Mary Sakaluk Iggy Filice Hamilton Public Library

 Hamilton has a population of approx 530,000  23 branches spread out over 530 square miles of urban and rural space  350 public computers  Over 850,000 public computer sessions a year  350 staff PC’s, laptops  iPads  Home connection thru Cisco AnyConnect

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)... Refers to the process of running a user desktop inside a virtual machine that lives on a server in the datacenter. It enables fully personalized desktops for each user with all the security and simplicity of centralized management.

 Network ◦ Fast, reliable network (20mb minimum)  CPU ◦ Adequate resources for number of end points ◦ Graphical performance  Storage Performance ◦ High performance disk (IOPS) ◦ Can support simultaneous booting  End points ◦ Thin? Zero? Laptops? Chromebooks? PC? Tablets?

 Management efficiency – single image, easier updates  Simplify end point troubleshooting  Increase life cycle refresh of end points  Reduce desktop support calls and costs  Increases workforce mobility – ubiquitous access for end user, facilitates BYOD  Improved security – files in data center

Full virtual desk tops, working flawlessly, easy to set up, excellent performance, end user experience nirvana, no maintenance headaches, no refresh of end points needed

It’s what’s under the mountain that you have to worry about...

 Application Compatibility  Flash and media  Vendor support for only one browser  Ensuring adequate infrastructure capacity (storage + processing + network)  Infrastructure & licensing costs  Peripheral devices  Change in support model  High dependence on network

 January – February ◦ evaluation to determine environmental feasibility of VDI ◦ Determine use cases  March – July ◦ PoC with VMWare on a Nutanix box  August – November ◦ PoC with Citrix  December ◦ decision made on final solution

 Datacenter ◦ Server with 2x8 core CPU, 256GB ram, 1TB storage ◦ Good for about 75 desktops (depends on use case) ◦ Teradici Apex Offload card ◦ Will need a second host for HA and redundancy  End Points ◦ Evaluated performance on zero and thin clients ◦ HP T310 and T620, existing thin clients  Pilot locations ◦ 2-4 VDI desktops per site ◦ Varying speeds – 10MB, 20 MB,50MB, 100MB links

 Three phase approach – Strategy – Pilot – Implement  Plan back to front  storage – servers – network – end points  Savings will be intangible – this isn’t a cost savings project  Gain buy in – executive support  Pay attention to licensing costs

 Balance user experience, complexity of infrastructure and total cost per desktop  Consider more than one Proof of Concept  Media, media, media – VDI originally intended for Corporate use  Focus on one use case at a time  Having standardized desktops in place already will make VDI implementation easier  Options for pools – floating, dedicated, persistent

 Monitor Storage, CPU and Network ◦ Beware of and manage boot storms ◦ Storage can be a significant bottleneck  Roll out in small chunks, evaluate, tweak  Training – IT and other staff  Create a backup plan for when network goes down  Limit VDI impact on rest of infrastructure  Public and Staff feedback  Unidesk – layering technology

Mary Sakaluk Manager, Digital Technology T: x3999 M: E: Iggy Filice Network Application Analyst T: x 3243 M: E: