dell xc web-scale converged appliance for citrix® … nutanix architecture ... this document...

A Dell Appliance Architecture

Dell XC Web-Scale Converged Appliance for Citrix® XenDesktop® Dell Engineering September 2015


Revisions

Date Description

March 2015 Initial release

Sep 2015 Document overhaul, XC730 + vGPU Addition

THIS DOCUMENT IS FOR INFORMATIONAL PURPOSES ONLY, AND MAY CONTAIN TYPOGRAPHICAL ERRORS AND

TECHNICAL INACCURACIES. THE CONTENT IS PROVIDED AS IS, HARDWARE SELECTIONS CONTAINED WITHIN ARE

FROM THE BASIS OF BEST WITHOUT EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND.

Copyright © 2015 Dell Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction of this material in any manner whatsoever without the

express written permission of Dell Inc. is strictly forbidden. For more information, contact Dell.

Dell, the Dell logo, and the Dell badge are trademarks of Dell Inc. Microsoft and Windows are registered trademarks of

Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. VMware is a registered trademark of VMware, Inc.

NVIDIA GRID™ and vGPU™ are registered trademarks of NVIDIA Corporation. Other trademarks and trade names may

be used in this document to refer to either the entities claiming the marks and names or their products. Dell Inc.

disclaims any proprietary interest in trademarks and trade names other than its own.


Contents

1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................................................ 6

1.1 Purpose ............................................................................................................................................................................. 6

1.2 Scope ................................................................................................................................................................................ 6

1.3 What’s New ...................................................................................................................................................................... 6

2 Solution Architecture Overview .............................................................................................................................................. 7

2.1 Introduction ..................................................................................................................................................................... 7

2.2 Nutanix Architecture....................................................................................................................................................... 7

2.3 Nutanix Web-scale Converged Infrastructure ........................................................................................................... 9

2.4 Dell XC Web Scale – Solution Pods ............................................................................................................................ 11

Network Architecture ................................................................................................................................................... 13

3 Hardware Components .......................................................................................................................................................... 14

3.1 Network .......................................................................................................................................................................... 14

Dell Networking S60 (1Gb ToR Switch) .................................................................................................................... 14

Dell Networking S4810 (10Gb ToR Leaf Switch) ..................................................................................................... 15

3.2 Dell XC Converged Appliance .................................................................................................................................... 17

Dell XC630 (A5) ............................................................................................................................................................. 18

Dell XC630 (B5) ............................................................................................................................................................. 18

Dell XC630 (B7) ............................................................................................................................................................. 19

Dell XC730 (Graphics) .................................................................................................................................................. 20

3.3 GPUs ................................................................................................................................................................................ 22

NVIDIA GRID K1 and K2 ............................................................................................................................................... 22

3.4 Dell Wyse Cloud Clients .............................................................................................................................................. 23

Wyse 3020 Thin Client ................................................................................................................................................. 24

Wyse 5010 Thin Client ................................................................................................................................................. 24

Wyse 7020 Thin Client with WES7 ............................................................................................................................. 24

Wyse 7020 Thin Client with WES8 ............................................................................................................................. 24

Wyse 7010 Thin Client with Linux .............................................................................................................................. 25

Dell Wyse Zero – Xenith 2 ........................................................................................................................................... 25

Dell Wyse Zero – Xenith Pro 2 ................................................................................................................................... 25

Dell Wyse Cloud Connect ........................................................................................................................................... 26


Dell Venue 11 Pro .......................................................................................................................................................... 26

Dell Chromebook 11 ................................................................................................................................................ 26

4 Software Components ............................................................................................................................................................ 27

4.1 Citrix ................................................................................................................................................................................ 27

Citrix XenDesktop ......................................................................................................................................................... 27

Machine Creation Services (MCS) .............................................................................................................................. 29

Citrix Profile Manager ................................................................................................................................................... 30

Citrix XenApp ................................................................................................................................................................. 30

Citrix NetScaler .............................................................................................................................................................. 34

4.2 Hypervisor Platforms .................................................................................................................................................... 36

VMware vSphere 6 ........................................................................................................................................................ 36

Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V .......................................................................................................... 37

4.3 NVIDIA GRID vGPU ....................................................................................................................................................... 37

vGPU Profiles ................................................................................................................................................................. 38

5 Solution Architecture for XenDesktop 7 ............................................................................................................................. 40

5.1 Management Role Configuration .............................................................................................................................. 40

vSphere Management Role Requirements .............................................................................................................. 40

Hyper-V Management Role Requirements .............................................................................................................. 41

XenApp on vSphere ...................................................................................................................................................... 42

XenApp on Hyper-V...................................................................................................................................................... 42

SQL Databases ............................................................................................................................................................... 43

DNS .................................................................................................................................................................................. 43

5.2 Storage Architecture Overview .................................................................................................................................. 44

Nutanix Containers ....................................................................................................................................................... 44

5.3 Virtual Networking ........................................................................................................................................................ 44

vSphere ........................................................................................................................................................................... 45

Hyper-V........................................................................................................................................................................... 46

5.4 Scaling Guidance .......................................................................................................................................................... 48

5.5 Solution High Availability ............................................................................................................................................. 49

5.6 Dell Wyse Datacenter for XenDesktop Communication Flow ............................................................................. 51

6 Solution Performance and Testing ....................................................................................................................................... 52

6.1 Load Generation and Monitoring ............................................................................................................................... 52


Login VSI 4 – Login Consultants ................................................................................................................................ 52

VMware vCenter ............................................................................................................................................................ 52

Microsoft Perfmon ........................................................................................................................................................ 52

6.2 Performance Analysis Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 52

Resource Utilization...................................................................................................................................................... 53

Dell Wyse Datacenter Workloads and Profiles ........................................................................................................ 54

Dell Wyse Datacenter Workloads ............................................................................................................................... 54

6.3 Testing and Validation .................................................................................................................................................. 56

Testing Process ............................................................................................................................................................. 56

6.4 XC630-B5 Test Results for Citrix XenDesktop ......................................................................................................... 57

XenDesktop, 420 Pooled VMs, MCS, Light Workload – XC630-B5 ................................................................... 60

XenDesktop, 260 Pooled VMs, MCS, Medium Workload – XC630-B5 ............................................................... 63

XenDesktop, 200 Pooled VMs, MCS, Heavy Workload – XC630-B5 .................................................................. 66

XenApp, 290 Sessions, Heavy Workload – XC630-B5 ........................................................................................... 70

6.5 XC630-B7 Test Results for Citrix XenDesktop ......................................................................................................... 74

Test Results .................................................................................................................................................................... 76

Results summary ........................................................................................................................................................... 77

Bensen B7 Configuration, ESXi/XenDesktop MCS, 200 User Test, Heavy Workload ....................................... 77

XenApp, 290 Sessions, User Test, Heavy Workload ................................................................................................ 81

Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................................................................ 87

About the Authors ........................................................................................................................................................................... 88


1 Introduction

1.1 Purpose This document addresses the architecture design, configuration and implementation considerations for

the key components required to deliver virtual desktops or shared sessions via Citrix® XenDesktop® and

XenApp® on Microsoft® Windows Server® Hyper-V® 2012 R2 or VMware® vSphere® 6.

1.2 Scope Relative to delivering the virtual desktop environment, the objectives of this document are to:

Define the detailed technical design for the solution.

Define the hardware requirements to support the design.

Define the constraints which are relevant to the design.

Define relevant risks, issues, assumptions and concessions – referencing existing ones where possible.

Provide a breakdown of the design into key elements such that the reader receives an incremental or

modular explanation of the design.

Provide solution scaling and component selection guidance.

1.3 What’s New

Introduce support for VMware vSphere 6

Introduce support for Citrix XenDesktop 7.6

Introduce support for new Dell XC730 Graphics appliance

Introduce support for NVIDIA GRID vGPU on vSphere 6


2 Solution Architecture Overview

2.1 Introduction The Dell XC series delivers an out-of-the-box infrastructure solution for virtual desktops that eliminates

the high cost, variable performance, and extensive risk of conventional solutions. The Nutanix™ web-scale

converged infrastructure is a turnkey solution that comes ready to run your VDI solution of choice. The

Nutanix platform’s unique architecture allows enterprises to scale their virtual desktops from 50 to tens of

thousands of desktops in a linear fashion, providing customers with a simple path to enterprise

deployment with the agility of public cloud providers.

2.2 Nutanix Architecture The Nutanix web-scale converged infrastructure is a scale-out cluster of high-performance nodes (or

servers), each running a standard hypervisor and containing processors, memory, and local storage

(consisting of SSD Flash and high capacity SATA disk drives). Each node runs virtual machines just like a

standard virtual machine host.

In addition, local storage from all nodes is virtualized into a unified pool by the Nutanix Distributed File

System (NDFS). In effect, NDFS acts like an advanced NAS that uses local SSDs and disks from all nodes to


store virtual machine data. Virtual machines running on the cluster write data to NDFS as if they were

writing to shared storage.

NDFS understand the concept of a virtual machine and provides advanced data management features. It

brings data closer to virtual machines by storing the data locally on the system, resulting in higher

performance at a lower cost. Nutanix platforms can horizontally scale from as few as three nodes to a

large number of nodes, enabling organizations to scale their infrastructure as their needs grow.

The Nutanix Elastic Deduplication Engine is a software-driven, massively scalable and intelligent data

reduction technology. It increases the effective capacity in the disk tier, as well as the RAM and flash cache

tiers of the system, by eliminating duplicate data. This substantially increases storage efficiency, while also

improving performance due to larger effective cache capacity in RAM and flash. Deduplication is

performed by each node individually in the cluster, allowing for efficient and uniform deduplication at

scale. This technology is increasingly effective with full/persistent clones or P2V migrations.

Nutanix Shadow Clones delivers distributed localized caching of virtual disks performance in multi-reader

scenarios, such as desktop virtualization using Citrix XenDesktop or XenApp. With Shadow Clones, the

NDFSNDFS

Only a single instance of the shared VM data is pulled into the cache upon read

StorageStorage

... VM NVM NVM 1VM 1

CacheCache

HypervisorHypervisor

CacheCVMCVM

Each node participates in, and performs, its own fingerprinting and deduplication

StorageStorage


CacheCache


CacheCVMCVM

Sequential streams of data are fingerprinted at 4K granularity for efficient deduplication

StorageStorage


CacheCache


CacheCVMCVM

...


CVM actively monitors virtual disk access trends. If there are requests originating from more than two

remote CVMs, as well as the local CVM, and all of the requests are read I/O and the virtual disk will be

marked as immutable. Once the disk has been marked immutable, the virtual disk is then cached locally by

each CVM, so read operations are now satisfied locally by local storage.

The benefits of the Nutanix Platform are now exposed to scale out vSphere or Hyper-V deployments:

2.3 Nutanix Web-scale Converged Infrastructure The Nutanix web-scale converged infrastructure provides an ideal combination of both high-performance

compute with localized storage to meet any demand. True to this capability, this reference architecture

contains zero reconfiguration of or customization to the Nutanix product to optimize for this use case.

The next figure shows a high-level example of the relationship between an XC node, storage pool,

container, pod and relative scale out:


Dell XC Web Scale allows organizations to deliver virtualized or remote desktops and applications through

a single platform and support end users with access to all of their desktops and applications in a single

place.


2.4 Dell XC Web Scale – Solution Pods The networking layer consists of the 10Gb Dell Networking S4810 utilized to build a world-class leaf/spine

architecture with robust 1Gb switching in the S60 for iDRAC connectivity.

The compute, management and storage layers are converged into a single server XC Series appliance

cluster, hosting either VMware vSphere or Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisors. The recommended boundaries

of an individual pod are based on number of nodes supported within a given hypervisor cluster, 64 nodes

for vSphere or Hyper-V.

