Virtual Desktop Project Design - VDI, VMware Horizon View, Fusion-io, Dell Servers

Copyright 2016 Alex St. Amand - https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexstamand/
Your Company
Your VDI Project:
Virtualizing Workstations with VMware® Horizon View™, and Fusion-io™
Solution Architecture
Prepared by: Alex St. Amand, VMware Solutions Architect, VCP
September 1st, 2016| Document Version: 2

Your Company’s VDI Project – Design Architecture
Revision: 20160901
You can always find the most up-to-date version of this document on the Your Company’s SharePoint
Website.
Your Company, the Your Company logo, and combinations thereof are trademarks of Your Company in the
United States and/or other jurisdictions. Other names used in this presentation are for identification purposes
only and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
©2016 Your Company, LLC., All rights reserved.
Your Company Headquarters:
31 Spooner Street
Quahog, RI

Table of Contents
1. Introduction................................................................................................................................................ 1
1.1 Executive Summary......................................................................................................................................1
1.2 Scope............................................................................................................................................................1
1.3 Intended Audience.......................................................................................................................................1
1.4 Related Documentation ...............................................................................................................................1
2. Background................................................................................................................................................. 2
2.1 What is VDI?.................................................................................................................................................2
2.2 What is VMware Horizon View?...................................................................................................................2
2.3 How does VMware Horizon View work?......................................................................................................3
2.4 Why Choose VMware Horizon View over XenDesktop? ..............................................................................4
3. Solution Components.................................................................................................................................. 5
3.1 Dell® PowerEdge™ R810 Servers..................................................................................................................5
3.2 Fusion-io ioDrive2 785GB MLC.....................................................................................................................6
3.3 VMware Virtual San (vSAN)..........................................................................................................................7
3.4 VMware Horizon View .................................................................................................................................8
3.5 RSA SecureID & RSA Authentication Manager.............................................................................................8
4. Solution Overview....................................................................................................................................... 9
5. Solution Architecture ................................................................................................................................ 12
5.1 Software Components and Versions..........................................................................................................12
5.2 ESXi Host Storage Tiers...............................................................................................................................12
Tier 1: Fusion-io ..................................................................................................................................12
Tier 2: SATA RAID 5.............................................................................................................................12
5.3 Physical Network........................................................................................................................................13
5.4 ESXi Host Connectivity................................................................................................................................13
5.5 VLAN Assignments......................................................................................................................................13
5.6 vSphere Configuration................................................................................................................................13
5.7 Virtual Switch Configuration ......................................................................................................................14
vSwitch0: Host Management and vMotion ........................................................................................14
vSwitch1: vSAN and NFS.....................................................................................................................14
dvSwitch1: Virtual Machine Production Networks.............................................................................15
5.8 Estimating Desktop Storage Requirements................................................................................................16
Parent Image Datastore......................................................................................................................16
Replica Datastore................................................................................................................................16
Linked Clone Datastore.......................................................................................................................16
5.9 Estimating Desktop IOPS............................................................................................................................17
5.10 Projected Desktop Storage and IOPS Requirements................................................................................18
5.11 VMware Horizon View Configuration.......................................................................................................19
View Server Virtual Machine Configuration .....................................................................................19
View Accelerator Sizing ....................................................................................................................20
View Desktop Pools ..........................................................................................................................20
RSA SecurID Configuration ...............................................................................................................21
5.12 Distributed File System ............................................................................................................................22
5.13 DR/Failover Configuration........................................................................................................................22
5.14 Monitoring and Reporting........................................................................................................................22
5.15 Scalability .................................................................................................................................................22
Appendix A – List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... 23
Appendix B – List of Tables ........................................................................................................................... 23

Appendix C - Works Cited and Additional Resources .................................................................................... 24
Glossary........................................................................................................................................................ 25

1. Introduction
1.1 Executive Summary
The goal of this document is to outline the requirements for installing, configuring and deploying a robust
Virtual Desktop (VDI) solution to be installed at the Your Company’s Corporate Office in Quahog, RI. This
solution leverages VMware Horizon View 7.0.1 as the cornerstone of the VDI environment. This design is
based on widely accepted industry best practices developed and vetted by VMware, Cisco, and Dell, as well as
standards developed and tested by the Solutions Architecture and Systems Operations Teams at Your
Company.
1.2 Scope
The scope of this document is limited to the installation and configuration of the VMware Horizon View
environment including any VDI specific networking and storage.
The following topics are considered OUTSIDE of the scope of this document:
• Core vSphere Environment: Except where noted in this document, the installation and configuration of
the core components of vSphere, including the ESXi Hypervisor, VMware Single Sign On, vCenter
Server, and any related database(s), are outside the scope of this document.
• RSA Authentication Manager 8.0 Core Installation: Although RSA Two Factor Authentication is a
mandatory and critical component of this solution, the only configuration steps discussed within this
document are those that are relevant to VMware Horizon View. The installation and configuration of
the RSA Authentication Manager 8.0 Core Infrastructure is outside the scope of this document.
• Windows 8.1 Image Customization: The procedure for building, installing, customizing, and deploying a
Windows 8.1 Custom Image for use with VDI is outside the scope of this document.
1.3 Intended Audience
This document is intended for use by Architects and System Administrators who are tasked with deploying
VMware Horizon View 7.0.1 within a production environment, as well as IT Managers with a vested interest in
this project. A working knowledge of VMware vSphere, VMware Horizon View, server, storage, and network
design is assumed but is not a prerequisite to read this document.
1.4 Related Documentation
• Corporate VDI Solution Architecture (This document)
• VMware vSphere 5.5 Design Reference
• RSA Authentication Manager 8.0 Install and Configuration
• VMware Horizon View RSA SecurID Implementation Guide
• VMware Horizon View Windows 8.1 Image Customization Guide
• VMware Horizon View Client Installation and User Guide

