Tasks for vCenter configuration ....................................................... 51Table 14. Tasks for XenDesktop Controller Setup ............................................ 53Table 15. Tasks for Provisioning Server Setup ................................................. 55

Tables


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Chapter 1 Executive Summary

This chapter presents the following topics:

Introduction ............................................................................... 12

Target audience .......................................................................... 12

Document purpose ...................................................................... 12

Business needs .......................................................................... 13

Chapter 1: Executive Summary


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Introduction EMC Proven™ Solution validated and modular architectures are built with proven superior technologies to create complete virtualization solutions that enable you to make informed decisions regarding the hypervisor, compute, and networking layers. By reducing server virtualization planning and configuration burdens, EMC Proven Solution infrastructures accelerate your IT Transformation by enabling faster deployments, greater flexibility of choice, increased efficiency, and lower risk.

This document describes an EMC end-user computing solution for 5000 desktops with Citrix XenDesktop and Provisioning Services. It is intended to be a comprehensive guide for the technical aspects of this solution. Server capacity is provided in generic terms for required minimums of CPU, memory, and network interfaces; you may select server and networking hardware that meet or exceed the stated minimums.

Document purpose This document is intended to be a comprehensive guide for the technical aspects of an EMC Proven End User Computing Solution for 5000 desktops with Citrix XenDesktop and Provisioning Services. It covers the architectural considerations, sizing and scaling, procedures, and best practices for planning, deploying, monitoring, and maintaining the solution.

Server capacity is provided in generic terms for required minimums of CPU, memory, and network interfaces; you may select server and networking hardware that meet or exceed the stated minimums.

Target audience The reader of this document is expected to have the necessary training and background to install and configure Citrix XenDesktop, Citrix Provisioning Services, VMware vSphere®, EMC Symmetrix® VMAX®, and associated infrastructure as required by the implementation of the solution described in this document. External references are provided where applicable and it is recommended that the reader be familiar with these documents.

Readers should also be familiar with the infrastructure and database security policies of the customer installation.

Possible audiences for this document include: distributors, value-added retailers, independent system vendors, technical consultants, and sales representatives. These audiences willcan use the document to design, develop, build, sell, and deploy this solution.



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Business needs Customers require a scalable, tiered, and high-availability infrastructure on which to deploy their end-user computing infrastructure. Several new technologies are available to assist them in virtualizing their desktops, but they need to know how to use these technologies to maximize their investment, support service-level agreements, and reduce their total cost of ownership (TCO).

This solution addresses the following challenges:

• Availability: Stand-alone servers incur downtime for maintenance or unexpected failures. Clusters of redundant stand-alone nodes are an inefficient use of CPU, disk, and memory resources.

• Server management and maintenance: Individually managed desktops require significant repetitive activities for monitoring, problem resolution, patching, and other common activities. This is labor intensive, costly, error-prone, and inefficient. Security, downtime, and outage risks are elevated.

• Ease of solution deployment: While small and medium businesses must address the same IT challenges as larger enterprises, staffing levels, experience, and training are generally more limited. IT generalists are often responsible for managing the entire IT infrastructure, or reliance is placed on third-party sources for maintenance or other tasks. Perceived complexity of the IT function raises fear of risk and may block adoption of new technology. Therefore, simplicity of deployment and management are highly valued.

• Storage efficiency: Storage added locally to physical servers or provisioned directly from a shared resource or array leads to over-provisioning and waste.



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Chapter 2 Solution Overview

This chapter presents the following topic:

Solution overview ........................................................................ 16

Chapter 2: Solution Overview


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Solution overview This EMC Proven Solution was validated using the EMC VMAX 10K and VMware-virtualized Windows Server platforms to provide the storage and computer resources for a Citrix XenDesktop 5.6 environment of Windows 7 virtual desktops provisioned using Citrix Provisioning Services 6.1.

Planning and designing the storage infrastructure for Citrix XenDesktop environment is a critical step because the shared storage must be able to absorb large bursts of input/output (I/O) that occur over the course of a workday. These bursts can lead to periods of erratic and unpredictable virtual desktop performance. Users may adapt to slow performance, but unpredictable performance will frustrate them and reduce efficiency.

To provide predictable performance for a virtual desktop infrastructure, the storage system must be able to handle the peak I/O load from the clients while keeping response time to a minimum. Designing for this workload involves the deployment of many disks to handle brief periods of extreme I/O pressure, which is expensive to implement. This solution uses EMC Fully Automated Storage Tiering for Virtualized Pools (FAST VP)Tiering to reduce the number of disks required.

The solution described in this document includes servers, storage, network components, and Citrix and VMware software packages. The solution allows customers to quickly and consistently deploy a virtualized infrastructure to consolidate their virtual desktop environment. Figure 1on page 17 provides a graphical representation of the key components of the solution, and how these components are interconnected.



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Figure 1. Solution architecture

Built on the strategy of simple, intelligent, modular storage, EMC Symmetrix VMAX incorporates a highly scalable Virtual Matrix Architecture that enables VMAX arrays to grow seamlessly and cost effectively from an entry-level configuration into the world’s largest storage system. VMAX supports EFDs, FC drives, and SATA drives within a single array, as well as an extensive range of RAID types.

The VNX® storage array is a multi-protocol platform that supports the Fiber Channel (FC), Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI), network file system (NFS), and Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocols based on the customer’s specific needs. This solution is validated using CIFS for data storage.

This solution requires the presence of Active Directory (AD), Domain Name Resolution (DNS), and dynamic IP address assignment using the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). The implementation of these services is beyond the scope of this guide, but all three are considered pre-requisites for successful deployment. In addition, the DHCP server must have sufficient free IP addresses to assign one to each of the virtual desktops that will be created as part of the solution.



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Chapter 3 Solution Technology Overview


The technology solution ................................................................ 20

Citrix XenDesktop 5.6 ................................................................... 20

Citrix Provisioning Services 6.1 ....................................................... 21

Virtualization.............................................................................. 21

Storage ..................................................................................... 22

Chapter 3: Solution Technology Overview


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The technology solution This document describes the architecture of an EMC end-user computing solution for 5000 virtual desktops deployed using the following technologies:

• Virtualization platform – VMware vSphere 5

• Virtual desktop platform – Citrix XenDesktop 5.6

• Virtual desktop deployment platform – Citrix Provisioning Services 6.1

• Storage platform – EMC VMAX 10 K and EMC VNX5500

This document validates the performance of the solution and provides guidelines for building similar solutions. Chapter 4 provides details on all the components that make up the reference architecture.

Citrix XenDesktop 5.6 Citrix XenDesktop 5.6 delivers Windows desktops as an on-demand service to any user, any device, anywhere. Powered by Citrix HDX technologies, XenDesktop quickly and securely delivers any type of virtual desktop, or any type of Windows, web, or software-as-a-service (SaaS) application, to all the latest PCs, Macs, tablets, smart phones, laptops, and thin clients with a high-definition user experience.

Citrix FlexCast delivery technology enables IT to optimize the performance, security, and cost of virtual desktops for any type of user, including task workers, mobile workers, power users, and contractors. XenDesktop helps IT rapidly adapt to business initiatives by simplifying desktop delivery and enabling user self-service. The open, scalable, and proven architecture simplifies management, support, and integration.

