When designing VDI environments, a couple of things that you should consider are the .vswp file and the GuestOS paging file. In this article I am going to focus on the Paging file and hopefully in the not so distant future I will write a post about the .vswp file in a VDI environment.

What is point of the paging file (also known as the pagefile.sys)?

RAM is a limited resource. Virtual memory was introduced to help remove that limit.

Most modern operating system now use Virtual Memory. Virtual memory is a memory management technique. Applications running on a GuestOS reference memory using virtual memory addresses which are then automatically translated into RAM addresses by the hardware. These virtual memory address spaces are divided in pages or block, usually of 4KB.

If RAM resource is exhusted, the operating system will move 4KB pages of the virtual memory onto the computers hard disk to free up the physical memory (RAM) for other processes. In Windows operating systems, these pages are stored in the pagefile.sys.

A good way to think of this is;

Imagine a restaurant that has just open for the evening. When customers (Processes) arrive they get allocated a table (RAM) to sit and eat at. As the night goes on the restaurant get busier and free tables (RAM) begin to run out for the new customers (Processes) coming through the door. To free up spare tables (RAM) the waiter asks customers (Processes) who have finished eating if they wouldn’t mind moving to the bar (Virtual Memory) where they can continue drink.

Without the paging file, if the physical memory becomes full, applications including the operating system will have to waiting until physical memory becomes available before it can be stored in RAM ready for the CPU to process. As you can imagine this causes massive performance problems.

In summary, you NEED to have a paging file.
Read the rest of this entry »

© Simon for Gestalt IT, 2012. | VDI Paging Files – Big? Small? Or Non At All?
Read more posts categorized as Desktop, Server Virtualization

From the information below, I would personally recommend using the following:

• Windows XP: LSI Logic Parallel or SAS
• Windows 7: LSI Logic SAS

The PVSCSI controller will be the controller of the future so you may also want to keep this in mind. Of course you can make your own decisions. Most of the points made are desktop focused, however most will apply outside of a View environment.

IDE vs SCSI

Most people’s main argument around reasons to not use IDE are;

• The IDE adapter completes one command at a time – SCSI can queue commands.
• The SCSI adapter is better optimized for parallel performance.
• If you ever need to increase the size of an IDE Disk you would have to use VMware Converter to enlarge it. – Using SCSI it’s easier
• Maximum of 4 IDE Devices per VM. (This includes CDROM) – SCSI allows 60.

BusLogic vs LSI Logic

If you have decided to use SCSI, you now have to decide on whether to use the BusLogic or LSI Logic SCSI controller.

• BusLogic is not supported in a lot of the newer Operating Systems.
• BusLogic is not actively being improved by VMware or Guest OS’s (so bugs come along as things change in the OS and noone fixes them).
• XP doesn’t contain the LSI Logic driver so you will have to load it into the OS manually.
• “Out of the box” LSI out performs BusLogic. With a few additional configuration changes to the Queue Depth, BusLogic can perform on a par with LSI in VM’s that have less than 4GB of RAM – BusLogic is a 32 bit PCI device and is limited to DMA (Direct Memory Access) in the first 4GB of the guest memory, so if the guest uses more than 4GB memory the OS will need to use bounce buffering (doing IO to lower memory and copy up/down with the CPU), which adds overhead

*VMware’s recommendation is to use the LSI Logic adapter. “The LSI Logic adapter has improved performance and works better with generic SCSI devices.”

LSI Logic SAS

The default controller for a Windows 7 virtual machine is the LSI Logic SAS. There is no performance between this controller over the regular LSI Logic Parallel controller, so I therefore see no reason to change it.

It is worth noting, in Linux guests SCSI disk hotplug works better with SAS than with original parallel LSI. (You do not have to rescan the SCSI bus yourself to find a new device; on Windows you do not have to do rescan ever with ESX4.x, neither with LSI nor LSI-SAS)

Why not PVSCSI?

Virtual Desktops don’t tend to have a really high I/O. Using the PVSCSI driver with low throughput workloads may introduce a small increase in latency.

Pre ESX 4.1 the PVSCSI adapter had only been recommended for VMDK’s backed by fast (2,000+ IOPS) storage. Why? The PVSCSI driver only coalesces OIOs (Outstanding IOs) and not throughput (IOPS). What this means is; when the VM is requesting a lot of IO and the storage cannot deliver it, the PVSCSI driver is coalescing interrupts. Without the steady steam of IOs from the storage, there are no interrupts to coalesce. This can cause extra latency on low throughput environments.

