1. Cloud-Hosted Desktop Virtualization:
Determining Best Fit
Chris Spadanuda and Beth Schaefer - Midwest Educause 2011

2. UW-Milwaukee MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN Enrollment 30,505
Undergraduate 25,270
Masters & Doctoral 5,235
Faculty & Staff 3,500
Central IT staff 150
IT student staff 200
Schools & Colleges 14
Programs:
Undergraduate 87
Masters 51
Doctoral 30
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3. Project Background Lots of talk about virtualization
nationally, regionally, on-campus
Partnership with Dell
Healthy skepticism
Limited resources
CIO with forward vision for virtual services
Ed Tech Proposal
The VDI Trial Project is the result of an Ed Tech proposal supported by our student governance which outlined how virtual machines might be used on campus to improve access to student computing resources.  Based on the proposal the Ed Tech Committee authorized monies to provide for a pilot project.  In partnership with Dell / Perot we developed a pilot of virtual machine technology here at UWM. This pilot included a proof of concept cloud hosted virtual desktop environment. It also included a survey and data gathering exercise for several thousand existing computers in our environment.  The pilot or trial environment was developed as a non-production single Windows XP sp3 image with approximately 10 major applications and 20 seats available. The virtual environment resided in Dell’s Education Cloud environment. The environment is physically located in Texas and Tennessee. Both RDP and PC over IP connections were testing during our trial. Our data collection consisted of the deployment of product called Stratophere to several thousand existing desktop computers on our campus. This product gathered data about the hardware capabilities, the applications and usage of the machine. We intend to use the data to help guide us in future desktop virtualization projects. Specifically, we intend to use the data to determine what machines, what applications, and which user experiences would be a good fit for future desktop virtualization.

4. Project Background We examined following aspects of our environment
Business Drivers
Users and Locations
Departments and Functions
Infrastructure and Network
End-User Computers
End-User Applications

5. Business Drivers Cost Desktop Security Data Security
Business Continuity
Manageability
Remote Access
Environmental Impact

6. Process and Scope Stratusphere from Liquidware Labs Inc.
Data Collection start date Oct. 27, 2010
Data Collection end date Dec. 15, 2010
49 days
Total Desktops 1755
Total Users 16,176
20 proof of concept cloud hosted virtual desktops
Location – Main UW-Milwaukee campus
Partnered with 2 other units on campus

7. Operating Systems Mac and Linux desktops were not inventoried
Windows XP
Majority (94%) of our machines are Windows XP SP3
Most (80%) have between 500 MB and 1 GB of 26.82% utilization

9. Use Cases Lab Machines 376 machines used by 15,000 unique student ID’s
Staff Machines
1195 users in 30 functional groups

12. Staff Machine findings
We provided a list of functional groups in order to look at VDI fit for each area.
8 groups at 100% good fit, 27 users
1 group at 94% good fit, 17 users
2 groups between 80 and 90% good fit, 15 users
7 groups between 70 and 80% good fit, 326 users

13. Lab Machine findings VDI fit is a challenge
38% of machines are a good fit
62% of machines are a fair fit
Disk I/O per second averages from 14 to 47
Network KB per second averages from 14 to 51

14. Some Initial Conclusions
Generally, we are well suited to a VDI implementation
Labs need further analysis
Need to mitigate disk I/O and network utilization before moving forward with VDI in labs

15. Next Steps ITIL Service Strategy / Design Determine needs
Look back at original proposal
Discussions with campus partners
Define small scope
Plan for small steps

16. Acknowledgements Dell Services UWM Tech Users group
UWM General Access Campus Computer Labs
UWM College of Letters & Science
UWM Enderis Technology Support Services
UWM University Information Technology Services Desktop Support Customers

17. Questions?

18. Contact Info
Beth Schaefer, Acting Director of Client Services University Information Technology Services University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Office: Bolton Hall 234A Phone:  Fax: Cell:  
Chris Spadanuda, Desktop Support Manager University Information Technology Services University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
Office: Bolton 219 Phone: