VMware ThinApp
A Guide for Enterprise VMware ThinApp Deployments

REFERENCE ARCHITECTURE

VMware
ThinApp Reference Architecture

Contents

About This Guide.... 1 Introduction.... 1 Goals.... 1 Reference Architecture Components.. 2
ThinApp Packaging Framework.....2
Sour ce F older....... 2 UAT Folder...... 2 Production F older...... 2
Application Packaging Considerations.....2
De ter mining the Execution M ode..... 3 Up date Me cha nis m...... 3 Application Depe nde ncies...... 4
Active Directory Integration......4
Active Dire ctor y Gr oup Policy Ma na ge me nt..... 4 Active Dire ctor y-Bas ed A ccess C ontr ol..... 5 Active Dire ctor y S cr ipt- base d Applica tion Re gistration.... 5
Storage Layer Design Considerations.....5
Be nefits of DFS....... 5 Utilizing DFS with VM war e T hinApp..... 5
Network Layer Design Considerations.....6
Using C ompre ssion with Strea ming E xe cution M ode.... 6
VMware View Integration......6
Des ktop Per siste nce...... 6 Vie w Comp oser C onsidera tions..... 7 Inte gration of VMwa re View C omp ose r a nd T hinApp.... 8
Reference Architecture Design... 8
Use Case Descriptions and Diagrams....8 VMware ThinApp Test Bed......12
Vir tua l Inf rastr uctur e...... 12 Physica l Se rver C onf iguration..... 12 Physica l Ne twor k Details...... 15 Vir tua l Des ktop C onf iguration..... 15 Application C onf iguration..... 15 Stora ge C onfiguration...... 15
Workload Description......16
User Simula tion Workloa d...... 16
Unit Tes t Workload...... 16

Validation Testing... 16

Summary of Unit Testing Procedure.....16
Unit Tes ting Res ults...... 17
Summary of Scalability Testing Procedure....18
Scalab ility Tes ting Res ults...... 18
Conclusion.... 21 About the Author.... 21 Acknowledgements... 21 Resources.... 21

About This Guide

This docu men t provides th e design co nsideratio ns and architectu re that cu sto mers and partn ers need f o r enterprise implemen tatio ns of VM ware ThinApp, f o r bo th phy sical and VM ware V iew deskto p environ men ts. P lease co n su lt bo th this document and the VMw are View Ref erence Arc h itec ture wh en implemen ting VM ware ThinApp in a VM ware View enviro nment.

Introduction

VMware Thin App is an agentless application virtu alizatio n so lu tion that allo ws IT o rganizatio ns to provide applicatio ns to en d u sers with ou t managing the co mplex ity of applicatio n conf licts and prerequ isites o r operatin g system dependencies. V Mware virtu al machine techno logy deco u ples the o perating sy stem fro m h ardware. Similarly, VM ware ThinApp techno lo gy decou ples the applicatio n f ro m th e o peratin g sy stem, fo r flex ibility, po rtability , and isolatio n. VM ware ThinApp plu gs directly in to ex istin g IT too ls and pro cesses, enabling corporate IT o rganizatio ns and ISVs to deliver encapsu lated applicatio n con tainers across a variety o f o perating sy stems withou t co mplex con figuratio n an d in stallation requ irements. VMware ThinApp integrates n atively with Active Directo ry as well as with many o ther third-party so lutions f o r desk to p man agemen t. All the f unctio ns discussed in this docu ment u tilize native featu res and fu nction s o f th e gen erally available VM ware ThinApp techno lo gy. V Mware ThinApp also has partn ered with specific vendo rs to deliver cu sto mized and integrated f unctio nality fo r deploy ment, discovery, in ven to ry, an d license u tilization. This integratio n can fu rther increase operational an d admin istrative ef f icien cies fo r o rganizations u tilizing application virtu alizatio n. By abstractin g application s f rom th e u nderlying o perating sy stems, applicatio n virtu alizatio n au gments bo th traditio nal an d virtu al desk to p so lu tions. Many cu sto mers have deplo y ed applicatio n virtualization to th eir phy sical devices as a f irst step toward a transitio n to virtu al deskto ps as h ardware ref resh cycles o ccu r o r o perating sy stem migrations are mandated. VM ware ThinApp tech no lo gy delivers th e same benef its f o r phy sical desk tops, virtu al desk to ps, and terminal services-based platf o rms. Th e use of ex isting inf rastructu re fo r distribu tio n, update, and registratio n o f virtualized applicatio n s to end users allo ws custo mers to leverage the benefits o f applicatio n virtualization rapidly acro ss the enterprise.
The go al o f th is guide is to provide a scalable mo del fo r deploy ment of virtu alized application s in the enterprise, addressin g mu ltiple use cases fo r physical and virtual desk to ps, with design co nsideratio n s of mu ltiple co mpon en ts fo r each u se case. The architectu re u ses common co mpo nents and standardization to redu ce the co mplex ity of implementatio n an d design. M an y o f the inf rastru ctu re co mpo nents u sed to validate the ref erence arch itecture are in terch an geable, so yo u can u se components fro m yo u r vendo r o f choice to incorporate u n iqu e f eatu res that enhance the valu e o f the o verall so lu tion. This VM ware ThinApp ref eren ce arch itecture specif ically fo cu ses o n integration with Active Directo ry, the u se of Distribu ted File System techn o lo gy f o r f ile shares, and V iew Co mpo ser consideratio ns. A more co mprehensive discu ssio n of th e VM ware View so lu tion is described in the VMware Vie w Re fe renc e Arc h itec ture. All desk top instances cited in th is docu ment and the acco mpany ing validation testing were virtu al mach in es. Given th e fo cu s on the architectural design rather than the WAN perf o rmance, we did no t measu re th e display latency fo r the V Mware V iew desk to ps. The metrics gathered ref lect the perfo rman ce o f th e virtualized application inside the virtu al machines, no t the display

