Architecture Planning

Table Of Contents
You create stateful desktop images by creating dedicated-assignment pools of either linked-clone virtual
machines or full virtual machines. If you use linked-clone virtual machines, you can configure View
Composer persistent disks and folder redirection. Some storage vendors have cost-effective storage
solutions for stateful desktop images. These vendors often have their own best practices and provisioning
utilities. Using one of these vendors might require that you create a manual dedicated-assignment pool.
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Pools for Task Workers on page 50
You can standardize on stateless desktop images for task workers so that the image is always in a
well-known, easily supportable configuration and so that workers can log in to any available desktop.
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Pools for Knowledge Workers and Power Users on page 51
Knowledge workers must be able to create complex documents and have them persist on the desktop.
Power users must be able to install their own applications and have them persist. Depending on the
nature and amount of personal data that must be retained, the desktop can be stateful or stateless.
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Pools for Kiosk Users on page 52
Kiosk users might include customers at airline check-in stations, students in classrooms or libraries,
medical personnel at medical data entry workstations, or customers at self-service points. Accounts
associated with client devices rather than users are entitled to use these desktop pools because users
do not need to log in to use the client device or the remote desktop. Users can still be required to
provide authentication credentials for some applications.
Pools for Task Workers
You can standardize on stateless desktop images for task workers so that the image is always in a well-
known, easily supportable configuration and so that workers can log in to any available desktop.
Because task workers perform repetitive tasks within a small set of applications, you can create stateless
desktop images, which help conserve storage space and processing requirements. Use the following pool
settings:
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Create an automated pool so that desktops can be created when the pool is created or can be generated
on demand based on pool usage.
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Use floating assignment so that users log in to any available desktop. This setting reduces the number
of desktops required if everyone does not need to be logged in at the same time.
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Create View Composer linked-clone desktops so that desktops share the same base image and use less
storage space in the datacenter than full virtual machines.
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Determine what action, if any, to take when users log off. Disks grow over time. You can conserve disk
space by refreshing the desktop to its original state when users log off. You can also set a schedule for
periodically refreshing desktops. For example, you can schedule desktops to refresh daily, weekly, or
monthly.
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If applicable, consider storing desktops on local ESXi datastores. This strategy can offer advantages
such as inexpensive hardware, fast virtual-machine provisioning, high-performance power operations,
and simple management. For a list of the limitations, see “Local Datastores for Floating, Stateless
Desktops,” on page 38.
NOTE For information about other types of storage options, see “Reducing and Managing Storage
Requirements,” on page 33.
View Architecture Planning
50 VMware, Inc.