VMware Mirage Storage and Network Deduplication,

DEMYSTIFIED

Anil Gupta, VMware

Kapil Kasetwar, VMware

Shlomo Wygodny, VMware

EUC5507

#EUC5507

2 2

Special Contributors

Issy Ben Shaul (CTO – Mirage)

Jason Joel (Director – Product Management)

Yaniv Weinberg, Leonid Vasetsky (Mirage Product Development)

Mark Ewert (EUC Architect)

Samsuddin Shaikh, Anupama Narayan & Prasenjit Paul (GSS)

Retheesh Rajan (EUC Specialist SE)

3 3

Re-Introduction to VMware

Mirage

Optimizations in Mirage –

Storage and Networking

Optimizations – Demystified

Architectural Impacts of

Optimizations

Q & A

Take Away

Understand the Mirage Optimizations

for Storage and Network and their architectural

impacts, for Large Scale Mirage deployments.

4 4

RE-INTRODUCTION TO VMWARE MIRAGE

5 5

What is VMware Horizon Mirage?

Windows Endpoint

Management System

Takes a new and different

approach: Centralized images

for manageability, coupled

with local execution for native

user experience

6 United States Patents

Centralization

Image Layering

Optimizations

6 6

Typical Horizon Mirage Deployment

Mirage server cluster

NAS volumes

Mirage console

Load balancer

Internet

Mobile VPN

Mirage Clients

Data Center

7 7

Focus Areas of Optimizations

Mirage server cluster

NAS volumes

Mirage console

Load balancer

Internet

Mobile VPN

Mirage Clients

Data Center

8 8

Need for Optimization

Huge amounts of data are:

Sent from endpoints to the Mirage server;

• During Centralization and Steady State uploads

Stored at the Mirage server storage

Sent from the Mirage server to the endpoints

• During mass image delivery

• Endpoint restore

• Should be as quick as possible

Optimization of data delivery and storage are crucial

for the feasibility of these operations!

9 9

OPTIMIZATIONS IN MIRAGE – STORAGE AND NETWORKING

10 10

Mirage Optimizations

VMware Confidential

Optimizations Storage Network

Uplink Downlink

Upload Changes Only X X

File De-duplication X X X

Block De-duplication X X X

Chunk Cache X X

Compression X X

Branch Reflector X

Streaming X

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OPTIMIZATIONS – DEMYSTIFIED

1

1

12 12

Uploading File Modifications

VMware Confidential

Take a VSS snapshot • An instant snapshot of the file-system is available in a shadow volume

• Based on a “copy-on-write” mechanism by MS

The desktop service scans the file-system • Typically scan only files open for writing (File System Driver)

• The result of the scan is saved in a “local manifest” file

The local manifest is compared with the

“last uploaded CVD manifest”

Only the delta is uploaded to the server

13 13

File Deduplication

Network

Send only files which do

not exist already on the

other hand

Done both for upload

and download

Storage

Do not save identical files

more than once

Supported by a special

structure of the storage

De-duplication saves about

50% of the CVD size

14 14

WAN Optimizations – File Level De-Duplication

Sender assembles list

of required files

Receiver verifies the list

with SIS

Receiver creates copies

(Step #1)

Receiver returns the list

of missing files

Sender sends the missing files

Receiver creates copies

(Step #2)

files: {A, A’, B, C}

files: {A, B}

create C

(step #1)

transfer: {A, B}

ACK

create A’

(step #2)

Sender Receiver

C

A, B, C

15 15

File Dedup in Storage – Single Instance Store (SIS)

Content Area (CVD, BI, Drivers)

• Shadows real directory structure but large files (> 4K) are represented by

special files called pointers

• Each pointer contains file meta-data (attributes, ACLs) and references the data

by unique signature

SIS Area

• Indexed data storage optimized for fast lookup, based

on MD5 signatures

Content Area

drive_c

windows

a.txt

temp

a.txt

b.txt

SIS Area

15

14

594027834...

A0

AF

834014FD7...

16 16

File De-Duplication in Storage – Uploads

First Upload

• File is placed in SIS

Second Upload

• SIS is checked for file signature

• If found – file will not transferred and new reference will be created

1 12A8E1235..

SIS Content

2

First upload:

c:\docs\letter.doc c:\docs\letter.doc

Second upload:

c:\docs\copy.doc

c:\docs\copy.doc

Signature

is found in

SIS

Number of

references

updated

17 17

CVD Layering

CVD keeps backups in incremental manner

• Layers are used to store deltas and merged from time to time

• Number of layers is defined by configuration

• Mirage can always construct the image by accumulating

the layers

Delta has file-level granularity

• Large files (e.g. PSTs) have block-level granularity

c:\windows\*, c:\program files\*, c:\docs\*, c:\games\… Layer 0

c:\games\pinball\*, c:\docs\work\* Layer 1

c:\docs\work\mail.pst Layer 2

Top-

down

lookup

Files > 10MB (and are not video etc.) are cut to constant blocks of 1MB

18 18

“Rabin Fingerprinting” is the chunking algorithm used to create blocks/chunks

transfer

A,X,Y

transfer

B,X,Y

A

X

Y need A,X,Y

send data

for A,X,Y

need B send data

for B

B

A X Y

B X Y

…

Split file to blocks

(chunking)

WAN Optimizations – Chunk Cache

file constructed

file constructed

blocks stored

in cache

19 19

WAN Optimizations – Compression

Use standard Lempel–Ziv (LZ) compression

Done on-the-fly while transmitting

Lossless

Saves 20-30% of the transmitted data

Requires CPU Resources + Time

• May be eliminated for LAN environments

Storage is not compressed by Mirage, but

can be compressed by the file system (NTFS)

20 20

Branch Reflectors – Optimized ROBO Distribution

ROBO : Remote Office, Branch Office

Mirage

Servers

Mirage Branch

Reflector

Mirage clients

Single image sent

across the WAN

WAN

21 21

Base Layer Update with Branch Reflector

Clients may use nearby BRs to download the data

• BR is used for all downloads including Migration, Provisioning, Restore

BR will fetch the data on first request

BR will keep the data in its cache for others to use

Storage (SIS)

Database

Server

(1) lookup BRs

(2) request data

(3) fetch data

(4) fetch data

(5) lookup BRs (6) request data

(6) fetch data

BR

22 22

Streaming

What if the user has 100 GB of data to be restored?

