Thanks to OpenNebula + UDS Enterprise VDI joint solution, the Université Catholique de Louvain gives their 37,000 students access to virtual desktops as if they were in the standard computer classrooms, so that they could access the same software from anywhere, anytime and using any device. At OpenNebulaConf 2018, Frédéric Malengreau, Support Manager at UCLouvain explained how the VDI infrastructure was built, the different components used and their role in the platform and how the IT staff deploys and manages the virtual desktops.

1. UCLouvain Case Study : VDI for 37000 students with OpenNebula
Novembre 13th, 2018 Ph. Gallet
P. Giltay
F. Malengreau

2. UCLouvain Case Study
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Table of Contents
ü Introduction
ü OpenNebula infrastructure @ UCLouvain
ü UDS Enterprise
ü Infrastructure and its components
ü How it works
ü VDI deployment
ü Remote Apps
ü Who? Why?
ü Conclusion

3. UCLouvain Case Study
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Introduction
Ø solution capable of giving students access to virtual classrooms as if
they were in the standard computer classrooms => access to standard
softwares.
Ø Compatibility with OpenNebula
UDS Enterprise connection broker
- Open Source-based and therefore can be fully customized
- UDS Enterprise team added support for OpenNebula really quickly
- UDS Enterprise
- Only VDI connection broker certified as OpenNebula Ready
- Flexible
- Low cost
- Reactive support

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What is UDS Enterprise?
UDS Enterprise is a top performance multiplatform connection broker:
§ Deploy and administer Windows and Linux virtual desktops and applications
§ Automatically manage VDI& vApp full life cycle in a safe, quick and simple way
§ Enable multiple hypervisors,authenticators and connection protocols to run simultaneously
Main technical features
§ Secure SSL WAN access & splitted authentication
§ High availability and load balancing
§ UDS components consume very little disk space, memory and processor
§ Definition of usage policies for virtual desktops and applications
§ Task scheduling and access to services based on calendars
§ Usage reporting and statistics in real time
§ Possibility of configuring advanced parameters adapted to each environment
§ Access to VDI & vApp through e-Learning platforms.Integration with Moodle

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OpenNebula Infrastructure @ UCLouvain
• 780 VMs
• 42 KVM hypervisors in 2 datacenters
• 752 physical cores
• 15 TB of RAM
• KSM (Kernel Same-page Merging) is activatedin the UDS
cluster from the beginning and has recently been activated
for the whole infrastructure
• CEPH storage :
• Version 10.2.9
• 3 monitors
• 12 storage servers (soon increasedto 15)
• 1097 TB for about 360 TB of effective storage (3
copies)

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OpenNebula
Virtual Machine
UDS Tunneler
UDS Server
Active Directory
End Users
MySQL Cluster
UDS server = VDI Brocker.
• Connection brocker to virtual
machines
• Administrates and manages the
virtual desktop platform
UDS Tunneler = server Guacamole (html5)
• Allows the connection from any device/browser/client
to the desktop services through a SSL tunnel without
having installed any software beforehand.
• Allows RDP access to desktop services through HTML5.
UDS DataBase
• Stores the main configuration
informations of the UDS
infrastructure (authenticators, users
groups, OS manager, Connectivity,
etc.)
UDS Enterprise – 3 main Components

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OpenNebula
Virtual Machine
UDS Tunneler
UDS Server
Active Directory
End Users
MySQL Cluster
UDS Enterprise – Role of each server
• The user authentifies in UDS with his active
directory credentials.
• UDS retrieves his group(s) membership
Check authentication
• Stores users information in the DB
(assigned VM’s, groups membership,
logs, etc.)

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Virtual Machines
(non-)persistent

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OpenNebula
Virtual Machine
UDS Tunneler
UDS Server
Active Directory
End Users
MySQL Cluster
UDS Enterprise – Role of each server
UDS actor

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The user is automatically
signed in his virtual
machine through HTML5
and can start working
UDS Enterprise – Virtual Machine

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VDI Deployment
UDS Server
…
OpenNebula
template
Cloned template
KVM
Instanciation of
VM’s (+ Cache)
Cloned images
MySQL Cluster

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Remote applications
Virtual Machines
(non-)persistent
UDS Enterprise – Remote Application

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UDS Enterprise – Remote Application
UDS Tunneler
(Guacamole)
UDS Server
Active Directory
End Users
MySQL Cluster
RDS1 RDS2
RDS2RDS2
UDS Enterprise communicates with RDS to
Publish remote applications
RDP connection
html5 connection

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Who? Why?
Ø Students : Acces to a standard environnement (Linux or Windows) from
outside the classrooms.
Ø Teachers : Teaching environnement independent from their own
computer.
Ø Researchers : Acces to a software on demand and with better
calculation performance (remote applications).
Ø OS X or Linux users who need windows-only software (SAP client, etc.)
Ø IT for testing environnements
Ø Ease of access
Ø Ease of management
Ø Lower costs for students and the IT

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Milestones
Ø 2016 : Testing phase.
Ø 2017 : small production. Some specific trainings used UDS Enterprise
with 300 students.
Ø 2018 :
Ø UDS Enterprise open for 37,000 students.
Ø No more software distribution for students.
Ø High Availability infrastructure.
Ø 2019 : Classrooms will be equiped with small NUC for UDS use only.

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High Availability
OpenNebula
Virtual Machine
UDS Tunneler 1
UDS Server 2
Active Directory
MySQL Cluster
UDS Server 1
users
UDS Tunneler 2
UDS Tunneler 3
HA proxy
RDP from tunneler
Unique entry point
TCP 2634 in SSL
HA proxy balances
https traffic to one
of the UDS servers
Uds server establishes a
connection with one
tunneler via the HA proxy

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Conclusion
Some metrics
• UDS cluster :
• 6 KVM hypervisors (soon 8 KVM hypervisors)
• 128 physical cores
• 2 TB of RAM
• Usage
• 1400 different users have already used a VM
• Maximum number of concurrent VM’s used : 250
• Max number of concurrent VM’s (Used + cached): 380
• Number of remote apps : 11
• In September – October : 300-500 connexions per week
Perspectives
- HA proxy is a POF => add HA proxy with virutal IP as a keepalive

18. Thank you
UDS-info@uclouvain.be
info@udsenterprise.com