virtual desktops…made simple an introduction to cisco solution for citrix vdi-in-a-box

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 1© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 1

Jay Chokshi

Virtual Desktops…made Simple

An introduction to Cisco Solution for Citrix VDI-in-a-Box

Co-sponsored by Intel®

© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 2

Agenda

• Challenges

• Solution Overview

• Benefits

• Use Cases

• Summary

2


“To remain competitive, our

employees have to be agile and

so does their technology. I need

to upgrade the OS and

applications for hundreds of

devices as well as reduce IT

capital and operating expense”

“I want to be able to connect my

own devices to my company’s

network and get access to

company applications – anytime,

anywhere.”

“I want to simplify our IT

infrastructure so I can work on

strategic business objectives.”

Customers Are Asking For More Flexibility, More Security, and More Efficiency

Business User CIO IT Staff

BYOD Control Costs Simplify Technology

3


IT organizations need to do more with less

Demands on IT growingUser demand for mobile devices and BYODExpensive 3-5 year desktop refresh cyclesExpensive Windows upgradesExpensive on-going branch office desktop and

infrastructure maintenance

Funds in ever shorter supply• Repeated budget cuts• Future budgets uncertain• Changing priorities• Limited number of IT staff

4


• Secure, reliable desktop access for all users

• Minimal number of components to manage

Desktops, servers, networking equipment

• Support for any device the user needs/wants

• Excellent performance, better than or equal to what they have today

• Deployed and managed by local IT generalist staff (Windows skills)

• No more effort to maintain than PCs

Branches Need…

5


Typical PC

6

Applications

Data & User Settings

Operating System

Affordable acquisition cost Very costly to manage Manage each end-point Security risks


Applications


Operating System

VDI is a Desktop Delivery Model

7

Applications


Operating System

Centralized, efficient management

Increased security Any device access Affordable? Depends


• Traditional Enterprise VDI…

Expensive add-on to server virtualization investment

Designed for Enterprise datacenters

Lots of expensive components

Requires a SAN and SQL databases for High Availability

Needs more than generalist IT skills

Overkill for number of users in Branch

…not typically suited to Branches

Barriers: Cost & Complexity


Branch Office Infrastructure Footprint Must Be Minimized to Overcome Cost, Staff, Administration, and Complexity Issues

Complex and Hardwired Architecture With Overlay Appliances

Infrastructure is Inflexible and CostlyHardware Lock-in - Barrier to Borderless Services

9


Built-in Citrix HDX Technologies

Cisco Solution for Citrix VDI-in-a-Box

Easy, all-in-one VDI

Cisco and Citrix are teaming up to deliver a fully validated solution

Enterprise Branch and SMB focus

Perfect for education, retail, financial services, healthcare, real estate, manufacturing and the public sector

Simple to buy, configure and manage

VDI-in-a-Box

vdiManager

Logical Shared Storage

UserManagement

Dynamic DesktopProvisioning & Management

Template Management

High-Availability Grid Engine

ConnectionBroker

LoadBalancer

Hypervisor

10

VirtualDesktop

VirtualDesktop

VirtualDesktop

VirtualDesktop

VirtualDesktop


VDI-in-a-Box Grid

• Patent-pending Grid architecture

Servers connected by an IP network

Looks like one logical server

Increase/decrease routers and servers on-demand

Provides built-in high-availability & scalability

• High-Availability

N+1 model – just add one more router or server

No need for a SAN, Windows servers, SQL databases or DBAs

• Scalability

Just add more router, blades or servers to the grid

No need re-architect the solution

Certified to scale up to 2,000 concurrent users

High-Availability & Scalability

325 virtual desktop Gridwith High Availability

XP

25 virtual desktopsCisco ISG G2 router-1

High-Availability25 virtual desktopsCisco ISG R2 router-2

125 virtual desktopsCisco UCS C260 M2 server-3



11

With Intel® Xeon® processor


VDI-in-a-Box Grid

XP

Grid acts as a single entity serving up desktops

12


• Doesn’t need:

A SAN – uses local storage

Can be used with SAN

Clustered SQL databases

Windows servers

Hi-speed interconnects

Microsoft Active Directory

Specialized skills

DBAs, virtualization, networking

• Included with license at no additional charge:

Built-in high-availability

Built-in scalability

Built-in HDX technologies

Built-in load balancing

Built-in Personal Virtual Desktops

Built-in central management console

Citrix XenServer hypervisor

Citrix User Profile Management

Citrix Receiver universal client

Citrix NetScaler VPX

Citrix StoreFront

Google Earth optimizations

Citrix VDI-in-a-Box…


• Secure virtual desktops, local or remote

• One-box solution for all branch IT needs

• Recovery in case of WAN failure: local operation on the router

• Easily managed by local IT generalist / Windows admin

• Provides secure access from any device

• Simple, inexpensive high-availability

• Easy to scale

14

Benefits in the Branch


Cisco UCS E-Series Double Wide BladeCompact, Multipurpose Blade Housed in ISR G2

Up to 3 SATA, SAS, SSD Hard Drives or 2 HDD and a PCIe Card

Out-of-Band Configuration and Management Through CIMC

Intel Xeon E5-2400 Quad Core or Six-Core Processor

On-Board Hardware RAID 0, 1, and 5 Configuration �Options with Hot-Swap Capability

Two External and Two Internal GE Ports with TCP/IP Acceleration

Front-Panel VGA, 2 USB, and Serial Console Connectors

8 GB - 48 GB DRAM Options

Maximum 130 W Power Draw, 80 Percent Less than Server

Wire-Free, Plug-and-Play Modularity, Low Shipping Weight (7 lb / 3.2 kg)

