White paper VDI Reference Architecture for Citrix XenDesktop and Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900

White paper
VDI Reference Architecture for Citrix XenDesktop
and Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900
Desktop virtualization is transforming the traditional approach to the delivery and management of IT workplaces. Many organizations have taken
advantage of virtualization technologies in their data centers to consolidate server workloads and are in the process of expanding the use of
virtualization to harness the advantages that virtualization brings to the desktop. Citrix gives businesses the ability to embrace consumerization
using virtualization, networking, collaboration and cloud technologies, and is the leader in desktop virtualization. Fujitsu is known for
best-in-class infrastructure products and services across all project and lifecycle phases. Based on market leading virtualization technology from
Citrix, Fujitsu offers end-to-end desktop virtualization solutions, designed to improve service quality, reduce cost and deliver excellent user
experience.

Contents
Purpose 2
Introduction to desktop virtualization 2
Why deploy a desktop virtualization solution? 2
Implementation and solution objectives 3
Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900 blade chassis 3
Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX922 blade servers 3
Citrix XenDesktop A brief overview 4
FlexCast delivery 5
HDX technology 5
Citrix Provisioning Server 5
Citrix XenApp 5
Citrix Licensing Server 6
Citrix Desktop Delivery Controller 6
Web Interface 6
High performance virtual infrastructure with XenServer 5.6 6
How does XenDesktop work? 7
Sizing guidelines for the reference architecture 8
CPU requirements 8
Memory requirements with Microsoft Windows 7 9
Storage capacity requirements 10
Storage performance 11
Reference architecture - Introduction 12
Configuration of server hardware and software components 12
Storage platform for the reference architecture 13
Fujitsu hardware requirements 14
Citrix software requirements 15
Microsoft software requirements 15
References 16

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White paper VDI Reference Architecture for Citrix XenDesktop and Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900
Purpose
This white paper describes the reference architecture designed to
deliver virtual desktops using Citrix XenDesktop and Fujitsu PRIMERGY
x86 hardware.
The reference architecture is designed to support up to 1,000 users,
delivering a virtual desktop experience running Microsoft Windows 7
Professional as the users operating system with a medium workload
being delivered on demand using Citrix XenDesktop on XenServer.
Any architecture described in this document is provided for reference
purposes and only serves as a guideline.
Before embarking on any project of this scale, Fujitsu would
recommend that customers conduct the relevant capacity planning
exercises in order to build a picture of their own environment.
Introduction to desktop virtualization
Desktop virtualization describes the process of separating or
abstracting a personal desktop computer (including its operating
system, applications, user profile and data) from the physical hardware
on which it is usually deployed.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) is the desktop virtualization
concept where a virtualized copy of the desktop is hosted on a server
in the data center, running as a virtual machine on a hypervisor,
instead of on the local PC. This enables users to remotely access these
virtual desktops on any end-point device, such as a PC, laptop, or thin
client from anywhere.
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For the IT administrators this means a reduction in the overall
management of desktop images, when deploying a single-image
solution. Only one copy of the operating systems needs to be
maintained along with centralized management of applications.
VDI is actually just one of many forms of desktop virtualization. Most
enterprises will have a diverse mixture of user requirements and will
benefit most by combining VDI with other desktop virtualization
models.
However, for this reference architecture document, Fujitsu has chosen
to focus on VDI, which is also known as the Hosted Virtual Desktop
model.
Why deploy a desktop virtualization solution?
The question to address is why a customer would want to deliver their
desktop infrastructure from the data center in the first place rather
than the traditional desktop model. Some of the primary reasons are
highlighted in the following paragraphs.
Desktop refresh and growth: Deploying virtual desktops and
applications to thin clients, PCs, laptops and other mobile devices
centrally can help accelerate Windows 7 migrations, merger or
acquisition deadlines, and new branch office expansions.
Compliance and data security: Compliance and data security concerns
continue to grow every year. Data security & access control features of
VDI solutions ensure only authorized users can connect to their
desktops, Intellectual Property is protected and regulatory compliance
requirements are met as data never actually leaves the data center and
is not stored on local devices. This is of particular interest when
considering new government regulations, new security policies,
compliance requirements or recent security issues.
Lowering the cost of desktop ownership: Analysts estimate that VDI
provides a way to reduce overall desktop TCO by up to 40%, because it
decreases refresh costs and extends PC lifecycles, reduces overall
desktop support costs, and helps meet application rollout deadlines,
Deploying green IT solutions: PCs generate a significant amount of heat
and energy even when idle. In a VDI deployment, the amount of power
allotted to each desktop is minimized, reducing energy consumption
and saving money.
Virtual workforce initiative: This business driver applies to organizations
that are looking at deploying initiatives, such as working from home,
business process outsourcing (off-shoring), business continuity
planning, or BYOC (Bring Your Own Computer).
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White paper VDI Reference Architecture for Citrix XenDesktop and Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900
Implementation and solution objectives
The solution described in this reference architecture guide has been
based on the VDI model of Desktop Virtualization. In our
implementation, the desktops are running as virtual machines, hosted
on Citrix XenServer host servers.
The objective of this solution is to provide a highly available, flexible
platform, which is simple to manage and reduces both cost and
complexity in order to deliver a VDI solution that assembles virtual
desktops on demand to an end-point device.
Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900 blade chassis
The Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX Blade Servers are the ideal choice for the data
center. These blade servers provide maximum performance and
maximum redundancy, but with only minimum space requirements,
low power consumption and a reduction in the time and effort required
for cabling. The PRIMERGY BX system family is designed to share
components between chassis thus enabling quick and easy responses
to changing business requirements. Storage and server blades can be
added without any extra effort, as would be needed when cabling or
adding management software. You can use the same applications, rely
on the same server and storage components and establish connections
to the same networks. The Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX Blade Servers are
flexible and have complete control via a central administration
instance that is redundant in design; they minimize administrative
time and effort, freeing you from time-consuming administration tasks.
Our build-to-order process ensures that only completely installed and
previously tested solutions are supplied, which have been precisely
adapted to individual requirements and which will accommodate
future business requirements.
The Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900 the Dynamic Cube is a complete
Dynamic Server infrastructure in a single 10U chassis. The Blade Server
can be dynamically adapted to various IT requirements: Costs are
reduced and IT becomes more flexible. The Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900
has space for up to 18 server and storage blades. This is the leader in
its class for density and multiple application services in a compact form
factor. Our innovative and registered Cool-safe cooling concept,
combined with over 90% efficient power supplies and the embedded
ServerView Power Management software, ensures real dynamic power
& cooling which helps you save money.
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Dual-socket server blades, equipped with the latest CPUs from the
Intel Xeon processor 5600 series, large memory capacity and
state-of-the-art I/O performance make the PRIMERGY BX900 suitable
for every virtualization scenario. Your investment is protected as your
business grows, since up to four BX900 chassis units can be operated
in a common management and I/O administration domain.
Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX922 blade servers
The PRIMERGY BX922 S2 Server Blade uses up to two CPUs in the Intel
Xeon processor 5600 sequence with up to 6 cores, including the first
32nm processors.
Chipset and CPU offer comprehensive, hardware-based virtualization
support which is augmented by the additional functions on the new
on-board Gigabit Ethernet Controller (Intel 82576).
The main memory configuration with up to 12 DIMM modules enables
consolidation strategies which are aligned with hypervisor-based
virtualization solutions from Citrix, VMware, Microsoft, Red Hat, and
SuSE.
The design of the PRIMERGY BX922 S2 is very flexible regarding the
boot options as - in addition to the increasing use of SAN or NAS - local
booting via Solid State Disks is available.
The efficient administration of the entire system via ServerView is
supported by the integrated Remote Management Controller (iRMC
S2); the hardware monitoring and setting options can thus be
optimally visualized in order to use all options at the highest
energy-efficiency levels.
For more detailed information and technical specifications relating to
the PRIMERGY BX922 blade server, refer to the references section of
this document.
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White paper VDI Reference Architecture for Citrix XenDesktop and Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900