Citrix XenDesktop 5.6 introduces the Personal vDisk feature , which allows users to preserve customization settings and user installed applications in a pool-based desktop. This is accomplished by redirecting the changes from the user’s pooled virtual machine to a separate disk called personal vDisk. During runtime, the content of the personal vDisk is blended with the content from the base VM to provide a unified experience to the end user. The personal vDisk data is preserved during reboot/refresh operations.

Citrix Profile Manager 4.1 preserves user profiles and dynamically synchronizes them with a remote profile repository. Citrix Profile Manager does not require the configuration of Windows roaming profiles, eliminating the need to use Active Directory to manage Citrix user profiles.

Citrix Profile Manager provides the following benefits over traditional Windows roaming profiles:

• With Citrix Profile Manager, a user’s remote profile is dynamically downloaded when the user logs in to a XenDesktop desktop. XenDesktop downloads persona information only when the user needs it.

Citrix Personal vDisk

Citrix Profile Manager



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• The combination of Citrix Profile Manager and pooled desktops provides the experience of a dedicated desktop while potentially minimizing the amount of storage required in an organization.

Citrix Provisioning Services 6.1 Citrix Provisioning Services (PVS) takes a very different approach from traditional desktop imaging solutions by fundamentally changing the relationship between hardware and the software that runs on it. By streaming a single shared-disk image (vDisk) instead of copying images to individual machines, PVS enables organizations to reduce the number of disk images that they manage. As the number of machines continues to grow, PVS provides the efficiency of a centralized management with the benefits of distributed processing.

As machines stream the disk data dynamically in real time from a single shared image, the machine image consistency is ensured. In addition, the configuration, applications and even OS of large pools of machines can change completely during the reboot operation.

Virtualization The virtualization layer is a key component of any end user computing solution. It allows the desktop resource requirements to be decoupled from the underlying physical resources that serve them. This enables greater flexibility in the application layer by eliminating hardware downtime for maintenance, and even allows the physical capability of the system to change without impacting the hosted desktops.

VMware vSphere 5 is the market-leading virtualization platform used across thousands of IT environments around the world. VMware vSphere 5 transforms a computer’s physical resources by virtualizing the CPU, RAM, hard disk, and network controller. This transformation creates fully functional virtual desktops that run isolated and encapsulated operating systems and applications just like physical computers.

The high-availability features of VMware vSphere 5 are coupled with DRS and vMotion, which enable the seamless migration of virtual desktops from one vSphere server to another with minimal or no impact to the customer’s usage.

This reference architecture leverages VMware vSphere Desktop Edition for deploying desktop virtualization. It provides the full range of features and functionalities of the vSphere Enterprise Plus edition, allowing customers to achieve scalability, high availability, and optimal performance for all of their desktop workloads. vSphere Desktop edition is intended for customers who want to purchase only vSphere licenses to deploy desktop virtualization.

EMC Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) for VMware vSphere is a plug-in to the vSphere client. It provides a single management interface that is used for managing EMC storage within the vSphere environment. Features can be added and removed from VSI independently, which provides flexibility for customizing VSI user environments. Features are managed by using the VSI Feature Manager. VSI provides a unified user

VMware vSphere 5

EMC Virtual Storage Integrator for VMware



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experience, which allows new features to be introduced rapidly in response to changing customer requirements.

The following features were used during the validation testing:

• Storage Viewer (SV) — Extends the vSphere client to facilitate the discovery and identification of EMC storage devices that are allocated to VMware vSphere hosts and virtual machines. SV presents the underlying storage details to the virtual datacenter administrator, merging the data of several different storage mapping tools into a few seamless vSphere client views.

• Storage Management — Simplifies storage administration of the EMC VMAX and VNX storage platforms. It enables VMware administrators to provision new Network File Systems (NFS), Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) datastores, and RDM volumes seamlessly within vSphere client.

Refer to the EMC VSI for VMware vSphere Product Guides on EMC Online Support for more information.

Hardware acceleration with VMware vStorage API for Array Integration (VAAI) is a storage enhancement in vSphere 5. It enables vSphere to offload specific storage operations to compatible storage hardware such as the VMAX and VNX series platforms. With storage hardware assistance, vSphere performs these operations faster and consumes less CPU, memory, and storage fabric bandwidth.

Storage

Built on the strategy of simple, intelligent, modular storage, EMC Symmetrix® VMAX with Enginuity™ version 5876 incorporates a highly scalable Virtual Matrix Architecture that enables VMAX arrays to grow seamlessly and cost-effectively with the business needs of the customer. VMAX supports EFDs, FC drives, and SATA drives within a single array, as well as an extensive range of RAID types.

The EMC Enginuity operating environment provides the intelligence that controls all components in the VMAX array, ensuring efficiency, scalability, and security.

EMC Fully Automated Storage Tiering for Virtualized Pools (FAST VP) combines the advantages of Virtual Provisioning™ with granular tiering at the sub-LUN level. It automatically implements non-disruptive changes to storage allocations and optimizes the use of a storage configuration composed of different drive technologies. These optimizations take full advantage of the fast response time of Flash drives and provide the most cost-effective use of a mixed drive type configuration while providing the best performance.

Unisphere for VMAX is an advanced Graphical User Interface that provides a common EMC user experience across storage platforms. Unisphere for VMAX enables customers to easily provision, manage, and monitor VMAX environments.

vStorage API for Array Integration Support

EMC VMAX Series

EMC FAST VP for VMAX

EMC Unisphere for VMAX



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The VNX Series is optimized for virtual applications delivering industry-leading innovation and enterprise capabilities for file, block, and object storage in a scalable, easy-to-use solution. This next-generation storage platform combines powerful and flexible hardware with advanced efficiency, management, and protection software to meet the demanding needs of today’s enterprises.

The VNX series is powered by the Intel® Xeon processor for intelligent storage that

automatically and efficiently scales in performance, while ensuring data integrity and security.

EMC VNX Series



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Chapter 4 Solution Architectural Overview


Overview of solution..................................................................... 26

Reference workload ..................................................................... 26

Solutions architecture................................................................... 27

Server configuration guidelines ....................................................... 32

Network configuration guidelines .................................................... 33

Storage configuration guidelines ..................................................... 34

Chapter 4: Solution Architectural Overview


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Overview of solution This document describes the reference architecture of the EMC Citrix XenDesktop with PVS solution for EMC VMAX, and provides guidelines for building similar solutions.

This architecture requires CIFS shares for storing user data. A VNX 5500 was used to provide the requisite shares during testing, but any CIFS-based file services should suffice, assuming that they provide sufficient performance and capacity. One optional method to provide the shares is a VNX VG8 gateway, which is used in tandem with an existing block-based storage array to provide file services.

EMC Proven Solutions are built with proven superior technologies to create a complete virtualization solution that allows you to make an informed decision in the hypervisor, compute, and networking layers. By eliminating server virtualization planning and configuration burdens, EMC proven solutions accelerate your IT transformation by enabling faster deployment, more choices, higher efficiency, and lower risk.

