Earlier we have been discussing the VDI use cases of the three different series of Dell EqualLogic hybrid storage arrays we offer.
As you recall, 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.
Recently we created a Reference Architecture that presents this unified compute, storage, and switching all-in-blade-form-factor platform for hosting and running VDI workloads.
This Reference Architecture demonstrates how a modular 1,000 standard user virtual desktop environment – all self-contained within a Dell PowerEdge M1000e blade chassis – can be deployed in a VMware Horizon View 5.2 VDI infrastructure leveraging 12 PowerEdge M620 blade servers, four Force10 MXL blade switches, and two EqualLogic PS-M4110XS hybrid blade arrays.
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Figure 1: Reference Architecture compute, storage and network layout in the blade chassis
In the test environment, two PS-M4110XS arrays delivered approximately 19,000 IOPS during boot storm, 9,000 IOPS during login storm, and 4,400 IOPS during steady state with satisfactory performance results across all layers – user layer, hypervisor layer, and storage layer – of the stack.
This paper provides the details of the storage I/O characteristics under various VDI workload scenarios like boot and login storms along with performance characteristics throughout the VDI stack (for example, ESXi server performance and user experience).
Check it out here.
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