What Is Dell Technologies PowerStore – Part 19, VDI with VMware Horizon

During these days, we get many customers who needs to work from home and as such, turn to VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure) based solution, we have just published two white papers how this can be achieved with PowerStore

This document details the architecture design, configuration, and implementation considerations when deploying a VDI workload with 3,600 VMware® Horizon® virtual desktops on the Dell EMC™ PowerStore™
9000T model storage array. This document is primarily storage-focused and details the specific configurations of this system. Also, the network and fabrics that are used for connectivity is explored in detail.
PowerStore layers protocols and services on a flexible, container-based architecture, ensuring that features and services can be added to existing installations with minimal impact. This paper discusses the benefits of a unified storage product that combines block and file services into a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) platform. PowerStore allows expansion of both functionality and capacity to protect storage investments.
The information in this document is based on the guidelines in the paper Dell EMC PowerStore: VMware vSphere Best Practices on Dell.com/PowerStoreDocs. This document includes supplemental information regarding VDI-specific details when running VMware Horizon.
As part of this reference architecture, the solution was tested using the industry-standard Login VSI® VDI benchmarking tool. The PowerStore 9000T model appliance delivered sub-millisecond latency to 3,600 virtual desktops running a heavy workload of 30 IOPS per user. This would meet the performance requirements of most organizations.

NAS servers
A key feature of PowerStore is the ability to support multiple NAS servers on the same array. This support has multiple benefits, including the following:
• NAS servers can enable multi-tenancy.
• NAS servers are logically segregated from each other.
• Clients of one NAS server do not have access to data on other NAS servers.
• Each NAS server has its own independent configuration (for example, DNS, LDAP, NIS, interfaces, protocols, and so forth).

With each NAS instance being isolated, multiple environments can share a single system. Enforced isolation helps increase security and stability. Because a NAS instance runs on a single node to get maximum performance, a minimum of two NAS servers is recommended. The load can then be split between the two instances. The type of data being stored determines the best method of balancing the load.
For user profiles, a tool like VMware DEM (Dynamic Environment Manager) can be used to balance the data across multiple file systems. This tool allows setting dynamic rules to place data based on user-defined criteria. This use automates data redirection for greater control and centralized management.
There are two NAS servers that are configured, one per node in the appliance. This was for performance reasons. Each NAS server is an isolated process. Each NAS server had a single file system created. Multiple file systems can be created per NAS instance if desired.
The use of DEM allows condition-based file redirection. With condition-based rules, the data placement of the user profiles is configured for odd-numbered (such as user1, user3) user profiles to one share with even based to the second file share. This is not a requirement but a guideline. In the context of this testing, it was done to ensure load balancing across the storage nodes.

NAS/file systems

PowerStore arrays support multiple file systems for flexibility, security, and availability. This support allows for creating file shares that are based on user type or operating environment. A single NAS and file-system instance can support both SMB and NFS simultaneously.
For this testing, two NAS servers were created. Each NAS server had a single file share that is created and used in a Round-Robin file sharing configuration. This load balanced the file activity and reduced the number of files per share for backup purposes.
In this environment, SMB was the only protocol tested. The scenario is designed to simulate Windows desktop users accessing files from a Windows server.

The full white paper can be downloaded by clicking the screenshot below

The other document is the best practices guide

This document provides best practices for using Dell EMC™ PowerStore™ with VMware® Horizon® virtual desktops. The PowerStore platform offers optimal flexibility and resiliency. PowerStore layers protocols and services on a flexible, container-based architecture, ensuring that features and services can be added to existing installations with minimal impact. This paper discusses the benefits of a unified storage product that combines block and file services into a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) platform. PowerStore allows expansion of both functionality and capacity to protect storage investments. Although the guidance in this paper is specific to VMware Horizon, it applies to most VDI environments. Each environment is unique, and all best-practices guidance that is provided in this paper may not apply. The information in this document is based on the guidelines in the paper Dell EMC PowerStore: VMware vSphere Best Practices on Dell.com/StorageResources. This document includes supplemental information regarding VDI-specific details when running VMware Horizon.

The best practices document can be downloaded by clicking the screenshot below

But we didn’t stop there, while the RA deals with 3,600 user, below you can see a demo of 4,000 ! user on a single PowerStore appliance, because what’s couple of hundreds of more users where your storage array can REALLY perform!