This reference architecture is intended to be a comprehensive guide to every aspect of this solution. Server capacity is provided in generic terms for required minimums of CPU, memory, and network interfaces; the customer is free to select the server and networking hardware of their choice that meet or exceed the stated minimums. The specified storage architecture, along with a system meeting the server and network requirements outlined, has been validated by EMC to provide high levels of performance while delivering a highly available architecture for your private cloud deployment.

Reference workload Each EMC Proven Solution balances the storage, network, and compute resources needed for a specified number of virtual desktops which have been validated by EMC. In practice, each virtual desktop has its own set of requirements which rarely fit a pre-defined idea of what a virtual desktop should be. In any discussion about virtual infrastructures, it is important to first define a reference workload. Not all desktops perform the same tasks, and it is impractical to build a reference that takes into account every possible combination of workload characteristics.

To simplify the discussion, we have defined a representative customer reference desktop workload. By comparing your actual customer usage to this reference workload, you can extrapolate which reference architecture to choose.

Solution purpose

Solution validation

Defining the reference workload



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For EMC solutions, the reference workload is defined as a single virtual machine. This virtual machine has the following characteristics:

Table 1. Virtual desktop characteristics

Characteristic Value

Virtual desktop operating system Microsoft Windows 7 32-bit SP1

Virtual processors per virtual desktop 1

RAM per virtual desktop 1 GB

Available storage capacity per virtual machine 10 GB

I/O operations per second (IOPS) per virtual machine

6.8

I/O pattern 60% Random/40% Sequential

I/O read/write ratio 5:95

This specification for a virtual machine is not intended to represent any specific desktop. Rather, it represents a single common point of reference against which other virtual machines can be measured.

Solutions architecture An EMC virtual desktop solution is validated at different points of scale. These defined configurations form the basis of creating a custom solution. These points of scale are defined in terms of the reference workload.

Note: Due to the concept of a reference workload, which is applied as a core piece of the EMC Proven Solution program, you cannot assume that because there are 5000 desktops to consolidate into the EMC Proven Solution infrastructure, you need 5000 reference virtual machines. You should evaluate your workload using a single reference virtual machine and extrapolate that information to arrive at an appropriate point of scale.



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Figure 2. Reference Architecture

VMware vSphere 5 — Provides a common virtualization layer to host a server environment. The specifics of the validated environment are listed in Table 2 on page 29. vSphere 5 provides highly available infrastructure through such features as:

• vMotion — Provides live migration of virtual machines within a virtual infrastructure cluster, with no virtual machine downtime or service disruption.

• Storage vMotion — Provides live migration of virtual machine disk files within and across storage arrays with no virtual machine downtime or service disruption.

• vSphere High Availability (HA) – Detects and provides rapid recovery for a failed virtual machine in a cluster.

• Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) – Provides load balancing of computing capacity in a cluster.

• Storage Distributed Resource Scheduler (SDRS) – Provides load balancing across multiple datastores, based on space use and I/O latency.

VMware vCenter Server 5 — Provides a scalable and extensible platform that forms the foundation for virtualization management for the VMware vSphere 5 cluster. All vSphere hosts and their virtual machines are managed from vCenter.

Key Components



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VSI for VMware vSphere — EMC VSI for VMware vSphere is a plug-in to the vSphere client that provides storage management for EMC arrays directly from the client. VSI is highly customizable and helps provide a unified management interface.

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 — VMware vCenter Server requires a database service to store configuration and monitoring details. A Microsoft SQL 2008 R2 server is used for this purpose.

Fiber Channel Network —Storage traffic between the vSphere hosts and the VMAX 10K is carried over an FC network.

IP Network — All network traffic is carried by a standard Ethernet network with redundant cabling and switching. User and management traffic is carried over a public network while VMware vMotion traffic is carried over a private, non-routable subnet.

Shared Infrastructure — DNS and authentication/authorization services like Microsoft Active Directory can be provided via existing infrastructure or set up as part of the new virtual infrastructure.

EMC VMAX 10K array — Provides storage by presenting Fibre Channel LUNs to vSphere hosts for 5000 virtual machines.

EMC VNX5500 array — Provides storage by presenting CIFS file shares for the 5000 virtual desktops.

Table 2. Solution hardware

Hardware Qty Configuration Notes

EMC VMAX 10K 1 Two bays, two engines,

Four directors configured with:

• One hundred sixty 300GB, 15k rpm 3.5 in FC disks (+ spares)

• Twenty-four 2TB 7,200 rpm 3.5 in. NL SAS disks (+ spare)

• Thirty-two 100GB 3.5 in. Flash drives (+ spares)

VMAX shared storage for vSphere datastores

EMC VNX5500 1 Three data movers (2 active and 1 passive)

Six disk-array enclosures (DAEs) configured with:

• Five 300 GB, 15k-rpm 3.5-in. SAS disks

• Sixty-seven 2 TB, 7,200 rpm 3.5-in. NL-SAS disks

• Three 200 GB, 3.5-in. Flash drives

Optional VNX shared storage for CIFS-based user data



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Hardware Qty Configuration Notes

Intel-based servers

36 • Memory: 144 GB of RAM

• CPU: Two Intel Xeon E7-2870 2.40-GHz deca-core processors

• Internal storage: One 73 GB internal SAS disk

• External storage: VMAX 10K (FC)

• NIC: Dual-port Broadcom NetXtreme II 57711 1000Base-T adapters

• HBA: ISP2532-based dual port 8 Gb Fibre Chennel to PCI Express HBA

Virtual desktop vSphere clusters

3 Infrastructure server vSphere cluster

10 GB Ethernet switches

2 Forty-eight 10Gb ports Redundant 10 GB host connections

8 GB Fibre Channel switches

4 Twenty-four 8 GB Fibre Channel ports

Redundant FC configuration



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Table 3. Solution software

Software Version

VMAX 10K (shared storage, virtual machine datastores)

Enginuity 5876.82.87

Unisphere for VMAX 1.5.0.3

VNX5500 (optional shared storage, CIFS file systems)

VNX OE for File Release 7.1.55.3

VNX OE for Block Release 32 (05.31.000.5.011)

EMC VNX and VMAX vSphere plug-ins

VSI for VMware vSphere: Unified Storage Management

Version 5.4

VSI for VMware vSphere: Storage Viewer Version 5.4

VSI for VMware vSphere: Path Management

Version 5.4

vSphere servers

vSphere 5.0.0 (821926)

VMware Servers

OS Windows 2008 R2 SP1

VMware vCenter Server 5.0 Update 1

Citrix

Citrix XenDesktop 5.6

Citrix Personal vDisk 5.6.7

Citrix Provisioning Services 6.1

Virtual desktops

Note: This software is used to generate the test load.

OS MS Windows 7 Enterprise SP1 (32-bit)

VMware tools 8.6.0 build-515842

Microsoft Office Office Enterprise 2010 SP1

Internet Explorer 9.0.8112.16421

Adobe Reader X (10.1.4)

McAfee Virus Scan 8.7 Enterprise

Adobe Flash Player 11



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Software Version

Bullzip PDF Printer 6.0.0.865

Login VSI (EUC workload generator) 3.6 Professional Edition

Server configuration guidelines VMware vSphere 5 has a number of advanced features that help maximize performance and overall resource utilization. This section describes the performance benefits of some of these features for an EMC Proven Solution deployment.