The P ro du ctio n Folder is a read-o n ly f ile-share made available to end u sers f o r V Mware ThinApp pack ages that are run in streaming ex ecu tion mo de. End u sers run the virtualized applications directly f rom th is location. Since th e Produ ction Fo lder is critical and u ser-f acing, it sho u ld be mo nito red fo r availability and perf o rmance. DFS o r o ther techno logies that provide high availability are h igh ly reco mmen ded. The V Mware ThinApp R ef erence Architectu re implemen ts Micro so f t DFS, wh ich is available to most cu sto mers witho u t additional co st and provides an adequ ate so lu tion with co mmo n components. Figure 1 illu strates the ro le of each fo lder and basic f lo w o f th e pack aging pro cess.
Application Packaging Considerations
Bef o re virtu alizin g application s with th e Setup Captu re pro cess, IT o rganizations shou ld determine so me specif ics o f th e scen ario in to which the pack age will be deploy ed. Fo r a co mprehensive discu ssion of th ese co n sideration s an d their implementation, see the VMwa re Th in App Dep lo ymen t Guid e and VMware Th in App Use rs Man ua l.
Reference Architecture Compo nents
Figur e 1. Thi n Ap p P ackagi ng Fol d er Framewor k
Determining t he Execution Mode
VMware ThinApp allo ws IT o rgan izatio ns to determine whether to use strea m ing or d ep lo yed ex ecu tio n mo de o r to ado pt a hy brid appro ach that lets them manage a standard set of applicatio ns cen trally wh ile distribu tin g o thers in deploy ed mo de. The same virtu alized applicatio n pack ages can be used f or either ex ecu tion mode. Strea m ing E xecu tion mode allo ws the application to be sto red centrally and accessed by mu ltiple u sers. Th is on e-to -many mo del provides centralized deploy ment and u pdate of an applicatio n packa ge to mu ltiple en d u sers f o r ex ecu tio n via a Windows deskto p sho rtcu t. The user laun ch es th e application f rom the central netwo rk lo cation where the applicatio n resides and streams data as n eeded wh ile the applicatio n is in use. Dep lo yed E xecu tion mo de distribu tes the virtualized applicatio n pack ages to the end u sers sy stem, o n th e local f ile system o r on a U SB device. In this distribu ted mo del, each client device receives and ex ecu tes th e p ackage locally and theref ore can ru n the applicatio n regardless of n etwo rk co nn ectivity. End-user devices that are occasionally o r alway s o ff line requ ire deploy ed ex ecu tio n mo de.

Update Mechanism

There are two primary metho ds fo r u pdating virtu alized applicatio ns: Th e Side-by-Side (ak a In teger) u pdate method fo r applicatio n pack ages can be u sed either fo r streamin g o r f or deploy ed ex ecu tio n mo de. There is no requ irement f o r application do wn time. This metho d places th e n ew applicatio n pack age in the same directo ry as the original applicatio n pack age an d in cremen ts the f ilename ex tension to an integer nu mber. Su bsequ en t updates can be placed in the directo ries with ex tensio ns.2,.3, etc. Fo r example,

placing M o zilla Firefox.1 in the same directo ry with M o zilla Firefo x wou ld au to matically u pdate users to ex ecu te th e Mo zilla Firef ox.1 package. Application Sy nc is a fu nction ality that can be embedded into VM ware ThinApp applicatio n pack ages. Applicatio n Syn c provides u pdates to u nmanaged machines that connect over netwo rk s th at are k no wn to h ave so me degree o f latency. AppSy nc pro vides a mechanism fo r a dif f eren tial tran sf er over HT TP to the endpo int, so it is o nly used f or application pack ages in deploy ed ex ecu tio n mode. Applicatio n Sync can o ptio nally u tilize a U NC po int to retrieve updates f rom locatio ns with in a co rpo rate enviro nment. When an applicatio n starts, Application Sy nc can qu ery a Web server o r f ile share to see if an u pdated version of the pack age is available.