Dell recommends that the VDI management infrastructure nodes be separated from the compute

resources onto their own appliance cluster with a common storage namespace shared between them

based on NFS for vSphere or SMB for Hyper-V. One node for VDI management is required, minimally, and

expanded based on size of the pod. The designations ds_rdsh, ds_compute, and ds_mgmt as seen below

are logical NDFS containers used to group VMs of a particular type. Using distinct containers allows

features and attributes, such as compression and deduplication, to be applied to groups of VMs that share

similar characteristics. Compute hosts can be used interchangeably for XenApp or RDSH as required.

Distinct clusters should be built for management and compute hosts for HA, respectively, to plan

predictable failover, scale and load across the pod. The NFS or SMB namespace can be shared across

multiple hypervisor clusters adding disk capacity and performance for each distinct cluster.


High-performance graphics capabilities compliment the solution and can easily be added at any time to

any new or existing Dell XC vSphere deployment. Simply add the appropriate number of XC730 appliances

to your NDFS cluster and provide a superior user experience with vSphere 6 and NVIDIA GRID vGPU

technology.


Network Architecture Designed for true linear scaling, Dell XC series leverages a Leaf-Spine network architecture. A Leaf-Spine

architecture consists of two network tiers: an L2 Leaf and an L3 Spine based on 40GbE and non-blocking

switches. This architecture maintains consistent performance without any throughput reduction due to a

static maximum of three hops from any node in the network.

The following figure shows a design of a scale-out Leaf-Spine network architecture that provides 20Gb

active throughput from each node to its Leaf and scalable 80Gb active throughput from each Leaf to

Spine switch providing scale from 3 XC nodes to thousands without any impact to available bandwidth:

4

LAG

10 Gb/s

40+ Gb/s

MLAG Link

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

QSFP+

MASTERSYS FAN PSU

RS-232

ETHERNETLNK ACT4644424038363432302826242220181614121086420 48 56

52 60

SFP+

Force10 S4810P

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

4

L2 Leaf

QSFP+

MASTERSYS FAN PSU

RS-232

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52 60

SFP+

Force10 S4810P

4

QSFP+

MASTERSYS FAN PSU

RS-232

ETHERNETLNK ACT4644424038363432302826242220181614121086420 48 56

52 60

SFP+

Force10 S4810P

QSFP+

MASTERSYS FAN PSU

RS-232

ETHERNETLNK ACT4644424038363432302826242220181614121086420 48 56

52 60

SFP+

Force10 S4810P

4

18 2014 1610 126 82 4 30 3226 2822 24

17 1913 159 115 71 3 29 3125 2721 23 33SFP+

34SFP+

Stack ID

EST

L3 Spine

18 2014 1610 126 82 4 30 3226 2822 24

17 1913 159 115 71 3 29 3125 2721 23 33SFP+

34SFP+

Stack ID

EST


3 Hardware Components

3.1 Network The following sections contain the core network components for the Dell Wyse Datacenter solutions.

General uplink cabling guidance to consider in all cases is that TwinAx is very cost effective for short 10Gb

runs and for longer runs use fiber with SFPs.

Dell Networking S60 (1Gb ToR Switch) The Dell Networking S-Series S60 is a high-performance 1/ 10Gb access switch optimized for lowering

operational costs at the network edge and is recommended for iDRAC connectivity. The S60 answers the

key challenges related to network congestion in data center ToR (Top-of-Rack) and service provider

aggregation deployments. As the use of bursty applications and services continue to increase, huge spikes

in network traffic that can cause network congestion and packet loss, also become more common. The

S60 is equipped with the industry’s largest packet buffer (1.25 GB), enabling it to deliver lower application

latency and maintain predictable network performance even when faced with significant spikes in network

traffic. Providing 48 line-rate Gb ports and up to four optional 10Gb uplinks in just 1-RU, the S60

conserves valuable rack space. Further, the S60 design delivers unmatched configuration flexibility, high

reliability, and power and cooling efficiency to reduce costs.

Model Features Options Uses

Dell Networking

S60

44 x BaseT (10/100/1000)

+ 4 x SFP

High performance

High Scalability

Redundant PSUs 1Gb

connectivity

for iDRAC

4 x 1Gb SFP ports the

support copper or fiber

12Gb or 24Gb stacking

(up to 12 switches)

2 x modular slots for

10Gb uplinks or

stacking modules


Guidance:

10Gb uplinks to a core or distribution switch are the preferred design choice using the rear 10Gb uplink

modules. If 10Gb to a core or distribution switch is unavailable the front 4 x 1Gb SFP ports are used.

The front 4 SFP ports can support copper cabling and are upgraded to optical if a longer run is needed.

For more information on the S60 switch and Dell Networking, please visit: LINK

3.1.1.1 S60 Stacking The S60 switches are optionally stacked with 2 or more switches, if greater port count or redundancy is

desired. Each switch will need a stacking module plugged into a rear bay and connected with a stacking

cable. The best practice for switch stacks greater than 2 is to cable in a ring configuration with the last

switch in the stack cabled back to the first. Uplinks need to be configured on all switches in the stack back

to the core to provide redundancy and failure protection.

Dell Networking S4810 (10Gb ToR Leaf Switch) The Dell Networking S-Series S4810 is an ultra-low latency 10/40Gb Top-of-Rack (ToR) switch purpose-

built for applications in high-performance data center and computing environments. Leveraging a non-

blocking, cut-through switching architecture, the S4810 delivers line-rate L2 and L3 forwarding capacity

with ultra-low latency to maximize network performance. The compact S4810 design provides industry-

leading density of 48 dual-speed 1/10Gb (SFP+) ports as well as four 40Gb QSFP+ uplinks to conserve

valuable rack space and simplify the migration to 40Gb in the data center core (Each 40Gb QSFP+ uplink

can support four 10Gb ports with a breakout cable). Priority-based Flow Control (PFC), Data Center Bridge

Exchange (DCBX), Enhance Transmission Selection (ETS), coupled with ultra-low latency and line rate

throughput, make the S4810 ideally suited for converged leaf/spine environments.

http://www.dell.com/us/enterprise/p/force10-s60/pd


Model Features Options Uses

Dell Networking S4810

48 x SFP+ (1Gb/10Gb) + 4 x QSFP+ (40Gb)

Redundant Power Supplies

Single-mode/ multimode optics, TwinAx, QSFP+ breakout cables

ToR switch for 10Gb converged connectivity

Stack up to 6 switches or 2 using VLT, using SFP or QSFP ports

Guidance:

The 40Gb QSFP+ ports are split into 4 x 10Gb ports using breakout cables for stand-alone units, if

necessary. This is not supported in stacked configurations.

10Gb or 40Gb uplinks to a core or distribution switch is the preferred design choice.

The front 4 SFP ports can support copper cabling and are upgraded to optical if a longer run is needed.

For more information on the S4810 switch and Dell Networking, please visit: LINK

3.1.2.1 S4810 Stacking The S4810 switches are optionally stacked up to 6 switches or configured to use Virtual Link Trunking

(VLT) up to 2 switches. Stacking is supported on either SFP or QSFP ports as long as that port is configured

for stacking. The best practice for switch stacks greater than 2 is to cable in a ring configuration with the

last switch in the stack cabled back to the first. Uplinks need to be configured on all switches in the stack

back to the core to provide redundancy and failure protection. It is recommended that the S4810 be

configured for use in the leaf layer connective up to another switch in the spine layer.

http://www.dell.com/us/enterprise/p/force10-s4810/pd


3.2 Dell XC Converged Appliance Consolidate compute and storage into a single chassis with Dell XC Series web-scale converged

appliances, powered by Nutanix software. XC Series appliances install quickly, integrate easily into any data

center, and can be deployed for multiple virtualized workloads including desktop virtualization, test and

development, and private cloud projects. For general purpose virtual desktop and virtual application

solutions, Dell recommends the XC630. For more information please visit: Link

While the XC630 is ultimately a flexible and highly configurable converged appliance, Dell offers three

optimized platforms with which to build your desktop virtualization project. The A5 configuration is

recommended for entry-level, small scale or POC deployments where maximizing a balance of low cost

and performance is crucial. The B5 boats a balanced configuration best suited for small or large

production deployments consisting of task or knowledge workers. Finally the B7 configuration is

positioned as the ultimate in performance and scalability providing an abundance of CPU power and tiered

disk capacity to suit a virtual desktop project of any scale or user workload.

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/dell-xc-series/pd


Dell XC630 (A5) The Dell XC630-A5 platform is perfect for POCs, lighter user workloads, shared sessions or application

virtualization. Each appliance comes equipped with dual 8-core CPUs and 256GB of high-performance

RAM. Six disks come in each host, 2 x 200GB SSD for the hot tier (Tier1) and 4 x 1TB NL SAS disks for the

cold tier (Tier2). The 64GB SATADOM boots the hypervisor and Nutanix Controller VM while the H730

PERC is configured in pass-through mode connecting to the SSDs and HDDs. 64GB is consumed on each

of the first two SSDs for the Nutanix “home”. These six disks are presented to the Nutanix Controller VM

running locally on each host. Each platform can be outfitted with SFP+ or BaseT NICs.

Dell XC630 – A5

CPU 2 x E5-2630v3 (8C, 2.4GHz)

Memory 16 x 16GB 2133MHz RDIMMs

Effective speed: 2133MHz @ 256GB

RAID Ctrls PERC H730 Mini – no RAID

Storage 64GB SATADOM (CVM/ Hypervisor)

2 x 200GB MLC SATA SSD 2.5” (T1)

4 x 1TB NL SAS 2.5” (T2)

Network 2 x 10Gb, 2 x 1Gb SFP+/ BT

iDRAC iDRAC8 Ent w/ vFlash, 8GB SD

Power 2 x 750W PSUs

Dell XC630 (B5) The Dell XC630-B5 platform is perfect for larger POCs, medium user workloads, shared sessions or

application virtualization. Each appliance comes equipped with dual 12-core CPUs and 384GB of high-

performance RAM. Six disks come in each host, 2 x 400GB SSD for the hot tier (Tier1) and 4 x 1TB NL SAS

disks for the cold tier (Tier2). The 64GB SATADOM boots the hypervisor and Nutanix Controller VM while

the H730 PERC is configured in pass-through mode connecting to the SSDs and HDDs. 64GB is

consumed on each of the first two SSDs for the Nutanix “home”. These six disks are presented to the

Nutanix Controller VM running locally on each host. Each platform can be outfitted with SFP+ or BaseT

NICs.


Dell XC630 – B5

CPU 2 x E5-2680v3 (12C, 2.5GHz)


Effective speed: 1866 MHz @ 384GB




4 x 1TB NL SAS 2.5” (T2)



Power 2 x 750W PSUs

Dell XC630 (B7) The Dell XC630-B7 platform is ideal for high performance requirements, heavy user workloads, and dense

shared sessions or application virtualization. Each appliance comes equipped with dual 16-core CPUs and

384GB of high-performance RAM. Six disks come in each host, 2 x 400GB SSD for the hot tier (Tier1) and 6

x 1TB NL SAS disks for the cold tier (Tier2). The 64GB SATADOM boots the hypervisor and Nutanix

Controller VM while the H730 PERC is configured in pass-through mode connecting to the SSDs and

HDDs. 64GB is consumed on each of the first two SSDs for the Nutanix “home”. These eight disks are

presented to the Nutanix Controller VM running locally on each host. Each platform can be outfitted with

SFP+ or BaseT NICs.