Memory compression

Memory over-commitment occurs when more memory is allocated to virtual machines than is physically present in a VMware vSphere host. Using sophisticated techniques such as ballooning and transparent page sharing, vSphere is able to handle memory over-commitment without any performance degradation. However, if more memory than is present on the server is being actively used, vSphere might resort to swapping out portions of a VM's memory.

Non-Uniform Memory Access (NUMA)

vSphere uses a NUMA load-balancer to assign a home node to a virtual machine. Because memory for the virtual machine is allocated from the home node, memory access is local and provides the best performance possible. Applications that do not directly support NUMA also benefit from this feature.

Transparent page sharing

Virtual machines running similar operating systems and applications typically have identical sets of memory content. Page sharing allows the hypervisor to reclaim the redundant copies and keep only one copy, which frees up the total host memory consumption. If most of your application virtual machines run the same operating system and application binaries, then total memory usage can be reduced to increase consolidation ratios.

Memory ballooning

By using a balloon driver loaded in the guest operating system, the hypervisor can reclaim host physical memory if memory resources are under contention. This is done with little or no impact to the performance of the application.

This section provides guidelines for allocating memory to virtual machines. The guidelines outlined here take into account vSphere memory overhead and the virtual machine memory settings.

vSphere Memory Overhead

There is some associated overhead for the virtualization of memory resources. The memory space overhead has two components:

• The fixed system overhead for the VMkernel

• Additional overhead for each virtual machine

vSphere memory virtualization

Memory configuration guidelines



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Overhead memory depends on the number of virtual CPUs and configured memory for the guest operating system. Consult VMware vSphere Resource Management Guide for the system overhead and the sample overhead memory size of different virtual machines configurations.

Allocating Memory to Virtual Machines

The proper sizing of memory for a virtual machine in EMC Proven Solution architectures is based on many factors. With the number of application services and use cases available, determining a suitable configuration for an environment requires creating a baseline configuration, testing, and making adjustments, as discussed later in this document. Table 4 details the RAM and vCPU configuration of the virtual desktops used to test this solution.

Table 4. Reference virtual desktop parameters

Characteristic Value

Virtual processors per virtual machine 1

RAM per virtual machine 1 GB

Note: Virtual machines require a certain amount of available overhead memory to power on. When considering the memory sizing of the virtual machines, you should be aware of the amount of this overhead.

Network configuration guidelines This section provides guidelines for setting up a redundant, highly-available network configuration. The guidelines take into account VLANs and Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) on EMC unified storage. For detailed network resource requirements, please refer to Table 2 on page 29.

A link aggregation resembles an Ethernet channel, but uses the Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) IEEE 802.3ad standard. The IEEE 802.3ad standard supports link aggregations with two or more ports. All ports in the aggregation must have the same speed and be full duplex. In this solution, Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) is configured on the VNX, combining multiple Ethernet ports into a single virtual device. If a link is lost in the Ethernet port, the link fails over to another port. All network traffic is distributed across the active links.

VLAN trunking is used to separate network traffic among different workflows. Ensure adequate switch ports for the storage array and vSphere hosts that are configured with a minimum of two VLANs for:

• Virtual machine networking, vSphere management, and CIFS traffic (customer- facing networks, which may be separated if desired).

• vMotion (private network)

Link Aggregation for EMC VNX

VLAN



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Figure 3 shows a sample vSphere vSwitch that is configured with dedicated VMkernel ports for vMotion and vSphere management, each utilizing a different VLAN. In addition, a virtual machine port group was created for use by the virtual desktops.

Figure 3. vSwitch configuration

Storage configuration guidelines VMware vSphere provides host-level storage virtualization. It virtualizes the physical storage and presents the virtualized storage to virtual machines.

A virtual machine stores its operating system and all other files which are related to the VM activities in a virtual disk. The virtual disk can either be a single file or multiple files. VMware uses virtual SCSI controller to present a virtual disk to a guest operating system running inside the virtual machine.

A virtual disk resides in a datastore. This solution uses LUNs formatted with the VMware Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) as virtual machine datastores.

VMFS

VMFS is a cluster file system that provides storage virtualization optimized for virtual machines. It can be deployed over any SCSI based local or network storage.

EMC PowerPath

EMC PowerPath® is host-based software that provides automated data path management and load-balancing capabilities for heterogeneous server, network, and storage deployed in physical and virtual environments. PowerPath uses multiple I/O data paths to share the workload, and automated load balancing to ensure that data paths are used efficiently.

The PowerPath/VE plug-in for vSphere is installed using the vSphere Update Manager. The process to distribute the plug-in and apply the required licenses is described in PowerPath/VE for VMware vSphere Installation and Administration Guide. To enable the plug-in after installation, reboot the vSphere server.


35

Chapter 5 Configuration Guidelines


Configuration overview ................................................................. 36

Pre-deployment tasks ................................................................... 37

Prepare servers ........................................................................... 39

Prepare switches, connect network, and configure switches ................... 39

Prepare and configure the VMAX storage array .................................... 40

Prepare and configure the VNX storage array....................................... 46

Install and configure vSphere hosts and vSphere management infrastructure ................................................. 48

Install and configure SQL server database.......................................... 49

VMware vCenter Server deployment ................................................. 51

Citrix XenDesktop Controller deployment ........................................... 53

Citrix Provisioning Server deployment ............................................... 55

Chapter 5: Configuration Guidelines


36

Configuration overview The deployment process is divided into the stages shown in Table 5. Upon completion of the deployment, the infrastructure will be ready for integration with the existing customer network and server infrastructure.

Table 5 lists the main stages in the solution deployment process. The table also includes references to sections where relevant procedures are provided.

Table 5. Deployment process overview

Stage Description Reference

1 Verify prerequisites Pre-deployment tasks

2 Obtain the deployment tools Deployment prerequisites

3 Prepare the servers for use Prepare servers

4

Configure the switches and networks, connect to the customer network

Prepare switches, connect network, and configure switches

5 Install and configure the storage arrays

Prepare and configure the VMAX storage array

Prepare and configure the VNX storage array

6 Configure optional storage for CIFS-based user data


7 Install and configure the servers

Install and Configure vSphere Hosts and vSphere Management Infrastructure

8 Install and configure database

Install and configure SQL Server database

9 Install and configure vCenter Server VMware vCenter Server deployment

10 Install and configure XenDesktop Controllers

Citrix XenDesktop Controller deployment

11 Install and configure Provisioning Services servers

Citrix Provisioning Server deployment

Deployment process



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Pre-deployment tasks Pre-deployment tasks include procedures that do not directly relate to environment installation and configuration, but whose results will be needed at the time of installation. Examples of pre-deployment tasks are collecting hostnames, IP addresses, VLAN IDs, license keys, installation media, and so on. These tasks should be performed before the customer visit to decrease the time required onsite.

Table 6. Tasks for pre-deployment

Task Description Reference

Gather documents

Gather the related documents listed in the References section. These are used throughout the text of this document to provide detail on setup procedures and deployment best practices for the various components of the solution.

Appendix A: EMC documentation on page 61

Appendix A: Other documentation on page 61

Gather tools Gather the required and optional tools for the deployment. Confirm that all equipment, software, and appropriate licenses are available before the deployment process.

