Supercharge team collaboration with FlexPod Datacenter for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops
A validated VDI architecture for scalable, high-performance Citrix workloads
Modern datacenters face many challenges including how to deliver a consistent end-user experience across applications, devices, and locations. Many requirements must be considered and questions arise such as: should every user receive a laptop with high-end graphics capabilities? What about secure applications that require enterprise-grade performance and reliability? Virtual desktop infrastructure can help address these questions and balance cost efficiency, security, and 3D performance to deliver applications that end users rely on with a degree of reliability that simply cannot be accomplished by end user devices.
It’s easy to point out the benefits of VDI, but deployment can be a whole different animal; VDI is often regarded as complicated, expensive and time consuming. If only there were a turnkey, validated design that outlined exactly what to expect with a VDI deployment. Enter FlexPod for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, a Cisco Validated Design (CVD) that covers the groundwork required to quickly and easily unlock a legendary tier of collaborative application delivery.
The cheat code for fast, efficient and scalable virtual desktop infrastructure
The FlexPod for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops Deployment Guide covers everything needed to deploy Citrix VDI quickly and consistently. The requirements, best practices, and performance expectations are thoroughly documented to help deliver a consistent experience for thousands of end users. By leveraging Cisco compute, Cisco networking, and NetApp AFF storage, FlexPod engineers have been able to validate up to 2600 virtual desktops in as little as 15 rack units. This guidance is flexible with expansion options for graphically intensive workloads with X-series PCI-e nodes. Scale up, down, out and in based on what your organization needs.
The calm before the storm: Boot and login benchmarks showcase the FlexPod difference
Some of the most common VDI challenges derive from two bottlenecks: startup and logon. Both can cause a “storm,” where resources become exhausted, impacting the end users’ ability to access their virtual desktop. FlexPod has benchmarked and stress tested VDI workloads to help address some of the most common pitfalls of virtual desktops. By using Login VSI and graded by the End-User Experience (EUX) metric, our engineers put FlexPod to the test, simulating both boot and login storms. The combination of high-performance compute, networking, and storage resulted in EUX scores ranging from 7.9 to 8.8 – far exceeding the 6.5 recommended score to help ensure that end users have a seamless experience in the most demanding of environments.
Don’t let the traditional complexities of VDI hold your organization back. With FlexPod for Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops, you have a proven, stress-tested blueprint to deliver exceptional performance and reliability at scale. Ready to transform your end-user experience? Download the FlexPod Datacenter: Citrix Virtual Apps and Desktops with vSphere 8 Deployment Guide and get started on your virtual desktop journey today!
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