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www.EMC.com

EMC NAS Product ValidationCorporate Headquarters

Hopkinton, MA 01748-91031-508-435-1000www.EMC.com

Deploying Virtual Desktops with VMware View 4.0 in Midsize and

Enterprise Environments

Validation Test Report

EMCCelerra NS-120

Revision 1.0


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2 Deploying Virtuals Desktops with VMware View 4.0 in Midsize and Enterprise Environments EMC Celerra NS-120


Copyright 2009 EMC Corporation. All rights reserved.

Published November, 2009

EMC believes the information in this publication is accurate as 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 applicablesoftware license.

For the most up-to-date listing of EMC product names, see EMC Corporation Trademarks on EMC.com.

All other trademarks used herein are the property of their respective owners.

Deploying Virtuals Desktops with VMware View 4.0 in Midsize and EnterpriseEnvironments EMC Celerra NS-120



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Deploying Virtuals Desktops with VMware View 4.0 in Midsize and Enterprise Environments EMC Celerra NS-120 3

Validation Test Repor

Contents

About this Document ....................................................................................................................... 8Chapter 1 Physical Architecture ..................................................................................................................... 11

Tested system configuration...........................................................................................................11

Hardware resources ...............................................................................................................12

Software resources.................................................................................................................12

Network architecture .............................................................................................................13

Celerra configuration......................................................................................................................15

VMware ESX configuration...........................................................................................................18

Storage architecture........................................................................................................................ 20

View cluster configuration ....................................................................................................22

Test tools and methods................................................................................................................... 25

Master image .........................................................................................................................25

Creating virtual desktops from VMware linked clones.........................................................26

Test description......................................................................................................................37

Chapter 2 Test Results ....................................................................................................................................38Test results for virtual desktops, ESX servers, and a NS-120 Data Mover ................................... 38

Test description overview......................................................................................................38

Desktops from VMware View Composer linked clones .......................................................38

Conclusions ....................................................................................................................................55


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Deploying Viirtual Desktops with VMware View 4.0 in Midsize and Enterprise Environments EMC Celerra NS-120 4


Figures

Figure 1 Solution architecture...................................................................................................11Figure 2 vCenter representation of virtual switches and virtual NICs ......................................13Figure 3 NIC teaming................................................................................................................14 Figure 4 EMC Celerra NS-120 Data Mover ports ....................................................................15Figure 5 Celerra Manager Network Interfaces page .................................................................15Figure 6 Celerra Manager New Storage Pool page...................................................................16Figure 7 Celerra Manager New File System page ....................................................................16Figure 8 Celerra Manager New iSCSI LUN page.....................................................................17 Figure 9 Celerra Manger - iSCSI Targets page .........................................................................17Figure 10 Celerra Manager - iSCSI LUN Mask page .................................................................18Figure 11 Celerra Manager - New iSCSI Mask page ..................................................................18 Figure 12

vCenter Firewall Properties dialog box for enabling the software iSCSI client.........19

Figure 13 vCenter Add Network Wizard page for creating a network interface ........................20Figure 14 vCenter iSCSI Initiator Properties page for adapter configuration.............................20Figure 15 Storage architecture ....................................................................................................21Figure 16 vCenter view of the test environment infrastructure...................................................24Figure 17 Select New Resource Pool ..........................................................................................26Figure 18 Create and define a resource pool...............................................................................26Figure 19 Create a snapshot ........................................................................................................27Figure 20 Name the virtual machine snapshot ............................................................................27 Figure 21 Add desktop ................................................................................................................28Figure 22 Select desktop type .....................................................................................................28Figure 23 Select Desktop Persistence .........................................................................................29Figure 24 Select VirtualCenter server .........................................................................................29Figure 25 Type desktop ID and name .........................................................................................30Figure 26 Configure desktop settings..........................................................................................30Figure 27 Select provisioning settings ........................................................................................31 Figure 28 Select the parent VM ..................................................................................................31 Figure 29 Select the snapshot for the base image .......................................................................32Figure 30 Select the folder for VM storage.................................................................................32Figure 31 Select the destination cluster.......................................................................................33 Figure 32 Select the resource pool ..............................................................................................33Figure 33 Specify user data storage ............................................................................................34Figure 34 Select the data stores...................................................................................................34Figure 35 Select QuickPrep settings ...........................................................................................35Figure 36 Review all settings ......................................................................................................35Figure 37 View Manager display ................................................................................................36Figure 38 vCenter display of the new desktops ..........................................................................36Figure 39 Comparison of iteration 1 versus iteration 2 response times ......................................39Figure 40 Excel opens by 1,035 VMs on 5 FC building blocks .................................................40Figure 42 Outlook opens by 1,035 VMs on 5 FC building blocks .............................................41Figure 41 Adobe opens by 1,035 VMs on 5 building blocks......................................................41


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About this Documen



Figure 43 ESX server CPU utilization with 75 VMs on 5 FC building blocks .......................... 42Figure 44 ESX server memory PShare for 75 VMs on a single ESX server ..............................43Figure 45 ESX server disk I/O throughput for the 1,035 VMs on 5 FC building block.............44Figure 46 NS-120 Data Mover CPU utilization.......................................................................... 45Figure 47 NS-120 Data Mover throughput using five RAID 5 building blocks......................... 46Figure 48 NS-120 storage array CPU utilization ........................................................................47Figure 49 NS-120 storage array bandwidth ................................................................................48Figure 50 NS-120 storage array IOPS ........................................................................................ 49Figure 51 NS-120 storage array response time ........................................................................... 50Figure 52 Most active LUN utilization ....................................................................................... 51Figure 53 Most active LUN bandwidth ...................................................................................... 52Figure 54 Most active LUN IOPS...............................................................................................53Figure 55 Most active LUN response time .................................................................................54


