Prepare the Infrastructure for VDI

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Applies To: Windows 8.1

Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) deployments in education may require preparation steps depending on network, storage, or client device components.

Before you deploy VDI in your institution, you must prepare the appropriate infrastructure. Table 4 lists the VDI infrastructure components and provides an overview of the preparation that may be necessary for each component. In some instances, no infrastructure remediation may be necessary.

Table 4. VDI Infrastructure Components and Preparation Steps

Component Preparation Steps

Network

The following factors affect whether the network infrastructure is able to support the VDI session traffic between VDI clients and the VDI servers:

  • Placement of the VDI servers can directly affect the available network requirements (as described in Place VDI Servers in this guide).

  • The larger the number of VDI clients simultaneously accessing the VDI infrastructure, the greater the network bandwidth that is required.

  • Type of client traffic—for example, graphically intensive VDI sessions require more network bandwidth than less graphically intensive sessions.

Storage

The primary consideration for planning storage are:

  • Pooled collections require sufficient storage for the transitional hard disks and the User Profile Disk for each VDI session.

  • Personal collections require sufficient storage for each VHD for each VDI session.

Client Devices

Each user who accesses the VDI infrastructure requires a device that supports the appropriate clients. Users who will access:

  • VM- or session-based desktop deployment scenarios require devices that support RDP or RemoteFX

  • Windows MultiPoint Server 2012 require one of the supported Windows MultiPoint Server 2012 stations

Some of these devices can be software-based clients (such as the Remote Desktop Client in Windows operating systems or apps for other operating systems) or hardware-based clients (such as RemoteFX devices, thin clients, or zero clients).

For more information about the client devices that can be used in these VDI solutions, see the Connect Users to VDI Sessions section of this guide.

You can approximate the actual requirements for each component in Table 4 by verifying the resource requirements in a lab environment. For example, you could approximate the network bandwidth requirement by configuring a test environment and measuring the network traffic a limited number of VDI sessions performing typical tasks generate. Then, you could extrapolate the actual requirement by multiplying the measured network traffic in the lab by the number of simultaneous VDI sessions.

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