Application Dependencies

Application Link is a VM ware Th in App f eatu re that allows the administrato r to bu ild relationships between pack ages, creatin g mo du lar pack ages that link together instead o f larger pack ages that are mo re diff icu lt to distribu te an d u pdate. Administrato rs can use Applicatio n Link to create relatio nships between lo cal o r remote applicatio n pack ages co ntaining co mponents o r dependencies. Admin istrato r can con figure the o riginating applicatio n pack age to loo k f irst in a lo cal directo ry an d th en in a remo te directo ry if the requ ired or o ptional co mponent canno t be fou nd. To pro vide a lo gical link to th e remote directo ry y ou can u se a domain -based DFS namespace. Fu rth er detail is provided in the Sto rage Layer Design Co nsideratio ns sectio n. Application Link pro vides th e f o llo win g f unctio ns: Link s ru n time co mpo n en ts, su ch as.NET, JR E, o r ODB C drivers, with dependent applications. Fo r example, y ou can link.NET to an application even if the lo cal machine fo r the application do es no t allo w f o r th e in stallatio n o f.NET o r already has a dif f erent versio n of.NET. Allo ws admin istrato rs to deploy applicatio n -specific co mpo nents and plu g-ins separately fro m the base applicatio n. Fo r ex ample, yo u might separate Adobe Flash Play er or Ado be R eader from a base Firefo x application an d link the components.

Active Directory Integration
VMware ThinApp su ppo rts native Active Directo ry integratio n to manage co nf igu ratio n of u ser data lo cation s, dy namic applicatio n ch anges, registratio n of applicatio n pack ages, and access co ntrol.
Active Directory Group Policy Management
Fo lder R edirectio n gro u p po licies can be u sed to redirect sto rage of a u sers applicatio n settings and u ser data. Th e locatio ns can be redirected to a users ro aming pro f ile o r home directo ry o r View Co mpo ser U ser Data Disk. Note: F ol de rs wi t hi n vi rt uali ze d a ppli cat ions ca nnot be re di re cte d t o UNC-sty le pa t h l oca ti ons. (see KB article 1013933) Application Data This lo catio n h ou ses th e sandbo x, lo cated in the u sers prof ile by def au lt, to store runtime changes to th e virtu alized applicatio ns registry, fo lders, and f iles. This lo cation ho u ses the info rmation that gives u sers a persistent application experience f or thing lik e to o lbar settings an d custo mized o ptio n s within th e applicatio ns. My Do cu men ts Redirectio n o f th is locatio n to a u sers ho me drive o r o ther conf igured lo cation ensu res that user data is well man aged. V irtu alized and natively installed applicatio ns defau lt to saving do cu men ts in th is locatio n.
Active Directory-Based Access Control
Administrato rs can use Active Directo ry grou ps to contro l access to virtu alized applicatio ns. The setup ca pture pro cess allo ws administrato rs to enumerate and assign Active Directo ry gro u ps. Those assignmen ts are embedded in to the package du ring the bu ild process. This process po pu lates the P ermittedG ro u ps parameter in the Pack age.ini and restricts usage of a pack age to a specif ic set o f Active Directo ry u sers. Administrato rs can o ptionally cu sto mize the erro r message to u sers if th ey are no t allowed to lau nch the applicatio n. Fo r a desk to p that is of fline, the PermittedG rou ps fu nction u tilizes cached credentials to determine whether the user has permission to laun ch th e application.
Active Directory Script- based Application Registration
Registration of virtu alized applicatio ns to end u sers creates sho rtcu ts o n the desk to p, f ile-type asso ciations, an d en tries in th e Add/R emove programs applet of the Contro l P anel. The Thinreg utility helps to auto mate th e registration pro cess. Thinreg.ex e can be run f rom a lo gin script, a lo cal script, or a co mmand line. Since the registration pro cess can enumerate which u sers have access to applicatio n pack ages, th e ThinR eg process can be ru n against an entire directo ry o f applicatio n pack ages; ho wever, it o n ly registers the applications to which the u ser is entitled. Two co mmo n metho ds o f implemen tation are described brief ly belo w. Login Script based Implemen tation o f th e Th in reg ex ecu table can be inco rporated into an ex isting lo gin script with standard metho ds su ch as.bat, WSH, KIX, o r vbScript. See ex ample belo w; %lo go n server%\ n etlo go n\ thin reg.ex e \\ co mpany.com\applications\ *.ex e / Q Local Script via R egistry R un Key IT o rganizatio ns can ch oo se to implement the application registration pro cess lo cally o n the wo rk station s in stead of in co rpo rating it into the login script. The R un k ey of the registry can call the Th in reg.ex e f ile to perf o rm the nec essary fu nctions o n lo gin. P lacing the Thinreg.ex e in the Win do ws directo ry simplif ies the ex ecu tion of the script and requ ires no thing mo re than the ex ecu table to fu n ction.

