VMware VIEW 4.5 - ARCHITECTURE PLANNING... User manual
VMware View Architecture Planning
Guide
View 4.5
View Manager 4.5
View Composer 2.5
This document supports the version of each product listed and
supports all subsequent versions until the document is replaced
by a new edition. To check for more recent editions of this
document, see http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
EN-000350-01
VMware View Architecture Planning Guide
2 VMware, Inc.
You can find the most up-to-date technical documentation on the VMware Web site at:
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Contents
About This Book 5
1Introduction to VMware View 7
Advantages of Using VMware View 7
VMware View Features 9
How the VMware View Components Fit Together 9
Integrating and Customizing VMware View 13
2Planning a Rich User Experience 15
Feature Support Matrix 15
Choosing a Display Protocol 16
Using a View Desktop Without a Network Connection 18
Accessing USB Devices Connected to a Local Computer 19
Printing from a View Desktop 20
Streaming Multimedia to a View Desktop 20
Using Single Sign-On for Logging In to a View Desktop 20
Using Multiple Monitors with a View Desktop 21
3Managing Desktop Pools from a Central Location 23
Advantages of Desktop Pools 23
Reducing and Managing Storage Requirements 24
Application Provisioning 25
Using Active Directory GPOs to Manage Users and Desktops 27
4Architecture Design Elements and Planning Guidelines 29
Virtual Machine Requirements 29
VMware View ESX Node 34
Desktop Pools for Specific Types of Workers 35
Desktop Virtual Machine Configuration 38
vCenter and View Composer Virtual Machine Configuration and Desktop Pool Maximums 40
View Connection Server Maximums and Virtual Machine Configuration 40
View Transfer Server Virtual Machine Configuration and Storage 41
vSphere Clusters 42
VMware View Building Blocks 43
VMware View Pod 46
5Planning for Security Features 49
Understanding Client Connections 49
Choosing a User Authentication Method 51
Restricting View Desktop Access 53
Using Group Policy Settings to Secure View Desktops 54
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Implementing Best Practices to Secure Client Systems 55
Assigning Administrator Roles 55
Preparing to Use a Security Server 55
Understanding VMware View Communications Protocols 60
6Overview of Steps to Setting Up a VMware View Environment 67
Index 69
VMware View Architecture Planning Guide
4 VMware, Inc.
About This Book
The VMware View Architecture Planning Guide provides an introduction to VMware View™, including a
description of its major features and deployment options and an overview of how VMware View components
are typically set up in a production environment.
This guide answers the following questions:
nDoes VMware View solve the problems you need it to solve?
nWould it be feasible and cost-effective to implement a VMware View solution in your enterprise?
To help you protect your VMware View installation, the guide also provides a discussion of security features.
Intended Audience
This information is intended for IT decision makers, architects, administrators, and others who need to
familiarize themselves with the components and capabilities of VMware View. With this information,
architects and planners can determine whether VMware View satisfies the requirements of their enterprise for
efficiently and securely delivering Windows desktops and applications to their end users. The example
architecture helps planners understand the hardware requirements and setup effort required for a large-scale
VMware View deployment.
VMware Technical Publications Glossary
VMware® Technical Publications provides a glossary of terms that might be unfamiliar to you. For definitions
of terms as they are used in VMware technical documentation, go to
http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
Document Feedback
VMware welcomes your suggestions for improving our documentation. If you have comments, send your
feedback to [email protected].
VMware, Inc. 5
Technical Support and Education Resources
The following technical support resources are available to you. To access the current version of this book and
other books, go to http://www.vmware.com/support/pubs.
Online and Telephone
Support
To use online support to submit technical support requests, view your product
and contract information, and register your products, go to
http://www.vmware.com/support.
Customers with appropriate support contracts should use telephone support
for the fastest response on priority 1 issues. Go to
http://www.vmware.com/support/phone_support.html.
Support Offerings To find out how VMware support offerings can help meet your business needs,
go to http://www.vmware.com/support/services.
VMware Professional
Services
VMware Education Services courses offer extensive hands-on labs, case study
examples, and course materials designed to be used as on-the-job reference
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Services provides offerings to help you assess, plan, build, and manage your
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certification programs, and consulting services, go to
http://www.vmware.com/services.
VMware View Architecture Planning Guide
6 VMware, Inc.
Introduction to VMware View 1
With VMware View, IT departments can run virtual desktops in the datacenter and deliver desktops to
employees as a managed service. End users gain a familiar, personalized environment that they can access
from any number of devices anywhere throughout the enterprise or from home. Administrators gain
centralized control, efficiency, and security by having desktop data in the datacenter.
This chapter includes the following topics:
n“Advantages of Using VMware View,” on page 7
n“VMware View Features,” on page 9
n“How the VMware View Components Fit Together,” on page 9
n“Integrating and Customizing VMware View,” on page 13
Advantages of Using VMware View
When you manage enterprise desktops with VMware View, the benefits include increased reliability, security,
hardware independence, and convenience.
Reliability and Security
Virtual desktops can be centralized by integrating with VMware vSphere and virtualizing server, storage, and
networking resources. Placing desktop operating systems and applications on a server in the datacenter
provides the following advantages:
nAccess to data can easily be restricted. Sensitive data can be prevented from being copied onto a remote
employee's home computer.
nData backups can be scheduled without considering when end users' systems might be turned off.
nVirtual desktops that are hosted in a datacenter experience little or no downtime. Virtual machines can
reside on high-availability clusters of VMware servers.
