VDI Core

Hello,
I have some questions regarding the VDI Core part:
- I want to install 4 servers for VDI Core. I run vda-config script on primary server. I can "only" set two secondary servers within this script. What I have to do to configure the fourth server? Do I have to run only the SRSS part with utconfig -k or do I run vda-config again?
- I want to expand the max number of session (the question when I run vda-config script). How can I do that?
- I want to set a DNS alias to give to my users when they connect with RDP. To load balance between VDI Core servers, do I have this alias "round robin" between all four servers?
Thanks
Laurent

The SRSS web interface comes up fine and appears identical to the others secondary servers... so that looks good.
But the VDI admin page doesn't come up right -- I get a Apache tomcat 404 error (404 pulling up the Login.jsp page). What log file might give me details on this error?
Also, it's difficult to troubleshoot an issue like this because our clients are constantly disconnecting and reconnecting to their desktops... I can't have this server in the SRSS group too long because a few users always end up on it and then they call complaining they can't log in. Is stopping the Sun Ray services on the new host the only way to keep them off it while testing or is there a cleaner way?
We do use the support.oracle.com, but for some reason our VDI support contract isn't listed in there so we can't place an issue on it... we always end up calling and the people taking the ticket details inevitably record something totally confusing or they just omit most of what we said... then when the Oracle support people contact me, they're very confused and it just starts things off bad. Once we get the support contract showing up properly in the support portal, I'm sure things will be a little better for us.
thanks again for the help

Similar Messages

VDI3: what happens when the Primary VDI core fails?

A potential customer asked me this and I did not really know how to answer the question ... sorry if this was asked before. So here we go:
What happens when and if the Primary VDI core fails? Will the entire VDI3 setup go down? Will running sessions be lost? And how do you fix that?
I found this page:
http://wikis.sun.com/display/VDI3/MySQL+Cluster+Reconfiguration+Scenarios
So I assume the "Non-VDI host ==> Primary Management Host" scenario is what would need to be done?
http://wikis.sun.com/display/VDI3/MySQL+Cluster+Reconfiguration+Scenarios#MySQLClusterReconfigurationScenarios-NonVdiToPrimary
If this is correct then this would answer the "how do you fix that?" part. OK then.
But still I'd welcome if anyone could explain what exactly would happen when and if a Primary VDI core fails. The customer's opinion on this is that they are a "single point of failure" because the Primary VDI host is not redundant (as opposed to the 2 x Secondary VDI cores) ... So, is this assumption correct or not?
Thanks in advance.

Hi,
Assuming you have 3 VDI core hosts. One of them is the primary. And the primary goes down. So what happens then:
* The underlying database is still running on the remaining hosts
* All desktop sessions are still running on the remaining hosts
* New session requests will be handled by the remaining hosts.
* All desktops are still running on the virtualization hosts.
So in essence, your VDI cluster is still healthy. The operation is just impacted in this way:
* You can't add new VDI core hosts
* You can't change the configuration of the Sun Ray server failover group
* A failure of another VDI core host (data node) will result into a complete outage of the underlying database
You should bring up the primary again as soon as possible in order to gain failover capabilities again.
-Dirk

VDI: how to assign printers to pools? (Virtualbox)

In VDI 3.2x and 3.3 there are per-pool-settings by which you can define that certain printers should show up in the desktop VM's. However ... I am not really sure about a few things here. The only explanation given in the wiki and in the documentation is that the syntax is:
<printer>=[<driver>]
(URL here: http://wikis.sun.com/display/VDI3dot2/Desktop+Pool+Management+%28All+Topics%29 )
OK, but how exactly am I supposed to do this?
The print-server at customer's site is a Windows 2008 server, so printer queues have a SMB-style notation, e.g. \\Printer-Server\PR08, \\Printer-Server\PR09, and so on ... how can I tell pool A to use \\Printer-Server\PR09 and e.g. pool B to use \\Printer-Server\PR32 ...? (All desktop VM's are Windows 7, 32-bit). Do I need to configure those Windows printer queues locally on the VDI cores?
Or how exactly is this done? Can someone please post an example?

This redirection refers to local printer queues. So you would have to first set these up on the Ray or VDI server (printmgr is your friend here) and then you can use this to redirect into the guest machines.
Bjoern

VDI 3.1 action on card removal setting

We are implementing VDI3.1 sunrays at our call centre. We use virtual center as our back end desktop host and we have come across an issue with the action on card removal setting. Desktops are windows xp sp3 with vdi 3.1 client. We have upgraded all the sunrays to the latest firmware. When a user removes the card and does not return we want the desktop to be recycled after a period of 25mins (1500 secs) this feature works great for small time periods ie 10 - 60 seconds consistently but not for the period we require. Has anyone got this working or is there some sort of limit on the delay time period? Or is there a better way to implement this.
Cheers !!