Storage Layer Design Considerations
When u sers lau nch applicatio ns in streaming mo de, they mu st have read access to the sto rage lo cation of th e application package th at the Windo ws sho rtcu t ref erences. The sto rage lo cation that ho sts the Prod fo lder sho uld be made highly available so that do wntime o f a ho st o r sto rage device do es no t impact th e en viro nment. Since end u sers only read the pack age fro m the central lo cation, the disk u sage pattern is en tirely read-o riented, so the sto rage sho u ld be co nf igu red f o r optimal read perf o rman ce. Th e u se o f any nu mber of SAN, DFS, o r f ile replicatio n techno lo gies is su ff icient to mak e th e f ile sh are h igh ly available and redu ndant.

Benefits of DFS

Many IT o rgan izatio ns u tilize Micro so f t DFS o r Micro so f t Windo ws Server 2003 o r 2008 to ho st f ile services. DFS o ff ers su bstan tial ben ef its in terms of lower administrative overhead f o r fo lder management, bu ilt-in replicatio n, an d the co nvenience of centrally administered DFS do main namespaces. Fo r detailed M icro so f t DFS co nf igu ration and implementatio n gu idance see: http:// www.micro so f t.co m/ win dowsserver2003/ techno logies/ sto rage/dfs/defau lt.mspx
Utilizing DFS wit h VMware ThinApp
Do main -based Namespaces Administrato rs can leverage th e capabilities o f DFS to create a single lo gical ref erence to a fo lder th at h ou ses virtualized applications, f o r example, \ \co mpanyco m\ Applications. Use do main -based n amespaces fo r DFS links, which are placed into the Active Directo ry schema. Do main -based n amespaces are th en natively replicated throu ghou t the Active Directo ry inf rastru ctu re, pro vidin g f au lt tolerance f or the DFS namespace. DFS Targets an d R eplicatio n DFS Namespaces can be con figured to po int to mu ltiple locatio ns, called Targets, which ho u se the f ile shares. M ultiple targets pro vide the needed redundancy fo r enterprise deploy ments. Additio nally , custo mers can con figu re replicatio n to branch o ff ices and determine failo ver link s to remo te targets based on Active Directo ry site design. The DFS targets will be readonly shares so con figu re th e replication link s appropriately. DFS Namespaces fo r AppLin k Lo cations When admin istrato rs pack age applications they can specif y U NC based locatio ns fo r requ ired or optional application depen den cies. Administrators can configure the o riginating applicatio n pack age to loo k f irst in a lo cal directo ry and then in a remo te directo ry if the requ ired o r option al co mpon en t canno t be f ou nd. The u se of a DFS do main namespace su ch as \\ co mpany.co m\ Applink s co uld be u tilized in the pack aging pro cess to direct u sers to the nearerst DFS target f o r th e requ ired co mponent. An ex ample line f ro m a pack age.ini f ollows, the f irst lo cation is lo cal, th e seco nd ref ers to the DFS link : Requi red AppL ink s=c: \Ap pLin ks\ *.ex e;\ \com pan y.co m\A ppL inks \*. exe

Network Layer Design Considerations
The path throu gh th e n etwo rk between the client device and the Applicatio ns fo lder sho u ld be highly available an d ro bu st. Con sider bo th aggregate bandwidth and latency when implementing f ile share with applications launched in streaming mo de. These applicatio ns use the standard SMB pro to co l to tran sf er the blo ck s o f data to the end-user sy stem fo r ex ecu tio n. The amo unt o f n etwork traf f ic varies based on the application and u sage pattern, co nsider o nly lo w-latency LAN enviro nmen ts fo r streaming ex ecu tio n mode. See the VMwa re Th in App S trea ming Inf orma tion Gu ide.
Using Compression with Streaming Execut ion Mode
VMware ThinApp pro vides th e option of u sing co mpression to reduce the sto rage fo o tprint of the applicatio n pack ages. Application s launched in streaming mo de requ est only the f iles and registry necessary to perf orm th e specif ic applicatio n f unctio n, which means that the pack age is never streamed in its en tirety. With compressio n enabled, the qu antity of data transf erred acro ss the netwo rk is greatly redu ced (by abou t 50%), bu t there is slightly higher memo ry u sage fo r an applicatio n and sligh tly lo n ger lau nch times when larger blo ck s sizes are u sed. This presents the qu estio n of wh eth er it is mo re ben ef icial to redu ce the amou nt o f netwo rk u tilizatio n o r ensure optimal end-user perf o rmance.

