Cisco UCS Mini, Nimble Storage, and VMware Horizon 6 · PDF fileCisco UCS Mini, Nimble...

© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. of 55

Cisco UCS Mini, Nimble Storage, and VMware Horizon 6 with View Mixed Workload on Cisco UCS

B200 M3 Blade Servers

Configuration Guide

January 2015

Configuration Guide

© 2015 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.

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Contents

Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................... 3

Cisco UCS Mini: Edge-Scale Solution ........................................................................................ 4 Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server ........................................................................................... 5 Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect ........................................................................................ 6 Cisco UCS Manager ................................................................................................................. 7

Nimble Storage Adaptive Flash Platform ................................................................................... 7 Nimble Storage CS300 Array .................................................................................................... 8

VMware vSphere 5.5 .................................................................................................................. 12 VMware ESXi 5.5 Hypervisor .................................................................................................. 12

VMware Horizon 6 with View ..................................................................................................... 13

Test Configuration ..................................................................................................................... 15 Hardware Components ........................................................................................................... 16 Software Components ............................................................................................................ 16

Cisco UCS Mini Service Profile Configuration ........................................................................ 16

VMware Horizon RDS Host Server Virtual Machine Configuration........................................ 25

Microsoft RDS Server Configuration on VMware Horizon View Administrator Console ..... 27

Microsoft Windows 7 Golden Image Creation ......................................................................... 31 Create Base Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 Virtual Machine ......................................................... 31 Optimize the Base Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 Virtual Machine ............................................... 32 Install VMware Horizon View 6.0. Virtual Desktop Agent Software ......................................... 32 Install Any Additional Software ................................................................................................ 33 Perform Additional VMware Horizon View 6.0 Configuration .................................................. 33

Create a Snapshot for the Virtual Machine ......................................................................... 33 Create Customization Specifications for the Virtual Desktop ............................................. 34

VMware Horizon View Administrator Pool Creation ............................................................... 37

User Workload Simulation: Login VSI ...................................................................................... 39 Testing Procedure ................................................................................................................... 40

Solution Validation .................................................................................................................... 40 Multiple-Server Scalability and Testing ................................................................................... 40 Single-Server RDS Host Scalability and Testing ..................................................................... 51

Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 54

For More Information ................................................................................................................. 54 About the Author .................................................................................................................. 55

Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... 55


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Introduction

Executive Summary

Enterprises are seeking to balance the need for large, centralized data centers and the need for excellent user

experiences in remote and branch offices with larger user communities. Small and medium-sized businesses are

seeking ways to run a compact, self-contained computing infrastructure that is economical and efficient and that

offers the potential for growth.

Desktop virtualization can help meet these challenges. However, for midsize customers, one of the main barriers to

entry is the capital expense required to deploy proof-of-concept (PoC,) pilot, and development environments. For

smaller customers, deployment of a desktop virtualization system for fewer than 300 users is cost prohibitive.

To overcome these entry-point barriers, Cisco has developed a self-contained desktop virtualization solution that

can host 350 VMware Horizon 6 with View virtual desktops. This document showcases non-persistent linked clone-

based virtual desktops and newly supported VMware Horizon Remote Desktop Services Host (RDSH) – based

server desktops on a four-blade Cisco UCS® Mini using Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Servers with a Nimble Storage

system.

Note: The results of the testing reported in this document show that the four-blade Cisco UCS Mini with Nimble

Storage CS300 easily supported 350 desktop users in a mixed virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and RDSH

configuration. On the basis of these and other observations and the per-blade testing performed, four more blades

could be added, and this solution could support another 400 (VDI) to 550 (RDS) user desktops for a total single

Cisco UCS chassis configuration of 750 to 900 user desktops. The Nimble Storage CS300 can easily support this

workload in both capacity and performance.

The complete system hosts the following required infrastructure:

● VMware vSphere 5.5 Update 1

● Microsoft Active Directory domain controllers (optional)

● Microsoft Windows Server 2012

● Microsoft SQL Server 2012

● Microsoft file server for user data and user profiles (optional)

● VMware vCenter 5.5 (optional)

● VMware Horizon 6 with View Composer

● VMware Horizon 6 with View Connection server and administration console

The following Cisco UCS Mini configuration was used to validate the solution:

● Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis

● Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnects (2)

● Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Servers (4)

● Intel® Xeon

® processor E5-2660 v2 10-core 2.2-GHz CPUs (2)

● 256-GB 1866-MHz DIMMs (16 x 16 GB)

● Cisco UCS Virtual Interface Card (VIC) 1240 converged network adapter (CNA)


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The Nimble Storage CS300 model was used for this solution, configured with 10.92 terabytes (TB) of raw capacity

(12 x 1-TB 7200-rpm SATA hard disk drive [HDD]), 1.09 TB of solid-state disk (SSD)–based flash memory, and

dual 10 Gigabit Ethernet data network interface card (NIC) connections per controller. The Nimble Storage CS300

has two controllers operating in an active-standby redundant configuration.

Note: Virtual machines and hardware components marked “optional” can be hosted on existing infrastructure,

deployed for management or performance enhancement, or hosted on the Cisco UCS Mini platform. The solution

was tested with all optional components installed on a pair of Cisco UCS B200 M3 servers to validate the system

capability.

The configuration used in these tests provides an excellent virtual desktop end-user experience for 350 mixed-use-

case users as measured by the test tool, Login VSI, at a highly competitive price.

As with any solution deployed to users with data storage requirements, a data protection solution must be deployed

to help ensure the continuity of the user data. Such a solution could be used on this host or storage and is outside

the scope of this document.