2.
Copyright 2016 Alex St. Amand -
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexstamand/
2. Background
2.1 What is VDI?
Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is the practice of hosting a desktop operating system within a virtual
machine (VM) running on a centralized server. VDI is a variation on the client/server computing model,
sometimes referred to as server-based computing. The term was coined by VMware Inc.
VMware describes Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) as “delivering desktops from the data center”. In other
words, VDI is where enterprise desktop computers are virtualized, moved to the data center, then presented
over the LAN or WAN to the end users.
2.2 What is VMware Horizon View?
VMware Horizon View is a desktop virtualization solution that simplifies IT manageability and control while
delivering the highest fidelity end-user experience across devices and networks. The VMware Horizon View
solution helps IT organization automate desktop and application management, reduce costs, and increase
data security through centralization of the desktop environment. This centralization results in greater end-user
freedom and increased control for IT organizations.
Key features include:
• Two-Factor Authentication: Built in support for two-factor authentication, such as RSA SecureID or
RADIUS (Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service), or smart cards to log in.
• Reliability and Security - Virtual desktops can be centralized by integrating with VMware vSphere and
virtualizing server, storage, and networking resources. Access to data can easily be restricted. Sensitive
data can be prevented from being copied onto a remote employee's home computer.
• PCoIP protocol: Was designed to deliver an uncompromised desktop experience. To deliver on this
vision, PCoIP was architected to recognize different types of content and then use different
compression algorithms based on the content type.
• View Administrator: Provides a single management tool to provision new desktops or groups of
desktops, and an easy interface for setting desktop policies. Using a template, you can customize
virtual pools of desktops and easily set policies, such as how many virtual machines can be in a pool, or
logoff parameters.
• View Connection Server: Acts as a broker between end users and virtual desktops they are allowed to
access and support the use of end-to-end SSL tunneling to ensure that all connections are completely
encrypted.
• View Composer: Based on the mature Linked Clone technology, VMware Horizon View 7.0.1 Composer
enables the rapid creation of desktop images from a golden image. Updates implemented on the
parent image can be easily pushed out to any number of virtual desktops in minutes, greatly simplifying
deployment, upgrades and patches while reducing desktop operational costs. With the core
components of the desktop being managed separately the process does not affect user settings, data
or applications, so the end-user remains productive on a working desktop, even while changes are
being applied to the master image.
• View Persona Management: Physical and virtual desktops can be centrally managed, including user
profiles, application entitlement, policies, performance, and other settings. Deploy View Persona
Management to physical desktop users prior to converting to virtual desktops.
• View Storage Accelerator: Use the VMware Horizon View storage accelerator feature to support end-
user logins at larger scales with the same storage resources. This storage accelerator uses features in
the vSphere 5.5 platform to create a host memory cache of common block reads.

2.3 How does VMware Horizon View work?
With VMware Horizon View the desktop components are “decoupled” from physical devices and delivered as
a managed service from a centralized location such as the datacenter or from the cloud. VMware Horizon
View also enables the delivery of a Modern Desktop by virtualizing the desktop OS, applications and the user
data. End-users can connect to their desktops, applications and data from multiple devices and across any
network connection for an optimized and familiar desktop experience.
By centrally managing the desktops, applications and user data in the data center, organizations benefit from
improved manageability and control while end-users benefit from flexible access and improved levels of
service.
Figure 1 shows a simple architectural diagram with the key components of the VMware Horizon View
architecture:
Figure 1 - VMware Horizon View Architecture

4.
2.4 Why Choose VMware Horizon View over XenDesktop?
Corporations choose VMware Horizon View over other desktop virtualization solutions because View provides
the following unique advantages:
• Directly Leverages the Power of vSphere: VMware Horizon View is built on and tightly integrated with
VMware vSphere for Desktops—the only platform specifically designed to host virtual desktops.
vSphere delivers industry-leading high availability, business continuity, and fault tolerance imperative
to hosting business-critical systems. With dynamic scaling and scheduling of resources, vSphere offers a
platform for real-time capacity management and drives business agility. The choice of VMware Horizon
View allows customers to standardize on a common cloud infrastructure platform from the desktop,
through the datacenter, and to the cloud.
• Easier to Manage and Deploy: As reported by the Tolly Group, VMware Horizon View is easier to
deploy and manage than competitive offerings. Unlike other products that feature multiple non-
integrated components, only VMware Horizon View offers an integrated solution that was built for
desktop virtualization. According to IDC research ‘Quantifying the Business Value of VMware Horizon
View’, a study commissioned by VMware, VMware Horizon View
• One Half the Cost: In a report done by Enterprise Management Associates calculating the total cost of
deploying a VDI solution for VMware Horizon View versus Citrix XenDesktop, they found that View
costs substantially less. View requires 19% fewer servers, uses 42% less storage and has software
licensing costs up to 67% less than XenDesktop. Even accounting for the Citrix XenDesktop Trade-up
program, View costs less. A detailed analysis reveals that the hidden costs of trading up include
Subscription Advantage reinstatement fees, increased support from doubling the number of licenses,
and the additional cost of vSphere licensing that comes standard with View. VMware Horizon View is
by far the best value on the market.
In addition VMware Horizon View provides more value over other server-hosted virtual desktop solutions,
including several key differentiators outlined in Table 1 below:
Table 1 - VMware Horizon View’s Key Differentiators
Horizon View 7.0.1 XenDesktop 5.6 Microsoft RDS
Enterprise Class   
Full Virtual 3D Graphics over WAN and
LAN
  
Storage Acceleration with vSphere
Content-Based Read Cache
  
Unified Communications Integration
for VoIP with Supported Partnerships
  
Full Flash-based Application Support  Limited Limited
Application Virtualization   
vShield Endpoint   
Integrated Online and Offline Virtual
Desktop Management
  
Streamlined Installation and Ease of
Management
  

3. Solution Components
3.1 Dell® PowerEdge™ R810 Servers
The physical server portion of this solution consists of 5 Dell® PowerEdge™ R810 servers running VMware a
custom Dell ESXi 5.1U1a Image. The hardware selected for this project has been obtained at no additional new
cost as it is being re-purposed from a previous project.
Figure 2 - Dell® PowerEdge™ R810 Server
Table 2 provides detailed specifications for the physical servers as configured for this project.
Table 2 - Detailed ESXi Host Server Specifications
Feature Technical Specification
Form Factor 2U Rack
Processor Type 4x Eight-Core Intel® Xeon® E7-8837 @ 2.66 GHz
Total Logical Cores 32
Memory Type 256GB DDR3 1066 MHz
I/O Slots 6 PCIe G2 - (Five x8 slots, One x4 slot)
RAID Controller PERC 6/i - (256MB battery-backed cache)
Hard Drive Type 2.5" Hot-Swappable SATA/SAS/SSD
Total Physical Storage 765GB on NAND Flash / 730GB RAID 5 on 10k SATA
Primary Network Controller Intel® ET2 82576 Quad Port Gigabit NIC - (Embedded)
Secondary Network Controller Broadcom® NetXtreme II 5709 Quad Port Gigabit NIC
Power Supplies Two redundant 1100W hot-plug power supplies
Remote Management iDRAC 6 Enterprise

6.
3.2 Fusion-io ioDrive2 785GB MLC
Estimating the I/O performance required to support hundreds of consolidated desktops is a considerable
challenge. Average I/O utilization is not a good metric because it does not account for I/O spikes such as “boot
storms” and “login storms,” which slow performance and frustrate end-users. Allocating too much I/O per
user increases hardware costs, while allocating too little I/O per user reduces productivity.
• Removes I/O guesswork from sizing VDI
• Eliminates I/O storms and provides every user plenty of I/O headroom
• Much faster response time and at a lower cost
• Removes need for high-performance shared storage to support desktop images
• Scales costs and performance linearly per user, over time
• Massive savings on enterprise shared storage, power, cooling, rack space, and associated operational
costs
Figure 3 - Fusion-io ioDrive2 785GB MLC High Performance Solid State Drive
Table 3 - Fusion-io ioDrive2 785GB MLC Specifications
Feature Technical Specification
Read Bandwidth - 1MB 1.5 GB/s
Write Bandwidth - 1MB 1.1 GB/s
Ran. Read IOPS - 512B 270,000
Ran. Write IOPS - 512B 800,000
Ran. Read IOPS - 4K 215,000
Ran. Write IOPS - 4K 230,000
Read Access Latency 68µs
Write Access Latency 15µs
Bus Interface PCI-Express 2.0 x4
Form Factor Half-height, half-length
Warranty 5 years or maximum endurance used