Table 7

Gather data Collect the customer-specific configuration data for networking, naming, and required accounts.

Table 7 itemizes the hardware, software, and license requirements to configure the solution.

Table 7. Deployment prerequisites checklist

Requirement Description Reference

Hardware Physical servers to host virtual servers: Sufficient physical server capacity to host 5000 desktops

Table 2

VMware vSphere 5 servers to host virtual infrastructure servers

(Note: This requirement may be covered in the existing infrastructure)

Networking: Switch port capacity and capabilities as required by the virtual server infrastructure

EMC MAX10K storage array with the required disk layout

EMC VNX5500 multiprotocol storage array with the required disk layout

Software VMware vSphere™ 5.0 installation media

Overview

Deployment prerequisites



38

Requirement Description Reference

VMware vCenter Server 5.0 installation media

Citrix XenDesktop installation media

EMC PowerPath Virtual Edition

EMC Powerlink

EMC PowerPath Viewer

EMC VSI for VMware vSphere: Unified Storage Management

EMC VSI for VMware vSphere: Storage Viewer

EMC vStorage API for Array Integration plug-in

Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 installation media

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 installation media (suggested OS for VMware vCenter)

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 or newer installation media


Licenses

VMware vCenter 5.0 license key

VMware vSphere 5.0 license key

Citrix XenDesktop license file

EMC PowerPath Virtual Edition license files

Microsoft Windows 7 license key

(Note: This requirement may be covered by an existing Microsoft Key Management Server (KMS))

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard (or higher) license key

(Note: This requirement may be covered by an existing Microsoft Key Management Server (KMS))

Microsoft SQL Server license key




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Prepare servers Server capacity is required for two purposes in the solution:

• To support the new virtualized server infrastructure

• To support the required infrastructure services such as authentication/authorization, DNS, and database

For information on minimum infrastructure server and desktop hosting requirements, refer to Table 2 on page 29. If existing infrastructure services meet the requirements, the hardware listed for infrastructure services will not be required.

Prepare switches, connect network, and configure switches This chapter provides the requirements for network infrastructure needed to support this architecture. Table 8 provides a summary of the tasks for switch and network configuration and references for further information.

Table 8. Tasks for switch and network configuration


Configure infrastructure network

Configure storage array and vSphere host infrastructure networking.

Install and Configure vSphere Hosts and vSphere Management Infrastructure

Configure storage network

Configure the Fiber Channel storage network.


Configure VLANs

Configure private and public VLANs as required.

Your vendor’s switch configuration guide

Configure Fibre Channel zones

Using single initiator zoning, configure zones for all the Fiber Channel hosts.

Complete network cabling

Connect the switch interconnect ports.

Connect the VMAX ports.

Connect the VNX ports.

Connect the vSphere server ports.

The infrastructure network requires redundant network and Fiber Channel links for each host, the storage array, the switch interconnect ports, and the switch uplink ports. This configuration provides both redundancy and additional network bandwidth. This configuration is required regardless of whether the network infrastructure for the solution already exists or is being deployed alongside other components of the solution.

Overview

Configure infrastructure network



40

The infrastructure Fiber Channel network requires redundant Fiber Channel switches, as well as links for each vSphere host and the storage array. This configuration provides both redundancy and additional storage network bandwidth. Each vSphere host should be connected to two different Fiber Channel switches, and each switch should be connected to multiple directors on the storage array. Each Fiber Channel connection between the vSphere host and the VMAX storage array should be placed in a separate Fiber Channel zone.

Ensure adequate switch ports for the storage array and hosts that are configured with a minimum of two VLANs for:

• Virtual machine networking, vSphere management, and CIFS traffic (customer- facing networks, which may be separated if desired)

• VMotion (private network)

Ensure that all solution servers, storage arrays, switch interconnects, and switch uplinks have redundant connections and are plugged into separate switching infrastructures. Ensure that the existing customer network is completely connected.

Note: At this point the new equipment is being connected to the existing customer network. Be careful that unforeseen interactions do not cause service issues on the customer network

Prepare and configure the VMAX storage array

This section describes how to configure the VMAX storage array. In the solution, VMAX series provides LUNs that will be used to create VMFS datastores for virtual machine storage.

Table 9. Tasks for VMAX storage configuration


Set up initial VMAX configuration

Provision the VMAX including network information, port groups, storage pool configuration, Unisphere for VMAX, and FAST VP policies.

Unisphere for VMAX – Installation Guide

Unisphere for VMAX – Product Guide

Configure storage groups

Configure a storage group for each of the vSphere clusters and create the required LUNs.

Configure initiator groups

Configure initiator groups and add the applicable host initiators to each group.

Configure masking views

Configure a masking view for each initiator group, selecting the associated initiator group, port group, and storage group.


Configure VLANs

Complete network cabling

Overview



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Configure the IP address information and other key parameters such as DNS and NTP on the VMAX. In addition, configure the port groups, storage pool, FAST VP settings, and the Unisphere for VMAX virtual appliance. The reference documents listed in Table 9 on page 40 provide more information on how to configure the VMAX platform.

Use the Unisphere Storage – Storage Groups menu to create a storage group to associate with each vSphere cluster, and configure the required number of LUNs of the size required based on the per-desktop storage requirements. An additional storage group will also be required if the VMAX will host the infrastructure servers required to implement the solution. For this system we are creating one, 1.7 TB LUN for each VDI server.

Figure 4. Create Storage Group

Set up initial VMAX configuration

Provision storage for VMFS datastores



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Use the Unisphere Hosts – Initiator Groups menu to create an initiator group for each of the storage groups and populate it with the vSphere host FC initiator values. In some cases multiple initiator groups may be required; however, in this case all the initiators can be configured in one initiator group.

Figure 5. Hosts - Create Initiator Group

Configure initiator groups



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Use the Unisphere Hosts – Port Groups menu to create a port group that includes all the ports available to the hosts through the switch. In this case all hosts are available on all ports in the VMAX.

Figure 6. Configure Port Group

Configure port groups



44

Use the Unisphere Hosts – Masking Views menu to create a masking view for each of the storage groups, including the storage group, port group, and initiator group created in previous steps. Where possible, the vSphere clusters should be distributed evenly among each of the available port groups.

Figure 7. Create Masking View

Configure masking views



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Use the Unisphere Storage – FAST menu to create the VDI FAST policy and to associate the VDI-Storage groups with the policy. Setting the FAST policy to 100% for each tier allows FAST the most flexibility to place data in the correct storage type.

Figure 8. VDI FAST Policy

Configure FAST policy



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This section describes how to configure the VNX storage array. In the solution, the VNX series provides CIFS shares for user data.

Configure the network interfaces, IP address information, and other key parameters such as DNS, NTP, and CIFS servers on the VNX before storage provisioning. The reference documents listed in Table 10 provide more information on how to configure the VNX platform.

Table 10. Tasks for VNX storage configuration


Set up initial VNX configuration

Configure the IP address information and other key parameters on the VNX.

VNX5500 Unified Installation Guide

Unisphere System Getting Started Guide

Your vendor’s switch configuration guide

Provision LUNs Create LUNs that will be presented to VNX datamovers to create a NAS pool.

Configure CIFS server

Configure CIFS services and join the CIFS server to the existing Active Directory domain.