Cisco UCS Mini: Edge-Scale Solution

With Cisco UCS Mini, the Cisco Unified Computing System™ (Cisco UCS), originally designed for the data center,

is now optimized for branch and remote offices, point-of-sale (PoS), and smaller IT environments. Cisco UCS Mini

is designed for customers who need fewer servers but still want the robust management capabilities provided by

Cisco UCS Manager. This solution delivers servers, storage, and 10 Gigabit networking in an easy-to-deploy,

compact form factor.

The solution includes these components (Figure 1):

Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server: Delivering performance, versatility, and density without compromise, the

Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server addresses a broad set of workloads.

Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis: The chassis can accommodate up to eight half-width Cisco UCS B200

M3 Blade Servers.

Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect: The Cisco UCS 6324 provides the same unified server and networking

capabilities as the top-of-rack (ToR) Cisco UCS 6200 Series Fabric Interconnects embedded in the Cisco UCS

5108 Blade Server Chassis.

Cisco UCS Manager: Cisco UCS Manager provides unified, embedded management of all software and hardware

components in a Cisco UCS Mini solution.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/servers-unified-computing/ucs-b200-m3-blade-server/index.html

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Figure 1. Cisco UCS Mini Components

Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server

Delivering performance, versatility, and density without compromise, the Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server (Figure

2) addresses a broad set of workloads, from IT and web infrastructure to distributed databases.

View the below link to see how to boost density and performance without compromise using Cisco's new blade

server.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-b200-m3-blade-

server/ucs_b200_m3_blade_server_vds.html

The enterprise-class Cisco UCS B200 M3 further extends the capabilities of the Cisco UCS portfolio in a half-blade

form factor. The Cisco UCS B200 M3 server harnesses the power of the Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 and E5-

2600 v2 product families and offers up to 768 GB of RAM, two hard drives, and up to eight 10 Gigabit Ethernet

ports to deliver exceptional levels of performance, memory expandability, and I/O throughput for nearly all

applications.

In addition, Cisco UCS has the architectural advantage of not having to power and cool switches in each blade

chassis. Having a larger power budget available for blades enables Cisco to design uncompromised expandability

and capabilities in its blade servers, as evidenced with the new Cisco UCS B200 M3 and its leading memory and

drive capacity, resulting in outstanding performance.

A Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis can house up to eight Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Servers or a

combination of Cisco UCS B200 M3 and other Cisco UCS blade servers.

The Cisco UCS B200 M3 offers these features and capabilities:

● Suitable for a wide range of applications and workload requirements

● Exceptional building block for the Cisco Unified Computing System

● Half-width form factor offering industry-leading benefits and features without compromise

● Cisco UCS VIC 1240 designed for the M3 generation of Cisco UCS B-Series Blade Servers

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-b200-m3-blade-server/ucs_b200_m3_blade_server_vds.html

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-b200-m3-blade-server/ucs_b200_m3_blade_server_vds.html

http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/ps10265/vmm_infrastructure.pdf

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Figure 2. Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server

Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect

The Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect (Figure 3) provides the management, LAN, and storage connectivity for

the Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Server Chassis and direct-connect rack-mount servers. It provides the same full-

featured Cisco UCS management capabilities and XML API as the full-scale Cisco UCS solution in addition to

integrating with Cisco UCS Central Software and Cisco UCS Director.

From a networking perspective, the Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect uses a cut-through architecture,

supporting deterministic, low-latency, line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet on all ports, switching capacity of up to 500

Gbps, and 80-Gbps uplink bandwidth for each chassis, independent of packet size and enabled services. Sixteen

10-Gbps links connect to the servers, providing a 20-Gbps link from each Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect to

each server. The product family supports Cisco® low-latency lossless 10 Gigabit Ethernet unified network fabric

capabilities, increasing the reliability, efficiency, and scalability of Ethernet networks. The fabric interconnect

supports multiple traffic classes over a lossless Ethernet fabric, from the blade through the fabric interconnect.

Significant savings in total cost of ownership (TCO) come from a Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)–optimized

server design in which network interface cards (NICs), host bus adapters (HBAs), cables, and switches can be

consolidated.

The Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect is built to consolidate LAN and storage traffic onto a single unified fabric,

eliminating the capital expenditures (CapEx) and operating expenses (OpEx) associated with multiple parallel

networks, different types of adapter cards, switching infrastructure, and cabling within racks. The unified ports allow

the fabric interconnect to support direct connections from Cisco UCS to Fibre Channel, FCoE, and Small Computer

System Interface over IP (iSCSI) storage devices.

For virtualized environments, the Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect supports Cisco virtualization-aware

networking and Cisco Data Center Virtual Machine Fabric Extender (VM-FEX) architecture. Cisco Data Center VM-

FEX allows the interconnects to provide policy-based virtual machine connectivity, with network properties moving

with the virtual machine and a consistent operational model for both physical and virtual environments.

The Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect is a 10 Gigabit Ethernet, FCoE, and Fibre Channel switch offering up to

500-Gbps throughput and up to four unified ports and one scalability port.

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/collateral/servers-unified-computing/ucs-6300-series-fabric-interconnects/datasheet-c78-732207.html?mdfid=286278240%20-%20_ftn1


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Figure 3. Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect

Cisco UCS Manager

The Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnect hosts and runs Cisco UCS Manager in a highly available configuration,

enabling the fabric interconnects to fully manage all Cisco UCS elements. The Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric

Interconnects support out-of-band management through a dedicated 10/100/1000-Mbps Ethernet management

port. Cisco UCS Manager typically is deployed in a clustered active-passive configuration on two Cisco UCS 6324

Fabric Interconnects connected through the cluster interconnect built into the chassis.

Nimble Storage Adaptive Flash Platform

The Nimble Storage Adaptive Flash platform dynamically and intelligently deploys storage resources to meet the

growing demands of business-critical applications. It is the first storage solution to eliminate the flash-memory

performance and capacity trade-off.

