Vdi Server Sizing and Scaling: Vmware Infrastructure 3
Vdi Server Sizing and Scaling: Vmware Infrastructure 3
Vdi Server Sizing and Scaling: Vmware Infrastructure 3
VMware Infrastructure 3
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VDI Server Sizing and Scaling
optimize resource utilization across the datacenter. Users gain the flexibility of being able to
access their complete desktop environment from any location from any client.
VDI is built on VMware Infrastructure. In its most basic implementation, enterprise desktops are
hosted on VMware Infrastructure and users connect to them using a remote protocol such as
RDP. Other protocols such as VNC or third-party applications such as Radmin, GraphOn, and
pcAnywhere can be used for remote access, as well.
VDI Benefits
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure offers the following key benefits:
• Desktop environments are isolated.
• Data is secure in the data center.
• All applications work in a virtual machine.
• Normal management tools work in a virtual machine.
• Images are managed centrally.
• Hardware can be consolidated.
• Desktops are always on and always connected.
• Users have access to their desktops from anywhere.
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Table 1
Test Environment
The key components of the test environment are shown in figure 1 and listed below.
applications
guest operating
system
applications
guest operating
system
guest operating
system
25 client
virtual
machines
Network switch
ESX Server
running desktops
25 client
virtual
machines
Controller
Figure 1 — Test environment
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Web Server
• Dell PowerEdge 350, 851MHz Intel Celeron Processor, 768MB memory
Controller
• Dell PowerEdge 350, 851MHz Intel Celeron Processor, 512MB memory
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Connectivity
• 100 Mbps network connection between clients and servers
• Remote protocol: RDP
Workload Design
Terminal Server scripts are used to generate load on the desktops from the remote clients. The
scripts use the tbscript.exe interpreter available as a part of robokit (Windows Server 2003
Resource Kit) from the Microsoft Web site. For details, see References on page 19. Two different
user scenarios are tested in accordance with Gartner Group recommendations (heavy worker
and light worker), though these workloads provide only a rough approximation of the
workloads generated by actual users doing real work. The applications, features, and data sets in
the scenarios are representative but limited. In addition, the activity is sustained at a steady pace
over a period of one or two hours, with no long breaks and a repetitive set of actions using the
same functions and data sets. The workloads are described in Heavy Worker Workload on
page 19 and Light Worker Workload on page 18.
To capture a realistic customer scenario, each client connects to a single desktop. This is
important in a benchmark environment because if a physical system hosts more than one client,
the network traffic characterization will be different from that of a real customer situation. The
clients run the benchmark on the desktops in a timely fashion, managed by the controller
program to inject more users to generate more load on the server. The controller uses the open
source STAF interface to start the workload from each client against a single virtual machine. For
details on the STAF interface, see References on page 19.
Figure 2 shows a schematic representation of the benchmark behavior. The controller for the
benchmark uses the VirtualCenter SDK to activate the desktop.
Total CPU Utilization
Time
Figure 2 — Benchmark behavior
The benchmark activates the virtual machines one at a time. After the first virtual machine is
resumed from suspended state, the controller program waits for two minutes before starting
the load script from the first client. As seen in the graph, the CPU utilization climbs due to the
resume operation. That climb is followed by a short idling phase, during which CPU utilization
dips slightly. This is followed by the benchmark phase, which causes CPU utilization to climb
again. Another desktop is added to the system, and the second client is used to run the
workload against the newly added desktop. The workload is run in a loop in each virtual
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machine. Therefore the cumulative CPU Utilization in the system increases with the addition of
new desktops. This process continues until the benchmark terminates.
The desktops are kept in suspended state at the Windows logon screen to avoid complete reset
operations, which consume considerably more CPU resources and add more burstiness in the
workload behavior. The desktops are not powered on before the test cycle begins because
idling virtual machines consume CPU resources. Consequently, the results of such a test would
not provide an accurate analysis of the change in end user behavior with addition of more
desktops in the system.
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Performance Results
The descriptions and charts below summarize the results for the light and heavy workloads used
in the tests.
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and the actual percentage of total memory used in the system increases with the number of
active desktops, which indicates the rise in page sharing gains as more desktops are added.
The page sharing benefit seen in figure 4 can be attributed to the fact that all the desktops are
Windows XP virtual machines. The results cannot be generalized to a mix of guest operating
systems. The page sharing benefits also depend on the kinds of applications used by the guests.
Further benefits from sharing zero pages will be reduced if the guests run many applications
and therefore use all the allocated physical memory.
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traffic. In this graph, the network receive throughput can be attributed to incoming RDP
requests.
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predefined timeouts after resuming the 27th desktop, therefore this configuration supports 26
desktops.
Summary of Results
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure provides a new approach to host desktops on servers using
VMware Infrastructure. It provides complete isolation between different desktops running on
the ESX Server along with the always-available remote access functionality.
This paper illustrates the methodology you can use when determining the server capacity
needed for a VDI deployment.
We looked into two different workloads for capacity planning guidelines. For a light worker
workload an HP DL 385 G1 server could support 42 Windows XP virtual machines. For a heavy
worker workload the same server supported 26 Windows XP virtual machines.
The results are conservative, however, with a server considered to be at capacity when the client
fails either due to a 10 percent increase in the canary time observed for the workload or when a
client script fails due to predefined timeouts.
In assessing your own server needs, keep this conservative approach in mind — along with
differences between the artificial test workloads and the actual workloads generated by your
real-world users. Use this analysis and your own testing to determine the server capacity needed
to support the number of desktops you plan to deploy, taking peak workloads into account and
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leaving appropriate room for growth. The best test is with your own workload, since the
consolidation ratio depends on load, as this study has shown.
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References
Basic System Administration: ESX Server 3.0 and VirtualCenter 2.0.
www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_admin_guide.pdf
Microsoft Windows 2003 Resource Kit Tools (rktools.exe)
www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=9d467a69-57ff-4ae7-96ee-
b18c4790cffd&DisplayLang=en
Resource Management Guide: ESX Server 3.0 and VirtualCenter 2.0
www.vmware.com/pdf/vi3_esx_resource_mgmt.pdf
STAF
www.staf.sourceforge.net.
Timekeeping in VMware Virtual Machines
www.vmware.com/pdf/vmware_timekeeping.pdf
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Alliances
www.vmware.com/partners/alliances/solutions/
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