The document discusses the implementation of software-defined storage (SDS) using Nexenta's NV4V in a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) setting, highlighting its advantages such as improved performance, reduced storage complexity, and better resource utilization. Key takeaways include optimizations for faster deployment and a higher number of virtual desktops on limited hardware. The results show significant enhancements in user experience and operational efficiency through real-world testing and deployment strategies.

1. Delivering SDS simplicity
and extreme performance
Real-World SDS implementation of
getting most out of limited hardware
Murat Karslioglu
Director Storage Systems – Nexenta Systems
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
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2. Agenda
•
•
•
•
•
Key Takeaways
Introduction
Performance Results
Conclusion
Q&A
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
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3. Key Takeaways
• VDI as a case study of SDS delivering multitenancy and on-demand provisioning
• Remove storage from the VDI admin's plate
• Get higher VDI density and better
performance out of the limited hardware
resources
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
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4. Consolidate. Simplify. Virtualize. Monitor
• We picked an affordable branch office server:
• Limited resources, NOT a great fit for VDI
• Intel® Xeon® E5-2400 series 6 core processor
• 48 Gigabytes of RAM
• Three 2.5” size HDDs (No SSDs)
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
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5. Challanges
HIGH STORAGE
COST
VDI (storage)
PERFORMANCE
IS BAD
BAD END USER
EXPERIENCE
LIMITED
RESOURCES
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
TOO COMPLEX
FAILED POCs
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6. The storage guessing game
Connection Broker
Connection
Agent
Connection
Agent
Connection
Agent
Connection
Agent
Connection
Agent
Management
Server
Hypervisor
Physical Servers
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
Shared Storage
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7. How does NV4V Remove the
storage guessing game?
Integrate VDI and Storage
 In depth integration between NexentaVSA and
VMware Horizon View, vSphere, vCenter
 New features to optimize storage
 A user friendly application to simplify and
automate
 NAS VAAI Integration
 Real-world concrete SDS implementation
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
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8. NV4V as software-defined-storage
Deploy
Measure
Configure
Step function increments to meet performance
requirements (Bandwidth, latency and IOPS)
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
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9. NV4V High-level Architecture
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
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10. NV4V VDI Deployment Overview
1. NV4V->vCenter: Provision NFS network
(N/A with external NexentaStor)
2. NV4V->vCenter: Provision VSA. (N/A
with external NexentaStor)
3. NV4V->vCenter: Create and attach
VMDK datastores, Power on VSA. (N/A with
external NexentaStor)
4. NV4V->VSA: Create zpools and NFS
shares. (Opt. with external NexentaStor)
ESXi Cluster
(NV4V
Communicates
with Desktop
Nexenta Agents
For Benchmark
and Calibration)
5. NV4V->View: Deploy desktop pool.
VMDKs
on ESXi
host disks
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
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11. NV4V VDI Deployment Overview
Process
Point of View
Create VMDK(s) for
VSA syspool
(resilver if mirrored)
ClusterT&E
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Create resource
pool for VSA
ClusterT&E
3
Clone NexentaStor
VSA template
ClusterT&E
4
Confirm VMware
Tools on VSA
Assign DHCP
address to VSA
Network interface
Event
8
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Mount NFS datastores
to all hypervisors
ClusterT&E
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
ClusterT&E
Full-clones only: Clone
desktop image from
template to NFS
Desktop filesystem
once for every desktop
Activity
ClusterT&E
Customize desktops
Activity
Event, VDI
Finish when target
number of desktop
pool size is hit
ClusterT&E
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Entitlements
Activity
Event
ZpoolHistory,
Event
VSA
Verify DHCP and
Reverse mapping
Share NFS filesystems
Linked-clones only:
Create VMs, store
linked clones in NFS
Desktop fielsystem
ZpoolHistory,
Event
Activity
Event
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ClusterT&E
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Linked-clones only:
Create and configure
zpools , by default two
zpools, Replica and
Desktop; Only one for
all SSD desktop pool
Linked-clones only:
Copy Replica image
from snapshot to NFS
Replica filesystem
ZpoolHistory,
Event
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ClusterT&E
Configure ZFS
tunables and reboot
Activity
Event
ClusterT&E
Configure port group set MTU to 9000 for
NFS network
Start deployment
through VMware View
