Top 10 Tips for Implementing Desktop Virtualisation.

Tech Tips: VMware Horizon View

Today’s workplace is rapidly changing. Workers are increasingly mobile. Over 52 percent of employees carry at least three devices for work, and many bring their own devices to and from work, a practice known as bring your own device (BYOD). These workplace dynamics have created IT challenges around data security and compliance, cost containment, and endpoint/image management.

VMware® Horizon View™ (formerly VMware View) helps IT tackle these challenges head on by virtualizing end-user desktops. With Horizon View, IT organizations can move desktop assets (OS, applications and data) into the datacenter, where IT staff can more securely manage and deliver them to end users across multiple devices and locations. This approach can help drive down operational costs, enhance security, and support mobile access and device diversity in the workplace.

As you plan your move to a Horizon View virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), consider the following tips:

Look at your user roles and requirements

For a more successful deployment, create groups of users with similar desktop usage models and requirements. Considerations might include types of users (e.g., task worker, knowledge worker), mobility requirements (e.g., none, mobile, offline access) and user requirements (e.g., dedicated desktop, customized, user-installed apps). This will affect the type of desktop pool (i.e., dedicated or floating), how many virtual machine pools you create and whether your users connect to a virtual desktop, an alternate centralized physical desktop or a physical endpoint you manage via VMware Horizon Mirage™. Consider what you must do to maintain user data when users are not connected. Roaming profiles, Horizon View Persona Management, user data disks and other third-party methods of user data storage are available to best manage your different user roles. See the Desktop Pools for Specific Types of Workers section in the Horizon View manual for more details.

Figure 1: Managing User Persona and data

1 Assess applications requirements

To optimize the desktop experience for end users, do a full assessment of all applications the virtual desktops will run. Check the number of licenses, when they are up for renewal and their compatibility with Horizon View. If you are upgrading operating system versions, check application compatibility or package them using VMware ThinApp™.

Evaluate your data topology

Have a clear understanding of where user files, folders, settings and user personalization settings are located and plan how to map them to the new environment. You may need to enable file access to users across remote locations but have the files centralized in one location. If you use roaming for terminal services, decide whether you will continue to do so in your virtual desktop environment. To find out more, see Location Awareness in Horizon View.

Confirm your directory services are properly configured and running

Make sure all Active Directory domain controllers are replicating properly, and ensure DNS and DHCP are correctly configured, running, and able to accommodate the newly created desktops. Ensure you have domain controllers in the locations where people are logging in. For example, if your firewall software blocks Global Catalog and LDAP ports, administrators will have problems configuring user entitlements. If you do have a firewall between your Horizon View environment and your Active Directory server, you must make sure that all of the necessary ports are opened for Active Directory to function correctly.

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Tech Tips: VMware Horizon View

Assess your current infrastructure

Review your current setup to see what existing infrastructure you can leverage and what you might need to add for your new environment. Review and optimize WAN topology, QoS/CoS, display protocols, geographic location of sites and remote access methods. Determine whether a VPN solution is in place, and whether you will use hybrid-security multi-factor authentication, or will leverage an alternate topology (e.g., View Security Server). For best practices on setting up your new environment, see Horizon View Architect Planning.

View ConnectionServer(s)

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Figure 2: Access Infrastructure Example

5 Check security and compliance needs

Determine your requirements for authentication, data protection, compliance, archiving and retention policies. For example, find out if you are using multi-factor authentication such as smart cards or tokens in addition to Active Directory to authenticate user access.

You can install and configure a View Security Server in your DMZ to help connect external users with their Horizon View desktops behind the corporate firewall. For more information on security with desktop virtualization, see the Security Solution Architecture for VDI.

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Tech Tips: VMware Horizon View

Set expectations with users

The success of a VDI deployment depends on employee satisfaction, so it is important to build user expectations into your deployment plan. Ask key questions, such as what devices will employees use? Will printing be a requirement? Do users need to play or record audio?

Run a desktop virtualization pilot to gather data on performance requirements and employee satisfaction. Make sure that users can quickly access their data. For more information, see the Horizon View Persona Management Deployment Guide.

Pay careful attention to sizing your storage

Many VDI projects fail, underperform or “over-cost” due to poor storage design. To size your storage, use the most accurate data you can gather about current and future desktop requirements and compare it to the capabilities of your storage systems. When sizing your storage, be sure to consider both peak and average workloads. Sizing storage for average workloads results in inadequate resources during peak times, which degrades end-user performance. For more tips on sizing storage, watch Storage Considerations for VMware Horizon View.

Figure 3: Storage Setup in a Horizon View Environment

Determine support requirements

Train all desktop support staff on the support model changes so that support requirements for virtual desktops are clear. Doing this at the beginning of the deployment can greatly increase the likelihood of success for your implementation.

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Evaluate total cost of ownership (TCO) and return on investment (ROI)

Desktop virtualization does not deliver TCO and ROI in the same way that server virtualization does. Make sure to set the right expectations for and evaluate TCO/ROI correctly to show how this new capability benefits your organization. Use the Horizon View TCO Calculator to find out exactly what your organization can gain. For example, desktop virtualization can:

• Reduce support costs by 50 percent by centralizing management

• Let you support up to 40 percent more end users with the same IT personnel

• Reduce network requirements through more efficient bandwidth usage

• Push out PC refresh cycles from 3-4 years to 5-7 years

Learn more about VMware Horizon View

• Horizon View Product Overview

• Horizon View Bootcamp

• Horizon View Data Sheet

• What’s New in View 5 Blog

• Horizon View 5 Performance and Best Practices

• Horizon View 5 Reviewer’s Guide

• Horizon View Architectural Planning Guide

Check the Knowledge Base for related questions

Connect with the Horizon View Community and read the End User Computing Blog

Evaluate Horizon View for 60 days

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Resources

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