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Deploying Viirtual Desktops with VMware View 4.0 in Midsize and Enterprise Environments EMC Celerra NS-120 6


Tables

Table 1 Hardware resources.....................................................................................................12Table 2 Software resources......................................................................................................13Table 3 Storage for building block configuration....................................................................21Table 4 Golden Image VM file system configuration .............................................................22Table 5 Disk volumes ..............................................................................................................22Table 6 Data store capacity for linked clones ..........................................................................22Table 7 Test Environment cluster groups and configuration...................................................23 Table 8 Virtual desktop test program functions.......................................................................37Table 9 Response times for 1,035 virtual desktops on 5 FC building blocks ..........................39 Table 10 Comparison of response times with View 3.0 and View 4.0 environments ..............40 Table 11 Data Mover statistics for 1,035 VMs using five 4+1 RAID 5 disk groups ................44


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About this Document

8 Deploying 1,000 Desktops VMware View in the Midsize and Enterprise EMC Celerra NS-120


About this Document

This document provides a detailed summary and characterization of the tests performed to validate an EMC infrastructure for

deploying VMware View 4.0 and vSphere 4.0 with an Enterprise EMC Celerra NS-120. The EMC NAS Product Validation group

developed this solution.

Purpose

This solution was designed to determine the performance characterization of the VMware View 4.0 and vSphere 4.0environment while using EMC Celerra NS-120 for storage. A reasonable amount of tuning was performed to ensure that the

performance measurements achieved were consistent with real-world demand. The test procedure was based on the reference

architecture, validation test report, and the best practices outlined in theDeploying VMware View in the Enterprise EMC

Celerra NS-120 Reference Architecture, Deploying VMware View in the Enterprise EMC Celerra NS-120 Validation

Test Report, Deploying 1,000 Desktops VMware View in Midsize and Enterprise Environments Validation Test Report and

VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Planning for EMC Celerra Best Practices Planningdocuments.

Audience

The audience of this document should have a working knowledge of VMware and VMware View, as well as CLARiiON and

Celerra technologies.

How to use the validation test report

This validation test report is to be used as a reference document to support the EMC infrastructure for deploying VMware View in

the Enterprise EMC Celerra NS-120 solution. It is not intended to be read cover to cover. For specific testing information,

performance and sizing results, refer to the Table of Contents to look up the desired reference material.

Objectives and scope

This document contains the results of testing the VMware View 4.0 and vSphere 4.0 offering by using a Celerra NS-120 storage

system. The objectives of this testing are to:

Establish a reference architecture of validated hardware and software that permits easy and repeatable deployment of virtualdesktops using the Celerra NS-120 system.

Establish the storage best practices for configuring ESX servers and NS-120 systems in a manner that provides optimalperformance, recoverability, and protection.

Related documents

The following documents available on Powerlink provide additional, relevant information. Access to these documents is based on

your login credentials. If you do not have access to the following content, contact your EMC representative:

Deploying VMware View in the Enterprise EMC Celerra NS-120 Reference Architecture

EMC Infrastructure for Deploying VDI in the Enterprise EMC Celerra NS20 Reference Architecture

VMware Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Planning for EMC Celerra Best Practices Planning


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About this Documen



Deploying VMware View in the Enterprise EMC Celerra NS-120 Validation Test Report

EMC Infrastructure for Deploying VMware VDI EMC Celerra NS20 Validation Test Report

Deploying 1,000 Desktops VMware View in Midsize and Enterprise Environments Validation Test Report

EMC Infrastructure for Deploying VMware View in the Enterprise EMC Celerra Unified Storage Platforms Solution Guide

Deploying VMware View 3 on EMC Celerra Solution Guide

Configuring iSCSI Targets on EMC Celerra Technical Module

The following documents available on the VMware website provide relevant information about VMware View:

Introduction to VMware View Manager

VMware View Manager Administration Guide

VMware View Reference Architecture

Storage Deployment Guide for VMware View

VMware View Windows XP Deployment Guide

VMware View Guide to Profile Virtualization

VMware View Composer Design Considerations


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About this Document

10 Deploying 1,000 Desktops VMware View in the Midsize and Enterprise EMC Celerra NS-120



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Chapter 1 Physical Architecture

This section provides details about the system configuration used to obtain the performance measurements to support this

solution.

Tested system configuration

Figure 1 shows the solution architecture andprovides a high-level view of the test environment.

Figure 1 Solution architecture

Note:- The testing did not include View Manager connections in the environment because the emphasis was on providing a storage

profile recommendation. Stress testing the View Manager was not included in this test because VMware performs View Managerconnection testing.

- It is recommended to configure virtual machine (VM) user accounts with folder redirection and roaming profiles to redirect alluser data on network-attached storage (NAS) using Common Internet File System (CIFS).


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Physical Architecture



Hardware resources

Table 1 lists the hardware resources used in this tested storage configuration.

