Migrating to a newer version of Microsoft Windows is a difficult project for reasons that include:

What makes things even more difficult is if we are running an unsupported OS such as Windows XP and require official support from Microsoft. In some cases, we are paying at least $200 per desktop for this service (http://software.dell.com/products/changebase/calculate.aspx).

While VMware Horizon with View and its VMware ThinApp (http://www.vmware.com/products/thinapp/) application virtualization platform cannot by themselves solve issues related to the support of legacy applications or operating systems, they can provide organizations with a way to improve their end user computing environment with little or no changes to their existing legacy desktops. Horizon View provides users with a more relaxed desktop migration than is typically possible with a traditional reimage or replacement of an existing physical computer, where rolling back the migration is difficult or, sometimes, impossible. When migrating the users to Horizon View virtual desktops, any existing physical desktops need not be immediately removed or changed, usually enabling a less disruptive upgrade with the potential to move back to the physical desktop, if required.

Providing a more relaxed OS migration to the end users is not the only benefit of using Horizon View; the information technology (IT) staff will also benefit. While tools such as VMware Horizon Mirage (http://www.vmware.com/products/horizon-mirage) and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/server-cloud/products/system-center-2012-r2-configuration-manager) can assist organizations with OS and software upgrades on their existing physical machines, if those machines lack the resources required, the hardware itself will still need replacement. Additionally, tools such as these often carry additional costs that must be factored into the cost of the migration.

While many organizations might select to replace their existing physical computers with a thin or zero client tailored for use specifically with Horizon View or to rebuild the existing computer with just an OS and the Horizon View client software, there is no immediate need to do either of these unless we wish to prevent the user from continuing to use any existing applications on their physical desktop.

VMware Horizon View 6 introduced the capability to stream individual applications directly to the Horizon View client, a feature that is also known as application remoting. Using a Microsoft Windows Remote Desktop Session Host (RDSH) server, Horizon View can now deliver access to individual applications in addition to traditional virtual desktops.

VMware Horizon View 6 also offers the capability to directly deliver other applications, including those packaged with VMware ThinApp, streamed using Citrix XenApp (http://www.citrix.com/products/xenapp/overview.html) and even Web or SaaS applications using the included Horizon Workspace Portal (http://www.vmware.com/products/workspace-portal).

Application remoting enables organizations to distill the end user computing experience down to the smallest unit possible: individual applications. One scenario where application remoting can provide the most benefit is when a user uses only one or two applications; rather than providing them with their own virtual desktop, it might be more efficient to have them stream just these applications from a shared RDSH server.

Additionally, VMware created its own protocol provider for the RDSH servers so that application remoting clients can leverage the same PC over Internet Protocol (PCoIP) protocol used with virtual desktops; this is one of the key differentiating features of the Horizon View platform, offering high levels of performance using the minimum bandwidth required.

Chapter 11, Implementing Application Streaming Using Windows Remote Desktop Services, provides us with an overview on how to use VMware Horizon View and Microsoft Windows RDSH servers to enable the Microsoft Windows RDSH application remoting and streamed ThinApp applications.

VMware Horizon View supports the VMware Virtual SAN (VSAN) hypervisor-converged storage platform. VMware Virtual SAN provides organizations that do not wish to invest in a traditional shared storage array for their Horizon View desktops with an additional option that can meet the capacity and performance needs that the desktops require.

With VMware VSAN, organizations need to only deploy vSphere servers that include additional dedicated local storage. This storage can be all flash disks or a combination of flash and spinning disks. The combination of flash and spinning disks, along with the automated data-tiering capabilities or VSAN, allows it to meet both the performance and capacity needs of almost any Horizon View environment. VMware VSAN can also be used to provide the storage required for the Horizon View infrastructure servers, if desired.

One advantage of using VMware VSAN is that it reduces the complexity of a VMware Horizon View deployment by reducing the overall number of infrastructure components required while also simplifying the management, as VSAN is managed using the VMware vSphere Web Client.