Adaptive Flash combines Nimble Storage Cache Accelerated Sequential Layout (CASL) architecture and Nimble

Storage InfoSight, the company's innovative data sciences–based approach to the storage lifecycle. Nimble

Storage CASL scales performance and capacity transparently and independently. Nimble Storage InfoSight uses

the power of deep data analytics to provide customers with precise guidance on the optimal approach to scaling

flash memory, CPU, and capacity to meet changing application needs, while helping ensure peak storage health.

Nimble Storage Adaptive Flash offers these main benefits:

● Scale storage performance and capacity independently and nondisruptively.

● Achieve enterprise-class flash storage performance and capacity in a small footprint.

● Protect your IT investment by eliminating the need for major system upgrades.

● Sustain peak health for your storage infrastructure with integrated protection, deep-data analytics, and

efficient resiliency.


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Nimble Storage CS300 Array

As part of the Nimble Storage Adaptive Flash platform, the Nimble Storage CS300 (Figure 4) is well suited for

distributed sites of larger organizations or midsize IT departments. It offers exceptional performance and capacity

per dollar for workloads such as VDI, Microsoft applications, and virtual server consolidation.

The Nimble Storage CS300 array is an excellent platform for VDI and offers the following benefits:

● Adaptive performance: Performance adapts to boot storms and I/O spikes because the flash cache is

populated dynamically.

● Cost-effective capacity: Inline compression, high-capacity disk, and zero-copy cloning all deliver capacity

reductions of up to 75 percent.

● Business continuity: High availability and integrated data protection reduces downtime for local failures

and larger site wise disasters.

● Transparent scaling: Easily scale performance and capacity independently and without downtime.

Figure 4. Nimble Storage CS300 Array

Nimble CS300 Volume Configuration

The Nimble Storage CS300 was configured with multiple volumes presented to the Cisco UCS VDI cluster as

shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5. Nimble Storage Array Information

The Nimble Storage volumes were configured as follows (Figure 6):

● 4 x 10-GB volumes for VMware ESXi 5.5 iSCSI boot, further simplifying the solution by eliminating the need

for local disks in the Cisco UCS B200 M3 blades

● 1 x 1.25-TB infrastructure volume for the VDI environment


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● 1 x 2-TB linked-clone volume for the VDI desktops

● 1 x 2-TB volume for the RDS desktops

● 1 x 500-GB volume for storing the golden image Replica

Figure 6. Nimble Storage Volume Management

Each volume was thin-provisioned and attached from the Nimble Storage iSCSI SAN to a VMware Virtual Machine

File System (VMFS) data store.

With Nimble Storage, you can set a performance policy during or after the creation of a volume. You can choose

from a variety of prebuilt policies, or you can create a custom policy. Performance policies specify the configuration

of the storage block size, compression, and caching. In Figure 7, the default performance policy has been set to

Infra.

Figure 7. Nimble Storage Volume Management

Backup and recovery are integral pieces of any production environment. Nimble Storage protects data by

supporting instant snapshots for easy backup and restoration, along with efficient replication for disaster recovery.

Volumes can be placed on a protection schedule during their creation or at any time afterward. Volume collections

offer an efficient way to group volume backups, allowing multiple volumes to have similar snapshot schedules. A

volume collection can consist of one or many volumes. In Figure 8, the volume Infra, which houses the VDI

infrastructure, is part of a volume collection called Infra-1, which contains multiple hourly snapshots. Only the delta

of the original snapshot is written to disk after the data has been compressed, further reducing the space required

to house the snapshots.


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Figure 8. Nimble Storage Snapshots

Nimble Storage CS300 Volume Monitoring

The capability to easily view volume activity is crucial to monitoring current storage use, compression rates,

connectivity, and performance. Nimble Storage allows the administrator many ways to view, modify, and monitor

volume performance and use.

The Nimble Storage GUI and command-line interface (CLI) provide administrators the tools and views they need to

quickly and accurately perform volume tasks. Volume sizing, maintenance, snapshots, compression, and

connectivity can all be viewed and controlled by both the GUI and CLI as can be seen in Figures 9 and 10.

Figure 9. Nimble Storage GUI List of Volumes


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Figure 10. Nimble Storage CLI List of Volumes

Nimble Storage InfoSight takes a new approach to the storage lifecycle, using the power of deep-data analytics

and cloud-based management to deliver true operational efficiency across all storage activities.

InfoSight, an integral part of the Nimble Storage Adaptive Flash platform, helps ensure peak health of the storage

infrastructure by identifying problems and offering solutions in real time. InfoSight provides expert guidance to help

you deploy the right balance of storage resources—dynamically and intelligently—to meet the changing demands

of business-critical applications. Figure 11 shows a volume view of the Nimble Storage CS300 using InfoSight.

Figure 11. Nimble Storage InfoSight List of Volumes

Nimble Storage CS300, Cisco UCS, and Host Connectivity

The iSCSI initiators of the four Cisco UCS blades were divided into four initiator groups with both A-path and B-

path iSCSI qualified names (IQNs). Nimble Storage allows a variety of initiator group formats, allowing you to

choose the format that best meets the needs of your company’s environment and requirements.


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Figure 12 shows the initiator groups for all VMware ESXi hosts in the VDI environment. The initiator group is

constructed by adding the IQN information for each blade for both the A and B paths.

Figure 12. Nimble Storage InfoSight List of Initiator Groups

VMware vSphere 5.5

VMware provides virtualization software. VMware’s enterprise software hypervisors for servers—VMware ESX,

ESXi, and vSphere—are bare-metal hypervisors that run directly on server hardware without requiring an additional

underlying operating system. VMware vCenter Server for vSphere provides central management, with complete

control and visibility into clusters, hosts, virtual machines, storage, networking, and other critical elements of your

virtual infrastructure.

VMware ESXi 5.5 Hypervisor

VMware vSphere is the industry-leading virtualization platform for building private cloud infrastructure. It enables IT

to meet service-level agreements (SLAs) for the most demanding business-critical applications with lower TCO.