Table 1 Hardware resources

Hardware Quantity Configuration Notes

EMC

Celerra

NS-120 with aCLARiiON

CX4-120 array

1 4 disk-array enclosures (DAEs)containing 15 FC 300 GB 15k 2/4GB disks

Celerra shared storagefor file systems andiSCSI LUNs

Dell PowerEdge 1850, 1950, 6850,6950, R905 systems

20 servers (6 four-core and 14 eight-core systems)

Memory: Minimally, 4 GB per core(16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB)

CPU: Dual Intel Xeon and AMD

Opteron processors

Storage: Local internal disks

ranging in size from 60 GB to 129GB

NIC: 5-6 network controllers (Intel,

Broadcom, NetXtreme adapters)

VMware ESX servershosting virtual desktops

Dell PowerEdge 1850 1 Memory: 4 GB RAM

CPU: Dual 2.8 GHz dual-core

processors

Storage: One 146 GB and one 36

GB disk

NIC: Dual port Intel PRO/1000 MTGB adapters

vCenter Server

Desktops or virtual machines(VMs)

1,035 vCPU: One 2.8 GHz virtualprocessor

vMemory: 1 GB RAM for WindowsXP VMs

Connectivity: vmxnet

Deployed from VMwarelinked clones

Software resources

Table 2 on page 13 lists the software resources used in this tested storage configuration.


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Table 2 Software resources

Software Minimum revision

NS-120 Celerra shared storage, file systems and iSCSI LUNs

NAS/DART: 5.6 Maintenance Update 6 (5.6.46.4)

CLARiiON FLARE

: Release 28 (4.28.000.5.504)ESX servers ESX 4.0.0 Build 164009

View Manager 4.0.0 Build 18952

vCenter server OS: Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition SP2

(32-bit)

VMware vCenter 4.0.0 Build 162856

vSphere Client 4.0.0 Build 162856

Desktops/VMs OS: Microsoft Windows XP Professional Version SP3 (32-bit)

VMware Tools 4.0.0 Build 164009

AutoIt Version 3.2.10.0 (http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/)

Microsoft Office 2002 Revision 11

Internet Explorer 7.0.5730.13

Adobe Reader 8.1.2

Network architecture

The networks used were dedicated 1 gigabit Ethernet (GbE) networks. All virtual desktops were assigned an IP address by using a

Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. The ESX servers consisted of five to six Intel GbE controllers. Four

Ethernet controllers were used to create two network devices consisting of two NIC teaming ports. Each Ethernet controller was

placed on a separate subnet for multipathing and load balancing.

Switches

EMC recommends that the switches support GbE connections and the ports on the switches support copper-based media. In this

configuration, VMware virtual switches were set to directly connect physical network cards to their logical equivalent in the

virtual machine. Figure 2 on page 13 shows the representation of an ESX hosts kernel network.

Figure 2 vCenter representation of virtual switches and virtual NICs


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The vmnics comprising the virtual switch are configured for NIC teaming (Figure 3).

Figure 3 NIC teaming

Celerra NS-120 Data Mover

The NS-120 contains two Data Movers. The Data Movers can operate independently or they can operate in the active/passive

mode, with the passive Data Mover serving as a failover device for the active Data Mover. In this solution, the Data Movers

operate in the active/passive mode.

The NS-120 Data Mover consists of four GbE controller ports. These four ports were configured as two 2-port link aggregation

devices. Each link aggregation device was placed on a different subnet to create multiple paths for the iSCSI objects. Multiple

iSCSI targets were created and iSCSI sessions were distributed across both logical network interfaces.

Figure 4 shows the ports on the rear of an NS-120 Data Mover.


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Figure 4 EMC Celerra NS-120 Data Mover ports

Ports cge0 and cge1 were set up for link aggregation and support the iSCSI storage traffic. Ports cge2 and cge3 were used for a

second link aggregation device.

To view the network interfaces and link aggregation devices used, type the following command at the Celerra Control Station:# /nas/bin/server_ifconfig server_2 -aserver_2:

iscsi-net2 protocol=IP device=lnk02inet=10.6.119.246 netmask=255.255.255.0 broadcast=10.6.119.255UP, ethernet, mtu=1500, vlan=0, macaddr=0:60:16:1f:ac:12

iscsi-net1 protocol=IP device=lnk01inet=10.6.116.246 netmask=255.255.255.0 broadcast=10.6.116.255UP, ethernet, mtu=1500, vlan=0, macaddr=0:60:16:1f:ac:14

Alternatively, the network interfaces and link aggregation devices can be viewed on the Network Interfaces page on Celerra

Manager.

Figure 5 Celerra Manager Network Interfaces page

Note: As a best practice, dedicate the Data Mover network ports connected to the storage network (as shown in Figure 1 on page11) to storage traffic. However, if the ports are not heavily used, they can be shared with non-storage network traffic. EMCrecommends monitoring the network to avoid bottlenecks.

Celerra configuration

The required Celerra configuration is as follows:


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1. To deploy VMware linked clones, a user-defined Celerra storage pool must be created. This can be done with the followingcommand:

/nas/bin/nas_pool -create -name -description 'Storage Pool -volumes , -default_slice_flag y

Alternatively, the storage pool can be created by using the New Storage Pool page on Celerra Manager (Figure 6).

Figure 6 Celerra Manager New Storage Pool page

2. To store linked clones, Celerra storage must be provided through a filesystem and an iSCSI LUN must be created before usingView Composer. This is achieved by the following commands:

To create a file system from the user-defined storage pool and mount it on a Data Mover, use the following commands:

/nas/bin/nas_fs -name -type uxfs -create size= pool= -optionmover=, slice=y

/nas/bin/server_mount

Alternatively, the file system can be created by using the New File System page on Celerra Manager.

