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- Herausgeber: Packt Publishing
- Kategorie: Fachliteratur
- Sprache: Englisch
VMware Horizon View helps you simplify desktop and application management while increasing security and control. This book will introduce you to all of the components of the VMware Horizon View suite, walk you through their deployment, and show how they are used. We will also discuss how to assess your virtual desktop resource requirements, and build an optimized virtual desktop. "Implementing VMware Horizon View 5.2" will provide you the information needed to deploy and administer your own end-user computing infrastructure. This includes not only the View components themselves, but key topics such as assessing virtual desktop resource needs, and how to optimize your virtual desktop master image.
You will learn how to design and deploy a performant, flexible and powerful desktop virtualization solution using VMware Horizon View. You will implement important components and features, such as VMware View Connection Server, VMware View Composer, VMware View Transfer Server, and VMware View Security Server."Implementing VMware Horizon View 5.2" will take you through application virtualization with VMware ThinApp, the implementation of Persona Management, and creation of Desktop Pools. We then cover View Client options, Desktop maintenance, and Virtual Desktop Master Image. Finally we discuss View SSL certificates management, Group Policies, PowerCLI, and VMware View Design and Maintenance to help you get the most out of VMware View.If you want to learn how to design, implement and administrate a complex, optimized desktop virtualization solution with VMware View, then this book is for you.
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Table of Contents
Implementing VMware Horizon View 5.2
Implementing VMware Horizon View 5.2
Copyright © 2013 Packt Publishing
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Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all of the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.
First published: May 2013
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Credits
Author
Jason Ventresco
Reviewers
Justin Paul
Mario Russo
Raymond van't Hag
Acquisition Editor
Andrew Duckworth
Lead Technical Editor
Sweny M. Sukumaran
Technical Editors
Prasad Dalvi
Amit Ramadas
Project Coordinator
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Proofreader
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Indexer
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Graphics
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Production Coordinator
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Cover Work
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About the Author
Jason Ventresco is a 13-year veteran of the IT field, currently working for EMC2 as a Principal Solutions Engineer. In that role he architects, builds, and tests the latest end user computing solutions to validate their performance and provide guidance to EMC2 customers and partners. Jason has previously worked as a member of the Global Infrastructure team for FHI 360 and as an IT consultant for WorkSmart and Xerox Global Services.
Jason lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife Christine and daughter Amanda. He holds two degrees, a Master of Science in Information Assurance from Norwich University and a Bachelor of Science in Information Technology from the University of Phoenix. He holds many certifications, some of which include VCAP-DTD, VCP5-DT, VCP, CISSP, EMCCA, and MCITP for Server 2008 and Exchange 2010. In his free time, he likes to travel and attend Carolina Hurricanes hockey and Durham Bulls baseball games.
I would like to thank my wife Christine and daughter Amanda for supporting me throughout all phases of my career, while I was attending college, and during the countless hours I spent writing this book. You are my inspiration, and I love you both.
I would also like to thank my parents, Richard and Linda Ventresco, for everything they have done for my family and me. I also thank them for helping me buy that computer when I was 13. Had that not happened, who knows what I would be doing today. I would not be where or who I am without their love and support.
About the Reviewers
Justin Paul is a Project Engineer at DP Sciences focused in the area of storage and virtualization. He has been voted one of the top virtualization-related bloggers, as well as a recipient of several vendor recognition awards including VMware's vExpert program (1 of 400) and the new EMC Elect program (1 of 75).
Besides blogging, his articles have also been published in the Dayton Technology First IT journal. He holds many certifications, some of which include VMware VCAP-DCD5, VCP5-DV, and EMCIE and EMCTA for VNX.
Justin attended the University of Dayton and majored in Computer Information Systems. He has also attended several technology-specific training classes.
At his first job, he was repeatedly pulled aside for thinking out of the box and using solutions other than what were "in the book". He still strives to break the "norm" and use innovative solutions and technologies for creative problem solving.
Mario Russo has specialized in Virtualization Solutions. He is owner of the organization Business to Virtual (www.businesstovirtual.com).
He is the IBM Business Partner and VMware Professional Partner.
The complete list of customers is available at http://it.linkedin.com/in/mariorussob2v.
I would like to thank my wife, Lina, for her coffee and endurance.
I would like to thank my daughter, Gaia, for the time that I took away from our games.
