High performance Nutanix Unified Storage powers VDI

Deploying a VDI environment for a globally distributed workforce, BYOD, hot desk environments and call centers is complex and is hard to manage. However, the storage that supports VDI to run VMs and unstructured user profile data need not be.

Exponential growth¹ of unstructured data is putting a tremendous strain on the legacy three-tier architecture of VDI environments. Whether it is a single user VDI or a multi-user remote desktop service, deteriorating VDI performance, complexity in managing storage, protecting user data against cyberthreats and ransomware are key challenges. This is especially true with a growing remote workforce and user data.

Modern software-defined storage (SDS) – built on a distributed architecture and designed to span on-premises datacenters, edge sites and public clouds – offers advantages over traditional SAN and NAS systems to support VDI.

Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) is a software-defined data services platform that consolidates management and protection of siloed block, file and object storage into a single platform. Powered by rich data services – such as analytics, ransomware protection, lifecycle management, and data protection – NUS lets you adapt to fast-changing VDI needs and shift focus from one-off capacity management to global data management.

Leveraging the Nutanix Cloud Platform (NCP), NUS is built for the seamless scaling, high-performance and integrated data security requirements of VDI applications deployed on core, cloud or edge infrastructure.

A single point of management with intelligent operations, automation and a self-service model enables a consistent cloud operating model that eliminates the complexity and cost of different architectures, while the server scale-out design taps into server economics and can be managed by VDI administrators.

¹Source: https://www.statista.com/statistics/871513/worldwide-data-created/

Key benefits include:

• Simplicity – With NUS, you can take charge of storage resources with simple tools that eliminate long learning curves and administrative overhead. VDI instances integrate with NUS, giving VDI administrators end- to-end control to manage storage for user profiles and home directories. 
• Performance – NUS builds on NCP to offer data locality that improves the VDI user experience with faster application start times. All VDI disks are stored locally on the same host where the VM is running, resulting in a low-latency, highly responsive application interface. In addition, data locality with base disks for non-persistent desktops are cached on every host to speed-up access to storage resources. 
• Efficiency – NUS unifies File, Object and Block storage services into one data services platform with one flexible license, and is deployed quickly and easily onto an existing HCI cluster from Prism Central. Nutanix customers have deployed files storage 82% faster and objects storage 75% faster, compared to traditional storage. Faster availability of data services to your remote workforce accelerates investment payback. 
• Scale – Combining the flexibility of NUS and the ease of scale of the Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure, VDI administrators can procure storage capacity for what they need and when they need without overcommitting. Leveraging a consumption based OPEX model for NUS allows you to license just the capacity needed and expand easily as the virtual desktop user demands grow. 
• Business continuity – In addition to metro availability and fast snapshots, NUS enables self-service restore, which allows end-users to recover their own files. NUS also offers Smart DR to facilitate share-level data replication and file server-level disaster recovery. 
• Integrated security and ransomware protection – Nutanix Data Lens offers integrated ransomware protection to detect, protect and recover from ransomware threats and other vulnerabilities against your VDI data stored on NUS. With intelligent behavioral pattern anomaly detection, security and storage teams can detect and block threats before they do damage. 
• Data visibility and compliance – Nutanix Data Lens enables auditability of Files and Objects data with global data visibility, and permissions and risk visualization. The advanced storage consumption and usage analytics help you to effectively forecast and plan for future storage needs. 
• Superior Customer Support – Nutanix and its customer support team are ranked among the industry’s best with an NPS score of 90+ based on customer loyalty, satisfaction and buyer recommendations.

Managing and upgrading storage for a globally distributed VDI environment requires taking a new look at how data services are deployed. Nutanix Unified Storage helps organizations with simplified and faster data migrations, data management strategies and overall makes storage highly available for mission-critical applications and users deployed in a VDI environment. 

Additional Resources

• Access the solution brief: Secure and Simplify VDI with Nutanix Unified Storage
• 2023 Gartner Magic Quadrant: Nutanix is a Visionary for Distributed File Systems and Object Storage
• ROI tool: Estimate the business value of deploying Nutanix Unified Storage
• Access the NUS IDC white paper: Business Value of Nutanix Unified Storage
• Webpage: Nutanix Unified Storage

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