VMware vSphere accelerates the shift to cloud computing for existing data centers and also supports compatible

public cloud offerings, forming the foundation for the industry’s only hybrid cloud model, making VMware vSphere a

trusted platform for any application. VMware ESXi 5.5 is a bare-metal hypervisor, so it installs directly on top of the

physical server and partitions it into multiple virtual machines that can run simultaneously, sharing the physical

resources of the underlying server. VMware ESXi, introduced in 2007, delivers industry-leading performance and

scalability while setting a new standard for reliability, security, and hypervisor management efficiency.

The latest release, VMware vSphere 5.5, introduces many new features and enhancements to extend the core

capabilities of the VMware vSphere platform, including:

● VMware ESXi hypervisor enhancements: Hot-pluggable SSD PCI Express (PCIe) devices, support for

VMware Reliable Memory Technology and enhancements for CPU C-states

● Virtual machine enhancements: Virtual machine compatibility with VMware ESXi 5.5, extended graphics

processing unit (GPU) support, and graphics acceleration for Linux guests

● Virtual VMware vCenter server enhancements: VMware vCenter single sign-on (SSO) and VMware

vSphere Web Client, Server Appliance, App High Availability (AppHA), High Availability (HA), Distributed

Resource Scheduler (DRS), and Big Data Extensions

● VMware vSphere storage enhancements: Support for 62 terabytes (TB) of VMware Virtual Machine Disk

(VMDK) storage, Microsoft Cluster Server (MSCS) updates, 16-GB end-to-end support, and VMware

vSphere flash-memory read cache and replication multipoint-in-time-snapshot retention

● VMware vSphere networking enhancements: Lightweight Access Control Protocol (LACP) enhancements,

traffic filtering, quality-of-service (QoS) tagging, single-root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) enhancements,

enhanced host-level packet capture, and 40-GB NIC support


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VMware Horizon 6 with View

VMware Horizon 6 with View allows IT to centrally manage virtual, physical, and bring-your-own (BYO) Microsoft

Windows images to simplify management, reduce costs, and maintain compliance. With VMware view, virtualized

and remote desktops and applications can be delivered through a single platform to end users. These desktop and

application services—including Microsoft RDS hosted applications, packaged applications with VMware ThinApp,

software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, and even virtualized applications from Citrix—can all be accessed from

one unified workspace to provide end users with all the resources they want, at the speed they expect, with the

efficiency that business demands (Figure 13).

This release of VMware Horizon 6 with View adds the following new features and support:

● Central management of virtual, physical, and BYO images: Centrally manage virtual, physical, and BYO

Microsoft Windows images with VMware Horizon 6. IT can deliver Microsoft Windows services at the speed

that end users expect and with the efficiency that business demands. Central image management is

supported for:

◦ Physical machines running Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 8.1

◦ Full-clone persistent virtual desktops running Microsoft Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, and 8.1

◦ BYO devices running Microsoft Windows, Linux, and Mac OS

● Desktops and applications delivered through a single platform: Deliver virtual or remote desktops and

applications through a single platform to simplify management, easily set up end users, and quickly deliver

Microsoft Windows desktops and applications to end users across devices and locations. VMware Horizon

6 now supports a single platform for delivering hosted Microsoft Windows applications and shared desktop

sessions from Microsoft Windows Server instances using Microsoft RDS, virtual desktops, and VMware

ThinApp packaged applications.

● Unified workspace with excellent user experience: With VMware Horizon 6, IT can deliver desktops and

applications to end users through a unified workspace with VMware Blast Performance to enable

consistently great experiences across devices, locations, media, and connections.

Applications that can be delivered and accessed through the unified workspace include:

● Citrix XenApp 5.0 and later

● Microsoft RDS hosted applications and desktops for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and later

● SaaS applications

● VMware ThinApp 5.0 and later

VMware Blast Performance includes:

● Blast Adaptive UX: Optimized access across the WAN and LAN through an HTML browser or VMware

purpose-built desktop protocol: PC over IP (PCoIP)

● Blast Multimedia: High-performance multimedia streaming for a rich user experience

● Blast 3D: Robust virtualized graphics delivering workstation-class performance

● Blast Live Communications: Fully optimized unified communications and real-time audio-video (RTAV)

support; VMware Horizon 6 now includes support for Microsoft Lync with Windows 8


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● Blast Unity Touch: Intuitive and contextual user experience across devices, making running Microsoft

Windows on mobile devices easy

● Blast Local Access: Access to local devices, USB devices, and device peripherals

● VMware Horizon Clients with Blast: Unified client for consistently great experience across devices and

locations

VMware Horizon 6 with View now includes:

● Support for VMware Mirage 5.0 unified image management for simplified management of physical and full-

clone virtual machines across virtual data centers

● Cloud pod architecture that allows IT to easily move and locate VMware View pods across data centers and

sites

● Cloud analytics with VMware vCenter Operations Manager for Horizon, providing comprehensive visibility

across a desktop environment and allowing IT to optimize the health, availability, performance, and

efficiency of desktop services

Figure 13. VMware Horizon 6 with View Logical Architecture


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Test Configuration

The hybrid logical and physical diagrams in Figures 14 and 15 show the test configuration.

Figure 14. Nimble Storage SmartStack Physical Reference Architecture (Front View)

Figure 15. Nimble Storage SmartStack Physical Reference Architecture (Connectivity View)

The objective of the test was to demonstrate how the Cisco UCS Mini Smart Play performance bundle, using a

Nimble Storage CS300 array running VMware Horizon 6 with View, supports the required infrastructure for a

remote or branch office, the required VMware View control virtual machines, and up to 350 mixed-use-case virtual

desktop users at a highly competitive price.