Raymond van't Hag has been working for VMware for over five years and currently holds the role of Sr. Specialist Systems Engineer in end user computing in the Netherlands. Before VMware, he worked for companies such as Dell, Symantec, and IBM. Today he is responsible for supporting larger VMware Horizon projects (such as Horizon View, Mirage, Workspace, and ThinApp), educating VMware Partners, and evangelizing VMware End-user Computing strategy via social media, and especially his own blog http://bright-streams.com. In 2012, Raymond also reviewed "VMware View 5 Desktop Virtualization Solutions" by Jason Langone and Andre Leibovici.
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Preface
Implementing VMware Horizon View 5.2 is a hands-on guide on how to design and implement the different components of View. The examples provided in this book build upon one another, and guide the reader through the basics of View infrastructure design, and then the installation and configuration of each core View component. Using the examples provided in this book, the reader will be able to assess the basic needs of their View infrastructure, and then implement and manage their own View environment.
There are many places in this book that refer the reader to the official VMware Horizon View documentation. You are encouraged to review this documentation as it complements the material in this book, and contains additional information that can provide for a deeper understanding of the technical details and capabilities of the entire VMware Horizon View software suite.
Why Virtual Desktops?
There are a number of different reasons why an organization might decide to implement VMware View within its own environment. Many organizations are already familiar with the benefits of virtualization, such as:
These are just a small sample of the benefits of virtualization. If you have already implemented virtualization in your organization, you likely have reasons of your own.
Virtual Desktops can provide organizations with additional advantages beyond those of virtualization itself. With VMware View, we can:
These are just some of the advantages you can realize by using VMware View and vSphere to move your desktops into the datacenter. While reading this book, I encourage you to think of ways that View can change how you provide end user computing resources to your organization. For example:
VMware Horizon View can provide you with much more than just a means of virtualizing your desktops. The more familiar you become with its features and capabilities, the more you will realize that you can rethink much of what you do concerning desktop management and delivery, and provide a higher quality experience to your end users. I certainly hope that is the case.
What this book covers
Chapter 1, Designing a VMware Horizon View Infrastructure, covers a number of key topics that are integral to the design of your View infrastructure. Learn about each of the different View software components, base infrastructure requirements, and how to assess Virtual Desktop resource requirements.
Chapter 2, Implementing VMware Horizon View Connection Server, covers Connection Server infrastructure requirements, sizing, limits, high availability, installation, configuration, backup, and recovery.
Chapter 3, Implementing VMware Horizon View Composer, covers Composer infrastructure requirements, installation, configuration, backup, and recovery. The benefits of linked-clone desktops are also discussed.
Chapter 4, Implementing VMware Horizon View Transfer Server, covers Transfer Server infrastructure requirements, installation, configuration, backup, and recovery. The benefits and capabilities of the View Local Mode desktops are also discussed.
Chapter 5, Implementing VMware Horizon View Security Server, covers Security Server usage, infrastructure requirements, sizing, limits, high availability, installation, configuration, backup, and recovery.
Chapter 6, Using VMware ThinApp, covers how to use ThinApp to virtualize applications and deploy them using View. Additional topics covered include an overview of ThinApp, benefits, limitations, and how to update applications packaged with ThinApp.
Chapter 7, Implementing View Persona Management, covers how to use the View Persona Management feature to manage Windows user profiles. Topics covered include requirements, features, and configuration.
Chapter 8, Creating VMware Horizon View Desktop Pools, covers how to create desktop pools using the View Manager Admin console. Topics covered include desktop pool options, desktop pool types, monitoring pool creation, user entitlement, and common provisioning problems.
Chapter 9, VMware Horizon View Client Options, covers the different types of clients available for View. Topics covered include the difference between thin and zero clients, supported operating systems and their requirements, client installation, and client command-line options.
Chapter 10, Performing View Desktop Maintenance, covers how to perform maintenance on View linked-clone desktops. Topics include an overview of the different maintenance operations including refresh, recompose, and rebalance, and how to manage the optional linked-clone persistent disks.
Chapter 11, Creating a Master Virtual Desktop Image, covers the techniques that should be used when creating a master Virtual Desktop image. Topics covered include the importance of desktop optimization, sample optimization results, and how to optimize the virtual machine hardware, Windows filesystem, Windows OS, and Windows user profile.