Figure 7 Celerra Manager New File System page


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To create an iSCSI LUN that is a data store to the ESX server, use the following command:

/nas/sbin/server_iscsi -lun number -create -size -fs -vp yes

The -vp yes option creates a virtually provisioned iSCSI LUN instead of a regular (thick) LUN. When using Virtual

ProvisioningTM

, closely monitor the file system space that contains virtually provisioned iSCSI LUNs. Use Celerra

Manager or the following commands to determine the used or available space in a file system:

/nas/bin/server_df/nas/bin/nas_fs

Alternatively, the iSCSI LUN can be created by using the New iSCSI LUN page on Celerra Manager.

Figure 8 Celerra Manager New iSCSI LUN page

3. Set the iSCSI mask appropriately to provide access to the LUN for the iSCSI initiator. In this case, the initiator is simply theESX servers iSCSI software adapter name. To set the appropriate LUN mask, use the following Control Station command:

# /nas/bin/server_iscsi -mask -set -initiator -grant

Alternatively, to set the LUN mask on Celerra Manager:

a. Select iSCSI on the left navigation bar. The iSCSI page appears. ClickTargets, and then select an iSCSI target.

Figure 9 Celerra Manger - iSCSI Targets page


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The iSCSI Target Properties page appears.

b. ClickLUN Mask, and then clickNew to add a new LUN mask for the selected target.

Figure 10 Celerra Manager - iSCSI LUN Mask page

The New iSCSI Maskpage appears.

c. Select the initiator (ESX iSCSI software initiator) and type the LUN being granted access. Every host in the cluster shouldbe granted access to the iSCSI LUN. When the mask has been properly set, ensure that the iSCSI software adapters on the

ESX hosts are rescanned.

Figure 11 Celerra Manager - New iSCSI Mask page

d. Finally, add the LUN as a data store to an ESX host in the cluster.

VMware ESX configuration

To use VMware View Composer, the ESX server must be configured to enable the software iSCSI client. To provide iSCSI

access:


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1. Connect to each ESX server using the vSphere client and click the Configuration tab.

2. From the Software menu, clickSecurity Profile. The Security Profile page appears.

3. ClickProperties. The Firewall Properties dialog box appears.

4. Select Software iSCSI Client (Figure 12).

Figure 12 vCenter Firewall Properties dialog box for enabling the software iSCSI client

After the configuration is complete, the network configuration must be completed for any implementation. To create the vSwitchused for the iSCSI network traffic by using the Virtual Infrastructure (VI) Client:

Configuration tab > Networking > Add networking > VMkernel > Create a New Switch (Figure 13)

Type a Network Label. For example, iscsi-net1

Type a VLAN tag (Optional)

Provide the IP Address and Subnet Mask

Configuration tab > Storage Adapters > Select the iSCSI Adapter > Properties (Figure 14)

ClickConfigure, and then clickEnable.

Click the Dynamic Discovery tab, and then clickAdd. Type the IP Address and port for each iSCSI target.

Note: If Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) is enabled on the iSCSI target, it should also be configured byusing the CHAP Authentication tab.

This is achieved using the Add Network Wizard VMkernel Connection Settings dialog box in vCenter.


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Figure 13 vCenter Add Network Wizard page for creating a network interface

Figure 14 vCenter iSCSI Initiator Properties page for adapter configuration

Storage architecture

Figure 15 on page 21 shows the NS-120 storage array configuration. Though this is a complete diagram of the storage array, all

disk devices were not used with each test.


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Figure 15 Storage architecture

A CX4-120 is the storage array for a Celerra NS-120. The CX4-120 used for testing had fours DAEs containing 15 Fibre Channel

300 GB 15k 2/4 GB disks.

Testing was done by using a 4+1 RAID 5 disk group only. According to the NAS standard, two LUNs were created for each 4+1

RAID group and each LUN was owned by a different storage processor for load balancing. File systems were created with a user-

defined storage pool to have direct control over file system location space allocation and load balancing.

Table 3 and

Table 4 show the file system configuration requirements for CLARiiON array objects.

Table 3 Storage for building block configuration

CLARiiON array objects Configuration required

Total storage capacity 1 TB

iSCSI LUN (VM) capacity 20 GB

Number of disks used 5

Number of disk volumes used 2


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Table 4 Golden Image VM file system configuration

CLARiiON array objects Configuration required

Storage capacity 24 GB

iSCSI LUN capacity 20 GB

Number of disks used 5

Number of disk volumes used 1

Table 5 shows the disk volumes for each file system in this storage configuration.

Table 5 Disk volumes

File system Disk volumes

Golden Image d8

Test log files d9

VMs (Clones and TWSs) d13, d25 (concatenated)d14, d26 (concatenated)

d15, d27 (concatenated)



Table 6 shows the capacity of data stores containing various numbers of linked clones created with View Composer.

Table 6 Data store capacity for linked clones

Number of

linked clones

iSCSI LUN

capacity

iSCSI LUN

storage used

225 785.1 GB 367.3 GB

150 525.0 GB 268.1 GB

75 262.0 GB 140.36 GB

A linked clone storage overcommit value of Moderate was used in this configuration, which resulted in a 1.13 GB per virtual

machine being used.

View cluster configuration

Configuring the VMware View 4.0 environment takes careful consideration and planning. The following factors influenced the

grouping and sizing of clusters in the test environment:

The building block size of 225 virtual desktops per 4+1 RAID 5 disk group.

Limit of 255 iSCSI LUNs per device

Grouping of similar CPU types (AMD, Intel) for VMotion and DRS capabilities

With these considerations, the ESX hosts were grouped and configured as described in Table 7.


