Grading Virtualization Brokers

Organizations that want to avoid “virtualization lock-in” need the ability to evaluate the benefits of each virtualization platform – and choose the right one for its environment.  To do so, each consolidation target platform, either Terminal Server or VDI-based must be graded in accordance with its degree of efficiency in several aspects:

• CPU and Memory Utilization
• I/O Utilization, i.e. to what degree is the I/O to the virtual local drives efficient
• Virtual Network I/O, i.e. how fast and effective is the network-based communication between the hosts physically located on the same server (or server cluster)
• Bandwidth Utilization, i.e. how efficient is the communication protocol between the virtual desktop and the terminal client
• Velocity of screen refreshes and chattiness of application with its supporting back-end application servers and infrastructure

Aternity’s Frontline Performance Intelligence Platform analyzes and understands the impact on end user experience associated with the each of the following key scenarios:

• Whether resource consumption by an application will overburden a SBC environment
• If a rich-client solution would be more adept for handling the load
• The communication frequency between an application and the backend, i.e. whether it is beneficial for the enterprise to relocate a Citrix/RDP server closer to the application
• The velocity of screen refreshes, i.e. high velocity in this instance would require large bitmap transfers and in the case of an SBC, virtualization implementation would not be recommended
• Evaluating the “real” CPU, memory, and IO metrics associated with VMWare, and similar solutions, to understand precisely what is actually running on physical hardware and where end users are experiencing latency
• Generating analytics behind the “real” end user experience of business applications in order to understand acceptable latency thresholds.  This provides enterprises with the insight required to make fact-based strategic business decisions around resource allocation, including when to move or re-tune underperforming or underutilized virtual machines onto different physical servers
• Mapping virtual machines to physical servers, their density, and the interplay of the different virtual machine images across time and configurations

A representation of the table (see example on BELOW) is embedded and maintained within Aternity’s desktop

Visualizing the Impact of Virtualization on End User Experience

Another key component to succinctly evaluate each virtualization platform is a bottom-line actionable summary of the most suitable virtualization platform for the application mix used by different user groups.