Both VMware View floating-assignment linked-clone Microsoft Windows 7 desktops (200 desktops) and VMware

Horizon desktops hosted by the Microsoft RDS server (150 desktops) were deployed, demonstrating the flexibility

of the solution.


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Hardware Components

● Cisco UCS 5108 Blade Chassis (UCSB-5108-AC2)

● 2 Cisco UCS 6324 Fabric Interconnects

● 2 Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Servers with 2 Intel Xeon processor E5-2660 v2 CPUs at 2.2 GHz and 128

GB of memory per blade server (16 GB x 8 DIMMs at 1866 MHz) for infrastructure and VMware Horizon 6

RDSH host virtual machines

● 2 Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Servers with 2 Intel Xeon processor E5-2660 v2 CPUs at 2.2 GHz and 256

GB of memory per blade server (16 GB x 16 DIMMs at 1866 MHz) for VMware Horizon 6 floating-

assignment linked clones

● Cisco VIC 1240 CNA (1 per blade)

● Cisco Nexus® Family switch (Layer 3 through 7 connectivity)

Software Components

● Cisco UCS Firmware Release 2.2(2C)

● VMware ESXi 5.5 Update 1 for VDI hosts

● VMware Horizon 6 with View

● Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 32-bit, with 1 virtual CPU (vCPU), 1.5 GB of memory, and 18-GB virtual disk

● Microsoft Windows Server 2012 64-bit, with 4 vCPUs, 8 GB of memory, and 40-GB virtual disk

Cisco UCS Mini Service Profile Configuration

This section presents the steps for configuring the Cisco UCS Mini service profile.

1. Configure the fabric interconnects. Go to Equipment > Fabric Interconnects > Fabric Interconnect A (Figure

16). The configuration for Fabric Interconnect B is similar.

Figure 16. Configuration of Fabric Interconnect

2. Configure Ethernet port A. In the Equipment list, under Fabric Interconnect A, choose Ethernet Ports (Figure

17).


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Figure 17. Configuration of Ethernet Ports (Fabric Interconnect A Ports)

3. Configure Ethernet port B. From the Equipment list, under Fabric Interconnect B, choose Ethernet Ports

(Figure 18).

Figure 18. Configuration of Ethernet Ports (Fabric Interconnect B Ports)

4. Configure the appliance port as shown in Figure 19 (using port 3 for the storage appliance). The configuration

for port 4 is for fabric interconnect B is similar, with a different VLAN.


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Figure 19. Configuration of Appliances Port (Fabric Interconnect A Ports)

5. Set up a total of four servers (Figure 20).

Figure 20. Total Number of Servers Used in This Configuration

6. Configure virtual NICs (vNICs). Choose Servers > Service Profiles > root > Sub-Organizations > UCS-MINI,

choose a server, choose iSCSI vNICs, and then choose a vNIC (Figure 21).


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Figure 21. Configuration of vNIC Used in This Configuration

7. Configure the vNIC VLANs for the Infra, Mgmt, VDI, and vMotion Networks (Figure 22).

Figure 22. Configuration of VLANs for vNICs

8. Configure the iSCSI vNIC VLAN for the A-side storage (Figure 23).


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Figure 23. Configuration of VLAN for vNICs for A-Side Storage

9. Configure the iSCSI vNIC VLAN for the B-side storage (Figure 24).

Figure 24. Configuration of VLAN for vNICs for B-Side Storage B

10. Configure the iSCSI boot order for one of the servers. Choose Servers, select a service profile, and open the

Boot Order tab (Figure 25).


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Figure 25. iSCSI Boot Configuration of One of the Servers as the vNIC A Primary

Note: iSCSI boot parameters for the B side are similar to those for the A side with a different IP address

configured.

Figure 26 shows the iSCSI boot parameters for the iSCSI target configured for the A-side vNIC.

Figure 26. iSCSI Boot Configuration for One of the Servers for vNIC A


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Figure 27 shows the iSCSI boot parameters configured for one of the servers for the B-side vNIC.

Figure 27. iSCSI Boot Configuration for One of the Servers for vNIC B

11. Configure the vNIC template for one of the infra servers. Choose LAN > Policies > Root > vNIC Templates

(Figure 28).

Figure 28. vNIC Template Configuration for One of the Servers for vNIC A

12. Create the network control policy (Figure 29).


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Figure 29. Creation of Network Control Policy

13. Configure a vNIC template for one of the servers (Figure 30).

Figure 30. Configuration of vNIC Template for one of the Servers

14. Configure BIOS policies. Choose Servers > Service Profiles > root > Sub-Organizations > UCS-Mini and

select a server. Then configure the settings.

a. Choose Advanced > Processor (Figure 31).


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Figure 31. Configuration of BIOS Policy Advanced Processor Settings

b) BIOS Policy Intel Directed IO Settings

c) Choose Advanced > Intel Directed IO (Figure 32).

Figure 32. Configuration of BIOS Policy Intel Directed IO Settings

15. Choose Advanced > RAS Memory (Figure 33).

Figure 33. Configuration of BIOS Policy RAS Memory Settings


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VMware Horizon RDS Host Server Virtual Machine Configuration

This section presents the steps for configuring the RDS Host server virtual machine. Create a Windows Server

2012 virtual machine for testing the RDS sessions.

The RDS Host Virtual Machine is being configured with 8 GB of RAM and 4 vCPUs. For this test, eight RDS server

hosts have been installed with similar configurations and features.

1. Create a Windows Server 2012 R2 RDS Host virtual machine for RDS sessions (Figure 34).

Figure 34. Installation of RDS Server Virtual Machine

2. Select the cluster in which the RDS server will be installed (Figure 35).

Figure 35. Selection of Location Where RDS Server Virtual Machine Will Be Installed

3. Complete all the steps to install the Windows R2 Server 2012 RDS host (Figure 36).

Figure 36. RDS Server Virtual Machine Is Created


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4. Complete the installation of the server virtual machine and configure the IP address and domain credentials

(Figure 37).

