Why ClearCube Technology for VDI?

Why ClearCube for VDI?

© 2014 ClearCube Technology, Inc. All Rights Reserved 1

Why ClearCube Technology for VDI?

January 2014




There are many VDI platforms to choose from. Some have evolved inefficiently from legacy virtualized

server farms; some use proprietary file systems; some use proprietary hardware; some are slow in

certain areas, fast in others; all consume more storage at a higher cost than what could be possible.

Given the existing muddled VDI landscape, ClearCube -- a pioneer in the VDI market as the first OEM to

adopt PCoIP for commercial use – responded to our zero client customers’ requests for a

straightforward VDI compute/storage solution to fulfill the promise of desktop virtualization with the

SmartVDI product family.

ClearCube designed SmartVDI to meet the following objectives:

1. Utilize VMware’s proven core VDI components

2. Optimize VDI storage for desktop usage with high performance IOPS for a great user experience

3. Produce the lowest cost/highest performance ratios by eliminating the need for unnecessary

drives, storage space, and storage software licensing through patented real-time in-line

deduplication

4. Design the configuration capabilities to embrace linked clones and persistent full clones within

the same architecture

5. Incorporate high availability for business continuity and minimize complexity for disaster

recovery scenarios

6. Modularize the deliverables to make scaling simple and easy

What does SmartVDI mean for you?

SmartVDI’s straightforward approach to meeting those six objectives provide you with three huge

advantages -- OPEX reductions, satisfied users, and a smooth transition from physical to virtual (or

physical and virtual) as the primary end goal.

Please take a few moments to appreciate how SmartVDI can save you money.

In the case of a business that uses 100 physical desktop PCs, take a look at the number of items that one

SmartVDI system eliminates: 100s of processors, power supplies, cases, hard drives, electronics, packing

materials, office space and all their associated adverse impacts – noise, heat, power consumption, space

consumption and distributed PC management. Think about what eliminating these will mean to your

bottom line savings.

In this brief overview of the SmartVDI architecture we will explain the importance and impact of each

design consideration and why meeting SmartVDI’s six objectives has produced the best VDI platform.

SmartVDI’s design is straightforward, without mystery, which makes it easy to understand, easy to

implement, easy to support, and comfortable to live with.



Management Resource Pool

Diagram 1 represents two hardware components needed to meet the first four of the six key objectives.

SmartVDI 100 delivers the compute portion and SmartStor Storage Array delivers the external storage

portion.

At the heart of the

SmartVDI architecture is a

Management Resource

Pool (Diagram 2) that

ClearCube has

constructed using

VMware’s proven VDI

infrastructure core – ESXi,

vCenter, and View

Connection

Server/Administrator/

Broker, and View

Composer for linked clone

management. To that VDI core, ClearCube adds (or supports if the functions already exist on site) a

number of common software components such as VMware vCenter, Horizon View, View Composer and

Diagram 2 - Management Resource Pool

Diagram 1 - High-level SmartVDI Architecture



a number of ClearCube provided differentiating software components such as storage - VDI optimized

ZFS file structure, plus end point, USB port, system hardware, and storage management.

SmartVDI 100 Host Hardware

Diagram 3 represents one SmartVDI 100 host hardware system, consisting of dual Xeon processors (two

dark red blocks), high speed 256GB RAM (blue block), and a 16GB internal flash memory for booting

ESXi. No other storage is needed in the compute engine and very little is needed in the external storage

array because of SmartVDI’s unique inline deduplication that saves one instance for use by all virtual

users instead of replicating unique instances for each user. This capability results in the SmartVDI

solution delivering precisely optimized IOPS tuned to meet your users’ needs.

Two paths, in and out of the SmartVDI host hardware system, connect to external storage and to the

network. A direct connection through a high speed SAS controller (coral colored block) is made to

SmartStor external storage array to facilitate speed. Dual 10GbE connections (dark blue blocks

middle/right) provide high speed paths to the network switches, while administrative management

traffic flows over 1GbE connections (two purple blocks).

An Apex 2800 PCoIP offload adapter (yellow block) may be integrated as an option to give a

performance boost if the application environment needs it (for heavy video streaming, for example).

Those SmartVDI host hardware components are packaged in a 1U rack mount chassis with redundant

power supplies (photo at the bottom). Also included in the photo is an external storage array that we

will explain later in the high availability section of this document.

Diagram 3 – SmartVDI Host Platform Hardware

APEX 2800

PCoIP

Offload

16 x 16GB (256 GB) RAM

SmartVDI Series 100 Host Platform

SAS

Controller

SmartVDI

10GigE

10GigE

Storage, Admin, VM NW, vMotion

E2650

2,6GHz

8 core

E2650

2,6GHz

8 core

NVIDIA GRID GPU



SmartVDI Virtual Desktop Machines

Diagram 4 represents the virtual

desktop machines that reside in

SmartVDI memory, plus the things

that compose a Windows desktop

such as Windows licenses and

images that define each user’s

work environment. A number of

virtual machines are set aside

within SmartVDI to perform

management tasks (light blue

blocks).

