Recently I posted about the ability to deploy persistent virtual desktops for close to the same cost as non-persistent virtual desktop. The solution we validated in the lab was focused on delivering the cost reductions at the storage layer via a Microsoft Scale Out File Server.
At Microsoft TechEd, Dell announced the latest version of our desktop virtualization reference architecture which includes Microsoft Storage Spaces. Dell had previously announced official support for Storage Spaces back in February, but this is a first for a major hardware vendor announcing support for the desktop virtualization workload specifically. Below you can see the high level design points that were validated.
As you can see, we still leverage SMB for as the communication protocol between the Hyper-V cluster and the file server. The major change comes from the addition of SAS HBA connections and the PowerVault MD1220 JBOD enclosure. The other change, that you may notice, is the change from the PowerEdge R720 to the R620 as the file server. The main driver for this was the file server did not need a massive amount of compute resources to achieve scale. Once we identified the reduced configuration, we were able to also reduce the rack unit size of the server.
The net result of all of this, is a continued reduction of infrastructure costs associated with desktop virtualization. That and you can also reduce the amount of vendor interaction (and finger pointing) you require to deploy and support a desktop visualization solution.
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