I'm not aware of any limit on the setting you're using.
You mention that the feature isn't working for you. Is it the case that you are not seeing any attempt to recycle your desktops or is there some other failure ?
Have you checked the cacao logs for errors etc ? You would need to adjust the logging level first. See http://wikis.sun.com/display/VDI3dot1/How+to+Check+the+VDI+Core+Services+and+Logs#HowtoChecktheVDICoreServicesandLogs-HowtoIncreaseorDecreasetheLoggingLeveloftheVDICoreService

Solaris 10 Oracle VDI VirtualBox 3.2 USB support

Dear folks,
This my first time to the forum, since we are in the progress of deploying 240+ thin clients using Oracle VDI. I was piloting the project in a desktop machines with Sunray 3i. I installed Solaris 10 9/10 and Oracle VDI 3.2.1. However, while I was creating WinXP VM in Virtualbox 3.2 -the one which came with Oracle VDI 3.2- I got that error about being unable to connect to USB proxy server. Eventually this error leads to that all my VMs doesn't support USB redirection. So USB flash disk drive doesn't work in my Sunray 3i. Reading VirtualBox documentation Installing on Solaris hosts , I came across this info "*This does not apply to Solaris 10 hosts due to lack of USB support.*" Is this real?
Does this mean I can't redirect USB hardware to my VMs in the server via Sunray 3i? If this is true, what is the workaround for this problem?
Please advise me. . .

Other than the documentation stating it doesn't work, in practice have you tested it to not work also?
We have two Solaris 10u5 machines running Vbox 3.2.12 and they pass through USB fine with our Sun Ray 3's (not 3i's but that shouldn't matter).
Did you enable USB passthrough in the VDI core by selecting the desktop pool and going to the Settings -> Sun Ray RDP Settings? Theres checkboxes to enable USB/smartcard pass through.

Installing Oracle VDI 3.3 into a zone on Solaris x86

Hi everyone,
I'm trying to install Oracle VDI into a zone on an Oracle Solaris Express x86 machine. When I unzip the installer and run ./vda-install in the top dir I get this error:
Oracle VDI 3.3 Installation
+ Installing Oracle VDI Core...
+ Installing Oracle VDI Center Agent...
+ Installing MySQL Database...
+ Installing Oracle VDI Web server...
+ Installing Oracle VDI Manager...
+ Installing RDP Broker...
+ Installing Sun Ray Client...
+ Installing Java Runtime Environment...
+ Installing Sun Ray Server...
Error: There was a problem installing Sun Ray Software 5
Check '/var/sadm/install/logs/vda-install.2011_08_26_19:19:04.log' for details.
Error: There was a problem installing Sun Ray Software 5
Check '/var/sadm/install/logs/vda-install.2011_08_26_19:19:04.log' for details.
It seems that I cannot install Sun Ray Server into a non-global zone. Well that's fine by me provided I don't actually need it.
And her's my question: what of the above do I actually need?
Günther

I guess, it's clear that you need a valid support contract for your Hardware, otherwise your in troubles. A not so bad article about that you kind find at http://www.ypass.net/blog/2010/04/solaris-licensing-changes-the-real-story/
4.) When you purchase hardware, you receive an addendum to the entitlement that grants that piece of hardware perpetual, non-transferable license and entitlement to Solaris.
and additional ...
Sun Servers with a Support Contract
- For people running Solaris on Sun hardware with a Sun hardware support contract, your support contract grants you rights to run future versions of Solaris.

VDI server issues

Hi all!
I am experiencing some issues with our new Solaris VDI system. We are using three Solaris servers, one primary and two secondaries. They are running as VMs on our VSphere clusters, and both the VDI severs and workstations are using a dedicated iSCSI storage box.
Here are the issues I am curently experiencing. The system was workign fine until recently, when I attenmpted to add in a dedicated VDi group from our Activive Directory system for use in a Personal Desktop pool. Since then:
VDI server keeps freezing; often happens when adding users to a pool. After that, the VDA service comes up in maintenance mode (the vdadb:sql service). I can restart it when i clear the maintenance state.
But then:
The clusters seem to contain all three severs briefly, as seen on the primary servers' web console (ie all three show up under the cluster list), then "de-cluser" on the SunRay side(Ie the cluster appears to "lose" the members.
All SunRays seem to point to one server anyway, secondariess never seem to kick in-when I look at the active sessions, they are all pooled on the one secondarys erver which also seems to actively run the VDA service.
Any suggestions would be much appreciated! I can provide further details if needed, too. .

