Transforming Desktop : VMware View on the new IBM System x and BladeCenter eX5 Servers and IBM System Storage DS3500

July 2010 Table of Contents

Introduction: Extending Virtualization to the Desktop...... 3 The Typical Desktop Environment: Costly for IT, Frustrating for End Users...... 3 Building the Right Virtual Desktop Solution...... 4 End-to-End Desktop Virtualization That Delivers...... 5 VMware View...... 6 IBM System x and IBM BladeCenter eX5 Servers...... 6 IBM System Storage DS3500...... 7 VMware View and IBM System Storage DS3500: Transforming Desktop Management...... 7 Streamlined and Simplified Desktop Management...... 8 Continuous Availability and Reliability...... 8 Enhanced Performance...... 9 Effective Backup and Recovery...... 9 Improved Security and Compliance...... 9 Superior Desktop Experience...... 10 Lower Total Cost of Ownership...... 10 Conclusion...... 11

2 Introduction: Extending Virtualization to a powerful, smart, end-to-end virtualization solution. the Desktop With VMware View™ optimized with IBM System x® serv- ers, including the IBM eX5 models, and the IBM System Today, optimizing the IT infrastructure is imperative for Storage® DS3500 Express®, organizations can deliver an reducing costs while maintaining a nimble business en- efficient, cost-effective, secure virtual desktop environ- vironment day after day. To that end, many companies ment that is easy to deploy and manage. are leveraging consolidation and virtualization strate- gies to simplify IT—and deliver a dynamic IT environ- The Typical Desktop Environment: ment. Consolidation helps organizations reduce server Costly for IT, Frustrating for End Users sprawl, simplify administration, increase availability, and cut the costs of administrative resources, cooling and Companies depend on desktops to meet line-of-busi- power requirements, and more. Server virtualization ness and enterprise-wide goals. They deploy critical enables businesses to better utilize system resources, software and systems and vast amounts of data that quickly deploy applications across the network, and enable productive staff and efficient operations, and enhance business continuity. especially business growth. To meet individual and busi- ness needs, IT organizations devote significant time and So where do other opportunities for operational resources to installing, managing, and supporting sepa- improvement exist, that expand the benefits offered rate PC workstations across the enterprise. Yet for all of by consolidation and virtualization? One significant the efforts of desktop managers, desktop environments and emerging area is in managing desktops across the continue to fall short in meeting operational, budgetary, organization. These desktops, whether onsite or remote, and security requirements. Organizations and IT teams deliver critical applications and important business struggle with: data to end users all day long. Yet installing and main- taining these separate PC workstations—comprising • Desktop management complexity hardware, operating system, applications, user profile, Managing individual desktops at the physical and data—can steadily drain IT resources and budgets. desktop site places enormous pressure on IT staffs. Additionally, each desktop presents unique security and Provisioning new desktops and resolving desktop compliance risks, which can create ongoing challenges issues requires allocating resources to individual us- for IT teams. Companies can greatly simplify desktop ers. PC software updates and patch installations are management, improve security, reduce costs, and offer inconsistent when users mismanage their desktop a superior end-user experience by delivering desktops environments, such as disregarding instructions as a managed service through virtualization. about updates or patches. In addition, increasing numbers of remote and mobile users, as well as With desktop virtualization, system administrators can employee-owned computers, make desktop man- host and centrally manage desktop virtual machines agement increasingly complex, and securing the and their applications in the , and securely desktop virtually impossible. deliver them to local and remote clients, online and of- fline. IBM® and VMware® make the transition to desktop • Costly desktop maintenance and support virtualization easy to achieve and easy to manage with The typical desktop environment, with massive