• We want the user to get back to work ASAP!!!

Files to be downloaded in restore are split into two

• 1. Files to Pre-fetch: essential files

• Static set (e.g. c:\windows\system32\drivers\*)

• Dynamic set (e.g. c:\program files\McAfee\*)

• Login set (e.g. c:\program files\MyFavouriteApp\* ; c:\docs\MyFavouriteDoc.docx)

• …

• 2. Files to stream: all the rest

Streaming allows the user to start working before all of his files

were downloaded.

23 23

How does Streaming work?

Mirage doesn’t download streamed files before boot

Instead, it creates stubs of these files

• Same size

• Irrelevant data

• Offline attribute

During reboot (“Pivot”), move these files into place, just like pre-

fetched files

After boot, the service downloads the streamed files

If an app tries to open an offline file before it arrived

• The Mirage driver blocks the app

• A balloon pops up

• The Mirage service hurries to download the file

(AKA on-demand streaming)

• When download is done, the app is released.

24 24

Streaming Experience

25 25

ARCHITECTURAL IMPACTS Storage & Network Optimizations

26 26

Architectural Impacts

When designing “huge” deployments spanning say >10000

endpoints over a distributed environment, the optimizations

play a very major role on the overall architecture and impact

the performance

Components

• Servers

• The Mirage Servers can work standalone or in clusters

• Mirage clustering provides high-availability and redundancy, hence a high-

performance as a resultant by-product

• Network

• Plays the largest role in performance as it is the conduit

• Storage

• Highly active component, as there is an always constant read/write/updates of data

objects such as files/blocks/chunks at the storage level

27 27

HORIZON MIRAGE NETWORK

28 28

Network

Bandwidth – should be enough for Mirage operations

• Basic calculation considers Steady State – hourly uploads

• More consuming operations (CE, BL update) will take longer

• A single centralization could consume hundreds of Kbps of bandwidth per endpoint

Ensure Mirage will not interfere with the customer's network

business use

• A detailed understanding of the LAN/WAN design and circuit speeds

is CRITICAL

• Use traffic shaping / QOS / COS

• Design and implement effective solution before beginning Mirage operations

29 29

Endpoint “Steady State” Uplink Bandwidth Estimation

Based on the requirement to complete upload once an hour

General estimation is ~15 Kbps per endpoint

• ~150 MB / user / day for 24H connection

Branch uplink

• (Endpoint uplink) X (# endpoints in branch)

DC uplink

• (Endpoint uplink) X (# out-of-campus endpoints)

Downlink

• Assuming branch reflector, we need (Image Size X branches)

• Image for Win7 can be 10-20GB over the network

30 30

Centralization Bandwidth Requirement

Inputs Required

Centralization

Time

Network

Bandwidth, Storage

IOPS

Connectivity

Time

Centralization process should start as soon as possible!!!

31 31

HORIZON MIRAGE STORAGE

32 32

Storage – Architecture

All servers should have access to All storage

NAS

Good performance

Features (cache, backup/snapshots, HA/RAID, security/ACLs)

Price

Server + DAS/SAN Storage Combo

Good performance for local CVDs

But not for CVDs on other servers

Price

33 33

Storage – Architecture

Must support CIFS

Must support Alternate Data Streams

Disable Antivirus

High Availability

Compression **

Should be the only directory on this volume **

One volume per partition **

Security – ACLs

Volumes – divide ~1000 CVDs per volume **

** Should not be set for the Local Cache

34 34

Storage – Performance

Steady State Requirement

• ~1200 IOPS for ~1000 CVDs

Centralization Requirement:

Centralization

Time

Network

Bandwidth, Storage

IOPS

Connectivity

Time

35 35

MIRAGE SIZING CALCULATOR

36 36

Mirage Sizing Calculator

Calculates the “Estimation Time for Centralization” , based on the

various inputs such as CVD Size, Network Bandwidth, Storage IOPS etc

Built & Tested by Engineering for Professional Services, based on

actual customer experiences and lab measurements

Released as part of VMware Horizon Mirage 4.2.3

[The Mirage Sizing Calculator is available via your local SE or Partner]

37 37

TAKEAWAYS

38 38

Key Takeaways for Successful Deployment

Mirage is designed to manage x10K distributed endpoints

Careful planning is required to ensure that the optimizations

and their architecture impacts are duly considered

Ensure enough storage performance

Align network bandwidth with centralization period expectations

• Start centralization ASAP!

• Ensure QoS/CoS over WAN

Try to manage all from one cluster

Plan a pilot and finalize design

per results

We are here to help you succeed !!

39 39

Q & A

40 40

Other VMware Activities Related to This Session

HOL:

HOL-MBL-1309

Horizon Mirage - Manage Physical Desktops

Group Discussions:

EUC1000-GD; EUC1004-GD

Mirage with Daniel Beveridge or Mark Ewert

THANK YOU

VMware Mirage Storage and Network Deduplication,

DEMYSTIFIED

Anil Gupta, VMware

Kapil Kasetwar, VMware

Shlomo Wygodny, VMware

EUC5507

#EUC5507