The LSI Logic driver increases coalesce as OIO and IOPS increase. So if there is a low OIO and IOPS load no coalescing will occur, reducing latency.

Typically the case was:

• PVSCSI is best for workloads that drive more than 2000 IOPS and 8 outstanding I/Os.
• LSI Logic is best for workloads that drive lower I/O rates and fewer outstanding I/Os.

However! In ESX 4.1 this issue explained above has been fixed. This means that the PVSCSI could perform as well as the LSI Logic driver with low throughput. I have yet to see any official performance test results. If you have already used PVSCSI adapters and are not seeing any performance problems, I wouldn’t worry too much about making the change to LSI.

Summary

As you can see, there is a lot of Pro’s and Con’s to digest. I chose the SCSI LSI Logic controller for the following reasons:

• SCSI offers better performance than IDE
• LSI Logic is continually supported with newer OS’s and VMware releases, where BusLogic is being fazed out. So to help future proof your design, it would be better to use LSI.
• LSI offers better “Out of the box” performance over BusLogic
• LSI SAS is the default for Windows 7, great for Hot-Add disks and a must for MSCS.
• PVSCSI with ESX 4.1 is rumored to have equal performance with LSI Logic, but I have yet to see the test results.

What do you use on your site and why? Have I missed anything? let me know. I am interested to hear other peoples take on this, so please comment if you feel you have anything to add.

Sources

• http://www.vmware.com/pdf/ESX2_Storage_Performance.pdf
• http://communities.vmware.com/docs/DOC-10971.pdf
• http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsphere4/r41/vsp_41_config_max.pdf
• http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsp_4_san_design_deploy.pdf
• http://www.vmware.com/pdf/GuestOS_guide.pdf
• http://www.vmware.com/pdf/vsp_4_pvscsi_perf.pdf
• PVSCI and low IO workloads
• SCSI vs IDE
• http://myvirtualcloud.net/

© Simon for Gestalt IT, 2011. | VMware View Desktops: IDE or SCSI? BusLogic, LSI Logic or PVSCSI?
Read more posts categorized as All, Server Virtualization, Storage

As I understand Local Mode, VMware View will be able to coordinate the offload of intensive desktops operations such as graphics to the hardware of a user’s notebook, thin client, or PC. Since the VMware View Client is installed as an application on the operating system of the end user’s system, this seems to be a better technical fit with VMware’s expertise in type 2 hypervisor products, or hosted virtualization, such as VMware Workstation, Server, Player, and Fusion. This focus in development also seems more aligned with the Teradici partnership enabling the software based PCoIP protocol.

Combined with the promise of offline synchronization, where changes to the local copy of the VM will be replicated to the master copy in the data center, VMware View Local Mode would definitely make VMware View instantly compatible with the widest selection of hardware possible. This in turn creates the least path of resistance for the VMware VDI solution to provide remote and mobile access to a corporate virtual machine even when users are abroad.

Developing a bare metal client hypervisor has obviously been a bigger than expected challenge for both Citrix and VMware judging by the delays in release experienced by both companies so far. As more and more corporations consider the concept of BYOC (allowing employees to bring your own computer), VMware now seems to be backing out of the hardware platform support arena and falling back to what they do best. Although I believe a smart decision has been made here, there will no doubt be some public “crow to eat” in Palo Alto.

Be sure to read the entire VMware View Blog post linked above, but the rest of this post is the VMware Desktop Team’s own words about View Client Local Mode:

Enter View Client with Local Mode.

Unlike what others are pushing with much hyped “Type-1″ client hypervisors, View Client with Local mode installs cleanly and non-destructively on an existing Windows Laptop or PC.  You don’t need to start with brand-new hardware from an OEM.  You don’t need to wipe out or destructively modify an existing OS installation and void your service/support contracts.   It’s “just software” that solves real problems.

Once View Client with Local Mode is in place, you’ll be able to do things like…

As an end user:

• Checkout a desktop from the datacenter to run on the client device regardless of network connectivity.
• Enjoy a full fidelity desktop experience with 3D DirectX9c support, Aeroglass effects on Win7, support for devices like web-cams and VOIP.
• Immediately get access to a replica desktop if the client device (e.g. laptop) fails or is lost.
• Get a real choice of client devices.

As an administrator:

• Manage and monitor Local Mode desktops centrally from the same View administrative console and VM images as the rest of a VMware View deployment.
• Maintain control over end user desktops – revoking privileges and pulling data back to the datacenter on demand.
• Know corporate data is secure from outside attack with AES 128 or 256-bit encryption.
• Reduce overall CAPEX costs, both on newly purchased client devices, and lower upfront datacenter investment.
• Leverage an existing hardware fleet to deploy Local Mode desktops.
• Cleanly separate the Windows update/refresh cycle from hardware update/refresh cycles.