3 hardware and software management require- not always deliver. Network connections fluctuate, ments, generates excessive costs for organizations, diverse hardware and software configurations can especially those with remote offices. Sourcing IT create unreliable desktop operations and mediocre staff to an end-user’s computer to troubleshoot and desktop displays, desktop problems go unresolved remedy problems impacts IT budgets and end-user as IT resources are stretched, and so on. Delivering productivity. Continued efforts to improve desktop a quality desktop experience is especially tough to offerings and the end-user experience, while adapt- achieve for branch offices, outsourced or offshore ing to changing business environments by offering sites, partners, vendors, home offices, and new and improved tools, require costly IT deploy- remote workers. ment and management time. Also, PC hardware has a limited lifecycle, adding to the cost of maintaining To address these and other desktop challenges, more and the distributed desktop environment. more companies are turning to desktop virtualization. They are finding that they can significantly improve busi- • Demanding security and compliance ness and IT operations, reduce costs, and provide end us- With distributed physical desktops, securing critical ers with a more powerful, flexible desktop environment. business data and maintaining compliant opera- tions is costly and complex, and often not possible. Building the Right Virtual Desktop Solution Users regularly download and install personal soft- ware applications, creating new risks and IT resource With desktop virtualization, companies can eliminate demands. With these new programs on distributed the inefficiencies and reduce the costs associated with physical desktops, malware can interfere with ap- the typical desktop environment, including the desk- plications, IT troubleshooting grows increasingly top infrastructure, administration, and PC hardware complex, and software licensing issues arise. lifecycles. They can also respond more quickly to their diverse business needs through simplified application • Desktop disasters deployment and management. Desktop virtualization Companies typically have extensive backup, allows organizations to manage desktops centrally from recovery, and disaster preparedness plans in place the data center rather than on distributed PC hardware, to protect data on servers and dedicated storage improving IT control, information security and compli- devices. However, these same companies fail to ance. Users access their virtual desktops via re-purposed routinely backup the data and applications on PCs or cost-effective thin clients. Data remains safe in desktops. Then, when desktop disasters occur, users the data center. are unable to do their jobs and IT teams may or may not be able to successfully recover locally stored To fully benefit from desktop virtualization, organiza- data and settings. tions must build a desktop infrastructure that is secure, simple to manage, and enhances the productivity of • Challenging desktop quality control both IT and desktop staff and end users. They also need Desktop users expect a personalized, flexible, a reliable common management interface and desktop sophisticated, uninterrupted desktop experience. virtualization software. Servers and storage are essential Unfortunately, today’s desktop environments do components of the virtual desktop environment, be-

4 cause system administrators host and centrally manage tualization platform provides the most scalable, desktop virtual machines from the data center. How- efficient and highly reliable platform to host virtual ever, desktop virtualization poses unique challenges for desktops in the data center. Leverage industry the server and storage components, which companies leading high availability, fault tolerance and scal- must consider when determining the cost, overall flex- ability to ensure delivery of critical desktop services. ibility, and availability of the complete desktop virtual- ization solution. With desktops running from the data • VMware View Manager – Provides automated center, highly available, flexible, and secure servers and desktop and application management capabili- storage are crucial. Therefore, companies choosing to ties through a single management console. Easily leverage the benefits of a virtual desktop environment provision thousands of users or set policies in just must carefully weigh all of their options in each part of a few clicks. Streamline image management with an end-to-end solution. View Composer and decrease virtual desktop stor- age requirements while simplifying deployment and End-to-End Desktop Virtualization patches. Centrally deliver, manage and support virtual That Delivers desktops to reduce operational costs by up to 50%.

Together, IBM and VMware offer a robust, end-to-end • VMware ThinApp – Streamline application man- desktop virtualization solution that greatly improves agement through virtualization. ThinApp isolates desktop management while delivering a superior and encapsulates the application to increase com- desktop experience to end users. The solution is based patibility, decrease conflict and further streamline on VMware View desktop virtualization software, which image management. Once packaged, applications creates the virtual user environment. The VMware soft- can be deployed locally or streamed to virtual ware enables organizations to harness the power of IBM desktops. Applications are managed and deployed BladeCenter® and System x servers, especially the new centrally, ensuring that all users desktops are up-to- IBM eX5 servers (System x3690 X5, x3850 X5, x3950 X5, date with the latest application versions. and BladeCenter HX5) and IBM System Storage DS3500, to improve manageability and control. These IBM server • VMware View Client – Users get flexible and secure and storage components deliver low TCO and optimize access to virtual desktops by using the VMware the VMware View capabilities. The combined solution, View Client on a traditional thick or . VM- scalable for companies of all sizes, provides the afford- ware View with PCoIP delivers a network adaptive ability, flexibility, performance, and security needed display protocol to deliver an optimized end user to fully realize the business, IT, and user benefits that experience. desktop virtualization has to offer. • IBM System x and BladeCenter Servers – Virtual The IBM desktop virtualization offering with VMware desktops are hosted on these proven IBM serv- View includes the following software, systems and man- ers, offering enhanced server manageability and agement components: reliability. IBM’s servers—featuring the IBM eX5 systems and their game-changing x86 server • VMware vSphere™ – This industry-leading vir- architecture—provide best-in-class server platforms