Chapter 12, Managing View SSL Certificates, covers how to replace the default SSL certificates on each of the View components including View Composer and the View Connection, Security, and Transfer Servers. Also discussed is how to create SSL certificate requests and obtain new certificates using a Microsoft Active Directory Certificate Services server.
Chapter 13, Implementing VMware Horizon View Group Policies, covers how to use the View Active Directory Group Policy templates to customize the different View software components. Topics covered include a detailed description of each of the different group policy template settings, an explanation of where the settings should be applied within Active Directory, the location of the Group Policy template files, and the importance of Group Policy loopback processing with View desktops.
Chapter 14, Managing View with PowerCLI, covers how to use vSphere PowerCLI to configure and manage the View infrastructure. All of the View PowerCLI commands are covered in detail, and examples are provided that show how they are used.
You can download this chapter from http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/7966EN_Chapter14_Managing_View_with_PowerCLI.pdf.
Chapter 15, VMware Horizon View Feature Pack 1, covers the new features introduced with the release of the VMware Horizon View Feature Pack 1, including client access to View desktops over HTML5 and the Unity Touch interface. The topics covered include feature pack requirements, installation of the Feature pack components, enabling HTML access to desktops, HTML access limitations, and how to customize the Unity Touch interface.
You can download this chapter from http://www.packtpub.com/sites/default/files/downloads/7966EN_Chapter15_VMware_Horizon_View_Feature_Pack_1.pdf.
Appendix, Advanced Details about Key Horizon View Features, covers advanced information about the following View subjects: event logging options, vCenter provisioning options, Local Mode desktop policy settings, customizing View desktop names, and optimizing the PCoIP protocol.
What you need for this book
The reader should have a basic understanding of the following concepts that are integral to the implementation and management of View.
The following software is required to implement the solutions described in this book:
Who this book is for
If you are a newcomer to system administration and you wish to implement a small to midsized Horizon View environment, then this book is for you. It will also benefit individuals who wish to administrate and manage Horizon View more efficiently, or are studying for the VMware Certified Professional-Desktop (VCP5-DT).
Conventions
In this book, you will find a number of styles of text that distinguish between different kinds of information. Here are some examples of these styles, and an explanation of their meaning.
Any command-line input or output is written as follows:
New terms and important words are shown in bold. Words that you see on the screen, in menus or dialog boxes for example, appear in the text like this: "Highlight the targeted View Connection Server and click on Edit to open the Edit View Connection Server Settings window."
Note
Warnings or important notes appear in a box like this.
Tip
Tips and tricks appear like this.
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Chapter 1. Designing a VMware Horizon View Infrastructure
One task that is critical to the success of any VMware Horizon View implementation is the initial research that will shape the design of the View infrastructure. Performing this research requires not only an understanding of the individual components of View, but also an in-depth understanding of what is required to move our end user computing resources from the desk into the datacenter.
This chapter will discuss a number of topics that play a critical role in our View design. We will discuss the different components of a View installation, examine the different license levels of View, and outline the core requirements of a View infrastructure. We will also discuss how to measure the resource requirements of a desktop, and how those requirements impact all layers of our infrastructure including the storage design, network design, and virtual desktop VMware vSphere host configuration.
In this chapter we will learn:
VMware Horizon View components
A VMware Horizon View installation is comprised of a number of different components. The following section will provide a high-level overview of the function of the various components of View, not all of which may be required in your environment.
The following figure shows where each of the components of a typical View installation resides within the IT infrastructure. The only component not shown is the View Transfer server, which resides within the private network and is described in greater detail in Chapter 4, Implementing VMware Horizon View Transfer Server.
VMware Horizon View Connection Server
VMware Horizon View Connection Server is a software service that serves as the broker for View client connections. In this role, it authenticates user connection requests, verifies the desktops or Microsoft Windows Terminal Servers the user is entitled to access, and then directs the connection to the appropriate resource. View Connection Server is installed on a dedicated server that is required to be a member of an Active Directory (AD) domain that is trusted by all View clients.
View Connection Server also hosts the View Administrator console, an Adobe Flex-based web application that is used to manage the View environment and perform tasks, such as:
The View Connection Server is one component that is required in every View environment due to the role it plays as the connection broker and management console.
Chapter 2, Implementing VMware Horizon View Connection Server, provides the information needed to install and configure a VMware Horizon View Connection Server.