Citrix XenDesktop A brief overview

Citrix XenDesktop is an industry-standard desktop virtualization
solution including VDI that transforms Windows desktops and
applications into an on-demand service available to any user, on any
device, from anywhere. XenDesktop quickly and securely delivers any
type of virtual desktop, Windows, web and SaaS applications to PCs,
Macs, tablets, smartphones, laptops and thin clients - all with a
high-definition user experience.

With XenDesktop, IT can manage single instances of the OS,

applications and user profile and dynamically assemble them to
increase business agility and simplify desktop management.

XenDesktop makes virtual desktops a mainstream reality for hundreds

of millions of corporate employees for the first time ever. Unlike
first-generation virtual desktop (VDI) solutions that were applicable
only to a narrow set of users, XenDesktop, with its FlexCast delivery
technology, is the first product in the industry to support every desktop
virtualization model in a single, integrated solution.

This approach improves ROI, simplifies management and extends the

benefits of virtualization to every employee in the enterprise. With the
full integration of Citrix XenApp functionality, customers can deliver
on-demand applications as a seamless part of their overall desktop
management strategy.

Todays digital workforce demands the flexibility to work from

anywhere, with complete security, at any time using any device.
Leveraging Citrix Receiver as a universal client, XenDesktop users can
access their desktop and corporate applications from over a billion
tablets, smartphones, PCs, Macs or thin clients. This enables new levels
of virtual work-styles, business continuity and user mobility - with
increased security and control.

XenDesktop 5 Editions
XenDesktop is available in three different versions as detailed in the
adjacent table.

For the reference architecture in this document, the Enterprise version

of XenDesktop was used, which includes XenApp application delivery
capabilities to deliver user applications and Provisioning Server 5.6 SP1
to build the virtual desktop operating systems on demand. The usage
of Citrix Provisioning Server 5.6 SP1 for streamed desktops will provide
the same results for Citrix XenDesktop versions 4, 5 and 5.5.