To visualize all this, below you see a managed Windows XP desktop running Google Earth with 3D buildings enabled (using DirectX) on top of an unmanaged Windows 7 laptop:

© Rich for Gestalt IT, 2010. | VMware Answers XenClient Release With View Client Local Mode
Read more posts categorized as Server Virtualization

This post is my summary of research about the latest Microsoft and Citrix announcements. I’m linking and quoting several bloggers and analysts to help VM /ETC readers (and myself!) digest the details of the new licensing and promotions. I also the outline the actual products that make up the Microsoft and Citrix VDI solution, and then finally point to some interesting reactions and perspectives published over the last several days.

New Microsoft VDI Licensing

Most importantly, Microsoft declared a new licensing policy where Windows desktops will no longer need a separate license to be accessed via VDI by companies with Software Assurance. Although I could not specifically find it stated anywhere I looked, I assume this means whether accessed on any Microsoft VDI solution, VMware View, Citrix XenDesktop, or any other vendor’s VDI product. Here’s some additional information on the new licensing as intrepreted by others:

Desktop Virtualization: Microsoft, VMware in Cost Smackdown

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/031910-desktop-virtualization-microsoft-vmware-in.html?page=1

“One key part of the sweeping announcements, covered in an hour-long Webcast, is a simpler and cheaper model for licensing Windows in a virtual desktop environment. Specifically, on July 1, Software Assurance customers will no longer have to buy a separate license to access Windows via a VDI.

Moreover, for customers that use devices that don’t qualify for Software Assurance, such as thin clients and PCs used by contractors, there will be a new license called Windows VDA (virtual desktop access) available for $100 per device per year. This license will allow users to still have access to their complete virtual desktop outside the corporate network on devices such a personal laptops and airport kiosks.”

Maybe Microsoft is finally starting to abandon the concept of anchoring a Windows license to hardware and hopefully beginning to consider introducing virtualization editions of their operating systems? We are definitely not there yet, but at least it’s movement in the right direction.

Microsoft and Citrix VDI Promotions

Along with the new VDI licensing Microsoft and Citrix has also introduced some competitive promotions not only stimulate VDI migration but hopefully capture back some market share in the process. A new web site, citrixandmicrosoft.com, details these new offers.

First is the VDI Kick Start

”Get started with VDI for only $7K¹

Interested in VDI? Kick start your VDI implementation today and save 50% on Microsoft VDI Standard Suite and Citrix XenDesktop VDI Edition. With the VDI Kick Start promotion, eligible customers only pay $28 per device² for up to 250 devices, giving them the opportunity to launch a VDI implementation for only $7K¹. The offer includes Microsoft VDI Standard Suite subscription and Citrix XenDesktop VDI Edition annual licenses”.

Second is Rescue for VMware VDI

“Get the best virtual desktop solution – for FREE³!

Struggling with VMware VDI? Replace your VMware View licenses today with the best virtual desktop solution from Microsoft and Citrix VDI – for free³. Through the Rescue for VMware VDI promotion, eligible customers can trade-in their VMware View licenses with same number of Microsoft VDI Standard Suite subscription and Citrix XenDesktop VDI Edition annual licenses, up to a maximum of 500, at no cost^3”.

Go to the citrixandmicrosoft.com site to see the details of the footnotes in the quotes above. Both promotions are good until December 31, 2010.

Microsoft MSD VP Brad Anderson blogged about the promotions on the Windows Team Blog. Anderson’s post likens the “Rescue from VMware VDI” program to recent US Government attempts to stimulate the auto industry.

“One piece of news that I’m most excited about that helps with this is the “Rescue for VMware VDI” promotion we’re offering with Citrix. Think of it as a Cash for Clunkers trade-in of VMware View licenses to Microsoft VDI Standard Suite and Citrix XenDesktop VDI Edition licenses at no additional cost.”

What Makes Up the MS & Citrix VDI Solution?