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Table 7 Test Environment cluster groups and configuration

Cluster nameNumber

of VMsRAID Group Number

Number of

ESX hostsESX description

A-Finance 225 11 3 Dell Power Edge R905, AMD 8 CPU 3.0 GHzB-Sales 225 12 3 Dell Power Edge R905, AMD 8 CPU 3.0 GHz

C-Testing 150 13 2 Dell Power Edge R905, AMD 8 CPU 3.0 GHz

D-Marketing 75 13 1 Dell PowerEdge 6950, AMD 8 CPU 3.0 GHz

E-Support 150 14 6(2) Dell PowerEdge 6850, Intel 4 CPU 3.0 GHz

(4) Dell PowerEdge 1850, Intel 4 CPU 2.8 GHz

F-Human Resources 75 14 1 Dell PowerEdge 6950, AMD 8 CPU 3.0 GHz

G-Development 152 15 4 Dell Power Edge 1950, Intel 8 CPU 3.0 GHz

The following is a snapshot of the test configuration as seen from the vSphere client. Note that the cluster resource pools contain

the 1,035 desktops, which are not shown to conserve page space.

Note: Ensure that the proper DRS settings are enabled for the cluster before powering on the virtual desktops.


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Figure 16 vCenter view of the test environment infrastructure


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Test tools and methods

Master image

Before deploying the virtual images, the master/golden image that the desktops will be created from should be tuned and

optimized. Because the master image is used as a template, the time taken to optimize the image will be beneficial in the future.These tunings should include the following:

Apply all service packs and patches to the operating system and all other system software

Install VMware tools

Install the view connection agent

Ensure that full hardware acceleration is configured

Disable any unwanted services. Some of these may include:

Automatic Updates

Remote Registry

Secondary Logon

SSDP Discovery Service

Wireless Zero

Remove/minimize system restore points

Configure MS Folder Redirection/Remote Home Directory if needed

Disable automatic software updates so that an updater will not periodically execute. For example, Adobe updater can be

disabled

Disable automatic desktop cleaner

Run Disk Cleanup

Run Disk Defrag

The following two VMware documents explain additional, important master image optimizations:

Windows XP Deployment Guide located on the VMware website at http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/XP_guide_vdi.pdf.

Optimized XP Virtual Machine VDI Template Checklist located on the VM/ETC website at

http://vmetc.com/wp-content/files/Optimized%20XP%20Virtual%20Machine%20for%20VDI%20Template%20Checklist.pdf.


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Creating virtual desktops from VMware linked clones

The 1,035 virtual desktops used in this testing were created by using VMware View Composer linked clones. EMC Celerra NAS

storage provided the storage for the linked clones. The following sections examine the linked clone deployment technology.

Linked Clones with View Composer

The following procedure shows how to use VMware View Composer to create linked clones serving as virtual desktops. For more

details, refer to theDeploying VMware View 3 on EMC Celerra Solution Guide located on Powerlink at Home > Solutions >

Application Solutions > VMware > View > Virtual Infrastructure > Technical Validation. To create linked clones:

1. If a resource pool does not exist, create a resource pool within an ESX cluster, which will run the virtual machines. From thevSphere client, right-click the desired cluster name, and then select New Resource Pool (Figure 17).

Figure 17 Select New Resource Pool

The Create Resource Pool dialog box appears.

2. Name the resource pool appropriately and modify any virtual machine resources.

Figure 18 Create and define a resource pool


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3. Take a snapshot of the master virtual machine within the cluster. View Composer uses the snapshot to compose the replicathat is used to create the linked clones that constitute the virtual desktops.

To create a snapshot with vSphere, right-click the master virtual machine image from the left navigation bar of the vSphere

client, and then select Snapshot >Take Snapshot.

Figure 19 Create a snapshot

The Take Virtual Machine Snapshot dialog box appears.

4. Name the snapshot.

Figure 20 Name the virtual machine snapshot


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5. Use View Manager to create a persistent automated desktop pool. In View Manager, clickDesktops and Pools, and then clickAdd.

Figure 21 Add desktop

The Add Desktop wizard appears.

6. Select the pool type. Figure 22 shows an Automated Desktop Pool selected. ClickNext.

Figure 22 Select desktop type


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7. Select the persistence settings for the desktops in the pool. ClickNext.

Figure 23 Select Desktop Persistence

8. Select the VirtualCenter server that will manage the ESX cluster that hosts the virtual desktops. Select Use linked clonetechnology to create desktops in this pool. ClickNext.

Figure 24 Select VirtualCenter server


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9. Type a unique ID and display name for the desktop pool. ClickNext.

Figure 25 Type desktop ID and name

10.Configure the desktop settings. There are many options such as power saving and performance features. ClickNext.

Figure 26 Configure desktop settings


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11.Select the provisioning features. Type the number of desktops to create and the desktop prefix name. The Advanced Settingsfor desktop availability can also be configured. The View Manager Administration Guide provides more details. ClickNext.

Figure 27 Select provisioning settings

12.Select the master virtual image in which a snapshot was taken previously. ClickNext.

Figure 28 Select the parent VM


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13.Select the snapshot that represents the state of virtual desktops. This is the base image for the desktop pool. ClickNext.

Figure 29 Select the snapshot for the base image

14.Select the folder to create the desktops, and then clickNext.

Figure 30 Select the folder for VM storage


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15.Select the destination cluster or host to run the virtual desktops, and then clickNext.

