Best Practices

VMware View Composer Design Considerations

VMware View 3
Asenterprisesexploredesktopvirtualization,theyrealizethatitoffersasimplifiedITstructureand costeffectiveITutilizationandmanagement.VMwareViewComposer,introducedwithVMwareView3, furtherenhancesthisvalueproposition. VMwareViewComposerisacomponentofVMwareView.ItworkswithVMwareViewManagertoreduce storagerequirementsandenhancetheimagemanagementcapabilityofvirtualizeddesktops. Thisdocumentdescribesdeploymentanddesignconsiderationsyoushouldaccountforbeforedeploying ViewComposerinyourenterprise.ViewComposerintegrateswithvariouscomponentsofyourITand virtualizationinfrastructure,anditisveryimportanttounderstandthedesignchoicescoveredinthispaper inordertoachievethedesiredsavingsandperformancefromthesystem. ThispaperisforreaderswhohaveagoodunderstandingofthecomponentsinvolvedinaViewdeployment andhavesomebasicknowledgeofhowVMwareViewComposerworks.FormoredetailsaboutVMware ViewComposer,seeVMwareViewComposerInformationGuide (http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/View_Composer_wp.pdf). Thispapercoversthefollowingtopics:

OverviewofVMwareViewComposeronpage 1 ViewComposerDeploymentConsiderationsandBestPracticesonpage 3 UserDataDiskandBackuponpage 5 ViewComposerandArraybasedCloningonpage 5 Conclusiononpage 6 AbouttheAuthoronpage 6 Appendix:AssociatingaUserDataDiskwithaNewLinkedCloneonpage 6

Overview of VMware View Composer

VMwareViewComposerisasoftwareproductthatispartofthepremierbundleofVMwareView3.VMware ViewComposeroffersyoukeybenefitssuchasstoragereduction,betterimagemanagement,andrapid deploymentcapabilitiesforvirtualizeddesktops.Althoughprecisestoragesavingsvary,VMwareView Composerreducesduplicatestoragefootprintofvirtualmachinesinawaythatistransparenttothevirtual machines.Toachievethisresult,VMwareViewComposerallowsmultiplevirtualmachinestosharecommon datainasinglebasediskwhilemaintainingseparatestorageforthedatawrittenbyeachvirtualmachine. ThissectionprovidesasummaryofthearchitectureofVMwareViewComposertohelpyouunderstandthe reasoningbehindtherecommendationsmadeinlatersectionsofthepaper.

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VMware View Composer Design Considerations

Parent Image and Replica

ViewComposercreateslinkedclones,whicharelinkedtoafullclonevirtualdiskcalledareplica.View ComposercreatesreplicasonaperLUN(logicalunitnumber)basis,sothateachLUNusedfordesktop creationandstorageholdsareplica.Understandingthisapproachcanhelpyouanswermanyquestions, including:

Howmanyvirtualmachinescanyouhaveperparentimage? Howmanyvirtualimagescanyouhaveperdatastore? Howlargeadatastoredoyouneedtostorevirtualmachinesystemdisksanduserdatadisks? Howdoyoudeliverapplicationstothevirtualdesktop?

ViewComposercreatesareplicaforeachvariantofthedesktopimageusedinyourdeployment.Forexample, ifyoudeploytwotypesofdesktops,onewithWindowsXPandotherwithWindowsVista,onasingleLUN, ViewComposercreatestworeplicadisksonthatLUN,oneforeachimagetype. TheViewComposerreplicamechanismhelpslinkedclonestoscaleupinlargeenvironmentsandmakesit easiertoinstallpatchesbyupdatingtheparentvirtualmachine.Thereplicaisalsoprotectedfrombeingerased fromVMwarevCenter.Thisprotectioniscritical,becauseifareplicaisdeleted,thelinkedclonedesktops basedonthatreplicaarenolongeravailable. Figure 1. Parent and Replica Disks

Parent virtual machine Base image + snapshot

Clone 1 Replica

Clone 2

OS data disk

User data disk

OS data disk

User data disk

User Data Disks

WhenyouuseViewComposertoprovisiondesktops,youhavetheoptionofcreatingaseparateuserdatadisk foreachvirtualdesktopinstance.Auserdatadiskisaseparatestoragelocationattachedtothedesktopimage whentheimageiscreated. Inaconfigurationwithauserdatadisk,theguestagentinthevirtualmachineredirectstheusersprofileand applicationdatatoasecondvirtualdiskandensuresthateachuserspersonalsettingsanddataarerestored atboottime.Thisapproachcanbeusefulbecauseafteryouupdateamasterimage,thesystemrestoresuser profiledatatomaintaincontinuity.Theuserdatadiskapproachresemblesalocallycachedprofileinthatthe profileisnotstoredcentrally.