If you're not using an external database, it sounds like you may be using an unsupported configuration.
See the "Virtualized VDI Core Configuration" section at http://wikis.sun.com/display/VDI3dot1/System+Requirements+%28All+Topics%29#SystemRequirements%28AllTopics%29-Unsupported

Architecture question, global VDI deployment

I have an architecture question regarding the use of VDI in a global organization.
We have a pilot VDI Core w/remote mysql setup with 2 hypervisor hosts. We want to bring up 2 more Hypervisor hosts (and VDI Secondaries) in another geographic location, where the local employees would need to connect desktops hosted from their physical location. What we don't want is to need to manage multiple VDI Cores. Ideally we would manage the entire VDI implementation from one pane of glass, having multiple Desktop Provider groups to represent the geographical locations.
Is it possible to just setup VDI Additional Secondaries in the remote locations? What are the pros and cons of that?
Thanks

Yes, simply bind individual interfaces for each domain on your web server,
one for each.
Ensure the appropriate web servers are listening on the appropriate
interfaces and it will work fine.
"Paul S." <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:407c68a1$[email protected]..
>
Hi,
We want to host several applications which will be accessed as:
www.oursite.com/app1 www.oursite.com/app2 (all using port 80 or 443)
Is it possible to have a separate Weblogic domain for each application,all listening
to ports 80 and 443?
Thanks,
Paul

Not able to back up VDI from web interface

Dear all,
i have setup three servers as VDI primary and two secondaries.
in VDI 3.2.1, you can backup VDI core using backup button available on web interface.
i am unable to backup VDI it is showing error. error is unable to read NFS share.
i specified localhost as server and /var/tmp path to backup but it is not working. also there is one storage pool for virtual box VM's. by default on backup wizard it is selecting storage pool path. but is also failed.
what can be the reason.
thanks

See this thread - NFS share on VBox provider

How to prepare MySQL DB for my VDI 3.1 POC

Dear all,
I am not really knows about database. My office asked me to setup and do a simple POC based on Sun VDI 3.1.
I have executed vda-install command and its installed, VDI core, mysql, SRS and others.
Next action is "Prepare your MySQL database" and this step is before running vda-config.
Appreciate if anyone could guide me on how to perform a simple MySQL setup for me to use for my POC on VDI 3.1.
Thanks in advance.

Hi Ali_Sampras ,
1. For a POC you might want to go for Evaluation [ option 0 ].
2. Execute ./vda-install ,reboot your server .
Once the server is up , execute ./vda-config and select option 0
You will have an evaluation setup up and running.
3.
-> You can use option 1/2 for a production setup ,high availability/fail over purpose i.e if you have 3 or more servers.
-> option 3 when you have license to use InnodB engine and have only one server.[here before executing ./vda-config you need to install/configure Innodb on the VDI host] .
-> option 0 when you have a single server and don't require fail over .
HTH ,
Udaya

VDI 3.0 installation problems - VDI database not starting

Hi
I am trying to install VDI 3.0 (released yesterday) on a Sun Fire X2200 server, running Solaris 10u6. The package installation runs just fine, but I can't get VDI configured properly. When running the vdi-config program, I choose to set up a evaluation VDI host, and then everything runs fine until it reaches the "Starting Sun VDI database (MySQL)" point. It hangs there for a couple of minutes, before simply stating "Failed". The configuration program also prints out the following in the end of the run:
Common Agent Container Configuration
   + Restarting Common Agent Container service...
Error when trying to start SMF service: [svc:/application/management/common-agent-container-1:default].
Please check the SMF log file for more information: [/var/svc/log/application-management-common-agent-container-1:default.log].This seems to be because the common-agent-container-1 service depends on vdadb:sql running, which it fails to.
If I try to start vdadb:sql manually after the configuration (using svcadm clear vdadb:sql), the following is put into the services log, and the service is still in maintenance mode:
[ Mar 25 15:16:19 Executing start method ("/opt/SUNWvda/lib/vda-db-service start") ]
Configuration:
   MGMT_NODE=[1]; NDBD_NODE=[1]; SQL_NODE=[1]; MULTI_HOST_MODE=[0];
   NDBD_CONNECTSTRING=[localhost]; NDBD_INITIAL_ARG=[--initial]; NDBD_NODE_ID=[2];
Starting the Sun Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Database service:
   - Starting Management Node... OK
   - Starting Data Node...
     Arguments: [localhost --initial]...
     Error
[ Mar 25 15:21:26 Method "start" exited with status 95 ]I can't seem to get any further debug messages, and I can't find out how to go any further with this, as "Failed" and "Error" seems to be the only error messages I get.
As far as I can see, the error message is coming from the "waitForNdbdNodeStartup" function on line 296 of /opt/SUNWvda/lib/vda-db-service, but I can't really get any nearer than that.
Does anybody know how to get further in this regard?
/Jeppe

