Using Windows Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services and Hyper-V you can run a VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) solution where users RDP into virtualised desktops running in the data centre. Microsoft published two guides yesterday:
- Deploying Personal Virtual Desktops by Using RemoteApp and Desktop Connection Step-by-Step Guide: Virtual desktop pools are groups of identically configured virtual machines that users can connect to by using either RemoteApp and Desktop Connection or Remote Desktop Web Access (RD Web Access). In this guide, we will set up a virtual desktop pool and connect to the pool by using RemoteApp and Desktop Connection.
- Deploying Virtual Desktop Pools by Using RemoteApp and Desktop Connection Step-by-Step Guide: Virtual desktop pools are groups of identically configured virtual machines that users can connect to by using either RemoteApp and Desktop Connection or Remote Desktop Web Access (RD Web Access). In this guide, we will set up a virtual desktop pool and connect to the pool by using RemoteApp and Desktop Connection.
Uh, I think MS got the intro text mixed up. There’s two ways to do VM’s in VDI. The first is to deploy dedicated or personal desktops. This stores customisations for the assigned user. When a user logs in, they always get the same VM. It gives the same functionality as 1 user sitting at 1 PC all of the time. A pool of VDI desktops is like hot-desking. The user never knows which machine they’ll log into. So you need to cater for this, e.g. roaming profiles and/or folder redirection, lockdown/prevent storage, automated s/w deployment, etc.