Dakota Valley and our search for a solution
Why Virtualize desktops Gateway/MPC Reduced maintenance Improved performance Improved manageability Power savings Cost savings
Our Virtualization History In 2000 experimented with VMWare Terminal Services access Terminal Services application servers Windows Virtual Server VM Ware Server VM Ware Infrastructure VM Ware View
Challenges with Virtualization Licensing Costs Infrastructure Internal support and acceptance Backups/DR
What did we look toward? Open Source solutions- K-12 Linux N Computing Citrix /XEN VM Ware Competitive supplicants and brokers for VM Ware/Citrix WebOS (Java/browser based)
What did I want? Fairly simple solution Least amount of hardware Proven effectiveness Long-term relationship Ongoing local support High ROI Improved end-user experience
Challenges with VDI The “thinnest” clients are still poor at: High Performance video Certain peripherals Mobile VDI is still “experimental” Must have a good change management process One more thing to learn and manage!
VM Ware – Chosen solution Centralized management SAN optimization Proven performer Cloning of machines or labs DR Live migration Application Virtualization
Thin Clients Converting PC’s to “dumb” terminals Thin clients- Based on Linux, custom OS or WinCE Desktop Mobile thin clients