why clearcube technology for vdi?
TRANSCRIPT
Why ClearCube for VDI?
© 2014 ClearCube Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved 1
Why ClearCube Technology for VDI?
January 2014
Why ClearCube for VDI?
© 2014 ClearCube Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved 2
Why ClearCube for VDI?
There are many VDI platforms to choose from. Some have evolved inefficiently from legacy virtualized
server farms; some use proprietary file systems; some use proprietary hardware; some are slow in
certain areas, fast in others; all consume more storage at a higher cost than what could be possible.
Given the existing muddled VDI landscape, ClearCube -- a pioneer in the VDI market as the first OEM to
adopt PCoIP for commercial use – responded to our zero client customers’ requests for a
straightforward VDI compute/storage solution to fulfill the promise of desktop virtualization with the
SmartVDI product family.
ClearCube designed SmartVDI to meet the following objectives:
1. Utilize VMware’s proven core VDI components
2. Optimize VDI storage for desktop usage with high performance IOPS for a great user experience
3. Produce the lowest cost/highest performance ratios by eliminating the need for unnecessary
drives, storage space, and storage software licensing through patented real-time in-line
deduplication
4. Design the configuration capabilities to embrace linked clones and persistent full clones within
the same architecture
5. Incorporate high availability for business continuity and minimize complexity for disaster
recovery scenarios
6. Modularize the deliverables to make scaling simple and easy
What does SmartVDI mean for you?
SmartVDI’s straightforward approach to meeting those six objectives provide you with three huge
advantages -- OPEX reductions, satisfied users, and a smooth transition from physical to virtual (or
physical and virtual) as the primary end goal.
Please take a few moments to appreciate how SmartVDI can save you money.
In the case of a business that uses 100 physical desktop PCs, take a look at the number of items that one
SmartVDI system eliminates: 100s of processors, power supplies, cases, hard drives, electronics, packing
materials, office space and all their associated adverse impacts – noise, heat, power consumption, space
consumption and distributed PC management. Think about what eliminating these will mean to your
bottom line savings.
In this brief overview of the SmartVDI architecture we will explain the importance and impact of each
design consideration and why meeting SmartVDI’s six objectives has produced the best VDI platform.
SmartVDI’s design is straightforward, without mystery, which makes it easy to understand, easy to
implement, easy to support, and comfortable to live with.
Why ClearCube for VDI?
© 2014 ClearCube Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved 3
Management Resource Pool
Diagram 1 represents two hardware components needed to meet the first four of the six key objectives.
SmartVDI 100 delivers the compute portion and SmartStor Storage Array delivers the external storage
portion.
At the heart of the
SmartVDI architecture is a
Management Resource
Pool (Diagram 2) that
ClearCube has
constructed using
VMware’s proven VDI
infrastructure core – ESXi,
vCenter, and View
Connection
Server/Administrator/
Broker, and View
Composer for linked clone
management. To that VDI core, ClearCube adds (or supports if the functions already exist on site) a
number of common software components such as VMware vCenter, Horizon View, View Composer and
Diagram 2 - Management Resource Pool
Diagram 1 - High-level SmartVDI Architecture
Why ClearCube for VDI?
© 2014 ClearCube Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved 4
a number of ClearCube provided differentiating software components such as storage - VDI optimized
ZFS file structure, plus end point, USB port, system hardware, and storage management.
SmartVDI 100 Host Hardware
Diagram 3 represents one SmartVDI 100 host hardware system, consisting of dual Xeon processors (two
dark red blocks), high speed 256GB RAM (blue block), and a 16GB internal flash memory for booting
ESXi. No other storage is needed in the compute engine and very little is needed in the external storage
array because of SmartVDI’s unique inline deduplication that saves one instance for use by all virtual
users instead of replicating unique instances for each user. This capability results in the SmartVDI
solution delivering precisely optimized IOPS tuned to meet your users’ needs.
Two paths, in and out of the SmartVDI host hardware system, connect to external storage and to the
network. A direct connection through a high speed SAS controller (coral colored block) is made to
SmartStor external storage array to facilitate speed. Dual 10GbE connections (dark blue blocks
middle/right) provide high speed paths to the network switches, while administrative management
traffic flows over 1GbE connections (two purple blocks).
An Apex 2800 PCoIP offload adapter (yellow block) may be integrated as an option to give a
performance boost if the application environment needs it (for heavy video streaming, for example).
Those SmartVDI host hardware components are packaged in a 1U rack mount chassis with redundant
power supplies (photo at the bottom). Also included in the photo is an external storage array that we
will explain later in the high availability section of this document.
Diagram 3 – SmartVDI Host Platform Hardware
APEX 2800
PCoIP
Offload
16 x 16GB (256 GB) RAM
SmartVDI Series 100 Host Platform
SAS
Controller
SmartVDI
10GigE
10GigE
Storage, Admin, VM NW, vMotion
E2650
2,6GHz
8 core
E2650
2,6GHz
8 core
NVIDIA GRID GPU
Why ClearCube for VDI?
