The switching method you choose for your SBC environment can help determine performance and the experience that end-users have. We found that unifying switching with Cisco VM-FEX resulted in up to 29 percent lower latency than a solution using a traditional vSwitch when running a Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop farm. Furthermore, the Cisco VM-FEX solution used up to 53 percent less CPU than the vSwitch solution did under extreme network conditions. In addition to these performance advantages, Cisco UCS Manager provides a central point of management and a simplified method to add vSphere hosts to the VM-FEX-enabled vSwitch, which can reduce management time and costs.
As our results show, switching to Cisco VM-FEX can provide your users with a more responsive environment.
Dell PowerEdge R920 and Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Migration and Benefits GuidePrincipled Technologies
The latest Dell PowerEdge R920 server is designed to provide highly scalable performance for large enterprises, with greater memory capacity, improved and expanded attached storage options, and processor architectures designed for high availability. Microsoft SQL Server 2014 is the perfect companion software to take advantage of the Dell PowerEdge R920’s impressive specifications. Upgrading has never looked more attractive, and with hardware/software upgrades must come data migration.
Migrating legacy database applications to the latest database technologies on newer Dell server platforms is a common task for businesses upgrading their hardware/software stack. As this guide shows, the process is straightforward and the cost benefits can be enormous. We calculated the savings attainable from multiple consolidation ratios, as well as how long it would take to pay off the replacement server. We found that a consolidation ratio of 13 to 1 could yield $531,725 in software savings, many times the cost of the replacement hardware itself. So not only will the business benefit from the massively-scalable current-generation Dell server technology paired with Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 running SQL Server 2014, but you can save money in the process.
VMware vSphere 7 Update 2 offered greater VM density and increased availabili...Principled Technologies
vSphere not only supported more VMs than the container native virtualization approach in OpenShift, but it required less downtime and less hands-on admin time
Component upgrades from Intel and Dell can increase VM density and boost perf...Principled Technologies
As the needs of your business grow, so must the power of your server infrastructure. Rather than purchasing replacement servers with base configurations, consider upgrading key components to ensure you get the performance you need.
We found that upgrading to the Dell PowerEdge R730 with the Intel Xeon processor E5-2699 v3, Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system, Intel SSD DC S3700 series drive, and Intel Ethernet CNA X520 series adapters supported an extra 16 VMs, 67 percent more VMs than the previous-generation Dell PowerEdge R720 solution.
When you purchase a server, wisely selecting these components offered by Dell and Intel can allow your business to hit the sweet spot of supporting all your users without breaking the bank. The option to upgrade server components can provide your infrastructure with room to grow in the future, as your business needs increase.
Finally, these select upgrades could translate to savings for your business—fewer servers you need to purchase now to meet performance demands and a longer lifespan for these servers as your business continues to grow.
Managing clients with Dell Client Integration Pack 3.0 and Microsoft System C...Principled Technologies
Client management is an important part of any enterprise. Employees have workstations in their offices or notebooks that travel with them around the globe, and efficient updates and remote management capabilities keep an organization’s IT assets ordered and secure. Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012 can provide a robust, efficient, management system for your IT infrastructure. Selecting clients that not only operate within your IT framework, but that have built-in software to integrate with it seamlessly to make client management tasks even easier is an intelligent strategy for your IT department.
In our tests, we found that Dell client management tools (Dell Client Integration Pack, Dell Client Configuration Toolkit, and Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation) integrated in a typical SCCM 2012 environment reduced the steps it took to complete client management tasks by as much as 77 percent, and included a number of features that weren’t available with clients from HP and Lenovo.
Proper resource allocation is critical to achieving top application performance in a virtualized environment. Resource contention degrades performance and underutilization can lead to costly server sprawl.
We found that adding VMTurbo to a VMware vSphere 5.5 cluster and following its reallocation recommendations gave our application performance a big boost. After reducing vCPU count, increasing memory allocation to active databases, and moving VMs to more responsive storage as VMTurbo directed, online transactions increased by 23.7 percent while latency dropped significantly. Avoid the pitfalls of poorly allocated VM resources and give your virtualized application every advantage by gaining control of your environment at every level.
Reap better SQL Server OLTP performance with next-generation Dell EMC PowerEd...Principled Technologies
These new servers achieved up to 36.1 percent more OLTP database work than current-generation Dell EMC PowerEdge MX servers, while also lowering application response time
Prepare images for machine learning faster with servers powered by AMD EPYC 7...Principled Technologies
A server cluster with 3rd Gen AMD EPYC processors achieved higher throughput and took less time to prepare images for classification than a server cluster with 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Platinum 8380 processors
Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v3 and Intel SSD t...Principled Technologies
A key to modernizing your data center is to consolidate your legacy workloads through virtualization, which can help reduce complexity for your business. Fewer servers require fewer physical resources, such as power, cabling, and switches, and reduce the burden on IT for ongoing management tasks such as updates. In addition, integrating newer hardware technology into your data center can provide new features that strengthen your infrastructure, such as RAS features on the processor and disk performance improvements. Finally, using SAS 9.4 ensures that you have the latest features and toolsets that SAS can offer.
Compared to a legacy server, we found that a modern four-socket server powered by Intel Xeon processors E7-8890 v3 with Intel SSD DC P3700 Series provided 12 times the amount of SAS work, nearly 14 times the relative performance, and a shorter average time to complete the SAS workload. Running 12 virtual SAS instances also left capacity on the server for additional work. Consolidating your SAS workloads from legacy servers onto servers powered by Intel Xeon processors E7 v3 and SAS 9.4 can provide your business with the latest hardware and software features, reduce complexity in your data center, and potentially reduce costs for your business.
Dell PowerEdge R920 and Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Migration and Benefits GuidePrincipled Technologies
The latest Dell PowerEdge R920 server is designed to provide highly scalable performance for large enterprises, with greater memory capacity, improved and expanded attached storage options, and processor architectures designed for high availability. Microsoft SQL Server 2014 is the perfect companion software to take advantage of the Dell PowerEdge R920’s impressive specifications. Upgrading has never looked more attractive, and with hardware/software upgrades must come data migration.
Migrating legacy database applications to the latest database technologies on newer Dell server platforms is a common task for businesses upgrading their hardware/software stack. As this guide shows, the process is straightforward and the cost benefits can be enormous. We calculated the savings attainable from multiple consolidation ratios, as well as how long it would take to pay off the replacement server. We found that a consolidation ratio of 13 to 1 could yield $531,725 in software savings, many times the cost of the replacement hardware itself. So not only will the business benefit from the massively-scalable current-generation Dell server technology paired with Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 running SQL Server 2014, but you can save money in the process.
VMware vSphere 7 Update 2 offered greater VM density and increased availabili...Principled Technologies
vSphere not only supported more VMs than the container native virtualization approach in OpenShift, but it required less downtime and less hands-on admin time
Component upgrades from Intel and Dell can increase VM density and boost perf...Principled Technologies
As the needs of your business grow, so must the power of your server infrastructure. Rather than purchasing replacement servers with base configurations, consider upgrading key components to ensure you get the performance you need.
We found that upgrading to the Dell PowerEdge R730 with the Intel Xeon processor E5-2699 v3, Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2 operating system, Intel SSD DC S3700 series drive, and Intel Ethernet CNA X520 series adapters supported an extra 16 VMs, 67 percent more VMs than the previous-generation Dell PowerEdge R720 solution.
When you purchase a server, wisely selecting these components offered by Dell and Intel can allow your business to hit the sweet spot of supporting all your users without breaking the bank. The option to upgrade server components can provide your infrastructure with room to grow in the future, as your business needs increase.
Finally, these select upgrades could translate to savings for your business—fewer servers you need to purchase now to meet performance demands and a longer lifespan for these servers as your business continues to grow.
Managing clients with Dell Client Integration Pack 3.0 and Microsoft System C...Principled Technologies
Client management is an important part of any enterprise. Employees have workstations in their offices or notebooks that travel with them around the globe, and efficient updates and remote management capabilities keep an organization’s IT assets ordered and secure. Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager 2012 can provide a robust, efficient, management system for your IT infrastructure. Selecting clients that not only operate within your IT framework, but that have built-in software to integrate with it seamlessly to make client management tasks even easier is an intelligent strategy for your IT department.
In our tests, we found that Dell client management tools (Dell Client Integration Pack, Dell Client Configuration Toolkit, and Dell OpenManage Client Instrumentation) integrated in a typical SCCM 2012 environment reduced the steps it took to complete client management tasks by as much as 77 percent, and included a number of features that weren’t available with clients from HP and Lenovo.
Proper resource allocation is critical to achieving top application performance in a virtualized environment. Resource contention degrades performance and underutilization can lead to costly server sprawl.
We found that adding VMTurbo to a VMware vSphere 5.5 cluster and following its reallocation recommendations gave our application performance a big boost. After reducing vCPU count, increasing memory allocation to active databases, and moving VMs to more responsive storage as VMTurbo directed, online transactions increased by 23.7 percent while latency dropped significantly. Avoid the pitfalls of poorly allocated VM resources and give your virtualized application every advantage by gaining control of your environment at every level.
Reap better SQL Server OLTP performance with next-generation Dell EMC PowerEd...Principled Technologies
These new servers achieved up to 36.1 percent more OLTP database work than current-generation Dell EMC PowerEdge MX servers, while also lowering application response time
Prepare images for machine learning faster with servers powered by AMD EPYC 7...Principled Technologies
A server cluster with 3rd Gen AMD EPYC processors achieved higher throughput and took less time to prepare images for classification than a server cluster with 3rd Gen Intel Xeon Platinum 8380 processors
Consolidate SAS 9.4 workloads with Intel Xeon processor E7 v3 and Intel SSD t...Principled Technologies
A key to modernizing your data center is to consolidate your legacy workloads through virtualization, which can help reduce complexity for your business. Fewer servers require fewer physical resources, such as power, cabling, and switches, and reduce the burden on IT for ongoing management tasks such as updates. In addition, integrating newer hardware technology into your data center can provide new features that strengthen your infrastructure, such as RAS features on the processor and disk performance improvements. Finally, using SAS 9.4 ensures that you have the latest features and toolsets that SAS can offer.
Compared to a legacy server, we found that a modern four-socket server powered by Intel Xeon processors E7-8890 v3 with Intel SSD DC P3700 Series provided 12 times the amount of SAS work, nearly 14 times the relative performance, and a shorter average time to complete the SAS workload. Running 12 virtual SAS instances also left capacity on the server for additional work. Consolidating your SAS workloads from legacy servers onto servers powered by Intel Xeon processors E7 v3 and SAS 9.4 can provide your business with the latest hardware and software features, reduce complexity in your data center, and potentially reduce costs for your business.
Nimboxx HCI AU-110x: A scalable, easy-to-use solution for hyperconverged infr...Principled Technologies
Hyperconvergence is a fresh way of looking at your data center. For small- and medium-sized businesses especially, it could be well worth your time to invest in a hyperconverged infrastructure. The MeshOS-operated Nimboxx HCI AU-110x offered scalability and great performance in our hands-on tests and was simple and straightforward to use, which could help your business meet user demands and potentially save money by avoiding things such as hiring expensive IT staff to maintain your data center.
Business-critical applications on VMware vSphere 6, VMware Virtual SAN, and V...Principled Technologies
Moving to the virtualized, software-defined datacenter can offer real benefits to today’s organizations. As our testing showed, virtualizing business-critical applications with VMware vSphere, VMware Virtual SAN, and VMware NSX not only delivered reliable performance in a peak utilization scenario, but also delivered business continuity during and after a simulated site evacuation.
Using this VMware Validated Design with QCT hardware and Intel SSDs, we demonstrated a virtualized critical Oracle Database application environment delivering strong performance, even when under extreme duress.
Recognizing that many organizations have multiple sites, we also proved that our environment performed reliably under a site evacuation scenario, migrating the primary site VMs to the secondary in just over eight minutes with no downtime.
With these features and strengths, the VMware Validated Design SDDC is a proven solution that allows for efficient deployment of components and can help improve the reliability, flexibility, and mobility of your multi-site environment.
VMmark virtualization performance of Micron Enterprise PCIe SSD-based SANPrincipled Technologies
The storage you use for your virtualization solution can be a significant factor in its performance and effectiveness. Two Dell PowerEdge R720 servers, paired with Micron Enterprise PCIe SSD-based SAN, ran 10 VMmark tiles for a total of 80 running VMs and achieved a score of 12.05@10 tiles, making it the top score running VMware ESXi 5.5 of the 32-core server configurations. For enterprises that need excellent virtualization performance, this makes Micron Enterprise PCIe SSD-based SAN a wise investment.
Most medium and large-sized IT organizations have deployed several generations of virtualized servers, and they have become more comfortable with the performance and reliability with each deployment. As IT organizations increased virtual machine (VM) density, they reached the limits of vSphere software, server memory, CPU, and I/O.
A new VM engine is now available and this document describes how it can help IT organizations maximize use of their servers running VMware® vSphere® 5.1 (henceforth referred to as vSphere 5.1).
Minimizing licensing costs for enterprise applications is vital to organizations looking to keep costs down. When your applications use per-core licensing, choosing higher-performance servers with fewer cores dramatically reduces your software-related spending. The Dell PowerEdge M820 blade solution with Compellent storage could deliver up to $96,236 in savings as compared to a single HP ProLiant BL680c G7 solution, and if consolidating multiple workloads, could deliver even more savings in licensing costs when running Microsoft SQL Server in a virtualized scenario – all while maintaining or exceeding previous performance levels.
Symantec NetBackup 7.6 benchmark comparison: Data protection in a large-scale...Principled Technologies
The footprint of a VM can grow quickly in an enterprise environment and large-scale VM deployments in the thousands are common. As this number of deployed systems grows, so does the risk of failure. Critical failures can become unavoidable and offering data protection from a backup solution promotes business continuity. Elongated protection windows requiring multiple jobs of different types can create resource contention with production environments and may require valuable IT admin time, so a finite window for system backups can have plenty of importance.
In our hands-on SAN backup testing, the Symantec NetBackup Integrated Appliance running NetBackup 7.6 offered application protection to 1,000 VMs in 66.8 percent less time than Competitor “E” did. In addition, the Symantec NetBackup Integrated Appliance with NetBackup 7.6 created backup images that offered granular recovery without additional steps. These time and effort savings can scale as your VM footprint grows, allowing you to execute both system protection and user-friendly, simplified recovery.
Dell 3-2-1 Reference Configurations: High available and scalable performance ...Principled Technologies
Dell 3-2-1 Reference Configurations consisting of Dell PowerEdge R720 servers, Dell Force10 S4810P switches, and Dell EqualLogic PS6110XV storage provide a range of configuration options so that you can select the one that is right for your business needs. Additionally, each configuration is easily scalable to accommodate for business growth.
The 3-2-1 base configuration provides a robust solution for any business needing to support up to 500 users on multiple business applications. Our tests demonstrate this solution supporting 500 users per VM for four VMs including two database VMs, one email VM, and one collaboration application VM.
If the number of users you need to support exceeds the user count the base configuration provides, adding another Dell PowerEdge R720 server to make a 4-2-1 configuration can support up to 1,000 users on multiple business applications while maintaining high availability. Our tests demonstrate this solution supporting 1,000 users per VM in the same four VMs as the 3-2-1 solution. Additionally, these configurations are so easy to scale upward that you can complete the process of adding a server in a matter of two hours or less from start to finish.
