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Tag Archives: VDI
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So You Virtualized Your Desktop Environment. Now what?

(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2015/05/virtualized-desktop-environment-now.html)
Posted on May 14, 2015 (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2015/05/virtualized-desktop-environment-now.html) by juliap (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/author/juliap)
(http://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/les/2013/03/mmarx.php_.jpg) By
Mike Marx
Most of my customers start with a low-risk user group consisting of a large number of users with identical
application requirements. This is the common scenario when starting out on the virtual desktop
infrastructure (VDI) journey and testing the waters. With proper design eorts, initial implementations are
highly successful.
I spend the majority of my consulting eort working with customers helping them create their initial VDI
design. Designs can be simple or complicated, but they all utilize a common technical approach for
success: understanding user requirements, and calculating infrastructure sizing. But Im not blogging
about technical calculations or infrastructure sizing. Instead I would like to address a VDI design challenge
customers face as they expand their VDI design: user application assignments.
https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vdi
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customers face as they expand their VDI design: user application assignments.
While resource requirements are simple to assess, calculate and scale, application delivery becomes increasingly challenging as
more users are added to the design. VDI administrators struggle to manage increasing numbers of desktop users each having
unique application requirements.
Applications are easy to add to a large static group of user desktops using linked-clones. But when unique user groups are
introduced, and application requirements change, administrators are confronted with the challenge of maintaining a large number
of small desktop pools or impacting large groups of users in order to change an application assignment.
So how do we design an eective stateless desktop and maintain application diversity amongst unique user groups? VMware
Horizon AppVolumes is the answer.
Using AppVolumes, VDI designs become simple to understand and implement. Once applications are eectively removed from the
VDI desktop, VDI administrators are left with a simple stateless desktop. But users arent productive with an empty desktop
operating system; they need applications and lots of them.
Without going into deep technical detail (there are excellent blogs on this topic already) AppVolumes captures the application les,
folders and registry components, and encapsulates them into a transportable virtual disk called an AppStack. As the user logs on to
a stateless desktop, the assigned AppStack(s) will automatically attach and merge the users applications with the desktop virtual
machine.
Now users are presented with a stateless desktop that is uniquely assembled with all of their applications. AppVolumes attached
applications interact with other applications and the operating systemas if they were natively installed, so the user experience is
seamless.
Now that applications are no longer an impediment to VDI designs, VDI administrators are able to support large groups of users
and application requirements using the same stateless desktop pool. By following the KISS principle: Keep It Simply Stateless,
AppVolumes will open the door to new design possibilities and wider adoption by users and IT administrators.
Mike Marx is a Consulting Architect with the End User Computing group at VMware. He has been an active consultant using
VMware technologies since 2005. His certications include : VCAP-DTD, VCP-DT, VCA-WM, VCA-DT, VCP2-5 as well as being an
expert in VMware View, Thinapp, vSphere and SRM.
This entry was posted in End User Computing (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/end-user-computing) , IT Best Practices (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/it-best-practices) and tagged
AppStacks (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/appstacks) , End User Computing (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/end-user-computing) , Horizon
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/horizon) ,
Mike Marx (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/mike-marx) , VDI (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vdi) , VDI design
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vdi-design) on
May 14, 2015 [https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2015/05/virtualized-desktop-environment-now.html] by juliap

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(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/author/juliap) .
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VDI Current Capacity Details (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2014/11/vdi-current-capacity-details.html)

Posted on November 20, 2014 (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2014/11/vdi-current-capacity-details.html) by juliap (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/author/juliap)
(http://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/les/2014/09/pic.jpg)
By Anand Vaneswaran
In my previous post, I provided instructions on constructing a high-level at-a-glance VDI dashboard in
vRealize Operations for Horizon, one that would aid in troubleshooting scenarios. In the second of this
three-part blog series, I will be talking about constructing a custom dashboard that will take a holistic view
of my vSphere HA clusters that run my VDI workloads in an eort to understand current capacity. The
ultimate objective would be to place myself in a better position in not only understanding my current
capacity, but I better hope that these stats help me identify trends to be able to help me forecast capacity.
In this example, Im going to try to gain information on the following:
Total number of running hosts
Total number of running VMs
VM-LUN densities
Usable RAM capacity (in a N+1 cluster conguration)
vCPU to pCPU density (in a N+1 cluster conguration)
Total disk space used in percentage.
You can either follow my lead and recreate this dashboard step-by-step, or simply use this as a guide and create a dashboard of
your own for the most important capacity metrics you care about. In my environment, I have ve (5) clusters comprising of full-clone
VDI machines and three (3) clusters comprising of linked-clone VDI machines. I have decided to incorporate eight (8) Generic
Scoreboard widgets in a two-column custom dashboard. Im going to populate each of these Generic Scoreboard widgets with
the relevant stats described above.
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the relevant stats described above.
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(http://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/les/2014/11/anand_vdi_1.png)
Once my widgets have been imported, I will rearrange my dashboard so that the left side of the screen occupies full-clone clusters
and the right side of the screen occupies linked-clone clusters. Now, as part of this exercise I determined that I needed to create
super metrics to calculate the following metrics:
VM-LUN densities
Usable RAM capacity (in a N+1 cluster conguration)
vCPU to pCPU density (in a N+1 cluster conguration)
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Total disk space used in percentage