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VMware View Composer Design Considerations

Image and Storage Management with View Composer

ViewComposeroffersthefollowingoperatingsystemimagemanagementcapabilities:

RecomposeimageTherecomposefunctionallowsyoutoupdatetheparentvirtualmachineandpush thenewversionoftheimageouttoallorasubsetofusersanddesktops. RefreshimageRefreshistheprocessofresettinglinkedclonestotheinitialstateoftheparentvirtual machinewithoutaddingadditionalsoftwareorpatchesormakingotherchanges. RebalanceRebalanceistheprocessbywhichselectedvirtualmachinesarerecreatedonanewdatastore. Thisoperationalsorefreshesthedesktop.

View Composer Deployment Considerations and Best Practices

FollowtheguidelinesinthissectionforbestresultsindesigningandimplementingyourViewComposer deployment.

Storage Considerations with View Composer

TakethefollowingpointsintoconsiderationwhenyouplanstorageforyourVMwareViewdeployment:

VMwarerecommendsthatyourunamaximumof64virtualmachinesperreplica.Havingmorevirtual machinesmaycausestoragebottlenecksinthestorageI/Osubsystem.Youshouldallocateenoughspace onthedatastoretoaccommodate64virtualmachines.Youneedtoaccountforvirtualmachinegrowth whenchoosingthesizeforthisdatastore.Avirtualmachinecangrowforvariousreasons,including growthofthepagefileandtemporaryfiles.Youmayneedtodosomemodelingduringthepilotphaseto understandsystemgrowthinyourenvironment. Itisabestpracticetorefreshthevirtualmachinesregularlytomaintainhealthydesktopperformance. Growthinthesystemdiskcancauseperformancetodropbelowoptimallevels.Youcanperformthe refreshoperationtocleanupthebloatedsystemdiskbasedon:

PercentagegrowthofthesystemdiskSelectthisoptionifstoragespaceislimitedandneedstobe replenishedquickly. TimesincelastrefreshSelectthisoptionifyouarenotworriedaboutexhaustingthediskspace betweenyourrefreshoperations.

VMwarerecommendsthatyoustaggerrefreshandrecomposeoperations.ViewComposerisdesignedto performimagemanagement(refreshandrecompose)operationsononlyafewdesktopsatatime.Ifyou performtheseoperationsonalargenumberofdesktopsandafailureoccurs,thewholeoperationis halted.Bybreakingtheimagemanagementoperationintosmallerchunks,youallowthedesktopsto recoverifthereisafailurewhileyouareperformingarefreshonabatchofdesktops.VMware recommendsabatchofupto100desktopsforarefreshandrecompose.

VMwarerecommendsthatyoukeepallthedesktopsinaparticulardesktoppool(forexample,thefinance pool)containedwithinthesamedatastore(LUN).SplittingdesktopsfromaparticularpoolacrossLUNs reducesthetotalstoragesavingyoucangainbyusingViewComposerbecauseViewComposermust createmultiplereplicas,oneforeachdatastore. YoucanuselocaldisksinViewComposerasinexpensivediskspace,butyoucandothisonlywhenthe ESXhostisnotinclustermode.Thisconfigurationcanbeusefulifyouwanttousethelocaldrivesbuilt intotheserver. Youshouldtakecarenottoallowfreespaceonthedatastoretofallbelow5percent.Inadequatefreespace cancausethevirtualmachinestohaltwhenthevirtualmachinesdonothaveenoughspacetogrow.

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VMware View Composer Design Considerations

Storage Overcommitment
VMwarerecommendsthatyouuseaconservativesettingforstorageovercommitmentinmostdeployments. Modelingandsizingyourenvironmentisthebestwaytounderstandwhenyoucanusetheotheroptions, basedonthedatapresentedbelow. StorageovercommitmentsettingsdeterminehowaggressivelyViewComposerallocatesvirtualmachinesto availablefreespace.Themoreaggressivetheovercommitmentsetting,thehigherthenumberofvirtual machinesthatareplacedonadatastore.Asmorevirtualmachinesareassignedtotheavailablefreespace,less spaceremainsavailabletoaccommodatethegrowthofvirtualmachinesovertime,soyouneedtomanage yourstorageenvironmentactivelytoensurethatyoudonotrunoutofspace.Innonpersistentdesktopuse cases,thisislessofanissuethanitisinusecaseswithpersistentdesktops.

