The importance of a VMware Horizon pilot

Up until now, this chapter has been about introducing us to a variety of different concepts that form the basis of architecting our Horizon infrastructure. If we learn anything from this chapter, it is that our goal is to obtain the resources we need to provide an acceptable end user computing experience.

Classifying our end users and measuring their resource requirements is a valuable exercise that will help us understand what will be required to transition our end user computing resources from the desktop to the data center. That being said, no amount of planning can possibly replace a properly run pilot that validates not only the configuration of our master Virtual Desktop image, but also the performance of the Horizon infrastructure and the quality of the experience from an end user perspective.

Our Horizon pilot should involve the same types of users as our user analysis did, but not necessarily the same users within each group. The following list includes a number of goals that our Horizon pilot should attempt to achieve:

• Include multiple users from each user classification: Task Worker, Knowledge Worker, and Power User
• Include fully remote users, as well as WAN-connected users at other company sites
• Perform additional performance analysis at all layers of the Horizon infrastructure, including:
  • Storage
  • Network
  • ESXi server
  • Guest operating
• Measure the impact of common Horizon scenarios, such as:
  • User logon storms: Large numbers of users logging on within a short time frame
  • Steady-state user load: Measure Horizon infrastructure performance during a period of steady desktop usage by a significant number of users
  • Antivirus platform performance: Measure the impact of common antivirus platform tasks, such as on-demand scans and pattern file updates
  • Horizon refresh or recompose: Measure the impact of these common Horizon linked-clone desktop maintenance operations, described in detail in Chapter 9, Performing Horizon Desktop Pool Maintenance
  • A fully populated ESXi server: Measure host performance with higher than normal workloads, such as simulating an outage or another period of higher than usual utilization.