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White paper VDI Reference Architecture for Citrix XenDesktop and Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900
FlexCast delivery
Different types of workers need different types of desktops. XenDesktop
can meet all these requirements in one solution. With FlexCast delivery
technology, IT can deliver any type of virtual desktop including VDI, to
any user, on any device. Each desktop is tailored to meet the
performance, security and flexibility requirements for every user.
HDX technology
HDX delivers a high definition experience on any device, over any
network, with better reliability and higher availability than a
traditional PC.
With Citrix HDX technology, users get an experience on par with a local
PC, even when using multimedia, USB peripherals, and 3D graphics.
Webcam and VoIP support, improved audio, 3D graphics support and
branch office WAN optimization ensure that users get a high-definition
user experience regardless of location.
Citrix Provisioning Server
Provisioning Services (PVS) creates and provisions virtual desktops
from a single desktop image (vDisk) on demand, optimizing storage
utilization and providing a pristine virtual desktop to each user every
time they log on. Desktop provisioning also simplifies desktop images,
provides the best flexibility, and offers fewer points of desktop
management for both applications and desktops.
The Provisioning Services server also acts as a global read cache for all
the desktop images that are served from the server, significantly
reducing the IO load on the storage connected to the server.
The Trivial File Transfer Protocol (TFTP) and Pre-boot eXecution
Environment (PXE) services are the most commonly used solutions to
boot virtual desktops off the network and download the bootstrap file
which instructs the virtual desktop to connect to the PVS server for
registration and vDisk access instructions. More information regarding
the different bootstrap delivery methods is available
at: http://blogs.citrix.com/2011/05/02/load-balancing-tftp-anything-bu
t-trivial/
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Citrix XenApp
Citrix XenApp functionality is an integral part of the Citrix XenDesktop
FlexCast architecture. XenApp provides on-demand application delivery
which can reduce application management costs by up to 50 percent,
improve application and data security, accelerate application delivery
and can help you optimize delivery for any user, anywhere, on any
device. This centralized single-instance management approach
enables you to create a single application image in the datacenter, and
then deliver it in multiple ways to any number of devices, eliminating
the need to install and maintain a separate instance of the application
for each device.
In addition to the session virtualization capabilities of Citrix XenApp,
another key attribute is application isolation which isolates
applications from the underlying operating system and from other
applications to improve compatibility and manageability. This
application virtualization technology enables applications to be
streamed from a centralized location into an isolation environment on
the target device where they will be executed. With XenApp,
applications are not installed in the traditional sense. The application
files, configuration, and settings are copied to the target device and
the application execution at run time is controlled by the application
virtualization layer. When executed, the application runtime believes
that it is interfacing directly with the operating system when, in fact, it
is interfacing with a virtualization environment that proxies all requests
to the operating system.
Which XenApp version to choose depends on the applications to be
virtualized. For real 32-bit or 64-bit applications use XenApp 6, for
older applications with 16-bit code XenApp 5 should be used.
XenApp is unique in that it is a complete system for application
delivery, offering both online and offline application access through a
combination of application hosting and application streaming directly
to user devices. When users request an application, XenApp determines
if their device is compatible and capable of running the application in
question. The minimum requirements of a target device are a
compatible Windows operating system and appropriate Citrix client
software.
If the user device meets minimum requirements, then XenApp initiates
application virtualization via application streaming directly into an
isolated environment on the users device. In the event that the user
device is not capable of running a particular application, XenApp
initiates session virtualization.
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White paper VDI Reference Architecture for Citrix XenDesktop and Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900

Citrix Licensing Server XenDesktop Site designed for users who require access to multiple
The Citrix License Server is responsible for centrally managing the virtual desktops. Also for those that are using a browser to connect to
licenses for all of the components of XenDesktop including XenServer. their virtual desktop. The user logs on to their end point device,
It is worth mentioning that only XenServer 5.6 or later versions can use browses to the XenDesktop site and selects a virtual desktop from the
the License Server. XenDesktop has a 90 day grace period, which list presented.
allows the system to function normally for 90 days, if the license server
becomes unavailable. XenDesktop Services Site used for connecting the online / offline
plug-ins (Program Neighborhood Agent) to their resources.
Not only will you have a highly available license server, but it will not
need any additional configuration in order to function as it will be the High performance virtual infrastructure with XenServer 5.6
exact same server with exactly the same host name. This is critical for a With the Citrix XenServer base platform customers receive a scalable,
Citrix Licensing Server as things like the host name need to be exactly manageable, and flexible virtual server infrastructure that is included
the same as the failed server and by adopting this approach effectively in Citrix XenDesktop. Key features include:
you are bringing the same server back online, but running on a
different blade server or resource. XenServer: Based on the open-source design of Xen, XenServer is a
highly reliable, available, and secure virtualization platform that
The licensing model of XenDesktop is flexible. Customers have the utilizes a 64-bit architecture to provide near native application
choice between user-based, device-based, and concurrent user licenses. performance and unmatched virtual machine density. XenServer allows
The user-based model enables the licensed user to access any desktop for easy server, storage, and network setup via an intuitive
environment from an unlimited number of devices. This is attractive for wizard-driven utility that delivers Ten Minutes to Xen. The disk
users who alternately use their business PC, their home PC or any other snapshot and revert feature enables administrators to create periodic
device while being on the move. The device-based model enables any snapshots of virtual machines and data for easy recovery to a known
user and any number of users to access any desktop environment from working state in case of failure. Disk snapshots can also be cloned to
a licensed device. This model is especially attractive for access devices speed system provisioning
in travel agencies, banks or training centers which are used alternately
by a large group of people. XenMotion: Citrix XenMotion eliminates the need for planned
downtime by enabling active virtual machines to be moved to a new
In addition to the user-based and device-based license model, all host with no application outages or downtime.
editions can also be licensed on a concurrent user basis.
XenCenter Multi-Server Management: Citrix XenCenter provides all the
Citrix Desktop Delivery Controller VM monitoring, management, and general administration functions in
The XenDesktop Delivery controllers are responsible for maintaining a single interface including configuration, patch management, and
the proper level of idle desktops to allow for instantaneous connections, virtual machine libraries. IT staff can easily manage hundreds of virtual
monitoring the state of online and connected virtual desktops and machines from a centralized, highly available management console
shutting down virtual desktops as needed. Additionally the controllers that installs on any Windows desktop.
are responsible for user authentication, resource enumeration and the
desktop launching process. The Resilient Distributed Management Architecture distributes server
management data across the servers in a resource pool to ensure that
A controller failure will result in users being unable to start their there is no single point of management failure. If a management
desktops. It is best practice to have multiple controllers per XenDesktop server should fail, any other server in the pool can take over the
farm. management role.