Chapter 10, Implementing VMware Virtual SAN for Horizon View, provides us with an overview on how to use VMware VSAN to provide storage for Horizon View.

For many organizations, desktop mobility means providing users with a laptop and a virtual private network (VPN) connection that they can use to access company resources remotely. While this method of office mobility has worked, and continues to work, for many, managing these remote clients and their data can be challenging if organizations lack tools that are specifically designed to manage clients who are infrequently connected to an organization's private network. Organizations that cannot address these challenges might find themselves exposed to significant risks when it comes to the security of these remote physical endpoints, whether keeping them up-to-date with critical security patches or protecting and backing their data.

VMware Horizon View provides organizations with a number of different ways to rethink how they provide users with a mobile office:

In summary, VMware Horizon View enables organizations to offer new virtual desktop mobility offerings without the need to provide additional mobile devices for remote access; train users on how to properly protect their mobile devices and their data; or explain to users how their experience differs when they are logging in remotely.

Virtual desktops offer many potential benefits for enhancing end user computing security; however, but similar to traditional desktops, organizations must commit to the changes required for them to be effective. With the exception of remote desktops managed by VMware Horizon Mirage, Horizon View desktops are hosted in a data center where it is assumed that they will be more secure than traditional physical computers. In reality, with virtual desktops, there is no longer any physical hardware to steal, but securing the desktop OS and its applications is the same regardless of where it is located. The fact that a desktop is virtual does not automatically prevent the flow of data from that desktop to elsewhere, unless an organization takes steps to prevent it from using methods such as Active Directory (AD) group policies or various software tools.

VMware Horizon View supports a variety of options for controlling how USB devices access virtual desktops. The devices can be controlled based on a specific device (such as a USB Ethernet adapter), the type of device (such as the storage device), or even on the vendor product model. This feature is controlled using AD group policies and enables advanced control over how the desktop can be accessed.

The most common benefit of using Horizon View to provide virtual desktops is that their data remains in the data center, where we can protect it using whatever data center capabilities or protections are at our disposal. This includes tools such as vSphere-based backups of virtual desktop data, common storage array features such as snapshots and Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disk (RAID) protection, and even VMware vShield Endpoint, which provides antivirus (AV) protection at the hypervisor level rather than within each individual desktop.

Each of these capabilities provides a more efficient means of protecting virtual desktops and their content than is possible with physical desktops. If physical desktops are still required, VMware Horizon Mirage can be used to provide similar levels of protection, namely the desktop contents and configuration.

One benefit of using virtual desktops is that they can dramatically change how an organization provides support to its end users. In scenarios where we are replacing our existing physical desktops with dedicated devices whose only purpose is to act as a client for Horizon View, with the exception of hardware failure, there is less of a need to provide support in person. The following is a list of key features and characteristics of VMware Horizon View:

These features are just a partial list of what Horizon View can offer, yet they alone offer us the opportunity to rethink how support is provided. With Horizon View, we don't have to expend resources that support individual desktops, as everything that makes these desktops unique can be abstracted or stored elsewhere. If everything that makes a desktop unique can be maintained in another location, such as custom applications and user persona data, our IT support staff can simply discard the problematic machine and provide the user with a fresh desktop free of any underlying issues.

With Horizon View, we can greatly reduce the support our desktops require and focus more on supporting the users. With linked clone desktops, when desktops need to be changed, these changes are applied to the desktop master image and rolled out to all users at our convenience.

The concept of having users use their own devices to access company resources is becoming more common as organizations move towards new ways of providing users access to their applications and data. With Horizon View, users can use their own endpoint as a client to access desktops, applications, or data hosted by Horizon View or other components of the VMware Horizon Suite.

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) does not necessarily mean that users are spending their own money to purchase these devices. In some organizations, users are provided with a stipend to purchase whatever device they wish, preferably with some guidance from their IT department in terms of required client features or specifications. In some cases, by providing users with access to a wider variety of devices, they are more likely to end up with a device they are comfortable with, which might help make them more productive.