So what exactly is the Citrix and Microsoft VDI solution? A picture is always a faster way to visualize all the components, and I took the following one from the Citrix and Microsoft Brochure:

To complete the picture is The Microsoft Windows Enterprise: Virtual Desktop Infrastructure web page which contains a lot of MS VDI solution information, but is also the source of the following breakdown of MS VDI Standard and Premium Suite components:

The Microsoft VDI Standard Suite will include licenses to the following technologies:

1. Hypervisor platform (Hyper-V Server 2008 R2)
2. An integrated management suite for VDI (System Center Virtual Machine Manager 2008 R2, System Center Operations Manager 2007 R2, and System Center Configuration Manager 2007 R2)
3. Microsoft Application Virtualization through the Microsoft Desktop Optimization Pack (MDOP)
4. Connection Brokering capability through Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services.

The Microsoft VDI Premium Suite includes all the features of the Microsoft VDI Standard Suite, and also includes:

1. Complete Remote Desktop Services capability, including the option to deploy session based desktops in addition to VDI desktops.
2. Microsoft Application Virtualization for Remote Desktop Services

Note that both the VDI Kickstart and the Rescue For VMware VDI offers are for the MS VDI Suite only.

Reactions and Perspective

Of course, after exciting news like this there are those that can look beyond the fanfare and raise some questions. Here’s several links worth following for a deeper analysis that helps provide a better understanding and point out the areas still needing improvement.

chriswolf.com

A User-centric Microsoft Licensing Model? Not Yet, but Getting Closer

“Looking past the good news that came out of yesterday’s announcement, considerable work remains. Microsoft has still not addressed the service provider market. Considerable clarity is still needed for licensing virtual desktops on shared infrastructure. For example, if a user needs a Windows desktop for a week, he essentially has to pay for 90 days worth of licensing. Why? Even with VDA, the service provider technically has to associate the VDA with the subscriber’s physical device and can’t transfer it for another 90 days. The result is that desktop-as-a-service (DaaS) is far more costly than it should be. This problem will grow once companies like HP, IBM, and Dell offer client hypervisors, and look to offer services where user desktop VMs are automatically replicated from their personal system to the cloud.”

simonbramfitt.com

The sleeping giant awakes – Microsoft gets desktop virtualization right

“Admittedly there are still a few kinks to iron out with the VDA licensing model. Most notably there is a problem with the way that Microsoft handles the difference between “corporate” and “non- corporate” devices. Microsoft defines a corporate device as one that was bought by the organization. Any non-SA eligible endpoint owned by the organization that needs to access a virtual desktop must have its own Windows VDA license. Which, kind of makes sense until you start to move away from desktop devices and down to smart phones; at which point it gets ugly fast. This isn’t anything to do with functionality; you can do a lot with the right smart phone today.  It’s more a matter of the intersection of policy and accounting.

Looked at from a personal perspective, my iPhone is MY iPhone (so it’s non-corporate), but my colleague’s Blackberry was bought by Gartner (that makes it corporate). They both do the same job more or less; I get better apps, he can type faster. But when we look at using them for remote access it gets very messy.   I will be able to take advantage of my laptop’s Windows SA license to access my virtual desktop from my non-corporate device, but my colleague can’t use ‘his’ Blackberry to access that same environment, without an additional VDA license. Of course we could avoid this by giving him $100 and telling him to go and buy his own phone but that’s not the point is it?  Still, with a couple of months to go before the July 1st launch it’s possible that we will see further changes to address this flaw.”

Closing Thoughts

Be sure to read all of the links in this post for more information, but these last few quotes pose some interesting ideas and viewpoints that stood out to me.

J.Tyler Rohrer, founder and COO of Liquidware Labs’ Stratusphere tool being used by many VMware Partners to assess VDI opportunities, blogs that 2010 is now officially the year of virtual desktops

Microsoft VDI Inertia

“As we all sit around this weekend and try to figure out “what does this mean for vendor XYZ” – relax a bit. What this means, in my opinion, is that every vendor needs to sharpen their pencils, products, and presentations because this now IS, the year of VDI.”

Quoting a quote seems like a violation of journalistic ethics, but, hey, I’m a blogger! Besides, this quote on the competition for VDI market share was too good not to mention again.
Microsoft, Citrix lure VMware customers with cutthroat promo

“One desktop virtualization integrator, Tony Wilburn at IT services company Betis Group, called the promotion a “desperate” attempt to generate buzz. He also said it has the added effect of elevating VMware.

“Has Microsoft ever before had to partner with another company in order to take on a rival?” Wilburn said. “When the No. 2 and No. 3 companies in the industry have to team up to take on the No. 1 player, doesn’t that make the one player look even stronger?””

It appears to me that Microsoft and Citrix aligned together for VDI have a fighting chance. I expect a lot of interest will be generated from the incentives of these joint promotions.

