SSDs and VDI

[localzuk]

One other option is to use XenServers intellicache feature with XenDesktop. See XenDesktop 5 with IntelliCache cuts VDI storage costs in half » ocb - Citrix Community for more infomation. Wouldn't necessarily need SSDs then - either for the SAN or for the local disks.

 

How does that work? Does it need something specific to work, hardware wise?

[Soulfish]

How does that work? Does it need something specific to work, hardware wise?

 

Hardware wise anything that runs XenServer with local storage. They talk about using SSDs to cache, but I imagine you could also use fast disks as well. Other then that you'd need a SAN to store the base image. Essentially all it's doing is running some smart algorithms to cache the VDI golden image on the local servers rather then having them all ready directly from the SAN.

[localzuk]

Ah, I've just read about it and it does local caching of blocks from the 'master' image - it can do it to RAM, SSD or hard disk. It isn't suited to 'personal' images though, as the write-cache which is created on the local host is wiped on shutdown, rather than being copied back etc...

 

And again, it assumes we end up with a SAN. Which we don't have and don't want to splash out and buy.

[jamesfed]

Ah, I've just read about it and it does local caching of blocks from the 'master' image - it can do it to RAM, SSD or hard disk. It isn't suited to 'personal' images though, as the write-cache which is created on the local host is wiped on shutdown, rather than being copied back etc...

 

And again, it assumes we end up with a SAN. Which we don't have and don't want to splash out and buy.

 

Ultimately if you are looking at using this in a classroom then the issue with personal images dosn't matter as over night you will destory all the desktops and recreate them.

[localzuk]

Ultimately if you are looking at using this in a classroom then the issue with personal images dosn't matter as over night you will destory all the desktops and recreate them.

 

It would be used for both in-class and for admin.

[VirtualTal]

Hi there, Tal Klein from Citrix here. I'm chiming in because I think in your particular XenDesktop VDI situation you'd probably reap the benefits of XenServer IntelliCache. There's a pretty decent article about it from Brian Madden. The reason I say that is because in your case with going pure VDI for less than 200 desktops, you might want to use MCS (Quick Deploy) instead of PVS (Provisioning Services). With MCS+IntelliCache you'd get similar benefits to PVS with less infrastructure. Also, to guide you on storage, the XenServer storage HCL list is here.

 

I'll try to stay active on this forum because I see a lot of interesting discussion, but if you ever need technical help re: XD feel free to send me a DM. I may marketing in my title, but I come from a long engineering background - my job is mostly to keep marketing (both ours and our competitors) honest

 

-Tal

[localzuk]

Hi there, Tal Klein from Citrix here. I'm chiming in because I think in your particular XenDesktop VDI situation you'd probably reap the benefits of XenServer IntelliCache. There's a pretty decent article about it from Brian Madden. The reason I say that is because in your case with going pure VDI for less than 200 desktops, you might want to use MCS (Quick Deploy) instead of PVS (Provisioning Services). With MCS+IntelliCache you'd get similar benefits to PVS with less infrastructure. Also, to guide you on storage, the XenServer storage HCL list is here.

 

I'll try to stay active on this forum because I see a lot of interesting discussion, but if you ever need technical help re: XD feel free to send me a DM. I may marketing in my title, but I come from a long engineering background - my job is mostly to keep marketing (both ours and our competitors) honest

 

-Tal

 

Thanks for the info. That compatibility list doesn't really help as I'm specifically looking to remove the SAN aspect from the job.

[VirtualTal]

Got it. Well, we also have an HCL for storage controllersr for your server - so any of these with local storage would also support IntelliCache thereby enabling you to use Quick Deploy instead of PVS with "different but similar" benefits to IOPS.

 

-Tal