VMware vSphere
VMware vSphere, also referred to as ESXi or even ESX for earlier versions, is a Type 1 hypervisor that is the virtualization platform used for the vSphere suite of products. Type 1 hypervisors are designed to run directly on the host hardware, whereas Type 2 hypervisors run within a conventional operating system environment.
vSphere is the only hypervisor that is fully supported for hosting View virtual desktops, as it fully integrates with View for full desktop lifecycle management. All of the primary desktop provisioning and maintenance tasks are performed using the View Manager Admin console; the vSphere Client is not used. View supports multiple versions of vSphere, but vSphere 5.0 and newer are required to leverage many of the latest features of the platform. Refer to the vCenter Server requirements section for examples of some View features that require a specific version of both vSphere and vCenter Server.
VMware vCenter Server
VMware vCenter Server is a software service that provides a central administration point for VMware vSphere hosts as well as other components of the vSphere suite. vCenter Server performs the actual creation and management of virtual desktops, based on instructions received from the View Connection Server and the View Composer Server.
VMware Horizon View Composer
VMware Horizon View Composeris a software service that works alongside the VMware vCenter and View Connection Servers to deploy and manage linked-clone desktops. View Composer can be installed directly on the vCenter Server, or on a dedicated server.
View Composer is only required if linked-clone desktops will be deployed. Chapter 3, Implementing VMware Horizon View Composer, provides the information needed to install and configure View Composer.
VMware Horizon View Transfer Server
VMware Horizon View Transfer Serveris a software service that controls data transfers for virtual desktops that are checked out for use directly on the View Client with Local Mode. The View Client with Local Mode is used in scenarios where access to a virtual desktop is required during times where no network access is available. View Transfer Server is installed on a dedicated server.
Local Mode desktops require a full Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, or Windows 8 based-client, and run on a Type 2 hypervisor that is installed with the View Client with Local Mode installation package.
VMware Horizon View Agent
VMware Horizon View Agent is a software service that is installed on the systems that will be managed by View. This includes not only a virtual desktop image that will be deployed using View, but any physical desktops or Microsoft Terminal Servers as well.
The View agent provides services including, but not limited to, support for connecting the virtual desktop to View’s client-attached USB devices, client connection monitoring, Virtual Printing, single sign-on, and View Persona Management.
VMware Horizon View Client
VMware Horizon View Client is a software application that is used to communicate with a View Connection Server, and initiate connections to desktops and Microsoft Windows Terminal Servers.
The View Client is available for multiple software platforms, including Microsoft Windows, Apple OS X, Android, iOS, and Ubuntu Linux. In addition, there are a number of Thin and Zero clients that come preloaded with View-compatible clients.
The VMware Horizon View Client with Local Mode, described previously in this chapter, can also be used to connect to desktops and laptops remotely. Chapter 9, VMware Horizon View Client Options, provides more information about the various View Client options.
VMware Horizon View Persona Management
VMware Horizon View Persona Management is an optional component of the View Agent that enables an alternative means of managing end user Windows profile data and application settings.
View Persona Management can be used in place of traditional Microsoft Windows roaming profiles, while also providing additional benefits such as:
Chapter 7, Implementing View Persona Management, provides information about how to implement and administer View Persona Management.
VMware ThinApp
VMware ThinApp is an application virtualization platform that integrates with View to provide users with rapid access to new or upgraded applications without having to perform any changes to the virtual desktops.
Applications that have been packaged with ThinApp are delivered as a single executable file that runs completely isolated from both other ThinApp packaged applications as well as applications that are installed on the desktop itself. If required, ThinApp packages can be configured to communicate with one another using a feature known as ThinApp AppLink.
ThinApp provides View customers with a number of powerful capabilities. The following list details three popular scenarios where ThinApp can benefit an organization:
Chapter 6, Using VMware ThinApp, provides information about how to use VMware ThinApp to virtualize applications and deliver them using View.
VMware Horizon View licensing
VMware Horizon View offers three different license levels: Bundle, Add-on, and Add-on to Bundle Upgrade. The license levels are differentiated by whether or not they include licenses for vCenter Server and the vSphere hosts. The licenses are sold in 10 and 100 packs.
The advantage of using vSphere Desktop is that it is licensed on a per-desktop basis, while a traditional vSphere license is licensed on a per-socket basis. This provides View customers with maximum flexibility when considering what servers they will use when deploying their View infrastructure, as it removes the per-socket licensing costs as a deciding factor in server selection.