3.3 VMware Virtual San (vSAN)
VMware Virtual SAN is radically simple, enterprise-class native storage for VMware Hyper-Converged Software
solutions. Uniquely embedded in the hypervisor, Virtual SAN delivers high performance, flash-optimized
hyper-converged storage for any virtualized application—at a fraction of the cost of traditional, purpose-built
storage and other less-efficient hyper-converged infrastructure solutions. Virtual SAN clusters server-attached
flash devices and/or hard disks to provide a flash-optimized, highly resilient shared datastore suitable for a
variety of workloads including business-critical applications, virtual desktops, remote IT, DR, and DevOps
infrastructure. Figure 4 gives an example of a three host vSAN cluster.
Figure 4 - vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA) Cluster Example

8.
3.4 VMware Horizon View
VMware Horizon View is a VDI solution that includes a complete suite of tools for delivering desktops as a
secure, managed service from a centralized infrastructure. A View infrastructure consists of many different
software, network, and hardware layer components.
A functional list of View components used in this solution is shown in Table 4 below:
Table 4 - List of VMware Horizon View components and their functions
Component Function
vCenter Server
Central administration platform for configuring, provisioning, and
managing VMware virtualized datacenters.
View Administrator
Web-based administration platform for View Infrastructure
components.
View Composer
A service running on the View Servers used to create pools of virtual
desktops from a shared base image to reduce storage capacity
requirements.
View Connection Server
A software service that acts as a broker for client connections by
authenticating and then directing incoming user requests to the
appropriate virtual desktop, physical desktop, or terminal server.
View Agent
A service that runs on all systems used as sources for View desktops
and facilitates communication between the View Clients and View
Server.
View Client Software that is used to access View desktops.
Client Devices Personal computing devices used by end users to run the View Client.
3.5 RSA SecureID & RSA Authentication Manager
A critical requirement for this solution is the implementation of a secure Two-Factor Authentication method
which will challenge users when connecting to the VDI Connection Broker. By default, VMware Horizon View
authenticates users using Microsoft Active Directory credentials (username, password, and domain name). As
an option, VMware Horizon View can be configured so that users are first required to authenticate using RSA
SecurID. VMware Horizon View authentication works in conjunction with RSA Authentication Manager. Two-
factor authentication provides enhanced security for access to virtual desktops and is a standard feature of
VMware Horizon View.
The RSA SecureID authentication mechanism consists of a "token" - either hardware (e.g. a USB dongle) or
software (a soft token) - which is assigned to a computer user and which generates an authentication code at
fixed intervals (usually 60 seconds) using a built-in clock and the card's factory-encoded random key (known as
the "seed"). The seed is different for each token, and is loaded into the corresponding RSA Authentication
Manager Server as the tokens are purchased.

4. Solution Overview
Key Points:
• Built to Perform: This solution leverages high speed local direct attached NAND flash for storing both
the VDI Replica and Linked Clone images. The stateless architecture provides astonishing desktop
performance as well as linear scalability from a single host to hundreds of hosts with a simple modular
approach.
• Persistent Desktop Experience: VMware Horizon View Persona Management eliminates the need for
the large amounts of storage normally required when working with persistent user disks. Instead View
Persona Management preserves user profiles and dynamically synchronizes only the files that Windows
requires at login, such as user registry files with a remote profile repository. Persona Management also
manages folder redirection within the VDI desktop completing the persistent desktop experience.
• Lowest License Cost: Eliminating reliance on persistent disk allows us to utilize an automatic floating
desktop model where each virtual machine is destroyed (recomposed) after the user logs off. With the
VM now reset and in a powered off state license requirements for both VMware Horizon View and
Microsoft Windows are cut in half. This savings is so significant that it covers the additional costs
associated with the flash technology which made it possible, and then some.
• DR/Failover Option: Since this solution works on the premise that desktops are created as needed
from a static image we can now easily plan for DR. This solution includes an option for a second
VMware Horizon View cluster comprised of a single ESXi host with an identical configuration which can
be deployed at the Markley datacenter for DR/Failover. This host contains a current copy of the Replica
image from the Bedford cluster. Should the need arise all that is needed is to point users at the Boston
connection broker (or modify DNS to achieve this without user intervention) and they will get the same
desktop they would have received from the Bedford cluster. This is made possible by the use of
Windows Distributed File System which replicated the users Persona data from Bedford to Boston. On
Windows 2008 R2 Windows DFS transfers only the delta changes to the user’s data making it an
extremely efficient solution which uses only minimal bandwidth.

10.
BEDFORD
Desktop Desktop Des
Desktop Desktop DeDFS
VSADesktop Desktop Desktop Desktop
Desktop Desktop Desktop Desktop
VSA
DFS
LocalStorage
VDI01
DI-BEDVDFS01
700GB SATA RAID5
dataintensity.comProfiles.VDI
dataintensity.comThinApp.VDI
dataintensity.comUsers.VDI
LocalStorage
DI-BEDVDFS02
700GB SATA RAID5
dataintensity.comPro
dataintensity.comThi
dataintensity.comUse
DFS Replication
vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA)
LocalSharedStorage
Fusion-io ioDrive2
785GB MLC Drive
Fusio
785
VSA Replication
VDI02
VSA Replication
Replica VM
Linked
Clone
Linked
Clone
Linked
Clone
Linked
Clone
Linked
Clone
Linked
Clone
Linked
Clone
2
BED-VDIESXi02
R810
VMware vSphere 5
42
BED-VDIESXi01
R810
VMware vSphere 5.1

Figure 5 VDI Cluster Architectural Diagram
Figure 6: VDI High Level Overview
Figure 7: VDI Protocol & Port Map

INTERNAL USE ONLY - Copyright 2016 Your Company, LLC 12
BEDFORD BOSTON
Desktop Desktop Desktop DesktopDFS
VSADesktop Desktop Desktop Desktop
VSA
DFSLocalStorage
VDI01
DI-BEDVDFS01
700GB SATA RAID5
VDI01
LocalStorage
DI-BEDVDFS02
700GB SATA RAID5
DFS Replication
Desktop Desktop Desktop DesktopDFS
Desktop
VDI01
LocalStorage
DI-BOSVDFS01
700GB SATA RAID5
Fusion-io ioDrive2
785GB MLC Drive
VDI02
Replica VM
Linked
Clone
Linked
Clone
Linked
Clone
Linked
Clone
LocalStorage
vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA)
LocalSharedStorage
Fusion-io ioDrive2
785GB MLC Drive
Fusion-io ioDrive2
785GB MLC Drive
VSA Replication
VDI02
VSA Replication
Replica VM
Linked
Clone
Linked
Clone
Linked
Clone
Linked
Clone
Linked
Clone
Linked
Clone
Linked
Clone
Linked
Clone
42
BED-VDIESXi02
R810
VMware vSphere 5.1
42
BED-VDIESXi01
R810
VMware vSphere 5.1 VMware vSphere 5.1
42
BOS-VDIESXi01
R810
DFS Replication
Scripted Replication
(Replica VM Only)
Figure 5 - VDI Cluster Architectural Diagram