VMware View Integration

Desktop Persistence
Persistent desk to ps are assign ed to individual users and remain so assigned until an administrator mak es a chan ge. P ro perly en titled u sers may also check their desk to ps ou t fo r o ff line use. Persistent desk to ps are best f or u sers who want to custo mize their desk to ps by installing additio nal applicatio ns an d sto rin g lo cal data. Non -persistent desk to ps are allo cated to users
tempo rarily an d u sed o n ly f o r th e cu rrent sessio n. Once the u ser has logged of f a no n -persistent desktop, it go es back in to th e desk to p po o l where it o riginated and becomes available fo r the nex t u ser. Non -persisten t desk to ps sho u ld be u sed where each u ser sessio n requ ires a clean machine o r in h igh ly co n tro lled en viro nments where there is no need to sto re custo mizatio n o n the virtu al desk top. VMware Thin App applicatio n pack ages can be u sed with either persistent o r no n -persistent deskto ps. Admin istrators can u tilize fo lder redirection fo r the applicatio n sandbox, which lets end users save th eir cu sto mized application settings, such as to o lbars and options settings, to a static lo cation. This allows f or persisten t applicatio n settings regardless of whether the desk to p is persistent o r no n -persisten t. Administrato rs can also cho ose wh eth er to deploy virtu alized applications into the desk to p instance o r provide u sers access to th e applicatio n o n a f ile share thro ugh the au tomated ThinR eg registratio n process. Deploy men t in to the desk to p instance pro vides mo re predictable perf ormance becau se all ex ecu tio n is local, bu t it requ ires application packages to be u pdated on the desk to ps in dividu ally an d pack ages will have a sto rage f oo tprint in the VM. P ro viding applicatio ns via streamin g mo de makes greater demands on the netwo rk and can aff ect perf ormance, bu t it allows applicatio ns to be u pdated with greater eff icien cy du e to the o ne-tomany model o f streaming mode, and there is no disk f oo tprint within the VM.

View Composer Considerations
VMware V iew Co mpo ser pro vides the capability to create desk to p images rapidly fro m a parent, or standard, virtual mach in e image. In additio n, VM ware V iew Co mpo ser redu ces the to tal amo unt of sto rage requ ired to deploy virtu al desk to p images (see Figu re 2). By leveraging link ed clo nes, it intro duces a streamlin ed process fo r u pgrading patches acro ss mu ltiple desk tops by simply apply ing the patch to th e paren t image and reco mpo sing the link ed clo nes. VMware V iew Co mpo ser also pro vides the ability to separate u ser data and prof ile settings, allowing sof tware updates an d patch es to be applied to the parent image and inherited by th e link ed clo nes. Af ter a lin k ed clo n e h as been u pdated, the users personal settings f ro m the u ser data disk are also applied to th e u pdated image.
Figur e 2. P ar ent I mag e with Li nked Clo nes
Reference Architecture Compo nents 7
Integration of VMware View Composer and ThinApp
There are two aspects of th e in tegratio n between V Mware V iew Co mpo ser and ThinApp, the intersection of u pdates f or th e o perating sy stem and applications, and the use of the U ser Data Disk fo r sto rage of th e Application san dbox. There are ben efits to deploy ing applicatio n s pack ages into the V iew Composer base image. View Co mpo ser pro vides a streamlined mechanism to ref resh and recompose the base operatin g system, which can also be used as an update vehicle fo r ThinApp application pack ages. Th is o peration wo uld allo w fo r a mass update of applicatio n pack ages alo ng with a deskto p reco mpo se o peration. Th e only caveat o f this approach is that the administrato r will be combinin g o peratin g sy stem reco mpo se events with applicatio n u pdates. Administrato rs shou ld compare th e f requ ency o f application updates with that o f OS u pdates and determine the appropriate locatio n fo r Th in App pack ages. A co mpro mise can be achieved by using streamin g mo de fo r f requ en tly u pdated applications while deplo y ing less f requ ently u pdated applicatio ns in to the o peratin g sy stem image. ThinApp packages can also be located on the U ser Data Disk s, ho wever this requ ires ano ther means to u pdate tho se pack ages su ch as a so f tware distribu tion solu tio n and this wo u ld need to occu r f o r each individual u ser data disk. When u sed in con jun ctio n with V iew Co mpo ser, administrato rs have the o ptio n of u tilizing User Data Disk s to logically separate application and u ser sto rage f ro m the o perating sy stem. By defau lt, VM ware Th in App places the application sandbox in w hatever locatio n the %AppData% variable reso lves to in the operating system. U ser Data Disks auto matically receive th e dyn amic ch an ges of th e applicatio ns and u ser-specific settings sto red in the sandbox an d main tain th ese th ro ugh a ref resh of the o perating sy stem. Administrators can choo se to redirect My Do cumen ts to a sto rage locatio n o r allo w that user data to also be ho used in th e U ser Data Disk.

