Virtual Desktops and Flex CSU-Pueblo Joseph Campbell

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure

VDI – Virtual Desktop Infrastructure Needed a solution for remote locations to replace “fat” desktops. – Poor performance with fat clients - some applications needed to be delivered over WAN links of 4.5 Mb/s or less – Fat desktops lower reliability – systems have to be maintained locally – Data stored locally – insecure and not backed up

Terminal Server? Difficult to configure – Different users may have different software. All software must work within the shared terminal server environment.

Virtual Desktops? Each user can be partitioned off – Software doesn’t need to be “forced” into working in a shared environment. Software doesn’t know the difference between a virtual machine or a “real” machine More Users? Build more VMs. – Can be pooled and cloned for on-demand scenarios.

Virtual Desktops? Cont. Easier to deploy – Web based gateway only requires port 443. All traffic is encrypted over SSL. All images built and maintained at the data center. More reliable – WYSE terminals have no moving parts (fans, hard drives, etc) – Systems are non-persistent to keep images clean. More Secure – all data is kept within the data center.

Why not use them everywhere? Possible but depends on the type of users – Demanding users will kill virtual desktops. Graphic intense, multimedia rich software CPU demanding software Hardware Interface – USB Devices can port through – Simple multimedia can perform poorly Streaming video, Adobe Flash content is bad on VDs with low bandwidth connections Run web surfing on local client to enhance performance Fixed/better in VMWare View?

Current CSU-Pueblo VDM Deployment About 17 Virtual Desktops in Production Remote Office Locations – Continuing Education Offices at Fort Carson, Peterson, and Citadel Bank Users with Remote Connectivity Requirements – Replace VPN access with VDI Mobile Users with Data Security Requirements

Current CSU-Pueblo VDM Deployment Peterson and Fort Carson - WYSE Terminals running XPe – Allows users to run some apps local if needed – Web browsing can be done locally for better performance – WYSE Terminals are non-persistent Local flash drives are dumped when shutdown improving security and reliability.

Current CSU-Pueblo VDM Deployment Citadel Bank – Network Boot Windows XP – Backup plan in case VDI didn’t work out – Server already in place

Current CSU-Pueblo VDM Deployment Currently Deployed as a 1 to 1 relationship – Each user has there own desktop assigned – Virtual Desktops disk are configured in a non- persistent mode-disks changes are dumped at shutdown, all user data must be stored on network shares

Future VDM Plans Possibly using VDM on-demand pools. Leverage new View features – View Composer to reduce disk storage requirements – ThinApp for application virtualization – Improved multimedia performance? – Offline desktop beta How do we keep non-persistent disks patched easily…

VDM Deployment? Works best for remote users. – Eliminate the need for encrypted laptops? Simple office work applications. Students - Simple lab computers that could be used at home or in your dorm?

Dell’s Flex Computing On-Demand Desktop Streaming

VDM features are nice but performance isn’t adequate? VDM doesn’t work well with demanding applications. A VDM server can only host around 10 – 15 desktops Now What?

Dell – Citrix Partnership Dell’s On-Demand Desktop Streaming – Some of the features of VDI Shared Disk images for Quick Deployment – One golden image can be used for several computers Shared Disk images are non-persistent – Images are kept in a “clean” state

Pros/Cons over VDI All processing power is done at the client. – Same processing power as a standard PC desktop Demanding applications can be deployed Multimedia performance is not restricted Server can support desktops Requires LAN speed connections – Technology is efficient but requires at least 100 Mb/s connection

Technology New Dell Optiplex Flex enabled computers have licensing and easy connect client built into BIOS Old computers with PXE (Preboot execution environment) capabilities can be used with external licensing and DHCP 66 and 67 options. Supports Shared Images and Private Images Shared Images can use server storage, local RAM or hard disk storage for write cache. Servers can be clustered for load balancing and fault tolerance Computers AD Objects managed by Citrix software

CSU-Pueblo Deployment Currently have over 90 lab/professor workstations deployed on the Pueblo Campus Current deployment has local hard drives for write cache-memory cache/diskless workstations could be used for some deployments Citadel Bank remote location – 5 professor workstations plus 5 VDI clients Patching requires more management – need to streamline One server - need to configure a cluster for HA and load balancing

Questions?