Web Interface XenServer Resource Pools: A resource pool consists of multiple

The Web Interface provides the user interface to the XenDesktop
environment. Web Interface brokers user authentication, enumerates
the available desktops and, upon launch, delivers an ICA file to the
Citrix Receiver on the users local end point device to initiate a
connection.
As the Web Interface is a critical component, redundant servers must
be available in order to provide fault tolerance. Regarding scalability, it
is best practice to install the Web Interface on dedicated virtual servers.
The Desktop Delivery Controller installs two Web sites for different
types of end point devices being used to access the virtual desktops:
XenServer hosts joined together as a single, managed entity. When
combined with shared storage, a resource pool enables virtual
machines (VMs) to be started on any XenServer host containing the
necessary available resources.
If an individual resource pool member has a hardware failure, then the
High Availability (HA) function will assign a new pool master if
necessary, and then (try to ) restart the VMs on the affected physical
host on other nodes in the pool, according to the policies in place. HA
is available in the Advanced Edition of XenServer.
The reference architecture described in this document is configured
with two XenServer Resource Pools.

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White paper VDI Reference Architecture for Citrix XenDesktop and Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900
How does XenDesktop work?
The diagram below shows a high level view of the XenDesktop
architecture and where each component plays its role to deliver a
complete desktop virtualization solution.
If we take a more detailed approach to the above diagram, we can
describe the process of desktop delivery from the first point a user logs
in to them having a fully functional and usable virtual desktop. This is
shown in the figure below.
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Step 1: The endpoint device submits the users credentials to a Citrix
web interface site or via the Citrix Access Gateway. Communications for
this occur on SSL port 443. The Desktop Delivery Controller (DDC)
installation will create two different web interfaces. The user
experience required dictates which site they will go to:
XenDesktop Services Site:
for online / offline plug-in (Program Neighborhood Agent) access
XenDesktop Site:
for users requiring multiple desktops and access via a browser.
Step 2: The web interface passes the user credentials to the XML
service running on the Desktop Delivery Controller (DDC).
Step 3: The DDC authenticates the user credentials
with Active Directory (AD)
Step 4: Once authenticated, the DDC queries the database to retrieve
the details of the users assigned desktop groups. Desktop groups are
assigned through AD group membership.
Step 5: Using the desktop group obtained from the data store, the DDC
now queries the virtual machine infrastructure about the status of
virtual desktops within that group to see whats available for
allocation.
Step 6: Provisioning Server (PVS) provides the image to the assigned
virtual desktop. If there is already a virtual desktop available with the
right image or one running in the idle pool, then this step will already
have been completed when the user logs on.
Step 7: The DDC tells the web interface which desktop has been
allocated for this session.
Step 8: The web interface sends an ICA file to the desktop receiver on
the endpoint device which points to the allocated virtual desktop.
Step 9: The desktop receiver on the endpoint device creates an ICA
connection to the allocated virtual desktop.
Step 10: The virtual desktop agent (agent resides within the virtual
desktop OS) verifies the license file with the DDC.
Step 11: The DDC queries the Citrix License Server to verify that the user
has a valid license.
Step 12: The DDC passes the session policies to the Virtual Desktop
Agent. These policies are then applied to the virtual desktop.
Step 13: The user profile and any other user specific settings are
applied to the virtual desktop using profile management.
Step 14: The desktop receiver on the endpoint device displays the
virtual desktop to the user.
Step 15: Hosted and streamed applications are then delivered on
demand by Citrix XenApp as the user interacts with the virtual desktop.
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White paper VDI Reference Architecture for Citrix XenDesktop and Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900
Sizing guidelines for the reference architecture
Within this reference architecture, there are a number of components
that need to be sized according to the customers unique requirements.
This whitepaper outlines some of the guidelines to sizing a VDI
environment; however these are not universally applicable and are
merely meant to provide an indication of what an environment could
look like based on the assumptions made at the beginning.
Before embarking on any VDI project, Fujitsu recommends that the
customer performs extensive capacity planning on their existing
environment to understand utilization and identify peaks and troughs.
Once the environment is understood, a proof of concept should be the
next stage in trialing the technology before moving into a pilot phase
and then finally deployment.
CPU requirements
The main part of the sizing exercise is to understand how many virtual
desktops can be hosted on each of the host servers which will
ultimately provide an indication on how many servers in total would be
required to host the entire infrastructure.
For the purposes of this guide, the processors used are industry
standard Intel Xeon X5650s, which are 2.66 GHz; six-core CPUs with 12
MB cache. Each host server will be configured with two of these
processors. Using this configuration as a baseline, a two CPU server can
typically host somewhere around 70 to 100 virtual desktop machines
based on the user profiles which is the main influencing factor. The
following list classifies the typical user profiles.
Light workload: This would typically be something like a kiosk machine
operator, call center personnel, administrator or basic web browser
user. These desktops might be suspended for long periods of time and
have very low utilization, running just one or two light applications.
Medium workload: This type of workload refers to users performing
data entry, doctors, students, Microsoft Office users, or a help desk
operator. These desktops will mainly be used during business/office
hours and not that heavily utilized.
Heavy workload: This would typically be users performing heavier tasks
such as developers, system administrators, IT workers, database
administrators or engineers. These desktops will more than likely be
heavily utilized throughout the day and also after normal business
hours. They may also be running more graphically intense or
Java-based applications that increase the utilization of the desktop.
When using these sizing guidelines to design a VDI infrastructure,
