Bernard Baurin

The purpose of this post is to present a feedback on a pilot project based on Citrix HDX 3D and XenDesktop 4 I have achieved for a great company. The study is presented in 4 parts:

• Part 1 : Scope of the POC and required architecture
• Part 2 : Installation of Server Components
• Part 3 : Installation of Components for Blade PC
• Part 4 : Results

Scope of the POC

The justification of the POC is to validate the functional and performance aspects of a business application having to manage huge 3D images.

Out of the scope

Virtual Desktop Provisioning: the aim of the POC is to check the performance capabilities of the Nvidia Quadra graphics chipset. Only after this validation done, that the delivery of  desktop built on Windows 7 x64,HDX 3D and the business application will be industrialized with Virtual Desktop Provisioning. In the context of the POC, the blade PCs are manually installed.

Issues encountered

• Citrix : version of HDX 3D component compatible with Windows 7 x64
• NVidia : version of NVidia Quadro Pro driver for Windows 7 x64 and validated by HP on their hardware

Architecture Diagram

All the server components of the Citrix XenDesktop architecture used for the POC have been deployed on a single server.

Source

Domain Administrator Account

• Required for the installation of the DDC and initial security configuration

AD Test User Accounts

• These users have to be placed in a global group, which is referred to as the XD POC Users group.

Dedicated Organizational Unit (OU)

AD Group Policy

• An Organization Unit (OU) for the XenDesktop POC has to be created. All policy inheritance has to been blocked on that OU.

DDC REQUIREMENTS

Software required before setup

Before installing Citrix DDC, all the following components must be installed on the targeted computer, when a all the DDC components has to be deployed on a single server, which is the case of the POC:

• Microsoft Windows Server 2003 (Standard or Enterprise Edition, with Service Pack 2 installed)
• Terminal Services running in application mode.
• Microsoft IIS 6.0 with ASP.Net
• IE Enhanced Security disabled

Software added (if not present on the operating system) by the setup of Citrix DDC

• Microsoft .NET Framework, Version 3.5, with Service Pack 1.
• Java Runtime Environment (JRE) Version 1.5.0_15.

Citrix binaries required for setup

• DDC_VDA.iso : size of 1 219, the software is delivered as an ISO file by Citrix, so it required to mount the ISO file with a tool as DAEMON Tools or to burn a CD

Computer requirement

• Memory (RAM) : 768 Mb minimum, 2 Gb recommended
• Disk space : 20 Gb for OS and installation
• Network interface : 100 Mb minimum, 1 Gb recommended
• IP address : static IP address
• Active directory : must be the member of the domain

LICENSE SERVER REQUIREMENTS

In the context of the POC, an evaluation license is used. The license service is installed on the same server as the one hosting the DDC.

Software required

• Citrix License Server version 11.6.1 to manage the evaluation license

BLADE PC REQUIREMENTS

For performance reasons, physical Blade PC with Windows 7 x64 hosting the desktop to deliver to the test users. The VDA is installed on these machines to manage communications and broker connections.

Computer requirement

• Physical Blade PC

Software requirement

• Windows 7 US x64
• Citrix VDA

ENDPOINT REQUIREMENTS

Endpoint devices retained in this POC are test workstation with Windows VISTA for the XenDesktop Receiver and as a management station for administration. The Desktop Receiver is installed on this workstation along with all the management consoles. The Workstation should have the .Net Framework 3.5 sp1 installed.

NETWORK REQUIREMENTS

IP addresses

• 1x build workstation IP address
• 1x DDC server IP address
• Xx workstation IP addresses; each virtual desktop will need an IP address

Preferred

• A separate VLAN for the XenDesktop servers and workstations
• Switches : disable Spanning Tree or enable Port Fast (STP Fast Link)

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