After my HomeLab Expansion in Stage X, I modified my HomeLab again….
Desktop Virtualization enhancement with Teradici APEX
After the replacement of my Thunderbolt PCIe Expansion Units (Stage X), I got a free PCIe slot at my Apple Mac Minis….
I have implemented VMware View at my HomeLab Long time ago with access from outside via the VMware View Securtiy Servers. I have implemented several VMware View Projects at customer environments. I always recommend a PCoIP offloading card (Teradice APEX 2800). The difference is so huge, comparing the Desktop performance with and without an APEX Card.
I decided to get one of these cards for my HomeLab…..
Here are the specifications of my APEX2800:
PCIe Card
- PCIe x4 slot Gen 2.0
- Half height, half length (HHHL) Card
System requirements
- ESXi 5.0 or later
- VMware Horizon View 5.0 or higher
- up to 2 cards can be added per Server
| Hardware Accelerator | ||
| Display resolution | Portrait mode | Landscape mode |
| 2560×1600 | 25 | 40 |
| 1920×1200 | 40 | 64 |
| 1680×1050 | 50 | 85 |
| 1280×1024 | 100 | 100 |
After installing the Card physically inside my Thunderbolt Expansion unit, I need to install the ESXi drivers. I choosed the Update Manager Version, so I uploaded the file: apex2800-rel-2.4.2.39888-esxi.5.5.0.zip to my Update Manager repository, created a Extension Baseline and applied that baseline to my host. I installed the APEX driver inside my Windows virtual Desktops to enable the offloading feature.
I tweaked my APEX settings on the ESXi host with these commands:
cd /opt/teradici
./pcoip-ctrl -I (this displays information about your card)
I am using my 27″ iMac (Stage IX: FibreChannel for all) as a Workstation. This machine has a resolution of 2560×1600, the APEX default is 1920×1200. I changed the setting with this command:
./pcoip-ctrl –set-max-resolution 1 (1 is of 2560×1600, 2 for 1920×1200, 3 for 1680×1050 and 4 is for 1280×1024)
I enabled the PCoIP offload inidcator using this command:
./pcoip-ctrl -P “offload_indicator 1”
Now you can see a red or blue dot at your View Desktop on the top left Corner.
Red = Offloaded using APEX
Blue = Not offloaded (using Software PCoIP)
I tuned the bandwidth threshold for PCoIP offloading using this command:
./pcoip-ctrl -P “bw_disable_threshold 0” (Session bandwidth threshold for offload cancelling =0)
./pcoip-ctrl -P “bw_enable_threshold 1” (Session bandwidht threshold for offload enabling =1)
A new FibreChannel storage
After one year with my custom build Nexenta Community Edition storage, I ran out of capacity. I had upgraded the storage Subsystem with additional 4 HDDs in the past now I was time for a new FibreChannel storage…..
I was able to get an IBM DS3500 FC storage for my HomeLab. Here are the specifications:
| RAID controller | Single or dual active, hot-swappable Controllers | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Cache | 1 gigabyte (GB) cache per controller with 2 GB upgrade (battery-backed) | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Host interface | Two 6 Gbps SAS host ports per controller standard with the option to add a daughter card with additional
|
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|---|---|---|---|
| Supported drives | 12 x 6 Gbps SAS 3.5-inch drives: 2 TB 7.2k rpm nearline | ||
|---|---|---|---|
I was very happy getting the Dual Controller model with the 2GB Cache Upgrade and 12 x 2TB HDDs. I inserted two 8Gbit SFPs into each controller to get 8 paths per LUN….
I set-up one HDD as Hot-Spare and the other 11 HDDs as Raid6. The IBM DS3512 supports VAAI, very nice…
I created the following LUNs on my new FibreChannel storage subsystem:
14 x 500GB for my ESXi Hosts
1 x 500GB for my iMac
1 x 1 TB for my MacBooks
I have a usable capacity of 16TB inside my Raid6 array. 8,2TB are still free. Should be enough for a few months….
I have already new plans for my HomeLab, check it out at Stage XII: A new NAS for vDP