Visit the VMware Horizon View website (http://www.vmware.com/products/view/overview.html) for the most recent information concerning licensing options and their costs.
VMware Horizon View core infrastructure requirements
There are a number of requirements to consider even before the infrastructure needs of the virtual desktops themselves are considered. These include, but are not limited to:
Note
The online VMware Compatibility Guide (http://www.vmware.com/resources/compatibility/search.php) and Product Interoperability Matrixes (http://partnerweb.vmware.com/comp_guide2/sim/interop_matrix.php) maintain an up-to-date listing of supported operating systems, hardware platforms, and product compatibility for all VMware products.
Microsoft infrastructure requirements
VMware Horizon View requires Microsoft Active Directoryto support the virtual desktop infrastructure. VMware Horizon View supports both Windows 2003 and Windows 2008 Active Directory.
View also requires Domain Name System (DNS) servers that can resolve requests for the standard Microsoft Active Directory Service Record (SRV) and Resource Record (RR) DNS entries. Microsoft domain-integrated DNS servers typically store these DNS entries by default. Incomplete or inaccurate DNS entries can lead to issues with tasks, such as virtual desktop deployment and user authentication.
Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) servers are required in the View environment to provide Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to the virtual desktops. In situations where the virtual desktops cannot self-register the IP addresses they have been assigned, the DHCP server should be configured to register the entries with a DNS server that is accessible by the View Connection server.
Operating system requirements
The following table shows which Microsoft Windows Server Operating Systems (OSs) are supported for the each of the different software packages that comprise a View infrastructure. Unless otherwise noted, the software packages support the Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter versions of the Microsoft Server version listed.
Operating System
vCenter Server 5.1
Horizon View Connection Server, Security Server, Transfer Server, and Composer
Windows Server 2003 SP2 64-bit
Supported
Not supported
Windows Server 2003 R2 64-bit (any service pack)
Supported
Not supported
Windows Server 2008 64-bit (both SP1 and SP2)
Supported
Not supported
Windows Server 2008 R2 (No SP or SP1 installed)
Supported
Supported for Standard and Enterprise versions only
As View Composer supports only Windows Server 2008 R2, any View installation that plans on deploying linked-clone desktops and installing Composer directly on the vCenter Server will need to choose that specific version of Windows.
Visit the VMware Horizon View Installation guide (http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/view_pubs.html) for updated information about which OSs are supported.
Database requirements
The following table shows which database types are supported for the components of a View infrastructure. Unless otherwise noted, both 32-bit and 64-bit versions of the specified database platform are supported. In addition, unless otherwise noted the ONE, Standard, and Enterprise versions of the Oracle database platforms are supported.
Database Platform
vCenter (all databases)
View Composer
View Event Log
IBM DB2 10 Enterprise
Supported
Not supported
Not supported
IBM DB2 Enterprise 9.7.2
Supported
Not supported
Not supported
Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard, Enterprise, and Datacenter editions (SP4)
Supported
Supported
Supported
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Standard and Enterprise editions (SP2, SP3)
Supported
Supported
Supported
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Datacenter edition (SP2)
Supported
Supported
Supported
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 Express (64-bit only), Standard, and Enterprise editions (SP1)
Supported
Supported; Express supported only for vCenter 5.0 U1 and newer
Supported; Express supported only for vCenter 5.0 U1 and newer
Oracle 10g (Release 2)
Supported
Supported
Supported
Oracle 11g (Release 1 and 2)
Supported
Supported (Release 2 with Patch 5 only)
Supported (Release 2 with Patch 5 only)
Visit the VMware Horizon View Installation guide for updated information on which databases are supported.
vCenter Server requirements
VMware Horizon View supports multiple versions of vSphere and vCenter Servers. The purchase of Bundle or Add-on to Bundle Upgrade licenses entitles users to use the latest supported version of both vSphere and vCenter Servers.
The following versions of vSphere are supported by VMware Horizon View:
The following versions of vCenter Server are supported by VMware Horizon View:
Visit the VMware Product Interoperability Matrixes for an updated listed of the supported versions of vSphere and vCenter Servers.
Supporting earlier versions of vSphere and vCenter Servers is important for customers who are already running earlier versions of either software platform, and cannot or will not upgrade for some reason. Even with this support, it is recommended to use dedicated vSphere hosts and vCenter Servers for your View environment to ensure that all the latest View features are supported.
