Cisco WAAS and Optimized WAN Delivery of Windows 7 Virtual Desktops with RDP 7.1/RemoteFX and RDP 7.0

Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) optimizes delivery of Microsoft® Windows 7 Virtual Desktops to Enterprise branch and campus locations

What You Will Learn

Cisco WAAS and Cisco WAAS Mobile with (RDS) and Hyper-V provide a scalable and comprehensive Windows 7 desktop delivery solution from the data center to remote locations that increases deployment flexibility and allows IT to achieve the benefits of VDI based desktop management while improving user experience.

- This solution developed with joint collaboration between Cisco and Microsoft increases employee productivity by combining Microsoft’s Virtual Desktop Infrastructure technologies with Cisco’s WAN optimization technology.

- Cisco WAAS and Cisco WAAS Mobile provide Windows 7 VDI (RDP 7.0) traffic acceleration and compression and optimized branch office printing.

- Cisco WAAS and Cisco WAAS Mobile improve user response time and deliver better subjective user experience.

- Cisco WAAS and Cisco WAAS Mobile optimize Windows 7 RDP Multimedia Redirection (MMR) for Windows Media Player content

- Cisco WAAS scales the number of supported campus and branch VDI users over WAN and helps save bandwidth upgrade costs.

- Cisco WAAS and Cisco WAAS Mobile optimize Windows 7 virtual desktops delivered over RDP 7.1 with RemoteFX (preliminary testing results based on RemoteFX beta code).

Business Challenges

Desktop Virtualization solutions such as Microsoft’s Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services and Microsoft Hyper-V, offer new and powerful opportunities for IT to deliver and manage corporate desktops and to respond to users’ needs in a flexible way.

Desktop OS migration from Windows XP to Windows 7 presents IT a unique opportunity to host desktops in the Data Center using VDI (Virtual Desktop Infrastructure). By adopting VDI IT can satisfy security and compliance mandates and also derive the benefits of increased flexibility for deploying and managing the corporate desktop..

Most users of VDI hosted Windows 7 desktops reside in campus and branch locations that are connected to the Data Center using the WAN. The bandwidth and latency constraints imposed by WAN limit the deployment footprint and thus the overall effectiveness of VDI solutions.

Customers face the following challenges in deploying virtual desktop solutions for the enterprise

Copyright © 2010 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Page 1 of 11  Poor performance of VDI over the WAN impacting employee productivity  High bandwidth consumption, increasing solution costs  Limited scalability, reducing the number of users that can be supported  Poor performance of centralized printing and increased costs of printing at the branch  Corporate video delivery challenges that limit employee training and learning options

Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services and Microsoft Hyper-V Overview

Windows Server 2008 R2 considerably improves the platform and tool set for accelerating and extending desktop and application deployments to any device. In addition to the traditional session virtualization scenario, which Terminal Services has enabled for many years, Windows Server 20008 R2 has expanded its role to provide an extensible platform for a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI), leveraging Hyper-V as the virtualization platform for Microsoft VDI solutions. VDI is a centralized desktop delivery architecture which allows customers to centralize the storage, execution and management of a Windows desktop in the data center. It enables Windows 7 Enterprise and other desktop environments to run and be managed in virtual machines on a centralized server.

Figure 1 Microsoft VDI Solution

Cisco WAAS and Cisco WAAS Mobile Overview

Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) is a comprehensive WAN optimization and application acceleration solution that is a key component of Cisco Borderless Networks and Data Center architectures. Cisco WAAS accelerates applications and data over the WAN, optimizes bandwidth, empowers cloud services, and provides local hosting of branch IT services, all with industry-leading network integration. Cisco WAAS allows IT departments to centralize applications and storage while maintaining productivity for remote branch-office and campus users.

Copyright © 2010 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Page 2 of 11 Cisco WAAS Mobile extends Cisco WAAS Software application acceleration benefits to mobile employees who travel outside the branch office and to branch-office and mobile users who access applications hosted in public cloud environments.