With that being said, lets begin! The rst super metric I will create will be called SM Cluster LUN Density. Im going to design my
super metric with the following formula:
sum(This Resource:Deployed|Count Distinct VM)/sum(This Resource:Summary|Total Number of Datastores)
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In this super metric I will attempt to nd out how many VMs reside in my datastores on average. The objective is to make sure Im
abiding by the recommended conguration maximums of allowing a certain number of virtual machines to reside on my VMFS
volume.
The next super metric I will create is called SM Cluster N+1 RAM Usable. I want to calculate the usable RAM in a cluster in an N+1
conguration. The formula is as follows:
(((sum(This Resource:Memory|Usable Memory (KB)/sum(This Resource:Summary/Number of Running Hosts))*.80)*(sum(This
Resource:Summary/Number of Running Hosts)-1))/10458576
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Okay, so clearly there is a lot going on in this formula. Allow me to try to break it down and explain what is happening under the
hood. Im calculating this stat for an entire cluster. So what I will do is take the usable memory metric (installed) under the Cluster
Compute Resource Kind. Then I will divide that number by the total number of running hosts to give me the average usable
memory per host. But hang on, there are two caveats here that I need to take into consideration if I want an accurate
representation of the true overall usage in my environment:
1)
I dont think I want my hosts running at more than 80 percent capacity when it
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1)
I dont think I want my hosts running at more than 80 percent capacity when it
comes to RAM utilization. I always want to leave a little buer. So my utilization factor will be 80 percent or .8.
2)
I always want to account for the failure of a single host (in some environments, you might want to factor in the failure of two
hosts) in my cluster design so that compute capabilities for running VMs are not compromised in the event of a host failure. Ill
want to incorporate this N+1 cluster conguration design in my formula.
So, I will take the result of my overall usable, or installed, memory (in KB) for the cluster, divide that by the number of running hosts
on said cluster, then multiply that result by the .8 utilization factor to arrive at a number lets call it x this is the amount of real
usable memory I have for the cluster. Next, Im going to take x, then multiply the total number of hosts minus 1, which will give me y.
This will take into account my N+1 conguration. Finally Im going to take y, still in KB, and divide it by (10241024) to convert it to
GB and get my nal result, z.
The next super metric I will create is called SM Cluster N+1 vCPU to Core Ratio. The formula is as follows:
sum(This Resource:Summary|Number of vCPUs on Powered On VMs)/((sum(This Resource:CPU Usage|Provisioned CPU
Cores)/sum(This Resource:Summary|Total Number of Hosts))*(sum(This Resource:Summary|Total Number of Hosts)-1))
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This formula is fairly self-explanatory. Im taking the total space used for that datastore cluster and dividing that by the total capacity
of that datastore cluster. This is going to give me a number greater than 0 and less than 1, so Im going to multiply this number by
100 to give me a percentage output.
Once I have the super metrics I want, I want to attach these super metrics to a package called SM Cluster SuperMetrics.
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The next step would be to tie this package to current Cluster resources as well as Cluster resources that will be discovered in the
future. Navigate to Environment > Environment Overview > Resource Kinds > Cluster Compute Resource. Shift-select the
resources you want to edit, and click on Edit Resource.
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Click the checkbox to enable Super Metric Package, and from the drop-down select SM Cluster SuperMetrics.
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To ensure that this SuperMetric package is automatically attached to future Clusters that are discovered, navigate to Environment >
Conguration > Resource Kind Defaults. Click on Cluster Compute Resource, and on the right pane select SM Cluster
SuperMetrics as the Super Metric Package.
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Now that we have created our super metrics and attached the super metric package to the appropriate resources, we are now
ready to begin editing our Generic Scoreboard widgets. I will tell you how to edit two widgets (one for a full-clone cluster and one
for a linked-clone cluster) with the appropriate data and show its output. We will then want to replicate the same procedures to
ensure that we are hitting every unique full clone and linked clone cluster. Here is an example of what the widget for a full-clone
cluster should look like:
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cluster should look like:
And heres an example of what a widget for a linked-clone cluster should look like:
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Once we replicate the same process and account for all of our clusters, our end-state dashboard should resemble something like
this:
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And we are done. A few takeaways from this lesson:

We delved into the concept of super metrics in this tutorial. Super metrics are awesome resources that allow you the ability to
manipulate metrics and display just the data you want to. In our examples we created some fairly involving formulas, but a very
simple example for why a super metric can be particularly useful would be memory. vRealize Operations Manager displays memory
metrics in KB, but how do we get it to display in GB? Super metrics are your solution here.
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Obviously, every environment is congured dierently and therefore behaves dierently, so you will want to tailor the dashboards
and widgets according to your environment needs, but at the very least the above examples can be a good starting point to build
your own widgets/dashboards.
In my next tutorial, I will walk through the steps for creating a high-level at-a-glance VDI dashboard that your operations command
center team can monitor. With most organizations, IT issues are categorized on a severity basis that are then assigned to the
appropriate parties by a central team that runs point on issue resolution by coordinating with dierent departments. What happens
if a Severity 1 issue happens to aict your VDI environment? How are these folks supposed to know what to look for before placing
that phone call to you? This upcoming dashboard will make it very easy. Stay tuned!!
Anand Vaneswaran is a Senior Technology Consultant with the End User Computing group at VMware. He is an expert in VMware
Horizon (with View), VMware ThinApp, VMware vCenter Operations Manager, VMware vCenter Operations Manager for Horizon,
and VMware Horizon Workspace. Outside of technology, his hobbies include lmmaking, sports, and traveling.
This entry was posted in How-to (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/how-to) and tagged Anand Vaneswaran (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/anand-vaneswaran) , IT Architecture
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/enterprise-architecture) ,
manager) on
VDI (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vdi) , vRealize Operations Manager (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vrealize-operations-
November 20, 2014 [https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2014/11/vdi-current-capacity-details.html] by juliap (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/author/juliap) .
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How-to: Create a vCOPS for View At-A-Glance High-Level VDI Dashboard

