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Delivering the Vico Office Solution with Citrix XenApp
January 2015
Vico Office P a g e | 2 Trimble Buildings GC/CM
Trimble Buildings – Delivering the Vico Office Solution with Citrix XenApp
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction....................................................................................................................................................... 3
Intended Audience ............................................................................................................................................ 3
Vico Office Suite Components .......................................................................................................................... 4
Testing Environment ......................................................................................................................................... 4
Testing Architecture .......................................................................................................................................... 6
Testing Scenarios ............................................................................................................................................. 8
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................... 12
Supporting Product Details ............................................................................................................................. 13
Summary ........................................................................................................................................................ 15
Vico Office P a g e | 3 Trimble Buildings GC/CM
Trimble Buildings – Delivering the Vico Office Solution with Citrix XenApp
INTRODUCTION
Vico Office is a different way of working with BIM models. Used for much more than visualization, Vico Office
extends the basic 3D model with constructability analysis and coordination, 4D location-based scheduling and
production control with flowline principles, and 5D estimating.
The Vico Office Suite can be deployed in a number of ways. However, the method of deployment can greatly
affect speed, usability, and stability. These factors result in associated impacts on user productivity.
The purpose of this document is to outline enterprise implementation variables and use case scenarios for the
Vico Office Suite, specifically exploring the deployment of remote access scenarios via Citrix XenApp. This
document outlines areas of consideration when deploying the Vico Office Suite in a shared enterprise remote or
local user access method. The document discusses ramifications of the various deployment methods, as well as
the description of best performing installations. Finally, the document concludes with best practices for deploying
the Vico Office Suite in a virtualized environment.
INTENDED AUDIENCE
This document is intended to assist technical management staff, as well as the technical engineers and
administrators who are responsible for the deployment of the Vico Office Suite to local and remote users.
Core knowledge of the various technologies associated with an enterprise-based implementation is suggested for
those wishing to use this implementation guide. Certifications are not needed, but strong knowledge and/or
experience is strongly suggested:
Technical managers should be familiar with enterprise systems, servers (physical and virtual), VMware
vSphere, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft Active Directory, and Citrix XenApp.
Technical IT Engineers and Adminstrators should be familiar with specific technologies such as server
virtualization, physical servers, local and SAN storage, remote access technologies and graphics cards.
Direct experience with the specific products (Citrix XenApp, VMware vSphere, NVIDIA GRID and Quadro
graphics cards and SAN Storage) that are represented in this document is beneficial.
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VICO OFFICE SUITE COMPONENTS
Vico Office suite is made up of three primary components:
Vico Office Client (VOC) – The Vico Office Client is the basic software interface that users need to open
the program, as well as to interact with 2D/3D design information and to export reports from the database.
Additional modules can be enabled within the client application to perform construction management
workflows, such as cost and schedule planning.
Vico Office Project Server (VPS) – The Vico Office Project Server is the database component used for
housing the project information. Project Servers typically host multiple construction projects together,
which allows for transfer of information between such projects (using historical information as a
reference). The VPS can be installed on its own server and accessed by multiple instances of the Vico
Office Client.
Vico Office License Server (VLS) – The Vico Office License Server controls the licenses for the various
modules that support the multiple workflows available within the program. The VLS can be installed on its
own server and accessed by multiple instances of the Vico Office Client, dependent on the composition of
module licenses that have been purchased.
These components can be installed on a single workstation, or server, or in a split configuration to accommodate
multiple user access to the same projects. Additional details about these installations can be found in the Vico
Office Installation Guide.
TESTING ENVIRONMENT
The testing environment was built using the recommendations outlined in the Vico Office Installation Guide, with
some baseline assumptions as to what a typical data center environment for implemening this type of construction
application would look like using currently available technology.
Deployment Assumptions
Server virtualization has become common practice and is an assumed component of the research ouitlined in this
document. Within the virtualized datacenter, there will be resources for 10 virtual CPU’s and 32GB of memory.
Likewise, most datacenters deploy over enterprise level SAN storage to accommodate approximately 300GB of
disk space necessary for hosting the Vico Office application and associated project data. If virtual resources are
not available, physical servers can be used to achieve comparable results.