consider that all of these user types are likely to be mixed throughout
the environment, and there isnt a one size fits all approach to the
type of virtual desktop you will need to deploy.
The other method for sizing VDI is to collect statistics running load
testing tools such as LoginVSI, and perform some basic calculations
based on the results.
The design for this Reference Architecture is based on Fujitsus project
experience and the measurement results using the LoginVSI load
testing tool.
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The medium workload is the default workload in VSI. This workload
emulates a typical knowledge worker using Office, IE and Adobe
Acrobat software to open PDF files. Once a session has been started,
the medium workload script will repeat every 12 minutes. During each
loop sequence, the response time is measured every 2 minutes. The
medium workload script opens up to 5 applications simultaneously.
The type rate is 160 ms per character. The medium workload in VSI 2.0
is approximately 35% more resource-intensive than in VSI 1.0.
Approximately 2 minutes of idle time is included to simulate real-world
users.
Each loop sequence will open and use
Outlook 2007, browse 10 messages.
Internet Explorer, one instance is left open (BBC.co.uk), one instance
is browsed to Wired.com, Lonelyplanet.com and heavy flash app
gettheglass.com (not used with MediumNoFlash workload).
Word 2007, one instance to measure response time, one instance to
review and edit a document.
Bullzip PDF Printer & Adobe Acrobat Reader, the word document is
printed and converted to PDF.
Excel 2007, a very large spreadsheet is opened.
PowerPoint 2007, a presentation is reviewed and edited.
7-zip: using the command line version the output of the session is
zipped.
With a medium workload, 103 virtual desktops will run on a physical
host as described above. This will lead to a theoretical virtual desktop
per CPU core ratio of
103 / 12 = 8.5
Considering that 2 CPU cores are needed for running the hypervisor,
the actual virtual desktop per CPU core ratio, also denoted as VM
density, will be
103 / (12-2) = 103 / 10 = 10.3
If you take a performance buffer of 15%, you can assume
103 * 85% = 87 virtual desktops per physical host
The performance buffer can be used for the purpose of High Availability.
In the event of a server failure, the virtual desktops concerned will be
migrated to the remaining ones.
With N servers hosting the virtual desktops equally, the additional
number of virtual desktops moved to any of the running servers will be
87 / (N-1)
Then the load of the running servers will increase to
((87 + 87 / (N-1)) / 103) %
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White paper VDI Reference Architecture for Citrix XenDesktop and Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900
Memory requirements with Microsoft Windows 7
Memory allocation is an important part of the sizing exercise. The
general rule of thumb is to apply exactly the same approach to the
virtual desktop machine as you would to a physical one. However,
based on our experience, with 70-100 virtual desktops on a physical
server, a consolidation effect of about 25% can be expected, as all VMs
will never need all their memory. This means, that 2 GB for a physical
Windows 7 client can be mapped to 1.5 GB with a virtual one. This
corresponds to the results we achieved using the load testing tool.
This ultimately has an impact on the number of virtual desktops you
are able to deploy on a host server and should be used in conjunction
with the results and calculations from the CPU sizing guidelines. From through 3 channels per CPU. Therefore we recommend equipping the
CPU calculations it may well indicate that you could host 100 virtual
desktops on a single host server, but that host server may not be able memory throughput. If more than 6 DIMMs are needed, it is
to deliver the memory requirements.
For the main deployment in this reference architecture, we are going to within the memory architecture.
use the Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX922 blade server which has a maximum
memory configuration of 192 GB of memory. We will deploy Microsoft
Windows 7 Professional and will use for this sizing exercise 1.5 GB for
each virtual desktop machine.
If we take the figure of 87 virtual desktop machines per host server as
calculated in the previous section and allocate each one with 1.5 GB of
memory, we would require a host server memory configuration with
87 * 1.5 GB = 130.5 GB
Keep in mind, that you should prevent memory over-commitment,
since this will negatively impact the user experience.
Now that we have the guidelines for both CPU and memory
requirements for the reference architecture, these can be used to
determine the configuration of the host servers for the Windows 7
desktops.
We have already mentioned in the CPU sizing guidelines that you
should assume that the XenServer engine will use 2 of the available
processor cores, leaving the rest of the cores for VMs.
With regard to memory, XenServer also needs its own dedicated
memory resource in order to run. This is split into two requirements.
The first one is the part of the physical memory required to run the
XenServer hypervisor, which typically is up to 768 MB but for dense
Virtual Desktop workloads it is recommended to use up to 2940 MB.
The second one is the physical memory to run the virtual machines.
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Considering the memory needed for the hypervisor being 4 GB in size,
the required total memory for a Citrix XenServer host with 87 virtual
desktops will be
4 GB + 87 * 1.5 GB = 4 GB + 130.5 GB = 134.5 GB
This means that the Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX922 blade server with a
maximum main memory configuration of 192 GB is able to deliver the
memory requirements for the recommended number of 87 virtual
desktops
Intel Nehalem and Intel Westmere based servers access main memory
2-way-servers always with at least 6 DIMMs to achieve optimal
recommended to always use 9, 12, 15 or 18 DIMMs (multiple of 3) of
the same type and speed (capacity may vary) to avoid limitations
This means that for a memory requirement of 134.5 GB, we should use
6 DIMMs with 8 GB each, and
6 DIMMs with 16 GB each
= 144 GB in total
A symmetric memory configuration is always recommended.
Even with a fully loaded physical host running 103 virtual desktops and
a respective memory requirement of
4 GB + 103 * 1.5 GB = 4 GB + 154.5 GB = 158.5 GB,
the main memory would not be a limitation. From a memory
perspective the number of virtual Windows 7 desktops on a single
blade would be
(192 GB 4 GB) / 1.5 GB = 125
To meet the 158.5 GB memory needs, the lowest functional memory
configuration would be
3 DIMMs with 8GB each, and
9 DIMMs with 16 GB each
= 168 GB.
As most organizations prefer a homogeneous, symmetric memory
configuration, we are using
12 DIMMs with 16 GB each
= 192 GB
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White paper VDI Reference Architecture for Citrix XenDesktop and Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900

