This document discusses the architecture of VMware Horizon Workspace and how to configure it for scale and performance. It describes the different virtual appliance components that make up a Horizon Workspace deployment including the configurator, service, data, connector, and gateway VAs. It provides hardware sizing recommendations for each VA based on the number of supported users. It also discusses vSphere configuration considerations and best practices for backup and high availability when deploying Horizon Workspace.

1. Architecting VMware Horizon Workspace for Scale
and Performance
Jared Cook, VMware
Andrew Johnson, VMware
Kit Colbert, VMware
EUC4546
#EUC4546

2. 22
Agenda
 Horizon Workspace Architecture
• vApp
• Configurator
• Connector
• Service
• Data
• Data Preview
• Gateway
• Clients
 Horizon Workspace vSphere and vApp Architecture
• vCenter Configuration
• Backup and Recovery
 Q&A

3. 33
Horizon Workspace 1.5 Architecture

4. 44
Horizon Workspace vApp
Workspace vApp
Configurator
VA
OS (SLES)
tcserver
Service VA
OS (SLES)
App
API
DBtcserver
Data VA
OS (SLES)
App
API
DB LDAPJetty
App
Connector
VA
OS (SLES)
tcserver
App
Gateway
VA
OS (SLES)
Nginx
Modules
• Central Wizard UI
• Distributes settings
across VAs
• Network, Gateway,
vCenter, SMTP
attributes
• Add / remove modules
• Manage certs, security
• User authentication (RSA SecureID)
• AD secure bind and synchronization
• Set replication schedule
• Sync View pools and ThinApp
• Enables single user-
facing domain
• Routes requests to
correct node
• Workspace Admin UI
• Application Catalog
• Manage user entitlements
• Workspace Groups
• Reporting
• Stores files
• Controls file sharing policy for
internal and external users
• Manage file preview server
• Serves end user web UI

5. 55
Performance Hardware Configuration
 Host Machine Spec : Dell PowerEdge R815 - 32 CPU(2 CPU,16
cores each) x 2.6 GHz AMD Processor, 256 GB RAM
• Service VM – 4 CPU, 8 GB Memory per VM
• Data VM – 8 CPU, 16 GB Memory per VM
• Gateway VM – 2 CPU, 2 GB Memory per VM (default values)
• Configurator VM - 1 CPU, 1 GB Memory per VM (default values)
• Connector VM - 2 CPU, 4 GB Memory VM (default values)
• External Database – (only one in use in any given test)
• Oracle DB - 4 CPU, 8 GB Memory per VM
• vPostgres DB - 4 CPU, 8 GB Memory per VM
• Active Directory (Version Win 2008 R2) - 2 CPU, 4 GB Memory VM

6. 66
Horizon Workspace – Configurator VA
• Configure vApp
• First VA
• Heartbeat
• Add/Remove other Horizon Workspace VAs
• Only one Configurator VA per vApp
• Communication Workflow
Workspace vApp
Configurator
VA
OS (SLES)
tcserver
App
Service VA
OS (SLES)
App
API
DBtcserver
Data VA
OS (SLES)
App
API
DB LDAPJetty
Connector
VA
OS (SLES)
tcserver
App
Gateway
VA
OS (SLES)
Nginx
Modules

7. 77
Horizon Workspace –
Configurator VA Performance Characteristics
• Sized at 1 CPU, 1 GB Memory
• Support for Entire vAPP
• 1 Configurator VA per vAPP
• Due to not playing a Role on interacting with Users this appliance does not
need many resources, as it is just keeps the vAPP well organized

8. 88
Horizon Workspace – Connector VA
• Authentication and Integration
• Types of Authentication (Kerberos, AD, RSA)
• How to architecture for different authentication types
• Each Connector VA can support up to 30,000 users
Workspace vApp
Configurator
VA
OS (SLES)
tcserver
Service VA
OS (SLES)
App
API
DBtcserver
Data VA
OS (SLES)
App
API
DB LDAPJetty
App
Connector
VA
OS (SLES)
tcserver
App
Gateway
VA
OS (SLES)
Nginx
Modules