Cisco WAAS enables organizations to accomplish following primary IT objectives:  Application acceleration: Improve productivity of remote employees  IT Desktop Centralization using VDI: Lower desktop management cost and satisfy compliance and security mandates  IT Branch and Data Center Consolidation and WAN optimization: Minimize branch IT costs  Branch IT agility: Local branch IT services such as Print without additional servers  Migration of business applications to the cloud: Minimize infrastructure costs  Service Agility: Lower operational cost with on-demand WAN Optimization using o WAAS Express (WAAS in IOS on Cisco ISR G2 branch routers) o WAAS on Services Ready Engine Modules on Cisco ISR G2  Simplified data protection: Ease compliance and business continuity

Cisco WAAS and Windows Server 2008 R2 RDS and Hyper-V Solution for Windows 7 Delivery

The solution developed with support from Microsoft and tested by Cisco consists of the following components:

Figure 2 Windows 7 VDI Solution with RDS & Hyper-V, Cisco WAAS and Cisco WAAS Mobile

Microsoft Solution Suite to virtualize and centralize desktops

Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services provides a common infrastructure for session virtualization and VDI, and uses the (RDP) version 7.0 (R2) or RDP 7.1 (in Service Pack 1) for desktop delivery

Copyright © 2010 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Page 3 of 11  Microsoft Hyper-V on Microsoft Windows Server 2008R2 provides the infrastructure to host virtual Windows 7 desktops  Microsoft Active Directory for user authentication.  Microsoft RDP 7.0 or RDP 7.1 with RemoteFX for display, print and multimedia redirection

Cisco WAAS to improve RDP 7.1/RemoteFX and RDP 7.0 performance and reduce bandwidth demands

 Cisco WAAS appliance deployed on both sides of the WAN optimizes RDP 7.1/RemoteFX and RDP 7.0 traffic between the end users and the data-center using a sophisticated combination of TCP optimizations that minimize the impact of the WAN, persistent-session based compression and data redundancy elimination.  The data center also hosts a WAAS Central Manager which is used to manage the WAAS solution from a central point.  The branch office WAAS appliance also provides Print Services locally to the branch office users by running Microsoft Windows Print Services on the appliance.  Cisco WAAS Mobile software on mobile worker laptops minimizes WAN impact through a combination of TCP optimizations, compression and data redundancy elimination. Cisco WAAS Mobile head end device and Cisco ASA VPN device are located in the data center.

Testing Scenarios

This white paper presents solution benefits for remote users accessing their VDI Windows 7 desktops in the data center.

The testing measures improved performance (response time) and WAN bandwidth optimization (WAN data reduction) when branch and mobile users are executing standard office productivity tasks in the VDI desktops, accessing video using MMR and printing documents in the branch.

Details on the activities and WAN bandwidth conditions are in table below:

Table 1 VDI Test Activity Details WAN condition User Activity Display Band Round Packet Type Protocol width Trip Loss Login, Email, Web, Word, PowerPoint (10 users) RDP 7.0 1.544 80 ms 0.1% Branch Access Video using MMR Mbps Print jobs in the branch Login, Email, Web, Word, PowerPoint RDP7.1/RemoteFX** 10 80 ms 0.1% (2 users) ** (Beta Code) Mbps Login, Email, Web, Word, PowerPoint RDP 7.0 768 80ms kbps Access Video using MMR 1.0% Mobile Login, Email, Web, Word, PowerPoint RDP7.1/RemoteFX 1.5 80ms 1.0% (Beta Code) Mbps

** Note: Testing on RDP 7.1/RemoteFX is currently in progress. Preliminary test results based on 2-user testing for RDP 7.1/RemoteFX have been presented in the white paper. Testing results with higher user scale will be made available once the RDP 7.1/RemoteFX testing completes.

Copyright © 2010 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Page 4 of 11 Solution Benefits

Performance Acceleration for Windows 7 Display

The combined solution accelerates the performance of all applications accessed through RDS such as Microsoft Exchange for email and calendaring, using and sharing documents such as Microsoft PowerPoint and Word, and web browsing enterprise web-sites using Microsoft 9.

 Cisco WAAS accelerates VDI display performance up to 44% (Figure 3) under light WAN utilization conditions.

 Cisco WAAS accelerates VDI display performance up to 61% (Figure 4) under heavy WAN utilization. Users experience greater than 2x improvement in response times with WAAS. Morning rush hours and peak office hours are typical use cases when WAN link nears congestion.

 Cisco WAAS performance benefits under both light and heavy WAN utilization are fairly similar. This shows that Cisco WAAS can provide consistent performance acceleration even as WAN link utilization increases due to increasing number of users.

 Cisco WAAS offers superior subjective user experience such as menu draw, PowerPoint transitions and faster screen updates under WAN conditions.