Dell XC630 – B7

CPU 2 x E5-2698v3 (16C, 2.3GHz)






6 x 1TB NL SAS 2.5” (T2)



Power 2 x 750W PSUs

Dell XC730 (Graphics) The Dell-optimized XC730 platform is ideal for high performance graphics workloads. Each appliance

comes equipped with dual 14-core 120w CPUs and 256GB of high-performance RAM supporting up to 64

users per XC730. Six disks come standard in each host, 2 x 400GB SSD for the hot tier (Tier1) and 4 x 1TB

NL SAS disks for the cold tier (Tier2). The 64GB SATADOM boots the hypervisor and Nutanix Controller VM

while the H730 PERC is configured in pass-through mode connecting to the SSDs and HDDs. 64GB is

consumed on each of the first two SSDs for the Nutanix “home”. These six disks are presented to the

Nutanix Controller VM running locally on each host. Each platform can be outfitted with SFP+ or BaseT

NICs.


Important to note that this platform must be configured using CPUs with a max TDP of 120w and requires

1100w PSUs.

Dell XC730 – Graphics

CPU 2 x E5-2695v3 (14C, 2.3GHz)



GPU 2 x NVIDIA Grid K2; vGPU Profile: K220Q




4 x 1TB NL SAS 2.5” (T2)



Power 2 x 1100W PSUs


3.3 GPUs

NVIDIA GRID K1 and K2 NVIDIA GRID™ technology offers the ability to offload graphics

processing from the CPU to the GPU in virtualized environments,

allowing the data center manager to deliver true PC graphics-rich

experiences to more users for the first time. NVIDIA's Kepler™-

based GRID K1 and K2 boards are specifically designed to enable

rich graphics in virtualized environments.

GPU Virtualization

GRID boards allow hardware virtualization of the GPU. This means

multiple users can share a single GPU, improving user density while providing true PC performance and

compatibility.

Low-Latency Remote Display

NVIDIA's patented low-latency remote display technology greatly improves the user experience by

reducing the lag that users feel when interacting with their virtual machine. With this technology, the

virtual desktop screen is pushed directly to the remoting protocol.

Maximum User Density

NVIDIA GRID boards have an optimized multi-GPU design that helps to maximize user density. GRID K1

boards, which include four Kepler-based GPUs and 16GB of memory, are designed to host the maximum

number of concurrent users. GRID K2 boards, which include two higher end Kepler GPUs and 8GB of

memory, deliver maximum density for users of graphics-intensive applications.


Specs Grid K1 Grid K2

Number of GPUs 4 x Kepler GPUs (GK107) 2 x high-end Kepler GPUs (GK104)

Total CUDA cores 768 (192 per GPU) 3072 (1536 per GPU)

Core Clock 850 MHz 745 MHz

Total memory size 16 GB DDR3 8 GB GDDR5

Max power 130 W 225 W

Form Factors Dual slot (4.4” x 10.5”) Dual slot (4.4” x 10.5”)

Aux power 6-pin connector 8-pin connector

PCIe x16 (Gen3) x16 (Gen3)

Cooling solution Passive Passive/ Active

For more information on NVIDIA Grid, please visit: Link

3.4 Dell Wyse Cloud Clients

The following Dell Wyse clients will deliver a superior Citrix user experience and are the recommended

choices for this solution.

http://www.nvidia.com/object/grid-boards.html


Wyse 3020 Thin Client Build out a simple or vast virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and stay

within your budget using Wyse 3000 series thin clients. This easy-to-

use family of clients for Citrix®, Microsoft®, VMware® or Wyse

vWorkspace environments includes models that are available with

virus-immune Wyse ThinOS or Wyse enhanced Ubuntu™ Linux®. All

offer vibrant multimedia performance, System-on-Chip (SoC)

processors and hands-off Wyse Automated Management capability.

Using about 7-watts of power in full operation, the T10D creates very

little heat for a greener, more comfortable working environment. Link

Wyse 5010 Thin Client The Wyse 5000 series thin client is a highly efficient and powerful endpoint platform for Citrix®,

Microsoft®, VMware®, and Wyse vWorkspace virtual desktop environments. It is

available as a zero client, a diskless cloud desktop or a thin client with Windows

Embedded Standard®, Wyse-enhanced enterprise Linux, or virus-immune Wyse

ThinOS. With its extremely compact size and high performance, it’s a versatile

virtual desktop endpoint or cloud desktop when used with Wyse WSM software.

For more information, please visit: Link

Wyse 7020 Thin Client with WES7 The Dell Wyse 7020 is a super high-performance Windows Embedded Standard 7 thin client for virtual

desktop environments. Featuring a quad-core AMD processor, and an integrated graphics engine that

significantly boost performance; the 7020 achieves exceptional speed and power for the most demanding

VDI and embedded Windows applications, rotational 3D graphics, 3D simulation and modeling, unified

communications, and multi-screen HD multimedia. Take a unit from box to productivity in minutes. Just

select the desired configuration and the 7020 does the rest automatically—no need to reboot. Scale to

tens of thousands of endpoints with Dell Wyse WDM software or leverage your existing Microsoft System

Center Configuration Manager platform. The 7020 is the thin client for power users who need

workstation-class performance on their desktop or within a desktop virtualization environment (x86 or

x64). For more information, please visit: Link

Wyse 7020 Thin Client with WES8 Dell Wyse 7020 is a super high-performance Windows Embedded 8 Standard thin client for virtual desktop

environments. Featuring a quad-core AMD processor, the 7020 offers a vibrant Windows 8 experience and

achieves exceptional speed and power for the most demanding embedded Windows applications, rich 3D

graphics and HD multimedia. And you can scale to tens of thousands of 7020 endpoints with Dell Wyse

Device Manager (WDM) software, or leverage your existing Microsoft System Center Configuration

Manager platform. With single-touch or multi-touch capable displays, the 7020 adds the ease of an

http://www.wyse.com/products/cloud-clients/thin-clients/T10

http://www.wyse.com/products/cloud-clients/thin-clients/D10D

http://www.wyse.com/products/cloud-clients/thin-clients/Z90Q7


intuitive touch user experience. The 7020 is an ideal thin client for offering a high-performance Windows

8 experience with the most demanding mix of virtual desktop or cloud applications (x86 or x64). For more

information please visit: Link

Wyse 7010 Thin Client with Linux Designed for power users, the new Dell Wyse 7010 is the highest performing thin

client on the market. Highly secure and ultra-powerful, the 7010 combines Dell

Wyse-enhanced SUSE Linux Enterprise with a dual-core AMD 1.65 GHz processor

and a revolutionary unified engine for an unprecedented user experience. The

7010 eliminates performance constraints for high-end, processing-intensive

applications like computer-aided design, multimedia, HD video and 3D modeling.

Scalable enterprise-wide management provides simple deployment, patching and

updates. Take a unit from box to productivity in minutes with auto configuration.

Delivering unmatched processing speed and power, security and display

performance, it’s no wonder no other thin client can compare. For more information, please visit: Link

Dell Wyse Zero – Xenith 2 Discover new levels of performance, simplicity and ease-of-use in the

next generation of Wyse Xenith™ zero clients. They’re built for Citrix®

HDX™, so users receive an instant-on desktop, and can enjoy a rich

media experience that doesn’t tax servers and networks. And it’s easy,

too. With simple operation and auto-configuration, Wyse 3000 and

5000 series Xenith zero clients for Citrix are always adapting to new

network security and protocol advances. For more information, please

visit: Link

Dell Wyse Zero – Xenith Pro 2 Dell Wyse Xenith Pro 2 is the next-generation zero client for Citrix HDX and

Citrix XenDesktop, delivering ultimate performance, security and simplicity. With

a powerful dual core AMD G-series CPU; Xenith Pro 2 is faster than competing

devices. This additional computing horsepower allows dazzling HD multimedia

delivery without overtaxing your server or network. Scalable enterprise-wide

management provides simple deployment, patching and updates—your Citrix

XenDesktop server configures it out-of-the-box to your preferences for plug-

and-play speed and ease of use. Virus and malware immune, the Xenith Pro 2

draws under 9 watts of power in full operation—that’s less than any PC on the

planet. For more information please visit: Link

http://www.wyse.com/products/cloud-clients/thin-clients/Z90Q8

http://www.wyse.com/products/cloud-clients/thin-clients/Z50D

http://www.wyse.com/products/cloud-clients/zero-clients/Xenith-2

http://www.wyse.com/products/cloud-clients/zero-clients/Xenith-Pro-2


Dell Wyse Cloud Connect Designed to promote bring-your-own-device (BYOD) environments, Dell Wyse

Cloud Connect allows you to securely access and share work and personal files,

presentations, applications and other content from your business or your home.

Managed through Dell Wyse Cloud Client Manager software-as-a-service (SaaS), IT

managers can ensure that each Cloud Connect device is used by the appropriate

person with the right permissions and access to the appropriate apps and content

based on role, department and location. Slightly larger than a USB memory stick,

Cloud Connect is an ultra-compact multimedia-capable device. Simply plug it into

any available Mobile High-Definition Link (MHL) / HDMI port on a TV or monitor,

attach a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and you’re off and running. Easy to slip into your pocket or bag, it

enables an HD-quality window to the cloud, great for meetings and presentations while on business travel,

or for cruising the internet and checking email after a day of work. For more information, please visit: Link

Dell Venue 11 Pro Meet the ultimate in productivity, connectivity and collaboration. Enjoy full

laptop performance in an ultra-portable tablet that has unmatched flexibility

for a business in motion. This dual purpose device works as a tablet when

you're out in the field but also enables you to work on your desktop in the

office thanks to an optional dock. For more information, please visit: Link

Dell Chromebook 11 The lightweight, easy-to-use Dell Chromebook 11 helps turn education into

exploration - without the worries of safety or security. Priced to make 1:1

computing affordable today, Chromebook 11 is backed by Dell support

services to make the most of your budget for years to come. The Chrome

OS and Chrome browser get students online in an instant and loads web

pages in seconds. A high-density battery supported by a 4th Gen Intel®

processor provides up to 10 hours of power. Encourage creativity with the

Chromebook 11 and its multimedia features that include an 11.6" screen, stereo sound and webcam.

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/cloud-connect/pd

http://www.dell.com/us/p/dell-venue-11-pro/pd


4 Software Components

4.1 Citrix

Citrix XenDesktop The solution is based on Citrix XenDesktop 7.6 which provides a complete end-to-end solution

delivering Microsoft Windows virtual desktops or server-based hosted shared sessions to users on a

wide variety of endpoint devices. Virtual desktops are dynamically assembled on demand, providing

users with pristine, yet personalized, desktops each time they log on.

Citrix XenDesktop provides a complete virtual desktop delivery system by integrating several

distributed components with advanced configuration tools that simplify the creation and real-time

management of the virtual desktop infrastructure.


The core XenDesktop components include:

Studio

Studio is the management console that enables you to configure and manage your deployment,

eliminating the need for separate management consoles for managing delivery of applications and

desktops. Studio provides various wizards to guide you through the process of setting up your

environment, creating your workloads to host applications and desktops, and assigning applications

and desktops to users.

Director

Director is a web-based tool that enables IT support teams to monitor an environment, troubleshoot

issues before they become system-critical, and perform support tasks for end users. You can also

view and interact with a user's sessions using Microsoft Remote Assistance.

Receiver

Installed on user devices, Citrix Receiver provides users with quick, secure, self-service access to

documents, applications, and desktops from any of the user's devices including smartphones, tablets,

and PCs. Receiver provides on-demand access to Windows, Web, and Software as a Service (SaaS)

applications.

Delivery Controller (DC)

Installed on servers in the data center, the controller authenticates users, manages the assembly of

users’ virtual desktop environments, and brokers connections between users and their virtual

desktops.

