View design question (multiple locations)

[markokobal]

Hi,

I’m testing View5 on vSphere5 and have an design question regarding multiple locations. See the picture below. We have two locations, each has its own datacentre. Unfortunately those specific two locations are currently connected only via 20/20 Mbit VDSL internet connection and this can’t be currently improved.

The LOCATION 2 is actually a branch office with many clients and also its own small datacentre (also based on vSphere5). The main datacentre is at LOCATION 1 and there is where I would like to put all my virtual desktops (not only for LOCATION 2 but for all other locations as well) and where the View Connection Manager will be. The problem is that on the LOCATION 2 (the branch office) there are some file servers that users on that location heavily uses.

Question no. 1:

a)      Put virtual desktops on LOCATION 1 -> in that case PCoIP will provide me an good enough connection, the problem is accessing file serves on LOCATION 1 from virtual desktops (this is the GREEN path).

b)      Put virtual desktops on LOCATION 2 -> in that case client will have to go through the connection manager and then to the virtual desktop on LOCATION 2 and back to the client … any idea how would this work (this is the PURPLE path) … it seem like an heavy network overhead? However, that would ensue fast access to file servers on LOCATION 2.

Another solution is to put View Connection Manager also in the LOCATION 2, but that would make me administer another system and I would like to keep things simple.

What do you suggest?

Question no. 2:

Do I have to route traffic from LOCATION 2 to LOCATION 1 where the View Connection Manager lives through VPN or is the PCoIP traffic encrypted by itself and is OK to put it through (controlled) DMZ?

Thanks for help!

[royberk]

How far is location 1 from location 2?

[markokobal]

Hi,

Sory for the late feedback ... it's about 50 km (30 miles).

[mittim12]

Marko,  I think your going to have a really hard time getting this completly answered on the forums as something like this requires testing to ensure user experience.  If it were up to me i would try to go with option 1 because I want to centralize as much as possible in the main datacenter.  Either way your  going to need to cross the WAN for something.  

Also to try and answer some of the other questions.   PCOIP is encrypted and adding a replica connection broker in datacenter 2 would not be supported as replication accross the WAN is not supported.

[nonsparker · Accepted solution]

Wouldn't the Orange path in the attached image be more accurate if Secure tunneling was turned off?

[markokobal]

Hi,

Huh ... is something like orange path really doable? Doesn't all of the PCoIP traffic always go through View Connection Server (from client to virtual desktop and vice versa)?

[mittim12]

The PCOIP traffic doesn't have to be tunneled through a server as it works perfectly fine doing a direct connect.    You would have issues if you were to drop the WAN connection since your broker is sitting on one side of the WAN and your desktop is on the other. 

[markokobal]

Hi,

OK, and how can I configure direct PCoIP connection to the virtual desktop (I apologize if this is trivial and I have a lack of knowledge from the VMware View design...)? The VMware View Client always connects to the View Connection Server, which then authorizes me to the destination virtual desktop. Are you saying that from that point on the PCoIP communication is only between the VMware View Client and virtual desktop? Is that the default standard configuration or are there any special settings?

[nonsparker]

But in theory if the wan connection dropped and tunneling was off the active connections would not be disrupted.

[mittim12]

Marko, out of the box PCOIP is direct connect and will remain that way unless you select the use PCOIP gateway on the broker.

Adam, that is correct but if they were not connected they wouldn't be able to connect or if they dropped their connection they could not reconnect.

Sent from my iPhone

[nonsparker]

Well than what about this topology?

This would help the issue with new connections reconnect if the link between sites is down. You still manage the system from the primary broker, the users just use the replica to authenitcate. 

[mittim12]

VMware doesn't support having a replica group traversing a WAN connection.   

[markokobal]

Hi,

Just a quick update: we have implemented the solution as nonsparker suggested (authorization into view connection server, then direct PCoIP connection from Zero Client to virtual desktop). And we are very satisfied for now. We are testing the Dell FX100 and Wyse P20 zero clients and both are very stable and responsive, although windows applications (movement of windows, etc) is noticeably better with Wyse P20 (obviously the 128MB of RAM vs 64MB in Dell makes a difference). I can confirm that View5 + PCoIP + Wyse P20 bring a total and full end-user desktop experience!

[nonsparker]

Glad to hear you are having a good experince with View!