INTERNAL USE ONLY - Copyright 2016 Your Company, LLC 13
DBISecureVLAN
DI-BEDVCS02
vCenterServer
DBI-BEDVIEW01
ConnectionServer
(Internal)
View
Composer
File
Services
E-Mail
Database
Server
A/D
Print
Services
DBI-BEDVIEW02
SecurityServer
(DBISecureVLAN)
RSA
Server
InternalDBIUser
(ExampleOnly)
Cisco
VPN Gateway
External
DBIUsers
SSHorVPN
VPN
SSH
Figure 6 - VDI High Level Overview
View Clients (Windows, Linux, HTML5, Thin)
View Security Server
dbi-view.dataintensity.com
Replica Connection Server
View Connection Server
di-view.dataintensity.com
Desktop VM (VDI Pool)
View Client
PCoIP Secure
Gateway
RDP Client
HTTPS Secure
Tunnel
View Agent
View Broker &
Admin Server
RDP / USB
PCoIP(UDP4172)
View Message
Bus
PCoIP Secure
Gateway
HTTPS Secure
Tunnel
View Message
Bus
View Broker &
Admin Server
JMS(TCP4001)
Management
View Manager
(Admin Web Client)
vCenter Server
di-bedvcs02.dataintensity.com
ws_TunnelService.exe
Offshore User
Secure VLAN
(VLAN 19)
Internal Datacenter
Protocols & Terminology:
View Composer (TCP 18443)
JMSIR (TCP 4100) AJP13 (TCP 8009)
AJP13 (TCP 8009)JMS (TCP 4100)
PCoIP(UDP4172)
MISC
MMR
[Multi-path Multi-channel Routing]
[HyperText Transfer Protocol (Secure)]
HTTPS
[Remote Desktop Protocol]
RDP
[PC over IP]
PCoIP
AJP13
[Apache JServ Protocol]
[Universal Serial Bus]
USB
[Simple Object Access Protocol]
SOAP
JMS/JMSIR
[Java Message Service/Java Message Service Inter-Router]
RDP (TCP 3389)
HTTPS (TCP 443)
SOAP (TCP 443)
USB (TCP xxx)
RDP(TCP3389)
Figure 7 - VDI Protocol & Port Map

14 INTERNAL USE ONLY - Copyright 2016 Your Company, LLC
5. Solution Architecture
This solution follows a distributed model where solution components exist in tiers. The Compute tier is where
VDI desktop VM’s execute, the Management tier being dedicated to the broker management server role VM’s.
Both tiers, while inextricably linked, scale independently.
5.1 Software Components and Versions
Table 5 lists the individual VMware Horizon View components and versions used in this solution.
Table 5 - VMware Horizon View Software Components and Versions
Component Version
Hypervisor VMware ESXi 5.5 Update 3b
VDI Broker VMware Horizon View 7.0.1
Desktop Provisioning VMware Horizon View Composer 7.0.1
Database Software Microsoft SQL Server 2012 (x64)
Server OS Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 Standard (x64)
Desktop OS Microsoft Windows 8.1 Enterprise (x64)
5.2 ESXi Host Storage Tiers
For each ESXi host the local storage is comprised of two different storage technologies representing two
different performance tiers.
Tier 1: Fusion-io
The first storage tier is the performance tier and is comprised of a single Fusion-io ioDrive2 365GB flash
memory storage card which is installed in each host. The Fusion-io card is configured as a single 365GB
datastore which is then mirrored to all subsequent hosts by means of the vSphere Storage Appliance (see
section 5.8). This storage tier is dedicated to storing the VDI desktop replica images which are the basis
from which every link cloned is spawned. The replica image requires very little space, but has the highest
IOPS requirement making it
Tier 2: SATA RAID 5
The second storage tier is the capacity tier and is comprised of six 146GB 10k SATA disk drives in a hardware
RAID 5 configuration. This storage tier is used for storing both the VDI desktop linked clones and the virtual
server disks for the Windows CIFS VM for Persona Management.

15
5.3 Physical Network
The LAN architecture for this solution is comprised of two Cisco® Catalyst™ 4507R chassis switches which
provide all connectivity for the VM Guests, ESXi Management, Storage vMotion, and NFS Storage. Each of
these traffic types will be logically separated through the use of VLANs. Each core switch is linked to the other
via 10GB fiber thus forming a single logical switch.
5.4 ESXi Host Connectivity
A total of nine 1 GB uplinks will be required for each ESXI host. Eight of these uplinks are connected directly to
the core switches (four to each core switch, per ESXi host) and are dedicated to the traffic described above.
The ninth uplink is for dedicated OOB management (Dell iDRAC) and is provided via a dedicated secondary
distribution switch located at the top of the rack. This switch is in turn connected to each of the two core
switches
5.5 VLAN Assignments
For this solution LAN traffic will be separated into four VLAN's: Host Management, vMotion, Network Attached
Storage (NFS), Production Servers, and two dedicated workstation VLANs (one for offshore users and one for
Bedford users). Table 6 provides an overview of the relationship between VLAN and Subnet assignments:
Table 6 - VLAN Assignments
Traffic Type VLAN ID Subnet Bit Mask Gateway
Server Management (iDRAC) - 172.18.9.0 /24 255.255.255.0 172.18.9.1
Production VDI Server Network 16 172.18.4.0 /24 255.255.255.0 172.18.4.1
Production VDI Desktop Network (Offshore) 19 172.19.254.0 /24 255.255.255.0 172.19.254.1
Host Management Network 22 172.18.10.0 /24 255.255.255.0 172.18.10.1
vSAN 29 172.18.29.0 /24 255.255.255.0 172.18.29.1
vMotion 37 172.18.37.0 /24 255.255.255.0 172.18.37.1
NFS 38 172.18.38.0 /24 255.255.255.0 172.18.38.1
Production VDI Desktop Network (Corporate) 60 172.18.60.1 /24 255.255.255.0 172.18.60.1
5.6 vSphere Configuration
The installation and configuration of the core components of vSphere, including the ESXi Hypervisor, VMware
Single Sign On, vCenter Server, and any related database(s) will be performed in advance and will follow the
best practices previously established in the VMware vSphere 5.5 Design Reference document.

