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24 July 2013
Kent Swalin
IBM SmartCloud Virtual Desktop Infrastructure for Microsoft Windows Server 2012 VDI
Reference architecture
Introduction
This document describes the reference architecture for IBM® SmartCloud® Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
with Microsoft® Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) running on Microsoft Windows® Server 2012. It should
be read in conjunction with the IBM SmartCloud Virtual Desktop Infrastructure reference architecture
document available at: ibm.com/partnerworld/page/stg_ast_eis_sdi_infrastructure
The business problem, business value, and requirements are described in the IBM SmartCloud Desktop
Infrastructure reference architecture and are not repeated here. This document gives an architecture
overview and component model of the Microsoft pooled VDI and then describes the deployment model of
Microsoft pooled VDI for varying numbers of users accessing virtual Windows desktops, running on
servers that can be accessed from a variety of user devices such as tablets, thin clients, physical
desktops, and notebooks.
The intended audience of this document is IT professionals, technical architects, sales engineers, and
consultants to assist in planning, designing and implementing Microsoft VDI on IBM System x®3550 M4 or
IBM System x3650 M4 and IBM Storwize® V3700.
This instance of the architecture is based on a pooled virtual machine (VM) configuration. Pooled VMs are
non-persistent user desktops. Every user VM has a dedicated portion of the virtualization host server’s
resources to guarantee the performance for each desktop. The desktop VM is dedicated to one user while
the user is logged on. When the user logs off or restarts, the VM is returned to the pool and reset to the
pristine gold image state for the next user.
Microsoft has complementary technologies: Microsoft Remote Desktop Session Hosting (RD Session
Host) and RemoteFX which can be combined with VDI. However, these technologies are not covered in
this reference architecture.
Architectural overview
IBM SmartCloud Virtual Desktop Infrastructure for Microsoft Windows Server 2012 VDI (IBM SmartCloud
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure for Microsoft VDI) is an end-to-end desktop solution that lowers the barriers
of adoption, such as cost, complexity, and coverage that are traditionally associated with the VDI
technology. It allows access to a personal desktop from anywhere, using any device. Microsoft Windows
Server 2012 is an ideal choice for desktop virtualization. It includes everything needed to set up a VDI
solution including: the connection broker, web access, gateway, and other necessary components, so no
additional third-party software is required.
Figure 1 shows the main features of the IBM SmartCloud Virtual Desktop Infrastructure for Microsoft VDI
reference architecture.
IBM SmartCloud Virtual Desktop Infrastructure for Microsoft Windows Server 2012 VDI
Reference architecture
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Figure 1: SmartCloud Virtual Desktop Infrastructure reference architecture for Microsoft VDI
This document limits the discussion to the components inside the customer’s intranet. This reference
architecture does not address the issues of remote access and authorization, data traffic reduction, traffic
monitoring, and the general issues of multisite deployment and network management.
Component model
Component relationship diagram
Figure 2 is a layered view of the IBM SmartCloud Virtual Desktop Infrastructure mapped to the Microsoft
VDI with Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V hypervisor.
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Reference architecture
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Figure 2:IBM SmartCloud Virtual Desktop Infrastructure mapped to the Microsoft VDI
The main components for Microsoft VDI using Hyper-V are explained in the following table:
Virtualization Host Remote Desktop Virtualization Host integrates with Hyper-V
to deploy pooled or personal virtual desktop collections.
Remote Desktop Web Access Remote Desktop Web Access enables users to access
Server Desktop Connection through the Start menu on a computer
that is running Windows 8, Windows 7, or through a web
browser.
Remote Desktop License Server Remote Desktop (RD) Licensing manages the licenses
required to connect to a virtual desktop. You can use RD
Licensing to install, issue, and track the availability of
licenses.
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Reference architecture
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SQL Server SQL Server is used to store provisioning and broker
connection information. SQL server is a required component.
SQL Server 2012 standard edition or higher is recommended.
Clients Users can access their virtual desktop from any device
supported by the respective desktop virtualization solution;
this includes company notebooks, home PCs, thin -client
devices or tablets. IBM does not prescribe any particular
approach for clients. Customers can repurpose existing
desktops (which is typical for many deployments) or green-
field with thin- or zero-client devices. No agent is required on
either the client or VM.
Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) The virtual desktop image is streamed to the user access
device using RDP.
File Services The File Services role will allow the management cluster to
present the user data as virtual hard disks to the pooled VMs
Storage model
This section describes the different types of data stored for this reference architecture.
Pooled VMs use local storage for the client VMs. The pooled desktop enables users to connect to a new
or different desktop image every time they log on while keeping aspects of user experience persistent.
This allows the usage of local storage for the VMs instead of shared storage as no user-associated data
resides persistently in the image. In case of a host failure, users can just reconnect to a desktop hosted on
another system without the need for the VM to fail over to another node. The Windows Server OS and
golden images are stored locally on the virtualization host on fast storage. The local storage on the
virtualization hosts is summarized in the following table.