5 for virtualization deployments. IBM eX5 platforms any user, anywhere. Unlike other desktop virtualization scale to support large numbers of virtual clients products, VMware View tightly integrates with the lead- per server to help maximize savings and deliver a ing virtualization platform for an end-to-end solution significant return on investment. that allows customers to extend powerful business continuity, disaster recovery and delivery features • IBM System Storage DS3500 – With its simple, effi- to their desktop infrastructure and standardize on a cient, and flexible approach to storage, the DS3500 common platform from the desktop to the datacenter is a cost-effective, fully integrated complement to to the cloud. IBM System x and BladeCenter servers. It is ideally

suited for consolidation and virtualization imple- CENTRALIZED VIRTUAL DESKTOPS mentations, with its balanced performance, low VMWARE total cost of ownership, and unparalleled configura- INFRASTRUCTURE 3 tion capability.

• IBM Systems Director and IBM Virtualization

Manager™ – These applications help IT teams man- VMWARE VIEW MANAGER age the physical and virtual resources from a single point of management.

MICROSOFT ACTIVE VMWARE DIRECTORY • Client Devices – For a complete list of supported vCENTER SERVER CLIENTS client devices, visit www..com/resources/ techresources/1053. Figure 1. VMware View VMware View The VMware View portfolio of products allows compa- IBM System x and IBM BladeCenter Servers nies to start delivering desktops as a mission critical IBM has a history of making business-critical applica- service. VMware View, shown in Figure 1, offers a univer- tions work effectively on virtualized infrastructures. sal client interface and a highly secure and manageable The new IBM System eX5 portfolio, shown in Figure desktop infrastructure. IT teams run centrally provision 3, optimizes VMware View and VMware vSphere, and and manage virtual desktops in the data center and helps to manage complexity and risk in a virtualization deliver a rich, personalized virtual desktop to any user environment. These new IBM eX5 servers offer flexible across a variety of devices. configurations equipped with unprecedented memory scalability and capacity, high-speed I/O and industry- VMware View is the only tightly integrated, purpose leading availability and reliability features. The innova- built solution transforming application and desktop tive IBM eX5 portfolio, integrated with IBM middleware, management while enabling unprecedented flexibility enables a highly virtualized environment that offers for users. Centrally managing the operating system, users a flexible, scalable system that can reduce the user data and applications to reduce costs and improve number of servers needed by half, while cutting storage security while increasing availability and flexibility to costs and licensing fees.

6 IBM System x and BladeCenter servers increase server new standard in the market. The new IBM System Stor- utilization, help reduce operating costs, decrease data age DS3500, shown in Figure 3, continues the high- center floor space, power, and cooling needs, simplify value tradition set by the DS5000 series and fills out the management, and keep the virtualized infrastructure up portfolio offering by combining best-of-breed architec- and running. With unprecedented memory capacity, no ture with leading 6 Gbps SAS, 8 Gbps Fiber Channel, or longer is memory footprint a concern when maximizing 1Gbps iSCSI host interface and SAS 2.0 drive technology. the number of virtual clients per server. IBM eX5 servers The DS3500 systems deliver excellent performance increase user density while reducing the overall cost and scalability at entry-level prices. SAS 2.0 technology per user. Within this portfolio, companies can choose a delivers lower cost drives as well as lower power con- “scale-up” or “scale-out” strategy that will match their sumption using the newly available 24-drive enclosures. needs for growth and expansion. For example, daisy- With support up to 96 drives, scalability has doubled chaining two x3690 X5 rack-mounted chassis together from the previous-generation systems. By dynamically scales the server from two sockets to four, 512GB of adding drive enclosures with virtually no downtime, you memory to 1TB, and four PCIe slots to eight. If that’s can quickly and seamlessly respond to growing capacity not enough, a 1U MAX5 memory expansion unit can be demands. Data consolidation and virtualization capa- added to each chassis, for a total of 2GB of high-perfor- bilities enhance data availability and efficiencies across mance DDR3 memory. (Or add one MAX5 unit to one the organization, with additional efficiencies offered by chassis, for a 2-socket server with 1TB of RAM, if your its ease of use. needs are more for memory than processors.) Similarly, the 4-socket, 7-I/O slot, 1TB x3850 X5 and x3950 X5 The DS3500 offers investment protection from cost- servers can be scaled to 8 sockets, 14 slots, and 2TB of effective, reliable disaster recovery via remote mirror- memory. Adding two MAX5 units brings the total to ing using Fibre Channel. Mixed-host interfaces enable 3TB. If your needs run to blade servers, the BladeCenter concurrent host interface connections for both DAS and HX5 has the same sort of scalability, up to 4-sockets, 4 SAN implementations, for reduced overall operation I/O slots, and 640GB of memory, using two blade servers and acquisition costs. DS3500 efficiencies help reduce and two MAX5 blades. annual energy expenditures and the environmental footprint.

