| Leostream Virtual Desktop Connection Broker |
| Thursday, 03 August 2006 by Michel Roth | |||
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Direct Access to Virtual Desktops You can give each user their own Virtual Desktop computer running on a centrally-hosted Virtual Machine (VM). They have single sign-on access to it using their standard web browser and a remote desktop viewer. Leostream's policy-based access control gives you fine-grained control over the way in which users can access and alter the Virtual Desktops. Single Sign-On The Leostream Connect agent that runs on the end user's Windows XP desktop provides single sign-on and sign-off. So the user simply enters their username and password into the Leostream Connect interface and presses Connect, and shortly after they are auto-logged into the remote Windows session. When they close the RDP session then they are automatically logged out of the Connection Broker session. Virtual Desktop Pooling Desktops can be organized into groups or "pools" using a sophisticated, automated, labeling system. Once labeled they can be assigned to users according to that user's group membership as defined by the external authentication server. Virtual Desktop Failover Leostream checks the state of a Virtual Desktop before assigning, or re-assigning, it so if a VM fails then it is automatically replaced by another from the same pool. Hence the failure of a virtualization host server would cause only limited disruption - the user would simply re-authenticate and be re-assigned a new VM. Session Stickiness The assignment of a particular Desktop to a user can be permanent, or just for a preset period of time. Ensures that users keep their Desktop even when there is a network interruption but Desktops are not tied up unnecessarily. Native RDC Client Support Leostream integrates with the native Microsoft RDC client rather than the browser or Java-based versions; this enhances performance and ensures compatibility with Microsoft Vista. Thin Client Support Tight integration with thin clients such as the Wyse S10 enable a seamless end-user experience. Multi-Protocol Support Remote desktop protocols supported include: Microsoft's RDP, Citrix's ICA, VNC, and VMware Remote Viewer - enabling the use of operating systems that do not support RDP. Policy Base Session Variables Session variables such as screen size, disk re-direction, and remote printing can be set with each access Policy. Secure Access Authentication and RDC session can be secured using SSL certificates - ensuring data security. Dynamic Management of VM State The VM state can be automatically changed when assigned and un-assigned, so allowing unused VMs to be kept in a powered-off state economizing both licensing and hardware utilization. Virtual Hosted Desktop Self-Service Users can browse a catalog of Virtual Machines, select one and then request a copy. Each request must then be approved by a supervisor before being created and assigned to that user. The created VMs can be set to expire at a certain date, after which only a Administrator can bring them back into service, and finally they can be set to be deleted on a particular date. The benefit of self-service VMs is that developers can rapidly obtain the machines they need for development and testing while the organization still maintains control over the virtualized environment. Monitoring and Reporting Real-time monitoring of RDC sessions, and reporting via email and SNMP. Provides a more reliable monitoring solution because it takes into account the state of the VM. External Authentication Users can be authenticated and profiled using Active Directory or LDAP servers without a schema change, so the introduction of Virtual Desktops does not depend on changes to the existing authentication system. User Activity Monitoring and Logging User status is displayed, user activity is logged, and users can be logged out of the system, so providing a central view of all user activity. Virtual Appliance The Connection Broker is distributed as a Virtual Appliance so it can be rapidly set up, duplicated, moved, and backed- up. It requires a minimum of 1.5G of Memory, and bridged network connectivity. CPU utilization is dependent on the Connection Broker load and will require between 1/10 and all of a 2GHz Xeon processor. Interfaces The Connection Broker provides external interfaces for: VMware VirtualCenter 1.4 and 2.0, Microsoft Active Directory, LDAP, XML-RPC control API, Controller logging, IBM Autonomic Computing, Live Web Query and SNMP. It is compatible with VMware's High Availability (HA) and Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS). Scalability The Connection Broker manages multiple VMware VirtualCenters. The maximum deployment sizes are: - 7,000 VMs per VirtualCenter - 1024 VirtualCenters per Connection Broker - 50,000 VMs can be managed per Connection Broker Deployment Download the Virtual Appliance, register it with the virtualization software, start it, and point it to VMware VirtualCenter and an authentication server. You can now start to define access control policies. Read more here.
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