Scribd
Upload
87 views2 pages

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure-Shaker Mohammadtom

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) allows users to access a virtualized desktop operating system from a remote device over a network. The virtual desktop runs in a data center and its image is delivered to the endpoint device, making it appear that the OS is running locally. VDI can be based on either a server or workstation OS, with the latter traditionally allocated to a single user in a 1:1 ratio but now supporting multi-user functionality with Windows Virtual Desktop. Different session protocols like Citrix ICA, VMware PCoIP, and Microsoft RDP are used to transmit the desktop session between the client and virtual machine, compressing and minimizing the data to provide the best user experience.

Uploaded by

Shaker
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
87 views2 pages

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure-Shaker Mohammadtom

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) allows users to access a virtualized desktop operating system from a remote device over a network. The virtual desktop runs in a data center and its image is delivered to the endpoint device, making it appear that the OS is running locally. VDI can be based on either a server or workstation OS, with the latter traditionally allocated to a single user in a 1:1 ratio but now supporting multi-user functionality with Windows Virtual Desktop. Different session protocols like Citrix ICA, VMware PCoIP, and Microsoft RDP are used to transmit the desktop session between the client and virtual machine, compressing and minimizing the data to provide the best user experience.

Uploaded by

Shaker
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

Shaker Mohammadtom

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure


04/07/2021

Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) is a desktop virtualization technology wherein a desktop


operating system (OS) -- typically Microsoft Windows -- runs and is managed in an on-premises
or cloud data center. The virtual desktop image is delivered over a network to an endpoint
device, which allows the user to interact with the operating system and its apps as if it were
running locally. The endpoint may be a traditional PC, thin client device or a mobile device.

Operating system

VDI may be based on a server or workstation operating system. Traditionally, the term VDI has
most referred to a virtualized workstation OS allocated to a single user, but that definition is
changing.

Each virtual desktop presented to users may be based on a 1:1 alignment or a 1: many ratios,
which is often referenced as multiuser. For example, where a single virtual desktop is allocated
to a single user, this would be considered 1:1, but where numerous virtual desktops are shared
under a single OS, this would be referenced as a hosted shared model or 1:many.

A server operating system can service users as either 1:1 or 1: many. A server OS is the platform
for VDI, and Desktop Experience is enabled to mimic a workstation operating system more
closely to users. Desktop Experience adds such features as Windows Media Player, Sound
Recorder and Character Map -- all of which are not natively included as part of the generic
server operating system installation.

Until recently, a workstation OS could only service users as 1:1. However, in September 2019,
Microsoft announced the availability of Windows Virtual Desktop (WVD), which enables
multiuser functionality on Windows 10 -- previously only available on server operating systems.
Thus, Windows 10 now has true workstation multiuser functionality. WVD is only available on
Microsoft's own cloud infrastructure, Azure, and there are stringent licensing requirements that
make it inappropriate for all but enterprise employees.
Session protocols

Each endpoint device must install the respective client software or run an HTML5-based session
that invokes the respective session protocol. Each vendor offering platform is based on a
display protocol that carries session data between the client and computing resource:

Citrix
Independent Computing Architecture (ICA)
Enlightened Data Transport (EDT)
VMware
Blast Extreme
PC over IP (PCoIP)
Microsoft
Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP)
High-Definition User Experience (HDX) from Citrix is largely an umbrella marketing term that
encompasses ICA, EDT, and some additional capabilities. VMware user sessions can be based on
Blast Extreme, PCoIP, or RDP. Microsoft Remote Desktop can only make use of RDP.

The session protocol controls the user display and multimedia capabilities; the specific features
and functionality of each protocol vary. PCoIP is licensed from Tetradic, whereas Blast Extreme
is VMware's in-house protocol. In addition, EDT and Blast Extreme are optimized for user
datagram protocol (UDP).

The session protocols listed above minimize and compress the data that is transmitted to and
from the user device to provide the best possible user experience (UX). For example, if a user is
working on a spreadsheet within a VDI session, the user transmits mouse movements and
keystrokes to the virtual server or workstation, and bitmaps are transmitted back to the user
device. Note that the data itself does not populate the user display, but instead bitmaps
representing the data are shown. When a user enters additional data in a cell, only updated
bitmaps are transmitted.

You might also like