Setting up XenDesktop, Everyday Use Tests

If you only want to learn many about our feel for using virtual desktops with Nvidia Power system, we recommend skipping up to the close section since this segment is all about the setup of XenDesktop and configuring it to work with Nvidia GRID. If you are interested in what happens "behind the scenes", however, read on!

To setup our virtual desktop, we chose Citrix XenDeskop to stream the virtual screen background and used Citrix XenServer as our base VM hypervisor. After installing XenServer onto our physical waiter, we followed the Configuring GRID on XenServer guide to install the Nvidia Essential GPU Director for the GRID cards. If you are actually going to be doing this yourself, we recommend checking to make sure there is not a newer version of the guide available as we came across multiple versions with slightly variant instructions contingent on the number one wood variation.

Once the Nvidia Practical GPU Manager was installed, we then followed the XenDesktop Reviewers Guide to install and configure XenDesktop. This involved first creating two virtual machines running Windows Waiter 2008 R2 SP1. One was simply an Active Directory/DNS controller, while the other ran SQL and the Desktop Delivery Accountant (XenDesktop) which has to be installed on a separate server from the domain restrainer. If you already have a domain controller, then you only need the one additional waiter running XenDesktop.

With the servers created and updated, we then made few new virtual machines running Windows 7 with the Nvidia GRID card allotted as a vGPU. We chose Windows 7 concluded Windows 8.1 because at the clock time of this article the Virtual Obstetrical delivery Broker (which "streams" the desktop) was not yet matched with Windows 8.1. Once the virtual machines were updated and organized how we wanted, we then installed the Virtual Delivery Agent onto the essential machines. The Delivery Factor prat be configured to either make the VM work as a master image for other virtual machines or you can keep the VM Eastern Samoa information technology is and enable remote PC access.

With the host virtual machine created, updated, and configured, we went back to the XenDesktop server and - still following the guide - created a Machine Catalog (a list of the virtual machines you want to group together) and a Delivery Group for that catalog which defines which users can get in touch to the practical machines. If you chose to make your host virtual machine a master image, then you can also configure how many virtual machines you wish to be created from that figure (which determines how many users can connect at indefinite time) besides every bit how many vCPUs and memory each virtual machine created from that image get.

With all this frame-up finished, we were finally able-bodied to join to the virtual desktops through the Citrix Receiver software that was installed happening our client PC (which was working as a thin client). This connection summons looks like this:

If you are a remote user, you first have to access the local network done an access gateway. After that (Beaver State if you are a local user), you login to the net port which is hosted by the XenDesktop server away using your domain username and password. The XenDesktop controller then checks to see which essential desktops you have access to and displays them in your web browser. Then, you plainly pick the essential desktop you want and the XenDesktop host connects you to the earmark essential desktop.

XenDesktop for Applications and Routine Apply

For all of our examination, we utilized a Intel NUC D34010WYB which includes a humbled-end Core i3-4010U 1.7GHz CPU as our client twist. We added a 4GB RAM module, a 250GB mSATA SSD and installed Windows 8.1 In favor as our client OS. The Intel NUC is same microscopic (with our enclosure it is only about 4" x 4" x 1.5") and doesn't have much in the way of CPU surgery graphical power but IT is unflawed for streaming a virtual desktop. In fact, compared to many thin clients you can purchase, you could argue that the NUC is overkill for this application.

Overall, with the Intel NUC connected to the virtual desktop using XenDesktop we were able to run applications, browse the web, and even watch movies without any real problems. XenDesktop has a default option cyclosis speed of 30 FPS, which English hawthorn seem low simply most movies (including streaming services like YouTube and Netflix) play videos at 24-30 FPS so the 30 Federal Protective Service limit is actually not a factor out. Even for applications the 30 FPS limit was not all but as broad as we matter-of-course.

To gain a first-hand over effect of XenDeskop, I used a virtual screen background American Samoa my briny working screen background for a couple of days. Surprisingly, the performance was so good that there were numerous times I altogether forgot that I was non using a rule local anesthetic PC. A typical workday during this time included lots of World Wide Web browsing with Google Chrome, some light Photoshop work, and some medium AutoDesk inventor act upon. We are non going to get too much into performance numbers since the performance you will find out will depend totally happening how much power you assign the virtual desktop, merely compared to the precise basic PC that was used every bit a diaphanous guest the virtual screen background certainly had a huge performance vantage in applications like AutoDesk Inventor.

Practical Desktop running Autodesk Inventor as it looks when the viewer is fullscreen. The only thing that makes you realize this ISN't your local desktop is a small drop-down toolbar at the height of the screen.

With the viewer running either in fullscreen or with the looke window focused, we had dead no problems with the Windows winder or any keyboard hotkey combinations like Win-E or Ctrl-C. We used HDMI to output audio through the monitor and that also worked perfectly. In point of fact, we were even able to plug in USB devices like a thumbdrive and USB game controller and it would turn up in the virtual desktop just like you would expect it to happening a localized computer.

Most of the employee computers at Puget Systems use more combined monitor lizard (some even use four or 5) so one affair we were interested in was how well you could unravel your local desktop on one monitor and a virtual desktop on a second monitor. Really, there isn't much to say; it worked enthusiastic. We simply made the viewer fullscreen and it really felt like the virtual desktop was a part of our local background. You can't scuff a window or register from unmatched screen background to the former, only we did find that we were able to copy and paste school tex from one desktop to the separate.

On dual monitors you can almost smooth integrate a virtual desktop with your local background. On the left is our local anesthetic screen background, along the right is a virtual desktop running Maya 2015

The only real emerge we came across was that sometimes the shiner cursor would not render properly in applications. This never happened with any of the default Windows cursors, but some program-specific ones would render a black box around the cursor. Interestingly, we were impotent to capture this behavior with screenshots so we had to take a picture of the screen with a camera. It's a comparatively undersize job but it was a undersized distracting when it happened.

Overall, we were very impressed with how wellspring XenDesktop worked for applications and everyday tasks. At that place are yet altogether the disadvantages we discussed in the beginning, but if you are looking into screen background virtualization and you canful deal with those disadvantages then we highly recommend checking unsuccessful either XenDesktop or VMWare Horizon View.