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Products
The following products were used to create the environment for testing:
Citrix XenDesktop / XenApp veer 7.6 – The testing lab did not include any specific HDX policies. An
out-of-the-box environment was tested so that a baseline could be established to determine what Citrix
would do without special modifications. Building the environment this way showed that special tuning was
not required for good performance.
Citrix NetScaler 10.1 – Netscaler was put in place to provide a secure connection for remote sessions.
No special settings had to be put in place for this provision, as it is a standard part of this Citrix XenApp
implementation. Including the NetScaler allowed for secure connections from around the world and was
not considered part of a specific acceleration effort.
VMware vSphere 5.5 – VMware vSphere was tested without special settings or modifications. The
technology was put in place under the assumption that it is the most widely deployed datacenter
virtualization platform currently deployed within the market at this time. VMware’s vSGA GPU sharing
technology was evaluated as part of the project and was determined to not add to the performance of the
overall solution due to other performance issues. For more details, see performance results associated
with local versus remote Vico Project Servers.
Dell PowerEdge R720 Servers – The PowerEdge R720 is Dell’s most mainstream datacenter class
server, making it representative of the typical datacenter deployments encountered in the current market.
It is also one of a handful of physical systems certified for supporting the NVIDIA GRID series GPUs.
Other server manufactures produce comparable systems with the same physical CPUs and chipsets that
are also certified for NVIDIA GRID. However, they were not tested as part of this initiative.
NVIDIA GRID K1 and K2 GPUs – NVIDIA was the first to market with datacenter-centric GPU devices.
They also represent the benchmark in professional graphics with their drivers often being specifically
called out for compatibility with high-end design software. For these reasons, NVIDIA GPU’s were
selected.
HP 3PAR StorServ 7200 – The tested 3PAR is typical of most mid-range enterprise storage. This
storage array was configured utilizing RAID5 over twenty-four 10K SAS drives and connected to the ESXi
hosts via 1GbE MPIO iSCSI. This configuration provided upwards of 5,000 IOPS and 200MB/s
throughout the test environment. Initial tests were performed to see how this type of load would perform.
However, additional testing was performed with RAID10, RAM based IO accelerators, and SSD drives
with only nominal improvements of user experience observed.
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TESTING ARCHITECTURE
Physical Diagram
Dell PowerEdge R720NVIDIA GRID K1 & K2
ESXi 5.5
1GbE Switch 1GbE Switch
10GbE Switch/L3 Routing 10GbE Switch/L3 Routing
HP StorServe 720024x 10K 300GB HDD
10GbE 10GbE
1GbE 1GbE
Stacking Cable
Stacking Cable
1GbE 1GbE 1GbE1GbE
1GbE 1GbE 1GbE 1GbE 1GbE 1GbE
1GbE
Internet
Cable Modem
Cisco ASA Firewall
HP 6000 AIO PC
1GbE Switch
1GbE
1GbE
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Trimble Buildings – Delivering the Vico Office Solution with Citrix XenApp
Logical Diagram
NetScaler VPX
Citrix XenDesktop
Citrix server (vda) Vico Office User tool, Project server &
License server
Citrix SQL DatabaseInternet or
home user connecting
via web browser
Citrix XenDesktop
Citrix Desktop Delivery controllersBrokers, License server, Storefront server
Internal desktop
Internal Thin client ICA/1494
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Trimble Buildings – Delivering the Vico Office Solution with Citrix XenApp
TESTING SCENARIOS
Two types of tests were performed: user experience testing and timed testing.
User Experience Testing
Five user experience scenarios were tested and assigned a score from 1 to 5. A score of 5 represented the best
possible user performance and was equal to the experience of using a fully local installation on a high-end BIM
workstation. A score of 1 represented a nearly unusable product. During live testing, CPU, GPU (video card),
memory, network, and disk usage were monitored. This testing provided a subjective user performance index for
each configuration.
All testing scenarios, besides baseline, were designed and built on the virtual platform. Supporting servers were
virtual with access to the application via Citrix XenApp.
Baseline – The Vico Office Suite (Vico Office Client, Project server, and License server) was installed on
a powerful laptop (Dell Precision M3800) with 16GB of RAM, an Intel i7 CPU, and an NVIDIA K2000
graphics card.
Configuration 1: Low-end performance (network project server & no hardware GPU software-based
rendering) – VOC installed on a Citrix XenApp server with no hardware video card (using software
rendering) and the VPS located on the network via a separate server. The test was configured with a
XenApp server running Windows server 2008R2, 4 vCPUs and 16GB of RAM. This configuration was
assumed to be reflective of typical XenApp server configurations that deployed for common applications
in today’s construction market.
o It is important to note that the Vico Office requirements do state that a “high-end OpenGL card
with at least 512MB onboard memory (ATI or NVIDIA)” is required. This configuration, although
typical of XenApp deployments, does not meet the stated requirement.
Configuration 2: Mid-range performance (network project server & “good” GPU K1 video card) – VOC
installed on the Citrix XenApp server with an NVIDIA K1 video card and the VPS located on the network
via a separate server. Citrix XenApp server was configured with Windows server 2008 R2, 4 vCPUs, and
16GB of RAM.
Configuration 3: Mid-range performance (network project server & “best” GPU K2 video card) – VOC
installed on the Citrix XenApp server with an NVIDIA K2 video card and the VPS located on the network
via a separate server. Citrix XenApp server was configured with Windows server 2008 R2, 4 vCPUs, and
16GB of RAM.
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Trimble Buildings – Delivering the Vico Office Solution with Citrix XenApp
Configuration 4: High performance (local project server & “good” GPU video card) – VOC and VPS
installed on the same Citrix XenApp host server with a NVIDIA K1 graphics card and running Windows
server 2008 R2, 4 CPUs, and 16GB of RAM.
Configuration 5: Highest performance (local project server & “best” GPU video card) - VOC and VPS
installed on the same Citrix XenApp host server with a NVIDIA K2 graphics card and running Windows
server 2008 R2, 4 vCPUs, and 16GB of RAM.
User Experience Testing Results
The results show that a virtualized deployment for multi-user access allowed several people to connect their
instance of the VOC to the same VPS simultaneously. This eliminated performance bottlenecks typically
encountered when deploying via the previously recommended network-based project server method. Although
the installation documentation for Vico Office shows that multiuser access is possible via a network-based Project
Server, the use of virtualization (Citrix) to publish the Vico Office Client to multiple users while simultaneously
hosting the Project Server on the same virtual server greatly improved the user experience. Note that increased
graphics processing capabilities seem to be required to yield an acceptable user experience. In conclusion,
cohosting the VOC and VPS on the same virtualized equipment, with a higher-end graphics card, will most
certainly yield the best user experience in a virtualized deployment.
Test monitoring of the CPU/memory and storage showed that each user consumed roughly 2GB of memory.
Additionally, each user could consumed roughly one CPU core at a time, but this was dependent on the specific
functions the user was performing. Bulk functions, such as loading large models in the 3D view and/or reactivating
large models seemed to consume the most resources. Reports and cost computations also consumed the CPU
and memory primarily when the VPS was involved in database functions. Testing validated that a 64bit server that
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Trimble Buildings – Delivering the Vico Office Solution with Citrix XenApp
hosted both the VOC and VPS balanced multiple users’ access better than a single user on a desktop-based
operating system; this was attributed to the way that a server operating system could process CPU and memory
usage.
Timed Testing
Five user scenarios were created, and testing was performed in a virtualized lab in accordance with the
configurations mentioned above. Various functions of normal user activity were tested against small (<50M),
medium (~300M), and large (+500M) Vico Office projects while being timed. The duration of each function was
recorded for comparison to other configurations. This testing provided a quantitative performance index for each
configuration.
Base line – The Vico Office Suite (VOC + VPS + VLM) was installed on a powerful laptop (Dell Precision
M3800) with 16GB of RAM, an Intel i7 CPU, and an NVIDIA K2000 graphics card. For details about
comparable equipment, refer to the Vico Office installation document.
