Citrix XenDesktop: VDI with some key differentiators
Last week I participated in a training event hosted by Citrix titled “Citrix Hands On Technical Workshop - XenDesktop“. The training was very beneficial in that I was not only able to walk through some configuration labs but I also heard first hand experiences from various partners around the Southeast that have already implemented XenDesktop. This post is a summary of my notes about Citrix’s solution and it’s key differentiators from other VDI alternatives.
The complete XenDestop solution consists of the following components:
- XenServer (or VMware ESX or Microsoft Hyper-V)
- Provisioning Server
- The Desktop Delivery Controller
- XenApp
- Citrix Access Gateway
- WANScaler
- EdgeSight
- GoToAssist
- EasyCall
Details on each of the pieces can be found on Citrix’s XenDesktop Technology page. Administrators familiar with the Citrix line of products will recognize several traditional components from their Presentation Server solutions. The “How Desktop Delivery Works” screen shot above is also from Citrix’s web page. Click on it for a larger view of the image.
Like VMware’s Virtual Desktop Manager (VDM), XenDesktop’s solution is centered around a connection broker, or The Desktop Delivery Controller (DCC).
The DCC leverages Active Directory to assign Virtual Desktops to user accounts as either unique assigned VMs or a grouping of pooled VMs. The assigned VMs can either be persistent (changes by users are kept) or non-persistent (all changes are reset after log out). Other similarities include installing a Virtual Desktop Agent on the managed virtual desktops and a Web Interface for unmanaged access.
As presented by Citrix in the training materials, XenDesktop’s key differences from the VDI competition are:
Superior end-user experience
- ICA vs RDP
- Universal Print Driver
- Support for local drives including USB devices
Separation of apps and desktops to improve TCO
- Provisioning Server with standard vdisks
- XenApp for application delivery
Infrastructure flexibility and open platform support
- XenServer
- VMware
- Hyper-V
••
I believe the first group of differentiators is self explanatory, but learning about the last 2 groupings really caught my attention.
Through the use of a single vdisk, or gold template virtual disk containing the operating system, XenDesktop is able to mass deploy desktops using minimum shared storage. Then, using XenApp Server, a unique mix of applications can be published to each user. Lastly, user profile information is managed separately by third party applications, Active Directory, or DFS. The training presentation illustrated this advantage with this example:
“One company, looking at VMware’s VDI, had 1100 users to which they wanted to give assigned desktops. Average size of each desktop would be approximately 10 gigs (OS plus applications). The company estimated that their EMC SAN storage costs alone would be in excess of $1M. With Citrix’s VDI solution, XenDesktop Platinum, one vdisk could be used for almost all users. Applications would be delivered via XenApp. Citrix’s solution would be paid for in the cost savings from storage alone.”
Of course, the flexibility to leverage either VMware ESX or Microsoft Hyper-V existing Virtual Infrastructure is another huge advantage. By built in connection ability to VMware’s VirtualCenter Server and Microsoft’s System Center Virtual Machine Manager (SCVMM), the Citrix Desktop Delivery Controller can control VMs hosted on either platform as well as Citrix’s own XenServer.
The only negative to the XenDesktop VDI solution is the fact that an Active Directory Domain is a hard requirement. I specifically asked if any other LDAP authentication was configurable, but I was told it was not possible. However, when weighed against the unique “pros” already mentioned, working around this requirement seems trivial.
Related Posts
Tags: citrix, labs, vdi, xendesktop
July 1st, 2008 at 8:19 am
[...] Citrix XenDesktop: VDI with some key differentiators [...]