StoreFront

StoreFront authenticates users to sites hosting resources and manages stores of desktops and applications

that user’s access.

License Server

The Citrix License Server is an essential component at any Citrix-based solution. Every Citrix product

environment must have at least one shared or dedicated license server. License servers are computers that

are either partly or completely dedicated to storing and managing licenses. Citrix products request

licenses from a license server when users attempt to connect.

Machine Creation Services (MCS)

A collection of services that work together to create virtual servers and desktops from a master image on

demand; optimizing storage utilization and providing a pristine virtual machine to users every time they log

on. Machine Creation Services is fully integrated and administrated in Citrix Studio.

Provisioning Services (PVS)

The Provisioning Services infrastructure is based on software-streaming technology. This technology

allows computers to be provisioned and re-provisioned in real-time from a single shared-disk image.


Virtual Delivery Agent (VDA)

The Virtual Desktop Agent is a transparent plugin that is installed on every virtual desktop or XenApp

host (RDSH) and enables the direct connection between the virtual desktop and users’ endpoint

devices.

Machine Creation Services (MCS) Citrix Machine Creation Services is the native provisioning

mechanism within Citrix XenDesktop for virtual desktop image

creation and management. Machine Creation Services uses

the hypervisor APIs to create, start, stop, and delete virtual

desktop images. Desktop images are organized in a Machine

Catalog and within that catalog there are a number of options

available to create and deploy virtual desktops:

Random: Virtual desktops are assigned randomly as users

connect. When they logoff, the desktop is reset to its

original state and made free for another user to login and use. Any changes made by the user are

discarded at log off.

Static: Virtual desktops are assigned to the same user every time with three options for how to handle

changes made to the desktop: Store on local vDisk, Personal vDisk, or discarded on user log off.

All the desktops in a random or static catalog are based off a master desktop template which is selected

during the catalog creation process. MCS then takes snapshots of the master template and layers two

additional virtual disks on top: an Identity vDisk and a Difference vDisk. The Identity vDisk includes all the

specific desktop identity information such as host names and passwords. The Difference vDisk is where all

the writes and changes to the desktop are stored. These Identity and Difference vDisks for each desktop

are stored on the same data store as their related clone.


While traditionally used for small to medium sized XenDesktop deployments, MCS can bring along with it

some substantial Tier 1 storage cost savings because of the snapshot/identity/difference disk

methodology. The Tier 1 disk space requirements of the identity and difference disks when layered on top

of a master image snapshot, is far less than that of a dedicated desktop architecture.

Citrix Profile Manager Citrix Profile Management is a component of the XenDesktop suite which is used to manage user profiles

and minimize many of the issues associated with traditional Windows roaming profiles in an environment

where users may have their user profile open on multiple devices at the same time. The profile

management toolset has two components: the profile management agent, installed on any device where

the user profiles is managed, and a Group Policy Administrative Template, which is imported to a group

policy.

In order to further optimize, the profile management folders within the user profile is redirected the users’

home drive. The folder redirection is managed via group policy objects within Active Directory. The

following folders are redirected:

Contacts

Downloads

Favorites

Links

My Documents

Searches

Start Menu

Windows

My Music

My Pictures

My Videos

Desktop

Citrix XenApp Citrix XenApp 7.6 includes enhancements in the areas of faster access to virtual apps with higher

connection resiliency, improved graphics rendering, and new app-usage reporting and monitoring tools.

Citrix XenApp delivers Windows apps as secure mobile services. With XenApp, IT can mobilize the business

- increasing user productivity, while reducing costs by centralizing control and security of intellectual

property. XenApp delivers high-performance apps to any PC, Mac, laptop, tablet or smartphone that

enable the delivery of a native experience that is optimized for the type of device, as well as the network.

XenApp is built on a 3rd generation FlexCast Management Architecture (FMA) and is the only hybrid cloud-

http://blogs.citrix.com/2012/08/05/citrix-profile-management-and-vdi-doing-it-right-part-2/gpo-screen-shot-1-1/


ready platform that separates the management plane from the workload to enable IT to securely deliver

published apps on-premises, and manage workers and mobile workspaces either on-premises or in the

cloud.

Benefits of hosted desktop sessions and applications:

Management of applications (single instance)

Management of simple desktop images (no applications installed)

PVS to stream XenApp servers as well as user desktops

Scalability of XenDesktop compute hosts: CPU and IOPS reduction via application offload

Shared storage scalability: less IOPS = more room to grow

Citrix XenDesktop with XenApp integration can effectively deliver a desktop/application hybrid solution as

well. Specifically where a single or small number of shared VDI desktop images are deployed via

XenDesktop, each with common shared applications installed within the golden image. A user-specific

application set is then deployed and made accessible via the hosted application compute infrastructure,

accessible from within the virtual desktop.


Alternatively, XenApp provides a platform for delivering Windows server-based sessions to users who may

not need a full desktop VM. Hosted desktops increase infrastructure resource utilization while reducing

complexity as all applications and sessions are centrally managed.

4.1.4.1 XenApp Integration into Dell Wyse Datacenter Architecture The XenApp servers can exist as physical or virtualized instances of Windows Server 2012 R2. A minimum

of one (1), up to a maximum of eight (7) virtual servers are installed per physical compute host. Since

XenApp instances are easily added to an existing XenDesktop stack, the only additional components

required are:

One or more Windows Server OS instances running the Citrix VDA added to the XenDesktop site

The total number of required virtual XenApp servers is dependent on application type, quantity and user

load. Deploying XenApp virtually and in a multi-server farm configuration increases overall farm

performance, application load balancing as well as farm redundancy and resiliency.

4.1.4.2 NUMA Architecture Considerations Best practices and testing has showed that aligning XenApp design to the physical Non-Uniform Memory

Access (NUMA) architecture of the server CPUs results in increased and optimal performance. NUMA

alignment ensures that a CPU can access its own directly-connected RAM banks faster than those banks

of the adjacent processor which are accessed via the Quick Path Interconnect (QPI). The same is true of

VMs with large vCPU assignments, best performance will be achieved if your VMs receive their vCPU

allotment from a single physical NUMA node. Ensuring that your virtual XenApp servers do not span

physical NUMA nodes will ensure the greatest possible performance benefit.

The general guidance for XenApp NUMA-alignment on the Dell XC appliance is as follows:

4.1.4.3 A5 NUMA Alignment 8 physical cores per CPU in the A5 platform, 16 logical with Hyperthreading active, gives us a total of 32

consumable cores per appliance and falls in line with a 2x oversubscription rate. The Nutanix CVM will

receive its vCPU allotment from the first physical CPU and so configuring the XenApp VMs as shown

below will ensure that no NUMA spanning occurs which could lower performance.


4.1.4.4 B5 NUMA Alignment 12 physical cores per CPU in the A5 platform, 24 logical with Hyper-threading active, gives us a total of 48





4.1.4.5 B7 NUMA Alignment 16 physical cores per CPU in the A5 platform, 32 logical with Hyperthreading active, gives us a total of 64




Citrix NetScaler Citrix NetScaler is an all-in-one web application delivery controller that makes applications run five times

better, reduces web application ownership costs, optimizes the user experience, and makes sure that

applications are always available by using:

Proven application acceleration such as HTTP compression and caching

High application availability through advanced L4-7 load balancer

Application security with an integrated Application Firewall

Server offloading to significantly reduce costs and consolidate servers

A NetScaler appliance resides between the clients and the servers, so that client requests and server

responses pass through it. In a typical installation, virtual servers (vservers) configured on the NetScaler

provide connection points that clients use to access the applications behind the NetScaler. In this case,

the NetScaler owns public IP addresses that are associated with its vservers, while the real servers are

isolated in a private network. It is also possible to operate the NetScaler in a transparent mode as an L2

http://www.citrix.com/products/netscaler-application-delivery-controller/overview.html

http://www.citrix.com/products/netscaler-application-delivery-controller/features/app-delivery.html

http://www.citrix.com/glossary/caching.html

http://www.citrix.com/products/netscaler-application-delivery-controller/features/app-delivery/advanced-load-balancing.html

http://www.citrix.com/products/netscaler-application-delivery-controller/features/security.html


bridge or L3 router, or even to combine aspects of these and other modes. NetScaler can also be used to

host the StoreFront function eliminating complexity from the environment.

Global Server Load Balancing

GSLB is an industry standard function. It is in widespread use to provide automatic distribution of user

requests to an instance of an application hosted in the appropriate data center where multiple processing

facilities exist. The intent is to seamlessly redistribute load on an as required basis, transparent to the user

community. These distributions are used on a localized or worldwide basis. Many companies use GSLB in

its simplest form. They use the technology to automatically redirect traffic to Disaster Recovery (DR) sites

on an exception basis. That is, GSLB is configured to simply route user load to the DR site on a temporary

basis only in the event of a catastrophic failure or only during extended planned data center maintenance.

GSLB is also used to distribute load across data centers on a continuous load balancing basis as part of

normal processing.

XenDesktop HA with NetScaler White Paper: Link

Several of the management components of the XenDesktop stack are made highly-available using

NetScaler to load balance traffic. The following management components require the use of a load

balancer to function in a high availability mode:

StoreFront Servers

Licensing Server

XenDesktop XML Service

XenDesktop Desktop Director

Provisioning Services TFTP Service

http://support.citrix.com/servlet/KbServlet/download/28996-102-664618/XD%20-%20High%20Availability%20-%20Reference%20Architecture%20v2-1.pdf


4.2 Hypervisor Platforms

VMware vSphere 6 The vSphere hypervisor also known as ESXi is a bare-metal

hypervisor that installs directly on top of your physical

server and partitions it into multiple virtual machines. Each

virtual machine shares the same physical resources as the

other virtual machines and they can all run at the same

time. Unlike other hypervisors, all management

functionality of vSphere is done through remote

management tools. There is no underlying operating

system, reducing the install footprint to less than 150MB.

VMware vSphere 6 includes three major layers:

Virtualization, Management and Interface. The Virtualization layer includes infrastructure and application

services. The Management layer is central for configuring, provisioning and managing virtualized

environments. The Interface layer includes the vSphere web client.

Throughout the Dell Wyse Datacenter solution, all VMware and Microsoft best practices and prerequisites

for core services are adhered to (NTP, DNS, Active Directory, etc.). The vCenter 6 VM used in the solution

is a single Windows Server 2012 R2 VM or vCenter 6 virtual appliance, residing on a host in the

management Tier. SQL server is a core component of the Windows version of vCenter and is hosted on

another VM also residing in the management Tier. It is recommended that all additional XenDesktop

components be installed in a distributed architecture, one role per server VM.


Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V Windows Server 2012 R2 Hyper-V ™ is a powerful virtualization technology that enables businesses to

leverage the benefits of virtualization. Hyper-V reduces

costs, increases hardware utilization, optimizes business

infrastructure, and improves server availability. Hyper-V

works with virtualization-aware hardware to tightly control

the resources available to each virtual machine. The latest

generation of Dell servers includes virtualization-aware

processors and network adapters.

From a network management standpoint, virtual machines

are much easier to manage than physical computers. To

this end, Hyper-V includes many management features

designed to make managing virtual machines simple and

familiar, while enabling easy access to powerful VM-

specific management functions. The primary management platform within a Hyper-V based XenDesktop

virtualization environment is Microsoft Systems Center Virtual Machine Manager SP1 (SCVMM).

SCVMM provides centralized and powerful management, monitoring, and self-service provisioning for

virtual machines. SCVMM host groups are a way to apply policies and to check for problems across several

VMs at once. Groups are organized by owner, operating system, or by custom names such as

“Development” or “Production”. The interface also incorporates Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP); double-

click a VM to bring up the console for that VM—live and accessible from the management console.

