VMWare View Minimum Servers

[dftcomm]

I am looking to implement VMWare View internally in a small deployment that we may eventually expand.  I need to present all the initial pricing to our management but  I would like to know what the minimum number of Windows Server Licenses I am going to need is.

I will need one for Vcenter and One for Connection server correct?  I know I can also do a security server, but I wonder if that is necessary or not? And both of these servers could be virtual on our existing VMWare 5.0 ESXi deployment?

Any guidance would be most appreciated.

Thanks!

~Matt

[mittim12]

All of the servers can be virtual.   The security server is used to provide a secure gateway from outside the firewall to the internal boxes.   Also you would need a database server unless your running that on top of vCenter.    

[dftcomm]

Can I not allow external access securely via our firewall to the connection server without having a security server?

If I need one for optimal security then we may have to just buy the extra software license, but I guess I just needed to know what i absolutely need 

[Datto]

Comments:

1) You may want two different connection servers in case one goes down, the other can still issue desktops to your end-users.

2) You'll likely want to use Linked Clones and View Composer (since the savings in disk space could be considerable if you have any sizeable installation) and will likely want to put the SQL Databse server for View Composer on a seperate server so you'll need a Windows license for that database server.

3) You should investigate whether you'll want to use a seperate VCenter and ESX hosts for your View environment (seperate from your production VCenter and ESX hosts that are running production server-based VMs). This may be particularly true if you're using View Composer and your installation will grow to any size in the future.

Datto