Figure 31 Select the destination cluster

16.Select the resource pool to run the virtual desktops, and then clickNext. The resource pool was created in the first step.

Figure 32 Select the resource pool


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17.Select where to store user data, whether on a separate disk or on the same disk as the OS. In this example, user data is storedon drive D: and Usedifferent datastores for user data disks and OS disks is selected.

Figure 33 Specify user data storage

18.Select the data stores for the virtual machines. Ensure that every host in the cluster can access the data store (iSCSI LUN),which is achieved by setting the proper iSCSI mask on the LUN when it is created. If every host cannot access the data store,

it is not available for selection. Ensure that the iSCSI adapter is rescanned after the LUN mask is properly set. ClickNext.

Note that the storage overcommit is selected from a drop-down list in the last column. Storage overcommitment determines

how aggressively View Composer allocates virtual machines to the available free space. VMware recommends the

Conservative option.

Figure 34 Select the data stores


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19.Select and enter any QuickPrep settings that are required for the desktops. ClickNext.

Figure 35 Select QuickPrep settings

20.Review the selected options, and then clickFinish.

Figure 36 Review all settings


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21.The new desktop pool is visible in View Manager. Click the Desktop Sources tab to view the created virtual machines. Tomonitor the progress of desktop creation, clickEvents.

Figure 37 View Manager display

After the virtual machines are created, access the virtual desktops through the vSphere client.

Figure 38 vCenter display of the new desktops


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Test description

The test program was designed to simulate an average user workload on a typical desktop environment. The program is executed

on each virtual desktop hosted on an ESX server, and it can run on Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems. The

program has a set of functions that perform interactive operations on desktop applications and are called randomly. The workload

is started on all virtual desktops within a short time window. The number of iterations that each virtual desktop will execute can

be defined. The test harness measures the opens and variations of closes and saves but it does not test read or write performance.

In this test case, an iteration count of two was used. This resulted in a 3-hour 15-minute test completion time when using 1,035

virtual desktops. A maximum delay between application operations, or think time, can be specified. This results in the

applications running randomly. In this test case, the maximum delay is 5 minutes, which means that an application start can vary

from one-tenth of a second to the maximum 5 minutes.

The test configuration uses a building block of 225 virtual desktops per 4+1 RAID 5 disk group. This is a change from the earlier

documented guideline of 250 virtual desktops per building block. This change is because of the additional workload as a result of

adding Microsoft Outlook. The test harness configures Outlook users and mails messages to users on an Internet Message Access

Protocol (IMAP) server running on a virtual desktop with a Linux OS.

Table 8 shows the functions called by the test script.

Table 8 Virtual desktop test program functions

Function Description

MS_WORD_Open() Creates a Microsoft Word document

MS_IE_Open() Opens Microsoft Internet Explorer and a .gif file

MS_PPT_Open() Opens a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation

PKZIP_CompressFiles() Compresses large files and deletes them

MS_EXCEL_OpenModifySave() Opens a blank Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet, writes to it,and then saves it

ADOBE_OpenBrowse() Opens Adobe Reader 8.0 and a PDF file, and thenbrowses a few pages

MS_WORD_Open2() Creates a Microsoft Word document

MS_WORD_ModifySave() Writes to the Microsoft Word document and saves it

ADOBE_Browse() Browses a few pages in a PDF file with Adobe Reader 8.0

MS_WORD_ModifySave2() Writes to the Microsoft Word document and saves it

MS_WORD_SaveClose() Saves the Microsoft Word document, and then closes thewindow

MS_IE_Close() Closes Microsoft Internet Explorer

MS_PPT_ShowClose() Shows a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation and closes it

MS_EXCEL_ModifySaveClose() Modifies the Excel spreadsheet, saves it, and then closes

the window

ADOBE_Close() Closes the PDF file, and then closes the application

MS_Outlook_Open() Opens Microsoft Outlook

MS_Outlook_Close() Closes Microsoft Outlook

MS_WORD_ModifySaveClose() Writes to the Microsoft Word document, saves it again,and then closes the document


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Chapter 2 Test Results

Test results for virtual desktops, ESX servers, and a NS-120 Data Mover

This section documents the detailed results of this testing.

Test description overview

The data presented in this section shows the average open and close times of various desktop applications using the basic building

block of 225 virtual desktops per 4+1 RAID 5 building block. For a 1,035-desktop test, there were four complete building blocks

used in addition to a partial one on the fifth building block. Test results were obtained when virtual desktops were deployed with

View Composer linked clones.

Twenty ESX servers were used to host 1,035 virtual desktops. Less than 9.4 virtual desktopss per core were run on the ESXservers. This took advantage of the VMware memory ballooning feature and a light-average desktop workload. In the ensuing test

data graphs, note the following:

The Data Mover CPU utilization on all iterations/passes

The open times with iteration one and subsequent iterations

The average and peak open times

Also, note the detailed analysis of the data collected when the Excel, Adobe, and Outlook applications open. The analysis of

these specific applications was used because they can have large average and peak open times.

Desktops from VMware View Composer linked clonesApplication response time on virtual desktops

Table 9 on page 39 shows the average response time of various applications run on each virtual desktop. Note that the average

response time is much larger for iteration/pass one when compared with the subsequent passes. This is expected even outside of

the test environment. The first time Microsoft Office opens an application, it takes much longer than it does on subsequent opens.

The difference is because of the caching and prefetching activity occurring with the Windows operating system. Generally, the

first time an application is executed, prefetch .pf files are created to improve access times and are thereafter deleted when the

system is rebooted. .