Figure 37. IP Address and Domain Credentials for the RDS Server Virtual Machine Created

5. Reboot the RDS server virtual machine. Then configure the RDS roles and features by choosing Manage >

Add Roles and Features on the local server (Figure 38).

Figure 38. Configuring RDS Server Roles and Features

6. Install the RDS features required for the RDS host. For this configuration, select the following:

a. Select the “Select the Role-based or feature-based installation” option (Figure 39).

Figure 39. Installing RDS Server Roles and Features: Role-Based Installation


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b. Select Remote Desktop Session Host (Figure 40).

Figure 40. Installing RDS Server Remote Desktop Services

Note: For RDS server desktop services here, Remote Desktop Session Host is installed. Depending on your

requirements, you can install additional services.

7. Complete the installation of roles and features and reboot the RDS host.

The RDS server host is ready for installation of Microsoft Office 2010, VMware Horizon Agent, and other required

software.

Microsoft RDS Server Configuration on VMware Horizon View Administrator Console

This section presents the steps for configuring the Microsoft RDS server on the VMware Horizon View

administrator console.

1. From the console, create a server farm by choosing Inventory > Resources > Farms and adding the desired

farm name: for example, RDS-SERVER as shown here (Figure 41).

Figure 41. Creating a Server Farm on the VMware Horizon View Administrator Console

2. Choose Select RDS Hosts and select the RDS server virtual machine you created (Figure 42).


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Figure 42. Selecting the RDS Server Host Created for the Farm

3. Click Ready to Complete to finish adding the RDS server host to the farm (Figure 43).


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Figure 43. Clicking Ready to Complete to Finish Adding the RDS Server Host to the Farm

The server farm is created (Figure 44).

Figure 44. Created Farm (RDS-SERVER) Shown in VMware Horizon View

4. Create an RDS desktop pool. Choose Inventory > Catalog > Desktop Pools and select RDS Desktop Pool

(Figure 45). Then click Next.

Figure 45. Select RDS Desktop Pool and Click Next

5. Provide settings and an ID and display name for the pool being created (Figure 46).


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Figure 46. Configure Settings for the RDS Desktop Pool

6. Select the farm you created: for example, RDS-SERVER here (Figure 47).

Figure 47. Select the RDS Farm

7. Click Finish to complete the creation of the RDS desktop pool (Figure 48).

Figure 48. Creating the RDS Desktop Pool

The RDS desktop pool is created (Figure 49).


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Figure 49. RDS Desktop Pool Is Created

Microsoft Windows 7 Golden Image Creation

This section presents the steps for creating the Microsoft Windows 7 golden image.

Create Base Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 Virtual Machine

1. Select the VMware ESXi host in the infrastructure cluster and create a virtual machine to use as the golden

image for the Microsoft Windows 7 OS. For this test, the Microsoft Windows 7 32-bit OS was installed.

For the virtual machine, the following parameters were used:

Memory : 1536 MB

Processor : 1 vCPU

Hard disk : 18 GB

Network adapter : 1 VMXNET3-type adapter attached to a standard switch

2. Right-click Win-7-Golden-Image-VDI–Virtual Machine Properties and select the Hardware tab to attach the

Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 ISO (Figure 50).

Figure 50. Attach Microsoft Windows 7 (32- or 64-Bit) ISO Image to Create Microsoft Windows 7 Golden Image

3. Click OK.


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4. Right-click Win-7-Golden-Image-VDI–Virtual Machine Properties and choose Edit Settings. Go to the Options

tab. For Boot Options, select Force BIOS Setup.

5. Click OK and complete the installation.

6. After the installation is complete, log in to the Microsoft Windows 7 golden image virtual machine you created

and configure the IP address, join the domain, and restart the virtual machine. Shut down the Microsoft

Windows 7 golden image virtual machine. This completes the process of creating the golden image virtual

machine

Optimize the Base Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 Virtual Machine

Follow this link to optimize the Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 32-bit virtual machine:

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/VMware-View-OptimizationGuideWindows7-EN.pdf

http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/10157

Install VMware Horizon View 6.0. Virtual Desktop Agent Software

1. Download the VMware Horizon View 6.0. Virtual Desktop Agent software from this link:

https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?productId=420&downloadGroup=VIEW-600-GA.

2. Open the installer VMware-viewagent-6.0.0-1884746.exe for the 32-bit OS or VMware-viewagent-x86_64-

6.0.0-1884746.exe for the 64-bit OS to install the agent (Figure 51).

Figure 51. Installing VMware Horizon View Agent on Microsoft Windows 7 Golden Image

3. Click Next in the installer wizard (Figure 52).


http://www.vmware.com/resources/techresources/10157

https://my.vmware.com/web/vmware/details?productId=420&downloadGroup=VIEW-600-GA


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Figure 52. Click Next

4. Accept the VMware End User License Agreement and click Next.

5. Click Install (Figure 53).

Figure 53. Install the Agent and Complete the Installation

Install Any Additional Software

1. Install any additional software required in your base Microsoft Windows image. For this test, Microsoft Office

2010 was installed. In addition, the Login VSI Target software package was installed to facilitate workload

testing.

2. Reboot the virtual machine.

3. Install any service packs and hot fixes required for the software components that you added.

4. Shut down the virtual machine.

Perform Additional VMware Horizon View 6.0 Configuration

Create a Snapshot for the Virtual Machine

1. A snapshot is required for virtual desktop deployment. To take a snapshot, shut down the Microsoft Windows 7

golden image virtual machine.

