There are several approaches or strategies in attacking your VMware VDI desktop deployment from a design standpoint. Most organizations enter their architecture
with hesitation and reserve using a very static approach. They plan to map desktop users 1:1 each desktop user will be given a dedicated virtual desktop
and some division or swag is made regarding how many desktops they can concurrently run on each VDI server.

Really there is nothing wrong with that. Probably one of the most difficult tasks in planning a desktop migration, particularly when moving from a distributed architecture to a centralized architecture; is profiling your users, understanding the desktop compute cycles they need, and centralizing that in a
fair-share scheduling model. Because of the difficulty and effort required in looking at every user across the enterprise and coming up with a methodology that makes sense then getting the design right out the gate. I am a fan of getting sets of common users onto a VDI architecture and studying their usage patterns.

Ultimately a static 1:1 approach is not going to yield the highest return on your dollar. The more dynamic you allow the architecture to become. The higher
return you will realize. Often when I meet with customers and discuss their VDI architectures I talk about the concept of oversubscription. Oversubscription is
stepping outside the bounds of asking how many desktop users per core can I get, really understanding your users usage patterns, and figuring out how
many more users can be allocated per server by oversubscribing.

In most enterprise and office environments, as you walk around you will find large populations of empty cubes and idle desktops. Business is constantly changing and in order to stay competitive companies are being forced to change the workplace. More people are teleworking, using flexible work schedules and becoming more mobile. When users are in two hour long meetings or on conference calls several times a day, typically they are not using their desktops. When three out four people are not working on an exact 9-5 schedule the number of concurrent users is reduced. All of this combined results in an opportunity to revisit going beyond static VDI architectures making them more dynamic and oversubscribing the servers. With this approach mileage may vary in different cases. For example, a contact center environment where users are heads down, might not realize the same benefits.

As VMware VDI deployments have continued to grow and mature, customers are starting to explore unlocking the full potential of VDI. They have realized the benefits of VMware virtualization technology and are looking to gain more. As customers take a more centralized view of their desktops, they are realizing how underutilized or idle they are. It’s becoming clearer, oversubscribing the servers might not be that risky and the rewards could be great. Ultimately, this leads to a new set of questions as the creative juices start to flow.

There are several tools that can be used to harness the full potential of your VDI solution and make it more dynamic. In addition, it can actually be really simple or it can be more elegant. Each approach and the pro and cons of each is beyond this blog post. However, several customers have asked me to write about this and address some of the more simple or tactical questions.

As customers look at making their VDI environments more dynamic, The most popular question I get today is " How do I logoff idle users" followed by " How do I power off or suspend their virtual desktop". Recently I have been working with the VDI team at a collage who really wanted to do this and I felt obliged to help.

The solution is simple - VMware VDM 2 has a power policy for virtual machines that allows you to suspend or power off a virtual desktop instance when not in use. When a user logs off, it automates suspending or powering off that desktop. Ultimately this frees up the resources making them available to other desktops on the ESX server. If you think of those users on a flexible schedule or in a meeting there is no reason they need to hold up resources when idle.
Logging off these idle users is as easy as implementing a simple GPO in Active Directory that tracks idle time as well as those pesky disconnected RDP sessions.

Under the Local Computer Policy\Computer Configuration\Administrative
Templates\Windows Components\Terminal Services\Sessions folder, the following settings can be made:

• Set time limit for disconnected sessions
• Set time limit for active sessions
• Set time limit for idle sessions
• Terminate session when time limits are reached

Or

Under the Local Computer Policy\User Configuration\Administrative
Templates\Windows Components\Terminal Services\Sessions folder, the following
settings can be made:

• Set time limit for disconnected sessions
• Set time limit for active sessions
• Set time limit for idle sessions
• Terminate session when time limits are reached

Note: Windows XP has a bug where the idle tracker will not work. You
need to request a hot fix from Microsoft in order to resolve it. See KB890864

The result in the combination of the VDM 2 power policy and this simple GPO is idle users are logged off at a time interval you set, and their virtual
desktop is powered off or suspended. Simple to implement with large benefits.

To protect you from oversubscribing too far, increasing the SLA of your desktop users, and making the environment more dynamic. VMware DRS and VMotion can be added. If you are more aggressive with your oversubscription using VMware DRS you can set a threshold that ensures your users are not affected. For example, if you know your virtual desktops perform best at 8 users per core, but have over subscribed to 16 user per core; expecting only 50% are concurrent at any given time. VMware DRS/VMotion will ensure the 9/10/11 user per core is run from another ESX server with available resources. This can be as simple as having a standby server or allocating the sessions across other underutilized servers in the cluster.