Storage capacity requirements For this reference architecture, we assume a write cache size of 4 GB
This whitepaper does not detail the exact storage requirements but (the maximum which can be addressed by PVS) and designate the
does provide some baseline recommendations. write caches as target disk caches. Together with a 2 GB page file and 1
GB for other data, such as virus patterns or profile data, it represents
We are using Fujitsu ETERNUS DX80 S2, an online storage system which the persistent vDisk of an end user, 7 GB in total.
can be attached to SAN via Fiber Channel or iSCSI. In our reference
architecture we are using the iSCSI option for the best cost to It is worth mentioning that the persistent vDisk occupies only the disk
performance ratio. space which is really needed. In many production environments, a 2 GB
write cache may be sufficient.
The amount of disk space required for a Microsoft Windows 7 image
strongly depends on the specific use case. In this reference architecture Assuming again an image size of 25 GB while keeping 3 updates, and
we assume a size of 25 GB, although the size of Windows 7 images can a persistent vDisk of 7 GB per virtual desktop, the total amount of SAN
easily be 40 GB and more. storage required for the base images is

Using persistent virtual desktops, each with its dedicated image, the 25 GB + (25 GB * 3) + 1000 * 7 GB = 7.1 TB
storage capacity required for 1000 users would be
To combine increased availability and increased write performance, we
1000 * 25 GB = 25,000 GB = 25 TB recommend using RAID-10 configurations which doubles the total
amount of storage to
From a cost perspective, this is clearly not the optimum approach.
Fujitsu strongly recommends using either Citrix Provisioning Services 2 * 7.1 TB = 14.2 TB
(PVS) with Streamed Desktops or Citrix Machine Creation Services
(MCS) in combination with Intellicache. In this whitepaper we will focus Using 300 GB 2.5 SAS disks with 10,000 rpm, we will need
on the Provisioning Services solution. In a Provisioning Services (PVS)
environment with shared image mode vDisks, one base image is 14.2 TB / 300 = 48 hard disks
shared by all users and is therefore read-only. All data written by a
particular virtual desktop is stored in what is called a write cache. As a storage configuration is determined by capacity and performance
requirements, this equation only shows the minimum capacity. More
During reads, Provisioning Server checks the write cache to determine about storage performance will be discussed in the next section.
if the desired data is present. If this data has not been cached, it is
read from the base virtual disk. For more information regarding storage In addition to the storage requirements previously described to host
considerations please read the following the virtual desktops and their operating systems, there will also be
article: http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX125126 (Advanced Memory further storage requirements for the other infrastructure servers
and Storage Considerations for Provisioning Services). required in the delivery of the virtual desktops.

The write cache can reside in one of the following locations:
Server disk cache (file on the Provisioning Server)
Target disk cache (file on the hard disk of the local machine)
RAM cache
Depending on the workload of the virtual desktop and the
configuration of the environment, the write cache can grow to a large
size.
Storage will be required to create the virtual disks that will host XenApp,
Desktop Delivery Controllers, License Server, plus spare capacity if you
want to create additional servers or operating systems for testing
purposes. The amount of storage for this requirement is included in the
total storage described above.
For virtualized XenApp servers streamed from PVS we assume an
image size of 40 GB while keeping 3 updates. In total the storage
requirement then equals:

40 GB + (40 GB * 3) = 160 GB

This architecture document makes the assumption that an Active

Directory is already in place and that the customer also has deployed a
Microsoft SQL Server as database engine.

It also assumes that there is an existing file server in place that can be
used for storing user profiles and data from roaming profiles and folder
redirection.

User data is not taken into consideration.

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Storage performance
As well as disk capacity, ensuring a high-level end-user experience
depends a great deal on disk performance which is frequently
overlooked.

When using PVS, carefully monitor write operations, since all read
operations are managed using the master image cached in the main
memory of the Provisioning Server.

An industry standard utilization for a virtual desktop is up to 20 IOPS

(I/O operations per second). Our measurements have shown that a
virtual desktop with write cache and RAID-10 consumes 8 IOPS.

To support 1000 end users in this reference architecture, the storage

system would need to support an average of

1,000 * 8 IOPS = 8,000 IOPS

In Fujitsu ETERNUS DX80 S2, a group of 8 2.5 10K SAS hard disks in a
RAID-10 configuration can sustain an I/O workload of 810 IOPS with 8
KB block I/O. Windows 7 typically transfers 4KB blocks which increases
the sustained I/O workload by 5%. Thus, a group of 8 RAID-10 hard
disks can sustain

810 * 1.05 = 850.5 IOPS

And a single hard disk will sustain

850.5 / 8 = 106.3 IOPS

Correspondingly, in order to support 8,000 IOPS, the number of hard

disks needed in total will be

8000 / 106.3 = 76

To keep the management effort on a reasonable level, we recommend

consistently using RAID-10 groups of 8 hard disks. Therefore in our
reference architecture we are using

80 hard disks

which provides a performance reserve. An additional hot-spare disk

ensures that a hard disk that fails can be replaced immediately.

Basically there is always the option to use SSD. We could provide the
required I/O performance with a lower number of disks, however due to
the higher prices of SSDs at least today this would be a more expensive
solution. For 8000 random write IOPS, RAID 5 groups with 20 SSDs
altogether is enough. However, for the capacity of 8 TB, 54 SSDs of 200
GB each would be required; this will be much more expensive than 80
hard disks.