5.7 Virtual Switch Configuration
For each ESXi host multiple virtual switches need to be created to support the various types of LAN traffic
required for this solution. Separate port groups must be created for each individual function including Host
Management, VSA Storage, vMotion, Production VMs, and the vSphere Storage Appliance network (See
section 6.1.1). Each port group is configured to tag with the appropriate VLAN for its specific function as
previously outlined in Table 6.
Figure 8, Figure 9, and Figure 10 illustrate how each vSwitch is configured.
vSwitch0: Host Management and vMotion
In Figure 8 Illustrates the configurations for the ESXi Management interface as well as the vMotion
(VMkernel) interface. Each of these interfaces has been configured to run over separate dedicated
portgroups within the same virtual switch: vSwitch0. In this configuration, the portgroup dedicated to the
Management Interface is configured to use physical adapter vmnic0 as its primary uplink interface with
vmnic4 set as standby uplink. The portgroup dedicated to vMotion has been configured the exact opposite
with its primary uplink set to use vmnic4 with vmnic0 set as a standby.
Figure 8 - vSwitch0: Host Management and vMotion
vSwitch1: vSAN and NFS
In Figure 9 we see that dedicated portgroups have been configured for both vSAN (VMkernel) and NFS
(Vmkernel) traffic on a separate vSwitch: vSwitch1. The interfaces associated with this vSwitch are
dedicated solely to the purpose of routing NFS Storage Traffic. In this configuration, the NFS portgroup is
configured to only use physical adapter vmnic1 as its primary uplink interface with vmnic5 set as standby
uplink. The portgroup dedicated to vSAN has been configured the exact opposite with its primary uplink set
to use vmnic5 with vmnic1 set as a standby.
Figure 9 - vSwitch1: vMotion and VSA Back End

17
dvSwitch1: Virtual Machine Production Networks
Figure 10 Illustrates the portgroup configurations for the production virtual machines. Each category of
virtual machine (Servers, Workstations, etc.) has been configured to run inside their own dedicated
portgroup. In this configuration each portgroup is configured to use the following physical adapters:
vmnic2, vmnic3, vmnic6, and vmnic7.
Figure 10 - dvSwitch1: Virtual Machine Production Networks

5.8 Estimating Desktop Storage Requirements
In this configuration separate datastores will used for Parent images (OS disks), Replica disks, and Persistent
disks. The following formulas were used to calculate the sizing requirements for each of the respective
datastores. All calculations below assume a size of 24GB for the Parent image.
Parent Image Datastore
This datastore stores the base images copies that need to be created and maintained for the virtual
desktops. The following formula was used to calculate the capacity required for the Base Image Datastore:
(𝐺𝐵)=𝐵𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑆𝑖𝑧𝑒 ×(2×𝑉𝑀𝑀𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑦)×𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑂𝑓 𝐵𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝐼𝑚𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠
For this solution only one parent image is required, however any future expansion or special case
requirements will require that additional parent images be developed. Therefore we will base our
calculations on the storage requirements needed for three base images.
𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝐺𝐵)=24×(2x2.5)×3=360𝐺𝐵
Replica Datastore
This datastore is used to host the replica disk images that are created from the base images during the
deployment of the linked clone virtual desktops. The replica is the image from which each link clone is
spawned and as such it
The space required for the replica images is identical to the space required for the OS images and the same
formula from above can be used.
𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝐺𝐵)=24×(2x2.5)×2=240𝐺𝐵
Linked Clone Datastore
These datastores are used to store the VDI VM images and the disposable disks for all the virtual desktops
created using linked clones. The capacity required to store these virtual desktops depends on the amount of
space reserved for the linked clone delta files and the aggressiveness of the storage overcommit used while
creating the desktop pool. The following formula was used to calculate the capacity required for the Linked
Clone Datastore:
(𝐺𝐵)=𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑉𝑀𝑠×(2×𝑉𝑀𝑀𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑦)×𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝐷𝑎𝑡𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑒𝑠×𝑂𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑜𝑟
To host 100 desktops with a conservative storage overcommit, the capacity required is:
𝐶𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 (𝐺𝐵)=100×(2×2.5𝐺𝐵)×2×0.25=250𝐺𝐵

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5.9 Estimating Desktop IOPS
In order to architect a suitable storage solution one first needs to understand the demands VDI will place on
the storage infrastructure. Whenever possible real world IOPS data should be collected and used in your
calculations.
In the absence of absolute numbers from the user base, the table below is the best guidance available. These
estimates can be refined later in the design process with real-world data gathered from proof-of-concept and
pilot activities. As a rule of thumb, the IT industry breaks down IOPS profiles into four discrete types of users,
as shown in Table 7.
Table 7 - User Workload Estimation Table
User
Classification
Simultaneous
Applications in Use
Virtual Machine
Configuration
IOPS Requirements
Per User
Standard User (Light)
Limited
1–5 apps light use
1vCPU
2GB RAM
3–7
Standard User (Medium)
Standard productivity
1–5 apps regular use
1vCPU
2GB RAM
8–16
Power User (Standard)
Compute intensive
>5 apps regular use
1vCPU
3GB RAM
17–25
Power User (Heavy)
Compute intensive
>5 apps intense use
2vCPU
≥3GB RAM
25+
IMPORTANT: Unless the environment is intended to only support the lightest of users, the solution should be
sized for the Power User (Standard) and Power User (Heavy).

5.10 Projected Desktop Storage and IOPS Requirements
Table 8 outlines the host and storage requirements for this solution based on the “Power User (Standard)”
desktop specification discussed in the previous section.
Table 8 - Projected Desktop Storage and IOPS Requirements
Desktop Sizing Value Notes
System drive (GB) 24 Windows 8.1 System (C:)
Number of vCPUs 1
Average CPU Usage (MHz) 400
Average Memory Utilization 1280 1.25GB
Configured RAM (MB) 2560 2.50GB
Memory reservation 2560 Full reservation eliminates virtual swap
Estimated memory overhead @ 2.5% (MB) 64
Total RAM Required 2624 Configured RAM + Overhead
Average IOPS 20
Average Peak IOPS 45
Boot IOPS 600
Size of replica (GB) 29
Size of linked clone (GB) at 15% growth 4 15% growth of parent image
Number of desktop pools 1
Based on recommended maximum
of 510 desktops per pool
Host Sizing Value Hosts needed to cover required capacity
Total CPU Required (MHz) 40,000 1
Total RAM Required 262,400 2
Final Host Requirements Value Notes
Number of hosts required 2 3 Hosts if deploying DR option
Average IOPS Required 2,000 Combined read/write
Peak IOPS Required 8,800 Combined read/write
Boot IOPS Required 60,000 100 VM simultaneous Boot Storm
Final Storage Requirements Value Notes
Number of replica datastores 1
Datastore size for replica disk (GB) 50 Local SSD Disk
Number of linked clone datastores 2 50 linked clones per datastore
Datastore size for linked clones (GB) 30 Local SATA Disk
DESIGN NOTE: Boot Storm IOPS are only calculated in order to understand a worst case scenario for storage
demand. In a real world deployment the view cluster is configured to only allow a predetermined number of
desktops to boot at any given time.