If you require support for an even higher number of users, adding a server and storage array to the base configuration, to make a 4-2-2 configuration allows for up to 1,500 users on multiple business applications. Our tests demonstrated this when we ran 1,500 users against each of the four VMs. Better yet, adding a Dell EqualLogic PS6110XV storage array to an existing 4-2-1 configuration is a cinch, taking under 30 minutes start to finish.
All of these Dell Reference Configurations give your business the reliability of highly available hardware configurations, greatly reducing downtime resulting from any hardware malfunctions.
By choosing proven Dell architecture, you avoid the hassles of putting your infrastructure together piece by piece, reducing the potential for error and providing you with a sturdy solution that is easily scalable to fit your present and future needs.
Dell PowerEdge R920 running Oracle Database: Benefits of upgrading with NVMe ...Principled Technologies
Strong server performance is essential to companies running Oracle Database. The new Dell PowerEdge R920 provides strong performance in its base configuration with 24 SAS hard disks, but this performance gets an enormous boost when running the configuration containing NVMe Express Flash PCIe SSDs. In our testing, the upgraded configuration of the Dell PowerEdge R920 delivered 14.9 times the database performance of the base configuration. In addition, in testing the raw I/O throughput of the NVMe Express Flash PCIe SSDs, we saw as much as 192.8 times the IOPS as compared to the base configuration. Given that the storage subsystem is critical in servers and specifically database applications, the performance improvements offered by NVMe Express Flash PCIe SSDs can lead to great service improvements for your customers, making this upgrade a very wise investment.
Ensure greater uptime and boost VMware vSAN cluster performance with the Del...Principled Technologies
The Dell EMC PowerEdge MX with VMware vSAN Ready Nodes delivered a 55.9% faster response time than a Cisco UCS solution and a 41.3% faster response time than an HPE Synergy solution
VMmark 2.5.2 virtualization performance of the Dell EqualLogic PS6210XS stora...Principled Technologies
Virtualization is a critical part of data center computing. For your virtualization solution to succeed, it is essential that you have a storage platform capable of delivering the performance and capacity needed for a virtualized environment in a cost effective way. The Dell EqualLogic PS6210XS array, paired with a cluster of Dell PowerEdge M620 servers, ran 12 VMmark tiles for a total of 96 running VMs, and achieved a score of 14.80@12. This performance, along with its value and ease of management, make the Dell EqualLogic PS6210XS array an excellent investment.
SQL Server 2016 database performance on the Dell EMC PowerEdge FC630 QLogic 1...Principled Technologies
Upgrading the hardware running your SQL Server to a space-efficient modular Dell EMC modern environment can help your company achieve a great deal of database work in a small amount of space. With the Dell Express Flash technology, adding a caching solution such as Samsung AutoCache can make the environment even more efficient.
In the PT labs, we ran a mixed database workload on six Dell EMC PowerEdge FC630 servers, powered by Intel Xeon E5-2667 processors, in three PowerEdge FX2 enclosures. The solution included the QLogic QLE2692 16Gb FC adapter with StorFusion Technology, Dell EMC Storage SC9000 all-flash storage, and Dell EMC PowerEdge Express Flash NVMe Performance PCIe SSDs.
With no caching solution, the 36 SQL Server 2016 VMs on the six servers achieved a total of 431,839 orders per minute while an Oracle workload ran on 12 VMs. When we added a caching solution to accelerate the SQL database volumes, the performance across the 36 SQL Server 2016 VMs doubled to 871,580. These numbers show the power of server-side caching to alleviate pressure on the storage array allowing you to get even more out of the Dell EMC modern environment.
Administrators can spend a great deal of time deploying and managing computing resources, especially when dealing with ROBO environments. The Dell PowerEdge VRTX, powered by the Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 v2 product family and running Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2, gives administrators centralized management tools to help them provide time saving benefits and integrated toolsets.
In our hands-on testing, we found that the Dell PowerEdge VRTX greatly simplified deployment through an easy, wizard-based setup of Microsoft Windows Server Failover Clusters across server nodes with the Dell OpenManage Cluster Configurator. It also provided versatile hardware resource reassignment through a shared PCIe bus and efficient centralized management through CMC and scripting. Finally, we found that the Dell System Update Utility worked seamlessly with Microsoft Cluster-Aware Updating to update server nodes while keeping the failover cluster online and minimizing downtime. These advantages make the Dell PowerEdge VRTX an attractive choice for those who seek to reduce the management overhead of their ROBO environments.
CPU performance comparison of two cloud solutions: VMware vCloud Hybrid Servi...Principled Technologies
Business computing is making its way to the cloud in a dramatic fashion. Selecting the right cloud service provider is a pivotal decision that could have a significant effect on how much your company benefits from this move.
Throughout our CPU tests, we found that VMware vCloud Hybrid Service instances performed dramatically better than Microsoft Azure instances in all virtual processor configurations, earning consistently higher SPEC CPU2006 scores.
By choosing a cloud service that can deliver stronger processing performance, you can ensure that you are giving your applications the necessary vCPU resources to perform well and making the most of your investment in the cloud platform.
3 key wins: Dell EMC PowerEdge MX with OpenManage Enterprise over Cisco UCS a...Principled Technologies
In head-to-head tests, the modular Dell EMC™ PowerEdge™ MX7000 with
OpenManage™ Enterprise reduced admin time and effort on repetitive tasks when compared to Cisco UCS® 5108 with Cisco UCS Manager and HPE Synergy with OneView.
Oracle PeopleSoft on Cisco Unified Computing System and EMC VNX Storage EMC
This Cisco Validated Design paper is intended for use by Project Managers, Infrastructure Managers, Storage Managers, System Administrators, and PeopleSoft Application Database Administrators considering the sizing, deployment, and migration of Oracle PeopleSoft Applications to Cisco UCS with EMC VNX storage.
Nimboxx HCI AU-110x: A scalable, easy-to-use solution for hyperconverged infr...Principled Technologies
Hyperconvergence is a fresh way of looking at your data center. For small- and medium-sized businesses especially, it could be well worth your time to invest in a hyperconverged infrastructure. The MeshOS-operated Nimboxx HCI AU-110x offered scalability and great performance in our hands-on tests and was simple and straightforward to use, which could help your business meet user demands and potentially save money by avoiding things such as hiring expensive IT staff to maintain your data center.
Business-critical applications on VMware vSphere 6, VMware Virtual SAN, and V...Principled Technologies
Moving to the virtualized, software-defined datacenter can offer real benefits to today’s organizations. As our testing showed, virtualizing business-critical applications with VMware vSphere, VMware Virtual SAN, and VMware NSX not only delivered reliable performance in a peak utilization scenario, but also delivered business continuity during and after a simulated site evacuation.
Using this VMware Validated Design with QCT hardware and Intel SSDs, we demonstrated a virtualized critical Oracle Database application environment delivering strong performance, even when under extreme duress.
Recognizing that many organizations have multiple sites, we also proved that our environment performed reliably under a site evacuation scenario, migrating the primary site VMs to the secondary in just over eight minutes with no downtime.
With these features and strengths, the VMware Validated Design SDDC is a proven solution that allows for efficient deployment of components and can help improve the reliability, flexibility, and mobility of your multi-site environment.
VMmark virtualization performance of Micron Enterprise PCIe SSD-based SANPrincipled Technologies
The storage you use for your virtualization solution can be a significant factor in its performance and effectiveness. Two Dell PowerEdge R720 servers, paired with Micron Enterprise PCIe SSD-based SAN, ran 10 VMmark tiles for a total of 80 running VMs and achieved a score of 12.05@10 tiles, making it the top score running VMware ESXi 5.5 of the 32-core server configurations. For enterprises that need excellent virtualization performance, this makes Micron Enterprise PCIe SSD-based SAN a wise investment.
Most medium and large-sized IT organizations have deployed several generations of virtualized servers, and they have become more comfortable with the performance and reliability with each deployment. As IT organizations increased virtual machine (VM) density, they reached the limits of vSphere software, server memory, CPU, and I/O.
A new VM engine is now available and this document describes how it can help IT organizations maximize use of their servers running VMware® vSphere® 5.1 (henceforth referred to as vSphere 5.1).
Minimizing licensing costs for enterprise applications is vital to organizations looking to keep costs down. When your applications use per-core licensing, choosing higher-performance servers with fewer cores dramatically reduces your software-related spending. The Dell PowerEdge M820 blade solution with Compellent storage could deliver up to $96,236 in savings as compared to a single HP ProLiant BL680c G7 solution, and if consolidating multiple workloads, could deliver even more savings in licensing costs when running Microsoft SQL Server in a virtualized scenario – all while maintaining or exceeding previous performance levels.
Symantec NetBackup 7.6 benchmark comparison: Data protection in a large-scale...Principled Technologies
The footprint of a VM can grow quickly in an enterprise environment and large-scale VM deployments in the thousands are common. As this number of deployed systems grows, so does the risk of failure. Critical failures can become unavoidable and offering data protection from a backup solution promotes business continuity. Elongated protection windows requiring multiple jobs of different types can create resource contention with production environments and may require valuable IT admin time, so a finite window for system backups can have plenty of importance.
In our hands-on SAN backup testing, the Symantec NetBackup Integrated Appliance running NetBackup 7.6 offered application protection to 1,000 VMs in 66.8 percent less time than Competitor “E” did. In addition, the Symantec NetBackup Integrated Appliance with NetBackup 7.6 created backup images that offered granular recovery without additional steps. These time and effort savings can scale as your VM footprint grows, allowing you to execute both system protection and user-friendly, simplified recovery.
Dell 3-2-1 Reference Configurations: High available and scalable performance ...Principled Technologies
Dell 3-2-1 Reference Configurations consisting of Dell PowerEdge R720 servers, Dell Force10 S4810P switches, and Dell EqualLogic PS6110XV storage provide a range of configuration options so that you can select the one that is right for your business needs. Additionally, each configuration is easily scalable to accommodate for business growth.
The 3-2-1 base configuration provides a robust solution for any business needing to support up to 500 users on multiple business applications. Our tests demonstrate this solution supporting 500 users per VM for four VMs including two database VMs, one email VM, and one collaboration application VM.
If the number of users you need to support exceeds the user count the base configuration provides, adding another Dell PowerEdge R720 server to make a 4-2-1 configuration can support up to 1,000 users on multiple business applications while maintaining high availability. Our tests demonstrate this solution supporting 1,000 users per VM in the same four VMs as the 3-2-1 solution. Additionally, these configurations are so easy to scale upward that you can complete the process of adding a server in a matter of two hours or less from start to finish.
If you require support for an even higher number of users, adding a server and storage array to the base configuration, to make a 4-2-2 configuration allows for up to 1,500 users on multiple business applications. Our tests demonstrated this when we ran 1,500 users against each of the four VMs. Better yet, adding a Dell EqualLogic PS6110XV storage array to an existing 4-2-1 configuration is a cinch, taking under 30 minutes start to finish.
All of these Dell Reference Configurations give your business the reliability of highly available hardware configurations, greatly reducing downtime resulting from any hardware malfunctions.
By choosing proven Dell architecture, you avoid the hassles of putting your infrastructure together piece by piece, reducing the potential for error and providing you with a sturdy solution that is easily scalable to fit your present and future needs.
Dell PowerEdge R920 running Oracle Database: Benefits of upgrading with NVMe ...Principled Technologies
Strong server performance is essential to companies running Oracle Database. The new Dell PowerEdge R920 provides strong performance in its base configuration with 24 SAS hard disks, but this performance gets an enormous boost when running the configuration containing NVMe Express Flash PCIe SSDs. In our testing, the upgraded configuration of the Dell PowerEdge R920 delivered 14.9 times the database performance of the base configuration. In addition, in testing the raw I/O throughput of the NVMe Express Flash PCIe SSDs, we saw as much as 192.8 times the IOPS as compared to the base configuration. Given that the storage subsystem is critical in servers and specifically database applications, the performance improvements offered by NVMe Express Flash PCIe SSDs can lead to great service improvements for your customers, making this upgrade a very wise investment.
Ensure greater uptime and boost VMware vSAN cluster performance with the Del...Principled Technologies
The Dell EMC PowerEdge MX with VMware vSAN Ready Nodes delivered a 55.9% faster response time than a Cisco UCS solution and a 41.3% faster response time than an HPE Synergy solution
VMmark 2.5.2 virtualization performance of the Dell EqualLogic PS6210XS stora...Principled Technologies
Virtualization is a critical part of data center computing. For your virtualization solution to succeed, it is essential that you have a storage platform capable of delivering the performance and capacity needed for a virtualized environment in a cost effective way. The Dell EqualLogic PS6210XS array, paired with a cluster of Dell PowerEdge M620 servers, ran 12 VMmark tiles for a total of 96 running VMs, and achieved a score of 14.80@12. This performance, along with its value and ease of management, make the Dell EqualLogic PS6210XS array an excellent investment.
SQL Server 2016 database performance on the Dell EMC PowerEdge FC630 QLogic 1...Principled Technologies
Upgrading the hardware running your SQL Server to a space-efficient modular Dell EMC modern environment can help your company achieve a great deal of database work in a small amount of space. With the Dell Express Flash technology, adding a caching solution such as Samsung AutoCache can make the environment even more efficient.
In the PT labs, we ran a mixed database workload on six Dell EMC PowerEdge FC630 servers, powered by Intel Xeon E5-2667 processors, in three PowerEdge FX2 enclosures. The solution included the QLogic QLE2692 16Gb FC adapter with StorFusion Technology, Dell EMC Storage SC9000 all-flash storage, and Dell EMC PowerEdge Express Flash NVMe Performance PCIe SSDs.
With no caching solution, the 36 SQL Server 2016 VMs on the six servers achieved a total of 431,839 orders per minute while an Oracle workload ran on 12 VMs. When we added a caching solution to accelerate the SQL database volumes, the performance across the 36 SQL Server 2016 VMs doubled to 871,580. These numbers show the power of server-side caching to alleviate pressure on the storage array allowing you to get even more out of the Dell EMC modern environment.
Administrators can spend a great deal of time deploying and managing computing resources, especially when dealing with ROBO environments. The Dell PowerEdge VRTX, powered by the Intel Xeon processor E5-2400 v2 product family and running Microsoft Windows Server 2012 R2, gives administrators centralized management tools to help them provide time saving benefits and integrated toolsets.
In our hands-on testing, we found that the Dell PowerEdge VRTX greatly simplified deployment through an easy, wizard-based setup of Microsoft Windows Server Failover Clusters across server nodes with the Dell OpenManage Cluster Configurator. It also provided versatile hardware resource reassignment through a shared PCIe bus and efficient centralized management through CMC and scripting. Finally, we found that the Dell System Update Utility worked seamlessly with Microsoft Cluster-Aware Updating to update server nodes while keeping the failover cluster online and minimizing downtime. These advantages make the Dell PowerEdge VRTX an attractive choice for those who seek to reduce the management overhead of their ROBO environments.
