Today's workplace is rapidly changing. Workers are increasingly mobile. Over 52% of employees carry at least three devices for work, and may bring their own devices to and from work, a practice know as bring your own device (BYOD). These workplace dynamics have created IT challenges around data security and compliance, cost containment,and endpoint/image management.

1. Tech Tips:
VMware Horizon View
Today’s workplace is rapidly changing. Workers are increasingly mobile. Over 52 percent of
employees carry at least three devices for work, and many bring their own devices to and
from work, a practice known as bring your own device (BYOD). These workplace dynamics
have created IT challenges around data security and compliance, cost containment, and
endpoint/image management.
VMware® Horizon View™ (formerly VMware View) helps IT tackle these challenges head on by
virtualizing end-user desktops. With Horizon View, IT organizations can move desktop assets
(OS, applications and data) into the datacenter, where IT staff can more securely manage and
deliver them to end users across multiple devices and locations. This approach can help drive
down operational costs, enhance security, and support mobile access and device diversity in
the workplace.
As you plan your move to a Horizon View virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), consider the
following tips:
1
For a more successful deployment, create groups
of users with similar desktop usage models and
requirements. Considerations might include types of
users (e.g., task worker, knowledge worker), mobility
requirements (e.g., none, mobile, offline access)
and user requirements (e.g., dedicated desktop,
customized, user-installed apps). This will affect the
type of desktop pool (i.e., dedicated or floating),
how many virtual machine pools you create and
whether your users connect to a virtual desktop, an
alternate centralized physical desktop or a physical
endpoint you manage via VMware Horizon Mirage™.
Consider what you must do to maintain user data
when users are not connected. Roaming profiles,
Horizon View Persona Management, user data disks
and other third-party methods of user data storage
are available to best manage your different user
roles. See the Desktop Pools for Specific Types
of Workers section in the Horizon View manual
for more details.
Figure 1: Managing User Persona and data
2
Assess applications requirements
3
Evaluate your data topology
4
Look at your user roles and requirements
Confirm your directory services are properly
configured and running
To optimize the desktop experience for end users,
do a full assessment of all applications the virtual
desktops will run. Check the number of licenses,
when they are up for renewal and their compatibility
with Horizon View. If you are upgrading operating
system versions, check application compatibility
or package them using VMware ThinApp™.
Have a clear understanding of where user files,
folders, settings and user personalization settings
are located and plan how to map them to the new
environment. You may need to enable file access
to users across remote locations but have the files
centralized in one location. If you use roaming for
terminal services, decide whether you will continue
to do so in your virtual desktop environment. To find
out more, see Location Awareness in Horizon View.
Make sure all Active Directory domain controllers
are replicating properly, and ensure DNS and DHCP
are correctly configured, running, and able to
accommodate the newly created desktops. Ensure
you have domain controllers in the locations where
people are logging in. For example, if your firewall
software blocks Global Catalog and LDAP ports,
administrators will have problems configuring user
entitlements. If you do have a firewall between
your Horizon View environment and your Active
Directory server, you must make sure that all of the
necessary ports are opened for Active Directory to
function correctly.

2. Tech Tips:
VMware Horizon View
5
Assess your current infrastructure
Review your current setup to see what existing
infrastructure you can leverage and what you
might need to add for your new environment.
Review and optimize WAN topology, QoS/CoS,
display protocols, geographic location of sites
and remote access methods. Determine whether
a VPN solution is in place, and whether you will
use hybrid-security multi-factor authentication,
or will leverage an alternate topology (e.g., View
Security Server). For best practices on setting
up your new environment, see Horizon View
Architect Planning.
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6
Check security and compliance needs
Determine your requirements for authentication,
data protection, compliance, archiving and
retention policies. For example, find out if you are
using multi-factor authentication such as smart
cards or tokens in addition to Active Directory to
authenticate user access.
You can install and configure a View Security
Server in your DMZ to help connect external
users with their Horizon View desktops behind
the corporate firewall. For more information on
security with desktop virtualization, see the
Security Solution Architecture for VDI.
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3. Tech Tips:
VMware Horizon View
7
Set expectations with users
The success of a VDI deployment depends on
employee satisfaction, so it is important to build
user expectations into your deployment plan. Ask
key questions, such as what devices will employees
use? Will printing be a requirement? Do users need
to play or record audio?
Run a desktop virtualization pilot to gather data
on performance requirements and employee
satisfaction. Make sure that users can quickly access
their data. For more information, see the Horizon
View Persona Management Deployment Guide.
8
Pay careful attention to sizing your storage
Many VDI projects fail, underperform or “over-cost”
due to poor storage design. To size your storage,
use the most accurate data you can gather about
current and future desktop requirements and
compare it to the capabilities of your storage
systems. When sizing your storage, be sure to
consider both peak and average workloads.
Sizing storage for average workloads results in
inadequate resources during peak times, which
degrades end-user performance. For more tips
on sizing storage, watch Storage Considerations
for VMware Horizon View.
ownership
10 Evaluate total cost of (ROI) (TCO) and
return on investment
Desktop virtualization does not deliver TCO and
ROI in the same way that server virtualization
does. Make sure to set the right expectations for
and evaluate TCO/ROI correctly to show how this
new capability benefits your organization. Use the
Horizon View TCO Calculator to find out exactly
what your organization can gain. For example,
desktop virtualization can:
• Reduce support costs by 50 percent by
centralizing management
• Let you support up to 40 percent more end
users with the same IT personnel
• Reduce network requirements through more
efficient bandwidth usage
• Push out PC refresh cycles from 3-4 years
to 5-7 years
Resources
Learn more about VMware Horizon View
• Horizon View Product Overview
• Horizon View Bootcamp
• Horizon View Data Sheet
• What’s New in View 5 Blog
• Horizon View 5 Performance and
Best Practices
• Horizon View 5 Reviewer’s Guide
• Horizon View Architectural Planning Guide
Figure 3: Storage Setup in a Horizon View Environment
9
Determine support requirements
Train all desktop support staff on the support model
changes so that support requirements for virtual
desktops are clear. Doing this at the beginning of
the deployment can greatly increase the likelihood
of success for your implementation.
Check the Knowledge Base for related questions
Connect with the Horizon View Community and
read the End User Computing Blog
Evaluate Horizon View for 60 days
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