Low Range Desktop – VOC was installed on a physical desktop containing 4GB of RAM, an Intel core 2
Duo, and an on-board Intel express video card with the VPS located on the network.
Win7vDGA – VOC was installed on a Windows 7 32-bit virtual desktop with 4GB of RAM and attached
NVIDIA K2 graphics card, and 4 vCPUs with the VPS located on the network.
2008R2vDGA (A) – VOC was installed on a Windows 2008R2 virtual server with 16GB of RAM and
attached NVIDIA K2 graphics card, and 4 vCPUs with the VPS located on the network.
2008R2vDGA (B) – VOC was installed on a Citrix server with K2 video card and with the VPS installed on
the same server. As above, the server was configured with Windows 2008 R2, 4 vCPUs, and 16GB of
RAM.
Timed Testing Results
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As shown in the previous charts, this method of testing had an unexpected result. Running the VOC on a 64-bit
server platform helped the application process numerous records more effectively than previously understood
deployment methods over a network. Although there is no direct requirement for the VOC and the VPS to be
running on the same type of operating system, it has been confirmed that having the VOC/CPS running on the
same 64-Bit server improves overall performance.
The results, particularly for the last test, 2008R2vDGA local PS server, having the VOC and VPS co-hosted
greatly decreased the processing time required for many, if not all, tasks performed within the standard workflow.
For example:
Pulling all data from the reference model took 30-40 seconds less time when co-hosting the VOC/VPS.
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The edit and report print view took only 8 seconds when co-hosted, whereas the same task required 12
seconds when deployed via the networked configuration.
Although these numbers may seem small when referenced as seconds of time on their own, the various timed
tests reflect the impact on multiple hours of work. A user working with VOC on a daily basis will see the single
second changes add up to many minutes over the course of a day and several hours over the course of a week.
Additionally, the enhancements gained in terms of seconds per action could have a dramatic impact on the
usability and experience aspects of the program. In some cases, the software seemed unresponsive when the
information was actually lagging over a traditional network of configuration. This could become a go/no-go
perception for a novice user who is otherwise unfamiliar with the software.
Testing the 3D model and manipulation with a remote Project Server slowed down 3D response to a very
undesirable level and made testing without a graphics processing card nearly impossible. For users to have an
optimum and efficient experience, clients are strongly urged to invest in enhanced GPU processing cards when
deploying this technology
CONCLUSION
Although the Vico Office suite can be deployed in many different ways, the testing results show that placing the
Project Server on its own resource and accessing it over the network can cause a significant degradation in
performance, even within the same datacenter and with high speed networking in place. Hosting the Vico Office
suite via Citrix XenApp enables multiple users to access the same projects and eliminates the issue of Vico Office
having to access the project data across a network connection. Furthermore, accessing the VOC via Citrix
XenApp does provide an overall better user experience than a local installation attempting to access a remote
VPS.
Having the VOC and VPS co-hosted does seem to reduce network traffic and allows the server hosting the tools
to respond to data changes more rapidly, which can be attributed to the VPS database’s handling of data. When a
remote project server was processing the VOC data, 30 minutes worth of load time was added to the tested
workflow.
The VPS and VOC are not currently capable of caching, so data flow between all transactions is live and can be
deeply affected by the deployment method. This finding holds true for testing of the VPS, which included network
traffic, CPU and memory utilization. Adding memory, CPU, and faster storage to the project server did not
significantly affect or improve the user experience. This showed that the VPS itself is not a bottleneck. Rather, the
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smallest increase in latency across the overall database process when remote versus local can have a significant
impact on user experience.
The test results also show that a quality graphics card, particulary the higher end NVIDIA K2 card, noticeably
improved user experience. This will become more noticeable with increased user load because the graphics
processor is shared amongst concurrent user sessions on the Citrix XenApp host. Conversely, this is harder to
gauge when measuring against just one or two users. The complete lack of a hardware graphics card (using
software rendered graphics instead) resulted in an unacceptable user experience across the board.