21
5.11 VMware Horizon View Configuration
View 7.0.1 will be installed by following the documentation provided by VMware:
View 7.0.1 Documentation: http://pubs.vmware.com/horizon-7-view/index.jsp
Here are the specific configuration decisions used in the configuration:
• Two View servers will be configured to provide load balancing and high availability.
• The first View Server will be configured as a View Standard Server during the installation, while the
second View Server will be configured as a View Replica Server.
• The View Composer will be installed on the same VM as the vCenter server.
• SSL certificates signed by the Active Directory CA will be applied to vCenter Server, View Connection
Servers as well as all individual View software components which rely on SSL connections.
View Server Virtual Machine Configuration
Table 9 Lists the specific configurations for each of the VMware Horizon View Infrastructure VMs required.
Table 9 - View Infrastructure Server VM Configurations
View Infrastructure Server VM Configurations
di-bedvcs02 di-bedvcs02-db dbi-viewcs01 dbi-viewcs02 di-bedview01
Function
vCenter /
View Composer
vCenter
Database Server
Connection
Broker
Connection
Broker
Connection
Broker
VM Hardware
Version
8 8 8 8 8
# vCPUs 4 4 2 2 2
vRAM (GB) 24 32 8 8 8
SCSI Controller LSI Logic SAS LSI Logic SAS LSI Logic SAS LSI Logic SAS LSI Logic SAS
Virtual Disk (GB)
80 (OS) / 40
(Data)
60 (OS) / 220
(Data)
40 (OS) 40 (OS) 40 (OS)
NetworkAdapter VMXNET 3 VMXNET 3 VMXNET 3 VMXNET 3 VMXNET 3
Disk Provisioning Thin Provisioned Thin Provisioned Thin Provisioned Thin Provisioned Thin Provisioned
Swap File Store with VM Store with VM Store with VM Store with VM Store with VM
vRAM
Reservation
50% of vRAM 50% of vRAM 50% of vRAM 50% of vRAM 50% of vRAM

View Accelerator Sizing
Enabling VMware Horizon View Accelerator turns on CBRC on the selected ESXi hosts.
CBRC works by creating a digest file for each VMDK on the VM and stores the hash information about
VMDK blocks with the VM itself. The size of this digest file is between 5 to 10MB for each GB of the VMDK
size. This means that for a 24GB Windows VM replica used in the testing, there was about 125MB of
storage space used for the digest file. This digest file is loaded into memory when it is accessed for the first
time.
When memory overcommit is used to assign more RAM to VMs than there is available memory in the host,
it is important to note that enabling CBRC can create a digest of significant size. When CBRC is enabled, the
digest file increases the memory utilized in a host and could cause increased memory ballooning and impact
the overall performance of the host server.
In the test setup, the base image was 24GB and the replica image had a digest of 125MB. Each VM had a
non-persistent disk size of 4GB which created a digest file of 32MB. If a server hosted 64VMs and a replica
disk, the total memory required for CBRC (assuming the maximum 2048MB is used for CBRC) would be:
2048𝑀𝐵+125𝑀𝐵+(64×32𝑀𝐵)=4221𝑀𝐵
View Desktop Pools
A Desktop Pool is a collection of desktops that is managed as a single entity by the View Administration
interface. View Desktop Pools allow administrators to group users depending on the type of service the
user requires. There are two types of pools – Automated Pools and Manual Pools.
In View, an Automated Pool is a collection of VMs cloned from a base template, while a Manual Desktop
pool is created by the View Manager from existing desktop sources, physical or virtual. For each desktop in
the Manual Desktop pool, the administrator selects a desktop source to deliver View access to the clients.
Table 10
Table 10 - View Desktop Pool Configuration
View Desktop Pool Configuration
Virtual Desktop Pool Type Automated Pool
User Assignment Floating
vCenter Server View Composer Linked Clones
Storage Optimization Select separate datastores for replica and OS disk
Advanced Storage Options Use host caching
Guest Customization Sysprep

23
RSA SecurID Configuration
The following steps to configure each VMware Horizon View server for RSA SecurID authentication are
carried out using the web browser based View Administrator application.
1) Log into the web browser based View Administrator using an administrator username and password.
2) From the View Administrator page, expand the View Configuration and select Servers. Locate the list
of View Connection Servers on the right hand page, select the appropriate server and click Edit.
3) Within the Edit View Connection Server Settings window locate and select the Authentication tab.
4) Under RSA SecurID 2-Factor Authentication, select the Enable checkbox as shown Error! Reference s
ource not found. below:
Figure 11 - Enabling RSA SecurID in VMware Horizon View
5) Decide if RSA SecurID usernames must match usernames used in Active Directory. If they should be
forced to match, then select Enforce SecurID and Windows user name matching. In this case, the user
will be forced to use the same RSA SecurID username for Active Directory authentication. If this
option is not selected, the names are allowed to be different.
6) Upload the sdconf.rec file. Click Browse and select the sdconf.rec file. The sdconf.rec file was earlier
exported from the RSA Authentication Manager. It is important that the sdconf.rec file imported is
the correct files for this particular server.
NOTE: There is no need to restart VMware Horizon View after making these configuration changes. The
necessary configuration files for each View server are automatically distributed and the RSA SecurID
configuration takes effect immediately.

5.12 Distributed File System
A single Windows 2008 R2 Server will be deployed inside the VDI environment and will be configured as a
CIFS/DFS Server for storing user persona and desktop folder redirection data. DFS will be configured to
replicate this data to the DR
5.13 DR/Failover Configuration
A second VMware Horizon View cluster comprised of a single ESXi host with an identical configuration will be
deployed at the Markley datacenter for this purpose. This host contains a current copy of the Replica image
from the Bedford cluster and can be called up to deploy VM’s simply be redirecting users to it. This is made
possible by the Distributed File System mentioned above.
DESIGN NOTE: Although this solution provides for a VDI desktop at the Boston site, for the case of DBI users it
does not cover any portion of the secure network which they are required to operate from. The configuration
of such special network for DBI users in Boston is outside the scope of this document.
5.14 Monitoring and Reporting
All ESXi hosts and critical infrastructure VM’s will be monitored 24x7 for “UP” status following our current
documented standards. In addition to availability all aspects of the VMware Horizon View environment will be
automatically tracked and reported on through our existing VMware vCenter Operations Manager portal. This
is made possible by the use of a free module that provides a dedicated console form monitoring the entire
View environment from within vRealize Operations Manager (vROps).
5.15 Scalability
This solution scales linearly as needed by adding additional hosts to existing pod. Each host can support up to
250 VDI workstations with lossless performance. When the cluster reaches 6 hosts a new cluster should be
added to the pod in accordance with VMware’s best practices. All management will continue to remain
centralized. The maximum theoretical VDI workstation limit is ~10,000.