Just before Thanksgiving we wrapped up a series of Lab Days hosted by VMware and sponsored by our partners. These were two great events with several hands on labs, all things virtual. The best part is it was all FREE! You can not beat FREE! If you did not get a chance to attend, stay tuned for more events.

The Lab team did a tremendous job with coordination and setting up, I was blown away. All I had to do was show up, talk about VDI and run the Virtual Desktop Manager 2 lab. You can not beat that at all!!!!!

Thanks to all the customers and partners who took time out of their busy schedules to attend.

Set-up team in Chicago

VDM 2 Lab

This week I returned from Holiday. Nine days in mostly remote areas across Idaho and no email. We have been planning to move to Idaho for
some time now. during this trip we spent some time looking at homes and getting more familiar with the Boise area.

I am still trying to dig out of the email an get back on track and just keeps piling on. While I was gone the VMTN team updated VMTN at vmware.com. With the new version there is now a blogging capability.

Last night I took on the painful task of migrating over to the new site. I did the best I could. I think I have all the entires. I know I have missed a few comments, but I did the best I could to get them all moved over. If I missed anyones comments I am sorry, it was not intentional. On that note, this will be the last post here. Eventually, I will cancel this blog.

The Virtual Desktop Blog can now be found at its new home Virtual Desktop Blog

Not a lot to share lately. I have been traveling for the last three weeks and will be traveling through the early part of Oct. Last week I
was in London, the VMware VDI team all got together for some great meetings and sessions. I have also been heads down working on a few new
papers and getting ready for VMworld. Just after VMworld I am finally taking some time off for some much needed Fly Fishing! If anyone out
ever wants to go let me know. It needs to be in the Rockies, Canada, New Zealand or South America though, because I like to go WAY out.

Sorry I digressed, can you tell I am ready to go! VMworld is a few short days away and I will do my best to post some
pictures and updates from there. Anyone attending swing by the VMware booth, say hi and share your experiences on how you VMware VDI efforts
are going! There is one session you will not want to miss.

Mark Benson, a VDI Solution Architect with the VDI development team will present the following session on Tuesday 9/11

DV18. Tuesday 9/11 5pm – 6pm.

“VDI with VMware’s Next Generation Connection Broker - Architecture, Security and Deployment Scenarios”

“As many people are realizing the potential of hosting desktop operating systems on VMware ESX Server in the data center, aspects of
access security, scalability and high availability become increasingly important. This session discusses the architecture of VMware’s next
generation connection broker from a design perspective, paying special attention to the security features and deployment scenarios supported.
We’ll also provide insight into how the product was developed to simplify the operational management needs of VDI in large production
environments.”

Just after the session will also be a “meet the developers” session for 90 mins immediately following the session. This will be a great opportunity to meet the team.

See you there!

On July 31, ESX 3.0.2 was released. VMware ESX 3.0.2 is a maintenance release that represents numerous functionality, performance, and compatibility enhancements to VMware ESX Server. As part of this release. VMware has included Wyse multimedia support. With this addition . Wyse Multimedia support can now be installed into compatible guest operating systems, enabling supported devices to receive encoded video streams via RDP/ICA. The decoding of the video is handled by the client device reducing the resources and overhead needed by the virtual machine running on ESX.

Check back for more detailed examples and information. I have been testing the Wyse multimedia enhancements for some time now and plan on posting
more detailed information. Official information and full details can be found here: VMware ESX 3.0.2 Release Notes For information on installing the Wyse multimedia support see KB1001699

The Terminal Server team has been really busy over at Microsoft and the fruits of their labor can really be seen in the latest release of Longhorn Beta 3. Potential and existing VDI customers are always telling me they really want a simple, clean, low cost and easy to manage way of delivering, existing and candidate applications compatible with Terminal Services to their desktops.

One of the features I have been waiting to see from 2008 server and the Terminal Services team is RemoteApp. RemoteApp is a new feature that introduces usability concepts that have been around for a while, but have really started to take off even more, as the desktop environment continues to change.

So what is the concept? A RemoteApp application accessed from a Terminal Server displays as if it was another application loaded on the user’s local desktop. This concept is nothing new really. On the Terminal Services front there have always been seamless windows from Citrix. Sun’s SGD product had the concept of the integrated client that took the seamless windows concept a step further by integrating the applications into the start menu and desktop.