CPU performance comparison of two cloud solutions: VMware vCloud Hybrid Servi...Principled Technologies
Business computing is making its way to the cloud in a dramatic fashion. Selecting the right cloud service provider is a pivotal decision that could have a significant effect on how much your company benefits from this move.
Throughout our CPU tests, we found that VMware vCloud Hybrid Service instances performed dramatically better than Microsoft Azure instances in all virtual processor configurations, earning consistently higher SPEC CPU2006 scores.
By choosing a cloud service that can deliver stronger processing performance, you can ensure that you are giving your applications the necessary vCPU resources to perform well and making the most of your investment in the cloud platform.
3 key wins: Dell EMC PowerEdge MX with OpenManage Enterprise over Cisco UCS a...Principled Technologies
In head-to-head tests, the modular Dell EMC™ PowerEdge™ MX7000 with
OpenManage™ Enterprise reduced admin time and effort on repetitive tasks when compared to Cisco UCS® 5108 with Cisco UCS Manager and HPE Synergy with OneView.
Oracle PeopleSoft on Cisco Unified Computing System and EMC VNX Storage EMC
This Cisco Validated Design paper is intended for use by Project Managers, Infrastructure Managers, Storage Managers, System Administrators, and PeopleSoft Application Database Administrators considering the sizing, deployment, and migration of Oracle PeopleSoft Applications to Cisco UCS with EMC VNX storage.
IT Brand Pulse industry brief describing a new approach to configuring virtual networks for virtual machines...layering hypervisor-based virtual networking services on top of hardware based virtual networking services. The result is more efficient management and lower costs.
Moving to a well-managed IT architecture streamlines server deployment and reduces maintenance time. Your infrastructure should be highly available, easy to use, scalable, and cost-effective to implement. Cisco UCS Manager provides a streamlined method for automating hardware setup and firmware updates in one highly available solution to keep management costs down. Due to its converged network model, Cisco UCS Manager provides all of this functionality in a cost-effective package with no hidden fees or additional licensing costs. In contrast, HP Virtual Connect with OneView provides fewer vital features out of the box, increases network and management complexity, requires additional hardware and licensing, and has lower available network bandwidth in a configuration comparable in price to the Cisco UCS solution. With more available network bandwidth to the blade for similar cost, less network complexity, streamlined deployment and management, and greater out-of-box functionality, Cisco UCS provides a flexible and cost-effective solution to meet your architectural needs.
Investing in GenAI: Cost‑benefit analysis of Dell on‑premises deployments vs....Principled Technologies
Conclusion
Diving into the world of GenAI has the potential to yield a great many benefits for your organization, but it first requires consideration for how best to implement those GenAI workloads. Whether your AI goals are to create a chatbot for online visitors, generate marketing materials, aid troubleshooting, or something else, implementing an AI solution requires careful planning and decision-making. A major decision is whether to host GenAI in the cloud or keep your data on premises. Traditional on-premises solutions can provide superior security and control, a substantial concern when dealing with large amounts of potentially sensitive data. But will supporting a GenAI solution on site be a drain on an organization’s IT budget?
In our research, we found that the value proposition is just the opposite: Hosting GenAI workloads on premises, either in a traditional Dell solution or using a managed Dell APEX pay-per-use solution, could significantly lower your GenAI costs over 3 years compared to hosting these workloads in the cloud. In fact, we found that a comparable AWS SageMaker solution would cost up to 3.8 times as much and an Azure ML solution would cost up to 3.6 times as much as GenAI on a Dell APEX pay-per-use solution. These results show that organizations looking to implement GenAI and reap the business benefits to come can find many advantages in an on-premises Dell solution, whether they opt to purchase and manage it themselves or choose a subscription-based Dell APEX pay-per-use solution. Choosing an on-premises Dell solution could save your organization significantly over hosting GenAI in the cloud, while giving you control over the security and privacy of your data as well as any updates and changes to the environment, and while ensuring your environment is managed consistently.
Workstations powered by Intel can play a vital role in CPU-intensive AI devel...Principled Technologies
In three AI development workflows, Intel processor-powered workstations delivered strong performance, without using their GPUs, making them a good choice for this part of the AI process
Conclusion
We executed three AI development workflows on tower workstations and mobile workstations from three vendors, with each workflow utilizing only the Intel CPU cores, and found that these platforms were suitable for carrying out various AI tasks. For two of the workflows, we learned that completing the tasks on the tower workstations took roughly half as much time as on the mobile workstations. This supports the idea that the tower workstations would be appropriate for a development environment for more complex models with a greater volume of data and that the mobile workstations would be well-suited for data scientists fine-tuning simpler models. In the third workflow, we explored tower workstation performance with different precision levels and learned that using 16-bit floating point precision allowed the workstations to execute the workflow in less time and also reduced memory usage dramatically. For all three AI workflows we executed, we consider the time the workstations needed to complete the tasks to be acceptable, and believe that these workstations can be appropriate, cost-effective choices for these kinds of activities.
Enable security features with no impact to OLTP performance with Dell PowerEd...Principled Technologies
Get comparable online transaction processing (OLTP) performance with or without enabling AMD Secure Memory Encryption and AMD Secure Encrypted Virtualization - Encrypted State
Conclusion
You’ve likely already implemented many security measures for your servers, which may include physical security for the data center, hardware-level security, and software-level security. With the cost of data breaches high and still growing, however, wise IT teams will consider what additional security measures they may be able to implement.
AMD SME and SEV-ES are technologies that are already available within your AMD processor-powered 16th Generation Dell PowerEdge servers—and in our testing, we saw that they can offer extra layers of security without affecting performance. We compared the online transaction processing performance of a Dell PowerEdge R7625 server, powered by AMD EPYC 9274F processors, with and without these two security features enabled. We found that enabling AMD Secure Memory Encryption and Secure Encrypted Virtualization-Encrypted State did not impact performance at all.
If your team is assessing areas where you might be able to enhance security—without paying a large performance cost—consider enabling AME SME and AMD SEV-ES in your Dell PowerEdge servers.
Improving energy efficiency in the data center: Endure higher temperatures wi...Principled Technologies
In high-temperature test scenarios, a Dell PowerEdge HS5620 server continued running an intensive workload without component warnings or failures, while a Supermicro SYS‑621C-TN12R server failed
Conclusion: Remain resilient in high temperatures with the Dell PowerEdge HS5620 to help increase efficiency
Increasing your data center’s temperature can help your organization make strides in energy efficiency and cooling cost savings. With servers that can hold up to these higher everyday temperatures—as well as high temperatures due to unforeseen circumstances—your business can continue to deliver the performance your apps and clients require.
When we ran an intensive floating-point workload on a Dell PowerEdge HS5620 and a Supermicro SYS-621CTN12R in three scenario types simulating typical operations at 25°C, a fan failure, and an HVAC malfunction, the Dell server experienced no component warnings or failures. In contrast, the Supermicro server experienced warnings in all three scenario types and experienced component failures in the latter two tests, rendering the system unusable. When we inspected and analyzed each system, we found that the Dell PowerEdge HS5620 server’s motherboard layout, fans, and chassis offered cooling design advantages.
For businesses aiming to meet sustainability goals by running hotter data centers, as well as those concerned with server cooling design, the Dell PowerEdge HS5620 is a strong contender to take on higher temperatures during day-to-day operations and unexpected malfunctions.
Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Red Hat OpenShift: An easily deployable and powe...Principled Technologies
The 4th Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor‑powered solution deployed in less than two hours and ran a Kubernetes container-based generative AI workload effectively
Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Red Hat OpenShift: An easily deployable and powe...Principled Technologies
The 4th Generation Intel Xeon Scalable processor‑powered solution deployed in less than two hours and ran a generative AI workload effectively
Conclusion
The appeal of incorporating GenAI into your organization’s operations is likely great. Getting started with an efficient solution for your next LLM workload or application can seem daunting because of the changing hardware and software landscape, but Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Red Hat OpenShift powered by 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors could provide the solution you need. We started with a Dell Validated Design as a reference, and then went on to modify the deployment as necessary for our Llama 2 workload. The Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Red Hat OpenShift solution worked well for our LLM, and by using this deployment guide in conjunction with numerous Dell documents and some flexibility, you could be well on your way to innovating your next GenAI breakthrough.
Upgrade your cloud infrastructure with Dell PowerEdge R760 servers and VMware...Principled Technologies
Compared to a cluster of PowerEdge R750 servers running VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF)
For organizations running clusters of moderately configured, older Dell PowerEdge servers with a previous version of VCF, upgrading to better-configured modern servers can provide a significant performance boost and more.
Upgrade your cloud infrastructure with Dell PowerEdge R760 servers and VMware...Principled Technologies
Compared to a cluster of PowerEdge R750 servers running VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5
If your company is struggling with underperforming infrastructure, upgrading to 16th Generation Dell PowerEdge servers running VCF 5.1 could be just what you need to handle more database throughput and reduce vSAN latencies. As an additional benefit to IT admins, we also found that the embedded VMware Aria Operation adapter provided useful infrastructure insights.
Realize 2.1X the performance with 20% less power with AMD EPYC processor-back...Principled Technologies
Three AMD EPYC processor-based two-processor solutions outshined comparable Intel Xeon Scalable processor-based solutions by handling more Redis workload transactions and requests while consuming less power
Conclusion
Performance and energy efficiency are significant factors in processor selection for servers running data-intensive workloads, such as Redis. We compared the Redis performance and energy consumption of a server cluster in three AMD EPYC two-processor configurations against that of a server cluster in two Intel Xeon Scalable two-processor configurations. In each of our three test scenarios, the server cluster backed by AMD EPYC processors outperformed the server cluster backed by Intel Xeon Scalable processors. In addition, one of the AMD EPYC processor-based clusters consumed 20 percent less power than its Intel Xeon Scalable processor-based counterpart. Combining these measurements gave us power efficiency metrics that demonstrate how valuable AMD EPYC processor-based servers could be—you could see better performance per watt with these AMD EPYC processor-based server clusters and potentially get more from your Redis or other data intensive applications and workloads while reducing data center power costs.
Improve performance and gain room to grow by easily migrating to a modern Ope...Principled Technologies
We deployed this modern environment, then migrated database VMs from legacy servers and saw performance improvements that support consolidation
Conclusion
If your organization’s transactional databases are running on gear that is several years old, you have much to gain by upgrading to modern servers with new processors and networking components and an OpenShift environment. In our testing, a modern OpenShift environment with a cluster of three Dell PowerEdge R7615 servers with 4th Generation AMD EPYC processors and high-speed 100Gb Broadcom NICs outperformed a legacy environment with MySQL VMs running on a cluster of three Dell PowerEdge R7515 servers with 3rd Generation AMD EPYC processors and 25Gb Broadcom NICs. We also easily migrated a VM from the legacy environment to the modern environment, with only a few steps required to set up and less than ten minutes of hands-on time. The performance advantage of the modern servers would allow a company to reduce the number of servers necessary to perform a given amount of database work, thus lowering operational expenditures such as power and cooling and IT staff time for maintenance. The high-speed 100Gb Broadcom NICs in this solution also give companies better network performance and networking capacity to grow as they embrace emerging technologies such as AI that put great demands on networks.
Boost PC performance: How more available memory can improve productivityPrincipled Technologies
With more memory available, system performance of three Dell devices increased, which can translate to a better user experience
Conclusion
When your system has plenty of RAM to meet your needs, you can efficiently access the applications and data you need to finish projects and to-do lists without sacrificing time and focus. Our test results show that with more memory available, three Dell PCs delivered better performance and took less time to complete the Procyon Office Productivity benchmark. These advantages translate to users being able to complete workflows more quickly and multitask more easily. Whether you need the mobility of the Latitude 5440, the creative capabilities of the Precision 3470, or the high performance of the OptiPlex Tower Plus 7010, configuring your system with more RAM can help keep processes running smoothly, enabling you to do more without compromising performance.
Deploy with confidence: VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1 on next gen Dell PowerEdg...Principled Technologies
A Principled Technologies deployment guide
Conclusion
Deploying VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1 on next gen Dell PowerEdge servers brings together critical virtualization capabilities and high-performing hardware infrastructure. Relying on our hands-on experience, this deployment guide offers a comprehensive roadmap that can guide your organization through the seamless integration of advanced VMware cloud solutions with the performance and reliability of Dell PowerEdge servers. In addition to the deployment efficiency, the Cloud Foundation 5.1 and PowerEdge solution delivered strong performance while running a MySQL database workload. By leveraging VMware Cloud Foundation 5.1 and PowerEdge servers, you could help your organization embrace cloud computing with confidence, potentially unlocking a new level of agility, scalability, and efficiency in your data center operations.
Upgrade your cloud infrastructure with Dell PowerEdge R760 servers and VMware...Principled Technologies
Compared to a cluster of PowerEdge R750 servers running VMware Cloud Foundation 4.5
Conclusion
If your company is struggling with underperforming infrastructure, upgrading to 16th Generation Dell PowerEdge servers running VCF 5.1 could be just what you need to handle more database throughput and reduce vSAN latencies. We found that a Dell PowerEdge R760 server cluster running VCF 5.1 processed over 78 percent more TPM and 79 percent more NOPM than a Dell PowerEdge R750 server cluster running VCF 4.5. It’s also worth noting that the PowerEdge R750 cluster bottlenecked on vSAN storage, with max write latency at 8.9ms. For reference, the PowerEdge R760 cluster clocked in at 3.8ms max write latency. This higher latency is due in part to the single disk group per host on the moderately configured PowerEdge R750 cluster, while the better-configured PowerEdge R760 cluster supported four disk groups per host. As an additional benefit to IT admins, we also found that the embedded VMware Aria Operation adapter provided useful infrastructure insights.
Based on our research using publicly available materials, it appears that Dell supports nine of the ten PC security features we investigated, HP supports six of them, and Lenovo supports three features.
Increase security, sustainability, and efficiency with robust Dell server man...Principled Technologies
Compared to the Supermicro management portfolio
Conclusion
Choosing a vendor for server purchases is about more than just the hardware platform. Decision-makers must also consider more long-term concerns, including system/data security, energy efficiency, and ease of management. These concerns make the systems management tools a vendor offers as important as the hardware.
We investigated the features and capabilities of server management tools from Dell and Supermicro, comparing Dell iDRAC9 against Supermicro IPMI for embedded server management and Dell OpenManage Enterprise and CloudIQ against Supermicro Server Manager for one-to-many device and console management and monitoring. We found that the Dell management tools provided more comprehensive security, sustainability, and management/monitoring features and capabilities than Supermicro servers did. In addition, Dell tools automated more tasks to ease server management, resulting in significant time savings for administrators versus having to do the same tasks manually with Supermicro tools.
When making a server purchase, a vendor’s associated management products are critical to protect data, support a more sustainable environment, and to ease the maintenance of systems. Our tests and research showed that the Dell management portfolio for PowerEdge servers offered more features to help organizations meet these goals than the comparable Supermicro management products.
Increase security, sustainability, and efficiency with robust Dell server man...Principled Technologies
Compared to the Supermicro management portfolio
Conclusion
Choosing a vendor for server purchases is about more than just the hardware platform. Decision-makers must also consider more long-term concerns, including system/data security, energy efficiency, and ease of management. These concerns make the systems management tools a vendor offers as important as the hardware.
