VDI- really confused

[naltoidaddict]

So what exactly VDI? And why does no one at VmWare seem to be able to tell me anything about it? We've dropped some serious cash on these guys but we mention VDI and all they can tell us is it's an "exciting new product to complement our existing virtual infrastructure".

What we need to be able to do is put diskless clients in place that can rpd to a vm be able to transfer files to a local usb key. Will VDI enable that?

[mmoeller]

What is VDI? Virtual desktop infrastructure is really the concept of creating a virtual machine on a host that is used as a desktop instead of a server. Instead of including an OS and server application on the VM you load the virtual desktop VM up with OS and desktop software, ie Office, and give it user creditials as you would an individual desktop. You still get the benefits of a VM but now have ease of deployment of a VM. Makes provisioning very simple and removes required end user atributes from the end point and contains them in the virtual desktop VM.

[sbeaver]

VDI is Virtual Desktop Infrastructure that is workstations VM's runnning on ESX so that any thin client can RDP or VNC to open a session. I am not sure that you will be able to use USB

[tbrouwer]

Yes, you can still use usb keys with most terminals.

[mreferre]

You might be able to get more info going quickly through this set of figures .....

http://it20.info/files/3/documentation/entry20.aspx

Hope it helps.

Massimo.

[admin]

You are going to get a lot of differant answers depending on who you ask. VDI - Virtual Desktop Infrastructure started by VMware as a vision back in 2005 as an alternative way of delivering desktops leveraging the core benifits of virtualization. Inharently, it offers most of what users like or need from a distributed PC architecture but delivered with most of the benifits of a server based computing architecture that management and admins are looking for.

Because VDI is an architecture most the products to build it, beside the virtualization infrastructure, came from VDI alliance partners.

As VDI has gained momentum, despite nay sayers and competitive technology providers agendas to stall it, specific products have come to market too better enable the delivery and management of the architecture. You will continue to see even more products from VMware and its partners that make VDI even better. This will be fuled by VMware's investment as well as cometive providers trying to catch up. All this combined is good for you the customer as you will have choice. The competive nature will drive R&D that solves current limitations and delivers feature functionality making it more valueable to both small and large organizations.

From a client access device perspective, you should have the choice and freedom to deploy the device you desire based on your requirements and leverage VDI. That is one of the key benifits. We are client device agnostic. Diskless PC's, Repurposed PC's, Thin Client's etc. are all canidate devices depending on where you are in your client device life-cycle. Adpoting a VDI architecture should not be viewed as a rip and replace solution. It should be viewed as a roadmap and evolving desktop strategy for your organization.

Using diskless PC's as a client access device for VDI is possible and reasonable. They could PXE boot a network based image, boot from CD-Rom etc. VMware is curently not providing a solution for this, but there are several approaches for rolling your own. Several VDI customers are doing this. As long as the RDP client you use supports mass storage your USB sticks should work as well.

For mor info on a production VDI customer doing just this see the following - Cardinal Health

WP