Figure 3 Cisco WAAS Performance Acceleration under light WAN Utilization

Windows 7 RDP 7.0 Response Time Improvement by Cisco WAAS 50 Under Light WAN Utilization 22% 40 11% Faster 30 Faster RDP 7.0 Native 19% Multi User 20 Faster 25% Faster RDP 7.0 + WAAS 44% Multi User 10 Faster 0

Login Email Browsing Microsoft PowerPoint Response Time Response (seconds) Time (IE) Word

Figure 4 Cisco WAAS Performance Acceleration under heavy WAN Utilization

Windows 7 RDP 7.0 Response Time Improvement by Cisco WAAS 150 Under Heavy WAN Utilization

100 60% 51% Faster 50 56% 61% Faster RDP 7.0 Native 53% Faster Faster Multi User Faster 0 RDP 7.0 + WAAS Multi User Response Time Response(Seconds) Login Email Browsing Microsoft Microsoft (IE) Word PowerPoint

Copyright © 2010 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Page 5 of 11

Bandwidth Optimization for Windows 7 RemoteFX and RDP 7.0 Display

Cisco WAAS helps considerably in saving expensive WAN costs by reducing VDI WAN bandwidth consumption for desktop display

- Cisco WAAS reduces bandwidth use up to 55% for RDP 7.0 display (Figure 5) - Cisco WAAS reduces bandwidth use up to 53% for RemoteFX** display (Figure 6)

- Cisco WAAS Mobile reduces bandwidth up to 67% for RDP 7.0 display (Figure 7) - Cisco WAAS Mobile reduces bandwidth up to 52% forRemoteFX** display (Figure 8)

In the branch as the number of users increase the compression offered by Cisco WAAS improves as the data redundancy elimination (DRE) functionality in WAAS finds repeatable display patterns across multiple user sessions and optimizes them.

Also in actual production networks the DRE disk cache builds up overall several days and contains a much longer cache history. This can result in higher levels of compression in production deployment than the numbers typically found in lab testing.

** Note: Testing on RDP 7.1/RemoteFX is currently in progress. Preliminary test results based on 2-user testing for RDP 7.1/RemoteFX have been presented in the white paper. Testing results with higher user scale will be made available once the RDP 7.1/RemoteFX testing completes.

Figure 5 Windows 7 RDP 7.0 Bandwidth Optimization by Cisco WAAS

Windows 7 RDP 7.0 Optimization by Cisco WAAS

80 RDP 7.0 Native RDP 7.0 + WAAS 70 60 Office Worker 50 51% Less Data WAN Data 55% (MB) 40 45% Less Data Less Data 30 48% Less Data 20 29% 10 Less Data 0 1 3 5 7 10 Number of Users

Copyright © 2010 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Page 6 of 11

Figure 6 Windows 7 RDP 7.1/RemoteFX Bandwidth Optimization by Cisco WAAS

Windows 7 RemoteFX Optimization by Cisco WAAS 70 Native BW 60 50 RemoteFX WAN Data 40 53 % BW Reduction (MB) 30 20 10 0 RemoteFX Native RemoteFX + WAAS

Figure 7 Windows 7 RDP 7.0 Bandwidth Optimization by Cisco WAAS Mobile

Windows 7 RDP 7.0 Optimization by Cisco WAAS Mobile 8.0 Native BW 6.0 Office 4.0 Worker 67% BW WAN Data Reduction (MB) 2.0

0.0 RDP 7.0 Native RDP 7.0 + WAAS Mobile

Figure 8 Windows 7 RDP 7.1/RemoteFX Bandwidth Optimization by Cisco WAAS Mobile

Windows 7 RemoteFX Optimization by Cisco WAAS Mobile

35 Native BW 30 25 Remote FX 20 52% BW WAN Data 15 Reduction (MB) 10 5 0 RemoteFX Native RemoteFX + WAAS Mobile

Copyright © 2010 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Page 7 of 11

Bandwidth Optimization for Windows 7 RDP 7.0 MMR based Video Delivery

RDP 7.0 supports multimedia based redirection for Windows Media Player. This allows the VDI desktop to stream multimedia content directly to client to be rendered on the local client. This offloads the VDI desktop and also eliminates the higher WAN bandwidth consumption associated with server side video rendering.

Cisco WAAS and Cisco WAAS Mobile offer further optimization for MMR based windows media video delivery (Video on Demand). These optimizations provide customers with a viable corporate video delivery option for employee training and learning needs that reduces costly WAN bandwidth upgrades.

 Cisco WAAS reduces bandwidth up to 66% (Figure 9) for RDP 7.0 MMR  Cisco WAAS Mobile reduces bandwidth up to 51% (Figure 10) for RDP 7.0 MMR  Cisco WAAS Mobile provides better subjective user experience for MMR under high latency (200ms) and lossy network conditions.