(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2014/09/create-vcops-view-glance-high-level-vdi-dashboard.html)
Posted on September 26, 2014 (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2014/09/create-vcops-view-glance-high-level-vdi-dashboard.html) by VMware Professional Services
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/author/molly)
By Anand Vaneswaran
VDI environments are complex because there are so many moving parts. As a result, there is a real need for architects, admins,
managers, or operations professionals to see a high-level breakdown of the most important statsstats that are especially
important when we receive that escalated phone call about an issue that could potentially aect a large number of users.
https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vdiIn this rst post of a three-part blog series, Ill provide details about a high-level VDI custom dashboard in
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In this rst post of a three-part blog series, Ill provide details about a high-level VDI custom dashboard in
vCenter Operations Manager for View that was renamed vCenter Operations Manager for Horizon when
Horizon 6.0 was released. (Ill also assume youre all well versed in VDI.)
To start, some of the stats or information I deeply care about in my test environment are as follows:
1. Viewing the number of
tunneled connections that are
coming in through my security
servers.
2. Viewing the overall health of
my connection servers.
Keeping tabs on the resources (CPU, RAM, Disk) of my
most critical VDI servers (Connection and security
servers, vCenter server, View Composer, etc.).
Monitoring resources (CPU and RAM) on my ESXi hosts
running VDI workloads. (I will go one step further and
break it down into hosts for my full clone pools, and
Download the Step-by-Step
linked clone pools.)
(http://www.vmware.com/les/pdf/VMware-VDI-Dashboard-Step-by-Step.pdf)
Finally, looking at my LUNs and keep tabs on a number of metrics, but most importantly VM-to-LUN densities.
When compiled together, the information listed above comprises the end-state dashboard I want to achieve. The dashboard will
have two generic scoreboard widgets on either side to depict the number of user connections through my security servers and the
workload percentage of my connection servers. In addition, two Health-Workload scoreboard widgets on either side will depict the
health of security and connection servers. The scoreboard is set up so that when you click a particular object in the Generic
Scoreboard widget, the scoreboard is automatically populated with the health of that relevant object.
Finally, I want four Heat Map widgets: one to provide information about critical server resources, two to give me updates on ESXi
host resources, and one to give me details about VM-to-LUN densities. I chose to populate my dashboard with an assortment of
these built-in Generic Scoreboard, Health-Workload, and Heat Map widgets because I nd that these types of widgets provide the
most ecient means of graphically conveying the state of an environment, in essence, a point-in-time snapshot of your
environment at any given time.
Now, if youre ready to build, get detailed, step-by-step instructions (http://www.vmware.com/les/pdf/VMware-VDI-Dashboard-Step-by-Step.pdf) for
creating the dashboard.
Anand Vaneswaran is a senior technology consultant with the End User Computing group at VMware. He is an expert in VMware19/42
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Anand Vaneswaran is a senior technology consultant with the End User Computing group at VMware. He is an expert in VMware
Horizon (with View), VMware ThinApp, VMware vCenter Operations Manager, VMware vCenter Operations Manager for Horizon,
and VMware Horizon Workspace. Outside of technology, his hobbies include lmmaking, sports, and traveling.
This entry was posted in How-to (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/how-to) and tagged Anand Vaneswaran (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/anand-vaneswaran) , Horizon View
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/horizon-view) ,
vCOps (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vcops) , VDI (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vdi) on September 26, 2014
[https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2014/09/create-vcops-view-glance-high-level-vdi-dashboard.html] by
VMware Professional Services (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/author/molly) .
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End User Computing 101: Network and Security (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2014/08/end-user-computing101-net-sec.html)

Posted on August 11, 2014 (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2014/08/end-user-computing-101-net-sec.html) by VMware Professional Services
By TJ Vatsa, Principal Architect, VMware Professional Services

(http://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/les/2013/04/TJ-Vatsa1.jpg)
In my rst post (http://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2014/08/end-user-computing-101-tips-successful-deployments.html) on the topic of

End User Computing (EUC), I provided a few digestible tidbits around infrastructure, desktop and server
power, and storage. In this post, well go a bit further into the infrastructure components that aect user
experience and how users interact with the VDI infrastructure. Well cover network and security, devices,
converged appliances, and desktop as a service.
Lets look a bit more closely at network and security rst.
Network and Security
To ensure acceptable VDI user experience, monitor the bandwidth and latency or jitter of the network. This means performing the
appropriate network assessment by deploying monitoring tools to rst establish a baseline. Once thats completed, youll need to
monitor the network resources against those baselines. As with any network, high latency can negatively aect performance,
though some components are more sensitive to high latency than others.
When deploying Horizon View desktops using the PC-over-IP (PCoIP) remote display protocol in a WAN environment, consider the
Quality of Service (QOS) aspect. Ensure that the round-trip network latency is less than 250 ms. And know that PCoIP is a real-time
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Quality of Service (QOS) aspect. Ensure that the round-trip network latency is less than 250 ms. And know that PCoIP is a real-time
protocol, so it operates just like VoIP, IPTV, and other UDP-based streaming protocols.
To make sure that PCoIP is properly delivered, it needs to be tagged in QoS so that it can compete fairly across the network with
other real-time protocols. To achieve this objective, PCoIP must be prioritized above other non-critical and latency tolerant
protocols (for example, le transfers and print jobs). Failure to tag PCoIP properly in a congested network environment leads to
PCoIP packet loss and a poor user experience, as PCoIP adapts down in response. For instance, tag and classify PCoIP as
interactive real-time trac. (Classify PCoIP just below VoIP, but above all other TCP-based trac.)
For optimizing network bandwidth, ensure that youve got a full-duplex end-to-end network link. Consider segmenting PCoIP trac
via IP Quality of Service (QoS) Dierentiated Services Code Point (DSCP) or a layer 2 Class of Service (CoS) or virtual LAN (VLAN).
While using VPN, ensure that UDP trac is supported.
Enterprise security for corporate virtual desktops is of paramount importance for the successful rollout of VDI infrastructure. It is
highly recommended that an enterprise scale, policy-based management security solution be used to dene and enforce security
policies within the enterprise.
Based on typical customer requirements, secure access to the VDI infrastructure is provisioned via the following user access
modes:
LAN Users: VDI users accessing virtual desktop infrastructure via the corporate LAN network.
VPN Users: VDI users accessing corporate virtual desktop infrastructure via the VPN tunnel.
Public Network Users: VDI users accessing virtual desktop infrastructure via the public network.
(http://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/les/2014/08/TJEUC-img-2.png)
Enforcing authentication and authorization policies is a domain by itself, and is inuenced by industry verticals. For instance, many
hospitals prefer tap-n-go solutions to authenticate and authorize their clinical sta to access devices and Electronic Medical
Record (EMR) applications. The regulatory compliance perspective should not be ignored either when it comes to industry verticals,
such as HIPAA for healthcare industry and PCI for the nancial industry.
Note: The scenario depicted below is that of a typical public network user.
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Horizon View infrastructure can be easily optimized to support any combination of secure VDI user access modes.
Devices
Based on security policies and regulatory compliance standards that are prevalent within the enterprise, I highly recommended
doing a thorough end user devices/endpoints assessment. Youll want to categorize your users based on desktop communities that
support one or more types of endpoints. VMwares Horizon View client supports a variety of endpoints, whether theyre desktops,
laptops, thin clients, zero clients, mobile devices, or tablets that support iOS, Android, Mac OS X, Linux, Windows, HTML Access
just to name a few.
Converged Appliances
The converged appliances industry is rapidly and eectively maturing as more and more customers prefer converged appliances22/42
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The converged appliances industry is rapidly and eectively maturing as more and more customers prefer converged appliances
because they enable faster infrastructure deployment times. From an EUC infrastructure perspective, its important to evaluate
available converged appliance solutions available for your business scenarios.
Vendors are and will be providing customized and optimized solutions for EUC, business continuity and disaster recovery (BCDR)
as x-in-a-box, wherein the required infrastructure components, hardware and software have been validated and optimized to cater
to specic business scenarios.
Desktop as a Service (DaaS)
Some customers worry about EUC datacenter planning, infrastructure procurement, and deployment.
Look to hosted desktop services, such as Horizon DaaS, to address business requirements and use cases that revolve around
development, testing, seasonal bursts, and even BCDR. DaaS can even provide a more economical alternative to traditional
datacenter deployment. For instance, DaaS reduces your up-front costs and lowers your desktop TCO with predictable cloud
economics that enable you to move from CapEx to OpEx in a predictable way.
Plus, users can access Windows desktops and applications from the cloud on any device, including tablets, smartphones, laptops,
PCs, thin clients, and zero clients. DaaS solutions like Horizon DaaS desktops can also be tailored to meet the simplest or most
demanding workloads, from call center software to CAD and 3D graphics packages.
In these rst two posts, weve gotten a good handle on infrastructure, devices, and security. In my next post, Ill cover mobility and
BYOD along with applications and image management, and weave it all together with EUC project methodology.
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TJ has worked at VMware for the past four years, with over 20 years of experience in the IT industry. At VMware TJ has focused on
enterprise architecture and applied his extensive experience to Cloud Computing, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, SOA planning
and implementation, functional/solution architecture, enterprise data services and technical project management.
TJ holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics and Communications from Delhi University and has attained multiple
industry and professional certications in enterprise architecture and technology platforms. TJ is a speaker and a panelist at
industry conferences such as VMworld, VMwares PEX (Partner Exchange) and BEAworld. His passion is the real-life application of
technology to drive successful user experiences and business outcomes.
This entry was posted in End User Computing (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/end-user-computing) and tagged Desktop as a Service (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/desktopas-a-service) ,
End User Computing (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/end-user-computing) , infrastructure (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/infrastructure) , IT Security
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/it-security) ,
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vdi) on
Networking (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/networking) , TJ Vatsa (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/tj-vatsa) , VDI
August 11, 2014 [https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2014/08/end-user-computing-101-net-sec.html] by VMware Professional Services
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/author/molly) .
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End User Computing 101 and Tips for Successful Deployments