4.3 NVIDIA GRID vGPU NVIDIA GRID™ vGPU™ brings the full benefit of NVIDIA hardware-accelerated graphics to virtualized

solutions. This technology provides exceptional graphics performance for virtual desktops equivalent to

local PCs when sharing a GPU among multiple users.

GRID vGPU is the industry's most advanced technology for sharing true GPU hardware acceleration

between multiple virtual desktops—without compromising the graphics experience. Application features

and compatibility are exactly the same as they would be at the user's desk.

With GRID vGPU technology, the graphics commands of each virtual machine are passed directly to the

GPU, without translation by the hypervisor. This allows the GPU hardware to be time-sliced to deliver the

ultimate in shared virtualized graphics performance.


vGPU Profiles

Virtual Graphics Processing Unit, or GRID™ vGPU™, is technology developed by NVIDIA® that enables

hardware sharing of graphics processing for virtual desktops. This solution provides a hybrid shared mode

allowing the GPU to be virtualized while the virtual machines run the native NVIDIA video drivers for better

performance. Thanks to OpenGL support, VMs have access to more graphics applications. When utilizing

vGPU, the graphics commands from virtual machines are passed directly to the GPU without any

hypervisor translation. All this is done without sacrificing server performance and so is truly cutting edge.

The Dell graphics server platform is the award winning PowerEdge R730 which can accommodate two

NVIDIA K1 or K2 graphics cards. The combination of Dell servers, NVIDIA vGPU technology and NVIDIA

GRID cards enable high-end graphics users to experience high fidelity graphics quality and performance,

for their favorite applications at a reasonable cost.


Card vGPU

Profile

Graphics

Memory

Virtual

Display

Heads

Maximum

Resolution

Physical

GPUs

Maximum

vGPUs

Intended

User(s)

Per

GPU

Per

Card

GRID

K2

K280Q 4GB 4 2560x1600

2

1 2 Designer

K260Q 2GB 4 2560x1600 2 4 Designer

K240Q 1GB 2 2560x1600 4 8 Power User

K220Q 512MB 2 2560x1600 8 16 Power User

GRID

K1

K180Q 4GB 4 2560x1600

4

1 4 Entry

Designer

K160Q 2GB 4 2560x1600 2 8 Power User

K140Q 1GB 2 2560x1600 4 16 Power User

K120Q 512MB 2 2560x1600 8 32 Power User

For more information about NVIDIA GRID vGPU, please visit: LINK

http://www.nvidia.com/object/grid-technology.html


5 Solution Architecture for XenDesktop 7

5.1 Management Role Configuration The Management role recommendations for the base solution are summarized below. Use data disks for

role-specific application files such as data, logs and IIS web files in the Management volume.

vSphere Management Role Requirements

Role vCPU vRAM (GB) NIC OS vDisk

Size (GB) Location

Nutanix CVM 8* 16 2 - C:\ (SATADOM)

DDC + Lic 4 8 1 40 SDS: ds_mgmt

Storefront 2 4 1 40 SDS: ds_mgmt

Primary SQL 4 8 1 40 + 200 SDS: ds_mgmt

vCenter

Appliance

2 8 1 125 SDS: ds_mgmt

Total 20 vCPUs 44GB 6 vNICs 445GB -


Hyper-V Management Role Requirements

Role vCPU Startup RAM (GB)

Dynamic Memory

NIC OS vDisk

Min|Max Buffer Weight

Size (GB) Location

Nutanix CVM 8* 16 Dynamic Memory

Disabled

High 2 - C:\

(SATADOM)

DDC + Lic 4 8 384MB |

10GB

20% Med 1 40 SDS:

ds_mgmt

Storefront 2 4 384MB |

6GB

20% Med 1 40 SDS:

ds_mgmt

Primary SQL 4 8 384MB |

10GB

20% Med 1 40 + 200 SDS:

ds_mgmt

SCVMM 2 8 384MB |

10GB

20% Med 1 40 + 50 SDS:

ds_mgmt

Total 20

vCPUs

44GB 1.5GB |

36GB

- - 6

vNICs

410GB -


XenApp on vSphere The recommended number of XenApp VMs and their configurations on vSphere are summarized below

based on applicable hardware platform.

Role HW Config

VMs per host

vCPUs per VM

RAM (GB)

NIC OS vDisk

Size (GB)

Location

RDSH VM

A5 3 8 32 1 80 SDS: ds_rdsh

RDSH VM

B5 5 8 32 1 80 SDS: ds_rdsh

RDSH VM

B7 7 8 32 1 80 SDS: ds_rdsh

XenApp on Hyper-V The recommended number of XenApp VMs and their configurations on Hyper-V are summarized below

based on applicable hardware platform.

Role HW Config

VMs per host

vCPUs per VM

RAM (GB)

NIC OS vDisk

Size (GB)

Location

RDSH VM A5 3 8 32 1 80 SDS: ds_rdsh

RDSH VM B5 5 8 32 1 80 SDS: ds_rdsh

RDSH VM B7 7 8 32 1 80 SDS: ds_rdsh


SQL Databases The Citrix, Microsoft and VMware databases are hosted by a single dedicated SQL 2012 R2 Server VM in

the Management layer. Use caution during database setup to ensure that SQL data, logs, and TempDB are

properly separated onto their respective volumes. Create all Databases that are required for:

Citrix XenDesktop

vCenter or SCVMM

Initial placement of all databases into a single SQL instance is fine unless performance becomes an issue,

in which case database need to be separated into separate named instances. Enable auto-growth for each

DB.

Best practices defined by Citrix, Microsoft and VMware are to be adhered to, to ensure optimal database

performance.

Align all disks to be used by SQL Server with a 1024K offset and then formatted with a 64K file allocation

unit size (data, logs, and TempDB).

DNS DNS plays a crucial role in the environment not only as the basis for Active Directory but is used to control

access to the various Citrix and Microsoft software components. All hosts, VMs, and consumable software

components need to have a presence in DNS, preferably via a dynamic and AD-integrated namespace.

Microsoft best practices and organizational requirements are to be adhered to.

Pay consideration for eventual scaling, access to components that may live on one or more servers (SQL

databases, Citrix services) during the initial deployment. Use CNAMEs and the round robin DNS

mechanism to provide a front-end “mask” to the back-end server actually hosting the service or data

source.

5.1.6.1 DNS for SQL To access the SQL data sources, either directly or via ODBC, a connection to the server name\ instance

name must be used. To simplify this process, as well as protect for future scaling (HA), instead of

connecting to server names directly, alias these connections in the form of DNS CNAMEs. So instead of

connecting to SQLServer1\<instance name> for every device that needs access to SQL, the preferred

approach is to connect to <CNAME>\<instance name>.

For example, the CNAME “VDISQL” is created to point to SQLServer1. If a failure scenario was to occur and

SQLServer2 would need to start serving data, we would simply change the CNAME in DNS to point to

SQLServer2. No infrastructure SQL client connections would need to be touched.


5.2 Storage Architecture Overview All Dell XC Web Scale appliances come with two tiers of storage by default, SSD for performance and HDD

for capacity. A single common Software Defined Storage namespace is created across the Nutanix cluster

and presented as either NFS or SMB to the hypervisor of each host. This constitutes a storage pool and

one should be sufficient per cluster. Within this common namespace, logical containers are created to

group VM files as well as control the specific storage-related features that are desired to be enabled such

as deduplication and compression.

Nutanix Containers The following table outlines the recommended containers, their purpose and settings given the use case.

Best practices suggest using as few features as possible, only enable what is absolutely required. For

example, if you are not experiencing disk capacity pressure then there is no need to enable Capacity Tier

Deduplication. Enabling unnecessary services increases the resource demands of the Controller VMs.

Capacity tier deduplication requires that CVMs be configured with 32GB RAM.

Container Purpose Replication Factor

Perf Tier Deduplication

Capacity Tier Deduplication

Compression

Ds_compute Desktop VMs 2 Enabled Disabled Disabled

Ds_mgmt Mgmt Infra VMs 2 Enabled Disabled Disabled

Ds_rdsh RDSH Server VMs

2 Enabled Disabled Disabled

Ds_vgpu vGPU-enabled VMs

2 Enabled Disabled Disabled

5.3 Virtual Networking The network configuration for the Dell XC Web Scale appliances utilizes a 10Gb converged infrastructure

model. All required VLANs will traverse 2 x 10Gb NICs configured in an active/ active team. For larger

scaling it is recommended to separate the infrastructure management VMs from the compute VMs to aid


in predictable compute host scaling. The following outlines the VLAN requirements for the Compute and

Management hosts in this solution model:

Compute hosts

o Management VLAN: Configured for hypervisor infrastructure traffic – L3 routed via spine layer

o Live Migration VLAN: Configured for Live Migration traffic – L2 switched via leaf layer

o VDI VLAN: Configured for VDI session traffic – L3 routed via spine layer

Management hosts

o Management VLAN: Configured for hypervisor Management traffic – L3 routed via spine layer

o Live Migration VLAN: Configured for Live Migration traffic – L2 switched via leaf layer

o VDI Management VLAN: Configured for VDI infrastructure traffic – L3 routed via spine layer

An iDRAC VLAN is configured for all hardware management traffic – L3 routed via spine layer

vSphere The Management host network configuration consists of a standard vSwitch teamed with 2 x 10Gb

physical adapters assigned. The CVM connects to a private internal vSwitch as well as the standard

external vSwitch. All VMkernel service ports connect to the standard external vSwitch. All VDI infrastructure

VMs connect through the primary port group on the external vSwitch.

The Compute hosts are configured in the same basic manner with the desktop VMs connecting to the

primary port group on the external vSwitch.

10Gb Leaf Switch

VLAN 10

10Gb10Gb

MTU

: 64000

Standard vSwitch(Internal)

Standard vSwitch(teamed)

pNIC 1 pNIC 2

ESXi Host

vMotion

Nutanix Mgmt

MGMT Vmk0

Vmk1

Vmk2

Port Group

1


Broker Roles

vNICvNIC

SQL CVM

vNIC vNIC

LAG

Spine


Hyper-V The Hyper-V configuration, while identical in core requirements and hardware, is executed differently due

to how Hyper-V and Windows Server 2012 R2 implement networking and virtual switches. As shown in the

diagram below, native Windows Server 2012 R2 NIC Teaming is utilized to load balance and provide

resiliency for network connections. For the compute host in this scenario, a single LBFO NIC team is

configured to connect to a Hyper-V switch for external traffic and one internal Hyper-V switch is used for

the Nutanix CVM. All vNICs associated with the Management OS connect directly to the external Hyper-V

switch.

10Gb Leaf Switch

VLAN 10

10Gb10Gb

MTU

: 64000

Standard vSwitch(Internal)

Standard vSwitch(teamed)

pNIC 1 pNIC 2

ESXi Host

vMotion

Nutanix Mgmt

MGMT Vmk0

Vmk1

Vmk2

Port Group

1


CVM

vNIC vNIC

LAG

Spine

Desktop VMs

vNIC vNIC vNIC

Broker Roles

10Gb Leaf Switch

20Gb

LBFO Team

pNIC 1 pNIC 2

Hyper-V Host OS

Failover Cluster

Live Migration

MGMT

vNICvNIC

vNIC

vNIC

vNIC

SQL CVM

10Gb10Gb

MTU

: 64000

Hyper-V Internal Switch

Hyper-V External Switch

vNIC vNIC


LAG

Spine


The NIC team for the Hyper-V switch is configured as switch independent, dynamic for the load balancing

mode with all adapters set to active. This team is used exclusively by Hyper-V.