Provision CIFS file shares

Create file systems that will be used for CIFS file shares.

Complete the following steps in EMC Unisphere® to configure CIFS file systems on the VNX array that will be used to store user data:

1. Create a block-based RAID 6 storage pool that consists of sixty four (for 2 TB NLSAS disks. Configure these as eight RAID 6 (4+2) groups.

Note: You should also create your Hot Spare disks at this point. Please consult the EMC VNX5500 Unified Installation Guide for additional information.

2. Using the pool created in step a, provision twenty 2 TB LUNs and present them to the Data Mover using the system-defined NAS storage group.

3. Configure CIFS services on the array, and create and join a CIFS server to the existing Active Directory domain.

4. Create multiple file systems from the NAS pool to use as CIFS file shares. The validated solution used two 10 TB file systems for user data and two 2.5 TB file systems for user profile data.

Overview

Set up initial VNX configuration

Provision storage for CIFS shares



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The relationship between the disks, LUNs, dVols, and file systems is depicted in Figure 9.

Figure 9. VNX storage pool for file layout



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Install and configure vSphere hosts and vSphere management infrastructure

This section provides the requirements for the installation and configuration of the vSphere hosts and infrastructure servers required to support the architecture. Table 11 describes the tasks that must be completed.

Table 11. Tasks for installing and configuring hosts and management structure


Install vSphere

Install the vSphere hypervisor on the physical servers being deployed for the solution.

vSphere Installation and Setup Guide

Configure vSphere Networking

Configure vSphere networking.

Connect VMAX 10K

Connect the VMAX 10K datastores to the vSphere hosts deployed for the solution.

Upon initial power up of the servers being used for vSphere, confirm or enable the hardware-assisted CPU virtualization and the hardware-assisted MMU virtualization setting in each server’s BIOS. If the servers are equipped with a RAID controller, EMC recommends that you configure mirroring on the local disks.

Start up the vSphere 5.0 installation media and install the hypervisor on each of the servers. vSphere hostnames, IP addresses, and a root password are required for installation.

During the installation of VMware vSphere, a standard virtual switch (vSwitch) will be created. By default, vSphere chooses only one physical NIC as a virtual switch uplink. To maintain redundancy and bandwidth requirements, an additional NIC must be added either by using the vSphere console or by connecting to the vSphere host from the vSphere Client.

Each VMware vSphere server should have multiple interface cards for each virtual network to ensure redundancy and provide for the use of network load balancing, link aggregation, and network adapter failover.

VMware vSphere networking configuration including load balancing, link aggregation, and failover options are described in vSphere Networking. Choose the appropriate load-balancing option based on what is supported by the network infrastructure.

Create VMkernel ports as required, based on the infrastructure configuration:

• VMkernel port for VMware vMotion

• Virtual desktop port groups (used by the virtual desktops to communicate on the network)

Overview

Install vSphere

Configure vSphere networking



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vSphere Networking describes the procedure for configuring these settings. Refer to the list of documents in References for more information.

Connect the datastores configured in Provision storage for VMFS datastores to the appropriate vSphere servers. These include the datastores configured for:

• Virtual desktop storage

• Infrastructure virtual machine storage (if required)

• SQL Server storage (if required)

vSphere Storage Guide provides instructions on how to connect the VMware datastores to the vSphere host.

Install and configure SQL server database This section describes how to set up and configure a SQL Server database for the solution. At the end of this chapter, you will have Microsoft SQL server on a virtual machine, with the databases required by VMware vCenter configured for use.

Table 12. Tasks for SQL Server database setup


Create a virtual machine for Microsoft SQL Server

Create a virtual machine to host SQL Server. Verify that the virtual server meets the hardware and software requirements

http://msdn.microsoft.com

Install Microsoft Windows on the virtual machine

Install Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition on the virtual machine created to host SQL Server

http://technet.microsoft.com

Install Microsoft SQL Server

Install Microsoft SQL Server on the virtual machine designated for that purpose

http://technet.microsoft.com

Configure database for VMware vCenter

Create the database required for the vCenter server on the appropriate datastore

Preparing vCenter Server Databases

Configure database for VMware Update Manager

Create the database required for Update Manager on the appropriate datastore

Preparing the Update Manager Database

The requirements for processor, memory, and OS vary for different versions of SQL Server. Refer to the Microsoft website to obtain the minimum requirement for each SQL Server software version. The virtual machine should be created on one of the

Connect VMware datastores

Create a virtual machine for Microsoft SQL Server

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http://technet.microsoft.com/�

http://technet.microsoft.com/�



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vSphere servers designated for infrastructure virtual machines, and should use the datastore designated for the shared infrastructure.

Note: The customer environment may already contain a SQL Server that is designated for this role. In that case, refer to Configure database for VMware vCenter.

The SQL Server service must run on Microsoft Windows. Install Windows on the virtual machine by selecting the appropriate network, time, and authentication settings.

Install SQL Server on the virtual machine from the SQL Server installation media. The Microsoft TechNet website provides information on how to install SQL Server.

One of the installable components in the SQL Server installer is the SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS). You can install this component on the SQL Server directly as well as on an administrator’s console. SSMS must be installed on at least one system.

In many implementations you may want to store data files in locations other than the default path. To change the default path, right-click the server object in SSMS and select Database Properties. This action opens a properties interface from which you can change the default data and log directories for new databases created on the server.

Note: For High Availability, SQL Server can be installed in a Microsoft Failover Cluster, or on a virtual machine protected by VMware VMHA clustering. It is not recommended to combine these technologies.

To use VMware vCenter in this solution, you will need to create a database for the service to use. The requirements and steps to configure the vCenter Server database correctly are covered in Preparing vCenter Server Databases section of the VMware vSphere Installation and Setup Guide. Refer to the list of documents in the References section for more information.

Note: Do not use the Microsoft SQL Server Express–based database option for this solution.

It is a best practice to create individual login accounts for each service accessing a database on a SQL Server.

To use VMware Update Manager in this solution you will need to create a database for the service to use. The requirements and steps to configure the Update Manager database correctly are covered in Preparing the Update Manager Database. It is a best practice to create individual login accounts for each service accessing a database on SQL Server. Consult your database administrator for your organization’s policy.

Install Microsoft Windows on the virtual machine

Install SQL Server

Configure database for VMware vCenter

Configure database for VMware Update Manager



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VMware vCenter Server deployment This section provides information on how to configure the VMware vCenter Server. Table 13 describes the tasks that must be completed.

Table 13. Tasks for vCenter configuration


Create the vCenter host virtual machine

Create a virtual machine to be used for the VMware vCenter Server.

vSphere Virtual Machine Administration

Install vCenter guest operating system

Install Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition on the vCenter host virtual machine.

Update the virtual machine

Install VMware Tools, enable hardware acceleration, and allow remote console access.

vSphere Virtual Machine Administration

Create vCenter ODBC connections

Create the 64-bit vCenter and 32-bit vCenter Update Manager ODBC connections.

• vSphere Installation and Setup

• Installing and Administering VMware vSphere Update Manager

Install vCenter Server

Install vCenter Server software. vSphere Installation and Setup

Install vCenter Update Manager

Install vCenter Update Manager software.