(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2014/08/end-user-computing-101-tips-successful-deployments.html)
Posted on August 4, 2014 (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2014/08/end-user-computing-101-tips-successful-deployments.html) by VMware Professional Services
By TJ Vatsa, Principal Architect, VMware Professional Services

The topic of End User Computing (EUC) is heating up. This is not only because our industry considers this to be a dynamic domain
for tremendous innovation today, but also because the industry views great potential for the future and is heavily investing in the
space.
In this three-part blog series, Ill assimilate the vast EUC landscape into digestible tidbits that focus on the infrastructure, mobility
and BYOD, applications and image management, and discuss a typical EUC project scenarios and methodology.
My goal is to provide insight into the things you should consider for your own EUC deployment.
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My goal is to provide insight into the things you should consider for your own EUC deployment.
(http://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/les/2014/08/tjEUCimage.png)
First Things First: Infrastructure

As soon as someone mentions EUC, the rst thing that comes to mind is Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). The very fact that VDI
is deployed in the datacenter, away from individual desktops, means that you must plan the underlying infrastructure in a
systematic and thorough way.
At a minimum, this means allocating key infrastructure resources: compute, storage, network, and security.
It is also imperative that some sort of infrastructure resource assessment tools be deployed to establish a baseline for each of
these infrastructure components.
Desktop and Server Power
Assuming that a baseline has been established for the compute resources in terms of CPU, clock speed, and memory requirements
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Assuming that a baseline has been established for the compute resources in terms of CPU, clock speed, and memory requirements
per desktop, it is important to choose a server conguration with the right processor, clock speed, and physical memory. In turn, this
drives the correct consolidation ratio of virtual desktops per core and, ultimately, for the entire server.
Give careful attention to dierent use cases where specic workloads require dierent combinations of CPU, clock speed, and
memory. You must ensure that you also plan for growth and seasonal/occasional bursts seen in those workloads historically.
For a typical Horizon View deployment, there are two categories of VMs (virtual machines) recommended for deployment inside the
data center: one for management purposes and another for desktop purposes. Management VMs are mainly servers (connection
brokers, databases, etc.) whereas the desktop VMs are the actual virtual desktops.
For a production deployment, VMware recommends creating two separate cluster typesManagement Cluster(s) and Desktop
Cluster(s)to avoid any race conditions that might arise as a result of, say, competing workloads or operational maintenance.
Storage: Key to VDI Success
Having worked with many customers across many dierent industry verticals (healthcare, nancial, entertainment services, and
manufacturing) Ive noticed that theres one critical success factor in common: storage.
For more information about VDI storage and detailed insight into what is important for a successful VDI deployment, read these two
blog posts:
Part I: Storage Boon or Bane VMware View Storage Design Strategy & Methodology (http://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/04/164.html)
Part II: Storage Boon or Bane VMware View Storage Design Strategy & Methodology (http://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/04/part-ii-storageboon-or-bane-vmware-view-storage-design-strategy-methodology.html)
In my next post, Ill cover the remaining considerations around a successful VDI deployment, including network and security,
converged appliances, and desktop as a service. Stay tuned!
TJ has worked at VMware for the past four years, with over 20 years of experience in the IT industry. At VMware TJ has focused on
enterprise architecture and applied his extensive experience to Cloud Computing, Virtual Desktop Infrastructure, SOA planning
and implementation, functional/solution architecture, enterprise data services and technical project management.
TJ holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronics and Communications from Delhi University and has attained multiple
industry and professional certications in enterprise architecture and technology platforms. TJ is a speaker and a panelist at
industry conferences such as VMworld, VMwares PEX (Partner Exchange) and BEAworld. His passion is the real-life application of
technology to drive successful user experiences and business outcomes.
This entry was posted in End User Computing (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/end-user-computing) and tagged End User Computing (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/end-usercomputing) ,
EUC (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/euc) , TJ Vatsa (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/tj-vatsa) , VDI (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vdi) , virtual desktop
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(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/virtual-desktop) on
August 4, 2014 [https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2014/08/end-user-computing-101-tips-successful-deployments.html] by VMware Professional
Services (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/author/molly) .
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Slowing Down for Strategy Speeds Up the Move to Mobile