There are multiple View features that are supported only if certain other prerequisites are met. Some examples of these requirements are:
A complete list of View features that require specific versions of vSphere or vCenter Server can reviewed in either the official VMware Horizon View Installation guide or the View Release Notes that accompany each release of the View platform.
VMware Horizon View Agent supported operating systems
The VMware Horizon View Agent supports multiple versions of the Microsoft Windows desktop operating system and Microsoft Windows Terminal Server. The following table outlines which version of Windows is supported, based on what type of View-brokered service we wish to provide.
Windows Version
View Desktop or Terminal Service session
View Local Mode Desktop
Windows XP Professional 32-bit (SP3)
Supported
Supported
Windows Vista Business and Enterprise 32-bit (SP1 or SP2)
Supported
Not supported
Windows 7 Enterprise or Professional, 64-bit and 32-bit (No SP or SP1)
Supported
Supported
Windows 8 Enterprise or Professional, 64-bit and 32-bit
Supported
Supported
Windows 2008 Terminal Server 64-bit (SP2)
Supported
Not applicable
Windows 2008 R2 Terminal Server 64-bit (SP1)
Supported
Not applicable
To obtain current information about which desktop operating systems and Microsoft Terminal Services servers are supported, please refer to the online VMware Product Interoperability Matrixes.
Note
Windows 7 virtual machines require vSphere 4.0 U4 (ESX or ESXi) or later, 4.1 U2 (ESX or ESXi) or later, 5.0 U1 or later, or 5.1 or later. Windows 8 virtual machines require vSphere 5.1 or later.
Measuring Virtual Desktop resource requirements
One of the most important aspects of any View design is ensuring that an infrastructure has adequate compute, storage, and network resources to host the required number of virtual desktops. Were it not for troublesome things such as budgets, we could simply purchase an excess of all three of those resources and rest easy at night. For this exercise, our goal is to build an infrastructure that is robust enough to support our average user workload, with some capacity in reserve for growth or maintenance purposes.
Note
Determining the resource requirements of a View environment is a complicated task. Companies such as Liquidware Labs (http://www.liquidwarelabs.com) have created tools that can assist you in determining virtual desktop resource needs, while other companies such as Login VSI (http://www.loginvsi.com/) have created tools that can be used to test the performance of your View infrastructure. This section will focus on how to use the tools that you already have available with you, but you may wish to research the Liquidware Labs and Login VSI tools further to determine if they are something you would want to use when designing and testing your View infrastructure.
Using Performance Monitor to gather Windows counters
One of the most accurate means of measuring desktop resource usage is to gather performance data during a typical user session. The Microsoft Performance Monitor tool is built into every Windows operating system, and can be used to gather the required performance data.
Configuring Performance Monitor
The examples provided for this section will use the Windows 7 performance monitoring tool, which can be initiated from the Windows Start menu by running the command perfmon. The tool can also be found in the Windows Start menu under All Programs | Administrative Tools | Performance Monitor. The following screenshot shows the default view of the Performance Monitor window:
To determine the average core resource requirements of the virtual desktop, we will be gathering the following counters:
To gather the performance data for analysis, we need to create a user-defined Data Collector Set. To create the Data Collector set complete the following steps:
Note
The counters for the Network Adapter and PhysicalDisk objects are specific to each system. Please select all applicable network adapters and local system drives, using the Ctrl key if it is necessary to gather counters for multiple objects.
Performance Monitor is now configured to gather the required counters. To start gathering data, right-click on the Data Collector Setin the left column of the Performance Monitor application and select Start. To stop the data collection process, right-click on the sameData Collector Setand select Stop, or simply restart or power down the computer.
Note
A default installation of a Microsoft Windows desktop operating system runs a number of processes and scheduled tasks that are typically not required in a virtual desktop environment. Performing desktop counter gathering or performance analysis without considering the impact of these services or tasks may lead to an overestimation of virtual desktop resource requirements. Chapter 11, Creating a Master Virtual Desktop Image, provides information about what changes should be made to a virtual desktop master image, and information that can also be applied to the sample desktop during data collection to understand the impact of the proposed changes on desktop performance.
The value of the Performance Monitor data gathered from a single desktop is dependent on a number of factors. It is very likely that in order to determine the resource requirements of our View infrastructure, we will need to monitor and analyze multiple types of users. A common way of classifying user types is to break them down into three distinct groups:
Note
These classifications of user types are just one example. You will need to research the types of users you have within your own organization to determine if there is a more suitable way of classifying user resource requirements.