Remote and Schedulable Power

Management

iSCSI Initiator Hardware Offload

Two SD Cards: One for the CIMC and Temporary Storage of OS and One for a

Blank Virtual Drive

15



Cisco ISR G2 as Blade Server EnclosureUse Slots on Most Widely Deployed Branch Device

All-in-One Device for Branch Services

Unified Communications

Virtual Desktops

Wireless LAN/WAN

Routing/Switching

WAN Optimization

Security

Direct UCS E -Series Blade-to-LAN Connectivity

Redundant PowerSupply Options

Long Service Life 2x Typical Blade System

Highly Secure Platform with Small Attack Surface

Two and Three RU Options

One, Two, and Four Blade Slots

Options

16With Intel® Xeon® processor


• Enables users to connect their own devices to the company network for secure access

• Drastically cuts costs by streamlining IT infrastructure

• Eases drain on IT support by simplifying technology

• Reduces the solution footprint to gain savings in real estate, cooling and power usage.

Cisco Solution for Citrix VDI-in-a-Box Benefits


• Branch solution for 3rd party consultants

• Can’t centralize

• A different kind of branch

Sample Use Cases


• Challenge

Providing secure, reliable desktop access for contractors and branches

• Solution: Cisco Solution for Citrix VDI-in-a-Box

Simplicity, reliable performance and cost-effectiveness

• Results & Benefits

Provides contractors with secure access to corporate apps

Replaces existing non-VDI solutions in satellite offices

Eliminates latency between geographically dispersed offices

Provides easy scalability using Cisco routers and servers

Easily maintained by local staff; backed up by headquarters IT

Branch solution for 3rd party consultants


• Challenge

Dozens of classroom sites with few, poor WAN links prevent centralized VDI solution

Mixed PC environment with on-going refresh requirements & limited budget

Need to run a full range of Windows® apps - from Office to AutoCAD

Limited IT resources (Windows generalists) - requires simple solution


Low cost and simple management

No SAN, SQL databases, DBA or virtualization experience required

Web-based management console

Designed for Windows admins/IT generalists


Eliminates PC refreshes, and runs all required apps easily

Simple enough for instructors to manage and maintain in each of the sites

Complete system price was < cost of PC refresh

Can’t centralize


• Challenge

“Pop-up” stores, mobile offices and disaster management

Virtual desktop solution for iPads and Androids and 3G/4G connections

Cannot be overhead intensive or require extensive management or IT resources

High Microsoft costs a concern

Alternative solutions require MSFT OS, Microsoft VDA, clustered SQL databases, DBA, etc.


Simplicity, standard support for any mobile device and cost-effectiveness


Quick and simple setup, on-demand

Doesn’t require a WAN to support the branch

Self-contained (servers, Wi-Fi router)

Entire system can be run by existing IT staff

Minimal MSFT costs (only requires VDA licenses)

A different kind of branch


• VDI-in-a-Box…

All-in-one virtual desktop solution

Easily deployed, managed and maintained by IT Windows generalists

Supports any end-user device

Fully supports any form of mobility or BYOD

Costs less than a PC refresh

• Cisco ISR G2 Router

Borderless Branch Office: Any Service, Anytime, in Any Branch Office

Simplifies branch office infrastructure

Supports all-in-one device consolidation

Provides lower TCO than alternatives

Application hosting platform for the lean branch office

Summary

22


Cisco and Citrix 2013 DirectionMobile workstyles

Optimized VDI for flexible, collaborative workspaces

What we can deliver now• Customized virtual desktops and apps for multiple

use cases

• Scalable, simplified, secure VDI infrastructure

• Validated end-to-end VDI solutions

Where we’re headed• Multi-tenant/multi-cloud scalability

• Branch deployment with centralized management

• Integrated solutions for next-generation BYOD

• Enhanced voice, video and collaboration

• Intelligent networks and application services

Cloud orchestration

Powering next-generation cloud services: open, scalable and elastic

What we can deliver now• Certified and supported Citrix CloudPlatform solution

on Cisco UCS

• Support for Cisco Nexus 1000 virtual switching in Citrix CloudPlatform

Where we’re headed• Validated and integrated cloud solutions for end-to-

end private, hybrid, and public clouds

• Desktop and application virtualization as a cloud service for private and public clouds (multi-tenant and multi-site)

• Next-generation open source hypervisor with virtual switching

• Easy, dynamic expansion of cloud resources with benefits of Cisco ONE

Cloud networking

Enable delivery of next-generation cloud networking services

What we can deliver now• Optimized, secure, efficient network to accelerate

adoption of desktop virtualization

• Aligned solutions for BYOD security and access

• Exceptional performance, reliability and security for rich end-user virtual experiences

Where we’re headed• Integration of Citrix load balancer and networking

technologies into Cisco solutions and appliances

• Integration of Citrix NetScaler into Cisco ONE networking strategy

• Integration of Cisco physical and virtual network management into Citrix cloud solutions

• Integration of Cisco virtual switching with Citrix hypervisor technology


© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 25© 2010 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Cisco Confidential 25

Thank You

Co-sponsored by Intel®

Intel, the Intel logo, Xeon, and Xeon Inside are trademarks or registered trademarks of Intel Corporation in the U.S. and/or other countries.

virtual desktops…made simple an introduction to cisco solution for citrix vdi-in-a-box

Technology

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reliable desktop access

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sql databases

secure access

citrix vdi

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