2. Right-click Win-7-Golden-Image-VDI–Virtual Machine Properties and choose Take Virtual Machine Snapshot.

3. Provide a name and description for the snapshot (Figure 54).


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Figure 54. Provide a Name and Description for the Snapshot

Create Customization Specifications for the Virtual Desktop

1. After taking a snapshot, right-click the powered-off virtual machine, choose Template, and click Convert to

Template.

2. Provide a name for the template and provide the host and cluster and data store details.

3. Choose Guest Customization and select “Customize using the Customization Wizard” (Figure 55).

Figure 55. Select the Guest Customization

4. Click Next.

5. Select the appropriate name and organization (Figure 56). Then click Next.


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Figure 56. Provide Credentials Name and Organization Information

6. Enter credentials for the administrator account (Figure 57). Then click Next.

Figure 57. Administrator Account Credentials

7. Select the appropriate time zone.

8. For Network virtual desktop networking, select “Typical settings” (Figure 58). Then click Next.


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Figure 58. Network Settings Selection

9. For Workgroup or Domain, select Windows Server Domain. Enter the domain for environment.

10. Specify the user account name password (Figure 59). Then click Next.

Figure 59. Workgroup or Domain Settings

11. Save the customization specification (Figure 60). Then click Next to complete the process.

Figure 60. Saving Guest Customization Specifications


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VMware Horizon View Administrator Pool Creation

This section presents the steps for creating the VMware Horizon View Administrator pool.

1. In the VMware Horizon View Administrator, create a virtual machine pool. From the Inventory menu, choose

Desktop Pools (Figure 61).

Figure 61. Creating a Virtual Machine Desktop Pool

2. For User Assignment, select either Dedicated or Floating (Figure 62). For this test, Floating is selected.

Figure 62. Select User Assignment: Either Dedicated or Floating

3. For vCenter Server, select either “Full virtual machines” or “View Composer linked clones” (Figure 63). For this

test, “View Composer linked clones” is selected.


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Figure 63. Select Either Full Virtual Machines or VMware Horizon View Composer Linked Clones

4. Provide and ID and display name for the pool (Figure 64).

Figure 64. Provide the ID and Display Name for the Pool

5. Provide a naming pattern for the virtual machines you created (Figure 65). Follow the next steps and provide

valid pool settings. Then click Next.

Figure 65. Provide a Naming Pattern for the Virtual Machines

6. Click Next and provide settings (Figure 66). The desktop pool is ready for completion.


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Figure 66. The Virtual Machine Pool Is Ready for Completion

7. Click Finish to complete the creation of the virtual machine pool (Figure 67).

Figure 67. The Virtual Machine Pool Is Complete

User Workload Simulation: Login VSI

A critical factor in validating a desktop virtualization deployment is identifying a real-world user workload that is

easy for customers to replicate and standardized across platforms so that customers can realistically test the

impact of a variety of worker tasks. To accurately represent a real-world user workload, a tool is needed to

measure in-session response time and provide an objective way to measure the expected user experience for

individual desktops throughout large-scale test workloads, including login storms.

The Login Virtual Session Indexer (VSI) 3.7 methodology, designed for benchmarking server-based computing

(SBC) and VDI environments is completely platform and protocol independent and hence allows customers to

easily replicate the testing results in their own environments.

Login VSI calculates an index based on the number of simultaneous sessions that can be run on a single machine.

Login VSI simulates a medium-sized-workload user (also known as a knowledge worker) running applications such

as Microsoft Office 2007 or 2010, Internet Explorer 8 including an Adobe Flash video applet, and Adobe Acrobat

Reader

Note: For the purposes of this test, applications were installed locally, not streamed through VMware ThinApp.


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As in real user sessions, the scripted Login VSI session leaves multiple applications open at the same time. The

medium-sized workload is the default workload in Login VSI and was used for this testing. This workload emulated

a medium-level knowledge working using Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer, printing, and viewing PDFs.

● After a session is started, the medium workload repeats every 12 minutes.

● During each loop, the response time is measured every 2 minutes.

● The medium workload opens up to five applications simultaneously.

● The typing rate is 160 milliseconds (ms) for each character.

● Approximately 2 minutes of idle time is included to simulate real-world users.

● Each loop opens and uses:

◦ Microsoft Outlook 2007 or 2010: 10 messages are browsed.

◦ Microsoft Internet Explorer: One instance is left open (BBC.co.uk); one instance is browsed to

Wired.com, Lonely planet.com, and a processor-intensive 480p Adobe Flash application

(gettheglass.com).

◦ Microsoft Word 2007 or 2010: One instance is used to measure response time, and one instance is used

to review and edit a document.

◦ Bullzip PDF printer and Acrobat Reader: The Microsoft Word document is printed and reviewed as a

PDF.

◦ Microsoft Excel 2007 or 2010: A very large randomized spreadsheet is opened.

◦ Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 or 2010: A presentation is reviewed and edited.

◦ 7-zip: Using the command-line version, the output of the session is zipped.

You can obtain additional information about on Login VSI at http://www.loginvsi.com.

Testing Procedure

The test procedure described here was used for each test cycle in this study to help ensure consistent results.

Solution Validation

The Cisco Test Protocol for Virtual Desktops was employed to help ensure that the solution delivers an outstanding

end-user experience.