Figure 3. IBM System Storage DS3500

Figure 2. IBM System x and IBM BladeCenter eX5 Servers VMware View and IBM System Storage IBM System Storage DS3500 DS3500: Transforming Desktop The IBM System Storage DS5000 series have been an Management excellent choice for mid-range VMware installations for over a year. With their tremendous price to perfor- With desktop virtualization, companies are improving mance ratio and proven mixed workload performance the way they manage their desktops. By replacing tra- and five 9’s reliability the DS5000 systems have set a ditional PCs with centralized virtual desktops, organiza-

7 tions can eliminate some of the common challenges technology lets IT staff leverage the “sandbox” capabili- of managing traditional desktop computers. However, ties of a that is fully contained and iso- using VMware View to enable virtual desktops, and lated from the host operating system. Because desktops hosting them on System x and BladeCenter servers and are centrally managed in a secure data center, IT staff storing them on IBM System Storage DS3500, compa- can more easily apply patches, such as virus scanning nies can transform their desktop environments and software and other standard security updates. Adminis- how they manage them. With this end-to-end desktop trators can quickly lock down access to various network virtualization solution, organizations can significantly drives or shut off users instantly when they leave the reduce complexity, inefficiency, unplanned down- company. They can also modify memory, process, and time, large-scale provisioning, extensive management disk resources on a virtual machine with little or no requirements, security and compliance risks, data loss, interruption to a user’s workday. The IT staff can con- and growing costs. veniently manage and maintain a superior user experi- ence, which is difficult with physical desktop machines.

The combined solution also simplifies remote manage- ment. VMware View delivers consistent and scalable IT services that address the issues remote sites face, such as management complexity, inadequate infrastructure, and lack of administrative resources. Together with IBM systems management and remote diagnostics, the VM- ware and IBM solution enhances remote management for system administrators. Streamlined and Simplified Desktop Management The integrated VMware and IBM desktop virtualization The IBM System Storage DS3500 is easy to manage, solution empowers administrators to easily manage with policy-based automation built into its intuitive and desktops, because they are running in the data center powerful storage management software. IBM System rather than in many locations across the organization. Storage DS Storage Manager provides a simple storage With IBM Systems Director and VMware View, adminis- management interface, giving storage administrators trators can configure, deploy, and maintain both physi- complete control and flexibility. Administrators can cal servers and desktop virtual machines from a central make configuration changes on the fly with no down- location, for simplified management. Desktop deploy- time, enabling optimal storage utilization with the least ment time is typically reduced to minutes, optimizing amount of effort. And, with the new VMware vCenter™ the value of IT resources and increasing end-user pro- plug-in for DS3500, administrators can use vCenter for ductivity. Likewise, the IBM System Storage DS3500 of- storage configuration, host HBA discovery, and more. fers management simplicity without sacrificing control. Continuous Availability and Reliability The flexible, intuitive VMware View Manager allows IT In a centralized desktop storage environment, hun- administrators to quickly provision and tightly control dreds or even thousands of users depend on the virtual user access. IBM and VMware desktop virtualization desktop infrastructure for their daily computing needs.

