ARN

VDI shoot-out: VMware View 5

VMware View taps the world's best virtualization platform and PCoIP improvements for highly scalable desktop virtualization

An excellent platform for building an enterprise VDI solution, VMware View 5 takes advantage of all the features, services, and fault tolerance built into VMware's flagship vSphere hypervisor. View allows IT to manage pools of virtual desktops, assign them to users, and define policies for VDI behavior, all from a single browser-based UI. View supports connectivity from a wide variety of client devices, and its PCoIP remoting protocol, borrowed from Teradici, helps improve the user experience by reducing the latency between the server-hosted virtual machine and its user. As with the competing VDI heavyweight, Citrix XenDesktop, initial setup and configuration of VMware View can be daunting.

View is available in two editions, View Enterprise and View Premier, both of which include the core services needed to get a VDI deployment off the ground. Both editions bundle vSphere, vCenter, and View Manager. The View Premier package adds View Composer (image management), ThinApp (application virtualization and streaming), and Local Mode (VMware's offline VDI engine for mobile users). While both View Enterprise and View Premier can scale as large as your virtual infrastructure will allow, View Enterprise targets deployments of 100 VDI clients or less, while View Premier targets the larger deployments.

The test bed for my View 5 deployment was made up of vSphere 5 installed on a Fujitsu Primergy TX300 server, along with two Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit virtual machines. I installed vCenter on one Windows Server VM and View Manager on the second. My guest operating systems were standard Windows XP and Windows 7 Professional. As with XenDesktop, I connected from inside and outside the network and had no trouble with any of the virtual desktops, including virtual desktops I had built on linked clones.

To continue reading, register here to become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Nominations for the 2012 ARN IT Industry Awards open on Tuesday, June 12.

More about: Citrix, etwork, Fujitsu, Microsoft, Red Hat, VMware
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the ARN comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Coverage
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Tags: freemium, Microsoft Windows, networking, operating systems, software, Teradici, virtual desktop, Virtualization, VMware, Wide Area Networking
ARN Directory | Distributors relevant to this article
ACA Pacific , ASI Solutions , Avnet Technology Solutions , Bluechip Infotech , Compucon Computers , Dicker Data , Express Data , Express Online , ICT Distribution , Impact Systems Technology , Leader Computers , Multimedia Technology , NewLease , Synnex Australia , T Data , Topstar Computer International , XiT Distribution , Xpress I.T. , Proscan Australia
ARN Directory | Vendors relevant to this article
Red Hat , VMWare
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to ARN's news, research and invitation only events.
ARN Distributor Directory
Find distributors by name | vendor | location
Channel Deals
/deals/avg/213_avg-internet-security-3-pc-2-year-10-pack-reta
AVG (AU/NZ) Pty Ltd

AVG Internet Security 2012 10 Pack Retail Specials

More details »
ARN Vendor Directory
Find vendors by name | category

iAsset is a channel management ecosystem that automates all major aspects of the entire sales,marketing and service process, including data tracking, integrated learning, knowledge management and product lifecycle management.