Virtualizing Apps, Desktops, Servers and Everything in Between

1. Virtualizing Apps, Desktops, Servers and Everything in Between Karen Warren Director of User and Technical Services kwarren@wesleyan.edu David V. Spiars Windows System Administrator vspiars@wesleyan.edu Wesleyan University Middletown, CT

2. Why? • Cost savings – but what kind of cost? • The hardware is cheaper, but not that much depending on what you buy. • Replacement cycle – much longer but not yet realized • Time savings • Re-imaging; reduced downtime on failure • Support • Provisioning • Environmental savings • New – let’s see how it works

3. Environmental comparison Thin Client Wyse V10L Desktop HP DC7800 270 KWH total annual usage $35.37 total annual electrical cost 2838 lbs of C02 produced per year • 103 KWH total annual usage • $13.50 total annual electrical cost • 1083 lbs of C02 produced per year Assumptions: units are off evenings, weekends, vacations and holidays.

4. Who? • Limited or special use labs such as our Career Resource Center, McNair Lab, student workers • Administrative users in offices such as University Relations, Admissions, Finance, etc. • Kiosks • Physical Plant – work order stations

5. How? • Different solution depending on need. • Terminal Services for lab setups and kiosks. • Virtual Desktops for administrative staff – our challenges • No standard configuration • Allow users admin access to desktop • Allow personalization of desktops • Had to make a seamless transition with the least disruption to the user experience. Yikes!

6. So.. How’d it go? Cons Pros Small footprint Very short boot time When it works well, it is great Less moving parts to fail • Erratic performance • Display challenges • Peripheral Devices • Staff buy-in: both internal to ITS and users

7. Architecture • VMWare ESX Hosts on Dell M600 blades with 32GB RAM on each • Storage via NFS volumes on NetApp Filer 3050 using SATA drives. • Clients: Wyse V10L running Wyse Thin OS (WTOS), TCX Multimedia Extension, and TCX USB Virtualizers • De-duplication on the Filers. • 100MB connectivity to endpoints

8. What we had to change • Performance limitations on the Filers because of our data allocation. • Moved Virtual Desktops to Fiber Channel storage on the same SAN. • Acquired disk shelves for the Filers and completed a major data storage restructure based on actual data revealing disk I/O. • Consolidated most desktop VMs to two hosts dedicated to VDI.

9. Where we are now • 40 virtual desktops and 20 TS terminals • Virtualized Servers: 35 Unix/46 Windows • Adding broker/VDI management tool within the next 6-8 weeks • Re-examining storage – isolating storage?

10. Users • Pilot group of users. Some voluntary and appropriate, some less so. • User buy-in. • Constant communication. Honest and up front. • Have a test setup for yourself or implementers so they can see and experience what the users experience.

11. Cost • Blade = $4000 • VMWare ESX Licenses = $3200 with 2 yr support (move to ESXi and possibly VM View?) • ~ 20 desktops per host; VDI confined to 2 hosts (at 20 per machine, the cost is $200 per VM) • Wyse V10L terminal with licensing for USB and Multimedia enhancement = $350. Without licenses = $300 • Life span = unknown. 8 – 10 yrs? • Current desktop model – HP DC7900 with imaging and licensing costs = $780 (no monitor) • Average replacement = 4 years • Parts support and replacement. • Staffing costs. • Downtime costs.

12. Does it add up? • If, when all is said and done, the hardware outlay was the same, would we not do it anyway? • Quantify the exact cost with VDI and virtual servers all coexisting. How do you factor the true cost of SAN storage? • True impact of staffing costs and maintenance.

13. Application VirtualizationThe crash course • Scope—what are you trying to accomplish? Quicker imaging times? Make available different versions of the same app? • Identify who it is going to use the virtualized app (Faculty in classrooms, students in labs, students on personal machines)? • Remember the management of the tool to create/implement app virtualization. Time still costs money. Give it to the correct person.

14. Benefits of app virtualization • Reduce Windows image size and thus, reduce reimage time. DR and machine deployment times are shortened. Happier faculty/staff. • Multi-version availability (Office 2003, 2007, 2010 all available on the same workstation and do not interfere with one another). • Via AD you can manage with users/groups get access to which apps without having multiple images. One base image with AD and app virtualization can allow of targeted app deployment.

15. Application Virtualizationpitfalls • App management—it needs to be relatively easy and quick process to get an app virtualized. • App linking—make sure the tool you select can easily allow of app linking (plug-ins that allow 2 apps to work together--Excel and Turning Technologies are perfect examples). App simplicity is critical for proper management. • Cost—you may be able to leverage a product cheaply via a license agreement or some contract bundling but beware—a cheap product is not always inexpensive to operate.