Multiple-Server Scalability and Testing

Figures 68 through 92 show the test results

http://www.loginvsi.com/


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Figure 68. Test Results for 250 Microsoft Windows 7 Virtual Desktops on Two Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Servers

Figure 69. ESXTOP CPU Total-Core Utilization Time Chart for 250 Users: Test Phase

Figure 70. ESXTOP Nonkernel Megabytes Chart for 250 Users: Test Phase


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Figure 71. ESXTOP Disk Adapter VHMBA Chart for 250 Users: Test Phase

Figure 72. ESXTOP Network Chart for 250 Users: Test Phase


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Figure 73. Read Latency for 250 Sessions: Test Phase

Figure 74. Write Latency for 250 Sessions: Test Phase


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Figure 75. Test Results for 150 VMware Horizon 6 with View RDS Host Sessions on Two Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Servers




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Figure 80. Read Latency for 150 Sessions: Test Phase

Figure 81. Write Latency for 150 Sessions: Test Phase


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Figure 82. Test Results for 350 Mixed-Workload Sessions on Four Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Servers

Figure 83. ESXTOP CPU Total-Core Utilization Time Chart for 350 Users: Test Phase (Infra 1: Representative of Both Infrastructure Servers)


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Figure 84. ESXTOP Nonkernel Megabytes Chart for 350 Users: Test Phase (Infra 1)

Figure 85. ESXTOP Disk Adapter VHMBA Chart for 350 Users: Test Phase (Infra 1)

Figure 86. ESXTOP Network Chart for 350 Users: Test Phase (Infra 1)


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Figure 87. ESXTOP CPU Total-Core Utilization Time Chart for 350 Users: Test Phase (VDI 1: Representative of Both Floating-Assignment Linked-Clone Servers)

Figure 88. ESXTOP Nonkernel Megabytes Chart for 350 Users: Test Phase (VDI 1)

Figure 89. ESXTOP Disk Adapter VHMBA Chart for 350 Users: Test Phase (VDI 1)


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Figure 90. ESXTOP Network Chart for 350 Users: Test Phase (VDI 1)

Figure 91. Nimble Storage CS300 Array Read Latency for 350 Users and a Mixed Workload (Microseconds)


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Figure 92. Nimble Storage CS300 Array Write Latency for 350 Users and a Mixed Workload (Microseconds)

Single-Server RDS Host Scalability and Testing

The scalability of single-server RDS Host sessions on a single Cisco UCS B200 M3 server was tested. This testing

determined that 140 RDS Host sessions can be scaled on a single server using seven RDS host server virtual

machines.

If more sessions or users are required, use the scalability value for the single Cisco UCS B200 M3 server and add

one or more Cisco UCS B200 M3 blade servers to provide the needed capacity.

Figures 93 through 97 show the results of this testing.

Figure 93. Test Results for 140 RDS Host Users on a Single Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Server


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Conclusion

Cisco UCS Mini and Nimble Storage together are an excellent solution for remote and branch offices hosting

VMware Horizon–based virtual desktops. The Cisco UCS B200 M3 Blade Servers add the flexibility needed to run

both infrastructure services and Horizoon View Supported RDS Host server virtual machine workloads on the same

blade. Customers have the freedom to mix and match the types of virtual desktop sessions that best fit their

organizations.

The Nimble Storage CS300 array provides an agile storage platform that meets the requirements of both Microsoft

RDS server–based sessions and traditional VMware Horizon linked clones in addition to all the persistent user

data.

When you use Cisco UCS Mini with onboard Cisco UCS Manager software in combination with Cisco UCS Central

Software, you can manage the remote or branch office as if it were part of the corporate data center.

For More Information

● Cisco UCS B-Series Servers

◦ http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/servers-unified-computing/ucs-b-series-blade-servers/index.html

● Cisco UCS Manager configuration

◦ http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/sw/gui/config/guide/2-

2/b_UCSM_GUI_Configuration_Guide_2_2.html

● Cisco UCS Mini

◦ http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/servers-unified-computing/ucs-mini/index.html

● Nimble Storage CS Series

◦ http://info.nimblestorage.com/rs/nimblestorage/images/Nimble_CS-Series_Datasheet.pdf

● VMware Horizon 6 reference documents

◦ https://www.vmware.com/support/horizon-view/doc/horizon-view-60-release-notes.html

◦ https://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/view_pubs.html

◦ http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/products/horizon/VMware-Horizon-FAQ.pdf

● VMware View 5 with PCoIP network optimization guide

◦ http://www.vmware.co/files/pdf/view/VMware-View-5-PCoIP-Network-Optimization-Guide.pdf

● Microsoft Windows 7 optimization guide for virtual desktops:

◦ http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/VMware-View-OptimizationGuideWindows7-EN.pdf

● VMware vSphere ESXi and vCenter Server 5.5 documentation:

◦ http://www.vmware.com/pdf/Perf_Best_Practices_vSphere5.5.pdf

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/servers-unified-computing/ucs-b-series-blade-servers/index.html

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/sw/gui/config/guide/2-2/b_UCSM_GUI_Configuration_Guide_2_2.html

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/td/docs/unified_computing/ucs/sw/gui/config/guide/2-2/b_UCSM_GUI_Configuration_Guide_2_2.html

http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/products/servers-unified-computing/ucs-mini/index.html

http://info.nimblestorage.com/rs/nimblestorage/images/Nimble_CS-Series_Datasheet.pdf

https://www.vmware.com/support/horizon-view/doc/horizon-view-60-release-notes.html

https://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/view_pubs.html

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/products/horizon/VMware-Horizon-FAQ.pdf

http://www.vmware.co/files/pdf/view/VMware-View-5-PCoIP-Network-Optimization-Guide.pdf


http://www.vmware.com/pdf/Perf_Best_Practices_vSphere5.5.pdf


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About the Author

Ramesh Guduru, Engineer/Developer, Cisco Systems Inc.

Ramesh Guduru, Virtualization System Engineer in CSPG, UCS Product Management and DC Solutions

Engineering, Cisco Systems Inc. Ramesh has around 10 years of experience in VMware View thin client

administration, configuration and optimization of virtual desktop environment, Cisco Unified Computing System and

Storage. Ramesh’s skill set include core VMware applications in the virtual environment focusing in system design

and implementation of virtualization components.

Acknowledgements

Neil Glick, Nimble Storage, Inc.

Bhumik Patel, VMware, Inc.

Mike Brennan, Cisco Systems, Inc.

Printed in USA C11-733474-00 1/15

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