We investigated the features and capabilities of server management tools from Dell and Supermicro, comparing Dell iDRAC9 against Supermicro IPMI for embedded server management and Dell OpenManage Enterprise and CloudIQ against Supermicro Server Manager for one-to-many device and console management and monitoring. We found that the Dell management tools provided more comprehensive security, sustainability, and management/monitoring features and capabilities than Supermicro servers did. In addition, Dell tools automated more tasks to ease server management, resulting in significant time savings for administrators versus having to do the same tasks manually with Supermicro tools.
When making a server purchase, a vendor’s associated management products are critical to protect data, support a more sustainable environment, and to ease the maintenance of systems. Our tests and research showed that the Dell management portfolio for PowerEdge servers offered more features to help organizations meet these goals than the comparable Supermicro management products.
Scale up your storage with higher-performing Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS ...Principled Technologies
In our tests, Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS outperformed similarly configured solutions from Vendor A, achieving more IOPS, better throughput, and more consistent performance on both NVMe-supported configurations and configurations backed by Elastic Block Store (EBS) alone.
Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS supports a full NVMe backed configuration, but Vendor A doesn’t—its solution uses EBS for storage capacity and NVMe as an extended read cache—which means APEX Block Storage for AWS can deliver faster storage performance.
Scale up your storage with higher-performing Dell APEX Block Storage for AWSPrincipled Technologies
Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS offered stronger and more consistent storage performance for better business agility than a Vendor A solution
Conclusion
Enterprises desiring the flexibility and convenience of the cloud for their block storage workloads can find fast-performing solutions with the enterprise storage features they’re used to in on-premises infrastructure by selecting Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS.
Our hands-on tests showed that compared to the Vendor A solution, Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS offered stronger, more consistent storage performance in both NVMe-supported and EBS-backed configurations. Using NVMe-supported configurations, Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS achieved 4.7x the random read IOPS and 5.1x the throughput on sequential read operations per node vs. Vendor A. In our EBS-backed comparison, Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS offered 2.2x the throughput per node on sequential read operations vs. Vendor A.
Plus, the ability to scale beyond three nodes—up to 512 storage nodes with capacity of up to 8 PBs—enables Dell APEX Block Storage for AWS to help ensure performance and capacity as your team plans for the future.
Get in and stay in the productivity zone with the HP Z2 G9 Tower WorkstationPrincipled Technologies
We compared CPU performance and noise output of an HP Z2 G9 Tower Workstation in High Performance Mode to Dell Precision 3660 and 5860 tower workstations in optimized performance modes
Conclusion
HP Z2 G9 Tower Workstation users can change the BIOS settings to dial in the performance mode that best suits their needs: High Performance Mode, Performance Mode, or Quiet Mode. In good
news for both creative and technical professionals, we found that an Intel Core i9-13900 processor-powered HP Z2 G9 Tower Workstation set to High Performance mode received higher CPU-based benchmark scores than both a similarly configured Dell Precision 3660 and a Dell Precision 5860 equipped with an Intel Xeon w5-2455x processor. Plus, the HP Z2 G9 Tower Workstation was quieter while running CPU-intensive Cinebench 2024 and SPECapc for Solidworks 2022 workloads than both Dell Precision tower workstations. This means HP Z2 G9 Tower Workstation users who prize performance over everything else can do so without sacrificing a quiet workspace.
Open up new possibilities with higher transactional database performance from...Principled Technologies
In our PostgreSQL tests, R7i instances boosted performance over R6i instances with previous-gen processors
If you use the open-source PostgreSQL database to run your critical business operations, you have many cloud options from which to choose. While many of these instances can do the job, some can deliver stronger performance, which can mean getting a greater return on your cloud investment.
We conducted hands-on testing with the HammerDB TPROC-C benchmark to see how the PostgreSQL performance of Amazon EC2 R7i instances, enabled by 4th Gen Intel Xeon Scalable processors, stacked up to that of R6i instances with previous-generation processors. We learned that small, medium-sized, and large R7i instances with the newer processors delivered better OLTP performance, with improvements as high as 13.8 percent. By choosing the R7i instances, your organization has the potential to support more users, deliver a better experience to those users, and even lower your cloud operating expenditures by requiring fewer instances to get the job done.
Slack (or Teams) Automation for Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Soluti...Jeffrey Haguewood
Sidekick Solutions uses Bonterra Impact Management (fka Social Solutions Apricot) and automation solutions to integrate data for business workflows.
We believe integration and automation are essential to user experience and the promise of efficient work through technology. Automation is the critical ingredient to realizing that full vision. We develop integration products and services for Bonterra Case Management software to support the deployment of automations for a variety of use cases.
This video focuses on the notifications, alerts, and approval requests using Slack for Bonterra Impact Management. The solutions covered in this webinar can also be deployed for Microsoft Teams.
Interested in deploying notification automations for Bonterra Impact Management? Contact us at sales@sidekicksolutionsllc.com to discuss next steps.
DevOps and Testing slides at DASA ConnectKari Kakkonen
My and Rik Marselis slides at 30.5.2024 DASA Connect conference. We discuss about what is testing, then what is agile testing and finally what is Testing in DevOps. Finally we had lovely workshop with the participants trying to find out different ways to think about quality and testing in different parts of the DevOps infinity loop.
Builder.ai Founder Sachin Dev Duggal's Strategic Approach to Create an Innova...Ramesh Iyer
In today's fast-changing business world, Companies that adapt and embrace new ideas often need help to keep up with the competition. However, fostering a culture of innovation takes much work. It takes vision, leadership and willingness to take risks in the right proportion. Sachin Dev Duggal, co-founder of Builder.ai, has perfected the art of this balance, creating a company culture where creativity and growth are nurtured at each stage.
Securing your Kubernetes cluster_ a step-by-step guide to success !KatiaHIMEUR1
Today, after several years of existence, an extremely active community and an ultra-dynamic ecosystem, Kubernetes has established itself as the de facto standard in container orchestration. Thanks to a wide range of managed services, it has never been so easy to set up a ready-to-use Kubernetes cluster.
However, this ease of use means that the subject of security in Kubernetes is often left for later, or even neglected. This exposes companies to significant risks.
In this talk, I'll show you step-by-step how to secure your Kubernetes cluster for greater peace of mind and reliability.
Elevating Tactical DDD Patterns Through Object CalisthenicsDorra BARTAGUIZ
After immersing yourself in the blue book and its red counterpart, attending DDD-focused conferences, and applying tactical patterns, you're left with a crucial question: How do I ensure my design is effective? Tactical patterns within Domain-Driven Design (DDD) serve as guiding principles for creating clear and manageable domain models. However, achieving success with these patterns requires additional guidance. Interestingly, we've observed that a set of constraints initially designed for training purposes remarkably aligns with effective pattern implementation, offering a more ‘mechanical’ approach. Let's explore together how Object Calisthenics can elevate the design of your tactical DDD patterns, offering concrete help for those venturing into DDD for the first time!
Generating a custom Ruby SDK for your web service or Rails API using Smithyg2nightmarescribd
Have you ever wanted a Ruby client API to communicate with your web service? Smithy is a protocol-agnostic language for defining services and SDKs. Smithy Ruby is an implementation of Smithy that generates a Ruby SDK using a Smithy model. In this talk, we will explore Smithy and Smithy Ruby to learn how to generate custom feature-rich SDKs that can communicate with any web service, such as a Rails JSON API.
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf91mobiles
91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about the TV they own, aspects they look at on a new TV, and their TV buying preferences.
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf
Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS: Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
1. APRIL 2013
A PRINCIPLED TECHNOLOGIES TEST REPORT
Commissioned by Cisco Systems, Inc.
CITRIX XENAPP HOSTED SHARED DESKTOP PERFORMANCE ON CISCO UCS:
CISCO VM-FEX VS. TRADITIONAL VSWITCH
In an SBC (server-based computing) application, such as a Citrix® XenApp™
hosted shared desktop, session responsiveness is key to creating the best possible end-
user experience. Under demanding network conditions, there can be many challenges
to maintaining SBC responsiveness; choosing the right technologies can make significant
steps in overcoming these challenges.
In the Principled Technologies labs, we used Login Consultants Virtual Session
Indexer (Login VSI) 3.7 benchmark to compare the responsiveness of a Citrix XenApp
hosted shared desktop farm using two switching methods: a traditional vSwitch and
Cisco Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX). We found that the farm using Cisco
VM-FEX provided a user experience that was up to 29 percent more responsive than the
traditional vSwitch farm. In addition, under extreme network conditions, a Cisco VM-
FEX-enabled virtual machine used resources more efficiently than the vSwitch-attached
virtual machine, reducing CPU utilization by as much as 53 percent.
2. A Principled Technologies test report 2Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
CISCO VM-FEX CAN DRIVE DOWN LATENCY
Using PCIe pass-through technology, Cisco VM-FEX connects the Cisco Unified
Fabric directly to a virtual machine enabling VMware® DirectPath I/O. With a direct
connection to the fabric, VM-FEX decreases network latency and places the switching
load on the Cisco 1240 VIC (Virtual Interface Card), freeing compute resources on the
server. By moving compute demand off the server CPU, VM-FEX enables more resources
for applications, resulting in a more responsive application.
Figure 1 illustrates how Cisco VM-FEX PCIe Pass-Thru mode works in your
environment.
Figure 1: VM-FEX PCIe Pass-Thru mode.
We set up two Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop farms on identical
hardware. One farm made use of a VM-FEX-enabled vSwitch and the other was on a
traditional vSwitch. We used a medium Login VSI 3.7 workload to simulate typical office
users and to compare the hosted shared desktop performance of Cisco VM-FEX versus
traditional vSwitch technology. While the Login VSI test ran, we used Iperf to simulate
additional network traffic typically found in an organization. As we increased the
number of user sessions to 140 (where we stopped because CPU percentage was mostly
saturated), we compared the user response times for both farms. As the servers added
more and more sessions, the VM-FEX solution provided a noticeable improvement in
session responsiveness.
3. A Principled Technologies test report 3Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
Figure 2 shows the VSI index average for both vSwitch and VM-FEX for a fully
utilized host (75-90 percent CPU usage). While both solutions remained within an
acceptable latency range throughout our tests, as we increased the number of sessions,
the Cisco VM-FEX solution was noticeably more responsive than the traditional vSwitch
solution.
Figure 2: Login VSI index
average for both solutions
at their respective session
counts. The server is
nearing the CPU
saturation point at 140
users.
Figure 3 shows the response time improvement, expressed in percentages, of
Cisco VM-FEX versus a traditional vSwitch during Login VSI testing.
Figure 3: Percentage
improvement in latency of the
Cisco VM-FEX solution over
the vSwitch solution at their
respective session counts. The
server is nearing the CPU
saturation point at 140 users.
4. A Principled Technologies test report 4Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
BETTER RESOURCE UTILIZATION UNDER EXTEREME LOADS
The switching method you use can affect how efficiently your server-CPU
resources are used. We used Iperf to push as much network traffic as the VM network
adapter would allow. Because VM-FEX offloads the CPU switching overhead to the Cisco
1240 VIC, it is more efficient with server CPU, as Figure 4 clearly shows.
Figure 4: CPU utilization
throughout our tests. Lower
numbers are better.
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
0:00 0:01 0:02 0:03 0:04 0:05 0:06 0:07 0:08 0:09 0:10
PercentageCPUused
Elapsed time
Percentageserver CPUconsumption
(lower numbers are better)
Cisco VM-FEX vSwitch
Figure 5 shows the total server CPU (expressed in percentages) that the Cisco
VM-FEX solution used compared to the vSwitch solution. Throughout the test, the Cisco
VM-FEX solution used as much as 53.1 percent less CPU than the vSwitch solution did.
Figure 5: Percentage
lower CPU utilization for
the solution using Cisco
VM-FEX compared to the
vSwitch solution.
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
0:00 0:01 0:02 0:03 0:04 0:05 0:06 0:07 0:08 0:09 0:10
PercentagewinforVM-FEX
Elapsed time
Percentage less CPU used with Cisco VM-FEX
5. A Principled Technologies test report 5Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
Figures 6 and 7 show the Iperf network traffic generated in our tests and the
percentage increased network traffic that the Cisco VM-FEX solution allowed.
Figure 6: Iperf network traffic
created throughout our tests.
Higher numbers are better.
0
2,000
4,000
6,000
8,000
10,000
0:00 0:01 0:02 0:03 0:04 0:05 0:06 0:07 0:08 0:09 0:10
Mbps
Elapsed time
Iperf networktraffic
Cisco VM-FEX vSwitch
Figure 7: Percentage network
win with Cisco VM-FEX
compared to the vSwitch
solution.
0.0%
0.5%
1.0%
1.5%
2.0%
2.5%
3.0%
3.5%
4.0%
4.5%
5.0%
0:00 0:01 0:02 0:03 0:04 0:05 0:06 0:07 0:08 0:09 0:10
Percentagewin
Elapsed time
Percentage network win with Cisco VM-FEX
6. A Principled Technologies test report 6Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
SIMPLIFIED OPERATIONS
In addition to performance advantages, Cisco VM-FEX offers simplified, central
management capabilities within the Cisco UCS Manger. Using the Cisco UCS Manager,
we set up our VM-FEX-enabled vSwitch and completed tasks such as setting VLAN
access and MTU speeds without having to configure our hosts individually. Once we
deployed our VM-FEX-enabled vSwitch, adding a vSphere host was simple and required
very little configuration, ensuring minimal opportunity for manual error. Adding more
vSphere hosts to the VM-FEX enabled vSwitch would be simple and require very little
time or effort. By contrast, when we set up our traditional vSwitch, we had to manually
set each individual vSwitch setting on the vCenter GUI or command line. Another
problem with using a traditional vSwitch is that virtual machine networks and VMkernel
names are case sensitive, and require special attention to detail to ensure proper host
and VM communication. In addition, we had to configure several things, such as MTU
speeds at the vSwitch and again at the individual virtual machine networks or VMkernel
interfaces. With the vSwitch solution, you must repeat these processes again each time
you add a host to a cluster, requiring administrative time and creating the potential for
unwanted manual errors.
WHAT WE TESTED
About the Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server
The Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server is an enterprise-class blade server
powered by the new Intel® Xeon® processor E5-2600 series to deliver high performance
and outstanding I/O throughput for your applications. Supporting up to 768 GB of RAM
with 24 DIMM slots, the Cisco UCS M200 M3 has expandable memory capabilities to
support your heavy workloads.
To learn more, see Appendix A for more detailed hardware specifications, or
visit www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps12288/index.html.
About the Cisco UCS Manager
The Cisco UCS Manager enables unified, embedded management that
integrates the management of both software and hardware on the Cisco UCS solution.
The UCS Manager centralizes server management, making it easier in several key ways.
First, role-based management makes it easy to assign unique management roles to
different administrators (i.e., server, network, or storage admins) so that each can be
assigned his or her own unique policies and permissions, while still being part of an
integrated management environment. Policy-based provisioning provides managers
with the ability to create service profile templates that they apply to one or 100 servers,
making it easy to apply consistent policies. The Cisco USC Manager makes server
7. A Principled Technologies test report 7Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
management less about managing isolated, single hardware components and more
about managing many hardware components (up to 20 chassis and 160 blades per
domain) as a single management domain. The use of service profiles allows managers to
allocate and reallocate server resources, which the UCS Manager views as “raw
computing capacity.” This way, server capacity allocation becomes more dynamic and
efficient, with managers able to deploy and reallocate server resources in a matter of
minutes.