To accurately gauge the resource needs of our View infrastructure, we should gather desktop performance data from multiple users that fall within each user classification. The more sources of sample data we have, the less likely it is that any analysis will be influenced by anomalies from any one sample.
Using Performance Monitor to properly size the infrastructure
Once we have gathered desktop Performance Monitor data, we need to perform some data analysis to determine how to size our View infrastructure. This section will outline the processes used to take raw Performance Monitor data, and use it to determine our View infrastructure requirements.
Basics of sizing a View infrastructure
One of the most accurate ways to determine our infrastructure requirements is to take an average of each of the Performance Monitor counter values we have gathered, which should provide us with a per-desktop figure for the amount of resources that a given desktop type requires.
The first thing that must be taken into consideration is whether or not we plan on separating our virtual desktops based on any sort of metric or other user classification. In the previous section, we broke down users into one of three different groups: Task Workers, Knowledge Workers, and Power Users. Each group has different desktop performance expectations, and as their expected performance requirements increase, their tolerance for events that impact that performance decreases. Each user base is different, of course, but when designing our View infrastructure we should consider whether or not we should provide unique storage, network, or compute resources for each of our own user classes. The following provides an example of how that might be accomplished:
The analysis done in this section assumes that we are sizing a View infrastructure for one classification of user, and not multiple user classifications that may have different performance requirements. As we discussed earlier, our final design may allocate unique resources to each user classification in order to provide the expected level of performance.
Interpreting Performance Monitor data
The following screenshot shows a portion of the Performance Monitor data collected from a sample Windows desktop. This data was imported from the CSV file created by the Performance Monitor application.
Column A displays a time reference showing that the data was gathered in 15-second intervals, as configured in the previous section. Row 1 displays the counter names, which are arranged by default in alphabetical order.
The following table shows the average value of each of the Performance Monitor counters from our sample desktop. To make the results easier to read, the data recorded in Bytes was converted to Megabytes.
Performance Monitor Counter
Average Value
Memory Committed Megabytes per second
2,443.4 Megabytes
Network Total Megabytes per second
0.75 Megabytes
Disk Reads per second
7.25 Reads
Disk Read Megabytes per second
0.109 Megabytes
Disk Writes per second
10.09 Writes
Disk Write Megabytes per second
0.120 Megabytes
% Processor Time
13.80 percent Processor Time
This data provides the starting point for determining the amount of resources we need to provide for each virtual desktop, and by extension how many desktops we can run on each vSphere host.
Note
Storage for our virtual desktops can be provided using a number of different solutions that include both server-based (local) storage, and shared storage arrays. The Performance Monitor data we have collected includes counters for the number of Disk Reads and Disk Writes per second, which is the basis for properly sizing whichever storage solution we plan to use.
Regardless of which storage protocol your vSphere hosts uses, there will be some overhead involved. After you have measured your baseline disk bandwidth (Disk Read or Write Megabytes per second) or IO (Disk Reads or Writes per second) from your reference desktop, add 15 percent to the value recorded prior to calculating your overall resource requirements. The sample calculations in this chapter involving Disk Reads, Disk Writes, Disk Read Megabytes per second, and Disk Write Megabytes per second assume that you have already added the 15 percent overhead.
Server processor configurations are a good starting point for determining how many desktops we can run per vSphere server. While most server types can accommodate a number of different memory configurations, they support a fixed number of processors, and each of those processors comes with a specific number of CPU cores. For the purpose of this exercise, we will assume that we have existing servers that we want to use for our View infrastructure.
Server Resource
Quantity
Physical Processor Count
2
Cores Per Processor
8
Memory
144 GB
Network Interfaces
10 GB—2 interfaces
Fiber Channel Interface
4 GB (800 MB)—2 interfaces
Using these specifications, we can determine exactly how many View desktops we should be able to host on this server. The goal is to determine which resource is the limiting factor, based on the average values obtained during our Performance Monitor data collection. To determine the number of desktops supported, we divide the aggregate quantity of server resources by the average usage of that resource as determined by our analysis of the performance monitor data. View supports up to 16 virtual desktop CPUs per physical processor core, but your own environment may support less based on the average desktop CPU utilization.
