VM /ETC

After talking with NetApp at their booth on the VMworld 2009 Solutions Exchange floor I came to the conclusion that the Rapid Cloning Utility (RCU) does way more for VDI implementations then the tool’s name implies. Available for free to customers that already own NetApp’s file and volume cloning  features, RCU can create automated and customized virtual desktops more quickly and with better storage efficiency while still integrating the administrative convenience and control available in vCenter and VMware View. RCU has been elevated in my mind as a “must use” tool for VDI implementation using NetApp storage.

I went to their booth with a purpose. It was obvious to me that RCU would automate the mass creation of virtual desktops by cloning a volume that contained a template desktop image. Although that’s a great time saver available when you deploy a solution based on NetApp storage,

I thought that the steps needed to sysprep and customize all those desktops would outweigh the value of using RCU and make the automation of VMware View Composer a better choice for the desktop administrator faced with VDI deployment.  Little did I know that RCU is a plugin for vCenter. So, it leverages vCenter features such as using Customization Specifications to sysprep new VMs. On the other hand, RCU’s real value is that it interfaces directly with the NetApp storage from the vSphere Client session. This means that not only does RCU deploy unique desktops, but it can automate the creation of new datastores those desktops will run on. Admins even have control on the number of VDI VMs running on each new datastore created. I was told RCU works with all NetApp storage protocols – iSCSI, NFS, and FC. To top it off, RCU adds management and status of NetApp deduplication for storage savings directly from the vCenter plug in as well.

Since View Composer is a separate licensing cost to VMware View, that makes the investment in NetApp’s cloning and deduplication abilities a better choice in my mind.

Thinking “outside the box” for a minute, there is not a RCU dependency for using a VDI management server or broker. The tool requires installation on vCenter only. To me this means that if I needed a lot of desktops for any unmanaged scenario I would take advantage of the automation of RCU instead of vCenter’s deploy from template or cloning options. Finally, even though the tool is designed and uses verbiage in the GUI associated with desktops, there is no reason not to use RCU for rapid server cloning as well.

For a great walk through post on using NetApp RCU to deploy desktops check out Chris Gebhardt’s write up with plenty of screen shots on his “The Virtualization Effect” blog hosted on blogs.netapp.com.

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