Our Experience with Desktop Virtualization 6/1/2018 Our Experience with Desktop Virtualization Jeff Cunningham Director of Information Systems Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (AREC) 1 1 1

Motivation to Deploy Desktop Virtualization Minimize end user downtime due to PC repair/replace/updates Reduce Management and Administration of Desktop Clients Reduce time required for desktop setup and lab reconfiguration Remote Access Allow Grad Students and Faculty access to costly Math\Stat software away from University Save Department and Faculty costs of installing software on home PCs and laptops Costs Savings – Future upgrades, Software Support University’s Green Initiative

Why We Chose PanoLogic for Our Desktop Virtualization “Zero” Client – Pano Device has no CPU, RAM, Firmware, Storage or Operating System – Stateless Uses < 5 Watts Electricity Integrated easily into existing VMWare infrastructure Simplicity of Setup and Administration

Desktop Virtualization Rollout – Systems / Software Costs In the datacenter (2) Sun X4600 4xdual AMD processors each with 64GB RAM Sun StorageTek 2510 iSCSI SAN with 2501 Expansion Array (17) 300GB SAS drives VMWare ESX 3.5 licenses (added to existing Virtual Center) On the desk (75) Pano Logic Zero Clients with new keyboards/mice (25) SUN 24” 1920x1200 Monitors plus existing Total Cost: ~$87,000 Estimated Cost IF we had decided on 75 new PCs (25 with 24” monitors): ~$82,000

Initial Rollout Experience Replaced 35 out of 38 Student Lab PCs with Pano Devices; then 30 older PCs used by faculty and staff Installation Pano Manager VM –added to existing Virtual Center; configure IP and Resources, and Power On Less than an hour to complete Configuration Creation of Desktop Virtual Machines (DVMs) and Pools (Once XP template created – same time as installing new copy of XP on a PC) Less than an hour

Rollout Experience (continued…) End-user Perspective Because we were already using Folder Redirection and Roaming Profiles – very easy transition Processing in Math/Stat programs as good or better than PCs that were being replaced in most cases; some instances with intensive data manipulation results were slower Some issues with video (streaming video choppy, audio out of sync) Some USB devices not recognized NOTE: Video and USB issues greatly improved with updated software (PanoDirect)

Sample Server Utilization 2 Node Cluster Average 25-35% CPU and Memory Resources With 40-70 Active DVM Sessions

Handling Intensive Data/Processor Jobs To Support CPU/Memory Intensive Processing in Matlab, Stata, ArcInfo, SAS etc. Added (2) rack mount workstations: Quad core, 64bit, 8GB RAM for “large job” processing - Authorized users access from desktop virtual machine (DVM) session via Remote Desktop

Benefits to Date Electrical Use During conversion, Kill-A-Watt meters used to measure actual KWH consumption of 5 PCs (Dell GX270) and 5 Panos (same monitors, approximately same level of use by end users) The Panos used 75% less electricity in this very unscientific experiment Once Panos in place in the 2 labs, AC usage reduced significantly (no measurement) This must be weighed against increase electrical requirements of servers and server room AC, but the net electricity consumption is very much in favor of the virtual desktop solution University is perusing a “green” initiative We have already met their goal for our department with the replacement of 75 PCs with thin clients

Additional Benefits (continued…) Convenience of Remote Desktop Access - Faculty, Staff and Students can access their software and data from home or traveling; Important consideration for flu pandemic preparedness

Additional Benefits (continued…) Savings in software costs for department Faculty can now use their home PC to access the same desktop they use during the day, avoiding the need and cost for duplicate software licenses Secondary benefit: single set of data, saves time spent copying and synchronizing

Anticipated Long Term Benefits Extending Technology Refresh Cycle Even though the initial cost of our setup was approximately the same as buying the equivalent number of new PCs, the next “upgrade” should result in a significant cost savings Instead of replacing PC’s in 4 years, we can make less expensive incremental upgrades over time Enhance the existing servers with more processors and memory, or Add additional servers to the cluster Improvements in software, both Pano and VMWare, should also enhance the end user experience