Piloting Virtual Computer Labs (242324454)

8/11/2019 Piloting Virtual Computer Labs (242324454)

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Piloting Virtual Computer Labs

Scott Arnst – University of Michigan - Flint

Adam Robinson - University of Michigan - FlintWeston Taylor - Colorado College



The Business Case

• Lower CAPEX• Total purchase was less than deeply discounted

desktops

• Lower OPEX• Significantly lower power consumption

• Lower cooling requirements

• Reduced physical footprint

• Longer useful lifespan• Simplifies support



Use Cases

• Case 1 - General open computer labs

• Case 2 - Students using GIS (GeographicInformation Systems)

• Case 3 - Statistical analysis which requiresprocessing power

• Case 4 - Graphic Arts students using Final

Cut Pro or Adobe Creative Suite• Case 2-4 occur in labs that cannot be

reserved for 24/7 or are under powered



Case 1 – Open Computer Labs



Publicity

• Emphasized a “Green Lab”• Showed carbon emission reduction

• Lower power consumption

• Less impact on their Technology Fee dollars

• Used a lab normally closed during summer semester

• 35 zero clients

• How did it go?



EPIC FAIL!• 10 minute login times when IT staff tested

• Tons of apps barely functioned

• Server CPU’s pegged

• Memory full

• SAN I/O saturated• Most IT staff formed their opinion then and there and some

still have not changed their perception



Our Findings

• Needed more CPU

• Needed WAY more RAM

• Needed WAY faster disks

• This was our biggest bottle-neck and itwill be yours too!



Pilot 2.0 – 3.0• We piloted two more iterations of faster servers

and faster storage.

• 1.5 minute login times when IT staff tested

• Apps functioned fine, even video unless full screen• SAN I/O no longer an issue

• Except that the SSD appliance was $50K plus$8K annually

• This still did not change IT staff perceptions



Last Chance

• Built our own SSD SAN• Cost approximately $15,000

• Used the PowerEdge 2950 as controller

• 48 GB of Cache

• 24 SATA SSD Drives

• Datacore SanSymphony-V (2008 R2 Server Core)

• Purchased two new servers with lots of

cores and 64Gb of RAM• Continued to tweak golden image



Go Live

• Login times 24 – 35 seconds!

• This still did not change all IT staffperceptions

• Students perceived it was slower than adesktop• We tested applications they said were slower (SPSS,

Word, etc.), VDI is faster

• Students were involved in an earlier pilot whichprobably tainted their perception as well



Where We Are Today• Eight servers clustered with PCoIP offload cards

• Two homemade SSD SANs mirrored

• ~350 zero clients across 9 labs

• 30 thin client laptops in a cart

• Some IT employees and IT Helpdesk

• Simplified support• Lower TCO

• Reduced power consumption/smaller carbon footprint

• Web based real-time lab utilization

• Lab Anywhere

• Employee zero clients

• Need personalization and snap shots

• Reuse existing desktops/laptops

• Simplified way to pilot a new OS or application

• Unidesk



Lessons Learned• Go big or go home

• SSD is a must

• Servers are cheap so add a bunch with lots of

cores and memory• Perception is everything



What problems do you havegiving students access to

software or hardware? How do you have students

access software remotely?

What virtual lab/desktop

initiatives do you have? What's your timeline for testing or

implementation?

Poll Questions

tiny.cc/educausevlabs



Cases 2 & 3 - GIS Lab & Stats



GIS Lab

• Higher-end physical computers

• Graphics-intense software

• Full class won’t fit



Test 1

Windows Server 2003 R2

Terminal Server

2.90 GHz CPU, 3.75 GB RAM

40 GB VHD



Test 2

Windows Server 2012 R2 Datacenter

2.90 GHz CPU (Octocore), 12 GB RAM

119 GB VHD



Continuing issues

Old macs don’t like the preferred remote

desktop app

VHD fills up

No policy as yet limiting use toclasses/thesis students

Users forget to log off



Hosted VDI mini-pilot

6 machines - 2 CPUs, 4 GB RAM cost - $45 per month/machine

Average per computer cost for 3 years:$2300.23

Lessons:

Latency is terrible

Dedicated setup & testing time required



On-premise VDI pilot

VMWare

Decommisioned server

Help desk tech pet project

Lessons: Fast hardware is critical (where have I heard

that?)

Employee leaves = RIP project

Staff who are willing may not be the bestguinea pigs



Cases 4 - Macs



Virtual Mac

No, not Aqua Connect or Virtual Box

24/7 lab access for class with 8 students

External hard drives

OS Project storage space

Win! Students had access to

their files and their

software they need Highly portable



Next Steps

Microsoft App-V

Amazon Workspaces $35/month 1 vCPU, 3.75 GiB RAM, 50 GB storage

VMWare Thin apps Thumb drives with Windows to go

tiny.cc/educausevlabsresults

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1cNMJ7mAnWQwBXQrpYSD1xkqDCGHtRrb-nnH_UMLVZLs/viewanalytics





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Piloting Virtual Computer Labs (242324454)

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