Virtual Desktops for the Enterprise

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Virtual Desktops for the Enterprise
Successful Strategies to Guide Project Planning and Decision-Making
Using AdminStudio Virtual Desktop Assessment

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Successful Strategies to Guide Project Planning and Decision-Making
Using AdminStudio Virtual Desktop Assessment
The enterprise desktop has evolved from a singular concept
of hardware, software, and operating system, into a
comprehensive solution of technologies. Today’s users
require a flexible work environment wherever they are, on
any device, and with the same personalized and consistent
experience they are used to on a traditional desktop. This
increased demand for desktop virtualization originated from
the consumerization of IT, additional security and regulatory
compliance requirements, blending of work lifestyles, and
an increased scrutiny of IT spending. Based on these
needs, software and hardware companies responded by
creating new technologies and merging them with existing
technologies to develop virtual desktops available to
users wherever they need them and on any device while
maintaining security, manageability, and cost-effectiveness.
The desktop of today is a combination of traditional and
virtual desktops. In this new model, the desktop is separated
into individual layers (operating system, applications, and
data), transforming these layers into resources that can
be combined to meet the needs of users, wherever they
choose to work and on whatever device they are using.
Virtual desktop solutions incorporate a combination of
server-hosted, session-hosted, and client-hosted desktops,
all with application virtualization, user data, and settings
management.
These solutions require software, hardware, and resource
time to build and maintain, all of which have associated
costs. At the same time, organizations are reducing their
spending, which means virtual desktop implementation must
be done correctly the first time. Companies experience
challenges deploying virtual desktop solutions due to a
variety of factors including insufficient knowledge required
for deploying the combination of technologies, lack of
internal experience and data supporting planning and
implementation, and limited industry guidance across the
supporting technologies.
Beginning a Successful Virtual Desktop Solution
Successful virtual desktop projects begin by identifying
which technologies should be utilized for each category
of user and mapping their required desktop features.
The cost difference between implementing 1000 VDI
desktops versus Session-based desktops is quite large.
However, implementing Session-based desktops that do
not support users’ needs, although initially less costly, will
potentially reduce user productivity, and present a poor
user experience when targeted at the wrong group of users.
Current inventory tools are built around asset compliance
and do not typically record the data needed to decide
which technologies represent the best long-term strategy. In
order to make informed planning decisions, IT needs usage
and consumption data of targeted desktop resources and
features analyzed into consumable reports.
Since virtual desktops are required to support businesses
today, companies are striving for successful deployments.
However, companies are also struggling to understand what
defines a successful deployment. Successful virtual desktop
solutions take into account users, desktop management, and
applications; the primary factors that have a high impact
on solution development. Users want a rich computing
environment available anywhere they are, through a wide
range of devices, without compromise. Virtualization has
greatly improved the manageability of desktops but has not
eliminated management requirements. Applications enable
user productivity, and application virtualization can be
utilized to improve flexibility and reduce delivery complexity
and costs in a virtual desktop solution.
Users
A typical user expects any upgrades or new technology to
maintain the performance level of their previous desktop
incarnation. An extremely manageable virtual desktop
may be beneficial to IT, but if the upgrades cause markedly
slower application start times, they will not be well received
by users. However, most companies do not have data

