What is included in VDI Bundle ?

[TonyJK]

We are considering using VMWare VDI Product. We have been using ESX Host for almost 3 years.

According to VDI Bundle (Like for 100 Desktops), it includes

1) VDM

2) VC Server (We already got it)

3) VI3 Enterprise Edition for VDI.

We would like to clarify what is VI3 Enterprise Edition for VDI ? Is it an add-on software on the ESX 3.5 Host or it means a 2 or 4 CPU License for ESX 3.x Host ?

Moreover, according to Citrix, the major drawback for VMWare VDI is the use of precious SAN space for VDI HD. What is the recommended HD size for VDI (For running XP Pro and Vista Business) ?

Do we need another server for running VDM ? Can it be a VM ?

Thanks

[admin · Accepted solution]

There are several VDI bundles available. The 'Enterprise' bit means that the ESX license includes vMotion, DRS, DPM, HA and VCB.

The VDM Starter Kit includes a Foundation license for VC allowing you to manage up to 3 ESX hosts.

If you already have sufficient ESX licenses (and VC) then you can just buy the VDM broker on its own.

The VDM broker can be run as a Windows VM.

The desktop VMs should ideally be stored on shared storage to take advantage of vMotion, etc...but is not mandatory. You could use local disk. Equally, you do not have to use FC SAN....NAS or iSCSI works well. Keep the VM as small as possible to save on overall disk usage, perhaps look at disk deduplication from the storage vendors. Speak to VMware about future technology to save disk space.

[nkrick]

TonyJK,

VI3 for VDI is not actually different than a "normal" VI3 ESX Enterprise server. The difference is that the EULA states that you cannot run any server loads on the ESX servers with the exception of the VDM connection broker server. ESX itself is not any different, no additional packages or add-on software needs to be installed on the ESX host. I don't remember exactly how many CPU licenses come with the VDI bundle, but it is like 6 or 8. (It is interesting to note that for the same price you can purchase the VDI starter pack and 9 VDI add-on's and have licensing to run ESX, with desktop vm's only, on 20 CPU's.)

As the previous poster stated, you do not have to utilize expensive Fibre Channel SAN disk for your desktop VM's, but disk space does add up. Future versions of VDM are rumored to come with similar disk differencing technologies used by VMware lab manager, allowing a many to one relationship between VM's and the underlying disk (by using a difference file for each VM using the same disk). For now, each VM needs to have it's own disk, so SAN deduplication may be able to help you save space (if that is an option for you). I have found that a Windows XP VDI guest generally operates fine with 8-10 GB of disk space, but your mileage may vary, especially if you are providing a full desktop replacement in the VM rather than an environment to run a specific application or environment in, in which case you may need quite a bit more space.