(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/12/slowing-down-for-strategy-speeds-up-the-move-to-mobile.html)
Posted on December 20, 2013 (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/12/slowing-down-for-strategy-speeds-up-the-move-to-mobile.html) by VMware Professional Services
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/author/miki)
(http://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/les/2013/12/gosborne.jpg) By
Gary Osborne, Senior Solutions Product Manager End
User Computing
Todays workers are more reliant onand demanding ofmobility than ever before. They need
personalized desktops that follow them from work to home. They need to connect from multiple devices
through rich application interfaces. The challenge for IT organizations is that bring-your-own-device
(BYOD) initiatives are often wrapped in, and encumbered by, tactical issuesperpetually pushing strategic
discussion to the back burner.
Working hard, but standing still
By focusing on a tactical approach, many IT organizations nd themselves on the BYOD treadmillthey
get a lot of exercise but never really get anywhere! Developing an overarching strategy before setting out on the journey provides
much needed guidance and positioning along the way. This isnt a step-by-step plan, but rather a clear vision of the business
challenges being addressed and the value being delivered back to the organization. This vision, including direction, a clear
denition of phased success, and dened checkpoints along the way, should be articulated and understood throughout the
organization.
Getting your organization to buy into the importance of an overarching strategy can be a tough sell, especially if near-term goals
are looming. But it will pay o many times over. According to a recent study by IBM, Those IT organizations that treat mobile as
both a high priority and a strategic issue are much more likely to experience the benets that mobile can bring to an organization.
The July report, Putting Mobile First: Best Practices of Mobile Technology Leaders, reveals a strong correlation between mobile
success and establishing a strategic mobile vision, along with external help to implement it.
Take the time but not too much
Those IT organizations that achieve measurable success with their VDI and BYOD initiatives found the right balance between too27/42
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Those IT organizations that achieve measurable success with their VDI and BYOD initiatives found the right balance between too
little time developing a sound strategy and the all-too-common analysis paralysis of taking too much time. we We have worked
with customers that have found that balance in part by keeping a clear focus on the business value that BYOD solutions
(http://www.vmware.com/products/horizon-suite/) can provide and an eye toward what they need to achieve and deliver to the business to
declare success.
Jumping straight to the tactical activities and placing orders for guestimated infrastructure without knowing the strategy that will
support it are two of the most common pitfalls I see lead to failed or stalled BYOD initiatives. By focusing on the value mobility can
deliver to the business rather than get bogged down in the technical details, a strategic exercise can be completed swiftly and
deliberately, meeting the speed of change in todays mobility.
Gary Osborne is an IT industry veteran and is part of the VMWare Global Professional Services (http://www.vmware.com/consulting/)
engineering team responsible for the End User Computing (http://www.vmware.com/products/desktop-virtualization.html) Services Portfolio. Prior to
his current role, he provided eld leadership for the VMware End User Computing Professional Services practice for the Americas.
This entry was posted in End User Computing (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/end-user-computing) and tagged BYOD (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/byod) , BYOD Strategy
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/byod-strategy) ,
Gary Osborne (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/gary-osborne) , Mobile Workforce (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/mobile-workforce) ,
Mobility (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/mobility) , VDI (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vdi) on December 20, 2013 [https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/12/slowing-down-for-strategyspeeds-up-the-move-to-mobile.html] by
VMware Professional Services (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/author/miki) .
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28
It All Starts Here: Internal Implementation of Horizon Workspace at VMware

(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/06/it-all-starts-here-internal-implementation-of-horizon-workspace-at-vmware.html)
Posted on June 18, 2013 (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/06/it-all-starts-here-internal-implementation-of-horizon-workspace-at-vmware.html) by VMware Professional Services
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/author/jamie)
(http://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/les/2013/06/Jim_car_square140.jpg)
By Jim Zhang, VMWare Professional Services Consultant

VMware has had a dogfood tradition since previous CEO Paul Maritz instilled the practice of having
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VMware has had a dogfood tradition since previous CEO Paul Maritz instilled the practice of having
VMware IT deploy VMware products for production use internally. As a VMware employee personally, I can
understand some criticism to this practice, but I denitely believe it serves to build and deliver a solid and
quality product to the market.
Prior to the release of VMwares Horizon Suite, VMware IT provided Horizon Workspace to its employees in
the production environment. Its very exciting! Right now, I can use my iPhone and iPad to access my
company les without being tied to my desk. Also, it is very easy to share a folder and les with other
colleagues, expanding our ability to collaborate and also track various le versions. Additionally, with
Workspace, I can access internal applications without further authentication after I login to the Horizon
portal. Even my entitlement virtual desktops are still there!
While Mason and Ted discuss the IT challenges with mobility computing in this blog (http://bit.ly/13H4JXp) , we at VMware understand
these challenges because we eat our own dogfood. In this blog Id like to share some of the key sizing concepts of each of the
Horizon components and reference which sizes VMware IT utilized to deploy the Horizon Workspace for its 13,000+ employees.
Horizon Workspace is a vApp that generally has 5 Virtual Machines (VM) by default:
(http://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/les/2013/06/Workspace-vApp1.png)
Lets go through each VM and see how to size it in each case:

1. Congurator VA (virtual appliance): This is the rst virtual appliance to be deployed. It is used to congure the vApp from a single
point and deploy and congure the rest of the vApp. The Congurator VA is also used to add or remove other Horizon Workspace
virtual appliances. There can only be one Congurator VA per vApp.
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1x Congurator VA is used. 2vCPU, 2G Memory