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White paper VDI Reference Architecture for Citrix XenDesktop and Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900
Reference architecture - Introduction
This reference architecture has been designed to deliver a Citrix
XenDesktop solution (4, 5 or 5.5) that can support approximately 1000
users desktops with Windows 7 as virtual machines.
Using XenDesktop Enterprise Edition, each users virtual desktop is
assembled on demand using Citrix Provisioning Services 5.6 SP1.The
applications are then delivered to the virtual desktop using application
streaming and finally the complete desktop is delivered to the users
end point device.
The diagram below shows a high level view of how the system chassis
has been configured for the different server roles within this reference
architecture.
The chassis is fully populated with blade servers which perform the
following roles:
12 Blade Servers:
Citrix XenServer hosting virtual desktop operating systems.
In this reference architecture, the performance buffer of the individual
servers will be used for the purpose of High Availability. Whenever any
of the servers fails, the virtual desktops affected will be distributed over
the remaining operational servers. Doing so, you do not need
additional HA or failover blades, which are idle under normal
circumstances.
Determining which of the following configuration options is most
appropriate for a target environment is a choice that customers need to
make based on specific requirements and further consultation with
Fujitsu.
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2 Blade Servers:
Physical Windows x64 servers running Citrix Provisioning Server.
We are using 2 for the purpose of High Availability.
2 Blade Servers: Citrix XenServer hosting the infrastructure:
Virtual Desktop Delivery Controllers including License Server
(deployed across each physical server)
Virtual Citrix XenApp Servers (one on each server)
Virtual Web Interface Server (one on each server)
Virtual File Servers (one for ISO and one as software depot)
Again, we are using 2 for the purpose of High Availability.
Configuration of server hardware and software components
The following sections describe the configuration of each of the
individual servers.
XenServer hosts for virtual desktops
This section details the blade server configuration used to host the
virtual desktop operating systems. Each server has been sized using
the guidelines set out in this document to host 87 virtual desktop
machines. In total there are 12 servers with the following configuration
specifications:
12 x Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX922 S2 Blade Servers with:
2x Xeon X5650 Processor 2.66GHz, 6-Core, 12 MB Cache, 6.40GT/s
192 GB DDR3 RAM (12 DIMMs with 16 GB each)
2x 160 GB SATA hard disk RAID1
Ethernet Adapter (4 Ports)
Altogether 8 LAN ports are needed (4 are already included in the base
configuration):
2 for management (including XenMotion)
2 for the provisioning network
2 for the virtual desktops
2 for iSCSI storage
For the virtual desktops and for the iSCSI storage, we need 2 Ethernet
controllers for performance reasons, the 2 controllers for management
and the provisioning network are configured for the purpose of high
availability.
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White paper VDI Reference Architecture for Citrix XenDesktop and Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900

XenServer infrastructure servers Provisioning Server blades

This section details the configuration of the blade servers required to
host the first set of infrastructure servers. This physical server is
configured with the following:
2 x Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX922 S2 Blade Server with:
2x Xeon E5603 Processor 1.6 GHz,4-Core, 4 MB Cache
48 GB RAM, DDR3, 1333MHz (6x 8 GB DIMMs)
2x 160 GB SATA hard disk RAID1
Ethernet Adapter (4 Ports)
XenServer
This section details the configuration of the blade server that is
required to run Citrix Provisioning Server. In this reference architecture
there are two physical servers deployed to run the provisioning services
in HA mode to ensure high availability.
2 x Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX922 S2 Blade Server with:
2x Xeon E5603 Processor 1.6 GHz,4-Core, 4 MB Cache
24 GB, DDR3, 1066MHz (6 DIMMs with 4 GB each)
2x 160 GB SATA hard disk RAID1
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition

In total there are 2 x 4 = 8 virtual servers running on each of these host High availability blades
servers. The virtual server roles and configurations are detailed below: If special High Availability (HA) blades are used, they should be
configured to the highest common denominator so that they are
Citrix Desktop Delivery Controller capable of running the biggest workload in the event of that blade
including Citrix License Server (x2) server failing.
2 x vCPU
4 GB RAM There is no requirement to assign any software licensing to special HA
25GB virtual hard disk servers, such as Citrix XenServer or Microsoft Windows Server because
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition the failover server will use the existing license(s) from the failed server.

Citrix Web Interface x2 SQL Server

2 x vCPU There is still an infrastructure component left, which has to be taken
2 GB RAM into consideration in a virtual desktop infrastructure, and this is the
25GB virtual hard disk SQL Server. In large environments, where e.g. up to 20,000 users log in
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition within 10 minutes, the configuration demands can be immense (Dual,
quad core 1.86 GHz CPU and 16 GB RAM). However, if boot storms can
Citrix XenApp servers (x2) be avoided, the demands will be moderate.
4 vCPU
8 GB RAM With up to 2,500 users, the SQL Server can even be a virtual server.
40 GB virtual hard disk With 1,000 users, 2 vCPUs and 4 GB RAM should be sufficient.
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition
For this reference architecture, we assume that the customer already
8 GB RAM would be adequate, however we recommend allocating all has SQL Server installed and configured.
available memory which is not used by the other virtual servers.
Storage platform for the reference architecture
File servers x2 To deliver the storage determined by capacity and performance
2 vCPU requirements, for the reference architecture, a Fujitsu ETERNUS DX80
2 GB RAM S2 storage system is used. It includes 4 drive enclosures, 3 of them
300 GB virtual hard disk equipped with 24 2.5 10K SAS 300 GB hard disks each, and one
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition equipped with 9 of these hard disks, representing a total of 81 hard
disks. For the network connection, 2 interface cards with2 iSCSI ports
each supporting 1 Gbps are configured.

