SOLUTION PROFILE
m Virtualization Economics DISCOVER Innovate Reliab
nformation Global Change Intelligent Technology Se
ght Opportunity Social Infrastructure Integrate Ana
Maximize Performance and Ensure Zero Worry for Virtual
Desktop Infrastructure With Hitachi Storage and Software
Create Reliable, Consistent and Cost-Optimized
Solutions With VMware Horizon View and Hitachi
Virtual Storage Platform Family
Overview
If your organization is operating virtual desktop
infrastructure (VDI), your virtual desktop users have no
doubt encountered slowdowns due to performance
bottlenecks. But the solutions to address this issue can
be daunting as you try to ensure return on investment
(ROI) and manage complexities. Hitachi Data Systems
and VMware provide the solution you need in an easyto-use solution. Together, VMware Horizon View with
Hitachi Dynamic Tiering (HDT) and Hitachi Virtual
Storage Platform (VSP) family systems help you deliver
VDI that streamlines end-user device management,
augments IT security and accelerates application
deployment and updates. It provides end-user secure
access to applications and data from across access
devices, ensuring user mobility and flexibility.
Performance Bottlenecks
There are three major inhibitors to the adoption of VDI
solutions: performance bottlenecks, ROI uncertainty,
and management complexity and availability.
Degraded performance during peak usage hours
means inconsistent experience for end users, who
expect the VDI experience to be at least as good as
with a physical desktop. User satisfaction is a critical
component in determining the success and viability
of any VDI project. Poor end-user experience undermines the foundation of VDI projects as demand for
persistent desktops increases, negatively impacting
project ROI.
ROI Uncertainty
Centralized storage systems are a crucial component in
virtual desktop infrastructure setups and figure among
the largest expense items in VDI installations. Many VDI
projects are shelved due to acquisition and ongoing
operational costs of storage systems required to host
golden images for nonpersistent desktops and user data,
as well as support all user operations in the network. The
introduction of all-flash storage systems to support performance I/Os can significantly increase storage costs,
therefore, threatening the viability of VDI proposals.
SOLUTION PROFILE
Management Complexity and Availability
Back-end IT infrastructure is the bedrock
of successful VDI projects as any outage
in storage systems can render thousands
of end users unable to perform the functions crucial to business operations. A
highly available storage system is needed
to eliminate the risk of a single point of
failure causing downtime to your entire VDI
environment.
performance impacts during boot storms
and login storms (see Figure 2). HDT
active flash aligns storage infrastructure
with business realities, providing a solution
that automatically responds to end-user
activities in hybrid storage environments.
The Solution
Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform family
systems provide a cost-optimized solution
to deliver performance for peak demand
and a steady state in VDI environments
(see Figure 1). Hitachi Dynamic Tiering with
active flash allows deployment of VMware
Horizon View on a hybrid storage system.
And Horizon View delivers virtualized or
remote desktops and applications through
a single VDI platform, supporting end
users with access to all of their desktops
and applications through a single unified
workspace.
Seamless End-User Experience
Hitachi Dynamic Tiering, with its active-flash
feature, automatically optimizes performance in VDI environments. It promotes
the most active data to Tier 0 storage
and shields users from experiencing
Figure 1. VSP Family Benefits
Figure 2. HDT promotes the most active data to Tier 0.
Organizations can also benefit from the
Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform F series
all-flash solution for persistent-desktop VDI
environments, for scenarios requiring enormous I/Os for boot, login, user data push
and user collaboration.
3
Figure 3. Tier 0 Hitachi Accelerated Flash provides an order of magnitude higher performance than commercially available flash, to meet I/O peaks.
Lower Cost per Desktop
The HDT active-flash feature allows you to
deploy Horizon View on a hybrid storage
system for less than an all-flash system,
especially in larger VDI environments with
thousands of seats, where savings are amplified. This is because HDT active flash uses
lower-cost magnetic drives for steady-state
data. It delivers consistently high performance to ride out I/O spikes during boot
storm, login storm and antivirus scans and
demotes inactive data to be stored on the
lowest tier available (see Figure 3).
Zero Downtime
Legendary Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform
G series systems are designed to provide
continuous data access with a unique 100%
data availability guarantee. Redundant component architecture protects you from any
risk of a single point of failure. Moreover,
global-active device functionality of VSP
G series systems delivers highest disaster
avoidance and resilience with an active-active stretched storage cluster architecture
that allows zero recovery point and recovery
time objectives (RPOs and RTOs). You can
perform maintenance, software upgrades or
patching without disrupting user access
to application or data.
Scale to Support Business Growth
You can begin small and add desktops
as business grows. The VSP G family
systems scale from 1TB to 8TB storage
capacity, allowing you to quickly add
users to meet dynamic business needs.
Hitachi Storage Virtualization Operating
System (SVOS) allows you to maximize
resource utilization. Use SVOS to virtualize older, non-Hitachi systems using VSP
G series systems to manage your entire
VDI storage environment from a userfriendly, unified console.
Simplified Administration
Hitachi technologies provide deep integration with VMware hypervisor, cloud
and Horizon View management platforms,
putting you in control of applications, user
data and underlying IT infrastructure. Native
VMware vStorage API for Array Integration
(VAAI) compatibility allows you to leverage Hitachi storage capabilities from your
familiar VMware vCenter management console, and you can orchestrate VDI virtual
machine (VM) provisioning using VMware
vRealize Orchestrator. HDT active flash
simplifies storage management, to handle
boot and login storms, for both VM administrators and storage administrators.
The Hitachi solution was able to meet all our needs for the
VDI project as well as the larger vision for centralized storage
and disaster recovery. We wanted the potential for data center
consolidation, the ability to reduce management tools, and
a way to seriously uncomplicate the
Wes Wright
Vice President and CTO
storage environment. Seattle Children’s Hospital
SOLUTION PROFILE
Mixed Workloads
Hitachi storage systems provide the ability
to run Horizon View workloads along with
other business applications and database
workloads without any impact to enduser experience, providing future-proof
investment.
Native Integration With Virtual Volumes
(VVol)
As a strategic VMware partner, Hitachi is
among the first storage partners to provide
native VVol support on its block and file systems. Its VSP F series systems are the first
all-flash arrays to provide VVol integration
(see Figure 4). You now have the ability to
offload VM cloning to the storage system
for efficient and better performance cloning
operations. vSphere admins can granularly
define quality of service (QoS) per VMs and,
accordingly, automatically assign storage
resources through Hitachi’s rich policybased management engine.
Corporate Headquarters
2845 Lafayette Street
Santa Clara, CA 95050-2639 USA
www.HDS.com community.HDS.com
Hitachi Virtual Storage
Platform family systems
provide a cost-optimized
solution to deliver
performance for peak
demand and a steady state
in VDI environments.
Next Steps
To learn more about VDI solutions, visit
www.hds.com/solutions/virtualization/
vmware-vsphere/desktop-virtualization.
html or contact your Hitachi Data Systems
representative.
Figure 4. VSP F series systems are the first allflash systems to provide VVol integration.
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SP-213-A DG January 2016