© Rich for Gestalt IT, 2010. | Partnership Of Microsoft And Citrix Intensify VDI Spotlight
Read more posts categorized as Desktop, Featured

• Review of the previous day’s presentations with a quick question & answer session
• Presentation on Client Virtualisation
• Factory tour

Client Virtualisation

Joseph George presented to the bloggers on client (aka desktop) virtualisation.  Whilst HP seem to have a story in this area, I’m skeptical about the whole process of virtualising desktops at this stage, other than in certain use cases.  I can see benefits for the following:

• High availability environments such as financial traders, where loss of a desktop translates to financial loss.
• Large scale desktop deployments where functionality is generic.  A good example of this is call centres; desks only require access to limited features (so don’t need high powered devices) and physical desktops may be used by multiple users.

Environments not suitable for desktop virtualisation will include mobile users and anyone running bespoke hardware or software with hardware dependencies.

HP pretty much accepted that hardware savings are not the main reason for virtualising.  This means a more intelligent model on TCO for desktops needs to be established, encompassing consequential loss through hardware downtime, processes cost for technology deployment and replacement and so on.  I think some of the thinking around security is a red herring as laptops are unlikely to be candidates for virtualisation and desktop data can be secured safely today.  I’ll be writing more on this topic over the coming weeks.

Factory Tour

We next moved on to a tour of the HP factory; this isn’t a manufacturing plant but rather purely an assembly line for server and storage components.  I’ve been on factory tours before and these days they pretty much leave me cold.  However HP had some interesting innovations to discuss.

• Customisation.  All HP server and storage builds are based on customer requests and so fully customised, including placing of kit into racks for shipping.  This means every configuration shipped is exactly as the customer ordered – and more;  HP also pre-cable the racks as the equipment is being installed.  Customers ordering multiple configurations can preview one rack of their order before the remainder are built.
• Testing.  Once servers are built, customers are provided the ability to VPN into their equipment while it is sitting on the factory floor.  They can perform load and performance testing before the equipment ships, saving valuable deployment time once the equipment arrives.
• POD (performance optimised datacentre).  This is HPs term for a datacentre in a container – which is exactly what they are.  Plug in power and cooling and you’ve a data centre on the move.  Except these devices aren’t really built to be picked up and moved around.  Rather they are aimed at providing temporary data centre facilities in scenarios where traditional data centres wouldn’t be possible – extension of existing facilities or perhaps creation of a data centre without planning permission were two good examples.

After the tour, we wrapped up at a local restaurant.

Overall the two days have been extremely informative and given me many subjects to blog about.  Look forward to more over the coming weeks!

© Chris for Gestalt IT, 2010. | HP Blades Tech Day 2
Read more posts categorized as Desktop, Server Virtualization

What a week in Las Vegas at VMware Partner Exchange 2010! For all those that complained just 4 months ago that VMworld 2009 was disappointing because the announcements were few and far between, all I can say is, based on what I watched, experienced, and touched this week at PEX 2010, VMware should grab your attention again soon! Unfortunately, so much of what was discussed falls under the VMware Partner NDA that I’ll have to ask VM /ETC readers to wait for the technology to become public. We’ll have plenty to discuss when it does.

For now I’ll quickly wrap up my week and drop some hints about VMware’s future direction based on my understanding about what I saw during the PTAB meetings, the Keynotes, and the Hands On and Self Paced Labs. I’m also linking to some reactions from others to support my impressions.

The official VMware News Release for Partner Exchange can be found at this link:

VMware Partner Exchange 2010 Kicks Off With Record-breaking 2,600+ Attendees, 55 Sponsors and 45 Countries Represented

PTAB: Cloud Infrastructure and Virtual Desktops

I knew what was on the Partner Technical Advisory Board meeting agenda before I arrived, but I have to admit I was still pleasantly surprised. In short, the two day meeting was split by topics. We talked about virtual servers on Day 1 and virtual desktops on Day 2.

The server discussions included everything from possible future enhancements to the vStorage API to details about Project Redwood architecture. Discussions included a mix of vSphere roadmap possibilities and potential directions of VMware in the private and hosted cloud. VMware is serious about Platform as a Service, Infrastructure as a Service, and Software as a Service, and the slides presented to the PTAB committee revealed a considerable strategy to make it happen. I’ll just say it is a lot clearer to me where exactly Zimbra and SpringSource fit into VMware’s future plans.