Hi, I have been reading and trying the solutions on this post to no avail ... as this post is still open and it seems like the subject still applies to my problem, I am using this one... the case is:
I am trying to setup an evaluation for vdi3 using several machines, 1 for the vdi core, 2 for the secondaries and another one as the storage server. the main and one secondary installed and got configured fine, but the second secondary is failing and I dont know why, I just unconfigured and uninstalled it and did reinstalled and reconfigured it again, but something went wrong, I havent
touched anything except changing the 300 to 16 in the ini file ...
bash-3.00# /opt/SUNWvda/sbin/vda-config
Sun Virtual Desktop Infrastructure 3.0 Configuration
An Evaluation Sun VDI Host configures all necessary components on one server.
1 Primary Sun VDI Host
2 Secondary Sun VDI Host
0 Evaluation Sun VDI Host
Select (1/2/0): 2
Specify the maximum number of concurrent sessions this host will support [100]: 20
There are as many local users created as the maximum number of concurrent sessions defined.
Enter the user ID range start [150000]: 20000
Enter the DNS name of the primary host: holanda
Enter the DNS name of this host [ghana]:
You can use the MySQL database of the Sun VDI cluster or connect to a remote MySQL database.
1 Sun VDI cluster database
2 Remote database
Select ([1]/2):
Do you want to apply the settings? ([y]/n)
Sun Ray Server Software Configuration
+ Providing configuration data...
+ Loading Sun Ray data store...
+ Populating Sun Ray data store...
+ Creating Sun Ray core services configuration...
+ Restarting Sun Ray data store daemon...
+ Configuring Sun Ray Server Software Web Administration...
+ Adding 20 user accounts for Sun Ray sessions...
Sun Ray Client Configuration
+ Enabling Kiosk Mode Policy for All Card and Non-Card Users...
+ Enabling LAN Connections...
+ Configuring Sun Ray Connector for Windows Operating Systems...
+ Restarting Sun Ray Server Software...
MySQL Database Configuration
+ Creating MySQL group (vdadb)...
+ Creating MySQL user (vdadb)...
+ Setting up MySQL directory...
+ Setting up MySQL cluster directory...
+ Initializing database...
+ Starting Sun VDI database (MySQL)...
Failed.
+ Synchronizing time...
Sun VDI Web Administration Configuration
+ Enabling Sun VDI web administration...
+ Restarting Sun VDI web administration...
RDP Broker Configuration
+ Starting RDP broker...
Common Agent Container Configuration
+ Restarting Common Agent Container service...
Error when trying to start SMF service: [svc:/application/management/common-agent-container-1:default].
Please check the SMF log file for more information: [var/svc/log/application-management-common-agent-container-1:default.log].
The configuration of Sun VDI 3.0 has completed.
A log file is available at '/var/adm/log/vda-config.2009_04_13_09:00:44.log'.
The command line tools are located at '/opt/SUNWvda/sbin'.
You can access the Sun VDI web administration at http://ghana:1800
the log shows:
bash-3.00# tail -30 /var/svc/log/application-database-vdadb:core.log
Configuration:
MGMT_NODE=[0]; NDBD_NODE=[1]; SQL_NODE=[0]; MULTI_HOST_MODE=[1];
NDBD_CONNECTSTRING=[holanda]; NDBD_INITIAL_ARG=[--initial]; NDBD_NODE_ID=[2];
Starting the Sun Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Database service:
- Starting Data Node... 2009-04-13 08:37:47 [ndbd] INFO -- Unable to alloc node id
2009-04-13 08:37:47 [ndbd] INFO -- Error : Could not alloc node id at holanda port 1186: No free node id found for ndbd(NDB).
error=2350
2009-04-13 08:37:47 [ndbd] INFO -- Error handler restarting system
2009-04-13 08:37:47 [ndbd] INFO -- Error handler shutdown completed - exiting
sphase=0
exit=-1
Arguments: [holanda --initial ]...
Error (255)
[ Apr 13 08:37:47 Method "start" exited with status 95 ]
[ Apr 13 09:04:02 Disabled. ]
[ Apr 13 09:04:02 Rereading configuration. ]
[ Apr 13 09:04:02 Rereading configuration. ]
[ Apr 13 09:04:03 Rereading configuration. ]
[ Apr 13 09:04:03 Enabled. ]
[ Apr 13 09:04:03 Executing start method ("/opt/SUNWvda/lib/vda-db-service start") ]
Configuration:
MGMT_NODE=[0]; NDBD_NODE=[1]; SQL_NODE=[0]; MULTI_HOST_MODE=[1];
NDBD_CONNECTSTRING=[holanda]; NDBD_INITIAL_ARG=[--initial]; NDBD_NODE_ID=[2];
Starting the Sun Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Database service:
- Starting Data Node...
Arguments: [holanda --initial ]...
Error
[ Apr 13 09:11:33 Method "start" exited with status 95 ]
bash-3.00#
bash-3.00# svcs -l svc:/application/database/vdadb:corefmri svc:/application/database/vdadb:core
name SUNWvda MySQL Cluster and Application
enabled true
state maintenance
next_state none
state_time Mon Apr 13 09:11:33 2009
logfile /var/svc/log/application-database-vdadb:core.log
restarter svc:/system/svc/restarter:default
contract_id
dependency require_all/none svc:/milestone/network:default (online)
dependency require_all/none svc:/system/filesystem/local:default (online)
dependency require_all/refresh svc:/milestone/name-services (online)
bash-3.00# svcs -a|grep vda
legacy_run 8:58:36 lrc:/etc/rc3_d/S99vda-webadmin-init
disabled 9:04:02 svc:/application/database/vdadb:sql
maintenance 9:11:33 svc:/application/database/vdadb:core
bash-3.00# cacaoadm status
default instance is ENABLED at system startup.
default instance is not running.
bash-3.00# /opt/SUNWvda/sbin/vda-db-status
Node Type IP/HostName Id Status
Management node holanda 1 up
Data node ghana 2 down
Data node paraguay 3 up
as I said, the only thing I changed is the value for the redo files, as suggested in one of the replies above.
This is the second time I uninstall/unconfigure this server and start over (config/install)
this is a newly installed Sol10 U6 system:
bash-3.00# uname -a
SunOS ghana 5.10 Generic_138889-03 i86pc i386 i86pc
bash-3.00# prtconf
System Configuration: Sun Microsystems i86pc
Memory size: 8064 Megabytes
System Peripherals (Software Nodes):
bash-3.00# prtdiag | head -10
System Configuration: Sun Microsystems Sun Fire X4100 Server
BIOS Configuration: American Megatrends Inc. 080010 01/31/2006
BMC Configuration: IPMI 2.0 (KCS: Keyboard Controller Style)
==== Processor Sockets ====================================
Version Location Tag
AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 254 H0
AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 254 H1
bash-3.00# swap -s
total: 876688k bytes allocated + 405180k reserved = 1281868k used, 8752988k available
help is appreciated.

