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Thinking about deploying Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)? Currently piloting and need a guide to make sure you are testing all use cases? Download this VDI Proof of Concept Test Plan from Unidesk - the leader in desktopl layering for VDI.
Citation preview
Desktop Layering for VDI™
White Paper
Test Plan:
Executing a VDI Proof of Concept (POC) with Unidesk
VDI Proof of Concept Test Plan
2
Introduction
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), when implemented correctly, can provide clear
advantages over physical PCs:
Mobility – End users can access their Windows desktops and applications
anywhere, anytime from any device, including zero/thin clients, home PCs, smart
phones, and pads;
Security – Critical applications and data are moved from the edge into the data
center, where they are more secure;
Longevity – Thin and zero clients have much longer lifespans than PCs and
laptops, enabling IT to get out of the device management business and avoid
recurring 3-5 year PC refresh cycles;
Energy Savings – Zero and thin clients use significantly less power than PCs and
laptops;
Manageability – Desktop layering software for VDI makes it much easier to
package and deliver applications and apply Windows updates, compared to the
legacy PC management tools that are required to manage physical desktops;
Support – Virtual desktops don’t have the physical hardware issues that PCs
have. Virtual desktops that are damaged by user configurations can also be fixed
in minutes by Level 1 support staff, simply by rolling back the User layer to a
previous snapshot.
When implemented incorrectly, however, VDI can lead to cost overruns, unhappy end
users, far more management complexity than exists with physical PCs, and, ultimately,
project stall. Unfortunately, this is too often the case. Why?
VDI Proof of Concept (POC) test plans are often incomplete, and fail to anticipate all of
the use cases and desktop configurations that will be required at full scale production.
As a result, what seemed to work fine for 10 users becomes too hard to manage and too
costly to implement for 200 users.
This white paper provides POC recommendations and a test plan to ensure that your
VDI pilot takes into account everything you’ll need for full scale VDI production success.
VDI Proof of Concept Test Plan
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Audience The intended audience for this white paper is VDI project leads, field consultants,
solution architects, and sales engineers who want to test Unidesk VDI management
software in conjunction with a connection broker such as Citrix XenDesktop or VMware
Horizon View.
VDI Proof of Concept Test Plan
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1. Use Case Definition A successful VDI POC starts with identifying the Use Cases that will be required for your
implementation. A university may have “Economics 422 Lab,” Biology 201 Lab,”
“Faculty,” “Athletics,” and “Registrar.” A state or local government organization may
have “Court,” “Sheriff,” “Health,” “Emergency Management,” “Highway,” “Fire,”
“Corrections,” and “Tax Collection.” A manufacturing firm may have “Procurement,”
“Customer Support,” “Manufacturing Floor Kiosks,” “Marketing,” “R&D”, and “Sales.”
When defining the use case it’s important to collect as much information as possible
about desktop requirements. Requirements for each use case can be generally divided
between Service Level Requirements and Functional Requirements. Examples of both
follow. Note that it’s often better to test define and test fewer cases in their entirety
rather than to test small parts of many use cases.
Service Level Requirements
Requirement Description Options Selection Availability Time Desktop is Up % Value 99.90%
Operational RTO Recovery Time for Desktop
Time Value 2 Hours
Operational RPO Recovery Point for Desktop
Time Value 1 Day
DR RTO Time to Recover Desktop From Disaster
Time Value 2 Days
DR RPO Point at which Desktop Should be Recreated after Disaster
Time Value 2 Hours
Performance Mixture of Graphics Intensity and Processor Utilization
Low/Medium/High (High in Graphic Intensity = High) (Medium Graphics intensity = at least Med)
Low
Time to Provision Virtual Desktops
Create New Desktop Time Value 2 Days
Time to Reconfigure Virtual Desktop
Change Desktop Memory, CPU, Application, Windows
Time Value 2 Days
VDI Proof of Concept Test Plan
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Functional Requirements
Requirement Description Options Selection Operating System What OS is required for
the virtual desktop Windows XP, 7, 8 Vista, Linux
Windows 7 32-bit
Bi-directional Audio Allowing microphone input and speaker output
Yes/No Yes
Phone System Integration
Runs agent to display information from the phone system
Yes/No No
Web Portal User can access virtual desktop via a web portal
Yes/No Yes
Printing Is printing required by users
Yes/No Yes
USB Peripherals Will USB devices at the users workstation be needed
Yes/No Yes
Graphic Intensity Based on criteria below, what are the graphical computing requirements
Low/Med/High Med
HD Streaming Yes/No (Yes=High) No
Streaming Media
Yes/No (Yes=High) Yes
Media Player Yes/No (Yes=High) Yes
Flash Player Yes/No (Yes=High) Yes
DirectX Yes/No (Yes=Med) Yes
CAD Yes/No (Yes=Med) No
PowerPoint Yes/No (Yes=Med) Yes
Streaming Media Frequently
How often is streaming media required?
