High Availability for Desktop Virtualization

Providing a comprehensive, end-to-end strategy for desktop virtualization high-availability.

Introduction

Providing high-availability to a XenDesktop environment provides the level of assurance organizations need when moving towards a desktop virtualization solution. Because the desktop operating environment is no longer on the endpoint, but is instead within the data center, a failure of one component has the potential to impact hundreds or thousands of users. This is a risk with any desktop virtualization solution. Because of this fact, XenDesktop is built around fault tolerant components that can be further enhanced with Citrix NetScaler to provide disaster recovery and business continuity. This Implementation Guide shows how to provide high-availability, disaster recovery and business continuity to a XenDesktop environment. The document is divided into the following sections:

• Local Availability: Configure the XenDesktop components in a highly-available configuration
• Global Availability: Configure the XenDesktop architecture to provide the best delivery for users, regardless of location
• Disaster Recovery/Business Continuity: Provide XenDesktop users with a fallback solution in the event of a major outage.
• http://servicemanager.reformal.ru/
• http://winintro.reformal.ru/

Section 1:

Local Availability In many enterprise-level XenDesktop implementations, the architecture typically incorporates redundancy. Although the core XenDesktop infrastructure contains redundancy, there are portions where components are only used in the event of a failure of the primary (dotted lines). For example, redundant Web Interface servers are recommended, but there must be a way for connections to be routed to the secondary in the event of a failure of the primary. Also, there must be redundant TFTP servers used to deliver the initial bootstrap file. The Local Availability section of this document focuses on how to enable the high-availability features of XenDesktop as well as utilize NetScaler to provide greater levels of availability through the use of smart monitors and intelligent load balancing. Once configured, redundant-backup links are removed as NetScaler directs requests appropriately.
The configuration steps that follow, focus on:

• Operating System Delivery
• Desktop Delivery
• Application Delivery

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