In a complete VMware View implementation, results will vary based on whether View Manager provides a desktop that needs to

be powered on, or whether View Manager provides the same desktop from a persistent pool and the users resume where they

previously ended. In both cases, it depends on the virtual machine power policy that has been implemented. The power policy

settings (to remain on, suspend, or power-off idle virtual machines) will have varying results at both the host and virtual machine

level.

In Figure 39 and Table 9, the data shows that the average time for the opens dramatically decreases in the second iteration. Also,

notice that the average time decreases and exhibits consistent, steady state performance for the second iteration.


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Figure 39 Comparison of iteration 1 versus iteration 2 response times

Table 9 Response times for 1,035 virtual desktops on 5 FC building blocks


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Table 10 shows the response times of application operations when executed in a View 3.0 environment and when executed in aView 4.0 environment. In almost all cases, a performance improvement resulted when using View 4.0. Performance improvementsranged from 1 % to 55%.

Table 10 Comparison of response times with View 3.0 and View 4.0 environments

The open behavior is revealed clearly by examining the highlighted entries in Table 9.

Figure 40 Excel opens by 1,035 VMs on 5 FC building blocks


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Figure 42 Outlook opens by 1,035 VMs on 5 FC building blocks

Figure 41 Adobe opens by 1,035 VMs on 5 building blocks


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ESX server statistics

The esxtop command was used to obtain server resource utilization statistics on all ESX servers during testing. The following

command line was used:

$ esxtop -s -b -d 30

The following server measurements were collected and charted:

Total processor time

I/O rate with Celerra storage

Memory

PShare

Swap

Memctl

Swapping is minimal when 4 GB of memory per core is used in this environment.

The following graphs show ESX server statistics when running the test with 1,035 virtual machines located on five FC 4+1 RAID

5 building blocks.

Figure 43 shows the average CPU utilization on a single eight-core ESX server. The ESX server hosted 75 virtual machines. As

the graph indicates, the test resulted in a 34 percent average CPU utilization with several instances exceeding 40 percent.

Figure 43 ESX server CPU utilization with 75 VMs on 5 FC building blocks


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Figure 44 shows a memory management feature of the ESX server. The ESX server has a feature called memory overcommit,

which enables virtual machines to configure virtual memory more than the actual physical memory. With this ESX feature, page

sharing enables memory overcommit to occur. As common pages are determined, ESX enables virtual machines to share them

rather than have their own pages.

Figure 44 ESX server memory PShare for 75 VMs on a single ESX server


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Figure 45 shows the total disk I/O throughput for the ESX server. The read and write MB/s throughput for iSCSI adapter

vmhba35 was measured with esxtop. A total of 1.1 MB/s indicated a relatively low throughput on this ESX host.

Figure 45 ESX server disk I/O throughput for the 1,035 VMs on 5 FC building block

Celerra NS-120 Data Mover measurements

While the test harness was running on the virtual desktops, the Celerra command server_stats was run against the Data Mover to

measure the performance.

$ /nas/bin/server_stats -summary basic,caches -table net,dvol,fsvol -interval 30 -format csv -titles once -terminationsummary yes

This command collected performance data about the Data Mover every 30 seconds. The load on the Data Mover was low and the

throughput rate on the dvols was also very low. Table 11 provides some of the significant data result statistics.

Table 11 Data Mover statistics for 1,035 VMs using five 4+1 RAID 5 disk groups

Measurement parameter name Average value

Network Input 8044 KiB/s (7.9 MB/s)

Network Output 12064 KiB/s (11.8 MB/s)

Dvol Read 11117 KiB/s (10.9 MB/s)

Dvol Write 7507 KiB/s (7.3 MB/s)

Buffer Cache Hit Rate 100%

CPU Utilization 7%


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Figure 46 shows an average Data Mover CPU utilization of 6.7 percent, with an initial peak of 25 percent. This workload was

easily handled by the NS-120 Data Mover:

Figure 46 NS-120 Data Mover CPU utilization


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Figure 47 shows the Data Mover I/O throughput rate of 5 building blocks for 3 hours 15 minutes of testing, where all 1,035

virtual machines were running tests simultaneously. The Control Station command server_stats was used to obtain the

throughput rate of the Data Mover. The throughput rate was obtained by adding the read and write totals for the disk volumes that

were used to host the 1,035 virtual machines. The average throughput rate for the test was 18.2 MB/s with a one-time peak of 108

MB/s. These rates were low and could be easily managed by the Data Mover.

Figure 47 NS-120 Data Mover throughput using five RAID 5 building blocks

NS-120 storage array measurements using linked clones

While the test harness was running on the virtual desktops, the CLARiiON Analyzer was started to collect performance data

about the storage array. The following command was used to set the performance logging options:

$ naviseccli -User -Password -Scope 0 -Address spa analyzer -set nonstop-periodicarchiving 1 -narinterval 60 -rtinterval 60

where:

narinterval 60 Changes the polling interval to 1 minute for performance logging

rinterval 60 Changes the polling interval to 1 minute for realtime chart windows

periodicarchiving 1 Automatically archives files at periods of 156 samples

nonstop Sets performance logging to run nonstop


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After completion, the Analyzer NAR files were merged and analyzed. The following graphs were obtained from the Analyzer

analysis.

Figure 48 shows an average SP A CPU utilization of 19.5 percent with a few peaks in the 40 percent to 50 percent range. The

average SP B CPU utilization was 12.9 percent with a few peaks in the 20 percent to 30 percent range. This workload was easily

handled by the NS-120 storage array.