Often/Sometimes/Seldom
Sometimes
Processor Utilization Expectation
What is the CPU requirement?
Low/Med/High (450 Mhz/900 Mhz/1350 Mhz)
Low
Client Drive Mapping Do users require access to drives from client device?
Yes/No Yes
CD/DVD Read Access Do users require read access to local CD/DVD?
Yes/No No
CD/DVD Write Access Do users require write access to local CD/DVD?
Yes/No No
Multi-Monitor Do users require more than one display?
#/No No
Web Camera Do users require a web camera?
Yes/No No
VDI Proof of Concept Test Plan
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More Functional Requirements
Requirement Description Options Selection Personalization & Customization
Are there user specific items that must be available from session to session?
Yes/No No
User Data Users’ work (i.e. Word Documents, Excel Spreadsheets, etc)
Yes/No No
o Amount in GB Average amount of storage a user requires for their data
# value N/A
o % of Files > 5MB across WAN
Percentage of files over 5MB users will require over slower WAN connections
# value N/A
o % of Files > 2MB across LAN
Percentage of files over 2MB users require over faster LAN connections
# value N/A
Profile Will users settings stored in the Windows Profile need to persist?
Yes/No Yes
User-Installed Apps Are users given administrative rights, and will apps and plug-ins they install need to persist?
Yes/No Yes
Remote Access Will users need to access desktops from outside the production network?
Yes/No Yes
Roaming Access Will users need to access virtual desktops from multiple locations on the production network?
Yes/No Yes
Offline Access Will users need to access virtual desktops while not connected to any network?
Yes/No No
Encrypted Communications
Is an encrypted channel required from endpoint to virtual desktop?
Yes/No No
Access Logging Should users’ logon attempts be logged?
Yes/No No
VDI Proof of Concept Test Plan
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2. Application Delivery Application delivery is often an overlooked challenge in VDI implementations. Many
organizations underestimate the sheer number of applications their users use on a daily
basis, and the number of different desktop configurations required by each use case.
Application delivery considerations generally fall into the following categories:
• Application volume – The total number of applications that need to be
delivered;
• Application interoperability – Whether the application needs to
communicate or integrate with other applications (Microsoft Word and web
browser plug-ins being common examples);
• Standard applications – Whether the application is needed by all or a
majority of users;
• Departmental applications – Whether the application is needed by a subset
of users (e.g. 5-50);
• One-off applications – Whether the application is needed by just 1 or 2 users;
• Update frequency – How often apps need to be patched or updated.
If you have a large volume of applications (50+), numerous departmental and one-off
applications, high update frequencies, or high interoperability requirements, application
layering will likely be required for VDI success. Many Standard apps are not
virtualization-friendly, and cannot be virtualized at all with legacy application
virtualization tools such as VMware ThinApp and Microsoft App-V. Depending on IT skill
sets, IT resource availability, and whether an application needs to communicate with
other apps or plug-ins, a single app may take days or even weeks to virtualize, ruling out
the use of app virtualization for Departmental and One-off apps.
Application layering technology is the newer, easier, and more powerful way to package
and deliver all applications in VDI. Only a few minutes are required to layer an app –
anyone who knows how to run Setup can do it. Once apps are layered, they can be
assigned to one or more desktops without reinstallation. The next time the desktops
reboot, the applications will be present and available to the users. Layered applications
appear to Windows as if they are natively installed, so they do not have the
interoperability limitations of virtualized/isolated applications.
VDI Proof of Concept Test Plan
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Most organizations package Standard and Departmental apps as Unidesk application
layers so they can be centrally assigned, patched, and maintained by IT. One-off
applications are often delegated to end users to install themselves as user-installed apps
– Unidesk’s storage-efficient persistent desktops make this easy and affordable.
