Bare metal virtual desktop machines

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robjg63

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#89153 26-Aug-2011 11:52

Sorry about the subject heading..... Let me explain.

Having a think about disaster recovery here at work.
Have decided that virtualisation is the way to go for our server(s) - means that backup images can be restored onto pretty much any hardware that can run the VM software and you can be up and running quite quickly.

Got me thinking about desktop PCs.

The usual Windows PC backup isnt much use because windows will only run on the hardware it came from pretty much. If the PC is more than a month or two old you could be stuck.

Ideally it would be pretty cool if you could have a basic baremetal hypervisor that started up and automatically started the windows image. Dont really want a fat OS being the host.

I guess the issue is that the hypervisor needs to have drivers etc to support the hardware etc.

Has anyone done anything like setting up PCs so that the user just sees the virtual machine?
What products? How hard to set up etc?

Any thoughts or words of wisdom?

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Snowflake

#512725 26-Aug-2011 22:01

do you need the power & flexibility of a full desktop? perhaps running a VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure) solution is worth looking into? with VDI, you run a virtual server, and just use the old PC's or specialised TS client machines to run a virtual desktop.

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TwoSeven

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#512729 26-Aug-2011 22:15

Not really sure what the objective actually is. If one is going to the expense of purchasing a piece of tin and a CAL for a user desktop, why virtualise it?

I think the intention might be to not tie the apps and the data to the platform, in which case there are a number of technologies such that can be used.

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mthand

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#512756 27-Aug-2011 07:21

I too am not quite sure of the driver for this. It will make a big difference to the solution, and therefore the cost of the solution for what is effectively an avoidable requirement.

It depends on what your workforce is doing with their desktop pc's for them to need backing up, ask the question why is sensitive company data sitting on a desktop pc's hard drive, and any proposed recovery solution has to work faster than just deploying a new pre-built machine with the image.

I think that there could possibly be a need to backup data from a user's machine, but just the data and then that could be presented back to a new machine that is sitting in a cupboard with a vanilla image.

robjg63

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#512776 27-Aug-2011 08:57

mthand: I too am not quite sure of the driver for this. It will make a big difference to the solution, and therefore the cost of the solution for what is effectively an avoidable requirement.

It depends on what your workforce is doing with their desktop pc's for them to need backing up, ask the question why is sensitive company data sitting on a desktop pc's hard drive, and any proposed recovery solution has to work faster than just deploying a new pre-built machine with the image.

I think that there could possibly be a need to backup data from a user's machine, but just the data and then that could be presented back to a new machine that is sitting in a cupboard with a vanilla image.

Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself - A. H. Weiler

CADMAX

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#512951 27-Aug-2011 20:22

keep all of the user information on the server. do a standard install of each desktop.

i.e. windows + office + other programs.
so when you need to get every thing back up and running..... software onto new desktops..... server back up and running..... people back to work.

best thing is keep nothing on the desktop.

In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing, the next best thing is the wrong thing, and the worst thing you can do is nothing.