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detailing their users’ current expectations. Without data
for comparison, IT may unknowingly implement a solution
resulting in low levels of user satisfaction and productivity.
Poor user experiences and a lack of understanding of the
before and after states are two of the primary reasons why
past implementations of VDI and virtualization have failed.
On the other hand, a solution may provide users with the
same or better performance than previous desktop solutions
but may prove out of budget or out of scope of the current
resources for management.
Management
One of the primary reasons organizations look toward
virtual desktops is the perceived reduction of management
costs. Although cost reduction is a benefit, it only occurs
with proper virtual desktop implementation. Moving
the desktops from the endpoints to the datacenter
centralizes management efforts with a reduction in
desktop management, but at the same time, it increases
management needs with the addition of infrastructure.
The current technologies for virtual desktops provide
benefits for managing the desktop in a server infrastructure,
but still require combination with traditional desktop
management solutions.
Applications
Applications are the core drivers of user productivity.
Improving the management lifecycle of applications has a
positive impact on productivity whether utilizing traditional
or virtual desktops. Virtual applications provide many
benefits throughout the lifecycle, including packaging,
delivery, support, compatibility, and termination.
Separating applications from the desktop with application
virtualization enables a more flexible and supportable
delivery model for both traditional and virtual desktops.
Virtual applications enable flexible delivery, as applications
are not installed on the desktop (virtual or traditional) which
reduces the deployment efforts and overall support costs.
Realizing benefits from application virtualization
technologies requires packaging the applications into the
new format. Currently, companies are invested heavily
in their existing packaging processes, which may range
from manual installation, scripting, or full MSI deployment.
In order to package applications into the new format,
the current application catalog must be inventoried and
rationalized. Rationalizing the application catalog will
reduce the number of applications requiring conversion
into virtual formats. Next comes converting the
applications from the current format into an application
virtualization format.
The result of application virtualization for virtual desktops
is a resource delivered to, but not installed on, any type
of desktop (traditional, session, or VDI) from one common
package. Application virtualization enables the packaging
team to create a single package across all endpoints from
one process while providing a reduction in support costs
associated with application conflicts due to the isolation
in application virtualization. During the planning process
of virtual desktops, application virtualization should be
considered as a solution for application management in the
transformed desktop.
Virtual Desktop Assessment
Assessing an organization’s current environment and
providing guidance in planning and implementing virtual
desktops is critical to choosing the correct technologies
that will shape the desktop in the future. Currently, most
companies work with individual vendors to try out their
specific piece(s) of the virtual desktop stack, which requires
resource time to evaluate each technology and then
combine the results to meet the organization’s specific
needs and processes with limited or no guidance.
Flexera Software®
created a complete, vendor-agnostic
assessment tool called AdminStudio®
Virtual Desktop
Assessment that enables administrators to capture the data
required to make decisions when selecting virtual desktop
technologies. Flexera Software has a deep desktop history
with their solutions for application readiness, including
MSI and application virtualization packaging, self-service
software delivery with App Portal, testing and compliance
with Workflow Manager, as well as software licensing,
entitlement management, and delivery of applications.
Flexera Software’s desktop knowledge translates to advantages
for organizations from business decision makers to IT
administrators understanding the operating system, application
usage, and user consumption critical for making decisions
prior to capital expenditures and resource allocation.
Features of AdminStudio Virtual Desktop Assessment
AdminStudio Virtual Desktop Assessment enables
organizations to make informed decisions when planning
a virtual desktop solution strategy, whether the strategy
includes Microsoft®
, VMware®
, Citrix®
, Symantec™, or
Quest®
, by capturing and analyzing critical data into
actionable reports suited for each part of the project.
The results are a well-designed infrastructure that will
ensure high-levels of user satisfaction while minimizing
management efforts and overall costs.
Capture Virtual Desktop Readiness
Virtual Desktop Assessment captures an accurate and
comprehensive picture of virtual desktop readiness by
collecting inventory that includes hardware resources (CPU,
RAM, storage, disk I/O, graphics, IOPs, and externally
attached devices) used by each application and the usage
profile of each application, including user count, load
time, and total use time. Administrators can tailor Virtual
Desktop Assessment by specifying which computers, users,
and applications to assess, from the entire company as a
whole, or a subset of targeted virtual desktop candidates.
They can specify the timeline, from a short time window to
track peak usage, to a longer timeframe to capture trending
information, and send the data collected to a central
location for analysis and reporting that captures important
usage information for the organization.

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The data capture is performed by a lightweight agent on
the selected desktops targeted by the Profile Collector.
The agent runs completely in the background, utilizing
minimal resources and unnoticed by users during the
monitoring process. The agent sends data to the Virtual
Desktop Assessment Manager, which is available as a
virtual appliance for most hypervisors, or it can be installed
locally. Administrators can tailor the assessment for their
environment, specifying not only the “what” — that is,
which computers, users and applications to assess —
but also the “when.” They can specify a sample that
accurately represents the environment or they can monitor
all computers, users and applications. Administrators can
specify the timeframe, which typically runs from two weeks
to 30 days, and can even configure the agent to uninstall
after the monitoring period, eliminating the manual effort
of removing agents. The results can be exported and reports
are available from a high-level view, mid-level analysis
model, and low-level granular view.
Figure 1: Assessment Dashboard

