So much has been said about this over the past few years, generating new buzz, new questions, and new methodologies regarding how to deliver a desktop to a user. Delivering a desktop to a user is what we really need to do from an IT organization’s perspective, but just the desktop is not enough…the applications that the end user requires to accomplish his job is just as important, if not more important, than delivering the user a simple desktop.

I will be writing as if I were using VMware View 4.0.1, Windows XP, and Windows 7 here. Hopefully, I can present things to be considering here that are NOT specific to any of the vendors, but are major considerations when rolling out any VDI solution in your organization.

Over the past 4 years, I have been involved with Virtual Desktop Infrastructures (VDI from here in). When it first became a topic of discussion, lots of interest was there, but no true roadmap existed. Today, with many Connection Brokers available (VMware, Microsoft, Citrix, Leostream, PanoLogic, etc), many different types of solutions exist. The result I am seeking is to present a desktop, along with all the applications that a user requires, so that the end users’ experience is VERY similar, if not identical, to that of a traditional PC. While keeping the user base happy, finding a way for the desktop teams to transition from reactive desktop support to proactive desktop planning is where we start to see the value from the investment you will make in a VDI solution.

When server virtualization was introduced, we saw dramatic improvements in the efficiency of our server teams’ ability to support large numbers of servers in the virtual world. We took away the risk associated with hardware tied to a physical operating system when virtualizing our servers. Now we look to realize the same benefits as we virtualize our desktops…increasing the ratio of administrators to operating systems they support as well as removing the risk of hardware tied to a specific operating system. This is the one variable that can be mitigated by running virtually, and I have seen the benefits time and time again over the past 10 years for the server infrastructure, and has become a reality for the desktops over the past 4 years as the technology has matured.

The End Result

When you take on your VDI project internally, you want an identical experience for the end users (their operating system that you support), more security and control over the data you are responsible for securing, an easier (or more proactive at least) method for managing the applications users need, and keeping the users’ identity consistent (the user’s profile from the Windows perspective). With thorough testing/Proof of Concept implementations, you will find you can deliver on these major requirements.

Acknowledging The Change In Desktop Teams’ Responsibilities

So here is a big change in the way the desktop team can work. It is a change because we start the transition from a mostly reactive desktop support model, to a proactive desktop support model. The changing of responsibility to manage, and update applications that end users require, maintaining the operating system that is the base of their experience, as well as maintaining the users’ profile is an enormous change in the way most desktop support teams work. It may seem that some of these items crossover into the server team’s responsibilities for some organizations, and that is very probably true. The transition of these responsibilities is inevitable. VERY similar to the way that traditional PBX systems have transitioned into VoIP systems that are maintained by server teams, and also use the same network that data traffic uses on the network, we are starting to see the individual silos of IT start to merge, and the responsibilities of the traditional teams realign.

Choosing a VDI Desktop Operating System For End Users

The first of 3 major components of the VDI solution.

This is always the easiest decision today. When considering the adoption of VDI for you infrastructure, let us change as few things as possible as we kick the tires on a new technology. Most organizations still use Windows XP as their primary desktop operating system, and understand all the little nuances that make it work (or break it, for that matter). So given that we all have a tremendous amount of experience with Windows XP, it is a very natural place to start with a desktop operating system to virtualize. Why would you try to learn a new operating system (anything other than Windows XP) while learning a new methodology to manage, deploy, and support the desktop operating system? Keep the variables in the Proof Of Concept to a minimum, so you can realize success.

Windows Vista…I don’t even consider it.

Windows 7 is a great next step for VDI. Once an organization grasps the new concepts of a VDI solution, it is much easier to then transition to Windows 7 as the underlying desktop operating system that is the base for the users we are supporting.

Managing The Users’ Data & Profile

The second of 3 major components of the VDI solution.

The user data, in my opinion, is one of the more important parts of the entire solution. When managing desktops, we want to make sure that we keep our users happy, whether it is keeping the users’ favorites/bookmarks, macros, or wallpaper, we want to make sure we can keep that user base happy.

There are many tools available to manage user profiles. Windows, VMware, Citrix, and many other 3rd party products provide this functionality. I like to keep things simple…I consider the use of Windows Roaming Profiles (wait….don’t be mad…let me explain).

Roaming profiles is a solution we are all familiar with, and have had varying degrees of acceptance with. In the days of desktops being scattered between multiple locations, or just all over the corporate headquarters, we had to rely on the network to deliver the Roaming Profile to the user before they could complete their login to the desktop. This could take a lot of time, especially if you are logging in from a remote location over a slow WAN link.

Roaming profile corruption can easily be solved by enable snapshots (from the SAN or from the Windows OS itself), so you can restore a profile from the day or two prior. I have seen profiles corrupt, but that is a minor one off issue that does not surface all the time.

Now, with our desktops living in the datacenter, having high-speed links, it would no longer take a long time for users to log in to their desktops. This would be true in a centralized model as well, where a remote site is using thin clients to connect to the desktop (which would actually reside in the datacenter back at headquarters), and the file servers are actually VERY local to the servers housing the users’ roaming profiles…

Now, this is not to say that this will be how all VDI solutions would be rolled out. Many companies explore other software packages that can manage the users’ profiles. What I am stating here, is similar to what I stated about choosing a desktop to kick the tires with…start with something you are very familiar with, and introduce as few variables as you explore new technologies.

Understanding & Publishing The Applications In Your Environment

The third of 3 major components of the VDI solution.

Application delivery is usually where you can invest the most time during the transition to a VDI solution. Many different technologies exist, and a hybrid solution can easily be what your organization requires to succeed.

Installing Applications Directly Into Each Virtual Machine

While this can still be done, and may be required by some applications, it is the traditional method of delivering applications to desktop operating systems. No learning curve here, but now considerations into how this would affect the delivery of desktops to users, and how much space is required to maintain the applications (now that we are using SAN disk, we need to be more conscious of how much space we consume, as SAN disk is somewhat expensive per GB). I like to acknowledge that this works, but I like to consider other options for delivery of the application stacks.

Delivering Applications via Terminal Services Published Applications

This is something that Windows Terminal Server teams and Citrix teams have done for many years. Put a shortcut on a user’s desktop, and that shortcut runs an application that is managed on a Terminal Server. This is a solution that still works wonderfully, because it keeps the actual application separated from the desktop operating system. I still recommend people consider this option for application delivery, even though it can raise the initial cost of the project (you will realize ROI as you maintain an application centrally at the Terminal Servers, rather than at the disparate desktops).

This is not a new technology, and has been in many IT organizations for the past decade. Why not consider it?

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