VDI 3.2.2 setup of MySQL and Networkinterfaces.

We are installing server with several network cards as VDI 3.2.2 Sunray brokers and Mysql servers.
There seem to be problems with using non-default interfaces for MySql comminuications.
Is it nessessary to use the Primary HOST interface as mySQL interfaces for the vdi mysql cluster
OR
Can ip interfaces that are not primary ( i.e have other names than the hostname ) be used for mySQL cluster communications ??
//Lars

Okay, here's an interesting twist. When I log into the other secondary VDI core server, the button isn't grayed out.

SRS Confusion in VDI -3

Hi Everyone,
I have used VDI 2 with VMWare Infrastructure 3. Now VDI 3 has been released.
I have a great confusion after reading its all documentation.and i will be very grateful if someone can clear it.
In VDI 2, SRS and VDC work almost total separately.
A SRS Servers Group replicates its database separately, has its own way to configure DHCP range + SRS Ip addresses. Where as when ive read all the documentaion of VDI i havent found configuration regarding howto plan for DHCP ranges etc.
Is VDI 3 using MySQL databse to store all SRS related configuration ?
How to do DHCP configuration in VDI 3?
OR we still need to configure SRS separately in VDI 3 ? (which has not been mentioned in docs)
Im really confused about it.
Thanks and Regards
usman

The main change between VDI 2 and VDI 3 is the installation/configuration experience. In VDI 2 you had to manually install and configure different pieces of software (SRSS, SRWC, and VDC) and the whole process was complex and error-prone (at least for customers new to SRS and VDI). Thus we tried to simplify things here and offer now a single out of the box experience for the whole installation/configuration story.
That said, in VDI 3 there is no need anymore to install SRSS and SRWC manually before installing VDC. Instead, everything is installed automatically using a single installation script (vda-install). We also offer a configuration script (vda-config) that configures the various pieces for common usage scenarios. It is still possible to adapt or fine tune things later using the usual SRSS commands.
There have been no changes to the SRS product itself. Thus SRS still uses its own LDAP-based datastore for storing configuration settings specific to SRS. However, VDC (aka VDI core) now takes advantage of a full blown MySQL database for storing settings specific to VDI. This includes desktop pool settings, desktop assignments, etc. - in VDI 2 these settings have been stored in the SRS datastore, but this created several issues. In VDI 3 the read/write cycles/frequency are higher compared to VDI 2 and thus an LDAP based datastore was no longer the best suitable choice.
So coming back to your questions:
1. "Is VDI 3 using MySQL databse to store all SRS related configuration ?"
=> No, all SRS related configuration is still stored in the LDAP-based SRS datastore - also replication of the SRS configuration data happens as before.
2. "How to do DHCP configuration in VDI 3?"
=> You first install the VDI 3 product using vda-install and vda-config as described in the docs. This will also setup SRS and configures the SRS failover group and Kiosk settings. You can then adapt things as needed using the normal SRSS commands. For example, use utadm -a <interface name> to configure a dedicated interconnect for the Sun Ray DTUs. This will also ask you for the desired DHCP settings.
3. "OR we still need to configure SRS separately in VDI 3 ? (which has not been mentioned in docs)"
=> A separate installation of SRS is no longer needed. In fact we require that SRSS and SRWC are NOT installed/configured when starting the VDI 3 installation. The SRSS/SRWC parts are automatically setup as part of the VDI 3 install/configuration script.
Hope that makes things clearer.
- Klaus

Removing VDI 3.0 while running VMware View 3.1.2

My customer originally configured Sun VDI 3.0 as a broker and decided to switch to VMware View 3.1.2. Since there is no need to run two brokers on the system I would like to remove Sun VDI 3.0. How can I do this safely? Do I need to completely reinstall the entire configuration, or is there a way to just remove Sun VDI core and leave Sun Ray Windows Connector 2.1 and Sun Ray Server Software 4.1 on the system along with VMware View 3.1.2?
Note: The primary and three secondaries are running in Solaris 10 virtual machines on vSphere 4.0
Issue: I would like to run only ONE broker and use the primary for session connects, thereby maximizing the usage of ALL servers and spreading the load evenly.
What thoughts?