When using Citrix XenApp to access Vico Office, the resources available to the Citrix XenApp server dictate
server scalability. If more users need more access than a single XenApp server can host, a second server can be
created to host the additional users. However, in this scenario the Citrix servers either has separate VPSs or a
central project server can be established at the experience or workflow latency. It has been noted that
performance is degraded when hosting the VPS separate from the VOC, so this decision should be made
carefully after discussing the preferred needs with daily users.
If multi-user access is not required, then a single high-end workstation does yield the best overall user
experience.
SUPPORTING PRODUCT DETAILS
We used these products for the following reasons:
Citrix XenApp
Citrix provides the ability to keep Vico Office near the actual project data. This is important because Vico Office
does not support the use of a WAN. Citrix’s HDX display protocol is optimized to provide access to resources in
the data center without the actual project leaving the data center and includes specific optimization to support 3D
graphics. Because a single Citrix XenApp server can host multiple connections through its use of Microsoft
Remote Desktop Services Session Host (RDSH) technology, the need for the project server to be located
separately from Vico Office is eliminated. Collocating the VOC and VPS greatly improves performance.
XenDesktop (and other VDI solutions) incur a performance penalty from the necessity of installing the VOC and
VPS onto separate systems.
For more details, see http://www.citrix.com/content/dam/citrix/en_us/documents/products-solutions/xenapp-
datasheet.pdf.
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Other victual desktop and application delivery options do exist. However, the lack of support for both the Remote
Desktop Session Host (RDSH) delivery model and 3D graphics processing in these varied solutions would have
prevented an optimal configuration from being reached.
VMware vSphere
VMware provides the ability to create multiple servers for the infrastructure quickly, rather than a rack full of
servers utilized for each task. VMware also gives us the ability to easily manage multiple platforms from within a
single control. Lastly, VMware is capable of attaching a physical GPU card to multiple servers via the settings for
the virtual server, which requires the resources via PCI device pass-through.
For more details, see http://www.vmware.com/virtualization/virtualization-basics/what-is-
virtualization#sthash.7cIqKptG.dpuf.
Although there are other virtualization platforms on the market, VMware currently represents the largest market
share and thus is representative of the largest potential installation base. It is noteworthy that Citrix XenServer
also has the ability to pass-through a PCI graphics card to a guest virtual machine. This configuration was not
specifically tested, but similar results would be expected from such a test.
Microsoft Hyper-v is another popular virtualization platform; however, the handling of graphics on Hyper-v is
considerably different than under vSphere, so no conclusion should be drawn from this research about the
expected performance of the application hosted in a Hyper-v environment.
It would also be possible to deploy the Citrix XenApp server directly to physical hardware, using no virtualization
platform at all, but this scenario is becoming atypical within the IT industry because of limitations associated with
flexibility and resource management.
NVIDIA GRID GPUs
NVIDIA has set the standard for professional graphics with their Quadro product lines and is actively working with
VMware and Citrix to enhance video and graphics performance in high-end datacenters used for these types of
intensive deployments. From this effort, NVIDIA has developed the GRID product line specifically for datacenter
environments. Vico Office recommendations outline a graphics card (NVIDIA K2000) for high end laptop and
desktop use. The NVIDIA GRID cards use a very similar architecture to the laptops K2000 card with the K2
packaging the equivalent of two NVIDIA K5000 GPUs on a single board and the K1 board equating to four K600
GPUs. The implementation of the GRID cards allows us to assign high end GPUs to virtual servers or desktops.
The presence of multiple GPUs on a single board increases the density for the datacenter environment allowing
multiple virtual machines to have access to GPU resources.
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For more details, see http://www.nvidia.com/object/enterprise-virtualization.html#sthash.WIVjKMV3.dpuf.
SUMMARY
Multiple testing scenarios, including networked versus co-hosted VOC/VPS configuration and physical versus
virtualized configurations, have shown that co-hosting the VOC/VPS on a virtualized deployment yields the best
overall experience relative to being measured against a standalone high-performance workstation. This
configuration is all but mandatory for an optimum multi-user experience in a large company.
Lastly, it is strongly recommended that a hardware accelerated graphics card be deployed to provide an optimum
experience. Deploying to multiple users without graphics optimization will have a suboptimal impact and may
result in an unacceptable user experience within some configurations.
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