Chapter 1 - Introduction

Abstract

This chapter provides the information related to desktop virtualization and components of a Citrix virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution. It aims to address how to implement a VDI solution using Citrix XenDesktop. Desktop virtualization has become a catch-all phrase for various mechanisms that simplify the management of the user’s desktop environment. VDI is a concept that has been around for some years. The basic concept is to host the desktops in the data center rather than on the user’s desk. The Client Hypervisor is another desktop virtualization technology. The Client Hypervisor entails installing a hypervisor on a laptop or PC, which is used to host one or more desktop operating systems. This differs from a server hypervisor as it allows the guest operating system to be accessible from the device itself. This includes exposing peripherals like USB (Universal Serial Bus), LPT ports, and importantly, the graphics- processing unit directly to the guest operating system. The user can thus access the guest operating system (Windows 7, for example) as if it were locally installed. There are plans to dovetail this technology into VDI, such that one could access the same guest virtual machine (VM) using the VDI-hosted mechanism, or even “checkout” the VM by dragging the whole VM virtual disk down to a laptop to make it available offline.