Government Technology - November 2008 - (Page 28)

How Desktop Virtualization Works In a virtual desktop environment, end-user applications and operating systems don’t directly access physical computing hardware. Instead, they interact with a virtual driver, which is a piece of software that emulates the hardware. The virtual driver communicates with another piece of software called a hypervisor, which directs trafﬁc between the virtual driver and the physical computer. Users Apps OS Virtual Driver Hypervisor Hardware Imagine sitting down at a Mac and running Windows or logging onto a PC and choosing from Windows or Linux — without changing machines. Furthermore, when you change machines you can access the same customized workspace no matter what machine you’re on, whether it’s a notebook, PC or something else. Multiple computers or end-user devices share the resources of one central computer or server. Since these resources are centrally hosted, a end-user device. This image is the operating system people use just as they would a “normal” operating system. Virtualization can take place with PCs, laptops and thin clients — machines with little processing and storage capacity of their own. Thin clients have a few noticeable advantages over their “thick” cousins. For one, since they can be configured to not house any application data of their own, “What happens over time with the traditional workstations is every system seems to get tweaks — little applets, plug-ins or whatever get added to it,” he said. “It gets customized and just slowly, over time, that computer slows down. We try to manage that, but we just haven’t done a good job of overall managing, trying to keep those computers — the configuration — standardized.” Never-ending computer refreshment cycles complicate this problem. They force people to use different equipment with different native operating systems. James will use desktop virtualization to solve this. “We’ll be able to standardize an image for a department, saying, ‘These are the applications this department needs,’” James said. Through virtual computing, that image will be delivered to all employees who need it, regardless of the hardware they use. “We think it’ll clean up and standardize everyone’s computer and keep their performance consistent from year to year,” he said. “We’ll be able to standardize an image for a department, saying, ‘These are the applications this department needs.” Robert James, IT director, Woodbury, Minn. Shawn McCarthy, research director of infrastructure optimization and vendor programs, Government Insights user doesn’t necessarily have to use the same device each time to gain access. Desktop virtualization gives this convenience and flexibility with a minimum of end-user fuss. There are two ways desktop virtualization typically works: In the client-side method, the software, and sometimes additional hardware, is installed on one computer, which allows it to run more than one operating system or deliver these systems virtually to other devices. With the server-side method — the more common choice — a server hosts virtual machines that people access remotely on end-user devices. In this scenario, an enduser accesses a virtual desktop by logging in on a device, then the server delivers an “image,” or virtual desktop workspace, to the NOV_08 network managers need only go to the server to handle spyware or other malicious threats. And if data is stored on the server instead of the thin client, no data is lost if the thin client is lost, damaged or stolen. Taking the Virtual Plunge Government decision-makers such as Robert James, IT director of Woodbury, Minn., are intrigued by the possibilities of desktop virtualization. His department already has a server ready to support a pilot project that’s planned for 2009. He estimates that the technology will improve the department’s ability to standardize user experiences across workstations. James projects desktop virtualization also will save the city money and spare the environment. For example, centralized workstation management will reduce the number of trips IT staff members must make to end-user machines to perform repairs. James also plans to add more thin clients, which require less energy to operate. “They won’t have hard drives in them, so every workstation, there will be a portion, we’re thinking 20 to 30 percent energy savings of not having that hard drive,” he said. In the pilot project, James and his colleagues plan to verify this by measuring the power consumption in the virtualized environment and comparing it to nonvirtualized computing. 28 http://www.Govtech.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Government Technology - November 2008

Government Technology - November 2008 Contents Point of View On the Scene Big Picture Four Questions for … Forward Thinkers Taking Tech Home Virtual Frontier Hidden Costs Uncovered Seeing Red For the Record In the Loop Benign Dictatorship Home-Field Advantage A Better Way to Park New Tools for Fighting Crime How It Works Spectrum Products Two Cents signal:noise

Government Technology - November 2008

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