The concept of BYOD is most commonly seen with smartphones where employees use their own mobile device to access e-mail and other company resources, in many cases without being required to or without reimbursement.

In many cases, the act of deploying virtual desktops will not be an organization's monetary concern. Additionally, if we continue to manage and support virtual desktops just like physical desktops, our virtual desktops might well end up costing us more. The following is a partial list of potential expenses that must be considered when determining whether cost savings are possible with virtual desktops:

In most of these cases, ignoring these items will not make our virtual desktop environment a failure; however, the more we ignore them, the more difficult it will be for us to lower per-desktop support costs. Depending on what it costs to implement virtual desktops in our own organization, it might be that, even if we address all of these points, we still won't save money. This is why reducing costs should not be the first priority, as it cannot be guaranteed in all environments.

When designing our virtual desktop environment, we must consider everything involved with providing, managing, and supporting the desktops we have today. As mentioned earlier, if we operate and support our virtual desktops as we do for our physical desktops, we will make it very difficult to realize any cost savings. The topics we covered in this section are just an example of the types of things we must be conscious of if our goal is to attempt to reduce our costs associated with providing end user computing resources.

A lack of understanding as to how our users interact with their desktops can have a significant impact on the success of our Horizon View deployment. It is about more than failing to appropriately size our virtual desktop infrastructure; it has to do with understanding what our users need in order to perform their duties. The following are just some examples we must consider when deciding who among our users is a suitable candidate for conversion to Horizon View virtual desktops.

Full clone Horizon View desktops are created using a master image that has been converted into a vSphere template. VMware Horizon View clones this template to create a full clone desktop; from then on, this desktop is managed independently from all other desktops and the template itself. Apart from the fact that it was created from a vSphere template, the full clone desktop is very comparable to a physical desktop from a management standpoint. As a result, the full clone desktop is often managed using the same techniques used with a physical desktop.

Assuming that the infrastructure has adequate capacity to host the full clone desktops, the familiarity with their management might be enough of a reason to choose them over linked clone desktops. Additionally, with advancements in the storage technology—specifically, real-time deduplication—organizations can deploy full clone desktops that require very little physical storage when measured on a per desktop basis.

The following table shows us the results obtained when testing the actual per-desktop storage required for 2,500 Horizon View desktops when deployed on a storage array that includes the deduplication functionality. In this example, the master image was utilizing approximately 13 GB of the 24 GB virtual hard disk. To determine the physical storage required for each desktop, the amount of actual storage being used on the array was measured immediately after the desktop deployment, and then divided by the number of desktops deployed (2,500). The measurements were taken immediately after the desktops were deployed.

While the full clone desktop still used over three times the amount of physical storage as the linked clone desktop, the amount of storage required for the full clone desktops was reduced by over 95 percent due to the deduplication capabilities of the array. To deploy this number of desktops using an array that does not have deduplication capabilities would require approximately 32 TB of storage capacity as a minimum—the minimum providing no room for any growth beyond the 13 GB of disk space currently in use. This does not even take into account the IOPS required, a factor that influences the storage design as much as if not more, than, just the amount of capacity required.

If full clone desktops are a definite requirement, technologies such as arrays capable of deduplication or storage acceleration platforms might be required in order to meet the virtual desktop capacity and performance requirements while keeping storage costs reasonable.

VMware Horizon View Composer linked clone desktops are also provisioned from a master image. While a full clone desktop is created from a vSphere template, a linked clone requires a master image that is in the standard vSphere virtual machine format.

