Ssd on myvirtualcloud.net

Samsung disrupts VDI and DaaS architecture models

Mon, 29 Jul 2013 09:00:16 +0000

It is just amazing when a new technology comes together to disrupt deployment and architecture models. I have previously stated that I am a supporter of persistent desktops, just because it is easier to manage, admins can use the tools they are familiar with, and make sense nowadays. Non-persistent desktops, linked clones, and alternative image and app management solutions are not a requirement for the vast majority of VDI and DaaS use-cases since now it is possible utilize fully provisioned persistent clones without the capacity and performance penalties due to the recent storage technology advancements. I recommend reading my article “Open letter to non-persistent VDI fanboys…”.

Should I use DRAM as storage for VDI deployments?

Mon, 17 Dec 2012 09:05:57 +0000

This is an interesting topic that I came across few times but more recently is finding its way into organizations due to lower SLC SSD acquisition cost. Let’s put the discussion in context…

Architects should embrace different deployment approaches that properly fit the intended use case. That’s a foundational design principle - use case always should drive the deployment model. The two most used pool management models for VDI are as follows.

VDI Architectures using Storage Class Memory

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 08:45:42 +0000

There are so many disruptive VMware technologies in the VDI space that sometimes is hard to keep up with them all. I am looking forward to few of them, such as the VMware Distributed Storage and Space-Efficient Sparse Virtual Disks.

At same pace the storage industry is being transformed and now most storage solutions on the market are leveraging the performance of flash memory in it’s many form factors. Some vendors have Solid State Drives, other PCIe card devices, and other vendors utilize the PCIe cards in their scale-out solutions – but at the end of the day they are all using flash memory.

Use Flash Drives (SSD) for Linked Clones, not Replicas

Wed, 30 Nov 2011 18:24:00 +0000

In my previous article EMC FAST Cache effectiveness with VDI I focused on FAST Cache benefits for VDI deployments. The tests I completed also generated a huge quantity of data that is tremendously valuable for better sizing of VDI environments.

I previously have discussed (here) how IOs suffer severe split between replica, linked clone and persistent disks. Depending on the storage tier serving the data it is possible to have different latencies for different parts of the Guest OS (Windows XP or Windows 7). However, in a linked clones environment the disks are interdependent at GuestOS layer, and a VMDK suffering from latency will also affect a different VMDK that is not suffering. Example: Replica disks that are backed by Flash Drive drives with Linked Clones that are backed by SATA drives.

How much are you paying for your fast local storage?

Mon, 06 Sep 2010 15:15:00 +0000

How much are you paying for your fast storage? Recently I have seen more and more people from the blogosphere talking about replacing plate spin hard drives with Solid State Drives (SSD) on laptops, desktops and even servers.

I have gone through the same path. My homelab run its system’s primary partition on a SSD Kingston 128GB SSDNow V+. The performance when loading Window or any other application installed on the SSD is really good – at least much better when compared to most plat spin hard drives.

My New Homelab

Mon, 16 Aug 2010 22:48:00 +0000

I have been aiming to buy a new homelab for a long time but my commitments with a new house didn’t let me afford the type of hardware I would like to buy. On the other hand I really needed some good equipment for my VCDX studies, Beta tests and simulations. So I went to the store with the shopping list in hand.

Expensive storage array not required for VDI?

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:19:00 +0000

Lately I have been questioning myself whether VDI really need expensive enterprise storage arrays (SAN) to run VDI environments. The points I raise here may not apply to all organizations but certainly there are aspects to be observed.

Assuming User Profiles are hosted in a file server, why couldn’t virtual desktops run from the server local storage?