To learn more about the Cisco UCS Manager, visit
www.cisco.com/en/US/products/ps10281/index.html.
VM Fabric Extender (VM-FEX) technology
VM-FEX technology allows administrators to manage VM network traffic and
bare metal (i.e., physical) network traffic all from a single unified infrastructure. The
advantages are that UCS Manager bypasses the vSwitch and attaches the VM directly to
the card (or fabric). In addition, VM-FEX offers per-port QoS policies allowing you to
prioritize traffic for each PCI device. Essentially, VM-FEX lets you eliminate the
intermediary and obtain faster performance.
To learn more about VM-FEX, visit
www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns1124/index.html#~overview.
About Login VSI 3.7
Login Virtual Session Indexer (Login VSI) 3.7 is a tool that assesses the virtual
desktop performance, capacity, and scalability of a server. Login VSI incrementally logs
users into virtual desktop sessions and measures the total response times of seven
typical office operations from each session to calculate the VSI Index Average.
As more sessions begin to consume system resources, response times degrade
and the VSI Index Average increases until it is above the Dynamic VSImax. When this
condition is met, the benchmark records a Login VSImax, which is the maximum number
of sessions that the platform can support. The average response time of the first 15
session determines a baseline; the VSImax is baseline x 125% +3000ms. Not reaching
VSImax is an indication of satisfactory end user response time.
For more information about Login VSI 3.7, see www.loginvsi.com/product-
overview.
About Citrix XenApp 6.5
Citrix XenApp is an application delivery solution that virtualizes Windows
applications and delivers them to users on various devices, while keeping data
centralized in the datacenter for simplified management. XenApp 6.5 includes many
updated features to improve on-demand application experience, including Instant App
Access, which reduces the time it takes for users to launch applications; Citrix Receiver,
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which provides access from over a billion devices; and Desktop Director, which helps IT
manage applications and hosted share desktops on a large scale.
For more information about Citrix XenApp 6.5, visit
www.citrix.com/products/xenapp/whats-new.html.
IN CONCLUSION
The switching method you choose for your SBC environment can help
determine performance and the experience that end-users have. We found that
unifying switching with Cisco VM-FEX resulted in up to 29 percent lower latency than a
solution using a traditional vSwitch when running a Citrix XenApp hosted shared
desktop farm. Furthermore, the Cisco VM-FEX solution used up to 53 percent less CPU
than the vSwitch solution did under extreme network conditions. In addition to these
performance advantages, Cisco UCS Manager provides a central point of management
and a simplified method to add vSphere hosts to the VM-FEX-enabled vSwitch, which
can reduce management time and costs.
As our results show, switching to Cisco VM-FEX can provide your users with a
more responsive environment.
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APPENDIX A – SYSTEM CONFIGURATION INFORMATION
Figure 8 provides detailed configuration information for the test systems.
System Cisco UCS B200 M3 server 2x Cisco UCS B200 M2 servers
General
Number of processor packages 2 2
Number of cores per processor 8 6
Number of hardware threads per core 2 2
System power management policy OS Control OS Control
CPUs
Vendor Intel Intel
Name Xeon Xeon
Model number E5-2690 X5670
Stepping 6 CO
Socket type LGA2011 LGA 1366
Core frequency (GHz) 2.90 2.93
Bus frequency 8.0 GT/s 6.4
L1 cache 32 KB + 32 KB 32 KB+ 32 KB (per core)
L2 cache 256 KB (per core) 256 KB (per core)
L3 cache 20 MB 12 MB
Platform
Vendor and model number Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server Cisco UCS B200 M2 Blade Server
Motherboard model number Cisco FCH153271DA N20-B6625-1
BIOS name and version Cisco B200M3.2.1.1.0.100520121419 Cisco S5500.2.1.1.0.100520.121338
BIOS settings Default Default
CIMC version 2.1(1a) 2.1(1a)
Memory module(s)
Total RAM in system (GB) 128 96
Vendor and model number Samsung® M393B2G70BH0-YK0 Samsung M393B5170FH0-YH9
Type PC3L-12800R DDR3 PC3-10600
Speed (MHz) 1,600 1,333
Speed running in the system (MHz) 1,600 1,333
Size (GB) 16 8
Number of RAM module(s) 8 12
Chip organization Double-sided Double-sided
Rank Dual Dual
Hard disk
Vendor and model number Seagate® ST9146803SS Seagate ST9146803SS
Number of disks in system 2 2
Size (GB) 146 146
RPM 15,000 10,000
Type SAS SAS
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System Cisco UCS B200 M3 server 2x Cisco UCS B200 M2 servers
RAID controller
Vendor and model LSI™ MegaRAID® SAS 2004 ROMB LSI Logic® SAS 1064E
Controller firmware 23.2.1-0056|5.32.00 01.32.04.00
Operating system
Name VMware vSphere® 5.1 VMware vSphere 5
Build number 914609 914609
Language English English
Operating system power profile Maximum Performance Maximum Performance
I/O Adapters
Vendor and model number Cisco UCS-MLOM-40G-01 (1240 VIC)
UCS M71KR-Q QLogic® Converged
Network Adapter
Type mLOM Mezzanine
Figure 8: Detailed configuration information for the servers we used in our tests.
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APPENDIX B - HOW WE TESTED
INSTALLING AND CONFIGURING INFRASTRUCTURE
Using Cisco UCS manager, we deployed a Cisco UCS B200 M2 (infra), and Cisco UCS B200 M3 (SUT), and installed
vSphere 5.1 on both. We installed Microsoft® Windows Server® 2008 R2 on four virtual machines housed on an ESXi
host (infra). We configured one as an Active Directory® domain controller, DNS server, DHCP server, file server, and NTP
server, one as a vCenter™ server, one as a XenDesktop® licensing server, and one as a XenDesktop Provisioning services
server. We configured AD roaming profiles and folder redirection for all user data and profile management. We then
deployed two more Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 virtual machines, one on infra and one on SUT. We configured
these to run Iperf. All storage in testing was generic 10 Gbps NFS. Figure 9 illustrates our setup.
Figure 9: Our test setup.
Setting up the Cisco Unified Computing System
We used Cisco Unified Computing System guides to physically install and properly power the UCS chassis and
fabric interconnects. For more information on the guide, see
www.cisco.com/en/US/docs/unified_computing/ucs/hw/chassis/install/ucs5108_install.html.
We configured a UCS cluster with two fabrics and defined a cluster IP address to enable the use of the Cisco UCS
Manager. In the UCS Manager, we set up network VLANs, QoS policies, and service profiles for our two blades.
Defining all VLANs on the Cisco UCS
1. In the UCS Manager, go to the LAN tab.
2. Open LANLAN CloudVLANs, right-click, and select create VLAN.
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Name=MGMT-NET
VLAN ID=10
3. Open LANLAN CloudVLANs, right-click, and select create VLAN.
Name=VDI-NET
VLAN ID=100
4. Open LANLAN CloudVLANs, right-click, and select create VLAN.
Name=Storage
VLAN ID=200
Defining all QoS classes
1. In the UCS Manager, go to the LAN tab.
2. Open LANLAN cloudQoS system class.
3. Enable Platinum.
COS=5
Weight=10
MTU=9000
Defining Dynamic vNIC policy
1. In the UCS Manager, go to the LAN tab.
2. Open LANPoliciesrootDynamic vNIC Policies, right-click Create Dynamic vNIC Connection Policy.
3. For name, type VM-FEX
4. For Number of Dynamic vNICs, select 9.
5. For adapter Policy, select VMware PassThru.
6. For Protection, select Protected Perf B, click OK to create the Create Dynamic vNIC Connection Policy.
Configuring Cisco Unified Computing profiles policies
Configuring KVM for blades
1. In the UCS System Manager, click the Admin tabfilter: Communication ManagementManagement IP
address.
2. Click the General tab.
3. Click Create Block of IP addresses.
4. Create a block of 10 addresses on the management network.
Creating a MAC pool
1. In the UCS Manager, go to the LAN tab.
2. Open PoolsrootMAC pools, and right-click and select Create MAC Pool.
Name=VDI
From: 00:25:B5:AB:CF:01 To: 00:25:B5:AB:CF:20
Creating a vNIC template
1. Open LANPoliciesrootvNIC Templates, and right-click and select Create vNIC Template.
Name=FAB-A
Adaptor=Fabric A
Target=Adaptor
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Template type=Updating template
MTU=9000
MAC pool=MAC-pool
QoS Policy=none
VLANS=10,100,200 (10=native)
2. Open LANPoliciesrootvNIC Templates, right-click, and select Create vNIC Template.
Name=FAB-B
Adaptor=Fabric B
Target=Adaptor
Template type=Updating template
MTU=9000
MAC pool=MAC-pool
QoS Policy=none
VLANS=10,100,222 (10=native)
Creating BIOS policies
1. In the UCS Manager, go to the Servers tab.
2. Open ServersPoliciesrootBIOS Policies.
3. Right-click BIOS Policies, and select Create BIOS policy.
4. Type B200-M2 for the policy name and assign all platform defaults.
5. Right-click BIOS Policies, and select Create BIOS policy.
6. Type VM-FEX for the policy name and enable the following:
Intel Directed IO - VT for Directed IO, Enable Interrupt Remap, Coherency Support, and ATS Support.
Creating service profile templates for all blades
Creating a profile for the Cisco UCS B200 M2 Blade Server
1. In the UCS Manager, go to the Servers Tab.
2. Open ServersService Profile TemplatesRoot, right-click root, and select Create Service Profile (expert).
3. In the Create Service Profile Template page 1, enter the following:
Name: B200M2
Select the UUID pool.
4. Select Next.
5. In the Create Service Profile Template page 2 (Networking), do not select a dynamic vNIC policy, and click the
button next to Expert to view more options.
6. Click the Add button to add a vNIC.
7. In the Create a vNIC workspace, select use a vNIC template.
8. Name the vNIC vNIC0, for vNIC Template, select FAB-A, and for Adaptor policy, select VMware. Click OK.
9. Click the Add button to add a second vNIC.
10. In the Create a vNIC workspace, select use a LAN connectivity template.
11. Name the vNIC vNIC1, for vNIC Template, select FAB-B, and for Adaptor policy, select VMware. Click OK.
12. Click Next to finish networking.
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13. In the Create Service Profile Template page 3 (storage), select default for local storage, WWNN pool and both
vHBA fabrics, and click Next.
14. In the Create Service Profile Template page 4 (zoning), click Next.
15. In the Create Service Profile Template page 5 (vNIC/vHBA Placement), click Next.
16. In the Create Service Profile Template page 6 (Server Boot Order), select cd-local, and click Next.
17. In the Create Service Profile Template page 7 (maintenance policy), click Next
18. In the Create Service Profile Template page 8 (server assignment) assign the policy to the Cisco UCS B200 M2
and click Finish.
Creating a profile for the Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Servers
1. In the UCS Manager, go to the Servers Tab.
2. Open ServersService Profile TemplatesRoot, right-click root, and select Create Service Profile (expert).
3. In the Create Service Profile Template page 1, enter the following:
Name: B200M3
Select the UUID pool.
4. Select Next.
5. In the Create Service Profile Template page 2 (Networking), select the dynamic vNIC policy named VM-FEX, and
click the button next to Expert to view more options.
6. Click the Add button to add a vNIC.
7. In the Create a vNIC workspace, select use a vNIC template.
8. Name the vNIC vNIC0, for vNIC Template, select FAB-A, and for Adaptor policy, select VMware. Click OK.
9. Click the Add button to add a second vNIC.
10. In the Create a vNIC workspace, select use a LAN connectivity template.
11. Name the vNIC vNIC1, for vNIC Template, select FAB-B, and for Adaptor policy, select VMware. Click OK.
12. Click Next to finish networking.
13. In the Create Service Profile Template page 3 (storage), select default for local storage, WWNN pool and both
vHBA fabrics, and click Next.
14. In the Create Service Profile Template page 4 (zoning), click Next.
15. In the Create Service Profile Template page 5 (vNIC/vHBA Placement), click Next.
16. In the Create Service Profile Template page 6 (Server Boot Order), select cd-local, and click Next.
17. In the Create Service Profile Template page 7 (maintenance policy ), click Next.
18. In the Create Service Profile Template page 8 (server assignment), assign the policy to the Cisco B200 M3 server,
and click Finish.
Setting up a VM to host Microsoft Windows Active Directory® server (DC1)
1. Connect to infra via the VMware vSphere client.
2. Log in as root.
3. Click the Virtual Machines tab.
4. Right-click, and choose New Virtual Machine.
5. Choose Custom, and click Next.
6. Assign the name DC1 to the virtual machine and click Next.
7. Select infra as the host, and click Next.
8. Select the appropriate datastore for storage and click Next.
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9. Choose Virtual Machine Version 8, and click Next.
10. Choose Windows, choose Microsoft Windows Server® 2008 R2 (64-bit), and click Next.
11. For CPUs, select one virtual processor socket and four cores per virtual socket, and click Next.
12. Choose 4 GB RAM and click Next.
13. Click 1 for the number of NICs, select VMXNET3, connect to the VDI network, and click Next.
14. Leave the default virtual storage controller, and click Next.
15. Choose to create a new virtual disk, and click Next.
16. Make the OS virtual disk size 40 GB, choose thick-provisioned lazy zeroed, specify external storage, and click
Next.
17. Keep the default virtual device node (0:0) and click Next.
18. Click Finish.
19. Right-click the VM and choose Edit Settings.
20. On the Hardware tab, click Add….
21. Click Hard Disk, and click Next.
22. Click Create a new virtual disk, and click Next.
23. Specify 40 GB for the virtual disk size, choose thick-provisioned lazy zeroed, specify external storage, and click
Next.
24. Choose SCSI (0:1) for the device node, and click Next.
25. On the Hardware tab, click Add….
26. Click Create a new virtual disk, and click Next.
27. Specify 40 GB for the virtual disk size, choose thick-provisioned lazy zeroed, specify external storage, and click
Next.
28. Choose SCSI (0:2) for the device node and click Next.
29. On the Hardware tab, click Add….
30. Click Create a new virtual disk, and click Next.
31. Specify 40 GB for the virtual disk size, choose thick-provisioned lazy zeroed, specify external storage, and click
Next.
32. Choose SCSI (0:3) for the device node, and click Next.
33. Click Finish and click OK.
34. Click the Resources tab, and click Memory.
35. Select Reserve all guest memory and click OK.
36. Connect the VM virtual CD-ROM to the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 installation disk.
37. Start the VM.
Installing the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system on the VM
1. Choose the language, time and currency, and keyboard input. Click Next.
2. Click Install Now.
3. Choose Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (Full Installation) and click Next.
4. Accept the license terms and click Next.
5. Click Custom.
6. Click the Disk, and click Drive options (advanced).
7. Click NewApplyFormat and click Next.
8. After the installation completes, click OK to set the Administrator password.
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9. Enter the administrator password twice and click OK.
10. Install VMware Tools. For more information, see
kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=340.
