Specifications

For example, in an 8-host cluster, where each host is capable of running 128 desktops, and the goal is to tolerate
a single server failure, make sure that no more than 128 * (8 - 1) = 896 desktops are running on that cluster. You
can also use VMware DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler) to help balance the desktops among all 8 hosts.
You get full use of the extra server capacity without letting any hot-spare resources sit idle. Additionally, DRS
can help rebalance the cluster after a failed server is restored to service.
You must also make sure that storage is properly configured to support the I/O load that results from many
virtual machines restarting at once in response to a server failure. Storage IOPS has the most effect on how
quickly desktops recover from a server failure.
Example: Cluster Configuration Example
The settings listed in Table 4-9 are VMware View-specific. For information about limits of HA clusters in
vSphere, see the VMware vSphere Configuration Maximums document.
Table 4-9. HA Cluster Example
Item Example
Nodes (ESX servers) 8 (including 1 hot spare)
Cluster type DRS (Distributed Resource Scheduler)/HA
Networking component Standard ESX 4.1 cluster network
Switch ports 80
Networking requirements depend on the type of server, the number of network adapters, and the way in which
vMotion is configured.
VMware View Building Blocks
A 2,000-user building block consists of physical servers, a VMware vSphere infrastructure, VMware View
servers, shared storage, and 2,000 virtual machine desktops. You can include up to five building blocks in a
View pod.
Table 4-10. Example of a LAN-Based View Building Block
Item Example
vSphere clusters 2 or more (with up to 8 ESX hosts in each cluster)
80-port network switch 1
Shared storage system 1
vCenter Server with View Composer 1 (can be run in the block itself)
Database MS SQL Server or Oracle database server (can be run in the
block itself)
VLANs 3 (a 1Gbit Ethernet network for each: management network,
storage network, and VMotion network)
With vCenter 4.1, which has a limit of 10,000 virtual machines per vCenter, you might be able to use
vCenter Servers that manage virtual desktops in multiple building blocks. At the time this document was
written, VMware had not yet validated such an approach in conjunction with VMware View. Testing of
vCenter Server 4.1 with VMware View 4.5 and 4.6 was limited to testing 2,000 virtual desktops with one
vCenter Server.
If you have only one building block in a pod, use two View Connection Server instances for redundancy.
Figure 4-1 shows the components of a View building block.
Chapter 4 Architecture Design Elements and Planning Guidelines
VMware, Inc. 43