Virtual desktops can also connect to back-end physical systems and Windows Terminal Services servers.
Convenience
The unified management console is built for scalability on Adobe Flex, so that even the largest View
deployments can be efficiently managed from a single View Manager interface. Wizards and dashboards
enhance the workflow and facilitate drilling down to see details or change settings. Figure 1-1 provides an
example of the browser-based user interface for View Administrator.
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Figure 1-1. Administrative Console for View Manager Showing the Dashboard View
Another feature that increases convenience is the VMware remote display protocol PCoIP. PCoIP (PC-over-
IP) display protocol delivers an end-user experience equal to the current experience of using a physical PC:
nOn LANs, the display is faster and smoother than traditional remote displays.
nOn WANs, the display protocol can compensate for an increase in latency or a reduction in bandwidth,
ensuring that end users can remain productive regardless of network conditions.
Manageability
Provisioning desktops for end users is a quick process. No one is required to install applications one by one
on each end user's physical PC. End users connect to a virtual desktop complete with applications. End users
can access their same virtual desktop from various devices at various locations.
Using VMware vSphere to host virtual desktops provides the following benefits:
nAdministration tasks and management chores are reduced. Administrators can patch and upgrade
applications and operating systems without touching a user's physical PC.
nStorage management is simplified. Using VMware vSphere, you can virtualize volumes and file systems
to avoid managing separate storage devices.
Hardware Independence
Virtual machines are hardware-independent. Because a View desktop runs on a server in the datacenter and
is only accessed from a client device, a View desktop can use operating systems that might not be compatible
with the hardware of the client device.
For example, although Windows Vista can run only on Vista-enabled PCs, you can install Windows Vista in
a virtual machine and use that virtual machine on a PC that is not Vista-enabled. Virtual desktops run on PCs,
Macs, thin clients, and PCs that have been repurposed as thin clients.
VMware View Architecture Planning Guide
8 VMware, Inc.
VMware View Features
Features included in VMware View support usability, security, centralized control, and scalability.
The following features provide a familiar experience for the end user:
nPrint from a virtual desktop to any local or networked printer that is defined on the client device, or use
the location-based printing feature to map to printers that are physically near the client system. The virtual
printer feature solves compatibility issues and does not require you to install additional print drivers in
a virtual machine.
nUse multiple monitors. With PCoIP multiple-monitor support, you can adjust the display resolution and
rotation separately for each monitor.
nAccess USB devices and other peripherals that are connected to the local device that displays your virtual
desktop.
VMware View offers the following security features, among others:
nUse RSA SecurID two-factor authentication or smart cards to log in.
nUse SSL tunneling to ensure that all connections are completely encrypted.
nUse VMware High Availability to host desktops and to ensure automatic failover.
The following features provide centralized administration and management:
nUse Microsoft Active Directory to manage access to virtual desktops and to manage policies.
nUse the Web-based administrative console to manage virtual desktops from any location.
nUse a template, or master image, to quickly create and provision pools of desktops.
nSend updates and patches to virtual desktops without affecting user settings, data, or preferences.
Scalability features depend on the VMware virtualization platform to manage both desktops and servers:
nIntegrate with VMware vSphere to achieve cost-effective densities, high levels of availability, and
advanced resource allocation control for your virtual desktops.
nConfigure View Connection Server to broker connections between end users and the virtual desktops that
they are authorized to access.
nUse View Composer to quickly create desktop images that share virtual disks with a master image. Using
linked clones in this way conserves disk space and simplifies the management of patches and updates to
the operating system.
How the VMware View Components Fit Together
End users start View Client to log in to View Connection Server. This server, which integrates with Windows
Active Directory, provides access to a virtual desktop hosted on a VMware ESX server, a blade or physical PC,
or a Windows Terminal Services server.
Figure 1-2 shows the relationship between the major components of a VMware View deployment.
Chapter 1 Introduction to VMware View
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Figure 1-2. High-Level Example of a VMware View Environment
ESX hosts running
Virtual Desktop virtual machines
View
Connection
Server
View
Administrator
(browser)
VMware vCenter Server
with View Composer
network
Windows
View Client
Mac
View Client
Windows View Client
with Local Mode Thin Client
virtual desktops
ESX host
VM VM VM
VM VM VM
VM
virtual machine
desktop OS
app app app
View Agent
Microsoft
Active Directory
Terminal Servers
blade PCs
physical PCs
non-vCenter VMs
View Agent
View
Transfer Server ThinApp
Client Devices
A major advantage of using VMware View is that desktops follow the end user regardless of device or location.
Users can access their personalized virtual desktop from a company laptop, their home PC, a thin client device,
or a Mac.
From Mac and Windows laptops and PCs, end users open View Client to display their View desktop. Thin
client devices use View thin client software and can be configured so that the only application that users can
launch directly on the device is View Thin Client. Repurposing a legacy PC into a thin client desktop can extend
the life of the hardware by three to five years. For example, by using VMware View on a thin desktop, you can
use a newer operating system such as Windows Vista on older desktop hardware.
View Connection Server
This software service acts as a broker for client connections. View Connection Server authenticates users
through Windows Active Directory and directs the request to the appropriate virtual machine, physical or
blade PC, or Windows Terminal Services server.
View Connection Server provides the following management capabilities:
nAuthenticating users
nEntitling users to specific desktops and pools
VMware View Architecture Planning Guide
10 VMware, Inc.
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