Switching to the second day and to the topic of virtual desktops, if you are like me you would assume it to be a different day of independent content. Surprisingly, the paths of servers and desktops seemingly are going to collide in the VMware virtual cloud. I would suggest that you get ready to rethink what a VMware Virtual Infrastructure actually means. The boundaries will be changing as to where VMware’s technology actually begins and ends.

Among the 32 other PTAB members with me was Brian Knudtson. Brian has been providing his own coverage of the VMware PEX 2010 on his Knudt Blog. Check out his posts as well – Partner Exchange Day 1 – Sunday (PTAB Day 1) and Partner Exchange Day 2 – Monday (PTAB Day 2).

Keynotes: VMware Gets Aggressive About The Cloud and SMBs

EVP of Worldwide Field Operations Carl Eschenbach opened the official first day of the conference with his Keynote on Tuesday morning. Eschenbach later called on stage Rick Jackson, VMware’s Chief Marketing Officer, they established that 2010 would be an aggressive year for VMware. The two also emphasized VMware’s intent to secure existing and future business in the SMB market. The day 1 Keynote concluded with the promise that special discounts would soon be available for the vSphere Essentials bundles.

On Wednesday morning, VMware’s CTO Steve Herrod took the stage. Herrod’s Keynotes usually provide the product demos and are therefore always the most anticipated for me. The PEX 2010 Keynote 2 definitely did not disappoint! With the help of a few VMware product managers, Herrod demonstrated a technical preview of the Redwood Cloud UI as well as a future virtual desktop environment with application virtualization integration. A key point to the demos was that the Cloud is a series of “layers of abstraction” above the physical hardware. I thought Herrod and company did a great job illustrating this by providing example scenarios where screen shots of both the user’s perspective and the system administrator’s tool set were provided.

Keynote reactions from others

VMware employee Duncan Epping echoes my amazement about what was previewed on Wednesday:

“I was impressed with all the insights Steve gave in terms of upcoming products, brand new projects and even a couple tech previews. I am looking forward to the upcoming version of VMware View and a new project which I can’t disclose as the VMware NDA Police would again kill me.”

Responsible for all things VMware at EMC, Chad Sakac says the following on his PEX wrap up post:

“Steve Herrod did some big unveiling.   Project “Redwood” (end user self-service portal targeted for Private and Public cloud uses) was public outed for the first time, as well as the next version of VMware View (loads of stuff in here, more to come soon).  He also talked about the scaling and feature goals of the next generation of the vSphere generation.”

Chad’s post is really about 10 blog posts on Partner Exchange and EMC’s doings in Las Vegas shoved into one title. He covers lots of topics. Check it out.

Hands On and Self Paced Labs – The VMware View Buzz

Previously mentioned for posts about PTAB above, vExpert Brian Knudtson comments:

“… I attended the Advanced View 4 Lab, which ended up actually being a Tech Preview of the next version of View. This next version introduces many new features and some considerable changes to the interface and scalability of the product. According to the lab instructors, they didn’t even get their hands on the code until three days before the conference and had to learn it while building the lab. I have to say that I was very impressed with the product, the improvements they made and the stability of a product still in the Alpha stage. This release has more features than View 4.0 had and is everything that View 4.0 should have been. It will truly be a game changer.”

I too attended the VMware View lab, and got a first hand glimpse of what everyone was excited about. View dot next, the only version name or number VMware employees would commit to, is amazing.

I also used the self paced labs to explore configuration of The Nexus 1000v virtual switch as well as using the REST client to connect to the vCloud API. PEX 2010 was actually the first time I’ve used the self paced labs. The customized lab interface that allows an attendee to select a lab at their terminal coupled with the monitoring screen visible to all lab takers is really cool. During my few hours in the self paced labs on Wednesday I noticed average activity of over 300 VMs on the monitor.

It was good to see Randy Keever again. Randy’s GETO team built and managed all the conference lab infrastructure, and Keever was actually sitting at the administrator’s table during my VMware View lab. The set up was mostly the same from VMworld 2009 in September. Early reports from attendees on Monday said they experienced some congestion when simultaneously starting installation processes in a lab, but Randy’s team identified the issue as a too aggressive vSphere host oversubscription strategy and were quickly able to add additional blade servers as vSphere hosts. For those that see this as an opportunity to knock ESX oversubscription, realize that conference labs are a unique scenario. How often will administrators experience an environment where nested ESX hosts are created, started, and reset on an hourly basis. My labs started on Tuesday. I can tell you I had no issues.

Looking Ahead

2010 should another great year for VMware virtualization. I’m hoping I can fill in the blanks for VM /ETC readers between now and VMworld 2010!

