Technical data

Solution Architectural Overview
VMware Horizon View 5.3 and VMware vSphere for up to 2,000 Virtual
Desktops Enabled by Brocade Network Fabrics, EMC VNX, and EMC Next-
Generation Backup
99
Table 16. Virtual desktop characteristics
Characteristic
Value
Virtual desktop operating system
Microsoft Windows 7
Enterprise Edition (32-bit) SP1
Virtual processors per virtual desktop
1
RAM per virtual desktop
2 GB
Available storage capacity per virtual desktop*
3 GB (vmdk and vswap)
Average IOPS per virtual desktop at steady
state
10
* This available storage capacity is calculated based on drives used in this solution. You
can create more space by adding drives or using larger capacity drives of the same
class.
This desktop definition is based on user data that resides on shared
storage. The I/O profile is defined by using a test framework that runs all
desktops concurrently with a steady load generated by the constant use
of office-based applications like browsers, office productivity software,
and other standard task worker utilities.
Applying the reference workload
In addition to the supported desktop numbers (1,000, 2,000, or 3,000), there
may be other factors to consider when deciding which end-user
computing solution to deploy.
The workloads used to validate VSPEX solutions assume that all desktop
users will be active at all times. In other words, the 1,000-desktop
architecture was tested with 1,000 desktops, all generating workload in
parallel, all booted at the same time, and so on. If the customer expects to
have 1,200 users, but only 50 percent of them will be logged on at any
given time due to time zone differences or alternate shifts, the 600 active
users out of the total 1,200 users can be supported by the 1,000-desktop
architecture.
The workload defined in Table 16 and used to test these VSPEX End-User
Computing solution configurations is considered a typical office worker
load. However, some customers’ users might have a more active profile.
If a company has 800 users and, due to custom corporate applications,
each user generates 15 IOPS as compared to 10 IOPS used in the VSPEX
workload, this customer will need 12,000 IOPS (800 users * 15 IOPS per
desktop). The 1,000-desktop configuration would be underpowered in this
case because it has been rated to 10,000 IOPS (1,000 desktops * 10 IOPS
per desktop). This customer should consider moving up to the 2,000-
desktop solution.
Concurrency
Heavier desktop
workloads