8 However, a system outage can affect user productivity workloads, with the eX5 architecture particularly across the organization. VMware provides robust tools designed for virtualization. IBM eX5 systems allow to maintain availability, while IBM delivers enterprise- companies to virtualize enterprise applications, includ- class reliability and availability features to enable ing ERP and databases, leveraging the large memory optimal performance for virtualized environments. The footprint to improve application performance. IBM integrated solution extends VMware vSphere, VMware eX5, together with VMware vSphere, delivers greater View, and IBM System x and IBM BladeCenter hardware server utilization, higher consolidation ratios, simplified to the desktop, so customers can benefit from reliability, deployment, and lower IT costs, for higher application data protection, and disaster recovery traditionally avail- density and optimized performance value. able only for server applications. IBM System Storage DS3500,with multiple high availability features, offers Effective Backup and Recovery enhanced reliability for virtual desktop environments, VMware View extends virtual infrastructure capabilities and supports business-critical applications for uninter- to the desktop for improved backup, failover, and disas- rupted operations, allowing users to remain productive. ter recovery capabilities. The DS3500, with the ability to mirror data to DS4000 / DS5000 systems using Fibre Enhanced Performance Channel, offers reliable business continuity and disaster The IBM DS3500 with its balanced performance and recovery in support of business continuity plans, there- industry-leading response times is well-suited for con- by minimizing risk and maximizing ROI. In conjunction solidation and virtualization environments with diverse with VMware Site Recovery Manager, the DS3500 offers workloads and application requirements. Response automatic failover, for highly effective and affordable times are critical when supporting a desktop environ- disaster recovery. ment such as VMware View—the number of desktops that can be supported is directly related to the storage Improved Security and Compliance system response times. And with support for high- With an integrated IBM and VMware View solution, performance SAS, nearline SAS and self-encrypting controlling access to confidential data is easier and disks (SEDs), the DS3500 can cost-effectively support an more reliable. Because all data is maintained within the organization’s complete range of data capacity require- corporate firewall, VMware View minimizes risk and data ments. It delivers superior price-to-performance ratios, loss. Storing data on System x and BladeCenter servers with increased performance offered via 6Gbps SAS and managing them in the data center significantly re- technology and efficient controller architecture. The duces the security and compliance risks associated with IBM System Storage DS3500 controllers, with industry- having huge amounts of data residing on PCs. Vulnera- leading IOPS and throughput, provide balanced and bilities inherent in the distributed desktop environment sustainable performance. With up to 4,000 MB/s and from USB, DVD, and CDR drives, for instance, can be 40,000 IOPs in sustained drive reads, the DS3500 deliv- reduced or eliminated. The IBM DS3500 supports self- ers scalable throughput to bandwidth-intensive applica- encrypting disks (SEDs) which secures data-at-rest. This tions and IOPs to databases and Microsoft Exchange provides data security throughout the life of the drive, environments. without sacrificing storage system performance or ease of use. This comprehensive data security stems from a IBM eX5 systems are designed for today’s demanding combination of local key management and drive-level