Infrastructure Optimization with View Composer

TakethefollowingpointsintoconsiderationwhenyouconfiguretheenvironmentinwhichyouuseView Composer:

CreateaseparateActiveDirectorycontainerforvirtualdesktopsbasedontheorganizationalunit(OU) forthosedesktops.IfthedesktopadministratorhasOUadministratorprivileges,thedesktop administratorcanprovisiondesktopswithoutdomainadministratorprivileges.Ifthereisachangeinthe activedirectoryadministratorcredentials,thedesktopadministratormustupdatethecredential informationinViewComposer,aswell. Onceyoucreatethepathandfolderinformationforthevirtualmachines,youshouldnotchangeitwithin vCenter.AnychangesyoumakeinvCenterwillcauseproblemsforVMwareViewManagerwhenit attemptstolookupvirtualmachinesinvCenter.Ifchangesareneeded,itisabestpracticetochangethe folderinformationfromViewManageradministratorinterface. Whencreatingmorethan120virtualmachinesasdesktops,makesuretoeditthevSwitchsettingsonthe ESXhosttoaccommodatethenumberofportsneededforthevirtualmachines.BydefaultESXis configuredfor120ports. ViewComposerreliesondynamicnameresolutionforcommunicatingwithotherhosts.Makingsurethat DNSresolutionisoperatingcorrectlywillhelpovercomeintermittentissuesthatmightotherwisebeseen becauseofDNSerrors.Asatest,pingtheADserverandtheViewConnectionServerhostbynametotest DNSoperation. VMwarehighlyrecommendsthatyouusesuchVMwareInfrastructurefeaturesasVMwareDistributed ResourceScheduler(DRS).DRSensuresthatvirtualmachinesaredistributedefficientlyamongyour hosts. VMwarerecommendsthatyoustaggerruntimesforyourantivirussoftware.Iftheantivirussoftware runsinsidealllinkedclonesatthesametime,youseeexcessiveIOPSinyourstoragesubsystem. Whendeployingthedesktopsinaresourcepool,besurethatyourVMwareInfrastructureenvironment hasenoughcomputeresources(CPUandmemory)tohosttherequirednumberofdesktops.Currently thereisnowaytotellifaresourcepoolisavailableorfullfromtheVMwareViewAdministratorportal. WhenusingViewComposer,payattentiontothelimitofeighthostspercluster.Youmayneedtobuild manysucheighthostclustersforalargerenvironment. VMwarerecommendsthatyoubackuptheADAMdatabasemanuallyonaregularbasis.

Guest Operating System Optimization with View Composer

TakethefollowingpointsintoconsiderationtooptimizetheguestoperatingsystemsyouusewithView Composer:

ApplicationsarebestdeliveredtousersviaVMwareThinAppapplicationvirtualizationorbyinstalling theminsidetheparentimageforthatdesktoppool.Ifyouneedtopersonalizeparticularapplicationsso theyperformcorrectly,youcanusethecustomizationscriptfunctionalityinViewComposeroruse profilemanagementtoolsthatareprovidedbyVMwaretechnologypartners.

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VMware View Composer Design Considerations

UtilizingVMwareThinAppinconjunctionwithViewComposergivesyoutheoptionofusinguserdata diskstoprovidelogicalseparationofapplicationanduserstoragefromtheoperatingsystem.Bydefault, VMwareThinAppplacestheapplicationsandboxinthe%AppData%locationtobestoredontheuserdata disk.ForapplicationsthatwritespecificallytotheC:drive,usetheWriteCopyIsolationmodesettingto containthosewritestotheuserssandboxontheuserdatadisk.Thisapproachredirectsthedynamic changesoftheapplicationsanduserspecificsettingsintothesandboxwheretheypersistthrougha refreshoftheoperatingsystem.Fordetails,seetheThinAppproductdocumentation (http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs/thinapp_pubs.html).

Patchingisbestdoneusingtherecomposefeature.Ifyoupatchusinganyothermechanism,yourunthe riskofincreasingthesizeofthevirtualmachinesystemdiskmorequicklythannecessary.Also,usingany othermethodlimitsyourabilitytouserefreshandrecomposetoolsbecauseanypatchesappliedusing othermeansarelostafterarefreshorrecompose. Considereithermovingthepagefileoffofthesystemdiskordisablingthepagefileifyoubelievethatit hasminimalimpactonapplicationperformance.Thischangehelpsslowthegrowthofthevirtual machine.Someapplicationsperformpoorlywhenthepagefiledoesnotexist. Youshoulddisabletheuserprivilegesthatallowuserstodefragmentdisksinthevirtualmachine. Defragmentationcanincreasethesizeofthesystemdiskquickly.

