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Virtual Desktops

a leaner, greener solution Shivaji Samanta Chief Information Officer Piedmont Virginia Community College Charlottesville, Virginia. Virtual Desktops. So what is Desktop Virtualization?. Wikipedia says :

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Virtual Desktops

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  1. a leaner, greener solution Shivaji Samanta Chief Information OfficerPiedmont Virginia Community CollegeCharlottesville, Virginia Virtual Desktops

  2. So what is Desktop Virtualization? Wikipedia says : • “Desktop virtualization (sometimes called client virtualization), as a concept, separates a personal computer desktop environment from a physical machine using the client–server model of computing.” • “Virtual desktop infrastructure, sometimes referred to as virtual desktop interface (VDI) is the server computing model enabling desktop virtualization, encompassing the hardware and software systems required to support the virtualized environment”. Piedmont Virginia Community College

  3. What does that mean ? • It means that with desktop virtualization, what you see (and hear) is on a “local client” but everything is really running somewhere else on a “remote server”. Piedmont Virginia Community College

  4. Some reasons to think about VDI • Flexible desktop management • Enabling greater mobility • Easier maintenance, better security BUT DON’T THINK YOU ARE DOING IT JUST TO SAVE MONEY OR BECAUSE IT IS “COOL” Piedmont Virginia Community College

  5. Find the right use case for VDI • What is the problem you are trying to solve? • Examine the many ways to deliver virtual desktops to the end-user • Choose the technology that makes most sense for the specific problem at hand Piedmont Virginia Community College

  6. Upcoming Projects : Spring 2012 • Deploy a Developmental Math Lab with up to 70 workstations for Fall 2012 • Deploy computer lab at remote site for Fall 2012, in addition to design and deploy five media enabled classrooms and three compressed video classrooms. • Deploy Developmental Writing Lab with 25 workstations for Spring 2013 • Deploy five media enabled classrooms including two computer labs at Downtown site for Spring 2013 • Provide faculty/staff access to network shares for BYOD from off-campus without compromising security • Refresh Faculty Training Center with ten workstations Piedmont Virginia Community College

  7. Different ways to get there … • VMWare View • CITRIX XEN Desktop • VDI-in-a-Box Appliance • Various Thin Clients • HP Smart Clients • Wyse Thin Clients • Pano Logic Zero Clients • NComputing Desktop Virtualization Piedmont Virginia Community College

  8. VDI-in-a-Box • VDI-in-a-Box 5.2 Broker • Provisioning Service • High Availability fail-over option • Scalable Load Balancer (Nx+1 grid) • Virtual Desktop Agent • Template Manager • Citrix Receiver agent • Works with VMWare, Xenserver, Hyper-V Piedmont Virginia Community College

  9. Scenarios where VDI-in-a-Box works • PC Replacement • Windows 7 (or 8) Migration • Remote Office/Branch Office • Computer Labs. Different images can be delivered based on login on same “box” • Desktops as a cloud-based service and managed services Piedmont Virginia Community College

  10. Upcoming Projects : Spring 2012 Projects that were deployed using VDI-in-a-Box • Deploy a Developmental Math Lab with up to 70 workstations for Fall 2012 • Deploy computer lab at remote site for Fall 2012 • Deploy Developmental Writing Lab with 25 workstations for Spring 2013 • Deploy two computer labs at Downtown site for Spring 2013 • Provide faculty/staff access to network shares for BYOD from off-campus without compromising security • Refresh Faculty Training Center with ten workstations Piedmont Virginia Community College

  11. Implementation @ PVCC • 40 Citrix VDI-in-a-Box User Licenses • Citrix Gateway License • Dual failover servers • Dual quad core 2.4 GHz cpus • 96 Gb RAM • ~ 980 Gb of VMFS storage • VMWare ESXi 5.1 Piedmont Virginia Community College

  12. Management Screens • VDI Manager, which lets you configure • Images with preconfigured software • Templates from images, which are deployed to • Users, groups, access levels • Gateway Manager • Front end to the server(s) • Takes care of load balance, failover, SSL Piedmont Virginia Community College

  13. VDI-in-a-box deployment @ PVCC • 65 users currently signed up for • Access to preconfigured virtual desktops with access to document shares • Available on Windows, MacOS, Linux, iOS and Android devices • Computer Lab (20 Computers) • Training Lab with 10xN500 thin clients Piedmont Virginia Community College