Figure 48 NS-120 storage array CPU utilization


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Figure 49 shows the NS-120 storage bandwidth rate for 3 hours 15 minutes of testing, where all 1,035 virtual desktops were

running tests simultaneously. The average bandwidth rate for SP A was 10.1 MB/s with several peaks in the 20 MB/s to 55 MB/s

range. For SP B, the average bandwidth was 6.6 MB/s with several peaks in the 10 MB/s to 36 MB/s range. These bandwidths

were low and were easily managed by the NS-120 storage array.

Figure 49 NS-120 storage array bandwidth


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Figure 50 shows the NS-120 storage throughput rate for 3 hours 15 minutes of testing, where all 1,035 virtual desktops were

running tests simultaneously. The average throughput rate for SP A was 959.5 IOPS with several peaks in the 1500 IOPS to 3227

IOPS range. For SP B, the average throughput rate was 587.0 IOPS with several peaks in the 600 IOPS to 1647 IO/sec range.

These throughput rates were low and were easily managed by the NS-120 storage array.

Figure 50 NS-120 storage array IOPS


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Figure 51shows the NS-120 storage response time for 3 hours 15 minutes of testing, where all 1,035 virtual desktops were

running tests simultaneously. The average response time for SP A was 0.7 ms with a few initial peaks in the 1ms to 4.7 ms range.

For SP B, the average response time was 0.6 ms with a few initial peaks in the 1 ms to 3.5 ms range. These response times were

acceptable and easily handled by the NS-120 storage array.

Figure 51 NS-120 storage array response time


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The following four graphs examine the performance statistics for the busiest LUN that the NS-120 storage array is managing. It

is a single 4+1 RAID 5 LUN consisting of the Celerra disk volume 27.

Figure 52 shows the LUN utilization during the 3-hour 15-minute test. The average LUN utilization was 23.2 percent with an

initial 4-minute peak above 90 percent. This average LUN utilization was acceptable and easily handled by the NS-120 storage

array.

Figure 52 Most active LUN utilization


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Figure 53shows the LUN bandwidth during the 3-hour 15-minute test. The average LUN bandwidth was 2.2 MB/s with a peak of

9.7 MB/s. This average LUN bandwidth was acceptable and easily handled by the NS-120 storage array.

Figure 53 Most active LUN bandwidth


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Figure 54shows the total LUN throughput rate during the 3-hour 15-minute test. The average LUN throughput was 201.7 IOPS

with a peak of 690 IOPS. This average LUN throughput rate was acceptable and easily handled by the NS-120 storage array.

Figure 54 Most active LUN IOPS


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Figure 55shows the LUN response time during the 3-hour 15-minute test. The average LUN response time was 1.9 ms with an

initial peak of 16 ms. This average response time was acceptable and easily handled by the NS-120 storage array.

Figure 55 Most active LUN response time


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Conclusions

The following conclusions are based on the VMware View testing:

Version 4.0 View and vSphere was confirmed to function and perform well with Celerra NS-120 storage. In fact, aperformance improvement was realized when upgrading the test environment to View 4.0 and vSphere 4.0. This included

upgrading all ESX servers to version 4.0. Open times improved from 1 to 20 percent.

Eight virtual desktops per core with an average workload can be recommended. This agrees with the VMwarerecommendation of eight virtual desktops per core. This recommendation was made by looking at both the CPU utilization on

the ESX server and the virtual desktop application response time. The recommendation of eight virtual desktops per core was

confirmed by successfully running desktop applications on 32 virtual desktops with a four-core ESX server and 64 virtual

desktops with an eight-core ESX server. If the workload is small, take advantage of the VMware memory ballooning feature

and slightly increase the number of virtual desktops per core based on the processor type. This was confirmed by successfully

running tests with 75 virtual desktops on a eight-core (9.4 virtual desktops per core) system.

The amount of 4 GB memory per core is sufficient. With an environment that uses 1 GB memory per Microsoft XP virtualdesktop, this leads to very little swapping by the virtual desktops. Consider the swap space needed when sizing a virtual

desktop.

With Fibre Channel storage, the recommended number of virtual desktops per 4+1 RAID 5 disk group has been slightlyreduced from 250 to 225. This reduction is because of the increased workload when adding Microsoft Outlook. Thus, on a 120

FC disk NS-120 system configured with the NAS CX_All_4Plus1_Raid_5 storage template, 22 unused 4+1 RAID groups will

be created, which should support 4950 virtual desktops. This is dependent on the workload of the virtual desktops, which

should be monitored closely.

Previously, 225 or 250 virtual desktops per 4+1 RAID 5 building block was recommended on FC drives. This was solelybased on the application response time of the test harness used. If the load is higher or if concurrent reboots or virus scans are

anticipated, decrease the number of virtual desktops per building block.

This 4+1 RAID 5 building block recommendation can be used as a guideline for all Celerra systems. These test results can beextrapolated to other Celerra systems. Specifically, the Celerra NS-480 system should provide similar or better results because

it has the same Data Mover that a Celerra NS-120 system has, but with a larger CLARiiON storage array attached.

Performance always varies by load. Monitor the system. Consider all factors in addition to the application response time.Common tasks such as patching, powering on, scanning, defragmenting should be scheduled differently in a VMware View

environment. Staggering these operations on the desktops yields much better performance.

Vmware View4 Emc Ns 120 Vtr

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