Installing and Administering VMware vSphere Update Manager

Create a virtual datacenter

Create a virtual datacenter. vCenter Server and Host Management

Apply vSphere license keys

Type the vSphere license keys in the vCenter licensing menu.

vSphere Installation and Setup

Add vSphere hosts Connect vCenter to vSphere hosts.

vCenter Server and Host Management

Configure vSphere clustering

Create a vSphere cluster and move the vSphere hosts into it.

vSphere Resource Management

Install the vCenter Update Manager plug-in

Install the vCenter Update Manager plug-in on the administration console.

Installing and Administering VMware vSphere Update Manager

Install the EMC VNX UEM CLI

Install the EMC VNX UEM command line interface on the administration console.

EMC VSI for VMware vSphere: Unified Storage Management— Product Guide

Install the EMC VSI plug-in

Install the EMC Virtual Storage Integration plug-in on the administration console.

EMC VSI for VMware vSphere: Unified Storage Management— Product Guide

Overview



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If the VMware vCenter Server is to be deployed as a virtual machine on a vSphere server installed as part of this solution, connect directly to an Infrastructure vSphere server using the vSphere Client. Create a virtual machine on the vSphere server with the customer’s guest OS configuration, using the Infrastructure server datastore presented from the storage array. The memory and processor requirements for the vCenter Server are dependent on the number of vSphere hosts and virtual machines being managed. The requirements are outlined in the vSphere Installation and Setup Guide.

Install the guest OS on the vCenter host virtual machine. VMware recommends using Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard Edition. Refer to vSphere Installation and Setup Guide to ensure that adequate space is available on the vCenter and vSphere Update Manager installation drive.

Before installing vCenter Server and vCenter Update Manager, you must create the ODBC connections required for database communication. These ODBC connections will use SQL Server authentication for database authentication.

Refer to vSphere Installation and Setup Guide and Installing and Administering VMware vSphere Update Manager for instructions on how to create the necessary ODBC connections.

Install vCenter by using the VMware VIMSetup installation media. Use the customer-provided username, organization, and vCenter license key when installing vCenter.

To perform license maintenance, log into the vCenter Server and select the Administration - Licensing menu from the vSphere client. Use the vCenter License console to enter the license keys for the vSphere hosts. After this, they can be applied to the vSphere hosts as they are imported into vCenter.

The VMAX and VNX storage systems can be integrated with VMware vCenter by using EMC Virtual Storage Integrator (VSI) for VMware vSphere unified Storage Management plug-in. This provides administrators the ability to manage VNX storage tasks from the vCenter. After the plug-in is installed on the vSphere console, administrators can use vCenter to:

• Create datastores on VNX or VMAX and mount them on vSphere servers

• Extend datastores

• Perform FAST/full clones of virtual machines

Create the vCenter host virtual machine

Install vCenter guest OS

Create vCenter ODBC connections

Install vCenter Server

Apply vSphere license keys

Install the EMC VSI plug-in



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Citrix XenDesktop Controller deployment This section provides information on how to set up and configure Citrix XenDesktop controllers for the solution. For a new installation of XenDesktop, Citrix recommends that you complete the following tasks in this order:

Table 14. Tasks for XenDesktop Controller Setup


Create virtual machines for XenDesktop controllers

Create two virtual machines in vSphere Client. These virtual machines will be used as XenDesktop controllers.

Install guest OS for XenDesktop controllers

Install Windows Server 2008 R2 guest OS.

Install server-side components of XenDesktop

Install XenDesktop server components on the first controller.

http://www.citrix.com

Configure a site Configure a site in Desktop Studio.

Add four additional controllers

Install additional controllers for high availability.

Install Desktop Studio Install Desktop Studio to manage XenDesktop deployment remotely.

Prepare a master virtual desktop

Create a master virtual machine as the base image for the virtual desktops.

The server-side components of XenDesktop to be installed on the first controller are:

• Controller – creates and manages virtual desktops for users

• Web Interface – provides users with web access to their virtual desktops

• License Server – manages XenDesktop licenses

• Desktop Studio – XenDesktop configuration and management console

• Desktop Director – XenDesktop daily operations and helpdesk website

Important: Citrix supports installation of XenDesktop components only through the procedures described in Citrix documentation. For more information, refer to the Citrix website.

Start Desktop Studio and configure a site. For site configuration, do the following:

1. License the site and specify which edition of XenDesktop to use.

2. Set up the site database using a designated login credential for SQL Server.

Install server-side components of XenDesktop

Configure a site

http://www.citrix.com/�



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3. Provide information about your virtual infrastructure, including the vCenter SDK path that the controller will use to establish a connection to the VMware infrastructure.

After you have configured a site, you can add four additional controllers to provide high availability. The server-side components of XenDesktop required for the additional controllers are:

• Controller

• Web Interface

• Desktop Studio

• Desktop Director

The license server component should not be installed on the second controller because it is centrally managed on the first controller.

If you want to manage your XenDesktop deployment remotely, install Desktop Studio on appropriate administrator consoles from which the XenDesktop deployment will be managed.

Optimize the master virtual machine to avoid unnecessary background services generating extraneous I/O operations that adversely affect the overall performance of the storage array.

Complete the following steps to prepare the master virtual machine:

1. Install Windows XP or Windows 7 guest OS.

2. Install appropriate integration tools such as VMware Tools.

3. Install the Citrix Provisioning Servers agent software.

4. Optimize the OS settings by referring the following documents: EMC Performance Optimization for Microsoft Windows XP for the Virtual Desktop Infrastructure—Applied Best Practices white paper and Deploying Microsoft Windows 7 Virtual Desktops with VMware View —Applied Best Practices white paper.

5. Install third-party tools or applications, such as Microsoft Office, relevant to your environment.

You will install the Virtual Desktop Agent after the desktop image has been captured by the PVS server, as described in the next section.

Add a second controller

Install Desktop Studio

Prepare master virtual machine



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Citrix Provisioning Server deployment This section provides information on how to set up and configure the Citrix Provisioning Servers for the solution. For a new installation of Provisioning Services, Citrix recommends that you complete the following tasks in this order:

Table 15. Tasks for Provisioning Server Setup


Create virtual machines for Provisioning Servers

Create two virtual machines in vSphere Client. These virtual machines will be used as XenDesktop controllers.

Install guest OS for Provisioning Servers

Install Windows Server 2008 R2 guest OS.

Install Provisioning Services

Install Provisioning Server software on the first server.


Run the Provisioning Servers Configuration Wizard

The wizard completes the installation process by configuration Provisioning Server options.

Configure Provisioning Server inbound communication options

The inbound communication options affect how many desktops the Provisioning Server can accommodate.

Deploy additional Provisioning Servers

Additional Provisioning Servers should be deployed to meet availability and scalability needs.

Configure the PVS bootstrap file

The PVS bootstrap file is used by the virtual desktops to facilitate communication with the PVS server and boot the desktop.

Configure DHCP options to enable PXE boot

The DHCP server for the desktops must provide the PXE server address of the Provisioning Server that hosts the PXE server as well as the PXE boot file.

Create a PVS template to be used to deploy the virtual desktops

The PVS template is used during the creation of the virtual desktops; the completed template must be cloned to each desktop VMFS datastore.