9. 99
Horizon Workspace – Connector VA Performance Characteristics
10K Users
(40 simultaneous users)
30K Users
(40 simultaneous users)
CPU use - GW 20-60% 10-65%
CPU use - Service 15-80% 10-85%
CPU use - Data 10-40% 10-50%
CPU use - Conn 5-30% 5-30%
Throughput 5.64 Calls/Sec 5.71 Calls/Sec
10,202*5 Launches
in 30 minutes
10,335*5 Launches
in 30 minutes

10. 1010
Horizon Workspace – Service VA
• Administration and management
• Entitlements, Global Catalog, Reporting, Device Registration
• For Enterprise deployments two or more Service VAs are suggested
• Each Service VA can handle up to 100,000 users
Workspace vApp
Configurator
VA
OS (SLES)
tcserver
Service VA
OS (SLES)
App
API
DBtcserver
Data VA
OS (SLES)
App
API
DB LDAPJetty
App
Connector
VA
OS (SLES)
tcserver
App
Gateway
VA
OS (SLES)
Nginx
Modules

11. 1111
Horizon Workspace – Service VA Performance Comparison
 Goal
• Performance between HWS 1.0 and 1.5
 Configuration
• 10000 users entitled to 1 web app, 100 groups, 4 vCPUs, 8 GB RAM
 Results
Test HWS 1.0 HWS 1.5
User sync 232 users/min 357 users/min
App entitlement 189 users/min 909 users/min
Data provisioning 45-333 users/min 263 users/min
Data deprovisioning 333 users/min 769 users/min

12. 1212
Horizon Workspace – Service VA Performance Characteristics
Test 10K Users 30K Users
Sync Users 30 Minutes
110 Minutes
Group Membership 20 Minutes
180 Minutes
Total Dir Sync 50 Minutes
190 Minutes
Provision to Data 30 Minutes
81 Minutes
Entitlements 53 Minutes
65 Minutes
De-Provision 30 Minutes
45 Minutes

13. 1313
Horizon Workspace – Data VA
• It is recommended that each Data VA support up to 1,000 users
• At least three Data VAs are required. The first Data VA is a master data node,
the others are user data nodes
• Each user data node requires its own dedicated volume. In proof of concept or
small-scale pilot scenarios, you can use a Virtual Machine Disk (VMDK). For
production, you must use NFS.
• Choice of LibreOffice (included in data-va) or Microsoft Office Preview server
Workspace vApp
Configurator
VA
OS (SLES)
tcserver
Service VA
OS (SLES)
App
API
DBtcserver
Data VA
OS (SLES)
App
API
DB LDAPJetty
App
Connector
VA
OS (SLES)
tcserver
App
Gateway
VA
OS (SLES)
Nginx
Modules

14. 1414
Horizon Workspace – Data Performance: Data Upload + Auth
• Test
• Measure authentication rate and response time during heavy data upload
• Data users uploading 100 1MB files in 1 hour, 50 concurrent users logging in
• Configuration
• 4 vCPUs, 8 GB RAM for service, gateway, 8 vCPUs, 16 GB RAM for data
• Results
Test
HWS 1.0
(500)
HWS 1.0
(1000)
HWS 1.5
(500)
HWS 1.5
(1000)
Auth response time 9 sec 24 sec 9 sec 26 sec
Auth throughput 2.1 tx/sec 5.5 tx/sec 1.7 tx/sec 5.7 tx/sec
Data CPU Usage 60-80% 90-100% 65% 85%
GW CPU Usage 50-65% 70-100% 55% 85%

15. 1515
Horizon Workspace – Data Preview Services (MS Office)
• Windows 7 Enterprise or Windows 2008 R2 Standard required
• MS Office 2010 Professional, 64-bit required
• Horizon Data Preview Installer
• Admin account w/ permissions to create local accounts
• Disable UAC
• Conversion of documents in real-time
Environment Server
OS Windows Server 2008 R2
RAM 4GB
vCPU 4 vCPU (8 cores)
Network 1Gbps
Software MS Office 2010 Professional