The dedicated compute host configuration is shown in the diagram below and configured very similarly to

the management host configuration.

10Gb Leaf Switch

VLA

N 2

0

20Gb

LBFO Team

pNIC 1 pNIC 2

Hyper-V Host OS

Failover Cluster

Live Migration

MGMT

vNIC

vNIC

vNIC

CVM

10Gb10Gb

Hyper-V External Switch

vNIC vNIC


Desktop VMs

vNIC vNIC vNIC

LAG

Spine

CVM

MT

U:

64

00

0

Hyper-V Internal Switch


5.4 Scaling Guidance Each component of the solution architecture scales independently according to the desired number of

supported users. Additional appliance nodes can be added at any time to expand the Nutanix SDS pool in a

modular fashion. While there is no scaling limit of the Nutanix architecture itself, practicality might suggest

scaling pods based on the limits of hypervisor clusters (64 nodes for vSphere or Hyper-V). Isolating mgmt

and compute to their own HA clusters provides more flexibility with regard to scaling and functional layer

protection.

Another option is to design a large single contiguous NDFS namespace with multiple hypervisor clusters

within to provide single pane of glass management. For example, portrayed below is a 30,000 professional

user environment segmented by vSphere HA cluster and broker farm. Each farm compute instance is

segmented into an HA cluster with a hot standby node providing N+1, served by a dedicated pair of mgmt

nodes in a separate HA cluster. This provides multiple broker farms with separated HA protection while

maintaining a single NDFS cluster across all nodes.

The components are scaled either horizontally (by adding additional physical and virtual servers to the

server pools) or vertically (by adding virtual resources to the infrastructure)

Eliminate bandwidth and performance bottlenecks as much as possible


Allow future horizontal and vertical scaling with the objective of reducing the future cost of ownership

of the infrastructure.

Component Metric Horizontal scalability Vertical scalability

Virtual Desktop Host/Compute Servers

VMs per physical host Additional hosts and clusters added as necessary

Additional RAM or CPU compute power

Provisioning Servers

Desktops per instance Additional servers added to the Provisioning Server farm

Additional network and I/O capacity added to the servers

Desktop Delivery Servers

Desktops per instance (dependent on SQL performance as well)

Additional servers added to the XenDesktop Site

Additional virtual machine resources (RAM and CPU)

XenApp Servers Desktops per instance Additional virtual servers added to the XenDesktop Site

Additional physical servers to host virtual XenApp servers.

Storefront Servers

Logons/ minute Additional servers added to the Storefront environment

Additional virtual machine resources (RAM and CPU)

Database Services

Concurrent connections, responsiveness of reads/ writes

Migrate databases to a dedicated SQL server and increase the number of management nodes

Additional RAM and CPU for the management nodes

File Services Concurrent connections, responsiveness of reads/ writes

Split user profiles and home directories between multiple file servers in the cluster. File services can also be migrated to the optional NAS device to provide high availability.

Additional RAM and CPU for the management nodes

5.5 Solution High Availability High availability (HA) is offered to protect each architecture solution layer, individually if desired. Following

the N+1 model, additional ToR switches are added to the Network layer and stacked to provide

redundancy as required, additional compute and management hosts are added to their respective layers,

vSphere or Hyper-V clustering is introduced in both the management and compute layers, SQL is mirrored


or clustered and NetScaler is leveraged for load balancing. Storage protocol switch stacks and NAS

selection will vary based on chosen solution architecture.

The HA options provide redundancy for all critical components in the stack while improving the

performance and efficiency of the solution as a whole.

Additional switches added to the existing thereby equally spreading each host’s network connections

across multiple switches.

Additional ESXi or Hyper-V hosts added in the compute or mgmt layers to provide N+1 protection.

Applicable Citrix infrastructure server roles are duplicated and spread amongst mgmt host instances

where connections to each are load balanced via the addition of virtual NetScaler appliances.

SQL Server databases also are protected through the addition and configuration of an "AlwaysOn"

Failover Cluster Instance or Availability Group.


5.6 Dell Wyse Datacenter for XenDesktop Communication Flow

Hyper-V or vSphere Compute Hosts

Windows Master Image

Delivery Controller (MCS)

SSL

File Server

Citrix NetScaler

License Server

StoreFront

Internet/ LAN

Use

r Data (S

MB

)

LD

AP

MCS Machine Catalog

XenApp Instance

XM

L

SQLServer

Active Directory

VDA

Shared Hosted Sessions orRemoteApps

SDS

PVST

CP

/27

00

0

TCP/1433

vCenter/ SCVMM

XM

L HTTPS/

TCP 8100

ICA

/ HD

X

VD

A

LDAP

XenApp PVS Machine

Catalog

VDA

VDA

TF

TP

/ PV

S

VDA

Static or Random Virtual Desktops

VDA

VDA

Windows Master Image

VDA

VDA

Static or Random Virtual Desktops

Hyper-V or vSphere Mgmt Hosts


6 Solution Performance and Testing

6.1 Load Generation and Monitoring

Login VSI 4 – Login Consultants Login VSI is the de-facto industry standard tool for testing VDI environments and server-based computing

or RDSH environments. It installs a standard collection of desktop application software (e.g. Microsoft

Office, Adobe Acrobat Reader) on each VDI desktop; it then uses launcher systems to connect a specified

number of users to available desktops within the environment. Once the user is connected the workload

is started via a logon script which starts the test script once the user environment is configured by the

login script. Each launcher system can launch connections to a number of ‘target’ machines (i.e. VDI

desktops), with the launchers being managed by a centralized management console, which is used to

configure and manage the Login VSI environment.

VMware vCenter VMware vCenter was used for VMware vSphere-based solutions to gather key data (CPU, Memory and

Network usage) from each of the desktop hosts during each test run. This data was exported to .csv files

for each host and then consolidated to show data from all hosts. While the report does not include

specific performance metrics for the Management host servers, these servers were monitored during

testing and were seen to be performing at an expected performance level.

Microsoft Perfmon Microsoft Perfmon was utilized to collect performance data for tests performed on the Hyper-V platform.

6.2 Performance Analysis Methodology In order to ensure the optimal combination of end-user experience (EUE) and cost-per-user, performance

analysis and characterization (PAAC) on Dell Wyse Datacenter solutions is carried out using a carefully

designed, holistic methodology that monitors both hardware resource utilization parameters and EUE

during load-testing. This methodology is based on the three pillars shown below. Login VSI is currently the

load-testing tool used during PAAC of Dell Wyse Datacenter solutions; Login VSI is the de-facto industry

standard for VDI and server-based computing (SBC) environments and is discussed in more detail below.


Resource Utilization Poor end-user experience is one of the main risk factors when implementing desktop virtualization but the

root cause for poor end-user experience is resource contention – hardware resources at some point in

the solution have been exhausted, thus causing the poor end-user experience. In order to ensure that this

has not happened (and that it is not close to happening), PAAC on Dell Wyse Datacenter solutions

monitors the relevant resource utilization parameters and applies relatively conservative thresholds as

shown in the table below. As discussed above, these thresholds are carefully selected to deliver an optimal

combination of good end-user experience and cost-per-user, while also providing burst capacity for

seasonal / intermittent spikes in usage. These thresholds are used to decide the number of virtual desktops

(density) that are hosted by a specific hardware environment (i.e. combination of server, storage and

networking) that forms the basis for a Dell Wyse Datacenter RA.

Resource Utilization Thresholds

Parameter Pass / Fail Threshold

Physical Host CPU Utilization 85%

Physical Host Memory Utilization 85%

Network Throughput 85%

Storage IO Latency 20ms


Dell Wyse Datacenter Workloads and Profiles It’s important to understand user workloads and profiles when designing a desktop virtualization solution

in order to understand the density numbers that the solution can support. At Dell, we use five workload /

profile levels, each of which is bound by specific metrics and capabilities. In addition, we use workloads

and profiles that are targeted at graphics-intensive use cases. We present more detailed information in

relation to these workloads and profiles below but first it is useful to define the terms “workload” and

“profile” as they are used in this document.

Profile: This is the configuration of the virtual desktop - number of vCPUs and amount of RAM

configured on the desktop (i.e. available to the user).

Workload: This is the set of applications used by performance analysis and characterization (PAAC) of

Dell Wyse Datacenter solutions e.g. Microsoft Office applications, PDF Reader, Internet Explorer etc.

User Profile vCPUs Physical Memory

Hyper-V Minimum Memory

Hyper-V Max Memory

ESXi Memory Reservation

Memory Configured

OS

Standard 1 2GB 1GB 2GB 1GB 2GB x86

Enhanced 2 3GB 1GB 3GB 1.5GB 3GB x86

Professional 2 4GB 1GB 4GB 2GB 4GB x64

Dell Wyse Datacenter Workloads Load-testing on each of the profiles described in the above table is carried out using an appropriate

workload that is representative of the relevant use case. In the case of the non-graphics workloads, these

workloads are Login VSI workloads and in the case of graphics workloads, these are specially designed

workloads that stress the VDI environment to a level that is appropriate for the relevant use case. This

information is summarized in the table below:


Profile Name Workload OS Image

Standard Login VSI Light Shared

Enhanced Login VSI Medium Shared

Professional Login VSI Heavy Shared + Profile Virtualization

Graphics eFigures / AutoCAD - SPEC Viewperf Persistent

Further information for each of the workloads is given below. It is noted that for Login VSI testing, the

following login and boot paradigm is used:

For single-server / single-host testing (typically carried out to determine the virtual desktop capacity of

a specific physical server), users are logged in every 30 seconds.

For multi-host / full solution testing, users are logged in over a period of 1-hour, to replicate the normal

login storm in an enterprise environment.

All desktops are pre-booted in advance of logins commencing.

For all testing, all virtual desktops run an industry-standard anti-virus solution (currently McAfee

VirusScan Enterprise) in order to fully replicate a customer environment.

6.2.3.1 Login VSI Light Workload Compared to the Login VSI medium workload described below, the light workload runs fewer applications

(mainly Excel and Internet Explorer with some minimal Word activity) and starts/stops the applications less

frequently. This results in lower CPU, memory and disk IO usage.

6.2.3.2 Login VSI Medium Workload

The Login VSI medium workload is designed to run on 2vCPU’s per desktop VM. This workload emulates a

medium knowledge worker using Office, IE, PDF and Java/FreeMind. The Login VSI medium workload has

the following characteristics

Once a session has been started the workload will repeat (loop) every 48 minutes.

The loop is divided in four segments; each consecutive Login VSI user logon will start a different segment. This ensures that all elements in the workload are equally used throughout the test.

The medium workload opens up to five applications simultaneously.

The keyboard type rate is 160 ms for each character.

Approximately two minutes of idle time is included to simulate real-‐world users.

Each loop opens and uses:


Outlook, browse messages.

Internet Explorer, browse different webpages and a YouTube style video (480p movie trailer) is opened three times in every loop.

Word, one instance to measure response time, one instance to review and edit a document.

Doro PDF Printer & Acrobat Reader, the Word document is printed and exported to PDF.

Excel, a very large randomized sheet is opened.

PowerPoint, a presentation is reviewed and edited.

FreeMind, a Java based Mind Mapping application.

6.2.3.3 Login VSI Heavy Workload

The heavy workload is based on the medium workload except that the heavy workload:

Begins by opening four instances of Internet Explorer. These instances stay open throughout the

workload loop.

Begins by opening two instances of Adobe Reader. These instances stay open throughout the

workload loop.

There are more PDF printer actions in the workload.

Instead of 480p videos a 720p and a 1080p video are watched.

Increased the time the workload plays a flash game.

The idle time is reduced to two minutes.

