VDIs for Developers - What to choose?

[DiogoSousa20111]

Hello and greetings from Portugal!

I believe that this may be a very common question but, we're at the moment evaluating the creating of new VDIs for our developers.
There have been a lot of questions about what should be their "standard" VDI which made me also have some questions about it:

 - should we use full clones?
 - what should be the standard disk size?
 - is there any other special recommendations we should take in count?

Thanks in advance,
Best Regards,
Diogo Sousa

[Mickeybyte]

@DiogoSousa20111 

The answer here is as simple as complex: "it depends..." 🙂

In most cases, full clones will indeed be the best use case, cause developer don't want all their settings/programs to be reset when they log off. They also need "admin" rights in most cases and want to be able to install their own software / plugins / .... So Full clones are the best way to go. You can of course create a base template with common software already installed. In case you need an extra VM or a developer needs to "reset" their VM you have an up-to-date starting point.

Standard disk size: this also depends on how much extra space the developers would need.

[DiogoSousa20111]

@Mickeybyte 

First of all thanks so much for your quick reply!

Yep, I also believe it depends. Just want to have a "golden image" with some "standard virtual hardware" that I can adjust if needed after delivering the machines to the developers.

Their mainly Visual Studio developers. Any thoughts about the vHardware? 🙂

[Mickeybyte]

@DiogoSousa20111 

You will have to check this with the developers I guess, but just don't take their word for it ;-). They will probably ask 8 CPU and 64G memory!

Depending on the CPU speed on the hosts, I would say 4 or more vCPU's (if the host has low CPU speed (less than 2.5Ghz e.g., more vCPU's might benefit them, if you have 3.5GHz, 4 vCPU migh be sufficient)

Memory is also dependant on the tasks they need to do. 8 or even 16GB might be the minimum.

For Disk space, you can always expand the disk later if needed. Start with something like 80 or 100GB and set them as thin-provisioned.

[sjesse]

The only way to really know is to do a small POC with one or two to start with and monitor their metrics and then adjust.

[DiogoSousa20111]

Again, thanks everyone for helping on this one!

Yes, will start small, with a PoC and than adjust things.

Best regards!

[DiogoSousa20111]

Greetings from Portugal!

So finally today creating my golden image.
But..I'm used to create linked clone templates and not full clones.

For full clones should I sysprep the machine? Snapshot? When installing Horizon Agent, any special notes?

Best regards,
Diogo Sousa

[Mickeybyte]

@DiogoSousa20111 

Full Clones don't use snapshot but templates and customization profiles. So you need:

1. Convert your "master image" to a template in vCenter.
2. Create a VM Customization profile in vCenter (this is the sysprep part that will be run when creating a new Full Clone VDI)

When creating the desktop pool, you then choose the template and a customization profile that will be used to create your desktops.

For the Horizon agent you don't need the "view composer agent" nor the "instant clone agent", the rest is up to what features you want to be available (USB redirection, ...)

[DiogoSousa20111]

You really are an excelent guy! 🙂

Thanks again for the help!

News soon! 🙂

[sjesse]

I'd advise against copying a non persistent image that was optimized as full clones need some of the services that are turned of in some tools.

[DiogoSousa20111]

Hi there!

Just a quick help.
Already created from template using vcenter profiles. It worked fine for the first time, but now that I've tried a second time, it doesn't ends the "customizing" phase 😞

The guestcust.log just says this in the end:[2021-10-19T11:27:09: : DEBUG] RpcChannel: Recved 9 bytes

[2021-10-19T11:27:09: : DEBUG] RpcChannel: Request OK: reqlen=74, replyLen=9
[2021-10-19T11:27:09: GuestCustUtilLib: DEBUG] Got VMX response 'connected'
[2021-10-19T11:27:09: : INFO] The network interfaces are connected on 0 second
[2021-10-19T11:27:09: : INFO] GuestCustUtil exiting

Something I got wrong while creating the template?

Best Regards,
Diogo Sousa

[DiogoSousa20111]

Should the template not be added to domain before convert it?

[Mickeybyte]

@DiogoSousa20111 

The template should not be added to the domain. The customization profile should contain the information to add it to the domain the moment the clone is done and the customization starts. 

Check the logs in c:\windows\panther to see sysprep errors on the resulting VM.

[DiogoSousa20111]

Hi Mickey!

Yep...I'm testing right now with the template not domain joined. Feedback in the next minutes! Tks again!

[DiogoSousa20111]

This is so strange.
I see the c:\sysprep folder but nothing else happens. No sysprep logs...it seems the process doesn't kicks off and don't know why....

[Mickeybyte]

@DiogoSousa20111 

Did you run sysprep on the VM you are using as your template? If so, make sure if you start your template, there's no OOBE setup running. If it is, go through it and when finished, do a normal shutdown of the VM and convert it back to template.

Next create a new FullVM in Horizon specifying a customization profile in which you put all necessary information (computername, domain join, license key, ...)

If the VM stays in customizing state, check the sysprep logs in the c:\windows\panther\ folder.

[DiogoSousa20111]

Did you run sysprep on the VM you are using as your template?
**bleep**....I didn't...I thought a sysprep was not needed  before converting to template.

I should run sysprep with any special attributes?

[Mickeybyte]

No you don't need to run sysprep on your template. But I've seen people doing it and then choosing shutdown, but then when it boots up, it starts the OOBE experience and the customization profile fails.

[DiogoSousa20111]

Should use this one?

sysprep.exe /oobe /generalize /shutdown /mode:vm

[Mickeybyte]

No, don't run sysprep on your template. Just make sure your template boots up fine and shows a normal logon screen when finished. If that's the case, your template should be good. Shut it down and convert to template.

Then provision a new desktop through Horizon and check if ti comes available (give it some time, it will reboot several times). If it doesn't come available, check the logs in c:\windows\panther for any errors during customization.