Reference Architecture Design
The ref erence arch itecture design pro vides u se cases which are designed to represent a nu mber of co mmo n scen ario s fo r co nf igu ration. The use cases o u tline the diff erent of co nf igu ration items in a table f ormat an d th en illu strate th e environment in a diagram.
Use Case Descriptions and Diagrams
Fo r the VM ware Th in App R ef eren ce Architectu re, we provide three u se cases that are representative o f many cu sto mer scen ario s: Use Case 1 M o bile U sers Use Case 2 R emote U sers Use Case 3 Co rpo rate U sers
Use Case 1: Mobile Users Configuration Table
Use r Ty pe Link Type Des kto p Co nf igura tion Applic atio n Re gis tratio n Mobile Users Public Internet, Corp VPN or Offlin e Corporate Laptop, Ho me PC, O fflin e View Persi stent Full Clone (Exp erimental ), VM running on the Client Virtualized Plat form (Future) Registry Run Key or User-initiated script on USB k ey or local d evic e (Ho me PC s)
Me thod Fo lde r Re direc tio n De plo yme nt Me thod U pdate Me tho d Com pres sio n None Deployed Mode (USB, Local File Syst em) AppSync Not Enabled
Figur e 3. Mo bil e U ser s (Use C ase 1)
Use Case 2: R emote Users Configuration Table
Use r Ty pe Link Type Des kto p Co nf igura tion Applic atio n Re gis tratio n Me tho d Fo lde r Re direc tio n Remote u ser s connecting to VMware View d esktop s Corporate VPN or WAN View Non-p ersist ent Desktop without User Dat a Disk Login Script Application Dat a is redirected to users roamin g profile or home drive My Documents i s redir ected to u sers home drives De plo yme nt Me thod Deployed Mode for MS Office Suite Streamin g Mod e for LOB and ancillary a pplications U pdate Me tho d Side-by-Sid e for Str ea ming Mod e Appli cations View Co mpo ser for Deploy ed Mod e Applications Com pres sio n Enabled for Ap plications u sing Streamin g mod e
Figur e 4. R emot e U ser s (U se Case 2)
Use Case 3: Corporate Users Configuration Table
Use r Ty pe Link Type Des kto p Co nf igura tion Applic atio n Re gis tratio n Me tho d Fo lde r Re direc tio n Corporate Kno wl edge Worker s with PCs and /or VMware View D esktop s Corporate LAN or WAN Persistent D esktop with U ser Data Disk or Physic al PC Login Script View Ba sed D esktop s Application Dat a automatically redir ected via View Co mpo ser User Data Di sks My Documents automatic ally redirected vi a View Co mposer User Data Di sks Physical PCs Application Dat a redirect ed to users ho me drives My Documents r edirect ed to users ho me driv es De plo yme nt Me thod Deployed Mode for MS Office Suite Streamin g Ex ecution Mod e for LOB and ancillary a pplications U pdate Me tho d Side-by-Sid e for Str ea ming Mod e Appli cations View Co mpo ser for Deploy ed Mod e Applications Com pres sio n Enabled for Ap plications u sing Streamin g mod e

Figur e 5. C orp orat e U sers (U se C ase 3)
Reference Architecture Design 11

VMware ThinApp Test Bed

Virtual Infrastruct ure
The virtu al inf rastructure used f o r th is ref erence architectu re included o ne chassis of 16 blades to ho st the virtu al desk to ps and two blades in a separate chassis fo r the inf rastru cture co mpo nents.
Physical Server Configuration
The design of th e virtu al desk to ps uses the building block approach described in the VMw are View Re ference Arc hite cture. Th e virtu al desk tops are ho sted by two 8-no de VM ware ESX 3.5 U 2 clu sters. Each 8-no de cluster is design ed to ho st 500 virtu al desk to ps. B o th clu sters were co nf igu red as HA clu sters and managed by a sin gle V Mware V irtual Center 2.5 U 4 server. A separate blade ch assis was u sed to ho st the co mmon inf rastru ctu re co mponents needed f o r an enterprise desk to p en viron men t, su ch as Active Directo ry, DNS, DHCP, DFS, and SQL. This chassis also hosted VM ware View Manager and vCenter with View Co mpo ser. The V Mware vCenter server database an d V iew Co mpo ser database were ho sted o n a single M icrosof t SQL 2005 server. Each deskto p inf rastructu re service was implemented as a virtual machine ru nning Windows 2003 SP 3, with the exceptio n of th e DFS Servers, which ran Windows 2003 R 2. See the f o llo win g diagram an d tables f or detailed inf o rmatio n regarding the testing environment.
Figur e 6. P hysi cal Testing En viron ment b ased on VMware Vi ew B uildi ng Blo ck