11. Reboot the server.
12. Connect the machine to the Internet and install all available Windows updates. Restart as necessary.
13. Enable remote desktop access.
14. Change the hostname to DC1 and reboot when the installation prompts you.
15. Run diskmgmt.msc.
16. Select a 40 GB volume, name it profiles, format it NTFS, and assign it drive letter E.
17. Select another 40 GB volume, name it share, format it NTFS, and assign it drive letter F.
18. Select the last 40 GB volume, name it folders, format it NTFS, and assign it drive letter G.
19. Set up networking for the data network:
a. Click StartControl Panel, right-click Network Connections, and choose Open.
b. Right-click the VM traffic NIC and choose Properties.
c. Uncheck TCP/IP (v6).
d. Select TCP/IP (v4), and choose Properties.
e. Set the IP address.
Installing Active Directory and DNS services on DC1
1. Click StartRun, type dcpromo, and click OK.
2. At the Active Directory Domain Services Installation Wizard welcome screen, check the Use advanced mode
installation option and click Next.
3. In the Choose a Deployment Configuration dialog box, select Create a new domain in a new forest, and click
Next.
4. At the FQDN page, type vdi.local and click Next.
5. At the NetBIOS name prompt, leave the name VDI, and click Next.
6. At the Forest Functionality level, select Windows Server 2008 R2 and click Next.
7. At the additional Domain Controller Options, leave DNS server selected and click Next.
8. At the System Folder Location screen, change to E: leave the default options, and click Next.
9. Assign a Directory Services Restore Mode Administrator account password, and click Next.
10. At the Summary screen, review your selections, and click Next.
11. Once Active Directory Domain Services finishes installing, click Finish and restart the system.
12. Run dnsmgmt.msc.
13. Create a reverse lookup zone for the subnet.
Configuring the Windows time service on DC1
To ensure reliable time, we pointed our Active Directory server to a physical NTP server.
1. Open a command prompt.
2. Type the following:
W32tm /config /syncfromflags:manual /manualpeerlist:"<ip address of a NTP
server>"
W32tm /config /reliable:yes
W32tm /config /update
W32tm /resync
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Net stop w32time
Net start w32time
Setting up DHCP services on DC1
1. Click StartAdministrative ToolsServer ManagerAdd Roles.
2. Select DHCP Server, and click Next.
3. At the Introduction to DHCP Server screen, click Next.
4. At the Specify IPv4 DNS Settings screen, type vdi.local for the parent domain.
5. Enter the preferred DNS server IPv4 address and click Next.
6. At the Specify IPv4 WINS Server Settings screen, select WINS is not required for applications on the network and
click Next.
7. At the Add or Edit DHCP Scopes screen, click Add.
8. At the Add Scope screen, enter the Name DHCP Scope name.
9. In the next box, set the following values and click OK.
Start IP address=172.0.1.0
End IP address=172.0.10.0
Subnet mask=255.255.0.0
10. Check the Activate This Scope box.
11. At the Add or Edit DHCP Scopes screen, click Next.
12. Click the Enable DHCP v6 Stateless Mode radio button, and click Next.
13. Leave the default IPv6 DNS Settings and click Next.
14. At the Authorize DHCP server dialog box, select Use current credentials.
15. At the Confirm Installation Selections screen, click Next. If the installation is set up correctly, a screen displays
saying that DHCP server install succeeded.
16. Click Close.
Setting up the Login VSI share and Active Directory users
For Login VSI to work correctly, you must create a CIFS share, Active Directory OU, and Active directory. For
more information on Login VSI, see www.loginvsi.com/en/admin-guide/installation.html. Open Windows Explorer and
create the following folders: f:share, e:profiles and g:folderredirect.
1. Assign permissions of read/write to the vdi/everyone group.
2. Right-click the f:share, e:profiles, and g:folderredirect folders, and select Properties.
3. Click the Sharing tab, and click Share….
4. Add everyone, system, and administrators to the Read/Write group and click Share.
5. Right-click the g:folderredirect folder and select PropertiesSharingAdvanced SharingCaching
and select No files or programs from the Share Folder are available offline.
6. Click OK, Apply, OK, and Close.
7. From the Login VSI 3.7 media, run the Login VSI AD Setup.
8. Keep the default settings and click Start.
Setting up roaming profiles for users
1. Open Active Directory Users and Computers.
2. Browse to vdi.localLogin_VSIUsersTarget.
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3. Select all Login VSI users and right-click Properties.
4. Click the Profiles tab.
5. Check box Profile path and type e:profiles%username%.
6. Click OK.
Configuring folder redirection
1. Log into DC1 as administrator.
2. Open the Group Policy Editor.
3. Open ForestDomainsvdi.local, right-click Group Policy Objects, and select New.
4. Type folder redirection, leave source starter GPO as None, and click OK.
5. Right-click the folder redirection GPO and click Edit.
6. Browse User ConfigurationPoliciesWindows SettingsFolder Redirection and right-click AppData
(roaming).
7. In the AppData (roaming) Properties, target-tab select the following:
Setting = select Basic = Redirect everyone’s folders to the same location
Target folder location = Create a folder for each user under the root path
Root Path = DC1folderredirection
8. In the AppData (roaming) PropertiesSetting tab, clear the checkbox for Grant the user exclusive right to
AppData (Roaming) and click OK.
9. Repeat steps 6 through 8 for all subfolders in the folder redirection tree.
10. Close the Folder Redirection group policy.
11. In the Group Policy Editor, right-click the folder redirection policy and select GPO statusComputer
Configuration Settings Disabled.
12. In the Group Policy Editor, drag the folder redirect GPO to
ForestDomainsvdi.localLogin_VSIUsersTarget.
Setting up a VM to host the vCenter server (vCenter)
1. Log into the infra server with the VMware vSphere client.
2. In the vSphere client under Basic Tasks, select Create a new virtual machine.
3. Choose Custom and click Next.
4. Assign the name vCenter to the virtual machine and click Next.
5. Select infra as the host and click Next.
6. Select the appropriate storage and click Next.
7. Choose Virtual Machine Version 8 and click Next.
8. Choose Windows, choose Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit), and click Next.
9. For CPUs, select one virtual processor socket and two cores per virtual socket, and click Next.
10. Choose 4GB RAM and click Next.
11. Click 1 for the number of NICs, select VMXNET3, connect to the vdi-net port group, and click Next.
12. Leave the default virtual storage controller and click Next.
13. Keep the default virtual device node (0:0) and click Next.
14. Connect the VM virtual CD-ROM to the Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 installation disk.
15. Click Finish.
16. Right-click the vCenter VM and click Edit settings.
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17. Click the Resources tab, click Memory, check the Reserve all guest memory checkbox, and click OK.
18. Start the VM.
Installing the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system on the VM
1. Open a virtual machine console on vCenter.
2. Choose the language, time and currency, and keyboard input. Click Next.
3. Click Install Now.
4. Choose Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (Full Installation) and click Next.
5. Accept the license terms and click Next.
6. Click Custom.
7. Click the Disk and click Drive options (advanced).
8. Click NewApplyFormat and click Next.
9. After the installation completes, click OK to set the Administrator password.
10. Enter the administrator password twice and click OK.
11. Install VMware Tools. For more information, see
kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=340.
12. Reboot.
13. Connect the machine to the Internet and install all available Windows updates. Restart as necessary.
14. Enable remote desktop access.
15. Change the hostname to vCenter and reboot at the installation prompt.
16. Set up networking for the data network:
a. Click StartControl Panel, right-click Network Connections, and choose Open.
b. Right-click the VM traffic NIC and choose Properties.
c. Uncheck TCP/IP (v6).
d. Select TCP/IP (v4) and choose Properties.
e. Set the IP address, subnet, gateway, and DNS server.
17. Join the VDI domain.
18. Reboot the system.
Installing Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2
1. Insert installation media and click OK to install .NET framework.
2. Wait for the SQL Installer to launch. On the left menu, click Installation.
3. Click New installation or add features to an existing installation. Click OK.
4. Enter the Product Key and click Next.
5. Check the I accept the license terms checkbox and click Next.
6. Click Install to install the Setup Support Files (required).
7. Resolve any issues displayed in the setup wizard and click Next.
8. At the Setup Role screen select SQL Server Feature Installation and click Next.
9. Select the Database Engine Services, Full-Text Search, Client tools Backwards Compatibility, Management
Tools Basic and Complete, and click Next twice.
10. Accept instance configuration defaults and click Next.
11. Accept defaults for disk space requirements and click Next.
12. Click Use the same account for all SQL Server services, select NT AuthoritySystem, and click OK. Click Next.
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13. Select Mixed Mode and enter a password for the SA account. Click Add Current User and click Next.
14. Accept defaults for error reporting and click Next.
15. Review installation configuration rules check and click Next.
16. To begin installation, click Install.
17. At completion screen, click Close.
18. Run Windows Update to receive all updates and security patches.
Setting up a database and ODBC DSN for vCenter
1. From the server desktop, open StartAll ProgramsMicrosoft SQL Server 2008 R2Configuration ToolsSQL
Server Configuration Manager.
2. Click SQL Server Network ConfigurationProtocols for MSSQLSERVER.
3. Right-click TCP/IP and select Enabled.
4. Click SQL Servicesright-click SQL Server Browser and select Properties.
5. In the SQL Server Browser Properties, select the Services tab, change the Start mode to Automatic, and click OK.
Repeat this step for the SQL Server Agent service.
6. Start the SQL Server browser service and the SQL Server Agent service.
7. From the SQL server desktop, open StartAll ProgramsMicrosoft SQL Server 2008 R2Configuration
ToolsSQL Server Management Studio
8. Click Connect.
9. Select the Databases folder, right-click, and select New Database.
10. Provide the name vCenter for the new database.
11. Click Options and change the recovery model from full to simple and click OK.
12. From the desktop of the vCenter server, select StartRunodbcad32.exe.
13. Click the system DSN tab.
14. Click Add.
15. Click SQL Server Native Client 10.0 and click Finish.
16. In the Create a New Data Source to SQL Server text box, enter the connection name type: vCenter.
17. For Server, select SQL, and click Next.
18. Change authentication to With SQL Server authentication using a login ID and password entered by the user,
enter sa as the Login ID, use the password you defined in SQL server setup for the SA account, and click Next.
19. Select the Change the default database to: checkbox, choose vCenter from the pull-down menu, and click
Next.
20. Click Finish.
21. Click Test Data Source… to confirm correct configuration.
22. Click OK to create the vCenter ODBC connection.
Installing VMware vCenter 5.1
1. Log onto the vCenter as VDIadministrator.
2. From the VMware vCenter 5.1 install media, click Autorun.
3. Click Run to start the install wizard.
4. Click the Install button on the VMware vSphere 5.1 Simple Install wizard.
5. Select the Install wizard language as English and click OK.
21. A Principled Technologies test report 21Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
6. At the Install wizard welcome screen, click Next.
7. At the End User Patent Agreement, click Next.
8. Agree to the License Agreement and click Next.
9. Enter and confirm the password you wish to use with the Administrator account for vCenter Single Sign On and
click Next.
10. Select Install a local Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express Instance and click Next.
11. Enter and confirm the passwords for the DBA and SQL user accounts, and click Next.
12. Confirm the Fully Qualified Domain Name or IP address is correct and click Next.
13. Check the Use network service account checkbox and click Next.
14. Accept the default installation path and click Next.
15. Accept the default https port and click Next.
16. Click Install.
17. After Single Sign On completes and vCenter Server installation begins, enter user information and a license key,
and click Next.
18. Select “Use an existing supported database” and select the Data Source Name (DSN) for the connection to the
SQL Server: vCenter.
19. Enter sa as the database username, provide the password for the SA account, and click Next.
20. Select the system account for the vCenter Server service account and click Next.
21. Keep the vCenter default ports and click Next.
22. Select 1024 MB for the JVM memory and click Next.
23. Click Install to finish the vCenter server installation.
24. Click Finish to exit the wizard.
25. Click OK to confirm completion.
26. Click Exit on the installer.
27. Restart the server.
28. Using the vSphere client, log into the vCenter server as VDIadministrator.
29. Right-click the root of vCenter and click New Data center.
30. Name the New datacenter vdi.
31. Add the infrastructure server to the datacenter.
32. Add the server under test to the datacenter.
Setting up a VM to host the Citrix Licensing Server
1. Log into the infra server with the VMware vSphere client.
2. In the vSphere client under Basic Tasks, select Create a new virtual machine.
3. Choose Custom and click Next.
4. Assign the name CitrixLIC to the virtual machine and click Next.
5. Select infra as the host and click Next.
6. Select the appropriate storage and click Next.
7. Choose Virtual Machine Version 8 and click Next.
8. Choose Windows, choose Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit), and click Next.
9. For CPUs, select one virtual processor socket and two cores per virtual socket, and click Next.
10. Choose 1GB RAM and click Next.
22. A Principled Technologies test report 22Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
11. Click 1 for the number of NICs, select VMXNET3, connect to the vdi-net port group, and click Next.
12. Leave the default virtual storage controller and click Next.
13. Keep the default virtual device node (0:0) and click Next.
14. Connect the VM virtual CD-ROM to the Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 installation disk.
15. Click Finish.
16. Right-click the vCenter VM and click Edit settings.
17. Click the Resources tab, click Memory, check the Reserve all guest memory checkbox, and click OK.
18. Start the VM.
Installing the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system on the VM
1. Open a virtual machine console on CitrixLIC.
2. Choose the language, time and currency, and keyboard input. Click Next.
3. Click Install Now.
4. Choose Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (Full Installation), and click Next.
5. Accept the license terms and click Next.
6. Click Custom.
7. Click the Disk and click Drive options (advanced).
8. Click NewApplyFormat and click Next.
9. After the installation completes, click OK to set the Administrator password.
10. Enter the administrator password twice and click OK.
11. Install VMware Tools. For more information, see
kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=340.
12. Reboot.
13. Connect the machine to the Internet and install all available Windows updates. Restart as necessary.
14. Enable remote desktop access.
15. Change the hostname to CitrixLIC and reboot when the installation prompts you.
16. Set up networking for the data network:
a. Click Start, Control Panel, right-click Network Connections, and choose Open.
b. Right-click the VM traffic NIC and choose Properties.
c. Uncheck TCP/IP (v6).
d. Select TCP/IP (v4) and choose Properties.
e. Set the IP address, subnet, gateway, and DNS server.
