VMworld 2013: Low-Cost, High-Performance Storage for VMware Horizon Desktops
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This document discusses approaches to achieving low-cost, high-performance storage for Horizon desktops. It presents four approaches: 1) using the right shared storage, 2) deploying on a converged appliance, 3) using a virtual storage appliance, and 4) considering direct-attached storage. The right shared storage approach leverages all-flash arrays for burst performance without complexity. Converged appliances provide an integrated server and storage solution. Virtual storage appliances accelerate any storage. And direct-attached storage offers simplicity but requires different planning. Examples are given highlighting the performance, cost and simplicity of each approach.
VMworld 2013: Low-Cost, High-Performance Storage for VMware Horizon Desktops
- 1. Low-Cost, High-Performance Storage for Horizon Desktops Courtney Burry, VMware Donal Geary, VMware Tristan Todd, VMware EUC5708 #EUC5708
- 3. 3 Agenda Storage Costs for Horizon View Planning for Performance Modern approach to Storage Architecture Q and A
- 4. 4 Disclaimers / Things to Keep in Mind We refer to a few different storage technologies by name as examples. We don’t use every single storage vendor on earth for examples. Don’t let it harsh your mellow if we don’t use your favorite. Some things presented here are the opinions of the presenters Remember…your mileage may vary
- 5. 5 Horizon View – Storage Costs
- 6. 6 “43% of workforce using 3+ devices 9 of 10 companies report consumer technologies in the workplace. But PCs not going away! 74% of employees use consumer technologies, lack of alternatives from IT ” End-User Computing: The Current State Increasingly Mobile Workforce Better Consumer Technologies Traditional Tools Insufficient
- 7. 7 This Is Leading to Many Challenges for IT “How Do I Secure IP and Data & Maintain Compliance?” • $459K/year spent on losses associated with lost-stolen data and endpoints “How Do I Manage All of These New Devices and Apps?” • Up to 8 hours for device deployment per user • Over 4.5 hours spent patching applications per user “How Do I Contain Costs?” • Managing BYOD typically costs companies about 17-20% more vs. supporting company allocated devices
- 8. 8 Deliver: Empower your workforce with secure, roaming access to your same desktop across devices Broker: Manage and secure virtual desktops from a single admin console while removing data off endpoints Horizon View virtualizes desktops into a central service Transform: Simplify desktops and apps into the datacenter with virtualization Streamline Management Enhance Security Provide High Availability Better Support More Users Across More Devices
- 9. 9 Overcoming Key Challenges to Accelerating Adoption
- 10. 10 So What is Keeping VDI Projects from Taking Off More? Elephant in the room: cost of deploying VDI Large up-front CAPEX hurdle VDI Solution Management Complexity Layers of non-integrated, disparate elements Management complexity and escalating OPEX Inadequate infrastructure & poor planning Under sizing Complex infrastructure that doesn’t scale Lack of architectural approach day-1
- 11. 11 The Negative Impact of Infrastructure on ROI Source: 2011 Morgan Stanley Desktop Survey Server, Storage and Networking on average comprise 50% of solution TCO per desktop $160 $125 $40 $150 $125 $50 Storage Server Networking Endpoint Broker Licensing Average Cost per Virtual Desktop ($)
- 12. 12 The Goal of vFast Track Architectures • Optimizing storage features in View and storage solutions from partners • Partnering with Cisco to deliver a compelling bundled offering • Incenting channel to drive bookings Drive Down Cost of Acquisition for VDI below that of PC • Make it easy to start small and grow • VDI infrastructure with plug ins to vCenter Streamline VDI Management & Provide Linear Scalability • With prescriptive Reference Architectures and Customer Reference Implementations Take the Guesswork out of VDI
- 13. 13 Making Inroads on Acquisition Cost and TCO with View ACQUISITION COST PER USER DRIVING DOWN THE COST OF AQUISITION Radically Simpler Management Storage Optimizations from VMware 3rd Party Storage Validations $200 $1200 $1000 $800 $600 $400 Time 2013 $500 $0 Infrastructure Cost (does not include client) $250 2010 >$200
- 14. 14 Four approaches to storage for VDI 1 2 3 Use the right shared storage for Horizon View Deploy Horizon View on a converged appliance Use a Virtual Storage Appliance 4 Consider DASD
- 16. 16 What is VMware doing in Horizon View? Leverage Linked Clones Tier Storage for VDI SE Sparse Storage Accelerator
- 17. 17 Choosing “Good” Storage for Horizon View
- 18. 18 How do we know the storage is Good? Low Latency Reasonable CAPEX Reasonable OPEX Easy to Manage Scalable Resilient Green Existing Platform Existing Vendor Support Simple Architecture Burst Capable
- 19. 19 There is no denying it: Flash is Fast SATA HDD typ. read IOPS: 80 Flash SSD typ. read IOPS: 30,000 375x
- 20. 20 Just for Perspective, 375x means Typical walking speed: 3 mph F-18E Super Hornet: 1120 mph
- 21. 21 IOPS – IOPS – IOPS!!!