The following table lists a sample application inventory, and the delivery considerations
for each app.
Application Delivery Considerations
Application Standard Dept. One-Off Interop Update Adobe Flash Player 11 ActiveX
Yes No No Yes 6 months
Adobe Flash Player 11 ActiveX 64-bit
No Yes No Yes 6 months
Adobe Flash Player 11 Plugin No Yes No Yes 6 months
Adobe Reader X (10.1.4) Yes No No Yes 6 months
Adobe Reader 9.4.0 No Yes No Yes 6 months
Adobe Shockwave Player 11.6
No Yes No Yes 6 months
AllMedia Grabber No No Yes No 9 months
Apple Application Support
Atomic Alarm Clock 5.81
Bullzip PDF Printer 7.2.0.1304
Centra Client
Cisco Systems VPN Client 4.8.01.0300
Cisco WebEx Meetings
Citrix Desktop Receiver
Citrix online plug-in - web
Citrix HTML5 HDX Engine
Citrix offline plug-in
Citrix online plug-in - web
Citrix XenApp Plugin for Hosted Apps
Connector ID
CopySafe PDF
CopySafe Plugin
DAEMON Tools Lite
Dell Laser MFP 1815 Software Uninstall
Everything 1.2.1.371
FastStone Capture 5.2
Google Quick Search Box
VDI Proof of Concept Test Plan
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GPL Ghostscript 8.61
GPL Ghostscript Fonts
GPL MPEG-1/2 DirectShow Decoder Filter
GPL Ghostscript Lite 8.70
Greenshot
Growl for Windows
Growl Outlook Add-In
IBM Standard Software Installer
Icon Restore 1.0
Java DB 10.2.2.0
Java Platform, Enterprise Edition 5 SDK
JavaFX 2.1.1
KB2600644_Mui_1033
KeePass Password Safe 2.13
Ken Test Application
Lotus Notes 8.5.1
Microsoft Document Explorer 2008
Microsoft Dynamics CRM 2011 for Microsoft Office Outlook
Microsoft Forefront Client Security Antimalware Service
Microsoft Forefront Client Security State Assessment Service
Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection 2010
Microsoft Help Viewer 1.1
Microsoft IntelliPoint 8.1
Microsoft Lync 2010
Microsoft Lync Web App Plug-in
Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2
Microsoft Office Live Meeting 2007
Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2010
Microsoft Online Services Sign-in Assistant
Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Agent
VDI Proof of Concept Test Plan
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Microsoft Outlook Social Connector Provider for Facebook 64-bit
Microsoft Report Viewer Redistributable 2008 SP1
Microsoft Silverlight
Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)
Microsoft SQL Server VSS Writer
Microsoft User Experience Virtualization Agent
Microsoft Visio Professional 2010
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Premium - ENU
Mozilla Firefox 13.0.1 (x86 en-US)
Network Recording Player
Notepad++
QuickTime
SonicWALL Global VPN Client
System Center Operations Manager 2012 Agent
SysTrack Administrative Tools
ThinApp Adobe Reader 8.2.0 (VMware ThinApp)
ThinApp Adobe Reader X (VMware ThinApp)
TweetDeck
Virtual Machine Planner (x64)
VirtualCloneDrive
VMware Tools
VMware View Agent
VMware View Client
VMware vSphere Client 5.0
WebEx
WebEx Productivity Tools
Windows Live ID Sign-in Assistant
Windows Media Format 11 runtime
VDI Proof of Concept Test Plan
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Once you have completed your inventory, try to layer applications that are normally
difficult to virtualize with App-V, ThinApp, and other legacy application virtualization
technologies.
• Applications with services
• Applications with shell access
• Applications with drivers (e.g. CutePDF Writer, scanners, printers)
• Application plugins
• Custom-built applications
Layer these and the other apps in your chosen test use cases with Unidesk to prove you
can deliver and patch all of your applications with ease. Each app will only take 20
minutes or so to layer, so many organizations will layer 20-50 apps during the POC.
VDI Proof of Concept Test Plan
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3. Image Management Image management is another important consideration for VDI success. It is not
uncommon for VDI projects to stall or fail due to large numbers of golden operating
system images that must be patched to stay current with Microsoft Windows hot fix and
service pack releases.
Image sprawl occurs when administrators need to create multiple parent VMs and
golden images for every pool, or build applications that cannot be virtualized into the
golden image.