17. Join the VDI domain.
18. Reboot the system.
Installing Citrix Licensing Server
1. Click on StartAdministrative ToolsServer ManagerFeaturesAdd Features.
2. Select .NET Framework 3.5.1 Features and click Add Required Role Services.
3. Click Next on the Web Server (ISS) screen.
4. Click Next on the Select Role Services screen and then click Install.
5. Click Close on the successful installation screen.
6. Insert XenApp 6.5 media.
7. Click on Manually install componentsCommon ComponentsCitrix Licensing.
23. A Principled Technologies test report 23Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
8. Click I accept the terms in the license agreement and click Next.
9. At the Destination Folder, screen-click Install.
10. Click Finish on the Installation completed screen.
11. At the Configuration screen select the default ports and enter Administrator password.
12. Click on StartAll ProgramsCitrixManagement ConsolesLicense Administrator Console.
13. Click on Administration and enter user credentials.
14. Click on Vendor Daemon Configuration and click on Import License.
15. Browse to location of the license and click on Import License.
Setting up a VM to host the Citrix Provisioning Server
1. Log into the infra server with the VMware vSphere client.
2. In the vSphere client under Basic Tasks, select Create a new virtual machine.
3. Choose Custom and click Next.
4. Assign the name PVS to the virtual machine and click Next.
5. Select infra as the host and click Next.
6. Select the appropriate storage and click Next.
7. Choose Virtual Machine Version 8 and click Next.
8. Choose Windows, choose Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit), and click Next.
9. For CPUs, select one virtual processor socket and two cores per virtual socket, and click Next.
10. Choose 4GB RAM and click Next.
11. Click 1 for the number of NICs, select VMXNET3, connect to the vdi-net port group, and click Next.
12. Leave the default virtual storage controller and click Next.
13. Keep the default virtual device node (0:0) and click Next.
14. Connect the VM virtual CD-ROM to the Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 installation disk.
15. Click Finish.
16. Right-click the vCenter VM and click Edit settings.
17. Click the Resources tab, click Memory, check the Reserve all guest memory checkbox, and click OK.
18. Start the VM.
Installing the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system on the VM
1. Open a virtual machine console on PVS.
2. Choose the language, time and currency, and keyboard input. Click Next.
3. Click Install Now.
4. Choose Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (Full Installation) and click Next.
5. Accept the license terms and click Next.
6. Click Custom.
7. Click the Disk and click Drive options (advanced).
8. Click NewApplyFormat, and click Next.
9. After the installation completes, click OK to set the Administrator password.
10. Enter the administrator password twice and click OK.
11. Install VMware Tools. For more information, see
kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=340.
12. Reboot.
24. A Principled Technologies test report 24Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
13. Connect the machine to the Internet and install all available Windows updates. Restart as necessary.
14. Enable remote desktop access.
15. Change the hostname to PVS and reboot when the installation prompts you.
16. Set up networking for the data network:
a. Click Start, Control Panel, right-click Network Connections, and choose Open.
b. Right-click the VM traffic NIC and choose Properties.
c. Uncheck TCP/IP (v6).
d. Select TCP/IP (v4) and choose Properties.
e. Set the IP address, subnet, gateway, and DNS server.
17. Join the VDI domain.
18. Reboot the system.
Installing SQL Express on Provisioning Services server
A SQL database is required for Provisioning Services; we used the included SQL express installation files on the
Citrix Provisioning Service media to create a database on the XD-PS host.
1. Insert the media for Citrix Provisioning services 6.5.
2. Browse to the SQL Express 2005 Express directory and run SQLEXPR.exe.
3. Accept the End user agreement, and click Next.
4. To install prerequisites, click Install.
5. At the Welcome screen, click Next.
6. Verify the system passes the system configuration check, and click Next.
7. Enter a name and organization, and click Next.
8. Select the default features, and click Next.
9. Select Windows authentication, and click Next.
10. Check both boxes to Enable user instances, add user to the SQL Server administrator Role, and click Next.
11. Click Next for error usage reporting, and click Next.
12. Click Install.
13. When completed, click Next, and click Finish.
14. From the vCenter desktop, open StartAll ProgramsMicrosoft SQL Server 2005Configuration ToolsSQL
Server Configuration Manager.
15. Click SQL Server Network ConfigurationProtocols for SQLEXPRESS.
16. Right-click TCP/IP, and select Enabled.
17. Click SQL Servicesright-click SQL Server browser, and select Properties.
18. In the SQL Server Browser properties, select the services tab, change the start mode to Automatic, and click OK.
19. Start the SQL Server browser service.
Installing Citrix Provisioning Services
1. Click on StartAdministrative ToolsServer ManagerFeaturesAdd Features.
2. Select .NET Framework 3.5.1 Features, and click Add Required Role Services.
3. On the Web Server (ISS) screen, click Next.
4. On the Select Role Services screen, click Next, and click Install.
5. On the successful installation screen, click Close.
6. Execute Citrix Provisioning Services x64.exe.
25. A Principled Technologies test report 25Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
7. To install the required items, click Install.
8. At the Welcome Screen, click Next.
9. Click I accept the terms in the license agreement and click Next.
10. Enter a user name and organization, select all users, and click Next.
11. Select a destination folder and click Next.
12. On the Setup Type screen select Complete and click Next, and click Install.
13. Click Finish on the Installation completed screen.
14. Click OK on the PVS Console warning.
15. Click Next on the Provisioning Services Configuration Wizard.
16. At the DHCP Services screen, select The service that runs on another computer.
17. At the PXE Services screen, select The services that runs on this computer.
18. At the Farm Configuration Screen, select Create a farm and click next.
19. At the Database Server Screen, click Browse… select the local SQLEXPRESS instance and click Next.
20. At the New Farm screen, enter the following and click Next:
a. Database name= ProvisioningServices
b. Farm = farm
c. Site = site
d. Collection name = Collection
e. Farm Administrator group = vdi.local/builtin/administrators
21. At the New Store screen, enter Store name = Store and for Path, browse to the root of e:, and click Next.
22. Enter the License Server name and click Next.
23. At the User account screen, select Specified user account, enter the VDIAdministrator Password twice and click
the checkbox next to Configure the database for the account, click Next.
24. Keep the default number of days between password updates and click Next.
25. Keep the primary interface and communication ports and click Next.
26. Select Use the Provisioning Services TFTP service and click Next.
27. Leave the stream service at default and click Next.
28. Click Finish and click Done.
Installing Citrix Provisioning Services Administrative Console
1. Execute Citrix Provisioning Services Console x64.exe.
2. At the welcome screen, click Next.
3. Accept the licensing agreement and click Next.
4. Enter a user name and organization name and click Next.
5. Accept the default install path and click Next.
6. Accept the default install type and click Next.
7. Click Install and Finish.
Configuring Citrix Provisioning Services.
1. Click on StartAll ProgramsCitrixProvisioning ServicesProvisioning Services Console.
2. Right-click Provisioning Services Console and select Connect to farm.
3. Enter IP of provisioning server and click Connect.
4. Under FarmStores right click on Store and select Create a vDisk.
26. A Principled Technologies test report 26Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
5. Enter a filename, adjust the size select Fixed as the type and click Create vDisk.
6. Under FarmSitesSiteDevice Collections right click on Collection and select Create Device.
7. Enter a name for the new device, under Type select Maintenance, under Boot from select Hard Disk, and
enter the MAC address of the XenApp master image.
8. Click on the vDisk tab and under vDisk for this Device select Add….
9. Select the vDisk previously created and click OK twice.
Configuring Boot Server option on Domain Controller
1. Click StartRun and type DHCPmgmt.msc.
2. DHCPdc1.vdi.comIPv4Server Options.
3. Right-click Server Options, and select Configure options.
4. Activate option 66 Boot Server Host Name.
String value = <ip of the provisioning server>
5. Activate option 67 Boot file Name.
String value = ARDBP32.BIN
6. Click OK.
Setting up a VM to host Iperf1 and Iperf2
1. Log into the infra server with the VMware vSphere client.
2. In the vSphere client under Basic Tasks, select Create a new virtual machine.
3. Choose Custom and click Next.
4. Assign the name vCenter to the virtual machine and click Next.
5. Select infra as the host and click Next.
6. Select the appropriate storage and click Next.
7. Choose Virtual Machine Version 8 and click Next.
8. Choose Windows, choose Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit), and click Next.
9. For CPUs, select one virtual processor socket and one core per virtual socket, and click Next.
10. Choose 4GB RAM and click Next.
11. Click 1 for the number of NICs, select VMXNET3, connect to the vdi-net port group, and click Next.
12. Leave the default virtual storage controller and click Next.
13. Keep the default virtual device node (0:0) and click Next.
14. Connect the VM virtual CD-ROM to the Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 installation disk.
15. Click Finish.
16. Right-click the vCenter VM and click Edit settings.
17. Click the Resources tab, click Memory, check the Reserve all guest memory checkbox, and click OK.
18. Start the VM.
19. Repeat steps 1-18 on the SUT server to create Iperf2.
Installing the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system on the VM
1. Open a virtual machine console on Iperf1.
2. Choose the language, time and currency, and keyboard input. Click Next.
3. Click Install Now.
4. Choose Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (Full Installation), and click Next.
5. Accept the license terms and click Next.
27. A Principled Technologies test report 27Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
6. Click Custom.
7. Click the Disk and click Drive options (advanced).
8. Click NewApplyFormat and click Next.
9. After the installation completes, click OK to set the Administrator password.
10. Enter the administrator password twice and click OK.
11. Install VMware Tools. For more information, see
kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=340.
12. Reboot.
13. Connect the machine to the Internet and install all available Windows updates. Restart as necessary.
14. Enable remote desktop access.
15. Change the hostname to vCenter and reboot when the installation prompts you.
16. Set up networking for the data network:
a. Click StartControl Panel, right-click Network Connections, and choose Open.
b. Right-click the VM traffic NIC and choose Properties.
c. Uncheck TCP/IP (v6).
d. Select TCP/IP (v4), and choose Properties.
e. Set the IP address, subnet, gateway, and DNS server.
17. Join the VDI domain.
18. Reboot the system.
19. Download and extract sourceforge.net/projects/iperf/files/ to the c: directory.
20. Repeat steps 1-18 on the SUT server to create Iperf2.
Configuring VM-FEX
We configured Cisco UCS Manager to communicate with the vCenter. Once linked a distributed vSwitch was
created and a VM-FEX port group was registered for use.
Configuring Cisco UCS integration with the vCenter
1. Open UCS Manager.
2. Select the VM tab, and click VMware in the right pane.
3. Click Configure VMware integration.
4. In the Configure VMware integration box, click Export to export the vCenter extension plugin.
5. Choose a save location and click OK.
6. Open vSphere client, select the Plug-ins drop down menu, and select Manage plug-ins….
7. Right-click the Plugin manager and select New plug-in….
8. Browse to the location specified in step 5 and click Register plug-in.
9. Ignore the certificate error.
Configuring a DVS for VM-FEX
1. Open UCS Manager.
2. Select the VM tab, and click VMware in the right pane.
3. Select VMware, right-click and select configure vCenter.
4. Type vCenter for name and type the IP of the vCenter.
5. Do not add a folder and click Next.
6. Do not add a Datacenter and click Next.
28. A Principled Technologies test report 28Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
7. Right-click vCenter and select Create datacenter.
8. Name the Data Center and click Next.
9. Click Add to add a folder.
10. Name the folder and click Next.
11. Click add DVS.
12. Name the DVS and click enable and OK.
13. Click Finish.
Creating port profiles on the Distributed vSwitch
1. In the UCS Manager, right-click Port Profiles.
2. Create a port profile:
Name: platinum
QoS policy = platinum
Select VLAN 100 and select native vlan
For Host Network I/O performance, select High performance.
Creating Profile clients on the Distributed vSwitch
1. In the UCS Manager, expand the Port profiles icon.
2. Right-click Port profile named platinum and select Create profile client.
3. Name the Port profile client platinum, select the appropriate folder and DVS, and click OK.
SETTING UP THE XENAPP HOSTED SHARED DESKTOP FARM
To create an 8 node Citrix hosted shared desktop farm on our Cisco UCS B200 M3 server (SUT), we created a
gold image virtual machine, installed Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 and installed Citrix XenApp with all applications
necessary for testing. We created streaming vDisk from the gold image with Citrix Provisioning Services. We then
deployed eight Citrix XenApp Virtual machines using the Provisioning services streamed VM setup Wizard.
Setting up a VM to host Citrix XenApp
1. Log into the SUT server with the VMware vSphere client.
2. In the vSphere client under Basic Tasks, select Create a new virtual machine.
3. Choose Custom and click Next.
4. Assign the name XenAppGold to the virtual machine and click Next.
5. Select infra as the host and click Next.
6. Select the appropriate storage, and click Next.
7. Choose Virtual Machine Version 8, and click Next.
8. Choose Windows, choose Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit), and click Next.
9. For CPUs, select one virtual processor socket and four cores per virtual socket, and click Next.
10. Choose 12GB RAM, and click Next.
11. Click 12 for the number of NICs, select VMXNET3, connect to the vdi-net port group, and click Next.
12. Leave the default virtual storage controller, and click Next.
13. Keep the default virtual device node (0:0), and click Next.
14. Connect the VM virtual CD-ROM to the Microsoft Windows 2008 R2 installation disk.
15. Click Finish.
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Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
16. Right-click the vCenter VM, and click Edit settings.
17. Click the Resources tab, click Memory, check the Reserve all guest memory checkbox, and click OK.
18. Start the VM.
Installing the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system on the VM
1. Open a virtual machine console on XenAppGold.
2. Choose the language, time and currency, and keyboard input. Click Next.
3. Click Install Now.
4. Choose Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise (Full Installation) and click Next.
5. Accept the license terms and click Next.
6. Click Custom.
7. Click the Disk and click Drive options (advanced).
8. Click NewApplyFormat and click Next.
9. After the installation completes, click OK to set the Administrator password.
10. Enter the administrator password twice and click OK.
11. Install VMware Tools. For more information, see
kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=340.
12. Reboot.
13. Connect the machine to the Internet and install all available Windows updates. Restart as necessary.
14. Enable remote desktop access.
15. Change the hostname to XenAppGold and reboot when the installation prompts you.
16. Set up networking for the data network:
a. Click StartControl Panel, right-click Network Connections, and choose Open.
b. Right-click the VM traffic NIC and choose Properties.
c. Uncheck TCP/IP (v6).
d. Select TCP/IP (v4) and choose Properties.
e. Set the IP address, subnet, gateway, and DNS server.
17. Join the VDI domain.
18. Reboot the system.
Installing XenApp Server 6.5
1. Insert media for Citrix Provisioning services 6.5.
2. Click on Install XenApp Server.
3. Click OK to install .NET 3.5 SP1 Framework.
4. At the XenApp Server Role Manager, screen click on Add server roles.
5. Select Platinum Edition.
6. Select I accept the terms of this license agreement and click Next.
7. Under Common Roles, select XenApp and click Next.
8. At the roles subcomponents screen, click Next.
9. At the Review prerequisites screen, click Next.
10. At the Ready to install screen, click Install.
11. Click Finish and restart the server.
12. After the server restarts, click on Resume Install.
30. A Principled Technologies test report 30Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
13. At the ready to Install screen, click on Install.
14. Click Finish after the server roles install.
15. Under Server Configuration Task, click on Specify Licensing.
16. Enter the License server name and test the connection, click Next.
17. Select XenApp as the licensing mode and click Apply.
18. Under Server Configuration Task, click on Configure.
19. Click on Create a new server farm.
20. Enter NewFarm under farm name and VDIadministrator under administrator account, click Next.
21. Click on Existing Microsoft SQL Server database and click Next.
22. Enter the Database server name and Database name and click Next.
23. Enter administrator credentials, test the connection, and click Next.
24. At the Configure shadowing screen, click Next.
a. At the Specify advanced server settings screen, click Next.
b. At the ready to configure screen, click Apply.
c. At the Server configured successfully screen, click Finish.
d. Reboot the server.