- 22. 22 IOPS – IOPS – IOPS!!! Storage Network We can deliver 250K read IOPs 200K write IOPs LATENCY LATENCY
- 23. 23 VMkernel Storage – “Where bad things happen” ArrayCache Virtual SCSI Storage Processor Front-end Spindles Back-end Paths Path Contention or thrashing IOps/MBps Maximums Processor saturation Write De-stage = deadly IOps/MBps Maximums IOps/MBps maximums and device configuration “just not enough disks” VMFS NFS client
- 24. 24 vDisk I/O – Three Main Latencies Application Guest OS ESX Storage Stack VMM Driver 3. KAVG 2. DAVG 1. GAVG QAVG GAVG = KAVG + DAVG Fabric vSCSI HBA Time in ESXi storage stack is minimal, for all practical purposes KAVG ~= QAVG. In a well configured system QAVG should be zero Array SP When KAVG > 0, I/O is typically backed up in a device or adapter Queue
- 25. 25 vCenter “Disk” Performance Chart KAVG • Kernel Read latency • Kernel write latency • Kernel command latency QAVG • Queue command latency • Queue write latency • Queue read latency GAVG • Read latency • Write latency • Command latency DAVG • Physical device command latency • Physical device read latency • Physical device write latency
- 26. 26 Viewing Queues and Activity in The Storage Stack (Queues in the storage array not illustrated) Guest OS Queues Perf Mon in Guest VM VCtr - VM VCtr - Host Host Adapter Queues (HBAs) Device/LUN Virtual Machines ESXtop VMKernel Queues • Device Queues (LUNs) • Adapter Queues (HBAs) • World Queues (VMs)
- 27. 27 vSphere Performance Management Tools - vCenter vCenter Alarms & Charts • Alarms on static thresholds • Alarm trigger may not always indicate an actual performance problem • Can Show Historical trends • Rough Granularity (Min 20 Sec)
- 28. 28 vSphere Performance Management Tools – vCenter Ops Mgr Aggregates metrics into workload, capacity and health scores Relies on dynamic thresholds
- 29. 29 Understanding Desktop IO Requirements Rules of thumb: • Light – 5 IOPs – Not a lot of time at desktop • Medium – 10 IOPs – Most of day at desktop – typical office worker • Heavy – 20 IOPs – Developer, Power User • You will find other rules of thumb guide numbers – that’s why they can be dangerous Keep in mind these are average numbers • Read / Write Mix • Bursts – Boots, Provisioning. Logins, Lunar Cycles, Antivirus • Average Numbers = Likely failure ASSESS YOUR WORKLOAD! • Liquidware Stratusphere Fit • Lakeside Systrack
- 30. 30 Modern approaches to Architecture
- 31. 31 Confidential New Storage Solutions are Accelerating VDI Adoption Wide Range of Cost-Effective Differentiated Solutions to Get Customers Started Across Segments Easily scale from 1 desktop to 1000’s Optimized storage plays (Tintri, Nimble, Fusion io. Tegile. Pure, Virident, Atlantis, Nexenta, EMC) Simplified VDI Management with Linear Scalability Fully integrated with vCenter Provision and deploy desktops in minutes Start small and grow on demand
- 32. 32 Four approaches to storage for VDI 1 2 3 Use the right shared storage for Horizon View Deploy Horizon View on a converged appliance Use a Virtual Storage Appliance 4 Consider DASD
- 33. 33 Approach 1 - The Right Shared Storage for Horizon View Fundamental Drivers: • Periods of high activity cause a huge burst of IO to the storage that traditional storage systems were not designed to accommodate • Only all-flash arrays can provide the burst IOPS needed to guarantee an excellent user experience without complicated storage sizing and investments exceeding $300/user • Not all all-flash arrays provide inline de-duplication; this is important for achieving user densities that drive down cost per user to palatable levels Representative Partners • EMC XtremeIO X-Brick • Tintri VMstore • Nimble Storage • Tegile • Whiptail • Pure Storage • Solidfire • NetApp • Dell • HP • Hitachi 1