2. Connector VA: Enterprise deployments require more than one Connector VA to support dierent authentication methods, such
as RSA SecureID and Kerberos SSO. To provide high availability when deploying more than one Connector VA, you must front-end
the Connector VAs with a load balancer. Each Connector VA can support up to 30,000 users. Specic use cases, such as Kerberos,
ThinApp integration, and View integration, require the Connector VA to be joined to the Windows domain.
6x Connector VA is used. 2 vCPU, 4G Memory
3. Gateway VA: The Gateway VA is the single namespace for all Horizon Workspace interaction. For high availability, place multiple
Gateway VAs behind a load balancer. Horizon Workspace requires one Gateway VA for every two Data VAs, or one Gateway VA for
every 2,000 users.
4x Gateway VA is used: 2 vCPU, 8G Memory
4. Management VA: aka Service VA. Enterprise deployments require two or more Service VAs. Each service VA can handle up to
100,000 users.
2x Service VA is used: 2vCPU, 6G Memory (1 for HA)
5. Data VM: Each Data VA can support up to 1,000 users. At least three Data VAs are required. The rst Data VA is a master data
node, the others are user data nodes. Each user data node requires its own dedicated volume. In proof of concept or small-scale
pilot scenarios, you can use a Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK). For production, you must use NFS.
11x Data VA is used: 6 vCPU, 32G Memory
6. Database: Workspace only supports Postgres. For enterprise deployment best practice is to use an external Postgres database.
2x Postgres Server is used: 4 vCPU, 4G Memory (1 for replication)
7. MS Oce Preview Server: Windows 7 Enterprise or Windows 2008 R2 Standard required; MS Oce 2010 Professional, 64-bit
required;Admin account w/ permissions to create local accounts; Disable UAC; Real-time conversion of documents
3x MS Oce Preview Server: 4vCPU, 4G Memory
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(http://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/les/2013/06/VMware-Architectural-Diagram.png)
If you want to learn more about the real deployment experience and best practices for deploying the Horzion Suite, please contact
your local VMware Professional Services team. They have the breadth of experience and technical ability to help you achieve your
project goals: from planning and design to implementation and maintenance. Also, be on the look out for upcoming Horizon
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project goals: from planning and design to implementation and maintenance. Also, be on the look out for upcoming Horizon
reference guides being released from VMware soon. Good luck!
Jim Zhang joined VMware in November 2007 as a quality engineering manager for VMware View. In 2011, he moved to Professional Services as
consultant and solution architect. Jim has extensive experience in desktop virtualization and workspace solution design and delivery.
This entry was posted in End User Computing (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/end-user-computing) , IT Best Practices (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/it-best-practices) ,
Virtualization (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/virtualization) and tagged Horizon Suite (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/horizon-suite) , Horizon Workspace
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/horizon-workspace) ,
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/thinapp) ,
IT Consulting (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/it-consulting) , Jim Zhang (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/jim-zhang) , ThinApp
VDI (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vdi) , VM (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vm) on June 18, 2013
[https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/06/it-all-starts-here-internal-implementation-of-horizon-workspace-at-vmware.html] by
VMware Professional Services (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/author/jamie)
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Part II: Storage Boon or Bane VMware View Storage Design Strategy & Methodology
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/04/part-ii-storage-boon-or-bane-vmware-view-storage-design-strategy-methodology.html)
Posted on April 23, 2013 (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/04/part-ii-storage-boon-or-bane-vmware-view-storage-design-strategy-methodology.html) by VMware Professional
Services (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/author/jamie)
(http://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/les/2013/04/TJ-Vatsa1.jpg)
By TJ Vatsa, VMWare EUC Consultant
INTRODUCTION Welcome to Part II of the VMware View Storage Design Strategy and Methodology blog. This
blog is in continuation to Part I that can be found here (http://bit.ly/11irqP3) . In the last blog, I had listed some of the
most prevalent challenges that impede a predictable VMware View Storage design strategy.. In this blog, I will
articulate some of the successful storage design approaches that are employed by VMware End User
Computing (EUC) Consulting practice to overcome those challenges.
Id like to reemphasize the fact that storage is very crucial to a successful VDI deployment. Should the VDI
project be made prone to the challenges listed in Part I (http://bit.ly/11irqP3) , Storage, for sure, will seem to be a bane. But, if the
recommended design strategy listed below is followed, you would be surprised to nd VDI Storage being a boon for a scalable32/42
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recommended design strategy listed below is followed, you would be surprised to nd VDI Storage being a boon for a scalable
and predictable VDI deployment.
With that in mind, lets dive in. Some successful storage design approaches Ive encountered are the following:
1. PERFORMANCE Versus CAPACITY Recommendation: First performance and then capacity
Often times, capacity seems more attractive when compared to performance. But, is it really so? Lets walk through an example.
a) Lets say vendor A is selling you a storage appliance, Appliance A that has a total capacity of 10TB, being delivered by 10
SATA drives of 1TB capacity each.
b) On Appliance A, lets say that each SATA drive delivers approximately 80 IOPS. So, for 10 drives, the total IOPS being
delivered by the appliance is 800 IOPS (10 drives * 80 IOPS).
c) Now lets say that vendor B is selling you a storage appliance, Appliance B that also has a total capacity of 10TB, but it is
being delivered by 20 SATA drives of 0.5TB capacity each. [Note: Appliance B may be expensive as there is more drives
compared to Appliance A.]
d) Now for Appliance B, assuming that the SATA drive specications are the same as those of Appliance A, you should be
expecting 1600 IOPS (20 drives * 80 IOPS)
Its mathematically clear; Appliance B will be delivering twice as much IOPS than Appliance A. More storage IOPS invariably turns
out to be a boon for a VDI deployment. Another important point to consider, is the fact that employing higher tier storage also
ensures high IOPS availability. Case in point, replacing the SATA drives in the example above with SAS drives will certainly provide
higher IOPS. SSD drives, while expensive, will provide even higher IOPS.
2.
USER SEGMENTATION Recommendation: Intelligent user segmentation that does not assume one size ts all approach.
As was explained in Part I
, taking a generic user IOPS, say X and then multiplying that with the total number of VDI
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As was explained in Part I (http://bit.ly/11irqP3) , taking a generic user IOPS, say X and then multiplying that with the total number of VDI
users in an organization say Y, may result in an Oversized or an Undersized Storage Array design. This approach may prove
costly, either upfront or at a later date.
The recommended design approach is to intelligently categorize the users IOPS as Small, Medium or High based on the load a
given category of users generate across the organization. As part of the common industry nomenclature for VDI users:
a)
b)
c)
Task Workers: associated with small IOPS.

Knowledge Workers: associated with medium IOPS.
Power Users: associated with high IOPS.
With these guidelines in mind, let me walk you through an example. Lets say that Customer As Silicon Valley campus location has
1000 VDI users. Assuming that the user % split is:
a)
b)
c)
15% Task Workers with an average of 7 IOPS each

