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Loveman
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ESXi Setup for Public Access Site

New to VMware Communities, so take it easy on me. Smiley Happy

I want to throw out the an idea for an experimental setup for a government run, public access site. Here are the goals:

-Sustainable and Green

-Easy to Maintain

-Works with current old computers

-As inexpensive as possible

I want to build a virtualized desktop/kiosk infrastructure at this site. Here are the preliminary planned testing products:

-ESXi 4

-Ubuntu 9.04

-New Dell 2950 Server - dual core xeon, 16GB ram (specs can change, not yet purchased)

-VNC for connection

-Thinstation - http://www.thinstation.org/ to create VNC client computers

-A bunch of old computers

-Some new thinclients (not yet purchased)

I don't want to ask for anything specific, just your thoughts. It can be from your experience or even your gut feeling on this kind of setup. I want to figure out how many VMs I could expect to run like this, limitations, bottlenecks, network requirements, and anything else I should consider.

As this is a public access site, running flash or games are not a concern. Just the ability to browse the web and use open office.

Again, I would love some feedback on this. I will gladly keep anyone interested posted on how the testing of this system goes.

Thanks

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jcck20007
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sounds like VDI or Citrix XenDesktop might fit your need , for Xen you can use ESXi as your back-end as well

http://virtualizationreview.com/articles/2009/01/01/the-disappearing-desktop-how-vdi-is-changing-the...

there is a free Edition you can setup up to 10 PC worth a try

http://www.citrix.com/English/ps2/products/subfeature.asp?contentID=1685000

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Dave_Mishchenko
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Welcome to the VMware Community forums. Your discussion has been moved to the Enterprise Strategy and Planning forum.

Dave Mishchenko

VMware Communities User Moderator

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jcck20007
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sounds like VDI or Citrix XenDesktop might fit your need , for Xen you can use ESXi as your back-end as well

http://virtualizationreview.com/articles/2009/01/01/the-disappearing-desktop-how-vdi-is-changing-the...

there is a free Edition you can setup up to 10 PC worth a try

http://www.citrix.com/English/ps2/products/subfeature.asp?contentID=1685000

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weinstein5
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and If this soley going to be for VDI, now called View - VMware's pricing structure is per desktop which does include the ESX license - https://www.vmware.com/products/view/howtobuy.html

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If you find this or any other answer useful please consider awarding points by marking the answer correct or helpful
Texiwill
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Hello,

Check out http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/dmz_virtualization_vmware_infra_wp.pdf to help with this.


Best regards, Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009
Now Available on Rough-Cuts: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment'[/url]
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'[/url]
[url=http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Blog_Roll]SearchVMware Pro[/url]|Blue Gears[/url]|Top Virtualization Security Links[/url]|Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast[/url]

--
Edward L. Haletky
vExpert XIV: 2009-2023,
VMTN Community Moderator
vSphere Upgrade Saga: https://www.astroarch.com/blogs
GitHub Repo: https://github.com/Texiwill
Loveman
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Thanks for the suggestions!

Any thoughts on the best to use for Ubuntu as the client OS?

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Texiwill
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Hello,

Ubuntu should work just fine.


Best regards, Edward L. Haletky VMware Communities User Moderator, VMware vExpert 2009
Now Available on Rough-Cuts: 'VMware vSphere(TM) and Virtual Infrastructure Security: Securing ESX and the Virtual Environment'[/url]
Also available 'VMWare ESX Server in the Enterprise'[/url]
[url=http://www.astroarch.com/wiki/index.php/Blog_Roll]SearchVMware Pro[/url]|Blue Gears[/url]|Top Virtualization Security Links[/url]|Virtualization Security Round Table Podcast[/url]

--
Edward L. Haletky
vExpert XIV: 2009-2023,
VMTN Community Moderator
vSphere Upgrade Saga: https://www.astroarch.com/blogs
GitHub Repo: https://github.com/Texiwill
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