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Perform analysis
After the data is collected, Virtual Desktop Assessment
analyzes and reports inventory of computers including
attached devices and application usage (count, load time,
and total use), as well as required services and drivers
for each application. Flexera Software Virtual Desktop
Assessment creates a profile for each user/computer. The
profile provides easy to use information for each profile’s
virtualization suitability by using simple color codes, from
green (good candidate), to yellow (fair candidate), to red
(poor candidate). The suitability ratings are based on factors
ranging from consumption of memory, storage and other
resources to performance requirements and infrastructure
limitations, and allow for custom weighting for specific
needs of the organization or business units.
The Virtual Desktop Assessment analysis provides insight into
the effort required to migrate specific users based on the
complexity of their desktop environment (specific hardware
requirements) and maps the identified categories of user/
desktop with the best-fit virtual desktop technologies.
Virtual Desktop Assessment analysis also provides data
on infrastructure capacity (aggregated CPU time, RAM
requirements, storage volume and I/O load) enabling right-
sized hardware purchases to reduce company spending for
virtual desktops.
The Virtual Desktop Assessment analysis enables IT to select
which technologies fit (e.g. XenDesktop™ vs XenApp™)
and to perform capacity planning, which ensures right-sized
spending on the appropriate supporting technologies, both
hardware and software. IT can also accurately estimate the
resources necessary for areas that require more attention,
from pilot to production. Performing a one-time analysis
that identifies specific technologies across virtual desktops
eliminating running multiple Proof-of-Concepts or testing
that requires resource time and dedicated hardware to
support. Companies need an understanding of what specific
solutions will cost prior to making hardware and software
purchases for testing, pilot programs, and production, and
before providing training on each technology.
Combining Flexera Software’s AdminStudio Virtual
Desktop Assessment and AdminStudio Virtualization Pack
enables organizations to evaluate needs and automate
the conversion of applications to virtual applications.
AdminStudio Virtualization Pack provides the path to
application readiness by providing packages in all formats
(MSI, App-V, ThinApp™, XenApp) from one workflow,
with consistent cost-effective results for the targeted Virtual
Desktop solution, regardless of vendor or endpoint.
Reporting
Virtual Desktop Assessment offers both out-of-the-box and
custom reporting with high, medium, and low-level reports
targeted at specific audiences including business decision
makers, technical decision makers, and IT Administrators.
Administrators and other users can select the most relevant
reports and run them on an ad hoc or scheduled basis.
IT can create custom reports from scratch or tailor one of
the many built-in reports. The solution provides an overall
suitability assessment, ranking computers and users into
low, medium, and high complexity groups based on usage
patterns and environmental conditions. The ranking is
calculated by taking an average of key metrics captured by
Virtual Desktop Assessment. The weightings can be adjusted
to align the results more closely with your environment.

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The suitability assessment helps IT determine which users or
user groups to migrate first — for example, an administrator
may choose to migrate the best candidates first to gain
experience with virtualization, while minimizing costs and
user disruption.
High-level Reporting
High-level reports provide summary information for
business decision makers to gain insight into the scope of
a virtualization project and give them a quick view of the
technology problems that need to be solved. Summary
reports are an excellent starting point for understanding
the current desktop environment and laying out the details
of a virtualization strategy. Filtering enables IT to tailor
reports based on a variety of attributes to gain richer insight
into the data. High-level reports help IT discover desktops,
applications, and users with high resource requirements.
This information assists with capacity planning for virtual
desktops by providing an aggregated total of all computers,
users, and resources required for a virtualization project.
Number of machines: 27 Number of users: 22
Total CPU Allocated:
183.5 GHz
Total Memory Allocated:
160.3 GB
Total Disk Allocated:
10,513.8 GB
Peak Average CPU Used:
30.9 GHz
Peak Average Memory Used:
103.1 GB
Peak Average Disk Used:
6,015.7 GB
Figure 3: Summary Report
Figure 2: Virtual Profile Weighting