Infrastructure Servers

QT Y Des c ription

16 Slot Blade Chassis

32GB 4
Blade Servers - ESX 3.5 Update Infrastructure Services AD, DNS, DHCP, DFS Quad C ore 2.66 GHz Pr ocess ors RAM x 56GB SAS Drive Broadcom Gigabit Ether net Adapters 4 Port Gigabit Uplink M odules VMware vCenter Vir tual Machine with View Composer Windows 2003 Server SPvCPU 4GB RAM 20GB Virtual Disk VMware View Ma nager Windows 2003 Server SPvCPU 4GB RAM 20GB Virtual Disk Micr osoft SQ L 2005 Server Windows 2003 Server SPvCPU 4GB RAM 20GB Virtual Disk Micr osoft A ctive Dire ctory, DNS, DHCP Windows 2003 Server SPvCPU 4GB RAM 20GB Virtual Disk Micr osoft DFS Targets Windows 2003 Server RvCPU 4GB RAM 20GB Virtual Disk
VMware View Desktop Building Block A

2 32GB 6

16 Slot Chassis Cluster A/B Blade Servers - ESX 3.5 Update 2 Quad C ore 2.66 GHz Pr ocess ors RAM x 56GB SAS Drive Broadcom Gigabit Ether net Adapters 4 Port Gigabit Uplink M odules
VMware View Desktop Building Block B

32GB 6

Blade Servers - ESX 3.5 Update 2 Quad C ore 2.66 GHz Pr ocess ors RAM 56GB SAS Drive Broadcom Gigabit Ether net Adapters 4 Port Gigabit Uplink M odules
NOTE: Two M irrore d 56 GB drives are r ecommende d for production.

Based on the th in k time an d words per minu te u sed fo r this validatio n, this wo rk load can be co mpared to th at o f a high -en d task wo rk er o r lower-end knowledge work er.

Unit Test Workload

A second wo rk load, Off iceB en ch , is a classic linear test script that u ses OLE Au to matio n to drive Micro so f t Wo rd, Excel, P owerPo in t, an d Internet Ex plorer throu gh a series o f simu lated bu siness pro du ctivity tasks. This wo rk load was u sed to derive precise measu rements of the eff ects of co mpression and laten cy wh en ru nn ing virtu alized applicatio ns in streaming ex ecu tio n mo de.

Validation Testing

The ref erence arch itecture validation testing resu lts f irst measu re the ef f ect of co mpression on netwo rk u tilization f o r a sin gle repeatable wo rk lo ad, and seco nd, quantif y storage and netwo rk utilization fo r a given n umber o f u sers running a rando m wo rklo ad.
Summary of Unit Testing Procedure
The sections belo w o utlin e th e resu lts f o r the unit testing of the eff ect o f co mpressio n and latency f o r virtu alized applicatio n s ex ecu ted in streaming mo de. Two virtu al desk to ps were co nf igu red to run th e Of f iceB ench wo rk load, with three iteratio ns u tilizing virtu alized applicatio ns ru nning fro m a DFS share in streamin g ex ecu tio n mo de. Thinreg was u sed to register the applicatio ns fro m th e remo te drive. No native applicatio ns were installed in the VM s.

Validatio n Testing

Unit Testing Result s
The eff ect of VM ware Th in App n ative co mpressio n o n applications ru nning in streaming ex ecu tion mo de is sho wn in th e f ollowing table:
Tes t Of f ic eBenc h Com ple tio n Time (Sec o nds) To ta l Ne tw o rk Pay loa d (MB) Application Package Size o n File Share (MB)
Uncompressed Iteration 1 Uncompressed Iteration 2 Uncompressed Iteration 3 Compressed Iteration 1 Compressed Iteration 2 Compressed Iteration 3
50.16 49.75 52.44 53.38 51.61 54.33
202.146 201.591 200.754 112.765 106.523 112.311

1,162,999 858,943

The resu lts of th e testin g sh owed n egligible dif f erences in Off iceB ench co mpletio n time, CP U and Memo ry U tilizatio n. Ho wever, th e n etwo rk transf er sho wed substantial improvement f ro m co mpression. Th e average decrease in the netwo rk paylo ad betw een u nco mpressed and co mpressed was 45%. Th e desk to p was rebo o ted between the tests to empty the disk cache and ensure accu rate resu lts. Figu re 7 graphs the pattern o f netwo rk u tilizatio n.