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Volumes Use File format
OS / Golden image Windows 2012 host OS, local golden image NTFS
Shared storage is used as a repository for the management of VMs, management databases, user profile
and user data, and the client VMs master golden images. Whenever the golden master images are
updated, they are then transferred to each virtualization host. The following table outlines the data layout
for shared storage.
Operational model
The pooled operational model is presented in this section. In order to illustrate the operational model for
different sized customer environments, three different models are provided for supporting 150, 300, and
600 users.
The VDI management cluster servers and virtualization host servers use Hyper-V as the hypervisor. The
VDI management servers, which are clustered with Windows Server 2012 clustering, have management
VMs instead of client VMs. The management VMs are shown in Figure 3.
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Deployment diagram
SQL 1 SQL 2
File File
Services Services
The VDI management servers have the File Services role installed to provide access to user profile data
virtual hard disks to the virtualization host servers. This enables the virtualization host servers to share
access to the user profile virtual hard disks as they reside on a cluster shared volume (CSV) disk on the
shared storage.
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The following table summarizes the VM requirements for each management VM.
Remote 2 4 GB 15 GB 2012 No
Desktop
Gateway
Server
Remote 2 4 GB 15 GB 2012 No
Desktop
License
Server
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Table 5: Pooled client VM configuration
In this architecture, the virtualization hosts are not clustered as the Microsoft VDI collection is capable of
spanning multiple virtualization host servers. In the rare event of a virtualization host failure, users on that
host would need to reconnect to a new VM.
The VDI management servers have a similar hardware specification as virtualization host servers do, so
you can use them interchangeably in a worst-case scenario. If a management server goes down, it can be
replaced by one of the virtualization host servers.
Pooled VMs use local storage and require the local storage on the virtualization hosts as shown in the
following table.
Testing has shown that the local VM volume needs at least six 15k drives to support 100 to 150 users with
good performance. To support more users or if the I/O per user is higher, then eight drives have been
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found to be effective, especially, if combined with higher powered processor and more memory. The I/O
performance is shown in “Appendix 2: Performance testing results”.
Networking
Combinations of physical and virtual isolated networks at the host, switch, and storage layers meet
isolation requirements. At the physical host layer, there are four 1Gb Ethernet devices for each Hyper-V
server.
The servers and storage maintain connectivity through multiple iSCSI connections using multipath I/O
(MPIO). Windows Server 2012 NIC teaming on the virtualization hosts provides fault tolerance to the host
management and VM communication networks.
At the physical switch layer, virtual local area networks (VLANs) provide logical isolation between various
storage and data traffic. A key element is properly configuring the switches to maximize available
bandwidth and reduce congestion. Based on individual environment preferences, you have choices
regarding how many VLANs you create and what type of role-based traffic they handle. After you make a
final selection, ensure that the switch configurations are saved or backed up.
The configurations of the five VLANS are described in the following table.
At the physical storage layer, the IBM Storwize V3700 iSCSI ports are used for connectivity. Each
controller has two 1Gb Ethernet ports for iSCSI traffic. The use of the IBM Subsystem Device Specific
Module (SDDDSM) manages the multiple I/O paths between the host servers and storage, and optimizes
the storage paths for maximum performance. VLANs are used to isolate storage traffic from other data
traffic occurring on the switches.
VLAN 10 and VLAN 20 are reserved for server access to the iSCSI storage. All iSCSI traffic should be
isolated on VLAN 10 and VLAN 20. One switch hosts VLAN 10, and the second switch hosts VLAN 20.
Implementation of the VLAN isolation from the storage controller:
To help balance iSCSI workloads, each Storwize V3700 controller maintains two iSCSI
connections to the networks.
One connection from each controller to each switch.
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Implementation of the VLAN isolation from each physical VDI management host:
Each physical VDI management host will have two connections to the iSCSI networks
(one to each VLAN).
Traffic isolation occurs at the switch.
Storage integration
The IBM Storwize V3700 system is used for shared storage which will host the management server VMs,
the master golden image, SQL files, and user profile data. The IBM Storwize V3700 system uses iSCSI
ports for storage connectivity to the management cluster. Each controller has two 1GbE Ethernet ports for
iSCSI traffic. The IBM Storwize V3700 system was chosen for this implementation as it is an entry-level
disk storage system designed with sophisticated capabilities unusual for a system of this class. It offers
efficiency and flexibility through built-in thin provisioning and non-disruptive migration of data from existing
storage. Built upon the innovative technology in the Storwize family, Storwize V3700 addresses block
storage requirements at an affordable price.
The following table outlines the volume requirements for shared storage. The number of disks is based on
300 GB 10K drives. Larger disk sizes could be chosen to meet the capacity needs of the client. The
24 disks in a single V3700 enclosure in the following table are based on a 600-user configuration. The
number of disks can be reduced depending on the number of users expected. Refer to the “Sizing
considerations” section for more information.
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Sizing considerations
One of the key questions when planning a VDI deployment is the number of users supported per host.
Determining the system configuration able to support the load generated by users is a typical challenge.
VDI requires a separate VM and associated hardware capacity for every user. Although one VM can host
a relatively lightweight application (such as a data-entry application) that users access infrequently and
with low resource costs, another might host a demanding computer-aided design (CAD) application
requiring a lot of processor, RAM, disk, and network bandwidth.
The test team developed two virtualization host configurations; the first is IBM System x3550 M4 or
System x3650 M4 with 192GB of memory, two SSDs, six 300 GB 15k HDDs, and two Intel® Xeon®
processors E5-2670; the second configuration is IBM System x3650 M4 with 256 GB of memory with two
SSDs, eight 300 GB 15k HDDs, and two Intel Xeon processors E5-2680.
The two virtualization host configurations are designed to provide the flexibility for the client’s
requirements. The first configuration provides high performance with a reasonable price. The second
configuration provides more processor power, memory, and I/O if the clients VMs have a more demanding
workload.
You can find the performance characteristics for these two configurations in the “Appendix 2: Performance
testing results” section. These two configurations are shown in Table 9 and Table 10. By looking at these
configurations, you can deploy a VDI solution that balances performance, price, failover, and scalability
concerns.
OS Windows Server
2012 Datacenter
The test team designed these configurations to allow for sufficient resources if one of the management
servers or virtualization hosts fail.
Configuration 1
Management servers 2 2 2
Servers required 4 6 8
Configuration 2
Management servers 2 2 2
Servers required 4 5 7
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The following table shows the Storwize V3700 shared storage disk configuration sizing guidelines.
Management VMs 4 6
Management 2 4
databases
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2 x IBM x3550 M4
Management 2 x Intel E5-2650
64GB
4 x 300GB 10K
6 x IBM x3550 M4
2 x Intel E5-2670
192GB
Virtualization 2 x 200GB SSD
Hosts 6 x 300GB 15K
The following table summarizes the servers and user configuration for the virtualization hosts during
normal activity and after a host failure.
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Appendix 1: Bill of materials
The following parts list was generated with the online IBM hardware configurator. All the parts might not be
available in all geographies.
Single System x3550 M4 virtualization host configuration 1
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Single System x3650 M4 virtualization host configuration 2
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V3700 iSCSI shared storage
Configuration options:
Set the tuning parameter on the Broker Server.
Set -RDVirtualDesktopConcurrency to 5 (current max)
This option sets create/update to five VMs at a time (per host) rather than one, which is the default.
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Processor performance graph
The processor graph in the following figure shows the logical processor utilization during performance
analysis of a single virtualization host server. The results show sustained logical processor percentage
runtime peaking at approximately 90%. The average logical processor percentage runtime of about
80% is ideal for an environment that is operating at the optimal combination of maximizing density,
while providing sufficient headroom to ensure that user experience is not diminished.
Figure 5: Processor utilization during a 60-minute run with 160 users logging in over the first 48 minutes
The next two graphs show two different disk performance measurements. The test team measured the
average disk queue length and the average disk transfer. These were measured to verify that there
were no issues on any of the local disk arrays.
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Figure 6: Average disk queue length graph for 60 minutes
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Memory- available bytes graph
The memory graph in the following figure shows the available memory during performance analysis. It
can be seen that the available memory drops to approximately 10 GB, which shows that the system is
getting close to being constrained on memory with 160 users logged on to the system, the total
memory on the virtualization host is 192 GB. These VMs were configured to use dynamic memory;
from a minimum of 512 MB to a maximum of 2 GB. After all the users have been logged on, the
available memory returns to approximately 30 GB, which demonstrates the efficiencies provided by
Microsoft dynamic memory technology.
Login VSI VSImax graph for one of the virtualization host nodes
The Login VSI tool generates a test score called VSImax after each successful test run. The VSImax
is the maximum capacity of the tested system expressed in the number of Login VSI sessions. The
VSImax score can then be used to determine the performance of a particular system configuration.
This graph shows that according to Login VSI, this configuration supports 157 users per virtualization
host with reasonable performance. The performance counter shows that 125 users on the System
x3550 M4 server is probably more realistic as the processor utilization with 157 users is near 95%.
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Figure 9: Login VSI VSImax graph for one virtualization host node
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Figure 11: Average disk transfer graph for a 60-minute run
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Memory-available bytes graph
The memory graph in the following figure shows the available memory during performance analysis. It
can be seen that the available memory never drops below 80 GB, which shows that the system is not
constrained on memory. The total memory on the virtualization host is 256 GB. The total memory for
the VMs configured on this system is 200 GB and this demonstrates the efficiencies provided by
Microsoft’s dynamic memory technology.
Figure 13: Memory-available bytes graph for the 60-minute test run
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Figure 14: Login VSI VSImax graph for one virtualization host node
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Resources
IBM SmartCloud Virtual Desktop Infrastructure reference architecture
ibm.com/partnerworld/wps/servlet/ContentHandler/stg_ast_eis_sdi_infrastructure
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Trademarks and special notices
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2013.
References in this document to IBM products or services do not imply that IBM intends to make them
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to help with our customers' future planning.
Performance is based on measurements and projections using standard IBM benchmarks in a controlled
environment. The actual throughput or performance that any user will experience will vary depending upon
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considerations such as the amount of multiprogramming in the user's job stream, the I/O configuration, the
storage configuration, and the workload processed. Therefore, no assurance can be given that an
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