Installing Applications on XenApp Server 6.5
1. Click StartControl PanelInstall Application on Remote Desktop Server.
2. At the Install program from floppy disk or CD-ROM, click Next.
3. Click Browser and select Office 2010.exe, click Open, click Next, and run Setup.
4. Enter the product key for Office 2010 and click Continue.
5. Accept the licensing agreement.
6. Select Install Now.
7. Click StartControl PanelInstall Application on Remote Desktop Server.
8. At the Install program from floppy disk or CD-ROM, click Next.
9. Click Browser and select Login VSI Target Setup.exe, click Open, click Next, and run Setup.
10. In the Target Setup wizard, specify the VSI share DC1share.
11. Click Start.
12. At the security warnings, click OK.
13. When the installation is complete, reboot the system.
Installing Provisioning Services Target Device on XenApp Server 6.5
1. Execute Citrix Provisioning Services Target Device x64.exe.
2. At the welcome screen, click Next.
3. Accept the licensing agreement and click Next.
4. Enter a user name and organization name, and click Next.
5. Accept the default install path and click Next.
6. At the Ready to Install the Program screen, click Install.
7. At the Installation Wizard Completed, click Finish.
8. Restart the server.
9. Install the Windows6.1 KB2550978-x64 Microsoft Update Standalone Package.
10. Restart the server.
31. A Principled Technologies test report 31Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
Creating a VM template for Provisioning Services
1. Shut down XenAppGold Virtual Machine.
2. On vCenter clone the Virtual Machine and name it GoldTemplate.
3. Before cloning, edit the virtual hardware and click Continue.
4. Select Hard disk 1 and click Remove.
5. Select Remove from virtual machine and delete files from disk, click OK.
6. Right click on GoldTemplate and select TemplateCovert to template.
Provisioning Services Imaging Wizard
1. Launch the Citrix XenApp Server Role Manager.
2. Under Server Configuration Tasks select Edit Configuration.
3. Select Prepare this server for imaging and provisioning.
4. Select Remove the current server instance from the farm and clear database location settings from this server,
and click Next. Click Apply.
5. Click StartImaging Wizard.
6. At the Welcome screen, click Next.
7. At the Connect to Farm screen, enter the Provisioning Services Server information and click Next.
8. Select use existing vDisk and choose the previously created vDisk. Click Next.
9. At the Microsoft Volume Licensing screen, select None and click Next.
10. At the Configure Image Volumes, click on Autofit and click Next.
11. At the Existing Target Device screen, click Next.
12. At the Summary of Farm Changes screen, click Optimize for Provisioning Services, and click OK.
13. Click Finish, and shut down the server.
14. In vCenter, right-click the XenApp master image VM and click Edit settings.
15. Click Options tabBoot options, check the box to force BIOS Setup, and click OK.
16. In the VM BIOS, tab to the Boot menu and change the boot order to:
a. Network boot from VMware VMXNET3
b. Removable Devices
c. Hard Drive
d. CD-ROM Drive
17. Tab to Exit and save exiting changes.
18. On the boot menu, select the vDisk and hit enter.
19. When the VM boots, it will boot from PXE and Provisioning services will stream the vDisk to the device.
20. Log in as VDIadministrator.
21. Provisioning services will now copy XenApp master image to the vDisk.
22. Click Finish.
23. Shut down XenApp master image.
Deploying a XenApp pool with the Streamed VM Setup Wizard.
1. Open the Provisioning services consoleFarmsitessitevDisk Pool and right click the vDisk.
2. Select Properties and change the Access mode to Standard Image and Cache type to Cache on server. Click OK.
3. Go to Farmsites, right-click Site, and select XenDesktop Setup Wizard.
4. At the welcome screen, click Next.
32. A Principled Technologies test report 32Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
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5. At the Hypervisor connection, select VMware vSphere/ESX and enter credentials for the vCenter VM. Click Next.
6. Select the Cluster or Host and click Next.
7. Select GoldTemplate and click Next.
8. Select the Provisioning services collection and vDisk, and click Next.
9. Enter the following and click Next:
a. Number of virtual machines=6
b. vCPUs=4
c. Memory=12288 MB
d. Active Directory=Create New accounts
10. For Active directory location, click VDI.comLogin_VSIcomputers.
11. For Base name, type XenApp#, and click Next.
12. Click Finish and click Done.
Configuring the XenApp Server Farm
1. On the Provisioning Server VM, put the vDisk in Private Access mode.
2. Power on XenApp1 VM.
3. Click on StartAdministrative ToolsCitrixXenApp Server Role Management XenApp Server Role Manager.
4. Under Server Configuration Task, click on Configure.
5. Click on Create a new server farm.
6. Enter XenAppFarm under farm name and VDIadministrator under administrator account, click Next.
7. Click on Existing Microsoft SQL Server database and click Next.
8. Enter the Database server name and Database name, and click Next.
9. Enter administrator credentials, test the connection, and click Next.
10. At the Configure shadowing screen, click Next.
11. At the Specify advanced server settings screen, click Next.
12. At the ready to configure screen, click Apply.
13. At the Server configured successfully screen, click Finish.
14. Restart the server.
15. Click on StartAdministrative ToolsCitrixManagement ConsolesCitrix AppCenter.
16. Click on Disable Authenticode signature checking.
17. At the Configure and run discovery screen, click Next.
18. At the Select Products or Components screen select XenApp and click Next.
19. At the Select Servers screen, Click Add Local Computer and Click Next.
20. At the Preview Discovery screen, click Next. Click Finish.
Joining the XenApp Server Farm
1. On the Provisioning Server VM, put the vDisk in Standard Access mode.
2. Power on all XenApp servers.
3. Log into all the XenApp servers and click on StartAdministrative ToolsCitrixManagement ConsolesCitrix
AppCenter.
4. At the Welcome screen, click Next.
5. At the Select Products or Components screen, select XenApp and click Next.
6. At the Select Servers screen, Click Add…, type XenApp1,click OK, and Click Next.
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7. At the Preview Discovery screen, click Next. Click Finish.
Publishing Applications on the XenApp Server Farm
1. On Citrix AppCenter, go to XenAppFarm and right-click Applications.
2. Click on Publish application.
3. At the welcome screen, click Next.
4. Enter a Display name and click Next.
5. Under Choose the type of application to publish, select Server desktop and click Next.
6. At the Servers screen, click Add…, select all XenApp Servers, and click Next.
7. Under users, click Add…, select the Login_VSI_TS group, and click Next.
8. At the Shortcut presentation screen, click Next.
9. Click Finish.
Creating a load-balancing policy on XenApp Server Farm
1. On Citrix AppCenter, go to XenAppFarm and right-click Load-Balancing Policies.
2. Select Create load-balancing policy.
3. Enter a name for the policy.
4. Under Filters, select Client IP Address.
5. Select Filter based on client IP address and select Apply to all client IP addresses.
6. Click Ok and verify the policy is Enabled.
CREATING WINDOWS 7 ENTERPRISE X64 IMAGE VSI LAUNCHERS
Using the vSphere client, we created a Windows 7 Enterprise x64 VM with the Login VSI launcher software and
cloned it to create twelve Login VSI launchers on the infrastructure server that was not under test.
Setting up a VM to use as a Windows 7 Enterprise (x64) Login VSI launcher
1. Log into the vCenter.
2. In the vSphere client, connect to the vCenter Server and browse to the ESXi host named infra.vdi.local.
3. Click the Virtual Machines tab.
4. Right-click and choose New Virtual Machine.
5. Choose Custom and click Next.
6. Assign the name Launcher to the virtual machine and click Next.
7. Select the appropriate datastore and click Next.
8. Choose Virtual Machine Version 8 and click Next.
9. Choose Windows, choose Microsoft Windows 7 (64-bit), and click Next.
10. Choose 1 virtual socket, 2 cores per virtual socket, and click Next.
11. Choose 4 GB RAM and click Next.
12. Click 1 for the number of NICs, select VMXNET3 and VDI-NET, and click Next.
13. Leave the default virtual storage controller and click Next.
14. Choose to create a new virtual disk and click Next.
15. Make the OS virtual disk size 32 GB, choose thin provision, and click Next.
16. Keep the default virtual device node (0:0), and click Next.
17. Click Finish.
34. A Principled Technologies test report 34Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
18. Click Finish and click OK.
19. Click the Resources tab and click Memory.
20. Click Reserve all guest memory.
21. Click the Hardware tab.
22. Connect the VM virtual CD-ROM to the Microsoft Windows 7 x64 installation disk.
Installing Windows 7 Enterprise (x64)
1. Start the VM.
2. When the installation prompts you, press any key to begin setup.
3. Enter your language preferences and click Next.
4. Click Install.
5. Accept the license terms and click Next.
6. Select Custom and select the drive that will contain the OS.
7. Click Install and the setup begins.
8. Type user for the username, change the computer name, and click Next.
9. Enter a password and click Next.
10. For system protection, select Use recommended settings, and click Next.
11. Enter your time zone and click Next.
12. Select the Work Network setting and click Next.
13. Use Windows Update to patch the Windows 7 installation.
14. Install VMware Tools. For more information, see
kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=340
15. Reboot.
16. Join the vdi.local domain and reboot.
Adjusting page file on the launcher
1. Log in as vdiadministrator.
2. Right-click ComputerPropertiesChange settingsAdvancedPerformanceSettings.
3. In Performance settings, select the Advanced tab and select Change for Virtual Memory.
4. Deselect Automatically manage page file.
5. Select Custom size, type 6144 for both values, and select Set.
Disabling Windows Firewall
The domain GPO automatically disables the Windows Firewall.
Installing the Citrix Receiver for Windows (ver 3.4)
1. Download the Citrix receiver for Windows (www.citrix.com/downloads/citrix-receiver/receivers-by-
platform/receiver-for-windows-34.html).
2. Click Launch and OK.
3. At the welcome screen, click Install.
4. Click Finish.
Installing Virtual Audio Cables
By default, the virtual launchers cannot render audio so we installed Virtual Audio Cables version 4.10
software.muzychenko.net/eng/vac.htm.
1. Download and extract the media.
35. A Principled Technologies test report 35Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
2. Click Setup.
3. Click Yes to begin the install.
4. Click I accept to accept the software license agreement.
5. Click Install.
Installing Login VSI target software on the launcher
1. Browse to VSIinstall mediasetupsLauncher.
2. Run the setup.exe.
3. In the Target Setup wizard, specify the VSI share (dc1share).
4. Click Start.
5. Reboot the system.
6. Shut down the launcher VM.
Cloning the launcher
We created a template from the VM named launcher and deployed twelve launchers using the sysprep
functionality built into vCenter. For more information on how to clone virtual machines in VMware vCenter, please read
www.vmware.com/support/pubs/vsphere-esxi-vCenter-server-pubs.html.
Login VSI testing pre-configuration
Before running the tests, we created 140 roaming profiles on the dc1profiles share, and 140 redirected
folders the dc1folders share.
Running the Login VSI benchmark
We used twelve launchers configured in parallel to run a medium workload of up to 140 user sessions on the
Citrix XenApp Farm. Before we tested, we changed the adaptor of all 8 XenApp VMs and Iperf2 to use the vdi-net
portgroup. We started the Iperf job, and then ran the login VSI test. After the test had completed, we rebooted our
launchers and XenApp servers, waited for both to become idle, and then re-ran our tests to confirm our results. We then
set all XenApp VMs and Iperf2 to use the VM-FEX port group and reran our test and confirmation tests.
For more information on how to run a Login VSI test, see: www.loginvsi.com/en/admin-guide/performing-tests.
Running the Iperf tests
We powered off all XenApp VMs and Launchers from previous testing. We changed the adaptor on Iperf2 to use
the vdi-net port group. We ran 3 Iperf tests, changed the Iperf2 adaptor to use the VM-FEX port group and reran our
tests.
From the server (Iperf2), run “c:biniperf.exe -s -P 0 -i 60 -p 5001 -N -f m”
For client (Iperf), run “c:biniperf.exe -c [ipaddress of dest] -P 4 -i 60 -p 5001 -w 8972.0b -N -l 8.0M -f m -t 600 -
d -r –L”
Login VSI testing (4 Gbps)
From the server (Iperf2) run “biniperf.exe -s -P 0 -i 60 -p 5001 -N -f m”
For client (Iperf), run “ c:biniperf.exe -c [ipaddress of dest] -P 8 -i 60 -p 5001 -N -f m -t 5400 -d -r -L 5001
Extreme conditions (10 Gbps)”
From the server (Iperf2), run “c:biniperf.exe -s -P 0 -i 60 -p 5001 -N -f m”
For client (Iperf), run “c:biniperf.exe -c [ipaddress of dest] -P 4 -i 60 -p 5001 -w 8972.0b -N -l 8.0M -f m -t 600 -
d -r –L”
36. A Principled Technologies test report 36Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
APPENDIX C - LOGIN VSI INI AND CSV FILES USED FOR TESTING
[Launcher]
Servername=
Username=
Password=
Domain=
CommandPassword=
ConnectionType="Custom with CSV file"
ConnectionNumber=User
CCL="dc1shareICAConnectICAConnect.exe" /uselb /server xenapp1 /user %CSV_user% /application pool /password
Password1 /domain ferber /encryption RC5-128 /color 24Bit /resolution 1024x768
CSV=dc1sharecsvuser.csv
Launchmode=Parallel
PreTestScript=
PostTestScript=
ParallelDelay=10
ParallelTimeframe=2520
InitialStartNumber=1
NumberOfSessions=140
SequentialInterval=10
Fancy_number=1
Autologoff=1
LogoffTimeOut=900
CreateProfile=0
UseLocalLauncher=0
[user.csv]
target,User
xenapp1,login_vsi1
xenapp2,login_vsi2
xenapp3,login_vsi3
xenapp4,login_vsi4
xenapp5,login_vsi5
xenapp6,login_vsi6
xenapp7,login_vsi7
xenapp8,login_vsi8
xenapp1,login_vsi9
xenapp2,login_vsi10
xenapp3,login_vsi11
…
xenapp1,login_vsi137
xenapp2,login_vsi138
xenapp3,login_vsi139
xenapp4,login_vsi140
37. A Principled Technologies test report 37Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
[Iperf commands]
Login VSI testing (4 Gbps)
From the server (Iperf2) run “biniperf.exe -s -P 0 -i 60 -p 5001 -N -f m”
For client (Iperf), run “ c:biniperf.exe -c [ipaddress of dest] -P 8 -i 60 -p 5001 -N -f m -t 5400 -d -r -L 5001
Extreme conditions (10 Gbps)”
From the server (Iperf2), run “c:biniperf.exe -s -P 0 -i 60 -p 5001 -N -f m”
For client (Iperf), run “c:biniperf.exe -c [ipaddress of dest] -P 4 -i 60 -p 5001 -w 8972.0b -N -l 8.0M -f m -t 600 -
d -r –L”
39. A Principled Technologies test report 39Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
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140 sessions, CPU % core usage
Cisco VM-FEX vSwitch
Figure 12: CPU utilization throughout our test. When we reached between 80 and 90 percent utilization, we stopped adding
sessions and ended the test.
40. A Principled Technologies test report 40Citrix XenApp hosted shared desktop performance on Cisco UCS:
Cisco VM-FEX vs. traditional vSwitch
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