With Unidesk layering technology, only one clean golden Windows OS layer is usually
required for all desktops, since all applications can be quickly and easily packaged as
separate application layers, and since physical VM settings (e.g. CPU, memory) can be
configured separate from the OS layer.
The following table provides an example to estimate the number of golden images your
VDI implementation will require. Create as many golden OS layers as you need during
your POC to validate how easy it will be to create desktops with Unidesk layering
technology.
Image Management Planning
Requirement Number of Golden Images Windows XP 32-bit 1
Windows XP 64-bit 0
Windows 7 32-bit 1
Windows 7 64-bit 0
VDI Proof of Concept Test Plan
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4. Storage Requirements The POC is a good opportunity to understand exactly how much storage capacity your
production VDI deployment will require.
Unidesk layering technology provides the same or better storage savings than VMware
Linked Clones, Citrix Provisioning Server (PVS), or Citrix Machine Creation Services (MCS)
image sharing technologies, but with the simplicity and efficiency advantages in
application delivery and image management described above. Unidesk also provides
this storage savings for both non-persistent and persistent desktops, whereas the block-
based image sharing technologies can only provide the savings for non-persistent
desktops.
The following table helps you estimate your storage requirements for your VDI POC, and
extrapolate the storage requirements for your full VDI implementation.
Storage Considerations
Desktop Components Storage Capacity OS Layer 16 GB
Application Layers (~50 apps) 200 GB
User Layer (per desktop, persistent-only) 5 GB
Boot Images (per desktop, for vSwap, pagefile, dump file) 4 GB
50 full-sized persistent desktops, assuming each desktop required 40 GBs of capacity,
would normally require 2 TB of storage capacity.
However, Unidesk stores OS and Application layers only once per datastore, eliminating
redundant Windows OS and application storage. The following formula can be used to
calculate Unidesk storage requirements: ((OS layer size + Application layers size) * (# of
Desktop CachePoints + 1 Master CachePoint)) + (# of desktops * size of User layer) +
(Boot images * # of desktops) = Total Space Required
Plugging these numbers in, assuming a POC with 50 persistent desktops and a single
Master CachePoint virtual appliance to host the desktops, would require: ((16+200)*1) +
(50*5) + (50*4) = 666 GB
That’s a savings of 1.33 TB, or 66% for 50 persistent virtual desktops.
The VDI storage footprint can be reduced even further by implementing non-persistent
virtual desktops with Unidesk. By choosing the minimum User layer size of 400 MB, only
VDI Proof of Concept Test Plan
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20 GB would be required for User layer storage instead of 250 GB. The capacity
requirement for 50 non-persistent virtual desktops would then be 436 GB. That’s a
savings of 15.7 TB, or 78% for 50 non-persistent virtual desktops.
5. Personalization and Customization Many users will expect a PC-like experience. They will not be satisfied with a virtual
desktop that does not sustain their settings and configurations between sessions and
remember where they “left off.”
You may also learn from your application inventory that you have a large number of
application “one-offs” – apps that are used by only a few users. The effort to virtualize
or even layer these applications may not be worthwhile.
Unidesk persistent desktops are an ideal solution to address both of these
requirements. Unidesk storage-efficient persistent desktops naturally keep all user
customizations without the need for third party profile management tools. User-
installed apps are also captured, which profile management tools cannot do.
The User Layer leverages the native Windows Profile to retain all settings. The User
Layer also captures all writes, including data and user-installed apps. By allocating a
specific amount of space to each User Layer, you can enable your end users to install
their own one-off apps to offload IT, and still control how big each User Layer can be.
By configuring the User Layer snapshot frequency, you can also enable your service desk
to quickly repair desktops that are broken by a user modification. Level 1 service desk
personnel can roll the User Layer back to any previous snapshot for any desktop to
quickly eradicate any malware, viruses, DLL conflicts, or other problems, essentially
“undoing” whatever damage the user may have caused.
Test these Personalization capabilities during your POC:
1. Have a user install Google Toolbar while using their desktop. Verify that it
works perfectly with the web browser packaged and delivered by IT. Verify that
Google Toolbar is still there after the desktop is patched and rebooted.
VDI Proof of Concept Test Plan
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2. Install a print driver for the user. Verify it can print. Verify the print driver is
still there after the desktop is patched and rebooted.