Yup, it is.. Too bad since I wanted to test the actual upgrade process out of production (although from my experience, everything is pretty smooth the way it is).
I assume I'll have to grab the 3.0 packages, use them to uninstall, then do a fresh 3.1 install?

Questions before an internal lab POC (on old underperformant hardware)

Hello VDI users,
NB: I initially asked this list of questions to my friends at the
SunRay-Users mailing list, but then I found this forum as a
more relevant place.
It's a bit long and I understand that many questions may have
already been answered in detail on the forum or VDI wiki. If it's
not too much a burden - please just reply with a link in this case.
I'd like this thread to become a reference of sorts to point to our
management and customers.
I'm growing an interest to try out a Sun VDI POC in our lab
with VirtualBox and Sunrays, so I have a number of questions
popping up. Not all of them are sunray-specific (in fact, most
are VirtualBox-related), but I humbly hope you won't all flame
me for that?
I think I can get most of the answers by experiment, but if
anyone feels like sharing their experience on these matters
so I can expect something a'priori - you're welcome to do so ;)
Some questions involve best practices, however. I understand
that all mileages vary, but perhaps you can warn me (and others)
about some known-not-working configurations...
1) VDI core involves a replicated database (such as MySQL)
for redundant configuration of its working set storage...
1.1) What is the typical load on this database? Should it
just be "available", or should it also have a high mark
in performance?
For example, we have a number of old Sun Netra servers
(UltraSPARC-II 450-650MHz) which even have a shared SCSI
JBOD (Sun StorEdge S1 with up to 3 disks).
Would these old horses plow the field well? (Some of them
do run our SRSS/uttsc tasks okay)
1.2) This idea seems crippled a bit anyway - if the database
master node goes down, it seems (but I may be wrong) that
one of the slave DB nodes should be promoted to a master
status, and then when the master goes up, their statuses
should be sorted out again.
Or the master should be made HA in shared-storage cluster.
(Wonder question) Why didn't they use Sun DSEE or OpenDS
with built-in multimaster replication instead?
2) The documentation I've seen refers to a specific version
of VirtualBox - 2.0.8, as the supported platform for VDI3.
It was implied that there were specific features in that
build made for Sun VDI 3 to work with it. Or so I got it.
2.1) A few versions rolled out since that one, 3.0 is out
now. Will they work together okay, work but as unsupported
config, not work at all?
2.2) If specifically VirtualBox 2.0.8 is to be used, is there
some secret build available, or the one from Old Versions
download page will do?
3) How much a bad idea is it to roll out a POC deployment
(up to 10 virtual desktop machines) with VirtualBox VMs
running on the same server which contains their data
(such as Sun Fire X4500 with snv_114 or newer)?
3.1) If this is possible at all, and if the VM data is a
(cloned) ZFS dataset/volume, should a networked protocol
(iSCSI) be used for VM data access anyway, or is it
possible (better?) to use local disk access methods?
3.2) Is it possible to do a POC deployment (forfeiting such
features as failover, scalability, etc.) on a single
machine alltogether?
3.3) Is it feasible to extend a single-machine deployment
to a multiple-machine deployment in the future (that
is, without reinstalling/reconfiguring from scratch)?
4) Does VBox RDP server and its VDI interaction with SRSS
have any specific benefits to native Windows RDP, such
as responsiveness, bandwidth, features (say, microphone
input)?
Am I correct to say that VBox RDP server enables the
touted 3D acceleration (OpenGL 2.0 and DX8/9), and lets
connections over RDP to any VM BIOS and OSes, not just
Windows ones?
4.1) Does the presence of a graphics accelerator card on
the VirtualBox server matter for remote use of the VM's
(such as through a Sun Ray and VDI)?