The way the desktops are deployed

can range from linked clones to

persistent full clones. ClearCube’s

SmartVDI team can help you to

understand the positives of each

method. Regardless of which is

best for you, Smart VDI supports

both methodologies through block

level real time deduplication. This

results in using a fraction (sometimes as low as 2%) of normal storage requirements. Think of it as

saving as much as 98% on storage costs.

Let’s re-cap SmartVDI’s first four design objectives:

1. Utilize VMware’s proven core VDI components.

SmartVDI leverages proven VMware VDI software at both the user and management levels,

augmented with Microsoft components, plus ClearCube software built on open source storage-

optimized ZFS file system that completes the VDI solution.

2. Optimize VDI storage for low latency and high IOPS for a great user experience.

SmartVDI provides the IOPS and low latency that makes the user experience transition seamless.

3. Reduce cost/performance ratio eliminating drives and storage software.

Data reduction through inline deduplication can exceed 15:1 which translates to enormous

performance gains and cost savings

Diagram 4 – Support for both linked clones and persistent full clones in SmartVDI Virtual desktop infrastructure



4. Embrace linked clones and full clones within the same architecture.

For the first time, both users and network administrators can share in the benefits of VDI. Users

can have the personalized desktops they want; administrators can use familiar management

programs on centralized resources instead of hard to manage distributed resources.

The remaining two design objectives were:

5. Incorporate high availability to reduce downtime and minimize complexity for business

continuity/disaster recovery scenarios.

6. Modularize the deliverables to make scaling simple and easy

Diagram 5 (page 7) shows how SmartVDI accomplishes the remaining two design objectives. Let’s start

with the teal boxes in the top left corner that we just previously summarized as delivering the SmartVDI

core. When you look directly below them, you see a mirror image of the SmartVDI core (diagram1).

Those two identical cores are each connected to an external SmartStor storage array. SmartStor serves

as the central storage location that any of the SmartVDI 100 nodes can access. SmartStor contains the

Management Resource Pool, plus VMware HA software for desktop user migration, plus user data. And

it has redundant SAS paths so that it remains accessible even if one of the local SmartVDI core nodes

fails. In the event of a SmartVDI 100 failure, VMware HA migrates the virtual desktops to remaining

SmartVDI nodes in the cluster and SmartVDI’s managed storage software assigns resources

appropriately. High availability is therefore accomplished on a number of levels, through intelligent

software management and redundant component elements and configuration to deliver business

continuity.

In multi-site disaster recovery configurations, SmartStor can be used for site-to-site replicated storage.

SmartVDI does block level deduplication locally before sending to the replication site so both storage

and bandwidth costs are greatly reduced. Since very little storage is actually consumed at the primary

and secondary sites, mirrored data on SmartStor units are kept current at both sites simultaneously.

That way if the users’ primary site is not accessible, they can log into virtual desktops on the secondary

site that have replicas of their primary site desktops.



Diagram 5 - SmartVDI High Availability Architecture

Please notice the additional four teal boxes to the right of the core, without local storage and having

more virtual desktops. Once the SmartVDI high availability core infrastructure has been established,

additional compute nodes can be added to the cluster. The virtual desktops in these nodes, connect

back to SmartVDI’s inline deduplication storage management engine via the high speed 10GigE

connection and do not use local storage. Each system is modular, making scaling simple and easy.

Summary

A virtual desktop isn’t complete without access to use it. That takes a stateless zero client desktop

device that can broker a connection to the virtual desktop over PCoIP protocol.

ClearCube’s innovative VMware-ready PCoIP zero client end points complement the SmartVDI solution.

At the hardware level, ClearCube zero clients are uniquely durable, with dozens of configuration

options, including those for multiple level security support.

So, if your VDI objectives are in line with ClearCube’s design objectives:

1. VMware VDI based

2. Optimized high performance IOPS and low latency

3. Delivers low cost/high performance ratios

4. Supports linked and full clones

5. Delivers desktop business continuity

6. Makes VDI scaling simple and easy



From a company that has complete desktop to datacenter solutions, then your decision will be as

straightforward as the SmartVDI architecture.

Diagram 6 – ClearCube Solutions

For more information, please contact us: ClearCube Technology, Inc. 3700 W Parmer Lane, Austin, TX 78727 Voice: 512.652.3500 Fax: 512.652.3501 Toll Free: 866.652.3500 www.clearcube.com [email protected]

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