6.2.3.4 Workloads Running on Shared Graphics Profile

Graphics hardware vendors (e.g. NVIDIA) typically market a number of graphics cards that are targeted at

different markets. Consequently, it is necessary to provide two shared graphics workloads – one for mid-

range cards and the other for high-end cards. These workloads are described in more detail below. It is

noted that technologies such as the Citrix / NVIDIA GRID vGPU technology (where the NVIDIA drivers

reside on the virtual desktop, giving shared-level density with near pass-through functionality) mean that

in some cases, the higher-end workloads, traditionally used for pass-through GPU PAAC, may be more

appropriate for shared GPU PAAC. Such scenarios will explicitly state the workload used.

6.3 Testing and Validation

Testing Process The purpose of the single server testing is to validate the architectural assumptions made around the

server stack. Each user load is tested against four runs. A pilot run is conducted to validate that the

infrastructure is functioning and valid data is captured. Subsequently three more runs are conducted

allowing for correlation of data. Summary of the test results is listed out in the below mentioned tabular

format.


At different stages of the testing the testing team will complete some manual “User Experience” Testing

while the environment is under load. This will involve a team member logging into a session during the run

and completing tasks similar to the User Workload description. While this experience is subjective, it will

help provide a better understanding of the end user experience of the desktop sessions, particularly under

high load, and ensure that the data gathered is reliable.

Login VSI has two modes for launching user’s sessions:

Parallel

Sessions are launched from multiple launcher hosts in a round robin fashion; this mode is recommended

by Login Consultants when running tests against multiple host servers. In parallel mode the VSI console is

configured to launch a number of sessions over a specified time period (specified in seconds)

Sequential

Sessions are launched from each launcher host in sequence, sessions are only started from a second host

once all sessions have been launched on the first host and this is repeated for each launcher host.

Sequential launching is recommended by Login Consultants when testing a single desktop host server.

The VSI console is configure to launch a specified number of session at a specified interval specified in

seconds

All test runs which involved the six desktop hosts were conducted using the Login VSI “Parallel Launch”

mode and all sessions were launched over an hour to try and represent the typical 9am logon storm.

Once the last user session has connected, the sessions are left to run for 15 minutes prior to the sessions

being instructed to logout at the end of the current task sequence, this allows every user to complete a

minimum of two task sequences within the run before logging out. The single server test runs were

configured to launch user sessions every 60 seconds, as with the full bundle test runs sessions were left to

run for 15 minutes after the last user connected prior to the sessions being instructed to log out.

6.4 XC630-B5 Test Results for Citrix XenDesktop Validation for this project was completed for Citrix XenDesktop 7.6 and XenApp 7.6 on the following

platforms.

ESXi 5.5 U2 / Citrix XenDesktop 7.6 / XC630

ESXi 5.5 U2 / XenApp brokered by XenDesktop 7.6 / XC630

Platform configurations are shown below and the Login VSI workloads used for load testing on each

environment.


Platform Config CPU RAM RAID

Ctlr HD Config Network

XC630 B5 E5-2690v3

(12Core,

2.6GHz)

512

GB

H730P 1 X 64GB SATADOM

(CVM/ HV)

2x 10Gb,

2 x 1Gb

SFP+/ BT

2 x 400GB, Intel

S3700, SSD‘s 2.5” (T1)

4 x 1TB NL SAS 2.5”

(T2)

1GB networking was used for the deployment of the Dell XC appliances while all 10GB networking was

used for the PAAC testing.

Compute and Management resources were split out with the following configuration across a three node

Nutanix cluster and all test runs were completed with this configuration.

Node 1 – XC630– Dedicated Management (vCenter Appliance, SQL Server, XenDesktop Delivery

Controller, XenDesktop Storefront.)

Node 2 – XC630– Dedicated Compute

Node 3 –XC630 – Dedicated Compute

Please refer to section 5.1 of this document for the configuration of each management virtual machine.

The virtual machines were non-persistent linked clone desktops each configured on Windows 8.1 aligning

with the Login VSI 4.X virtual machine configuration, Office 2010 was used with each Virtual Machine sized

at 32 GB. User Workload configuration of the load generation virtual machines is shown in the table

below.

User Workload vCPUs Memory OS Bit Level HD Size GB

Professional User 2 4GB x64 32

The XenApp environment was configured as shown in the table below for each host according to

platform. The XenApp images were built using Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard edition and Microsoft

Office 2010 plus the support tools required for Login VSI testing.


Test Results

Validation was performed using CCC standard testing methodology using LoginVSI 4 load generation tool

for VDI benchmarking that simulates production user workloads.

Each test run adhered to PAAC best practices with a 30 second session logon interval, 16 minutes of

steady state after which sessions would begin logging off.

The following table summarizes the test results for the various workloads and configurations:

Hyper

-Visor Provisioning Workload

Density

Per Host

Avg

CPU

%

Avg

Memory

Consumed

GB

Avg

Memory

Active

GB

Avg

IOPS/

User

Avg

Net

Kbps/

User

ESXi XenDesktop

MCS

Heavy 100 99% 236 GB 48 GB 5.2 771

ESXi XenDesktop

MCS

Medium 130 96% 263GB 52GB 4 499

ESXi XenDesktop

MCS

Light 210 94% 355GB 63GB 3.1 368

ESXi XenApp Heavy 145 97% 80GB 22 GB 2.6 325

CPU Utilization* CPU % for ESX Hosts was adjusted to account for the fact that on Intel E5-2690v3 series

processors the ESX host CPU metrics will exceed the rated 100% for the host if Turbo Boost is enabled (by

default). The Adjusted CPU % Usage is based on 100% usage and but is not reflected in the charts. The

figure shown in the table is the Compute host steady state peak CPU Usage. One Nutanix CVM Controller

virtual machine is located on each node and is allocated 10000MHz of CPU reservation.

Role Config VMs per host

vCPUs RAM (GB) NIC Disk Size GB

XenApp VM B5 5 8 32 1 80


Memory Utilization The figure shown in the table above is the average memory consumed per Compute

host over the recorded test period. Active is the average active memory per Compute host over the

recorded test period.

The IOPS results are calculated from the average Nutanix Cluster Disk IOPS figure over the test period

divided by the number of users.

Network Utilization The figure shown in the table is the average Kbps/User per Compute host over the


XenDesktop, 420 Pooled VMs, MCS, Light Workload – XC630-B5 The architecture for this test run includes a dedicated management host and two compute hosts. Each of

the compute hosts was populated with 420 pooled virtual machines and one Nutanix CVM.

The Nutanix CVM’s consumed <20% of the compute hosts CPU Usage at the start of the test run.

The below graph shows the performance data for 210 user desktops per host on a pair of Compute hosts

with the expected extra percentage provided by the Intel Turbo Boost feature. The CPU reaches a steady

state peak of 96% during the test cycle when approximately 210 users are logged on to each compute

host.

The Management host in the cluster runs the vSphere, XenDesktop management virtual machines and a

Nutanix CVM. The mgmt node’s CPU utilization is significantly lower than the compute hosts and does not

exceed 20% at any point in the test cycle.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

16

:00

16

:15

16

:30

16

:45

17

:00

17

:15

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20

:00

20

:15

CPU Utilization

Management

Compute A

Compute B

CPU Threshold 85%

Turbo PerformanceIncrease 19%


Memory consumption was very reasonable with a max of 403GB consumed and only 102GB actually

active at peak. A host configured with 384GB RAM would be more than sufficient given this use case.

Network utilization is generally always very low and in this test reached a peak of 120Mbps on the

compute hosts.

The total cluster disk performance peaked at 2621 IOPS, the majority generated as expected by the

compute hosts. These results are not indicative of the total disk performance potential of the platform.

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

16

:00

16

:15

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:30

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Consumed Memory

Management

Compute A

Compute B

0

20

40

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80

100

120

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Active Memory

Management

Compute A

Compute B

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

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20

:00

20

:15

Network Kbps

Management

Compute A

Compute B


XenDesktop, 260 Pooled VMs, MCS, Medium Workload – XC630-B5 The architecture for this test run includes a dedicated management host and two compute hosts. Each of

the compute hosts was populated with 130 pooled virtual machines and one Nutanix CVM.

The Nutanix CVM’s consumed under 20% of the compute hosts CPU Usage at the start of the test run.

The below graph shows the performance data for 130 user desktops per host on a pair of Compute hosts

with the expected extra percentage provided by the Intel Turbo Boost feature. The CPU reaches a steady

state peak of 96% during the test cycle when approximately 130 users are logged on to each compute

host.





Memory consumption was very reasonable with a max of 335GB consumed and only 84GB actually active

at peak. A host configured with 384GB RAM would be more than sufficient given this use case.

Network utilization is generally always very low and in this test reached a peak of 98Mbps on the compute

hosts.

0

20

40

60

80

100

1208

:55

9:0

5

9:1

5

9:2

5

9:3

5

9:4

5

9:5

5

10

:05

10

:15

10

:25

10

:35

10

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10

:55

11

:05

11

:15

11

:25

11

:35

CPU Utilization

Management

Compute A

Compute B

CPU Threshold 85%

Turbo PerformanceIncrease 19%

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

8:5

59

:05

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51

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5

Consumed Memory

Management

Compute A

Compute B

0

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20

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60

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90

8:5

59

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5

Active Memory

Management

Compute A

Compute B


The total cluster disk performance peaked at 1951 IOPS, the majority generated as expected by the

compute hosts. These results are not indicative of the total disk performance potential of the platform.

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

8:5

5

9:0

5

9:1

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5

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5

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:25

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Network Kbps

Management

Compute A

Compute B


XenDesktop, 200 Pooled VMs, MCS, Heavy Workload – XC630-B5 The architecture for this test run includes a dedicated management host and two compute hosts. Each of

the compute hosts was populated with 100 full virtual machines and one Nutanix CVM per host.

The Nutanix CVM’s consumed under 20% of the compute hosts CPU Usage at the start of the test run for

the compute hosts and <10% for the mgmt host.

This chart does not include the additional 10-20% of CPU available from the Turbo boost feature. Without

the inclusion there is a total of 62380 MHz available for Desktops, with Turbo boost the total available

MHz value would be ~68168 MHz.

The below graph shows the performance data for 100 user sessions per host on a pair of Compute hosts.

The CPU reaches a steady state peak of 99% during the test cycle when approximately 100 users are

logged on to each compute host.





In regards to memory consumption for the cluster, out of a total of 512 GB available memory per node

there were no constraints for any of the hosts. The Compute Hosts reached a max memory consumption

of 313 GB with active memory usage reaching a max of 90GB. There was no memory ballooning or

swapping.

0

10

20

30

40

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60

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100

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CPU Utilization

Management

Compute A

Compute B

CPU Threshold 85%

0

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Consumed Memory

Management

Compute A

Compute B

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Active Memory

Management

Compute A

Compute B


Network bandwidth is not an issue on this solution with a steady state peak of approximately 146,000

Kbps.

The Nutanix Cluster IOPS figures taken from the Nutanix Web Console showed that the cluster reached a

maximum of 1,532 Disk IOPS during the test run with the Management node having the lowest disk IOPS

of the three nodes. The activity spike in the graph after steady state peak shows the user logoffs taking

place at the end of the test cycle. These results are not indicative of the total disk performance potential of

the platform.

0

20000

40000

60000

80000

100000

120000

140000

160000

18

:35

18

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Network Kbps

Management

Compute A

Compute B


The Login VSI Max user experience score for this test indicates that the VSI Max score not reached so there

should have been little deterioration of user experience during testing.

Notes:

As indicated above, the CPU graphs do not take into account the extra 10+% of CPU resources available

through the 2690v3’s turbo feature.