User Data Disk and Backup

Takethefollowingpointsintoconsiderationwhenyouconfigureandmanageuserdatadisks:

ViewComposercreatestheuserdatadiskwhenthedesktopisprovisionedanddestroysitwhenthe desktopisdeletedfromthedatacenter.Takecaretopreservetheuserdataandprofilesstoredonthisdisk incasetheyareneededafterthedesktopisremoved.Asabestpractice,youshouldkeeptheuserdata diskonadatastoreseparatefromthevirtualmachinesystemdisk.Thisallowsyoutobackupthewhole LUNthatholdsuserdatadisks.Youshouldbackupthedatastorethatholdsuserdatadisksregularly. Youshouldsavedataonthemappingofuserstovirtualmachinesonaregularbasis.Thisinformationis alsoavailableintheADAMdatabase,andyoucanachievethegoalofsavingthemappingdatabybacking uptheADAMdatabaseatregularintervals. Youshouldusescriptingtoolstoprepareforthepossibilityofvirtualmachinefailure.Ifonevirtual machinefails,yourscriptshouldassociatetheuserdatadiskwiththenewvirtualmachinecreatedto replaceit.Forstepstorestoretheuserdatadisk,seeAppendix:AssociatingaUserDataDiskwithaNew LinkedCloneonpage 6. Sizetheuserdatadiskbeforecreatingdesktoppools.ViewComposerallowsonlyoneuserdatadiskper virtualmachine.Oncetheuserdatadiskisprovisioned,itcannotbeexpandeddynamically.

NOTEAlthoughmostapplicationswritetotheredirectedfoldertosavetheirsettings,someapplications mightcontinuetowriteapplicationsettingstothesystemdisk(C:\).Theseapplicationsdonotfunction properlyafterarefreshandrecomposeoperation.Youshouldtesttheapplicationsusedinyourdesktopsto avoidproblemsinproduction.

View Composer and Array-based Cloning

Manystoragevendorshavedevelopeddeduplicationtechnologiesthatcancreatesimilarlinkedclonesand insomecases,virtualmachineswithinastoragearray.Thiscloningtechnologyoffersrapidprovisioningof alargenumberofindividualvirtualmachinedesktops.Thesearraybasedsolutionsarenotcurrently integratedwithViewManagerandrequireseveralmanualstepsorscriptingtocreateandintegratevirtual machineswithVMwareViewbeforethevirtualmachinesarereadyforuse.Virtualmachineimagesmustbe createdwithinthearray,registeredwithvCenter,andthenaddedtoViewManagerasamanualdesktoppool. SomeVMwarestoragepartnersprovidemanagementtoolsthatautomatethecreationoftheseclonesfor importintoVMwareViewManager.Seeyourstoragevendorfordetails.

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VMware View Composer Design Considerations

Conclusion
ViewComposerprovidescapableimagemanagementtoolsthathelpyouperformpatchandoperatingsystem management.Featuressuchasrefreshandrecomposeofferextraflexibility.BecauseViewComposeris integratedwithViewManager,itiseasytouseaswellaspowerful. TobesttakeadvantageoftheverypowerfultoolsinViewComposer,youshouldinvesttimeandthoughtin planningbeforeyoudeployViewComposer.UnderstandingthewayViewComposerinteractswiththerest oftheinfrastructurehelpsyouleveragethesetoolswithoutcausingproblemsafterthedeploymentisfully operational.

About the Author

AnjanSrinivasispartoftheTechnicalMarketingteamintheDesktopBusinessUnit,whereheischarteredto enablecustomeradoptionofdesktopvirtualizationtechnologies.AnjansVMwareInfrastructureexpertise includestheareasofsecurity,networking,ViewComposer,andViewManager.Inthepastheworkedwith CiscoSystemsandArubaNetworks.

Appendix: Associating a User Data Disk with a New Linked Clone

Takethefollowingstepstoassociateanexistinguserdatadiskwithanewlinkedclonedesktop.Youcanscript allofthesestepsifyouknowthemappingofusertovirtualmachine. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Powerdowntheoriginallinkedclonethatisusingtheuserdatadisk. Powerdownasparelinkedcloneinthesamepool. InvCenter,detachtheuserdatadiskfromtheoriginalclone. Removetheblankuserdatadiskinthesparelinkedcloneandattachtheoriginaluserdatadisk. InViewManager,deletetheoriginallinkedclone Usethevdmadmincommandlineoptiontoassignthesparevirtualmachinetotheuserdirectly.The formatofthecommandis:
vdmadmin -L -d <desktopname> -m <machinename> -u <username>

7 8 9

PerformarefreshoperationonthenewlyassignedvirtualmachineinView. Poweronthenewlinkedclone. Loginastheuser.Thedesktopofthenewlinkedcloneappearswithprofileredirectionworking.Thefiles ontheoriginaluserdatadiskshowupunderMyDocuments.

If you have comments about this documentation, submit your feedback to: docfeedback@vmware.com VMware, Inc. 3401 Hillview Ave., Palo Alto, CA 94304 www.vmware.com Copyright 2009 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws. VMware products are covered by one or more patents listed at http://www.vmware.com/go/patents. VMware, the VMware boxes logo and design, Virtual SMP, and VMotion are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies. Revision: 20090312 Item: BP-088-PRD-01-01