VIRTUALIZATION & CLOUD

COMPUTING
Lecture # 11-12

CSE 423
Working with Desktop Virtualization

Desktops have been the bane of the administrators

existence ever since they first appeared on the market.

If desktops are not locked down, there can be no control

and there always are a lot of issues.

Another major problem of distributed PCs is the amount of

applications to manage and deploy to them.

Using a system stack simplifies the way you construct PCs

as well as the way you manage applications because it
structures how computer systems are built from the ground
up.

Point of Access for Secure Service (PASS) system construction

model

 This system stack is based on the construction of a computer

system that responds to corporate needs in three ways
PASS system kernel is designed to meet the needs of the
average or generic user. It contains all of the software
components required to perform basic office automation and
collaboration tasks.
Role-based applications and commercial software are
added on top of the kernel to meet the requirements of the
special IT roles every person plays within the organization.
ad hoc layer responds to highly specialized IT requirements
that are often expressed on an individual basis.

The Anatomy of a Desktop

DESKTOP core components
The core OS layer, which includes the OS itself and any patches it
requires.
The application layer, which is designed to provide added
functionality to the end user.
The user data layer, which contains all of the users data including
user produced documents, presentations, and more

These are the three key components of a desktop, and if you can
abstract these layers from one another, you can significantly reduce
desktop management overhead. This is where desktop virtualization
products can help

Move To Desktop Virtualization

More and more organizations are turning to a virtual desktop to
simplify the desktop management model. There are several reasons
why desktop virtualization often makes more sense than managing
physical desktops.
First, you can provide centrally managed desktops to users on any
endpoint device
Second, you can lock down virtual desktops because they are
controlled centrally and, therefore, are easier to provision
You spend less time on endpointsthe actual physical PCs
You can provide service level agreements (SLAs) only for the central
desktop and not for the endpoint itself

Move To Desktop Virtualization

You can create locked and encrypted virtual desktop images

that can be time controlled to meet timely requirements

Information can be secured by keeping the virtual desktop

inside the datacenter

Complex or sensitive applications can be encapsulated and

isolated into specific PC VMs to ensure proper operation

Available Desktop Virtualization

Products
There are several different types of desktop
virtualization engines. They usually fit within two
different virtualization models: local versus
centralized

The local desktop virtualization model, often called

Client-side Desktop Virtualization, focuses on using the
endpoints own resources for running the virtual desktop.
Virtualization software is installed on the physical desktop,
and a corporate virtual desktop image is provided to the
end user. The end user then runs the virtual desktop on
top of their physical desktop.

 Centralized
and is often called Server-hosted Desktop Virtualization.
Here, the virtual desktop will run on top of a production
hypervisor and will be accessed remotely by the end user. All
the end user requires is any device that supports a remote
desktop connection.
The virtual desktops run on top of host servers using shared
storage to ensure desktop availability.
Local model supports both managed and unmanaged
product usage

Virtual Desktop Licensing

When working with virtual desktops you must always consider licensing
If youre working with Windows, you will get a break from Microsoft
because Microsoft has released the Windows Vista Enterprise Centralized
Desktop (VECD) license with following feature:
Unlimited installs of Windows Vista Enterprise on a server.
Virtual desktops are licensed by access device, whatever the device.
Each user can have up to four virtual instances running on the access
device at one time.
Organizations can run either static or dynamically hosted desktop
architectures.
Virtual desktops can run on Microsoft or non-Microsoft infrastructures

Potential Desktop Virtualization

Scenarios

locked and encrypted desktop virtual machines.

Machines are centrally prepared and then encrypted to
protect their content. They are distributed to end users
on portable devices, such as USB memory sticks, DVDs,
external USB disk drives, or other removable storage
devices.
Because they are encrypted, they are completely
protected from tampering. The user must provide the
appropriate unlocking key to launch the VM.

Unmanaged desktop virtualization stems from the use of

tools such as Vmware Workstation or Microsoft Virtual PC.

Both tools are installed locally on the users desktop and

rely on the desktops processing capabilities to run VMs.

In unmanaged mode, the user installs their own

version of the virtualization software and creates
and runs his or her own virtual machines

Unmanaged desktop virtualization can lead to

issues within the organization

 Stateful virtual desktops, focuses on centrally managed

desktops that are tied to each specific user.
In this model, each user connects to his or her own particular
desktop virtual machine(s).
The VMs are stored in a central shared storage container,
much as they are when you virtualize server software. Host
servers running production hypervisors manage all of the
desktop virtual machines and make sure they are highly
available.
require a significant
amount of storage.

Stateless virtual desktops

Generation of virtual machines on an as-needed basis.
The advantage of this model is that the machines are
completely volatile and built on the fly.

Identify Desktop Virtualization

Audiences
The basic productivity worker will require fewer application
types. Primarily text based and log in at distributed time.
The knowledge worker will require a more powerful
centralized desktop because they tend to run multiple
business and productivity applications at the same time.
Include application richer in graphics and tend to log in at
same time.
The rich desktop user will most likely run multiple
computer- and graphics intensive applications at the same
time. Ex: Engineers or traders

Centralized Desktop Virtualization

Infrastructures
Persistent or assigned desktops
The desktop is tied to one single user and the same desktop is
provided to the user each time he or she logs on.
Use when : Few user, storage not concern

Non-persistent, volatile, or pooled desktops

A new, generic desktop is provided to the user each time he or she
logs on to the infrastructure.
Applications and user profile data are provided at logon to customize
the shared image to meet this users particular requirements.
Persistent clone desktop
A personalizable clone is generated the first time a user logs on; from
that point on, the user relies on that clone each time he or she logs
back on