Subjective user experience showed mouse movement and window response times when clicking within

a running session during steady state were good. Video playback while somewhat slow was still

acceptable.

User login times were consistent up until the final few sessions were launching when a few session took

some extra time to login.

512 GB of memory installed on each node is more than enough for this configuration and should run

equally well with less memory installed.


XenApp, 290 Sessions, Heavy Workload – XC630-B5 The architecture for this test run includes a dedicated management host and two compute hosts. Each of

the compute hosts was populated with 5 XenApp virtual machines running Windows Server 2012 R2 and

one Nutanix CVM. Each session host VM was allocated 32GB of RAM and 8vCPU’s.

The Nutanix CVM’s consumed approximately 14% of the compute hosts CPU Usage at the start of the test

run.

This chart does not include the additional 10-20% of CPU available from the Turbo boost feature. Without

the inclusion there is a total of 62380 MHz available for Desktops, with Turbo boost the total available

MHz value would be ~68168 MHz.

The below graph shows the performance data for 145 user sessions per host on a pair of Compute hosts.

The CPU reaches a steady state peak of 97% during the test cycle when approximately 145 users are

logged on to each compute host.




In regards to memory consumption for the cluster, out of a total of 512 GB available memory per node

there were no constraints for any of the hosts. The Compute Hosts reached a max memory consumption

of 109 GB with active memory usage reaching a max of 50GB. There was no memory ballooning or

swapping.

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CPU Utilization

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CPU Threshold 85%


Network bandwidth is not an issue on this solution with a steady state peak of approximately 80Mbps.

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Consumed Memory

Management

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Active Memory

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Monitoring of a single sample XenApp session host showed that its processor reached a maximum of 87%

during the test run.

The Nutanix Cluster IOPS figures taken from the Nutanix Web Console showed that the cluster reached a

maximum of 1,297 Disk IOPS during the test run with the Management node having the lowest disk IOPS

of the three nodes. These results are not indicative of the total disk performance potential of the platform.

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RDSH Host VM CPU

CPU



should is little evidence of deterioration of user experience during testing.

Notes:

As indicated above, the CPU graphs do not take into account the extra 10% of CPU resources available


Subjective user experience showed mouse movement and window response times when clicking within

a running session during steady state were good. Video playback quality was good.

User login times were consistent up until the final few sessions were launching when a few session took

some extra time to login.

512 GB of memory was installed on each node in this test to demonstrate the recommended 256-384GB

is more than enough for this configuration.

6.5 XC630-B7 Test Results for Citrix XenDesktop Validation for this project was completed for Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp 7.6 on the following

platforms.

ESXi 5.5 U2 / Citrix XenDesktop 7.6 / XC630

ESXi 5.5 U2 / RDSH brokered by XenDesktop 7.6 / XC630

Platform configurations are shown below and the Login VSI workloads used for load testing on each

environment.


Enterprise Platform

Platform Config

CPU Memory RAID Ctlr

HD Config Network

XC630 B7 E5-2690v3 (12Core, 2.6GHz)

512GB H730P 1 X 64GB SATADOM (CVM/ HV)

2 x 10Gb, 2 x 1Gb SFP+/ BT

2 x 400GB, Intel S3700, SSD‘s 2.5” (T1)

4 x 1TB NL SAS 2.5” (T2)

1GB networking was used for the deployment of the Bensen XC appliances while all 10GB networking was

used for the PAAC testing.

Compute and Management resources were split out with the following configuration across a three node

Nutanix cluster and all test runs were completed with this configuration.

Node 1 – XC630– Dedicated Management (vCenter Appliance, SQL Server, XenDesktop Delivery

Controller, XenDesktop Storefront.)

Node 2 – XC630– Dedicated Compute

Node 3 – XC630 – Dedicated Compute

The virtual machines were non-persistent linked clone desktops each configured on Windows 8.1 aligning

with the Login VSI 4.X virtual machine configuration, Office 2010 was used with each Virtual Machine sized

at 32 GB. User Workload configuration of the load generation virtual machines is shown in the table

below.

User Workload vCPUs Memory OS Bit Level

HD Size GB

Professional User 2 4GB x64 32

The RDSH environment was configured as shown in the table below for each host according to platform.

The RDSH images were built using Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard edition and Microsoft Office 2010

plus the support tools required for Login VSI testing.


Test Results Validation was performed using CCC standard testing methodology using LoginVSI 4 load generation tool

for VDI benchmarking that simulates production user workloads.

Each test run adhered to PAAC best practices with a 30 second session logon interval, 16 minutes of

steady state after which sessions would begin logging off.

The following table summarizes the test results for the various workloads and configurations.

Hyper-visor

Provisioning Workload Density Per Host

Avg CPU %

Avg Memory Consumed GB

Avg Memory Active GB

Avg IOPS/User

Avg Net Kbps/User

ESXi XenDesktop MCS

Professional

100 99% 236 GB 48 GB 5.2 771 Kbps

ESXi XenDesktop MCS RDSH

Professional

145 97% 80GB 22 GB 2.6 325 Kbps

CPU Utilization* CPU % for ESX Hosts was adjusted to account for the fact that on Intel E5-2690v3 series

processors the ESX host CPU metrics will exceed the rated 100% for the host if Turbo Boost is enabled (by

default). The Adjusted CPU % Usage is based on 100% usage and but is not reflected in the charts. The

figure shown in the table is the Compute host steady state peak CPU Usage. One Nutanix CVM Controller

virtual machine is located on each node and is allocated 10000MHz of CPU reservation.

Memory Utilization. The figure shown in the table above is the average memory consumed per Compute

host over the recorded test period. Active is the average active memory per Compute host over the


The IOPS results are calculated from the average Nutanix Cluster Disk IOPS figure over the test period

divided by the number of users.

Role Config VMs

per

host vCPU’s RAM (GB) NIC

Disk

Size GB

RDSH VM B7 5 8 32 1 80


Network Utilization The figure shown in the table is the average Kbps/User per Compute host over the


Summary of Tests Run

The ‘Number of Users’ column indicates the total number of user desktop test sessions run across two

Compute hosts.

Platform Configuration

Number of Users

Desktop Type

Login VSI Workload

B7 High 200 Linked Clone

Heavy

B7 High 290 RDSH Heavy

Results summary

Bensen B7 Configuration, ESXi/XenDesktop MCS, 200 User Test, Heavy

Workload

The architecture for this solution includes a dedicated management host and two compute hosts. Each of the compute hosts was populated with 100 full virtual machines and one Nutanix CVM per host.

The Nutanix CVM’s took up approximately 14% of the compute hosts CPU Usage at the start of the test run.

This chart does not include the additional 10% of CPU available from the Turbo boost feature. Without the inclusion there is a total of 62380 MHz available for Desktops, with Turbo boost the total available MHz value is 68168 MHz.

The below graph shows the performance data for 100 user sessions per host on a pair of Compute hosts. The CPU reaches a steady state peak of 99% during the test cycle when approximately 100 users are logged on to each compute host. The Management host in the cluster runs the vSphere and XenDesktop management virtual machines and a Nutanix CVM virtual machine. Its CPU utilization is significantly lower than the compute hosts in the cluster. The CPU utilization for the management host does not exceed 15% at any point in the test cycle.


In regards to memory consumption for the cluster, out of a total of 512 GB available memory per node there were no constraints for any of the hosts. The Compute Hosts reached a max memory consumption of 313 GB with active memory usage reaching a max of 90GB. There was no memory ballooning or swapping.

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CPU Utilization

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Consumed Memory

Management

Compute A

Compute B


Network bandwidth is not an issue on this solution with a steady state peak of approximately 146,000 Kbps.

The Nutanix Cluster IOPS figures taken from the Nutanix Web Console showed that the cluster reached a maximum of 1,532 Disk IOPS during the test run with the Management node having the lowest disk IOPS of the three nodes. The activity spike in the graph after steady state peak shows the user log off’ s taking place at the end of the test cycle.

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Network Kbps

Management

Compute A

Compute B


Notes:



Subjective user experience showed mouse movement and window response times when clicking

within a running session during steady state were good. Video playback while somewhat slow was still

acceptable.

User login times were consistent up until the final few sessions were launching when a few session

took some extra time to login.



XenApp, 290 Sessions, User Test, Heavy Workload

The architecture for this solution includes a dedicated management host and two compute hosts. Each of the compute hosts was populated with 5 RDS session host virtual machines running Windows Server 2012 R2 and one Nutanix CVM per host. Each session host vm was allocated 32GB of RAM and 8vCPU’s.

The Nutanix CVM’s took up approximately 4% of the compute hosts CPU Usage at the start of the test run.

This chart does not include the additional 10% of CPU available from the Turbo boost feature. Without the inclusion there is a total of 62380 MHz available for Desktops, with Turbo boost the total available MHz value is 68168 MHz.

The below graph shows the performance data for 145 user sessions per host on a pair of Compute hosts. The CPU reaches a steady state peak of 97% during the test cycle when approximately 145 users are logged on to each compute host.


The Management host in the cluster runs the vSphere and XenDesktop management virtual machines and a Nutanix CVM virtual machine. Its CPU utilization is significantly lower than the compute hosts in the cluster. The CPU utilization for the management host does not exceed 11% at any point in the test cycle.

In regards to memory consumption for the cluster, out of a total of 512 GB available memory per node there were no constraints for any of the hosts. The Compute Hosts reached a max memory consumption of 109 GB with active memory usage reaching a max of 50GB. There was no memory ballooning or swapping.

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CPU Utilization

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Consumed Memory

Management

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Compute B


Network bandwidth is not an issue on this solution with a steady state peak of approximately 79,000 Kbps.

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Active Memory

Management

Compute A

Compute B


Monitoring of a single, sample RDSH session host showed that its processor reached a maximum of 87%

during the test run.

The Nutanix Cluster IOPS figures taken from the Nutanix Web Console showed that the cluster reached a maximum of 1,297 Disk IOPS during the test run with the Management node having the lowest disk IOPS of the three nodes.

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RDSH Host VM CPU

CPU


Notes:



Subjective user experience showed mouse movement and window response times when clicking

within a running session during steady state were good. Video playback quality was good.

User login times were consistent up until the final few sessions were launching when a few session

took some extra time to login.




Acknowledgements

Thank you to the Nutanix Technical Marketing team for the detail presented in section 2.2 of this document.


About the Authors

Peter Fine is the Sr. Principal Solutions Architect for enterprise VDI solutions at Dell. Peter has extensive

experience and expertise on the broader Microsoft, Citrix and VMware solutions software stacks as well as

in enterprise virtualization, storage, networking and enterprise data center design.

Andrew Breedy is a Solution Engineer working in the Dell-Wyse Datacenter engineering group. Andrew

has extensive experience in server hardware and on Microsoft and VMWare virtualization solutions as well

as a background in engineering test processes and performance analysis and characterization.

Kristina Bako is a Sr. Systems Engineer and has been with Dell for just over two years and is part of the Dell

Wyse Datacenter (DWD) Solution Engineering Group at Dell. Before joining Dell she has worked over 10

years as an Applications Engineer in Video Technology related areas. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in

Audio/Video Engineering from the University of Salford and a Master’s degree in Telecommunications

from Dublin City University.

Rick Biedler is the Solutions Development Manager for Datacenter appliances at Dell, managing the

development and delivery of Enterprise class Desktop virtualization solutions based on Dell datacenter

components and core virtualization platforms.

Manish Chacko is the Sr. Technical Marketing Advisor for Citrix-based solutions at Dell. Before writing

about technology, Manish has spent time designing, implementing and supporting technology- in IT,

Systems Engineering & Network Performance & Monitoring. Manish has been a long-time Dell customer &

Advocate before becoming a Dell employee.