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White paper VDI Reference Architecture for Citrix XenDesktop and Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900

Fujitsu hardware requirements

1 Blade chassis including networking components: Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900 S1

1 S26361-K1245-V200 Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900 BX900 S1 system unit
6 S26113-F606-E200 Hot-plug, redundant
1 S26361-F3962-E500 Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900 management blade S1
2 S26361-K1304-V100 Interfaces: 36 internal (downlinks), 8 external (8 RJ45 GbE, 4 SFP GbE)
2 S26361-F2749-E1 Blades built-in

12 XenServer hosts for virtual desktops including HA: Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX922 S2
1 S26361-K1247-V200 Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX922 S2 dual server blade (Base unit)
1 S26361-F2749-E1 Blade installation in system unit
2 S26361-F4427-E266 Intel Xeon X5650 6C/12T 2.66 GHz 12 MB
4 S26361-F4412-E536 Memory 48GB 3x16 DDR3 1066 MHz PC3-8500 rg q
1 S26361-F3284-E2 Performance mode installation
2 S26361-F3599-E160 HDD SATA 3G 160GB 5.4K 2.5"
1 S26361-F4008-E1 Disk drive mounting kit
1 S26361-F3331-E1 Ethernet Mezzanine Card 1Gb 4 Port

2 XenServer infrastructure server including HA: Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX922 S2

1 S26361-K1247-V200 Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX922 S2 dual server blade (Base unit)
1 S26361-F2749-E1 Blade installation in system unit
2 S26361-F4507-E160 Intel Xeon E5649 6C/12T 2.53 GHz 12 MB
2 S26361-F4412-E535 Memory 24GB 3x8 DDR3 1333 MHz PC3-10600 rg d
1 S26361-F3284-E2 Performance mode installation
2 S26361-F3599-E160 HDD SATA 3G 160GB 5.4K 2.5"
1 S26361-F4008-E1 Disk drive mounting kit
1 S26361-F3331-E1 Ethernet Mezzanine Card 1Gb 4 Port

2 Provisioning Server: Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX920 S2

1 S26361-K1247-V200 Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX922 S2 dual server blade (Base unit)
1 S26361-F2749-E1 Blade installation in system unit
2 S26361-F4507-E160 Intel Xeon E5603 4C/4T 1.60 GHz 4 MB
2 S26361-F4412-E534 Memory 12GB 3x4 DDR31333 MHz PC3-10600 rg s/d
1 S26361-F3284-E2 Performance mode installation
2 S26361-F3599-E160 HDD SATA 3G 160GB 5.4K 2.5"
1 S26361-F4008-E1 Disk drive mounting kit

1 Online storage system: Fujitsu ETERNUS DX80 S2

1 FTS:ET082DCU Fujitsu ETERNUS DX80 S2 base unit 2.5 controller module x2, 1 drive enclosure
3 FTS:ETEAD2CU Fujitsu ETERNUS DX8090 S2 drive enclosure 2.5 IO module x2
81 FTS:ETED3HC DX8090 S2 HDD SAS 300G 10k 2.5 x1
2 FTS:ETEHL12 DX8090 S2 interface card iSCSI 2 port 1 Gbps

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White paper VDI Reference Architecture for Citrix XenDesktop and Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX900

Citrix software requirements

The desktop virtualization software required to deliver this solution is Citrix XenDesktop. XenDesktop licensing is very simple as a XenDesktop
license also includes all the infrastructure components that are required to provision and deliver the virtual desktops to the users.

You have the choice between user-based, device-based and concurrent user licenses.

For the reference architecture Citrix XenDesktop 5 Enterprise Edition was used as detailed below:

Citrix XenDesktop 5 licensing

1000 S26361-F2341-E925 Citrix XenDesktop 5 Enterprise Edition

Microsoft software requirements

In addition to the Fujitsu hardware and Citrix software, to deliver the desktop virtualization solution described within this document you also
need other server operating systems, desktop operating systems, and applications and the corresponding licenses.
The Microsoft licenses are detailed in the table below:

Microsoft licensing
12 S26361-F2567-E320 Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Enterprise Edition
1000 Microsoft VDA (Virtual Desktop Access) Subscription

Note: Microsoft has designed Windows Virtual Desktop Access (VDA) to enable organizations to license virtual copies of Windows client operating
systems in virtual environments. There are two distinct methods to this licensing model depending on whether you have Software Assurance in
place. The two models are:
VDA for Software Assurance (SA), which is free of charge
VDA, which is priced at $100 / device / year
For details regarding Microsoft licensing for desktop operating systems on virtual infrastructure, read the licensing FAQ
on: http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/enterprise/products-and-technologies/virtualization/vdi.aspx

It is important to know that VDA is mandatory for any virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) deployment that uses virtual copies of Windows,
regardless of the underlying infrastructure provider.

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References
The following documents were used for reference in creating this reference architecture:

Fujitsu BX900 Blade Server Chassis Data Sheet:

https://globalsp.ts.fujitsu.com/dmsp/docs/ds-py-bx900-s1.pdf

Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX922 S2 Data Sheet:

https://globalsp.ts.fujitsu.com/dmsp/docs/ds-py-bx922-s2.pdf

Fujitsu PRIMERGY BX Ethernet Switches Data Sheet

https://globalsp.ts.fujitsu.com/dmsp/docs/ds-py-bx900-cb-eth-switch-ibp-1gb-3682.pdf

For detailed information about configurations, architecture, and design recommendations

for delivering virtual desktops with XenDesktop, refers to:
http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/index.jsp?topic=/xendesktop-bdx/cds-admin-deploy-plan-wrapper-bdx.html

Microsoft Licensing for Desktop Operating Systems on Virtual Infrastructure:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/enterprise/products-and-technologies/virtualization/vdi.aspx

How to Configure Provisioning Services Page File with Write Cache on a Local Device Hard Disk:
http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX122141

For detailed information about configurations, architecture, and design recommendations for delivering virtual desktops with XenDesktop:
http://support.citrix.com/proddocs/index.jsp?topic=/xendesktop-bdx/cds-admin-deploy-plan-wrapper-bdx.html

Citrix XenServer Administration Guide:

http://support.citrix.com/article/CTX121745

Microsoft Windows 7 System Requirements:

http://windows.microsoft.com/systemrequirements

Fujitsu ETERNUS DX80 S2 Data Sheet:

https://globalsp.ts.fujitsu.com/dmsp/docs/ds-eternus-dx80s2-ww-en.pdf

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