This post will discuss and demonstrate some of the cool new features in detail. This first post is about VMware Linked Clones Integration and the new Reprovisioning Options.

One of the most exciting new features in Quest vWorkspace is the ability to provision virtual desktops by utilizing VMware linked clones. Provisioning virtual desktop using this new Quest vWorkspace 7.0 feature has a couple of distinct advantages:

• Virtual desktops require a lot less disk space
• Virtual desktops are deployed much faster (as a result of the latter)
• Changes to the “golden image” can easily be propagated to all virtual desktops

Take a look at this video that demonstrates it all:

How does this work?
It’s really very easy. All you have to do is to create a virtual desktop “golden image”: configure a virtual desktop with all the default settings, applications and updates. When you are done, power off the machine and create a snapshot of the golden image. Now when you go and deploy a new virtual desktop in Quest vWorkspace 7.0 you will be able to deploy virtual desktops based of the snapshot you just created.

What if I want to update my golden image?
If you want to update your golden image, all you have to do is power on the parent machine, apply the desired changes and create a snapshot of this new desired state. Using the new reprovisioning options in Quest vWorkspace 7.0 you can reprovision entire desktop groups to this new snapshot simply by changing the property of a vWorkspace managed computer group. It’s that simple!

How much disk space will I save?
There is no one answer here. The best answer would be: a lot. Savings of up to 90% are possible (source: VMware). This is because of the way the technology works: when virtual desktops are deployed from a linked clone only changes (disk writes) relative to the parent virtual machine (golden image) are stored with the virtual desktop. All other operations (read operations) are done from the parent virtual machine which is only stored once.

It’s important to note that the disk stored with the virtual desktop that is provisioned via linked clones will grow over time. It might be a good idea to reprovision these virtual desktops at certain intervals. Quest vWorkspace 7.0 provides multiple options to do so: you can reprovision a virtual desktop to the same (or a new) snapshot on demand, when users log off or on a (recurring) schedule.

By periodically reprovisioning linked clone virtual desktops, the size of these virtual desktops is kept in check. All user settings will be maintained because they are managed through Quest vWorkspace User Profile Management. Any system level changes to the linked clone virtual desktop will be undone since reprovisioning will effectively delete all system level changes to the parent virtual machine.  Knowing this, customers might find that linked clones virtual desktops are not the best option for users that need to make system level changes to their virtual desktop, like installing applications (application virtualization can help here).  Naturally Quest vWorkspace still fully supports the creation of traditionally provisioned virtual desktops, regardless of the virtual infrastructure used (Virtual Center, vCenter, SCVMM, SCVMM R2 of Parallels Virtuozzo Containers) to serve those usage scenarios as well.

Do I need special VMware View or Composer Licenses to use this feature?
The answer is no. Through years of experience in integrating with the VMware platform, Quest vWorkspace is able to offer to ability to provision virtual desktops using linked clones without requiring special VMware View / Composer licenses. All that is required is VMware Virtual Center 2.x or vCenter 4.x. No changes have to be made to the Virtual Center / vCenter server. VMware linked clones Integration and new the new reprovisioning options are available to all Quest vWorkspace customers on SA.

Source: http://blogs.inside.quest.com/provision/2010/01/05/quest-vworkspace-70-feature-spotlight-vmware-linked-clones-integration-and-new-reprovisioning-options/#more-557