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The Machine Age report provides information on which
users might need new computers or upgrades prior to
virtualization. This can impact the number of machines
virtualized, as keeping a machine in service for a user may
require moving their workload into a virtualized desktop,
or facing the consequences of upgrades of the current
desktop hardware. Additional reports that have an impact
on the virtualization project include: Operating system,
System CPU Load (%), Memory Used (MB), Disk Used (GB),
Graphics Intensity, User CPU Load (%), Network Latency
(ms), and Disk IOPs. The data provided in these reports
allows the business to understand their virtualization needs
from core components, beginning capacity planning by
understanding the work load that will be required to move
from a traditional desktop to a virtual desktop solution.
Analysis Models (Mid-level Reporting)
Mid-level reports provide the next level of detail so that IT
managers, architects, and others can gain additional insight
into the data collected by Virtual Desktop Assessment.
Filtering enables IT personnel to analyze data in a variety
of ways, creating a better understanding of virtualization
suitability and complexity. The mid-level reporting presents
data that identifies specific computers and groups of users
that are more and less suitable for virtualization. Based on
the settings for the Virtual Profile analysis administrators
can use the Virtual Profile Scatter Plot showing groups of
computers that are a better or worse fit based on specific
criteria defined in the Virtual Profile.
Figure 4: Virtual Scatter Plot (CPU and Memory versus IO)

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Next Steps:
For more information, visit www.flexerasoftware.com/vda
or contact a Flexera Software representative.
Free Trial:
An AdminStudio Virtual Desktop Assessment free trial is
available at www.flexerasoftware.com/vda-trial or contact
a Flexera Software representative.
The mid-level reports take the data past the totals and
present information grouped for specific users, computers,
and resource requirements, enabling selection of the best
technology. This enables administrators to choose between
the list of technologies that are a better fit while maintaining
the user experience, and management overhead. Taking
the conceptual capacity planning from the high-level reports
and mapping it to specific technologies takes the next step
towards delivering a virtual desktop solution.
Detailed (Low-level Reporting)
Detailed reports provide granular data for pinpointing
data that finalizes capacity planning. This includes
identifying specific applications that cause higher resource
consumption, current application footprints on targeted
devices, and specific requirements for virtual desktop
solutions. This data is designed to expose limiting factors
of specific devices and user types. Companies can take the
application inventory data and rationalize to ensure that
they are only supplying applications to the users that use
them. With this additional level of detail, administrators can
cross-reference the data with usage and provide only the
applications that are consumed frequently in a VDI solution,
and provide access to infrequent application via Session
based solutions.
Cross-Platform Support
AdminStudio Virtual Desktop Assessment supports many
platforms, providing analysis for hypervisors from
VMware, Citrix, Microsoft Windows®
operating systems for
physical and virtual desktops, virtual desktop technologies
from VMware, Citrix, Symantec and Quest, as well as
application virtualization technologies from VMware,
Citrix, and Microsoft.
Removing the vendor-specific analysis enables IT
departments to run a single assessment where resource time
is allocated to a single project that provides data to select
technologies based on management effort, migration efforts,
capacity planning, while ensuring that the user experience
is at levels that meet or exceed expectations.
Conclusion
Virtual Desktop strategy has changed from a discussion to
an actionable project. Organizations that are planning a
successful Virtual Desktop strategy can utilize AdminStudio
Virtual Desktop Assessment to capture and analyze the data
required to make key decisions. Virtual Desktop Assessment
results empower the IT, finance, and legal departments with
reports based on data captured from their desktops and
users that provide the guidance to build a successful virtual
desktop strategy.
Virtual Desktop Assessment results enable project planning
prior to purchasing hardware and software for trial or test
solutions. Organizations can take the data generated and
create cost estimates for comparisons of the software and
hardware required for the solution. IT can feel confident that
the solution will deliver the expected user-experience during
the project by comparing data from the captured sample
during the process and ensuring that the infrastructure will
support the solution.

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Flexera Software LLC
1000 East Woodfield Road,
Suite 400
Schaumburg, IL 60173 USA
Schaumburg
(Global Headquarters):
+1 800-809-5659
United Kingdom (Europe,
Middle East Headquarters):
+44 870-871-1111
+44 870-873-6300
Australia (Asia,
Pacific Headquarters):
+61 3-9895-2000
For more office locations visit:
www.flexerasoftware.com
Copyright © 2012 Flexera Software LLC. All other brand and product names mentioned herein may be the trademarks and registered trademarks of their respective owners.
AS-VDA_WP_VirtDesktops_Sept12

Virtual Desktops for the Enterprise

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