VDI generates a considerable workload on disk storage. This workload depends largely on the OS, applications, and usage patterns of the guests, so there is not a fixed workload pattern. But there are common worst case trends, that is what we can use to size our storage if we have not the actual data.
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Install fio on the flexVDI host
Fio is a versatile IO workload generator, also able to report the performance of the generated workload, that we will use to stress test our system.
The simplest way to install fio is to download the sources and compile it in the flexVDI host. Instructions follow:
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There are other limitations of the storage (throughput) that can limit the performance, but are less likely to be the storage bottleneck that the required amount of iops. Typically guests do not need high thorughput at the same time, as they need high iops values when guests boot, or users login, which commonly happen in bursts.
Nevertheless, a regular 7200rpm mechanical disk can read data at 150MBps, and the cache of the flexVDI Hosts, and the disk controller, will increase the speed perceived by the guests, while iSCSI over 1Gbps ethernet is limited limited to 123MBps, so , even for small installations, anything below 10Gps iSCSI (or the better 8Gbps FC) is not recommended.