© Rich for Gestalt IT, 2010. | VMware PEX 2010: My Wrap Up
Read more posts categorized as Cloud Computing, Events, Server Virtualization

Challenge #1: Assuming desktop virtualization makes sense because thin clients are cheap - Many people assume that virtualizing desktops is going to be magnitudes cheaper because thin clients can be found for approximately $300-400 whereas a PC can cost $500-$1200.

Tip: Client costs are only part of the picture. Desktop virtualization can reduce capital expenditures but do not expect that to be the case in the first year. Building the infrastructure is expensive (storage, servers, licenses, etc.) and may be the same in the first year. Think about using existing PCs as clients instead of replacing them with thin clients. Thin clients are cheaper than PCs but the reduction in hardware costs may not be seen for a couple of years due to the infrastructure needing to be built. More importantly, operational expenses will be seen immediately and that is where the true cost savings can be found.

Challenge #2: Infrastructure people not understanding the desktop people - Server ops are not the same as desktop ops. Users have different behaviors and expectations on how their desktops will function. It is easy to virtualize a windows desktop but delivering what the user expects is not easy.

Tip: Understand your users and identify your use cases - Learn what apps users need to use, how they use them, where they use them and what they expect. Do your users need different apps depending on their physical location? Do they need dual monitors or multimedia acceleration? How should you deliver user profiles? Is printing going to be an issue? Spend a bit of time identifying and categorizing your use cases so you can design your solution around them.

Challenge #3: Bad desktop practices follow into the virtual world - Refreshing desktops will not be any easier if you allow users to install their own applications or store data with a desktop image. Not ensuring good security policies (screensaver locking and passwords) may leave desktops unprotected as users go from office to kiosk.

Tip: Identify unhealthy desktop practices and change what is feasible (in phases) - Start thinking about what makes managing desktops difficult today. If users don’t absolutely need to install their own apps, set policies that stop that behavior. Storage space, desktop refreshes and manageability will all be improved. If security is lax, improve it by doing basic things like auto-locking displays so someone can’t hijack a desktop left logged in.

Challenge #4: Not understanding Microsoft licensing - Microsoft bars OEM licenses from being transferred and they also require VECD (Virtual Enterprise Centralized Desktops) for all Windows desktops that are virtualized. There are additional per seat licenses from VMware and other desktop virtualization vendors.

Tip: Understand the licensing before starting a pilot - At the time of this writing, VECD is a device-based subscription and is $23/seat for SA (Software Assurance) or $110/device/year. An example from Microsoft’s website:

For example, a company with 10 thin clients and 10 laptops (not covered under SA) accessing a VDI environment requires a total of 20 Windows VECD licenses (20 x $110/year). However, if the same company has 10 thin clients and 10 laptops covered under SA, it will require 10 VECD licenses (10 x $110/year) and 10 VECD for SA licenses (10 x $23/year).

Challenge #5: Poor virtual desktop performance - The two biggest challenges after the ops piece is sizing and end-point selection. The desktops take a long time to boot up and flash video is choppy. There are new limitations in a virtual environment that were nonexistent when everyone had their own PC.

Tip: Work with a partner who can help size and architect a system - This is critical because of all the variables involved. Design is dictated by many of the answers to challenge #2. Also, end-points (thin clients, PCs, web-based access) all are unique in the user experience they deliver. If Youtube video is important, get an endpoint that specifically accelerates adobe flash. If users are far and network latency is high, either deploy WAN accelerators from companies like Riverbed or Cisco or use thin clients like Sunray’s from Sun Microsystems.

Desktop virtualization is still rapidly changing. The challenges and tips above are not an inclusive or exclusive list. They are meant to prompt some thought before jumping in if you want a higher probability of success. Don’t take on too much at once, do things in phases. As always, feedback is welcome.

© edsai for Gestalt IT, 2009. | Why desktop virtualization projects fail
Read more posts categorized as Server Virtualization, Storage

VDI has gained momentum. VMware, Citrix, and Microsoft all boast about the availability of an enterprise ready virtual desktop management solution. Storage technologies such as thin provisioning, deduplication, and rapid cloning are being perfected and optimized and will lower the total cost of ownership for VDI. 64 bit Hardware with virtualization assist technologies on host servers has enabled record setting ratios of supported users. It seems that OS licensing models formerly based on physical hardware are slowly morphing to support virtualized environments. But, in my opinion, there is still a major hurdle to the enterprise’s wide spread acceptance of VDI on a platform other than Windows.

