Virtual desktop infrastructure or VDI is the technology that refers to the use of virtual machines, providing and managing the virtual desktops at work. In VDI, the services are hosted on the desktop environments on the centralized servers and deploy to the end-users on request. In the case of VDI solutions, there will be hypervisor segment servers, which are virtual machines that host virtual disk desktops that users can access from anywhere.
The users can also access the virtual desktops from their own devices from any location, and all the processing will be done on the centralized server. The users can also connect to the desktop instances through a connection broker, which is primarily a software gateway that will act as an intermediary between the server and uses.
Workings of VDI solutions
VDI may be persistent or non-persistent. Each type of VDI offers some unique benefits.
- With persistent VDI, the users may connect to the same desktop every time they log in and personalize their desktop for their use. All the changes will be saved in the same location even after resetting the connection. The desktops remain persistent, and the VDI model will exactly be the same as a physical desktop, which we use at work.
- On the other hand, the non-persistent VDI infrastructure will allow the users to connect to a random generic desktop, and their personal changes made on it are not saved. This approach is much cheaper and simpler when compared to persistent VDI as there is no need to maintain any customized desktop between different sessions. Non-persistent VDI may often be used in organizations with a lot of basic tasks to the workers who perform limited operations and no need to customize their desktop.
What is the use of VDI?
VDI solutions will include many advantages like mobility and flexibility, ease of access, no geographic dependability, and optimum security. During the old times, high-performance requirements like VDI were much costly and very challenging too to deploy. This posed a barrier for various IT businesses to implement technologies like VDI. However, the latest adoption of HCI or hyper-converged infrastructure offers a better solution for the same by ensuring more scalability and higher performance at a limited cost.
Benefits of VDI
Even though VDI has its complexities, it is an ideal choice for all modern organizations. It can offer many significant benefits to organizations, and some of these may be:
- Remote accessibility – VDI users will be able to connect to the virtual desktop from anywhere at any time. This will make it easy for the workers to access their files and applications when they are working remotely. This is important in terms of the work from home during the time of the latest pandemic-related lockdowns.
- Cost-saving – As the processing is done on a centralized server, hardware requirements for the end devices may be much lower in VDI. With this, the users will be able to access virtual desktops from any of their devices like smartphones or tablets, reducing the need to purchase expensive hardware.
Some other benefits of VDI adoption include centralized management and better control over the process, and optimum security.