16. 1616
Horizon Workspace – Data Preview Performance Characteristics

17. 1717
Horizon Workspace – Gateway VA
• The Gateway VA provides a single namespace
for all Horizon Workspace interaction
• As the Gateway VA is involved in every interaction between the user an
the vAPP, the more demanding the load, or number of Users the more
Gateway VAs that need to be added
• Minimum of: 1 Gateway per 2 Data Vas
• It is recommended that each Gateway VA support up to 2,000 users
• For high availability, place multiple Gateway VAs behind a load balancer
Workspace vApp
Configurator
VA
OS (SLES)
tcserver
Service VA
OS (SLES)
App
API
DBtcserver
Data VA
OS (SLES)
App
API
DB LDAPJetty
App
Connector
VA
OS (SLES)
tcserver
App
Gateway
VA
OS (SLES)
Nginx
Modules

18. 1818
Horizon Workspace – Recommended Specs / Max # of Users
vCPU RAM Disk
Maximum #
of Users
Connector-va 2 4GB 5GB 30,000
Gateway-va 6 32GB 9GB 2,000
Service-va 6 8GB 32GB 100,000
Data-va (user node) 6 32GB 175GB 1,000
MS Preview Server 8 4GB 32GB 1,000

19. 1919
Horizon Workspace vSphere
& vAPP Considerations

20. 2020
Horizon Workspace – Infrastructure Dependencies
• Active Directory – Horizon Workspace requires Active Directory to sync users and
groups.
• DNS – All the virtual appliances refer to each other by their hostnames. Both forward
and reverse records are required for all the virtual appliances in the Horizon
Workspace vApp.
• SMTP – The Horizon Workspace vApp requires access to a SMTP server. The
SMTP server FQDN and port number are needed at installation time.
• NTP – All virtual appliances rely on time synchronization. Enable and configure time
sync on the vSphere hosts to point to your enterprise.
• Load Balancer and Reverse Proxy – Needed for multiple Gateway-VAs, protects
from single point of failure.
• External Storage – Horizon Workspace vApp supports external NFS volumes for
Horizon file sharing.

21. 2121
Horizon Workspace – Architecture Diagram
VMware Horizon 1.5 Architecture Diagram

22. 2222
vSphere & vCenter Configuration
• IP Pools Defined
• HA, DRS, vMotion Enabled
• FT, EVC Mode Disabled

23. 2323
Horizon Workspace – Backup Best Practices
 Three Types of Persistently Stored Data
• External Database (vPostgres or Oracle)
• Data Stored in a VMDK (virtual machine disk format)
• Horizon File blobs stored on NAS volumes or on VMDKs
 Backing Up Horizon Workspace
1. Create a point-in-time backup of external database
2. Take a point-in-time backup of each VA in the the Horizon Workspace vApp
3. If using external storage take a point-in-time backup of Horizon Data blob store
• If using VMDK, the data blob backup is part of the step 2
 DR Restoration Sequence
1. If using NAS, restore blobs from blob backup, if using VMDK go to step 2
2. Restore the Horizon Workspace VAs from the VA backup
3. Restore external database
4. Power on the Horizon Workspace vApp and MS Preview Server

24. 2424
Horizon Workspace – vPostgres Considerations
VMware vFabric Postgres 9.1+
Resource Value
vCPU 4
RAM 8GB
Disk 1 – Root Disk (OS) 2GB
Disk 2 – Data Disk 32GB
Disk 3 – SWAP Disk 16GB
Disk 4 – Diagnostic 2GB
For enterprise deployment best practice is to use an external database.

25. 2525
Other VMware Activities Related to This Session
 HOL:
HOL-MBL-1304
Horizon Workspace - Explore and Deploy
 Group Discussions:
EUC1005-GD
Workspace with Rasmus Jensen

26. THANK YOU

28. Architecting VMware Horizon Workspace for Scale
and Performance
Kit Colbert, VMware
Jared Cook, VMware
Andrew Johnson, VMware
EUC4546
#EUC4546