Is enterprise business really ready to migrate the majority of their user applications and data to Linux, the web, or even the Cloud? For Chrome OS to challenge Microsoft for seats in the enterprise, this shift will have to happen, and it will have to be publicly reported as highly successfully and common. Are web based applications and software as a service (Saas) alternatives ready to handle main stream business services like email and office collaboration? More importantly, are enterprise IT departments ready to allow cloud providers to run, protect, and store their business critical applications and data? When that happens the OS on the desktop becomes less important. The browser will become the only application of importance.

Until then, Windows will continue to be the most popular desktop OS simply because it runs the most popular applications needed by business today. Therefore, the typical VDI solution in the immediate future will continue to consist of Windows VMs. Microsoft’s decision to strip down the bloat and replace Vista with Windows 7 was a wise move, and probably has ensured Microsoft’s position as the desktop market leader for many more years to come.

That’s why it more important to think about what will the users use to connect to those virtual desktops. Yes, VMware, and the competition, is developing their own desktop hypervisor OS. VMware calls their work in progress CVP (Client Virtualization Platform), but is VMware’s CVP (for example) really going to be able to run on all modern notebooks and desktops? To be specific, on the Lenovo T400 I am using to write this, will a VMware client hypervisor allow all of the volume buttons, wifi adapter controls, microphone, blue tooth, and other miscellaneous hardware features to work properly? What about all the other manufacturers of notebooks, netbooks, and desktops with their different models and hardware configurations too? This is where all the work put in to a modern Linux distribution appears to have the advantage. Otherwise, does the future client hypervisors requiring their own specialized hardware really sound appealing? Does expecting users to use today’s notebooks without the full functionality sound realistic?

Assuming Google’s product will be most like a Linux distribution, it seems to me that Google’s best bet for mass adoption of the Chrome OS would be to make sure that enterprises can count on installing VMware’s View Client (and the competition’s VDI clients as well). The real corporate desktop will still have to be a Windows virtual machine that can be synced between the data center and the client OS and even used offline. Eventually, as cloud based application replacements emerge in the future, Google’s OS could become more of a direct competitor/replacement to Microsoft’s OS.

© Rich for Gestalt IT, 2009. | VMware Will Virtualize Google Chrome, But Will Chrome Run VMware For VDI?
Read more posts categorized as Desktop, Featured

“Now, VMware is providing VMware View Open Client for partners, enabling them to use VMware View source code to optimize their products to deliver rich, personalized virtual desktops to users. In addition, partners will be able to use the source code to help accelerate the development and delivery of solutions for enterprises to provision and manage thousands of virtual desktops simply, securely and at substantially lower operating costs.”

What I find most interesting is that Linux systems now have a installable VDI client. Unless I am mistaken, previously a web browser was the only way a connection to a virtual desktop could be made from Linux. Not only does this increase the functionality and features, but it could substantially lower the total cost of a VDI solution. Whether using a thin client or a desktop computer, using Linux as the device OS generally should reduce the cost of implementation.

Looking forward, I’m curious to see if specialized distributions are developed that integrate the Linux VDI client. I would imagine a “VDI LiveCD” from Ubuntu, Suse, or even Google’s gOS could be released to minimize the installation and administration learning curve and adoption barriers. Ultimately, this client could be a native feature of a desktop hypervisor too.

For a screen shot of the VMware View Client on Suse desktop check out Duncan’s post VMware View Open Client, test it! » Yellow Bricks.

The linuxdevices.com post VMware ships open source Linux VDI client summarizes information about specific features and differences in the commercial and open source versions of the Linux client.

“VMware will continue to offer its commercially licensed View Client stack for Linux and Windows. The commercial stack adds features like USB redirection, multiple desktop sessions, and multimedia redirection. Like the commercial version, though, the free, open source View Open Client enables a Linux desktop or thin client to connect to a remote Windows desktop managed by VMware’s “View” virtualization software. The free client boasts a “full” command line interface, and is said to support secure tunneling using SSL, and two-factor authentication with RSA SecurID. The release is said to work with VMware Virtual Desktop Manager (VDM) 2.0 and 2.1, as well as VMware View Manager 3.0. Posted on Google Code, the client software is licensed under GNU Lesser General Public License version 2.1 (LGPL v 2.1).”

VMware employees have also blogged about the new VDI client. Check out Mike Dipetrillo’s post VMware View Open Client and John Troyer’s VMware releases open source desktop client.

© Rich for Gestalt IT, 2009. | New Possibilities With Open Source VMware VDI Client for Linux
Read more posts categorized as Desktop, Server Virtualization