4.2) Concerning the microphone input, as the question often
asked for SRSS+uttsc and replied by RDP protocol limits...
Is it possible to pass the audio over some virtualized
device for the virtual machine? Is it (not) implemented
already? ;)
5) Are there known DO's and DONT's for VM desktop workloads?
For example, simply office productivity software users
and software developers with Java IDEs or ongoing C/C++
compilations should have different RAM/disk footprints.
Graphics designers heavy on Adobe Photoshop are another
breed (which we've seen to crawl miserably in Windows
RDP regardless of win/mstsc or srss/uttsc clients).
Can it be predicted that some class of desktops can
virtualize well and others should remain "physical"?
NB: I guess this is a double-question - on virtualization
of remote desktop tasks over X11/RDP/ALP (graphics bound),
as well as a question on virtualization of whole desktop
machines (IO/RAM/CPU bound).
6) Are there any rule-of-thumb values for virtualized
HDD and networking filesystems (NFS, CIFS) throughput?
(I've seen the sizing guides on VDI Wiki; anything else
to consider?)
For example, the particular users' data (their roaming
profiles, etc.) should be provisioned off the networked
storage server, temporary files (browser caches, etc.)
should only exist in the virtual machine, and home dirs
with working files may better be served off the network
share altogether.
I wonder how well this idea works in real life?
In particular, how well does a virtualized networked
or "local" homedir work for typical software compile
tasks (r/w access to many small files)?
7) I'm also interested in the scenario of VMs spawned
from "golden image" and destroyed after logout and/or
manually (i.e. after "golden image"'s update/patching).
It would be interesting to enable the cloned machine
to get an individual hostname, join the Windows domain
(if applicable), promote the user's login to the VM's
local Administrators group or assign RBAC profiles or
sudoer permissions, perhaps download the user's domain
roaming profile - all prior to the first login on this
VM...
Is there a way to pass some specific parameters to the
VM cloning method (i.e. the user's login name, machine's
hostname and VM's OS)?
If not, perhaps there are some best-practice suggestions
on similar provisioning of cloned hosts during first boot
(this problem is not as new as VDI, anyways)?
8) How great is the overhead (quantitative or subjective)
of VM desktops overall (if more specific than values in
sizing guide on Wiki)? I've already asked on HDD/networking
above. Other aspects involve:
How much more RAM does a VM-executing process typically
use than is configured for the VM? In the JavaOne demo
webinar screenshots I think I've seen a Windows 7 host
with 512Mb RAM, and a VM process sized about 575Mb.
The Wiki suggests 1.2 times more. Is this a typical value?
Are there "hidden costs" in other VBox processes?
How efficiently is the CPU emulated/provided (if the VBox
host has the relevant VT-x extensions), especially for
such CPU-intensive tasks as compilation?
*) Question from our bookkeeping team:
Does creating such a POC lab and testing it in office's
daily work (placing some employees or guests in front of
virtual desktops instead of real computers or SR Solaris
desktops) violate some licenses for Sun VDI, VirtualBox,
Sun Rays, Sun SGD, Solaris, etc? (The SRSS and SSGD are
licensed; Solaris is, I guess, licensed by the download
form asking for how many hosts we have).
Since all of the products involved (sans SGD) don't need
a proof of license to install and run, and they can be
downloaded somewhat freely (after quickly clicking thru
the tomes of license agreements), it's hard for a mere
admin to reply such questions ;)
If there are some limits (# of users, connections, VMs,
CPUs, days of use, whatever) which differentiate a legal
deployment for demo (or even legal for day-to-day work)
from a pirated abuse - please let me know.
//Jim
Edited by: JimKlimov on Jul 7, 2009 10:59 AM
Added licensing question