  14. Thin Client benefits : • Triple the number of PCs you can afford without increasing your budget • Reduce maintenance and support costs by 75% • Reduce power and cooling requirements by 90% • Reduce device theft and loss • Centrally stored data increases security Piedmont Virginia Community College

  15. NComputing : options available: • PC Expansion • X-series (Direct PCI : 1 PC  11 Users) • M-series (Ethernet : 1 PC  45 Users) • PC Refresh • L-series (Ethernet : 1 Server  100 Users) • PC Desktop • N-Series (Citrix Client: Server infrastructure) Piedmont Virginia Community College

  16. Comparison with a typical PC • Thin client virtual desktops drastically reduce e-waste due to their small size and longer service life. • Virtual Desktop vs. PC Scorecard • 1-5 watts usage vs. 150 watts usage • 10 year service life vs. 3 year service life • 0.34lbs of e-waste vs. 25lbs of e-waste Piedmont Virginia Community College

  17. Host Operating Systems supported • Windows XP/Windows 7 • Windows Server 2003/2008 • Windows Multipoint Server • Ubuntu Linux Piedmont Virginia Community College

  18. Typical power consumptions Piedmont Virginia Community College

  19. Where does this work best? • Most people use no more than 5% of their desktops CPU and very little of the storage capacity. • 50-70% savings in hardware costs and ~90% savings in power consumption. • Best suited for users with : • basic computing needs • where the price to performance ratios are more important. Piedmont Virginia Community College

  20. Where can you use these ? • Classrooms • Computer labs • Libraries • Testing centers • Registration • Teacher desks • Digital signage • Kiosks Piedmont Virginia Community College

  21. Upcoming Projects : Spring 2012 Projects that were deployed using NComputing thin clients Projects that were deployed using VDI-in-a-Box • Deploy a Developmental Math Lab with up to 70 workstations for Fall 2012 • Deploy computer lab at remote site for Fall 2012 • Deploy Developmental Writing Lab with 25 workstations for Spring 2013 • Deploy two computer labs at Downtown site for Spring 2013 • Provide faculty/staff access to network shares for BYOD from off-campus without compromising security • Refresh Faculty Training Center with ten workstations Piedmont Virginia Community College

  22. Single Lab Piedmont Virginia Community College

  23. Multiple Labs Piedmont Virginia Community College

  24. Wide area deployment Piedmont Virginia Community College

  25. Comparison of video performance Piedmont Virginia Community College

  26. Demo of video acceleration Piedmont Virginia Community College

  27. L300 Specifications/Connections Piedmont Virginia Community College

  28. N500 Specifications/Connections Piedmont Virginia Community College

  29. Typical Usage on Virtual Host • Quad Core, 8 GB Ram, 80 GB HDD • Windows Server 2008 R2 • VMWare v4.1 hosts Piedmont Virginia Community College

  30. Typical Config – Physical Server • Desktop class Dell Optiplex 990 • 16 Gb RAM, 500 GB HDD, • i7 dual-quad 3.4 GHZ CPU • Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit Piedmont Virginia Community College

  31. VSpace Management Console • Allows you to scan by subnet or broadcast • Put devices in groups • Push configurations, auto login parameters • Reboot one or more units • View screens on each unit Piedmont Virginia Community College

  32. NComputing Deployment @ PVCC • 2xWin2k8 VMs : 66 workstations (1 lab) • 1xWin2k8 Server : 43 workstations (2 labs) • 2xWin7sp1 VMs : 25 w0rkstations (failover) • 1xWin7sp1 VM : 6 workstations (Adjunct) • 1xWin7sp1 VM : 4 workstations (Students) Piedmont Virginia Community College

  33. Attack of the clones !! CLONE ARMY Over 150 deployed Piedmont Virginia Community College

  34. 30 Each IV lab X 4 Piedmont Virginia Community College

  35. 24 Kiilmarnock Center IV lab and 1 in Admissions Office Piedmont Virginia Community College

  36. 28 Math Lab X 2 Piedmont Virginia Community College

  37. Picture of testing center lab here 6 Testing Center Piedmont Virginia Community College

  38. 3 Tutoring Lab Piedmont Virginia Community College

  39. 4 and 3 Warsaw and Glenns Admissions Offices Piedmont Virginia Community College

  40. Summary • Choose the solution that works best for your requirements • Do not assume this will just save you money • Do plan well before you start anything • Benefits • Reduced costs in some applications, balanced by increased infrastructure demands • Improved management of desktops • Easier deployment and control Piedmont Virginia Community College

  41. Questions ? Piedmont Virginia Community College

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