On the virtualization front, its similar to the Unity feature of the VMware Fusion product for MAC. In order to leverage RemoteApp with VDI desktops, XP desktops will need the RDP 6.0 client installed. Vista desktops will have this by default. Getting started is simple. Any application loaded on the Terminal Server can be selected as one available, as a RemoteApp using the TS RemoteApp Manager. Once you have selected the applications that will be available, you have the option
of creating an .rdp file or .msi package. These contain the connection and configuration information of the application and can be distributed to VDI desktops using file shares or software distribution methods.



As a quick test, I loaded Dreamweaver 8, created an .msi package and published it via Software Distribution using Active Directory. Once installed, an application icon shows up in the Start Menu under Programs/Remote Programs. An icon can also be created on the users desktop if desired.

When a RemoteApp is started, a splash screen will appear indicating that an application is being started. This really is the only indication to the end user that the application is remote. An important note is if more than one RemoteApp is run simultaneously they share the same Terminal Server session.

Once the application is running you can see, not only does it run as a seamless window, but it also carries the theming from 2008.



RemoteApp should be exciting to VDI administrators because of how cleanly it’s implemented. When available, it should prove to provide a simple and clean way of
providing centrally hosted applications to VDI desktop users.

Fu - sion – noun the act or process of fusing; the state of being fused. A long time ago, early in my career I never would have imagined I would need or want to use anything beside Windows. I started out as a Windows Server and Network admin. I really had no aspirations or interest in learning other operating systems. Over time, that changed as our business was looking for alternative and innovative ways to do things.

Ever since, I have helped customers find alternative ways to do things and focused on interoperability, primarily in the desktop space. Before joining VMware, I worked for a company that ran zero Microsoft products, no Windows Operating Systems and no Windows or Windows based applications. The also were thin. They had over 38,000 thin clients deployed globally. Talk about Green. They were Green before Green was in.

I was there for six years and was exposed to every alternative imaginable. They had quite a few Macbook pro’s running around. I myself did not have one, but was always enamored by their design. I never really thought it was practical for me to use one.

I live in a VM, I have VDI in my office and work from a virtual XP desktop day to day. I use offline files and folder redirection for syncing between my VMware assigned laptop and my VDI desktop. When I came to VMware, I got the standard IT assigned laptop that was about good enough to run Word and Outlook. Trying to run all the VM’s I needed for testing and generating content, plus doing my day to day work when traveling just sucked. I could not stand it any more. I really needed something with a a little more RAM and more importantly something faster than a 4200 RPM drive. Between the pain of the IT assigned laptop, falling prey to the continued assault of MAC commercials and the day to day glow of the Fusion team. I started looking into getting a Macbook pro, as I knew Fusion would be the ticket too bring it all together. I waited and waited till the Santa Rosa systems shipped. Then a few weeks back, I officially broke down and got a Macbook Pro. I would not quite say I was a switcher yet. I really was only looking for a well designed machine that had enough power to do what I needed when traveling, doing demos, testing etc.

The plan was to run XP by moving my assigned laptop image over, piece of cake by the way using converter, built inside ACE 2. Then, I figured I would load Vista since I had not seen Aero and needed to do some VDI testing. I had been doing VDI testing and playing with the desktop environment. I like it, I think its sweet. I like the sidebar etc.Before I loaded Vista, I played with OS X a little and got familiar with Expose, the dashboard etc. I have never used a Mac and was getting my bearings. Finally, I loaded Vista in a boot camp partition. Well, Aero 3D flip was a disappointment, too me its just a 3D alt-tab. OS X expose, and the dashboard are much more appealing.

At the end of the day, I needed XP and Vista and OS X was growing on me. In steps Fusion after all, I had been dying to play with our unity feature. I am just
blown away, thus far it exceeds my expectations and really is exactly what I was hoping for, seamlessly integrates the desktop experience with Unity. It’s simple to switch between Unity or a full screen Windows desktop. I can create snapshots of my laptop image. I run can run my boot camp partitions as VM’s. USB device support. If you are considering switching but still need to hang on Fusion is the ticket. It is the ultimate interoperability tool.

Fusion

Fusion

Fusion

Fusion Unity View of my XP desktop. Each application is independent . See Outlook in the dock!
Fusion

Fusion

Fusion