Hello VDI users,
NB: I initially asked this list of questions to my friends at the
SunRay-Users mailing list, but then I found this forum as a
more relevant place.
It's a bit long and I understand that many questions may have
already been answered in detail on the forum or VDI wiki. If it's
not too much a burden - please just reply with a link in this case.
I'd like this thread to become a reference of sorts to point to our
management and customers.
I'm growing an interest to try out a Sun VDI POC in our lab
with VirtualBox and Sunrays, so I have a number of questions
popping up. Not all of them are sunray-specific (in fact, most
are VirtualBox-related), but I humbly hope you won't all flame
me for that?
I think I can get most of the answers by experiment, but if
anyone feels like sharing their experience on these matters
so I can expect something a'priori - you're welcome to do so ;)
Some questions involve best practices, however. I understand
that all mileages vary, but perhaps you can warn me (and others)
about some known-not-working configurations...
1) VDI core involves a replicated database (such as MySQL)
for redundant configuration of its working set storage...
1.1) What is the typical load on this database? Should it
just be "available", or should it also have a high mark
in performance?
For example, we have a number of old Sun Netra servers
(UltraSPARC-II 450-650MHz) which even have a shared SCSI
JBOD (Sun StorEdge S1 with up to 3 disks).
Would these old horses plow the field well? (Some of them
do run our SRSS/uttsc tasks okay)
1.2) This idea seems crippled a bit anyway - if the database
master node goes down, it seems (but I may be wrong) that
one of the slave DB nodes should be promoted to a master
status, and then when the master goes up, their statuses
should be sorted out again.
Or the master should be made HA in shared-storage cluster.
(Wonder question) Why didn't they use Sun DSEE or OpenDS
with built-in multimaster replication instead?
2) The documentation I've seen refers to a specific version
of VirtualBox - 2.0.8, as the supported platform for VDI3.
It was implied that there were specific features in that
build made for Sun VDI 3 to work with it. Or so I got it.
2.1) A few versions rolled out since that one, 3.0 is out
now. Will they work together okay, work but as unsupported
config, not work at all?
2.2) If specifically VirtualBox 2.0.8 is to be used, is there
some secret build available, or the one from Old Versions
download page will do?
3) How much a bad idea is it to roll out a POC deployment
(up to 10 virtual desktop machines) with VirtualBox VMs
running on the same server which contains their data
(such as Sun Fire X4500 with snv_114 or newer)?
3.1) If this is possible at all, and if the VM data is a
(cloned) ZFS dataset/volume, should a networked protocol
(iSCSI) be used for VM data access anyway, or is it
possible (better?) to use local disk access methods?
3.2) Is it possible to do a POC deployment (forfeiting such
features as failover, scalability, etc.) on a single
machine alltogether?
3.3) Is it feasible to extend a single-machine deployment
to a multiple-machine deployment in the future (that
is, without reinstalling/reconfiguring from scratch)?
4) Does VBox RDP server and its VDI interaction with SRSS
have any specific benefits to native Windows RDP, such
as responsiveness, bandwidth, features (say, microphone
input)?
Am I correct to say that VBox RDP server enables the
touted 3D acceleration (OpenGL 2.0 and DX8/9), and lets
connections over RDP to any VM BIOS and OSes, not just
Windows ones?
4.1) Does the presence of a graphics accelerator card on
the VirtualBox server matter for remote use of the VM's
(such as through a Sun Ray and VDI)?
4.2) Concerning the microphone input, as the question often
asked for SRSS+uttsc and replied by RDP protocol limits...
Is it possible to pass the audio over some virtualized
device for the virtual machine? Is it (not) implemented
already? ;)
5) Are there known DO's and DONT's for VM desktop workloads?
For example, simply office productivity software users
and software developers with Java IDEs or ongoing C/C++
compilations should have different RAM/disk footprints.
Graphics designers heavy on Adobe Photoshop are another
breed (which we've seen to crawl miserably in Windows
RDP regardless of win/mstsc or srss/uttsc clients).
Can it be predicted that some class of desktops can
virtualize well and others should remain "physical"?
NB: I guess this is a double-question - on virtualization
of remote desktop tasks over X11/RDP/ALP (graphics bound),
as well as a question on virtualization of whole desktop
machines (IO/RAM/CPU bound).
6) Are there any rule-of-thumb values for virtualized
HDD and networking filesystems (NFS, CIFS) throughput?
(I've seen the sizing guides on VDI Wiki; anything else
to consider?)
For example, the particular users' data (their roaming
profiles, etc.) should be provisioned off the networked
storage server, temporary files (browser caches, etc.)
should only exist in the virtual machine, and home dirs
with working files may better be served off the network
share altogether.
I wonder how well this idea works in real life?
In particular, how well does a virtualized networked
or "local" homedir work for typical software compile
tasks (r/w access to many small files)?
7) I'm also interested in the scenario of VMs spawned
from "golden image" and destroyed after logout and/or
manually (i.e. after "golden image"'s update/patching).
It would be interesting to enable the cloned machine
to get an individual hostname, join the Windows domain
(if applicable), promote the user's login to the VM's
local Administrators group or assign RBAC profiles or
sudoer permissions, perhaps download the user's domain
roaming profile - all prior to the first login on this
VM...
Is there a way to pass some specific parameters to the
VM cloning method (i.e. the user's login name, machine's
hostname and VM's OS)?
If not, perhaps there are some best-practice suggestions
on similar provisioning of cloned hosts during first boot
(this problem is not as new as VDI, anyways)?
8) How great is the overhead (quantitative or subjective)
of VM desktops overall (if more specific than values in
sizing guide on Wiki)? I've already asked on HDD/networking
above. Other aspects involve:
How much more RAM does a VM-executing process typically
use than is configured for the VM? In the JavaOne demo
webinar screenshots I think I've seen a Windows 7 host
with 512Mb RAM, and a VM process sized about 575Mb.
The Wiki suggests 1.2 times more. Is this a typical value?
Are there "hidden costs" in other VBox processes?
How efficiently is the CPU emulated/provided (if the VBox
host has the relevant VT-x extensions), especially for
such CPU-intensive tasks as compilation?
*) Question from our bookkeeping team:
Does creating such a POC lab and testing it in office's
daily work (placing some employees or guests in front of
virtual desktops instead of real computers or SR Solaris
desktops) violate some licenses for Sun VDI, VirtualBox,
Sun Rays, Sun SGD, Solaris, etc? (The SRSS and SSGD are
licensed; Solaris is, I guess, licensed by the download
form asking for how many hosts we have).
Since all of the products involved (sans SGD) don't need
a proof of license to install and run, and they can be
downloaded somewhat freely (after quickly clicking thru
the tomes of license agreements), it's hard for a mere
admin to reply such questions ;)
If there are some limits (# of users, connections, VMs,
CPUs, days of use, whatever) which differentiate a legal
deployment for demo (or even legal for day-to-day work)
from a pirated abuse - please let me know.
//Jim
Edited by: JimKlimov on Jul 7, 2009 10:59 AM
Added licensing question

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