Machine Creation Services (MCS) Citrix XenDesktop 5

Jits Langedijk Sr. Consultant Application & Desktop Delivery jla@pqr.nl @JRLangedijk JitsLangedijk

Agenda Citrix XenDesktop 5.x Why MCS? Where can I “find” MCS? What does MCS do exactly? How does MCS work? What is IntelliCache? What about PVS?

Citrix XenDesktop 5 (december 2010) Farm Desktop Group DDC / Broker / Controller IMA datastore Terminal Services Site Catalog with Desktop Group XenDesktop Controller SQL database Removed Dependency

XenDesktop 5.5 (August 2011) Second Generation Flash Redirection Windows Media Redirection Multi-Stream ICA (UDP for audio) MS RemoteFX Support Windows 7 Aero Redirection HDX 3D Pro HDX Plug-N-Play Desktop Director 2.0

XenDesktop 5.6 (march 2012) Personal vDisk (RingCube) SCCM 2012 support Virtual Desktop Agent (5.5.100) Desktop Director 2.1

Why MCS? Single image management Less complex infrastructure Easy to deploy Citrix IntelliCache

Where can I find MCS? MCS is integrated in to XenDesktop 5.0 >

MCS based Virtual Desktops Desktop Machine Types Pooled Dedicated Existing Physical Streamed MCS based Virtual Desktops Direct copies of the master VM. Changes are not persisted. (Random / Static) Permanently assigned to individual users. Changes are persisted. VM’s that were previously created. Desktops hosted on dedicated blade servers vDisk imaged from a master target device with PVS

New Desktop Machine Types XD 5.6 Pooled with personal vDisk Streamed with personal vDisk Personal vDisk session 15:30 hr

MCS Desktop Machine Types XD 5.6 Pooled (Stateless) Random – Users are randomly assigned a machine at logon Static – Users are assigned the same machine at logon Dedicated (Stateful) Pooled with personal vDisk (next session)

Create Catalog with MCS Type Machine Type Master Image VMs Number of VMs Accounts Create accounts Admini stration Administration Summary

Create Catalog with MCS Create machine accounts Create a proviosiong scheme by copying master VM Create machines using the provisioning scheme Add machines to the broker catalog

What does MCS do exactly? Admin selects “Golden Master Image”, this is copied as Full Clone and becomes the “Golden Master VM Image” Hypervisor 1 2 3 4 Admin Provisions ‘x’ VM’s MCS creates an ID Disk and a Difference Disk and attaches them to each VM Storage MCS Powers up the VM, obtains Identity from the ID Disk ID ID ID ID DIFF DIFF DIFF DIFF OS Reads come from the Base Golden Master VM Image (BASE) Golden Master Image OS Writes go to the Diff Disk

What does MCS do exectly? Each VM consists of three “parts” 1 – Master VM 2 – Difference Disk (diff disk) 3 – Identidy Disk (ID disk)

The ID Disk The Identidy disk 16 MB in size Contains the “Identidy” of the virtual machine A file called ‘CTXSOSID.INI’, The ListOfDDCs key Attached as a second disk to the VM at creation Remains untouched for the lifetime of the VM

The Diff Disk The Difference disk The “primary” disk for the provisioned machine Created by making a difference disk to the master image Destroyed at VM boot (Pooled) Persistent at VM Boot (Dedicated)

Citrix XenDesktop 5.6 “Small Overview” Desktop Studio Desktop Director XenDesktop Controller Machine Creation Service Host Service AD Identity Service Machine Identity Service Broker Service Configuration Service Virtual Desktop Agent Machine Creation Services Broker Services Infrastructure Services SQL Server

Machine Creation Services consists of… Responsible for the creation of the VMs AD Identity Service Creates / Manages AD computer accounts and passwords of VM. Machine Identity Service Create DIFF and ID disks for VMs Manages storage attached to provisioned VMs Machine Identity Agent (VDA based) Component that resides on the VDA that ensures VDA Identity within the domain Maintains the computer AD password of the Virtual Desktop Machine Creation Service Responsible for the creation of the VMs Uses AD Identity Service and Machine Identity Service to create Provisioned Machines. Maintenance of the master image that is used to provide the desktops. AD Identity Service Creates / Manages AD computer accounts and passwords to provide the identity for Provisioned Machines. AD computer accounts get created by the AD Identity Service Existing AD computer accounts can be imported. Machine Identity Service Create OS and Identity disks for VMs (provision) Remove OS and Identity disks for VMs (deprovision) Manages storage attached to provisioned VMs Ensures a fresh Diff disk is attached to the VM at boot Ensures the ID Disk is attached to the VM at boot time (used by the Machine Identity Service Client to provide the Computer Account) Update of OS disk (reset VM functionality) Machine Identity Agent Component that resides on the VDA Ensures VDA Identity within the domain Maintains the computer AD password of the Virtual Desktop There is no direct communication between the Machine Creation Services and the Machine Identity Agent The Machine Identity Service provides the information required by the Machine Identity Agent via files on the Identity disk These files are created by the Machine Identity Service at machine provisioning time and mounted against the appropriate VM.

Machine Creation Process Provisioning process consists of 2 mechanisms Creation of a Provisioning Scheme Creation of Machines The Provisioning Scheme defines Name, CPU Count, Memory size, Master Image VM, Identity Pool, Hosting Unit, Boot Behaviour Tasks on the Provisioning Scheme are synchronous i.e. you cannot provision and delete at the same time

B B A B A B A B A A B A B B A B A B A A B A B B A A B A B Snapshot chain is consolidated for performance into new Golden Master VM Image Master VM Desktop Group is updated to reference new Golden Master VM Image snapshot 3 B snapshot 2 consolidate snapshot 1 New “image” is propagated to Virtual Machines at reboot golden image

IntelliCache XenDesktop NFS Based Storage Master Image created through XenDesktop MCS VM is configured to use Master Image VM using Master Image is started XenServer creates read cache object on local storage Reads in VM being done from local cache Additional Reads done from SAN when required Writes will happen in VHD child per VM Local “write” cache is deleted when VM is shutdown/restarted Additional VMs will use same read cache VM VM 011001 00110101 00110101 VM XenServer Cache – not local copy Fast update master images Live migration Persistent/Assigned VMs Seamless fallback to shared storage Master Image Cache NFS Based Storage 00110101

Provisioning Services What about PVS? Provisioning Services: Hypervisor(s) Provisioning Services Storage Caches ‘base image’ in RAM for fast delivery Machine Creation Service: Hypervisor(s) Storage RAM Cache Caches ‘base image’ in RAM for fast delivery

What about IOPS? XenDesktop MCS produces about 1.5x more IOPS than PVS 1100 Desktops on XS MCS PVS Total IOPS 18,000 11,000 Read:Write IOPS ratio 50:50 10:90 Average IOPS per desktop 16 10 Stated by Citrix!!

Summary Citrix XenDesktop 5.6 Why MCS? Where can I “find” MCS? What does MCS do exactly? How does MCS work IntelliCache

Thanks for your patience! jla@pqr.nl