25
Appendix A – List of Figures
Figure 1 - VMware Horizon View Architecture.......................................................................................................3
Figure 2 - Dell® PowerEdge™ R810 Server .............................................................................................................5
Figure 3 - Fusion-io ioDrive2 785GB MLC High Performance Solid State Drive......................................................6
Figure 4 - vSphere Storage Appliance (VSA) Cluster Example ................................................................................7
Figure 5 - VDI Cluster Architectural Diagram........................................................................................................10
Figure 6 - VDI High Level Overview.......................................................................................................................11
Figure 7 - VDI Protocol & Port Map......................................................................................................................11
Figure 8 - vSwitch0: Host Management and vMotion..........................................................................................14
Figure 9 - vSwitch1: vMotion and VSA Back End..................................................................................................14
Figure 10 - dvSwitch1: Virtual Machine Production Networks ............................................................................15
Figure 11 - Enabling RSA SecurID in VMware Horizon View.................................................................................21
Appendix B – List of Tables
Table 1 - VMware Horizon View’s Key Differentiators ...........................................................................................4
Table 2 - Detailed ESXi Host Server Specifications .................................................................................................5
Table 3 - Fusion-io ioDrive2 785GB MLC Specifications .........................................................................................6
Table 4 - List of VMware Horizon View components and their functions..............................................................8
Table 5 - VMware Horizon View Software Components and Versions ................................................................12
Table 6 - VLAN Assignments.................................................................................................................................13
Table 7 - User Workload Estimation Table ...........................................................................................................17
Table 8 - Projected Desktop Storage and IOPS Requirements .............................................................................18
Table 9 - View Infrastructure Server VM Configurations......................................................................................19
Table 10 - View Desktop Pool Configuration........................................................................................................20

Appendix C - Works Cited and Additional Resources
The following VMware publications are referenced in this document or are recommended sources of
additional information:
• VMware Horizon View 7.0.1 Documentation:
http://pubs.vmware.com/horizon-7-view/index.jsp
• VMware Horizon View 7.0.1 Release notes:
http://pubs.vmware.com/Release_Notes/en/horizon-7-view/horizon-701-view-release-notes.html
• VMware blog entry on Optimizing Storage with View Storage Accelerator:
http://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2012/05/optimizing-storage-with-view-storage-accelerator.html
• VMware blog entry on View Storage Accelerator – In Practice:
http://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2012/05/view-storage-accelerator-in-practice.html
• Multi-Factor Authentication:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Two-factor_authentication
• RSA SecurID:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SecurID
• VMware Optimization Guide for Windows 7 and Windows 8 Virtual Desktops in Horizon View:
http://www.vmware.com/techpapers/2010/optimization-guide-for-windows-7-and-windows-8-vir-
10157.html

27
Glossary
B Ballooning
A technique used in VMware ESXi to reclaim the guest memory pages that are considered the least
valuable by the guest operating system. This is accomplished using the vmmemctl driver, which is
installed as part of the VMware Tools suite.
C Clone
A copy of a virtual machine. See also Full Clone and Linked Clone.
Content Based Read Cache (CBRC)
Core
A processing unit. Often used to refer to multiple processing units in one package (a so-called “multi-
core CPU”). Also used by Intel to refer to a particular family of processors (with the “Core
microarchitecture”). Note that the Intel “Core” brand did not include the Core microarchitecture.
Instead, this microarchitecture began shipping with the “Core 2” brand.
D DirectPath I/O
A vSphere feature that leverages Intel VT-d and AMD-Vi hardware support to allow guest operating
systems to directly access hardware devices.
Distributed Power Management (DPM)
A feature that uses DRS to unload servers, allowing them to be placed into standby, and thereby
saving power. When the load increases, the servers can be automatically brought back online.
Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS)
A feature that monitors utilization across resource pools and uses vMotion to move running virtual
machines to other servers.
F Fault Tolerance (FT)
A feature in vSphere 5.x that runs a secondary copy of a virtual machine on a secondary host and
seamlessly switches to that secondary copy in the event of failure of the primary host.
Full Clone
A copy of the original virtual machine that has no further dependence on the parent virtual machine.
See also Linked Clone.
G Growable Disk
A type of virtual disk in which only as much host disk space as is needed is initially set aside, and the
disk grows as the virtual machine uses the space. Also called thin disk. See also Preallocated Disk.
Guest
A virtual machine running within VMware Workstation. See also Virtual Machine.

Guest Operating System
An operating system that runs inside a virtual machine. See also Host Operating System.
H Heisenberg Compensator
A Heisenberg Compensator is a device which removes the uncertainty from subatomic
measurements, thereby making transporter travel feasible. The compensator works around the
problems caused by the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle, allowing the transporter sensors to
compensate for their inability to determine both the position and momentum of the target particles
to the same degree of accuracy. This ensures the matter stream remains coherent during transport,
and no data is lost.
High Availability (HA)
VMware High Availability is a product that continuously monitors all physical servers in a resource
pool and restarts virtual machines affected by server failure.
Host Power Management
Host power management reduces the power consumption of ESXi hosts while they are running. See
also Distributed Power Management.
Hyper-Threading
A processor architecture feature that allows a single processor to execute multiple independent
threads simultaneously. Hyper-threading was added to Intel's Xeon and Pentium® 4 processors. Intel
uses the term “package” to refer to the entire chip, and “logical processor” to refer to each hardware
thread. Also called symmetric multithreading (SMT).
I Independent Virtual Disk
Independent virtual disks are not included in snapshots. Independent virtual disks can in turn be
either Persistent or Nonpersistent.
L Linked Clone
A copy of the original virtual machine that must have access to the parent virtual machine’s virtual
disk(s). The linked clone stores changes to the virtual disk(s) in a set of files separate from the
parent’s virtual disk files. See also Full Clone.
M Memory Compression
One of a number of techniques used by ESXi to allow memory overcommitment.
Multi Level Cell (MLC)
A solid-state disk (SSD) technology allows for the storage of two bits n each NAND cell. MLC based
SSDs generally less robust than SLC models. If one cell is lost two bits will be lost. With MLC drives
each cell is spec’d to last between 3,000 to 5,000 writes. The drives are usually available in larger
capacities and are usually less expensive. See also Single Level Cell.
N Network-Attached Storage (NAS)
A storage system connected to a computer network. NAS systems are file-based, and often use
TCP/IP over Ethernet (although there are numerous other variations). See also Storage Area Network.

29
Network File System (NFS)
A specific network file system protocol supported by many storage devices and operating systems.
Traditionally implemented over a standard LAN (as opposed to a dedicated storage network).
Network I/O Control (NetIOC)
A vSphere feature that allows the allocation of network bandwidth to six network resource groups:
vMotion, NFS, iSCSI, Fault Tolerance, virtual machine, and management.
NIC
Historically meant “network interface card.” With the recent availability of multi-port network cards,
as well as the inclusion of network ports directly on system boards, the term NIC is now sometimes
used to mean “network interface controller” (of which there might be more than one on a physical
network card or system board).
NIC Team
The association of multiple NICs with a single virtual switch to form a team. Such teams can provide
passive failover and share traffic loads between members of physical and virtual networks.
Nonpersistent Disk
All disk writes issued by software running inside a virtual machine with a nonpersistent virtual disk
appear to be written to disk, but are in fact discarded after the session is powered down. As a result,
a disk in nonpersistent mode is not modified by activity in the virtual machine. See also Persistent
Disk.
P Persistent Disk
All disk writes issued by software running inside a virtual machine are immediately and permanently
written to a persistent virtual disk. As a result, a disk in persistent mode behaves like a conventional
disk drive on a physical computer. See also Nonpersistent Disk.
Physical CPU
A processor within a physical machine. See also Virtual CPU.
Preallocated Disk
A type of virtual disk in which all the host disk space for the virtual machine is allocated at the time
the virtual disk is created. See also Growable Disk.
R RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks)
A technology using multiple hard disks to improve performance, capacity, or reliability.
S Single Level Cell (SLC)
A solid-state disk (SSD) technology which allows for the storage of one bit of information per NAND
memory cell. SLC NAND offers relatively fast read and write capabilities, high endurance, and
relatively simple error correction algorithms. SLC is typically the most expensive NAND technology.
With SLC drives each cell is spec’d to last for around 100K writes. Reads are unlimited. SLC drives are
more suited for enterprise environments because of their durability. See also Multi Level Cell.

Snapshot
A snapshot preserves the virtual machine just as it was when you took that snapshot—including the
state of the data on all the virtual machine's disks and whether the virtual machine was powered on,
powered off, or suspended. VMware Workstation lets you take a snapshot of a virtual machine at any
time and revert to that snapshot at any time.
Socket
A connector that accepts a CPU package. With multi-core CPU packages, this term is no longer
synonymous with the number of cores.
Solid State Disk (SSD)
A solid-state disk (SSD) is a data storage device using integrated circuit assemblies as memory to
store data persistently. SSD technology uses electronic interfaces compatible with traditional block
input/output (I/O) hard disk drives. SSDs have no moving mechanical components and are typically
more resistant to physical shock, run more quietly, have lower access time, and less latency.
Storage Area Network (SAN)
A storage system connected to a dedicated network designed for storage attachment. SAN systems
are usually block-based, and typically use the SCSI command set over a Fibre Channel network
(though other command sets and network types exist as well). See also Network-Attached Storage.
Storage DRS
A vSphere feature that provides I/O load balancing across datastores within a datastore cluster. This
load balancing can avoid storage performance bottlenecks or address them if they occur.
Storage I/O Control (SIOC)
A vSphere feature that allows an entire datastore’s I/O resources to be proportionally allocated to the
virtual machines accessing that datastore.
Storage vMotion
A feature allowing running virtual machines to be migrated from one datastore to another with no
downtime.
Swap to host cache
A new feature in ESXi 5.0 that uses a relatively small amount of SSD storage to significantly reduce the
performance impact of host-level memory swapping.
T Template
A virtual machine that cannot be deleted or added to a team. Setting a virtual machine as a template
protects any linked clones or snapshots that depend on the template from being disabled
inadvertently.
Thick Disk
A virtual disk in which all the space is allocated at the time of creation.

31
Thin Disk
A virtual disk in which space is allocated as it is used.
Two-Factor Authentication (TFA)
Two-Factor Authentication (abbreviated TFA, T-FA or 2FA) is an approach to authentication which
requires the presentation of two or more of the three authentication factors: a knowledge factor
("something the user knows"), a possession factor ("something the user has"), and an inherence
factor ("something the user is").
V Virtual CPU (vCPU)
A processor within a virtual machine.
Virtual Disk
A virtual disk is a file or set of files that appears as a physical disk drive to a guest operating system.
These files can be on the host machine or on a remote file system. When you configure a virtual
machine with a virtual disk, you can install a new operating system into the disk file without the need
to repartition a physical disk or reboot the host.
Virtual Machine
A virtualized x86 PC environment in which a guest operating system and associated application
software can run. Multiple virtual machines can operate on the same host system concurrently.
Virtual SMP
A VMware proprietary technology that supports multiple virtual CPUs (vCPUs) in a single virtual
machine.
Virtual Switch (vSwitch)
A software equivalent to a traditional network switch.
Virtualization Overhead
The cost difference between running an application within a virtual machine and running the same
application natively. Since running in a virtual machine requires an extra layer of software, there is by
necessity an associated cost. This cost might be additional resource utilization or decreased
performance.
VMFS (Virtual Machine File System)
A high performance cluster file system.
vMotion
A feature allowing running virtual machines to be migrated from one physical server to another with
no downtime.
VMware Infrastructure Client (VI Client)
A graphical user interface used to manage ESX/ESXi hosts or vCenter servers. Renamed vSphere Client
in vSphere 5.x.

VMware vCenter Update Manager
Provides a patch management framework for VMware vSphere. It can be used to apply patches,
updates, and upgrades to VMware ESX and ESXi hosts, VMware Tools and virtual hardware, and so
on.
VMware vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI)
A set of APIs that can improve storage scalability by offloading to VAAI-capable storage hardware a
number of operations instead of performing those operations in ESXi.
VMware Tools
A suite of utilities and drivers that enhances the performance and functionality of your guest
operating system. Key features of VMware Tools include some or all of the following, depending on
your guest operating system: an SVGA driver, a mouse driver, the VMware Tools control panel, and
support for such features as shared folders, shrinking virtual disks, time synchronization with the
host, VMware Tools scripts, and connecting and disconnecting devices while the virtual machine is
running.
VMX Swap
A feature allowing ESXI to swap to disk some of the memory it reserves for the virtual machine
executable (VMX) process.
VMXNET
One of the virtual network adapters available in a virtual machine running in ESXi. The VMXNET
adapter is a high performance paravirtualized device with drivers (available in VMware Tools) for
many guest operating systems. See also Enhanced VMXNET, VMXNET3, E1000, vlance, and NIC
Morphing.
VMXNET Enhanced
One of the virtual network adapters available in a virtual machine running in ESXi. The Enhanced
VMXNET adapter is a high-performance paravirtualized device with drivers (available in VMware
Tools) for many guest operating systems. See also VMXNET, VMXNET3, E1000, vlance, and NIC
Morphing.
VMXNET3 (VMXNET Generation 3)
The latest in the VMXNET family of paravirtualized network drivers. Requires virtual hardware version
7 or later.
vSphere Client
A graphical user interface used to manage ESX/ESXi hosts or vCenter servers. Previously called the
VMware Infrastructure Client (VI Client).
vSphere Web Client
A browser-based user interface used to manage ESX/ESXi hosts and vCenter servers.

33
NOTES

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Virtual Desktop Project Design - VDI, VMware Horizon View, Fusion-io, Dell Servers

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