Deploying a VMware Horizon View Environment

You are the head of the IT department in your company, and you have just finished a meeting discussing finances and IT budget. The message is clear – it�s time to cut costs. Easy to say, but what can you do, and how do you do it? A VMware View infrastructure can provide significant cost […]]> You are the head of the IT department in your company, and you have just finished a meeting discussing finances and IT budget. The message is clear – it�s time to cut costs. Easy to say, but what can you do, and how do you do it? A VMware View infrastructure can provide significant cost savings as well as simplifying your administration while freeing up IT assets and personnel for other projects. But how do you start?

“VMware Horizon™ 6 (with View) delivers virtualized and remote desktops and applications through a single platform and supports end users with access to all of their Windows and online resources through one unified workspace.”

Ok, that product description sounds good, but what does it actually mean?

Think of how a physical computer lab runs. The IT administrator is tasked with the job of managing the computers. The lab requests 10 computers, so on day 1 the administrator sets up 10 PCs. The lab hums along happily and meets all the company�s needs. But wait, there is a big project coming and we need to bring in 5 people for a few months. The administrator puts in a requisition and purchases 5 new PCs for the lab and sets them up too. 3 months later when the project is complete and the extra computers are no longer needed, the administrator packs them up and puts them in a store room.

This is wasteful. 5 computers are just sitting in a closet unused. This is where a virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) with Horizon View comes in. A Horizon View implementation can reduce the cost and manpower associated with the physical lab.

Using our previous example, you have configured your lab to use Horizon View desktops. In the physical lab, you can use:

• Old computers that are past their useful life due to hardware obsolescence


• Low cost dumb terminals or embedded systemsNon-Windows clients


• Non-Windows clients


• BYOD user equipment

Now let�s investigate the same scenario with the Horizon View lab. New user accounts are created and we entitle the new users to the lab pool and that�s it. The pool can be configured to add desktops as required with no admin intervention. The lab requires a far smaller expenditure for workstations due to the low cost of client units, or perhaps the users can even use their own devices. The implementation costs are far less to expand to accommodate new users and there is significantly less labor required to administer.

In part 2, I will cover preparing your environment to deploy a Horizon View implementation.

from VMware Blogs http://bit.ly/1wTM8EV