3. Change the background of the desktop. Follow same steps as above.
4. Save files to the desktop. Follow same steps as above.
5. Configure the snapshot frequency. Make sure a snapshot has been taken.
Install user-installed apps and create data. Restore the desktop to the
snapshot. Verify that the user-installed apps and data created after the
snapshot are gone.
6. Choosing Your End Users It is important to select the right user group for POC testing. Users should be as
representative as possible for the chosen use cases. Users should also be friendly to IT,
and willing to provide feedback.
One customer – Sunrise Health Region – chose opinion leaders for its VDI POC with Citrix
XenDesktop and Unidesk as it prepares for its 3,000-user production deployment. The
healthcare organization deployed 50 Unidesk POC desktops to everyone in IT, including
the VP Corporate Services, as well as to select power users in Registration, Payroll,
Finance, and a few other departments. The power users use their Unidesk desktops
through Citrix Receiver on iPad, Android devices, Wyse clients, and repurposed PCs.
Because the power users are seen walking around accessing their desktops and apps
from iPads, everyone else wants to do the same, which is creating tremendous pull for
VDI.
VDI Proof of Concept Test Plan
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7. Sample POC Test Plan Following is a sample test plan that summarizes many of the requirements already
discussed. Visit the Unidesk Technical Training Center for additional details and
instructions for each step.
1. Follow the POC checklist to setup POC environment
2. Install Unidesk
3. Prep your Gold Image using the Unidesk Unattend Builder and Optimization
Builder (available in the Unidesk Download Center)
4. Import the OS layer and test creation of the first desktop
5. Create Installation Machines
6. Create an OS version, update the OS
7. Create App Layers for applications defined in POC
8. Test applications after packaging
9. Create a POC desktop and test
10. Create user desktops, test one or two
11. Add desktops to broker pools to test Citrix XenDesktop or VMware Horizon View
integration
12. Hold training session, have users use desktops
13. Add applications and update OS layer during POC
14. Revert to earlier app and OS layer versions to verify mistakes can be undone
15. Create templates with pre-selected combinations of layers
Encourage end users to exercise their virtual desktops:
1. Work in the virtual desktop environment as much as possible
2. Browse with different web browsers
3. Use Microsoft Office
4. Use critical business/organization applications
5. Open files from flash drive
6. Save files to home drive
7. Print to various network printers
8. Access virtual desktop from home PC
9. Access virtual desktop from BYOD device (iPad, Android)
10. Install an application, verify it persists between sessions
11. Change profile settings, verify they persist between sessions
VDI Proof of Concept Test Plan
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8. End User Questionnaire Survey your end users at the end of the POC to ensure the VDI experience meets their
requirements. Here are some sample questions:
1. Was the login process and interaction with your virtual desktop intuitive? Did
you experience any problems?
2. Was the performance of the applications on your virtual desktop adequate?
Please explain your expectations for performance followed by your experience.
3. Was your desktop experience from home and other locations different from
your experience at work?
4. Was the functionality and performance of printing adequate? Please explain
your expectations for printing followed by your experience.
5. What if any issues did you experience during the POC? Was there anything
missing compared to your physical PC?
6. Now that you understand how the virtual desktop works, how do you think it
will help you? With which activities?
VDI Proof of Concept Test Plan
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About Unidesk Corporation Unidesk Corporation (www.unidesk.com) provides the management platform that
accelerates the movement of Microsoft Windows desktops® to the cloud. Unidesk®
layering technology enables Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) to deliver more
applications, satisfy more use cases, and offer a more personal user experience with less
IT effort and less storage. By connecting to Unidesk desktops from Citrix XenDesktop®,
VMware Horizon View™ and other brokering solutions, customers expedite VDI projects,
reduce desktop operations costs up to 30%, cut VDI storage capacity requirements up to
85%, and enhance worker productivity. Unidesk Corp. is a privately-held company with
headquarters in Marlborough, Mass, USA.
Unidesk Corporation, 313 Boston Post Road West, Marlborough, MA 01752 USA Tel 508-573-7800 Fax 508-573-7801
Copyright © 2013 Unidesk Corp. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws.
Unidesk is a registered trademark of Unidesk Corp. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein
may be trademarks of their respective companies. Item No: UNI-WP-POC -TEST-PLAN Date: April 2013