Citrix User Profile Manager enables portable user settings for VDI
October 26th, 2008 | 
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User Profile Manager (UPM) is a product currently available for download as a technology preview from Citrix. UPM is Citrix’s answer to one of the biggest challenges facing companies migrating to server based computing (SBC) solutions such as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI): maintaining a unique (or persistent) desktop for each user. Virtualizing persistent desktops for all users would normally require excessive storage requirements and numerous virtualization hosts for large user bases.
Today at the Citrix Summit 2008 partner conference in Orlando, FL I listened to David Wagner, Product Manager, and Sascha Juch, Assistant Manager R&D, present how UPM simplifies the separation of unique user settings from desktop sessions. Therefore, UPM enhances XenApp’s ability to deploy multiple desktops from a single virtual machine image. When the user personality can be streamed to a desktop separately from the OS and applications, the VDI infrastructure requirement is reduced yet the multiple unique user desktop experience is still be achieved.
The administrative benefits of UPM are key as the configurations necessary to achieve this type of user mobility usually consist of a combination of managing roaming profiles, enabling folder redirection, keeping track of registry changes, and performing application customizations. Citrix UPM provides administrators the simplicity of a Windows service install and the centralization of a Group Policy ADM template. For the unique user personality, profiles and settings are stored on a network share. UPM then makes sure only the changes in data between user log ons and sign offs are transferred across the network. As a result, the technology is centrally controlled by the IT department, fast and efficient, and transparent to the desktop users.
Since UPM is still a technology preview and parts of today’s session are subject to the Citrix Partner NDA, I’m providing the following links for more information already available about Citrix User Profile Manager on the web today.
Citrix acquired the UPM technology from a partner and renamed it to User Profile Manager – Citrix buys sepagoPROFILE
Several blogs posts from community.citrix.com provide additional technical information about Citrix UPM:
What is User Profile Manager- How does it work-
How does User Profile Manager address profile bloat-
How does User Profile Manager address last write wins-
User Profile Manager Technical FAQ
XenDesktop Design Concepts – Operating System Delivery
Create your Outlook auto-signature once with User Profile Manager
Do you have a coffee break during logon time-
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Posted in citrix, vdi, xendesktop | 
Tags: citrix, citrixsummit2008, vdi, virtualization, xenapp, xendesktop
