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VIRTUAL DESKTOP
ASSESSMENT
ASSESSMENT OVERVIEW
Understanding your desktop environment is the first step in the design and analysis phase of a virtual desktop infrastructure
(VDI) deployment. Iron Bow’s Virtual Desktop Assessment provides environmental metrics leveraging Liquidware Labs
Stratusphere FIT software. The assessment develops accurate desktop metrics, which Iron Bow leverages for VDI design
purposes. Leveraging an assessment, prior to virtual desktop deployment, is a cost effective route for understanding the
business use cases and financial impacts that will occur when deploying VDI.
The VDI Assessment is a collection of physical desktop data points. The aggregate of the data collection provides an
accurate picture of what environmental variables impact infrastructure design.
ASSESSMENT SCOPE
Through this service, you’ll gain a complete picture and baseline in order to determine which users and applications
are compatible with virtual desktops. The assessment will cover the following components:
»» VDI Compatibility: Assess physical desktop infrastructure and generate outputs that organizations will be able to
leverage for VDI business use case decisions.
»» Application Inventory: “Applications Installed vs Used” report tells customers which apps are used and must be
licensed and which can be retired or reassigned, saving fees and storage costs.
»» Identify Constraints: Identify infrastructure constraints in regard to end-point-to-data center network latency,
connection speeds, connection quality, storage subsystem, Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS) and latency.
There are three key phases that are conducted during assessment activities:
Consultancy – Iron Bow will work with your organization to outline the scope and objectives of the VDI Assessment.
Additionally, our engineers will work with your staff to ensure a successful deployment of the Liquidware Labs
Stratusphere FIT software.
Assessment Tool Installation – Depending upon the environment, there are a handful of options available. The
standard route for the Stratusphere Hub Appliance is:
VMware ESXi 4.0 or higher – Deploy appliance as a virtual machine.
Windows Server 2008 R2 or higher – Install on a physical server.
Note: There are alternatives to the above, which can be discussed if the two outlined aren’t suitable.
Stratusphere FIT has been certified for use across all branches of the United States military, having been awarded the
Authority to Operate (ATO) by the Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and the Certificate of Networthiness (CON) under the
Army, meeting requirements for security, compatibility, supportability and sustainability required in these environments.
CONTACT US
Please contact the Iron Bow Data Center Practice to schedule your Virtual Desktop Assessment today:
[email protected]
719.229.6351
022715-AS-12
4800 Westfields Boulevard, Suite 300, Chantilly, VA 20151 | 703.279.3000 | 800.338.8866 | [email protected] | www.ironbow.com
Typical metrics gathered include:
»» Inventory of machines including configuration details (CPU, memory, disk, network, monitors, printers, peripherals,
age, location / host, time in use)
»» Inventory of applications for virtualized and non-virtualized applications, including versions and patch levels,
including time in use
»» Inventory of users and groups (user groups are defined in Active Directory or any LDAP directory)
»» CPU consumption including by system and by user, machine and application
»» Memory consumption (including swapping and page faults), by user, machine and application
»» Network consumption and performance by user, machine and application
»» Disk consumption and performance by user, machine and application
»» User logon durations (the time it takes a user logon to complete)
»» Application load times (the time it takes an application to load and initialize)
»» Graphics intensity to identify the level of graphics and screen refresh demands by user, machine, and application
»» Non-responding applications
»» Unused applications
»» Network latency
»» Network application response times
»» Failed or dropped network connections
Analysis and Recommendations – Iron Bow will analyze the collected data and provide documentation outlining
a VDI strategy path and appropriate infrastructure required to support the VDI deployment.
ASSESSMENT TIMELINE
The initial onsite visit includes the Iron Bow engineer deploying the Stratusphere Hub Appliance. Prior to the visit,
the customer will be provided with a pre-deployment checklist. The onsite visit lasts two days and concludes with
the Iron Bow engineer validating that the Stratusphere Hub Appliance is collecting from the correct sources and
locations. Liquidware recommends the Stratusphere Hub Appliance run for a minimum of 15 days, maximum of 30.
The Iron Bow engineer may receive the collected outputs via email. The scope of the assessment provides for an
engineer to be on site for the deployment and initial setup of data collection, but not post analysis. Should the
customer require an Iron Bow engineer to be on site for post data collection analysis, please notify the Iron Bow team,
prior to purchase. The Iron Bow team will review the data and generate infrastructure recommendations and help the
organization identify the best possible route for VDI deployment success.
ABOUT IRON BOW TECHNOLOGIES
Iron Bow Technologies helps organizations harness the power of technologies to achieve business outcomes such
as revenue growth, risk mitigation, and reduced operating costs – and most importantly, an enhanced client experience.
Leveraging strong resources and a collaborative approach, the company delivers targeted solutions for data center,
collaboration, network infrastructure, cyber security and mobility solutions.
4800 Westfields Boulevard, Suite 300, Chantilly, VA 20151 | 703.279.3000 | 800.338.8866 | [email protected] | www.ironbow.com