Abstract
The use of remote desktop services on virtualized machines is a general trend to reduce the cost of desktop seats. Instead of assigning a physical machine with its operating system and software to each user, it is considerably easier to manage a light client machine that connects to a server where the instance of the user’s desktop machine actually executes. Citrix and VMware have been major suppliers of these systems in private clouds. Desktop-as-a-Service solutions such as Amazon WorkSpaces offer a similar functionality, yet in a public cloud environment. In this paper, we review the main offerings of remote desktop protocols for a cloud deployment. We evaluate the necessary network resources using a traffic model based on self-similar processes. We also evaluate the quality of experience perceived by the user, in terms of image quality and interactivity, providing values of Mean Opinion Score (MOS). The results confirm that the type of application running on the remote servers and the mix of users must be considered to determine the bandwidth requirements. Applications such as web browsing result in unexpectedly high traffic rates and long bursts, more than the case of desktop video playing, because the on-page animations are rendered on the server.
Highlights
Traditional desktop computers executing local productivity applications are evolving into light local computers used as remote displays for centralized machines
We present the hardware and software tools used for the evaluation, describe the user profiles, define the measurement metrics, and introduce the characteristics of self-similar arrival processes that are used for user traffic modelling
We compare the results from PCoIP (Amazon WorkSpaces) to Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP), Virtual Network Computing (VNC), Independent Computing Architecture (ICA), and TeamViewer
Summary
Traditional desktop computers executing local productivity applications are evolving into light local computers used as remote displays for centralized machines. This is the scenario of Remote Desktop (RD) systems [1], where a host streams a computer desktop environment to the user’s machine, where the user browses this desktop as if it were local. A single host can offer independent desktops to dozens of users in what is called a Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) [3] These remote desktops are accessed from thin clients: computers with reduced computational power and small disks that are used solely as remote displays and input devices (keyboard, mouse, sound, USB ports).
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