Figure 9 Windows 7 RDP 7.0 MMR Optimization by Cisco WAAS

Windows 7 RDP 7.0 Multi Media Optimization by Cisco WAAS 3.5 Native BW 3.0 2.5 MMR Video2.0 WAN Data 1.5 66% BW Reduction (MB) 1.0 0.5 0.0 RDP 7.0 MMR Native RDP 7.0 MMR + WAAS

Figure 10 Windows 7 RDP 7.0 MMR Optimization by Cisco WAAS Mobile

Windows 7 RDP 7.0 Multi Media Optimization by Cisco WAAS Mobile 3.5 Native BW 3.0 2.5 MMR Video 2.0 51% BW WAN Data Reduction 1.5 (MB) 1.0 0.5 0.0 RDP 7.0 MMR Native RDP 7.0 MMR + WAAS Mobile

Copyright © 2010 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Page 8 of 11 Optimized Printing Customers face considerable challenges in printing in VDI environments since the printer at the branch and the virtual desktop image at the data-center are separated by the WAN. Using Cisco WAAS, customers have flexible choices in selecting the right print topology for their environments.

- Cisco WAAS accelerates centralized print through print-specific optimizations, data reduction, compression and TCP optimizations to provide up to 89% improvement in performance (Figure 11) and over 90% reduction in WAN bandwidth (Figure 12)

- Cisco WAAS also provides a Windows Print Server based printing option on the branch WAAS appliances, savings costs of additional servers at the branch office

Figure 11 Windows 7 RDP 7.0 Print Reponse Improvements by Cisco WAAS

Windows 7 RDP 7.0 Print Response Time Improvement by Cisco WAAS 400 350 300 RDP 7.0 Native

250 RDP 7.0 + WAAS 200 61% 150 Faster 41% 100 Faster 76% 50% 89% 50 Faster Faster

Response Time Response (Seconds) Time Faster 0 RDP Print Channel RDP Print Channel RDP Print Channel VDI Desktop VDI Desktop to DC Print Server to Branch Print to Client attached Directly Directly Server Printer to DC Print Server to Branch Print Server Branch Printing Options

Figure 12 Windows 7 RDP 7.0 Print Optimization by Cisco WAAS

Windows 7 RDP 7.0 Print Optimization by Cisco WAAS 16 14 RDP 7.0 Native 12 RDP 7.0 + WAAS 10 8 62% BW 6 Reduction 4 38% BW 25% BW Reduction 2 Reduction 97% BW 95% BW WAN Print WANData (MB) Reduction Reduction 0 RDP Print Channel RDP Print Channel RDP Print Channel VDI Desktop VDI Desktop to DC Print Server to Branch Print to Client attached Directly Directly Server Printer to DC Print Server to Branch Print Server Branch Printing Options

Copyright © 2010 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Page 9 of 11

Scalability Customers typically cannot support more than 5 to 10 users on a T1 link and provide display, print and video to all these users. This can restrict VDI adoption or require customers to buy more WAN bandwidth.

 Cisco WAAS increases the number of Windows 7 VDI users that can be supported on a given infrastructure by 2x to 3x.

In production networks this increase can be higher due to multiple days of DRE cache history that provides higher compression performance.

 Cisco WAAS also provides uniform, scalable performance for all users. It provides better subjective user experience compared to native RDP.

Business Benefits

The joint Cisco and Microsoft solution optimizes Windows 7 VDI delivery and allows customers to realize the benefits of VDI by providing the following benefits:

 Improved display performance by 44% under light WAN utilization  Improved display performance by 61% during peak hours when WAN is heavily utilized  Improved printing performance up to 89% and provide the option of a local Print Server hosted on the WAAS appliance in the branch.  Increase scalability of the number of VDI clients by 2X to 3X.  Reduce costly WAN bandwidth requirements by 55% for display, 66% for MMR video and 90+% for print.

Recommendations

Cisco, with the support from Microsoft, has developed the solution presented in this white paper and has validated the results. This solution testing represents best efforts in creating a realistic office worker scenario.

Cisco recommends that customers use the results presented in this white paper for implementing optimized and scalable desktop delivery solutions. These solutions have the potential to lower bandwidth costs, to improve user experience and to avail of the benefits of VDI based desktop deployment.

Cisco and Microsoft intend to continue to work together on optimizing virtual desktop delivery in the enterprise.

For More Information

. Cisco Application Networking Services for Microsoft: http://www.cisco.com/go/optimizemicrosoft . Cisco WAAS Software product information: http://www.cisco.com/go/waas . Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services: http://www.microsoft.com/rds

Copyright © 2010 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. Page 10 of 11

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