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6
Create Port Group or
use existing one for
NFS network
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ClusterT&E
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13
Power on VSA
ClusterT&E
Event
5
Attach datastores to
the VSA, one by one
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ClusterT&E
10
Reconfigure VSA Set resources,
reservations and
limits
Create VMDK
datastores for data
Point of View
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Process
Point of
View
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1
Process
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12. NV4V VDI Deployment Overview
VSA VMDK’s and NFS Shares
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
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13. Improving performance with NV4V
Nexenta NV4V + Server + VMware View
=
Perfect Branch Office Solution
3x Higher Density
11x Better End-user Experience
• Tested with LoginVSI
• Tested with IoMeter (75%Write)
With NV4V
Medium Workload
55 Desktops*
18 Desktops
Heavy Workload
37 Desktops
12 Desktops
With NV4V
• Simplified deployment
• On-demand storage
• Monitoring
With NV4V
Local Disk
55 Desktops
Local Disk
18 Desktops
18 Desktops**
IoMeter Total IOPS 2343 IOPS
IoMeter
42.6 IOPS
IOPS/Desktop
• Backup/Restore
• NAS VAAI
• Software RAID
2160 IOPS 198 IOPS
120 IOPS
11 IOPS
• Inline Compression
• Caching on memory (ARC)
• Other ZFS Benefits
*VSImax not reached, 55 desktop is due to memory limitation on Cisco UCS E Series platform
** VSImax 18 with local disk
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
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14. Improving performance with NV4V
Speed up full clone deployment
First-time in world’s history NV4V utilizes NAS VAAI to provide ZFS to
CoW-clone files to deploy persistent VM images much faster, while at the
same time saving on the storage capacity
5.4x faster to deploy full clones
• Comparison is for 24 full clone desktops
w/ NAS VAAI
2min 36sec
13min 36sec
Clone&custimization
4min 38sec
18min 10sec
Total deployment
• NAS VAAI utilizes enhanced Deduplication*
w/ NAS VAAI
w/o NAS VAAI
Used Storage
48 GB
408 GB
Dedup ratio
x22.82
x1
w/o NAS VAAI
Pure cloning time
8.5x saving on storage capacity
2hours 38min 7hours 28min
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
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15. Conclusion
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Desktop Pool running on local HDD take longer to login and start apps, causing
increased CPU utilization,
Single drive cannot handle more than 15 desktops efficiently. High random disk
I/O causes CPU spikes resulting in dropped or frozen sessions, Storage is the
most important component of virtualization, can also reduce CPU utilization,
NV4V Benefit #1: SDS removes the storage guessing from admin’s plate
NV4V Benefit #2: Inline compression reduces writes up to 4x
NV4V Benefit #3: Striping two drives doubles disk performance
NV4V Benefit #4: NAS VAAI reduces full-clone deployment time and saves disk
capacity
NV4V Benefit #5: Reduced disk I/O and increased storage performance reduces
CPU utilization
NV4V Benefit #6: NV4V provides faster storage than world’s fastest SSDs
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
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16. LogiNVSI Medium Workload
55 linked-clone Desktops starting
medium workload on local disk
Before NV4V
CPU Utilization
10 Desktops – 66%
15 Desktops – 81%
18 Desktops – 88%
20 Desktops – 90%
25 Desktops – 100%
>25 - Sessions
dropped and
desktops became
unresponsive
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
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17. LogiNVSI Medium Workload
55 linked-clone Desktops starting
medium workload on NV4V
With NV4V
CPU Utilization
10 Desktops – 45%
25 Desktops – 75%
30 Desktops – 78%
35 Desktops – 80%
40 Desktops – 81%
45 Desktops – 82%
50 Desktops – 84%
55 Desktops – 88%
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
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18. LogiNVSI Medium Workload
55 linked-clone Desktops running
medium workload on NV4V
With NV4V
Recommended VSImax:
VSImax not reached*
Baseline = 2209
55 Desktops max
88% CPU utilization
Desktops are highly responsive
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
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19. LogiNVSI Heavy Workload
50 linked-clone Desktops
starting heavy workload on NV4V
With NV4V
CPU Utilization
10 Desktops – 47%
25 Desktops – 76%
30 Desktops – 79%
37 Desktops – 85%
40 Desktops – 90%
45 Desktops – 92%
50 Desktops – 94%
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
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20. LogiNVSI Heavy Workload
CPU utilization during
1 hour IOMETER test (/w NAS VAAI with full-clones)
Threshold: < 90%
Average utilization
running IOmeter is
~84%
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
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21. DISK BENCHMARK
SDS solution turned slow HDDs into fastest SSD speed
Santa Clara, CA USA
October 2013
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