70% Knowledge Workers with an average of 15 IOPS each
15% Power Users with an average of 30 IOPS each
The resulting calculation of total estimated IOPS required will look similar to Table 1 below.
(http://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/les/2013/04/Screen-Shot-2013-04-17-at-5.25.20-PM1.png)
Key Takeaways:
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Key Takeaways:
It is highly recommended to discuss/consult with the customer and to also make use of a desktop assessment tool to determine the
user % distribution (split) as well as the average IOPS per user segmentation.
Estimated capacity growth and the buer percentage, is assumed to be 30%. This may vary for your customer based on the
industry domain and other factors.
This approach to IOPS calculation is more predictable based on user segmentation specic to a given customers desktop usage.
You can apply this strategy to customers from Healthcare, Financial, Insurance Services, Manufacturing and other industry domains.
3.
OPERATIONS Recommendation: Include Operational IOPS related to Storage Storms.It is highly recommended to proactively account for IOPS
related to the storage storms. Any lapse can result in a severely, painful VDI user experience during the storage storms Patch Storm, Boot Storm and AntiVirus (AV) storm.
Assuming that a desktop assessment tool is employed to do the analysis, it is recommended to analyze the user % split targeted
during each of the storm operations listed above.
For instance, if the desktop operations team pushes OS/Application/AV patches in batches of 20% of the total user community, and
the estimated IOPS is lets say three times the steady state IOPS (explained in Part I (http://bit.ly/11irqP3) ), it will be prudent to include
another attribute for operational IOPS to Table 1 listed above.
A similar, strategy should also be employed to account for the boot and the log-o storms.
I hope you will nd this information handy and useful during your VDI architecture design and deployment strategy.
Until next time. Go VMware!
TJ Vatsa has worked at VMware for the past 3 years with over 19 years of expertise in the IT industry, mainly focusing on the enterprise architecture. He
has extensive experience in professional services consulting, Cloud Computing, VDI infrastructure, SOA architecture planning, implementation,
functional/solution architecture, and technical project management related to enterprise application development, content management and data
warehousing technologies.
This entry was posted in End User Computing (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/end-user-computing) , Other (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/other) , Virtualization
35/42
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(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/virtualization) and
tagged End User Computing (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/end-user-computing) , Storage Design Strategy
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/storage-design-strategy) ,
TJ Vatsa (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/tj-vatsa) , VDI (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vdi) , VMware View Storage
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vmware-view-storage) on
April 23, 2013 [https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/04/part-ii-storage-boon-or-bane-vmware-view-storage-design-strategy-methodology.html]
by VMware Professional Services (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/author/jamie) .
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10
Part I: Storage Boon or Bane VMware View Storage Design Strategy & Methodology
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/04/164.html)
Posted on April 16, 2013 (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/04/164.html) by VMware Professional Services (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/author/jamie)
(http://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/les/2013/04/TJ-Vatsa.jpg)
By TJ Vatsa, VMWare EUC Consultant

INTRODUCTION I am writing this blog to share my thoughts and experiences when it comes to architecting
enterprise virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solutions. While some schools of thought believe that a one size
ts all approach provides a low cost, modular deployment strategy, I believe in a dierent perspective, which is
one size may t, or better yet, align with one specic use case. This approach in my opinion leads to a
repeatable, predictable design strategy and methodology that can be applied to any use case from any industry
vertical. This strategy and methodology is what Ill attempt to articulate in the next few paragraphs and in my continuing
subsequent blog series on this topic.
Having worked with many customers across dierent industry domains namely- Healthcare, Financial, Insurance Services,
Manufacturing and others, Ive noticed one key aspect of VDI that is the most crucial element to either a successful or a challenging
VDI deployment Storage, boon or bane. If youve got your share of scars implementing VDI like I have, then you know what Im
talking about.
With this introductory background, lets cut to the chase. The most prevalent, key VDI challenges that Ive come across are the
following:
1. CAPACITY Oversized but underperforming storage platforms that are very costly to own depending upon the availability of
the capital on hand or budgeted amount for the scal year.
Given the current trend that the storage capacity is becoming cheaper for certain tiers of storage (still somewhat expensive for tier
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Given the current trend that the storage capacity is becoming cheaper for certain tiers of storage (still somewhat expensive for tier
1) customers are often tempted to go in for high-end capacity storage arrays. During the VDI storage sizing eort, this approach
creates a perception that there is and will be sucient storage capacity available to house the VDI storage requirements for the
current as well as the future VDI user population. While the perception may be true, it only guarantees storage capacity but not the
performance that the users expect from a VDI response time perspective.
2.
PERFORMANCE Cluttered user segmentation assuming one size ts all approach.
The performance capability of a storage array is commonly measured in terms of how many total IOPS (Input/Output Operations
Per Second) say Z, is the storage array capable of supporting. [Note: From a VDI perspective, we are interested in the frontend
(aka) logical IOPS of the storage array.]
From a VDI deployment perspective, the next logical step is to determine the IOPS requirements per desktop, say X and then
multiply that with the total number of VDI users, say Y. So the obvious conclusion for the Storage Architects, IT Managers, IT
Directors and other stake holders to arrive at is that as long as (X * Y) <= Z, the storage array will be capable of supporting the
expected performance service-level agreement (SLA).
The biggest pit fall that has been made in this calculation is the assumption that the IOPS per desktop X is the same across all the
user categories aka user communities/segmentations as well as the use cases across dierent lines of businesses (LOBs) within an
enterprise. This leads to the challenging one size ts all approach. The resulting outcome is either an undersized storage array
design or an oversized storage array design contingent upon X being the peak or the valley on the IOPs graph. In either scenario
it will be a costly proposition:
a) Oversized Storage Array
Upfront costly investment (should X represent peak IOPS) since not all VDI users will be requiring such high IOPS.
b) Undersized Storage Array

