First and foremost this release is not vaporware, it is not full of a bunch of features that do not work as described, it is real and from my testing all the features work and work very well, of course that does not mean it is everything to everybody but in the coming days and weeks I will be releasing much more info on VDM so stay tuned.  In the mean time below I've tried to give you a basic overview of VDM and what you can do with it but first let's talk a small bit about VDM's basic features and benefits.

 

VMware VDM  ships with the following features / benefits:

• Enterprise-class connection brokering - VDM manages the connections between users and their virtual desktops. When users log on to VDM, the virtual desktops they are authorized to access appears.  Once connected to a virtual desktop, users access their applications as if the applications were running locally.
• USB client device support - USB devices can be locally connected to clients and accessed through a virtual desktop.
• Web-based management user interface - A Web-based management console, which allows virtual desktops to be managed from any location.
• “Smart pooling” capabilities - A range of persistent and non-persistent pooling capabilities simplifies the provisioning and management of centralized desktops.
• Secure access - Optional secure encapsulation capabilities, which allows all network connections to be encrypted.
• Integration with Microsoft Active Directory - Connection to Active Directory, which allows you to locate user and user group
• accounts and use the authentication features in Active Directory to control which users can access virtual desktops.
• Support for two-factor authentication - With RSA SecurID, access control is strengthened with support for two-factor authentication.
• Seamless integration with VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3 - Works closely with VMware VirtualCenter to provide advanced virtual desktop management capabilities, such as automatic suspend and resume, which reduces the memory and processing power required to host virtual desktops. By leveraging the capabilities of VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3, desktops can run even when server hardware goes down and recover quickly from unplanned outages without duplicate hardware.
• Flexible deployment options - Critical components can be deployed in a variety of configurations and to different parts of the network, which improve security, scalability, and reliability. Multiple VirtualCenter servers are supported, and VDM can scale horizontally to support many virtual desktops.
• High availability - Servers can be clustered for high availability and scalability with automatic failover. These servers can also leverage industry-standard load balancing solutions.

 

Now that we understand the basic VDM feature set it is time to look at the components that make up VDM to provide the above features.  VDM is broken down in to the following five key components:

• VDM Connection Server
• VDM Agent
• VDM Client
• VDM Web Access
• VDM Administrator

 

VDM Connection Server - The VDM Connection Server is the component that acts as the VDI connection broker and it responsible for managing all the secure access to virtual desktops, it is the main "guy" in the VDM infrastructure.  It also integrates in with VMware's VirtualCenter to provide advanced management capabilities that I will discuss if future articles.  The VDM Connection Server supports is required to be installed on a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 server that is part of an Active Directory domain.   During installation you are prompted to chose one of the following three roles for the VDM Connection Server:

• Standard - It provides stand-alone functionality and is used as the only VDM Connection Server (or the first of a group of VDM Connection Servers that act as part of a high-availability, fully replicated group).
• Replica - This instance is installed as a second or subsequent VDM server in a high-availability group. Configuration data is initialized from an existing VDM Server and is automatically replicated between VDM group members.
• Security Server - This instance implements a subset of the VDM Connection Server functionality and is used in a DMZ deployment. A VDM Security Server does not need to be in an Active Directory domain. The Standard and Replica instances automatically include the Security Server functionality.

VDM Agent - The VDM Agent is the components that runs on each of the "virtual desktop" images.  It is used to assist with session management, single sign-on, and USB device redirection.  The VDM Agent communicates with the VDM Connection Server and the VDM Client   .

 

Once you understand the basics, have installed VDM then you are ready to start creating / assigning virtual desktops to users.  VDM ingrates with VirtualCenter to provide you with the following types of virtual desktops: .

• Individual Desktops - These are existing virtual desktops that are available through VDM. The pool manager can control the power state of these virtual desktops.
• Persistent Desktop Pool - This type is a pool of virtual desktops whose lifecycle and power state is controlled by the pool manager. Persistent virtual desktops are assigned to their user on the first use, so the user returns each time to the same virtual desktop. This type of pool is used when users want to customize their desktops by installing additional applications and storing local data.
• Non-persistent Desktop Pool - This type is a pool of virtual desktops that is similar to a persistent desktop pool, except that the virtual desktops are not permanently assigned to users. When a session is finished, the virtual desktop is returned to the pool and made available for other users.  By deleting the virtual desktops after each use, this type of pool ensures that each user receives a newly provisioned virtual desktop each time the user connects (optional). This type of pool should be used where a clean machine is needed for each user session or in highly controlled environments where there is no requirement for customization to be stored on the virtual desktop.

 

In the coming days I will release a more detailed analysis about my experiences throughout the beta and the RTM but for now please feel free to download it and give it a try yourself.   BUT, I will say that I've been very impressed with VDM.   The only problem is the VDM client does NOT support 64-bit workstations but of course there are ways to workaround that issue, which I will document in the coming days too. ;)

 

For Additional Resources and to download VMware's VDM pleases refer to the following resources:

 

Official VMware VDM Guides

VDM 2.0 Release Notes
Introduction to VMware Virtual Desktop Manager  
VDM Installation and Administration Guide  

Additional Resources, White Papers and Best Practices:
Ziff Davis: Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
VDI Server Sizing and Scaling White Paper
VDM Load Balancing Guide
Windows XP Deployment Guide for VDI  
Using the Wyse V10L and S10 Thin Clients with VDM

VMware VDI - FAQs

VMware VDM - VDI Design Guide

VDI Best Practices White Paper

 

Download VMware VDM!

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