Import the master virtual desktop into PVS

Use the PVS agent software to import the master virtual desktop into a vDisk on the PVS server.

Configure the PVS master virtual desktop to boot to

Once imported, the master virtual desktop must be booted from the





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Task Description Reference vDisk and power it on. vDisk to install the Personal vDisk

and XenDesktop agent software.

Install the Personal vDisk and XenDesktop Agent software on the PVS master virtual desktop.

Install the software packages and power off the desktop when completed, allowing the Personal vDisk to update.

Copy the PVS master virtual desktop to each PVS server

The PVS master virtual desktop must be copied to each PVS server so that the PVS server can use it to deploy desktops.

Change the master virtual desktop vDisk to Standard Image mode

The vDisk must be changed to Standard Mode to enable it to be shared.

Set the master virtual desktop vDisk to cache on device hard drive

The cache on device hard drive option sets all desktops that use the vDisk to use their dedicated VMDK file to store cache data.

Use the XenDesktop Setup Wizard to deploy virtual desktops.

The XenDesktop Setup Wizard deploys PVS-based desktops and registers them with the XenDesktop Controller.

Run the Provisioning Services Configuration Wizard after installing the Provisioning Services software. The configuration option differs between the first and secondary (or additional) provisioning servers. The following steps highlight the configuration wizard options customized for this solution:

1. On the Provisioning Services 6.0 server, select Start > All Programs > Citrix > Provisioning Services > Provisioning Services Configuration Wizard. The Provisioning Services Configuration Wizard window appears.

2. Click Next. The DHCP Services page appears.

3. Since the DHCP services run on a dedicated DHCP server, select The service that runs on another computer.

4. Click Next. The PXE Services page appears.

5. Select The service that runs on this computer.

6. Click Next. The Farm Configuration page appears.

7. Select Create farm to configure the first provisioning server or Join existing farm to configure additional provisioning servers.

8. With either option, the wizard prompts for a SQL Server and its instance. The provisioning server uses these inputs to create a database to store the configuration details of the provisioning server. Additional provisioning servers use these inputs to retrieve information about existing farms from the database.

9. Click Next. The User account page appears.

Run the Provisioning Servers Configuration Wizard



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10. Because the master desktop vDisk is stored on a local drive of each provisioning server, select Local system account (Use with SAN) as the user account to run the stream and SOAP services in the provisioning servers.

11. Click Next. The Active Directory Computer Account Password page appears. Leave the active directory account password settings unchanged.

12. Click Next. The Network Communications page appears.

13. Ensure that the appropriate network card is selected for the stream services. Leave the first communications and console ports unchanged.

14. Click Next. The TFTP Option and Bootstrap Location page appears.

15. Leave the Provisioning Services TFTP service option set to the default setting.

16. Click Next. The Finish page appears.

17. Verify the settings specified in the wizard. Click Finish to complete the configuration process.

Each provisioning server maintains a range of User Datagram Protocol (UDP) ports to manage all inbound communications from virtual desktops. The default port range of 21 ports and 8 threads per port may not support a large number of virtual desktops in this validated solution. The total number of threads supported by a provisioning server is calculated as:

Total threads = (Number of UDP ports * Threads per port * Number of network adapters)

Ideally, there should be one thread dedicated for each desktop session. In this solution, the number of UDP ports is increased to 64 (port range of 6910 to 6973) and threads per port are increased to 10 on each PVS (64 * 10 * 1 NIC = 640 threads per server) to accommodate up to 640 desktops.

To modify the tuning parameters, complete the following steps:

1. Double-click a provisioning server in the Provisioning Services console to display the Server Properties dialog box.

2. Click the Network tab, and adjust the first and/or last ports.

Note: The Citrix PVS two-stage boot service uses port 6969 by default. Because this service is not required for the solution, two-stage boot service is disabled to avoid conflict and the UDP port range is enabled up to 6973.

3. Click the Advanced tab to modify Threads per port parameter, and then click OK.

It is a best practice to maintain the same server properties among PVS servers. In particular, configure all servers with the same port range.

Configure provisioning server inbound communication options



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To update the bootstrap file required for the virtual desktops to PXE boot, complete the following steps:

1. In the Provisioning Services console, navigate to Farm > Sites > Site-name > Servers.

2. Right-click a server, and then select Configure Bootstrap. The Configure Bootstrap dialog box appears.

3. Add a new PVS server to the server farm.

4. Update the bootstrap image to reflect the IP addresses used for all PVS servers that provide streaming services in a round-robin fashion.

Note: Click Read Servers from Database to obtain a list of PVS servers or click Add to manually add the server information.

5. After modifying the configuration, click OK to update the ARDBP32.BIN bootstrap file, which is located at C:\ProgramData\Citrix\Provisioning Services\Tftpboot.

6. Navigate to the folder and examine the timestamp of the bootstrap file to ensure that the bootstrap file is updated on the intended PVS server.

In this validated solution, the PVS virtual machines share the virtual disk containing the master vDisk. To enable this feature, this virtual disk is attached as read-only

After the necessary Citrix agents have been installed on the master desktop image, the access mode must be changed from Private Image to Standard Image to enable virtual desktops to share the common vDisk. Thereafter, the vDisk becomes read-only.

Virtual desktop changes are redirected to a write-cache area. In this solution testing, the write-cache type is set to Cache on device hard drive to ensure that each virtual desktop uses its own VHD to store the write cache.

Configure the PVS bootstrap file

Change the master virtual desktop vDisk to Standard Image mode

Set the master virtual desktop vDisk to cache on device hard drive



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Conclusion EMC Symmetrix VMAX 10K is proven to be highly scalable and reliable. It is capable of accommodating the storage performance and capacity requirements of a large scale end user computing solution built on Citrix XenDesktop, Citrix Provisioning Services, and VMware vSphere.

The VMAK 10K configuration featured in this document can support 5,000 active virtual desktops, delivering a superior end user experience even during periods of heavy load.

• EMC FAST VP enables Symmetric VMAX 10K storage arrays to maximize storage efficiency and provide autotiering of virtual desktop storage to the most suitable storage tier, while ensuring that performance is maintained.

• With Symmetrix VMAX 10K’s integration with VMware, the virtual desktop infrastructure is relatively simple to provision and manage.

• The Symmetrix VMAX 10K architecture is highly scalable and can be expanded to support greater numbers of virtual desktops.

• The Symmetrix VMAK 10K can easily service the peak IOPS encountered during common end user computing workloads such as logon storms, boot storms, and antivirus scan storms.



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Appendix A References

References The following documents available on EMC Online Support provide additional and relevant information. If you do not have access to a document, contact your EMC representative:

• EMC Infrastructure for Citrix XenDesktop 5.5 (PVS) – Proven Solution Guide

• EMC Infrastructure for Citrix XenDesktop 5.5 (PVS) – Reference Architecture

• EMC Unisphere for VMAX – Installation Guide

• EMC Unisphere for VMAX – Product Guide

Documentation related to the other components of this solution is available at the respective vendor websites. This includes:

• For Citrix documentation, please refer to the Citrix web site at http://www.citrix.com

• For VMware documentation, please refer to the VMware web site at http://www.vmware.com

EMC documentation

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