© 2014 ClearCube Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved 5
SmartVDI Virtual Desktop Machines
Diagram 4 represents the virtual
desktop machines that reside in
SmartVDI memory, plus the things
that compose a Windows desktop
such as Windows licenses and
images that define each user’s
work environment. A number of
virtual machines are set aside
within SmartVDI to perform
management tasks (light blue
blocks).
The way the desktops are deployed
can range from linked clones to
persistent full clones. ClearCube’s
SmartVDI team can help you to
understand the positives of each
method. Regardless of which is
best for you, Smart VDI supports
both methodologies through block
level real time deduplication. This
results in using a fraction (sometimes as low as 2%) of normal storage requirements. Think of it as
saving as much as 98% on storage costs.
Let’s re-cap SmartVDI’s first four design objectives:
1. Utilize VMware’s proven core VDI components.
SmartVDI leverages proven VMware VDI software at both the user and management levels,
augmented with Microsoft components, plus ClearCube software built on open source storage-
optimized ZFS file system that completes the VDI solution.
2. Optimize VDI storage for low latency and high IOPS for a great user experience.
SmartVDI provides the IOPS and low latency that makes the user experience transition seamless.
3. Reduce cost/performance ratio eliminating drives and storage software.
Data reduction through inline deduplication can exceed 15:1 which translates to enormous
performance gains and cost savings
Diagram 4 – Support for both linked clones and persistent full clones in SmartVDI Virtual desktop infrastructure
Why ClearCube for VDI?
© 2014 ClearCube Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved 6
4. Embrace linked clones and full clones within the same architecture.
For the first time, both users and network administrators can share in the benefits of VDI. Users
can have the personalized desktops they want; administrators can use familiar management
programs on centralized resources instead of hard to manage distributed resources.
The remaining two design objectives were:
5. Incorporate high availability to reduce downtime and minimize complexity for business
continuity/disaster recovery scenarios.
6. Modularize the deliverables to make scaling simple and easy
Diagram 5 (page 7) shows how SmartVDI accomplishes the remaining two design objectives. Let’s start
with the teal boxes in the top left corner that we just previously summarized as delivering the SmartVDI
core. When you look directly below them, you see a mirror image of the SmartVDI core (diagram1).
Those two identical cores are each connected to an external SmartStor storage array. SmartStor serves
as the central storage location that any of the SmartVDI 100 nodes can access. SmartStor contains the
Management Resource Pool, plus VMware HA software for desktop user migration, plus user data. And
it has redundant SAS paths so that it remains accessible even if one of the local SmartVDI core nodes
fails. In the event of a SmartVDI 100 failure, VMware HA migrates the virtual desktops to remaining
SmartVDI nodes in the cluster and SmartVDI’s managed storage software assigns resources
appropriately. High availability is therefore accomplished on a number of levels, through intelligent
software management and redundant component elements and configuration to deliver business
continuity.
In multi-site disaster recovery configurations, SmartStor can be used for site-to-site replicated storage.
SmartVDI does block level deduplication locally before sending to the replication site so both storage
and bandwidth costs are greatly reduced. Since very little storage is actually consumed at the primary
and secondary sites, mirrored data on SmartStor units are kept current at both sites simultaneously.
That way if the users’ primary site is not accessible, they can log into virtual desktops on the secondary
site that have replicas of their primary site desktops.
Why ClearCube for VDI?
© 2014 ClearCube Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved 7
Diagram 5 - SmartVDI High Availability Architecture
Please notice the additional four teal boxes to the right of the core, without local storage and having
more virtual desktops. Once the SmartVDI high availability core infrastructure has been established,
additional compute nodes can be added to the cluster. The virtual desktops in these nodes, connect
back to SmartVDI’s inline deduplication storage management engine via the high speed 10GigE
connection and do not use local storage. Each system is modular, making scaling simple and easy.
Summary
A virtual desktop isn’t complete without access to use it. That takes a stateless zero client desktop
device that can broker a connection to the virtual desktop over PCoIP protocol.
ClearCube’s innovative VMware-ready PCoIP zero client end points complement the SmartVDI solution.
At the hardware level, ClearCube zero clients are uniquely durable, with dozens of configuration
options, including those for multiple level security support.
So, if your VDI objectives are in line with ClearCube’s design objectives:
1. VMware VDI based
2. Optimized high performance IOPS and low latency
3. Delivers low cost/high performance ratios
4. Supports linked and full clones
5. Delivers desktop business continuity
6. Makes VDI scaling simple and easy
Why ClearCube for VDI?
© 2014 ClearCube Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved 8
From a company that has complete desktop to datacenter solutions, then your decision will be as
straightforward as the SmartVDI architecture.
Diagram 6 – ClearCube Solutions
For more information, please contact us: ClearCube Technology, Inc. 3700 W Parmer Lane, Austin, TX 78727 Voice: 512.652.3500 Fax: 512.652.3501 Toll Free: 866.652.3500 www.clearcube.com [email protected]
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