Network Utilization 6000 KBps Time Network Usage

With Co mpressio n

Withou t Co mpressio n
Figur e 7. Net wor k Utiliz ation for Co mpr essed an d Un co mpr essed P ackag es
Summary of Scalability Testing Procedure
The validation testin g fo r scalability made u se of the user simu lation wo rk load, which pro vides a rando m wo rk lo ad to simu late real users. Five hu ndred virtu al desk to ps were conf igu red to use streaming ex ecu tio n mo de and run a series of three iteratio ns. The applications were lau nch ed fro m a pair o f M icrosof t DFS servers which were the DFS targets f or the do main namespace \\co mpany.co m\application s. B o th DFS servers were located on the same phy sical ESX ho st.
Scalability Testing Results
Di sk Util iz ati on Figu re 8 illustrates th e disk utilization fo r each of the DFS servers.

Disk Utilization

0 Time
Disk Usage (Average) - DFS2
Disk Usage (Average) - DFS1
Figur e 8. Disk Utili zati on fo r Mi cr o so ft D FS Vir tu al Mach in es
Net wor k Ut ili zat ion Figu re 9 illustrates th e n etwo rk u tilizatio n f or the VM ware ESX ho st, which co ntained bo th DFS servers.
Network Performance 120000

100000

0 Time Network Usage (Average)
Figur e 9. Net wor k Utiliz ation for ESX Ho st with Mi cro so ft DFS Virt ual Machi nes
CP U Util iz ati on Figu re 10 illustrates th e CPU u tilizatio n fo r the M icro sof t DFS virtu al machines.
CPU Performance 60 Percent Time CPU Usage (Average) - DFS1
Figur e 10. CPU Utili zati on for Mi cro so ft D FS Vi rtu al Machin es

Conclusion

VMware Thin App greatly simplif ies th e pro cess o f application distribu tion and management f o r bo th phy sical an d virtu al desk tops. Custo mers can leverage agentless application virtu alizatio n to reduce operatio nal ex pense incurred by installation rebo o ts, application co nf licts, and dependencies. B y u tilizin g th e design co nsiderations and u se case co nf igu ratio ns pro vided in th is do cu ment, custo mers can con fiden tly design and implement VM ware ThinApp in their own enviro nmen ts. The design co n sideration s sectio n provides specific gu idance f o r Active Directo ry integration , View Co mpo ser in tegration , an d th e u se o f DFS to eff iciently manage f ile shares f o r virtualized applicatio ns an d th eir depen den cies. The validatio n resu lts help characterize the netwo rk and sto rage lo ad fo r a gro u p of 500 virtu al machines when u tilizing streaming mode f o r V Mware ThinApp applicatio n pack ages. Th e u n it test scenarios sho w the diff erence in netwo rk lo ad when co mpression is u sed fo r applicatio n pack ages. The f ollowing k ey reco mmendatio ns emerge f ro m this validatio n: U tilize a stru ctu red process and standardized f older lay o ut fo r applicatio n pack aging. U tilize Active Directo ry gro u p po licy to redirect Application Data and M y Do cu ment to th e appro priate lo cation s depen din g o n the u se case. U tilize ThinR eg th rou gh a script based mechanism to au to mate the registration of ThinApp applicatio n pack ages. Deploy virtu alized applicatio ns via a standard pro cess that relies o n lo gical DFS link s that provide redun dan cy an d manageability. Determin e wh ich application s to run in streaming mo de, based o n bandwidth needs and applicatio n density go als. U tilize co mpressio n to reduce the netwo rk pay lo ad.

About the Author

Aaro n Black is a Sen io r Techn ical M ark eting Manager at VM ware, fo cu sing primarily o n develo ping technical co n ten t to aid in th e evaluation and implementatio n of V Mware ThinApp techno logy. Aarons backgro un d in clu des ro les as a sy stems engineer and so lu tion s consultant in the Technical Services o rgan izatio n. B ef o re jo in ing VM ware, he wo rk ed as a sy stems engineer with Citrix Sy stems, lead a techn ical co rpo rate IT team at Sprint, and designed so lu tio ns f o r custo mers o f Cho ice Solu tio ns, a platinu m reseller of V Mware pro ducts.

Acknowledgements

The au tho r wo uld lik e to ackn o wledge J ohn Do dge, Radhak rishnan Manga, P ak -Shun Lei, Fred Schimscheimer, and Maso n U y eda f or their co ntribu tio ns to this ref erence architectu re.

Resources

VMware Th in App Deplo ymen t G u ide http:// www.vmware.co m/ reso urces/ techresou rces/ 1098 VMware Th in App Streamin g In fo rmation Gu ide http:// www.vmware.co m/ reso urces/ tec hresou rces/ 10027 VMw are View Man age r Adm inistra tion Gu ide http:// www.vmware.co m/ pdf /view31_ manu al.pdf

Conc lusion

VMw are View Compo se r De sign Con sideratio ns http:// www.vmware.co m/ f iles/pdf /view_ co mpo ser_design_ co nsiderations_ bp.pdf VMw are View Ref erence Arc hite ctu re http:// www.vmware.co m/ f iles/pdf / resou rces/vmware-view-ref erence-architectu re.pdf
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