9 encryption. Additionally, with the enhanced information which can stall a virtual desktop project altogether. security provided by this integrated desktop virtualiza- Once the data is migrated, it is often stored inefficiently tion solution, organizations can easily meet and main- within the central data storage system. For example, tain corporate standards and regulatory requirements. the same operating system and office-productivity applications are stored redundantly in each individual Superior Desktop Experience virtual machine. In addition, files such as documents, VMware View offers end users a complete virtual desktop presentations, and spreadsheets are frequently shared that behaves like a normal desktop computer. Applica- among users and stored locally, creating additional data tions and the desktop environment continue to function redundancy for the storage data center. Finally, most as before, with no application sharing and no retraining storage systems do not have the ability to load-balance requirements. Administrators can provide end users with capacity resources, so organizations cannot use excess the ability to install applications, access local devices capacity in a typical storage volume for other storage such as printers, USB devices, and other peripherals, cus- needs. This limits storage utilization levels and increases tomize their desktop environments to suit their needs, storage costs. and access the desktop locally or remotely. Administra- tors can also provision desktops with greater restrictions, The combined IBM/VMware View solution, because it which revert to a known consistent state upon logoff. enables virtual desktops that run on IBM System x and BladeCenter servers in the data center, delivers lower VMware View’s PCoIP display protocol, specifically built TCO in several ways. The overall solution reduces day- for delivering virtual desktops over the WAN or LAN, to-day costs for managing desktop environments by provides a superior end-user experience, whether play- simplifying user hardware and reducing the technical ing rich media content or accessing locally attached requirements for each desktop device. Also, because the mass storage. Also, with the combined IBM and VMware solution is highly scalable, organizations can invest in View solution delivered from the data center, users their new desktop virtualization environment according receive exceptional support, because helpdesk techni- to their changing business requirements and growth. cians can perform tasks within the data center that would normally require an in-person visit. VMware View helps lower the cost of operating corpo- rate desktops by streamlining administration, reduc- Lower Total Cost of Ownership ing desktop maintenance and support requirements, Desktop virtualization can greatly reduce the cost of and extending the useful life of desktop hardware. It deploying and maintaining a desktop environment. also provides de-duplication capabilities typically only However, numerous factors within a virtual desktop available through the storage component. And with the environment affect the cost of the solution. Data center efficiencies of consolidation, the IBM System Storage storage can be especially expensive, and can cost as DS3500 also contributes to overall lower TCO. much as five times per GB as PC storage. Networked storage costs can also be prohibitive to implementing The huge memory capacity of the IBM eX5 improves a virtual desktop environment. Also, companies often consolidation, increases server utilization on virtual overlook the cost of migrating data currently stored desktop deployments, reduces energy consumption, on inexpensive PC drives to data-center-class storage, and decreases the overall hardware cost. The efficiency

10 and reduced footprint of the IBM System x and Blade- ment, continuous availability and reliability, increased Center servers help reduce power and cooling costs performance, flexibility and agility, improved security in the data center. The DS3500 offers power-saving and compliance, a familiar desktop experience, and features that do not impact performance, scalability, or lower TCO. functionality. Features such as power supplies designed to meet multiple power efficiency standards, low heat For more information: dissipation, and energy-efficient 2.5-inch form-factor • VMware and IBM solutions: SAS drives offer ongoing cost savings. vmware.com/go/ibm • IBM virtualization: Conclusion ibm.com/virtualization/vmware • IBM System Storage DS3500: Companies depend on desktop applications for a wide ibm.com/systems/storage/disk/ds3500/ variety of daily business functions. Users regularly ac- • IBM BladeCenter: cess important and often sensitive information assets ibm.com/systems/bladecenter/ on a range of local and remote equipment, including • IBM System x: desktop computers, laptops, and unmanaged personal ibm.com/systems/x/ computers. As the complexity of the desktop environ- • IBM Systems Management: ment increases, IT teams and corporate budgets strug- ibm.com/systems/management/ gle to keep up. Today’s smart businesses are searching for smarter systems that will allow them to simplify. Because organizations face difficulties in supporting VMware, Inc. 3401 Hillview Ave Palo Alto CA 94304 USA end users in a consistent and efficient manner while Tel 877-486-9273 Fax 650-427-5001 www.vmware.com protecting valuable data and controlling costs, many are choosing to transition to a virtual desktop environment Copyright © 2010 VMware, Inc. All rights reserved.

and deliver desktops as a managed service. This product is protected by U.S. and international copyright and intellectual property laws. VMware products are covered VMware and IBM provide the critical components of by one or more patents listed at http://www.vmware.com/go/ patents. an affordable, comprehensive virtual desktop deploy- ment, standardized on the leading desktop virtualiza- VMware ,VMware View, vCenter, vMotion, and vSphere are tion platform. VMware View delivers rich, personalized a registered trademark or trademark of VMware, Inc. in the United States and/or other jurisdictions. virtual desktops to any device with all the benefits of centralized management. The new IBM eX5 family of IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, BladeCenter, System Stoage, servers and IBM System Storage DS3500 provide the System x, and Virtualization Manager are trademarks of the International Business Machines Corporation in the United memory, storage and delivery capacity needed to fully States and/or other countries. For a complete list of support the VMware portfolio and optimize the virtual IBM trademarks, please see ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml. desktop environment. With this end-to-end desktop All other marks and names mentioned herein may be virtualization solution, companies can benefit from a trademarks of their respective companies. best-in-class, optimized virtual desktop environment— featuring streamlined and efficient desktop manage-

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