- 34. 34 Approach 2 – Converged Appliances Fundamental Drivers: • Converged systems (combined server and storage appliances) offer a tightly integrated combination of high speed storage, Intel servers, and a virtual SAN filesystem • This results in a system that deploys easily, scales linearly to supported maximums, and is very easy to manage • “One throat to choke” support model! Representative Partners • Nutanix • Pivot3 • V3 • VCE 2
- 35. 35 Approach 3 - Use a Virtual Storage Appliance Fundamental Drivers: • Virtual Storage Appliances (VSA) speed up any kind of storage, although the impact is greatest on traditional shared storage • The price to performance ratio is very low compared to other kinds of storage options • Without a VSA, View deployments on traditional shared storage is likely to stall or fail Representative Partners • Nexenta VSA for View • Atlantis Computing ILIO 3
- 36. 36 Approach 4 - Consider DASD Fundamental Drivers: • You can’t beat the simplicity of direct-attached storage • For the right use-case, DASD offers exception performance and very low cost • You must think differently about sizing, operations planning, and resiliency Representative Partners • Virident • FusionIO • LSI Nytro Warp • Violin • Intel SSD 4
- 37. 37 Comparing the four approaches SAN/NAS Converged Appliances Virtual Storage Appliances DASD Performance Better Good Best Wow Cost Better Good Best Wow Simplicity Better Best Good Wow Scalability Best Good Better Good Resiliency Best Better Good Meh
- 38. 38 Example - The Right Shared Storage for Horizon View Purpose-built for Virtualized Environments • One-to-one mapping between abstractions supported by the hypervisor and those supported by storage • Make the “object” of storage VMs or vDisks and not LUNs, volumes, etc. • Flash-based architecture for performance optimization VM-Aware Capabilities • Per-VM QoS • Per-VM monitoring and reporting • Per-VM management operations • Auto-alignment (active vs. arbitrary) • Integration with hypervisor management infrastructure 1000 Linked Clones 1000 VAAI Linked Clones 1000 Full-Clones with VAAI Ultra-fast Pool Deployments 1
- 39. 39 Example - The Right Shared Storage for Horizon View Purpose-built for Virtualized Environments • One-to-one mapping between abstractions supported by the hypervisor and those supported by storage • Make the “object” of storage VMs or vDisks and not LUNs, volumes, etc. • Flash-based architecture for performance optimization VM-Aware Capabilities • Per-VM QoS • Per-VM monitoring and reporting • Per-VM management operations • Auto-alignment (active vs. arbitrary) • Integration with hypervisor management infrastructure 1 237$ desktop
- 40. 40 Example - Use a Virtual Storage Appliance - Nutanix • Converged • Software-Defined • Server-attached Flash • Linear Scale-out • Inline Dedupe 2 400$ desktop
- 41. 41 Example - Use a Virtual Storage Appliance - Nexenta 3 I/O to VSA • Read Rate 199,881 (149,911) KBps • Write Rate 21,417 (16,063) KBps I/O to LUN • Read Rate 1,255 (919) Kbps • Write Rate 7,645 (5,734) Kbps 38x SAN Read I/O Offload Vs. Bare Metal 2.5x SAN Write I/O Offload Vs. Bare Metal
- 42. 42 Example - Use a Virtual Storage Appliance - Nexenta 3 35$ desktop+
- 43. 43 Example - Consider DASD – LSI Nytro WarpDrive • 1000 Desktops • 8 host cluster with N+1 • Amazing User Experience • <0.5ms vDisk latency • Ultra-fast Pool Ops • Simple sizing • Simple Scalability 4 199$ desktop
- 44. 44 At the end of the day
- 45. 45 Low Cost = smart CAPEX smart OPEX
- 46. 46 Simplicity = easy scalability easy deployment simple integration
- 47. 47 Performance = delighted users
- 48. 4848 Other VMware Activities Related to This Session HOL: HOL-MBL-130 Horizon Mirage - Manage Physical Desktops HOL-MBL-1309 Horizon View from A to Z
- 49. THANK YOU
- 50. Low-Cost, High-Performance Storage for Horizon Desktops Courtney Burry, VMware Donal Geary, VMware Tristan Todd, VMware EUC5708 #EUC5708