To deliver a consistent, secure and reliable personal desktop experience to the ever increasing mobile and remote user base, many IT organizations are considering virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) deployment. Centralized management of virtual desktops helps simplify desktop deployment, software updates, and patch management. So, desktop virtualization can significantly reduce the operating costs of managing a very diverse client device environment.
Like everything else in life, VDI comes with its own set of challenges though. In particular, cost and management associated with storage for VDI deployments can be a significant hurdle. VDI storage requires the capacity to store not only desktop virtual machines, but also the associated end-user application data. Storage for VDI should also deliver the performance necessary for handling utilization spikes of short duration—I/O storms—such as those generated when large numbers of virtual desktops are booted simultaneously or hundreds of end users log in or log off at the same time.
Dell EqualLogic PS Series iSCSI hybrid SAN arrays are well suited for VDI environments. These hybrid arrays combine both solid-state drives (SSDs) and traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) in the same chassis and include features such as automated data tiering and centralized management tools to support efficient VDI deployments.
We started with a single hybrid model nearly 2.5 years ago, and now EqualLogic offers three different hybrid array models. With the last two hybrid models introduced since last summer, the most frequent question we are getting from our customers is this: “Which EqualLogic hybrid array shall I buy for my VDI deployment?”
This article addresses the question. In a nutshell, the answer is, “It depends on your VDI use case.” (What else could it be? :-) )
See the figure below for the SSD/HDD capacity ratio and VDI workload performance positioning for all the three hybrid models before we discuss the VDI use cases for these three models.
EqualLogic PS-M4110XS series hybrid arrays provide a blade form factor suitable for a comprehensive, self-contained VDI solution within a modular and compact blade enclosure. Together with Dell PowerEdge™ blade servers and Dell Force10™ blade switches, these hybrid blade arrays create a data center in a box for VDI deployments. This approach helps organizations reduce virtual desktop deployment and operational costs through efficient use of switching resources, minimized cabling, and consolidated management. A hybrid of 2 TB SSD and 5.4 TB serial attached SCSI (SAS) drive capacity offers a performance-to-capacity ratio well suited for efficient, high-density, compact form factor VDI deployments with a comprehensive, converged compute, networking, and storage infrastructure.
EqualLogic PS6110XS and EqualLogic PS6100XS series hybrid arrays are designed to offer VDI-optimized storage. Combined high-performance SSD capacity and capacity-optimized SAS drives provide a hot-to-warm data ratio that is optimized for high-performance virtual desktop environments. These environments include medium and large VDI deployments with mixed end-user profiles, including profiles for task workers, knowledge workers, and power users. SSD capacity is available for frequently accessed desktop virtual machine data, while end-user application data can be stored on capacity-optimized drives in either of these arrays or in preexisting capacity located on other EqualLogic PS Series arrays. In addition to automatic tiering within the hybrid arrays, EqualLogic PS Series software can automatically tier data across arrays based on utilization rates when multiple arrays are deployed.
EqualLogic PS6510ES and EqualLogic PS6500ES series hybrid arrays can be an excellent fit in organizations deploying VDI environments that are smaller in scale and less-demanding virtual desktop deployments than medium or large VDI environments. One example is VDI for task workers. These arrays also provide additional storage suitable for other capacity-oriented consolidation workloads within a single array. Substantial SSD capacity helps support high-performance, low-latency desktop virtual machine storage. Large-capacity nearline SAS drives provide cost-effective high capacity for less frequently accessed end-user application files and other consolidation workloads.
Check out the details of these uses cases in this article.