A linked clone desktop has a number of advantages over a full clone desktop. Some of these advantages include the following:

Due to how a linked clone desktop works, there are specific considerations when it comes to client-based utilities and desktop management. If we were to treat linked clones like traditional physical desktops, we might find that the benefits of linked clone desktops begin to disappear. Some examples of this include the following:

Whenever possible, we should approach managing linked clone desktops from the master image, as this helps preserve their benefits and minimize the amount of administrative effort required. Additionally, we should examine each of our client-based management tools and utilities to see whether there are versions optimized for virtual desktop use. These two recommendations can dramatically reduce the per-desktop resources required, which enables more desktops to run on the same infrastructure.

VMware Horizon View supports two options for assigning users to desktops: floating and dedicated user assignment. This section will define each of these options and discuss the optimal scenarios for each. Some of the terms used in this section, such as persistent and nonpersistent desktops, are defined in greater detail in the Deciding between persistent and nonpersistent desktops section.

VMware Horizon View provides organizations with the ability to manage desktop persistence automatically, without having to install additional software inside the base image. This section will discuss what differs between the two desktop persistence models. It is important to note that Horizon View does not refer to a desktop as persistent or nonpersistent; in using this term, we are referring to the act of refreshing a linked clone desktop or deleting and recreating a linked clone or full clone desktop after the user has ended their session.

There are two schools of thought when it comes to optimizing Windows for our Horizon View environment. One opinion is that the fewer resources Windows requires, the more desktops we can host on a given vSphere server. Additionally, we have probably made the desktop perform better, as there are no nonessential services running. We only need to talk to our desktop support team in order to learn the different tips and tricks they perform to make Windows run faster or with fewer errors.

The second school of thought says that you shouldn't have to optimize Windows. By doing this, you are degrading the Windows experience and introducing barriers to the adoption of your Horizon View implementation. File indexing is one example where this could be true, as some users might depend on the Windows search feature. Many other examples are less important, such as the various transparency features that Windows uses to make the user interface appear more attractive. Rather than blindly disabling every lesser-used feature we find, research should be done to identify how we can tune Windows without impacting the workflows our users depend on to perform their duties.

Even if you are fortunate enough to have the best of the best when it comes to storage technology, optimizing Windows also reduces virtual desktop vCPU and RAM needs, which can reduce our server requirements. Since Horizon View projects often deal with hundreds—if not thousands—of desktops, every reduction in virtual desktop resources requirements that you make is multiplied many times over.

One of the preferred methods to determine virtual desktop resource requirements is to use a commercial tool such as Liquidware Labs Stratusphere FIT (http://www.liquidwarelabs.com/products/stratusphere-fit). Stratusphere FIT can generate detailed reports concerning the compute resources required by each of the virtual desktops in our organization. This information can be used to determine the desktop resource requirements with a very high degree of precision.

For organizations that cannot justify the expense of Stratusphere FIT, and feel that a simpler approach to desktop resource utilization is sufficient, the Windows Performance Monitor tool can be used to measure the resource utilization of their virtual desktops.

When using Performance Monitor, the desktop should be measured during a period of normal use, and the data being measured should be saved into the comma-separated format in order to make it easier to analyze. This section will detail each of the counters that should be monitored using the Performance Monitor tool.

One of the easiest things to overlook when designing our Horizon View infrastructure is how much network bandwidth is required in order to support the client connections. The preferred protocol for Horizon View is PCoIP, although it also supports VMware HTML Access as well as Microsoft Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP).

PCoIP is a display protocol provided by VMware for use in the Horizon View product suite. The PCoIP protocol has multiple features that make it ideal for connecting to Horizon View desktops or streamed applications:

Microsoft RDP is a TCP-based display protocol that lacks many of the WAN optimization and acceleration techniques that are found in PCoIP. In addition, VMware Horizon View includes Microsoft Group Policy Object (GPO) templates that enable a very granular control over PCoIP connection characteristics. The Horizon View document Setting up Desktop and Application Pools in View (https://pubs.vmware.com/horizon-view-60/index.jsp#com.vmware.horizon-view.desktops.doc/GUID-D90CC716-6CDA-4210-8AF2-9E75C729D847.html) provides us with details on how to use the PCoIP GPO templates.