Delayed but additional investment (should X represent the valley IOPS) because you would need to augment the required
storage performance needs at a later date to cater to your power users who demand higher IOPS.
3.
OPERATIONS Performance blues during patching operations.
Another challenging aspect that Ive experienced with the storage sizing eort is the fact that the teams involved end up
overlooking the storage storms. These storms cause operational blues during patch updates, Anti-Virus (AV) updates as well as the
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overlooking the storage storms. These storms cause operational blues during patch updates, Anti-Virus (AV) updates as well as the
booting operations causing boot storms.
Assuming that youve deployed a desktop assessment/monitoring application to measure the IOPS on a per desktop basis, there
are at least these two important categories of IOPS that you should be aware of:
a) Steady State IOPS
These are the IOPS metrics that the desktop assessment/monitoring application reports during normal day to day desktop
operations. Let us say that this is represented by a measure S.
b)
Peak State IOPS
These are the IOPS metrics that the desktop assessment/monitoring application reports during the storage storms. I have seen this
metric averaging up to at least three times the steady state. For instance if the steady state IOPS per desktop is S, the peak state
IOPS say P can be up to and in certain cases beyond 3S. Therefore based on the preceding example: (P = 3S).
For those of you who are already considering these aspects during your VDI storage plan and design phase, hats o to you. For
others, Id highly recommend keeping these aspects in mind while you are planning and designing storage requirements for your
VDI deployment.
In my next blog (Part II Storage Boon or Bane, VMware View Storage Design Strategy & Methodology), Ill be sharing with you
my experiences on how to overcome these challenges with tried and tested design approaches for a scalable and predictable
VMware View VDI deployment.
Until then, Go VMware!
TJ Vatsa has worked at VMware for the past 3 years with over 19 years of expertise in the IT industry, mainly focusing on the enterprise architecture. He
has extensive experience in professional services consulting, Cloud Computing, VDI infrastructure, SOA architecture planning, implementation,
functional/solution architecture, and technical project management related to enterprise application development, content management and data
warehousing technologies.
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tagged End User Computing (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/end-user-computing) , Storage Design Strategy
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/storage-design-strategy) ,
TJ Vatsa (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/tj-vatsa) , VDI (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vdi) , VMware View Storage
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vmware-view-storage) on
April 16, 2013 [https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/04/164.html] by VMware Professional Services
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/author/jamie) .
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Plan the Work, Work the Plan Pragmatic Advice for End User Computing Success
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/04/plan-the-work-work-the-plan-pragmatic-advice-for-end-user-computing-success.html)
Posted on April 9, 2013 (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/04/plan-the-work-work-the-plan-pragmatic-advice-for-end-user-computing-success.html) by VMware Professional Services
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/author/jamie)
(http://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/les/2013/04/VMW_X_Avatar_A01.jpg) By
Justin Venezia, VMware EUC Consultant
Many folks who are implementing end user computing solutions (VDI, application virtualization, etc.) ask the
same age-old question How can I be successful? Well, the answer is quite simple plan the work, work the
plan. Jumping in with both feet and going right into the build and deployment of VDI, for example, may help you
meet a tactical need and get you to a few hundred desktops. However, when you try to scale that
environment, introducing other use cases and elements into the solution, thats when folks start hitting road
blocks or brick walls. Taking a little extra time up front, as well as doing some careful planning, will help keep
your end user computing services deployment moving forward. Heres a 30,000 foot view on the major planning elements and
lifecycle one should consider for success:
Establish an End User Computing Strategy Its important to ensure your plan aligns with the companys business and IT-related
strategic plans. Also, its critical to identify realistic business/technical objectives and any current challenges or pain points resolved
with end user computing solutions. A good starting point is to transform your end user computing strategy to an EUC as a Service
platform modular in nature so other products and solutions can be easily integrated, with clearly dened service oerings and
classes of service, and scalable (both up and out) for the enterprise.
Assess your environment Understanding the footprint and usage patterns of your desktops, applications, data, as well as how
users use the desktop day-to-day is critical for properly designing your solution and identifying and conrming business
requirements. It also helps you identify potential risks and constraints right up front.
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Proof of Concept PoCs should be conducted based on dened & measurable success criteria. Basically, the PoC should be the
does it work phase. Of course, this should be done in a controlled testing environment; PoCs should not be rolled out into
production.
Plan & Design Design your solution based on strategy and requirements, and not around product capabilities or features. Also,
be forwardthinking and strategic when working through the plan and design; tactical designs require lots of updates and are just
that tactically done to serve a specic purpose. Finally, leave no stone unturned during your design be thorough and keep an
open mind. Integration of 3rd party products or changes in the way you do business may be necessary to align with your end user
computing strategy/vision and your business and technical requirements.
Operational Readiness & Preparation This is a phase many people overlook, and what I refer to as how do you keep the engine
running phase. End User Computing is a dierent technical and operational paradigm. It requires most people to adopt new
policies and procedures (or adapt/adjust old ones) to eectively maintain and manage their EUC solution. You can have a new car
and it runs great, but if you cant maintain it it will break down, eventually and always at the wrong time. Take the time to review
and adjust your user on-boarding and operational polices, procedures, and resources to build an eective support model and truly
achieve the operational benets of EUC solutions.
Build & Validation This phase is where you build out the solution and conduct cursory functional testing of your design. Make
sure you build it into your plan and design blueprint and have testing plans that align with solution requirements. It is also important
to be thorough and test all aspects of your design (network, storage, functions/features, etc.). Based o of your ndings, you may
have to adjust your design.
Scalability & Functional Testing Another phase thats typically overlooked. The assessment phase will provide some insight on
how your solution can scale and what density numbers you POSSIBLY could achieve; the scalability test is the proof in the pudding.
It will not only help validate your solution will scale, but that dependent infrastructure can scale with it. It also paints a data-backed
picture on how your solution can scale out (for capacity planning purposes) and helps ush out any misconguration or problems
before the pilot phase of the project.
Pilot Just like the PoC, the pilot phase is where you actually have a controlled user population testing the solution in production.
Ensure you get user feedback on end user experience this is one of the most important measurements of success. Also, be
proactive monitor the performance of the desktop and provide users with an easy way to get support and provide constructive
feedback.
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22/9/2015
Production & Support If youve followed the phases and high-level guidance outlined above, youre most likely well on your way
to EUC success.
Good luck, and remember plan the work, work the plan!
Justin Venezia has worked at VMware for three years as an architect within VMwares End User Computing (EUC) Global Professional Services
Engineering team. He has deep expertise in EUC strategy development and deployment of large-scale end user computing solutions.
tagged End User Computing (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/end-user-computing) , Justin Venezia
(https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/justin-venezia) ,
Operational Readiness (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/operational-readiness) , Scalability (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/scalability)
, VDI (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vdi) on April 9, 2013 [https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/04/plan-the-work-work-the-plan-pragmatic-advice-for-end-user-computing-success.html] by VMware

Professional Services (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/author/jamie) .
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It All Starts Here: Internal Implementation of Horizon Workspace at VMware

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As was explained in Part I

Task Workers: associated with small IOPS.

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tagged End User Computing (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/end-user-computing) , Storage Design Strategy

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PERFORMANCE Cluttered user segmentation assuming one size ts all approach.

b) Undersized Storage Array

OPERATIONS Performance blues during patching operations.

Peak State IOPS

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TJ Vatsa (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/tj-vatsa) , VDI (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vdi) , VMware View Storage

April 16, 2013 [https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/04/164.html] by VMware Professional Services

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tagged End User Computing (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/end-user-computing) , Justin Venezia

Operational Readiness (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/operational-readiness) , Scalability (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/scalability)

, VDI (https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/tag/vdi) on April 9, 2013 [https://blogs.vmware.com/consulting/2013/04/plan-the-work-work-the-plan-pragmatic-advice-for-end-user-computing-success.html] by VMware

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