I’ve begun researching VDI because I believe that the PC is no longer necessary in medium to large environments that can operate with less than workstation class performance. The potential advantages of replacing PC’s with Thin Clients that connect to full fledged XP installations are compelling. I’ve been researching all of this for a couple weeks now, and I have to say that VDI, CCON, CCI, is in a pre-1.0 state. I’ll explain it all below.
There are three terms going around to describe Client Consolidation technology. They are:
- VDI: Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
- CCON: Client Consolidation
- CCI: Consolidated Client Infrastructure
They all essentially mean the same thing. My definition of CCON is centralizing desktop/PC systems by hosting them in the data center. All computing functions other than KVM are hosted and managed in a computer room away from the user. The user uses a client device or application to access the centralized computer. There are multiple terms battling to be the methodological name for this technology. VDI was the first term that I saw used. VDI is the trendy name in my view, and has been co-opted by VMware and turned into a product. CCON is the name used by an IBM employee named Massimo Re Ferre’ who is a heavy contributor to VDI technology research. Client Consolidation happens to be the name of IBM’s implementation of VDI (what a coincidence). CCI is a product name used by HP after they abandoned the use of VDI. Another name that’s out there is “Centralized Computing.” Centralized Computing is the term used to define the days of mainframes and dumb terminals.
My preference for the academic name of this technology is Client Consolidation (CCON). I believe that CCON is the most descriptive, most open name of all. CCON is general enough to encompass all of diverse technologies in this area.
There’s a lot of overlapping information and noise out there. I want to explain the bottom line as I see it.
The technology “models” (Re Ferre’, 2007) for CCON are:
- Shared Services (Citrix)
- Virtual Machines (VMware, Xen, others)
- Blade PC’s/Blade Workstations (HP, ClearCube)
You will ultimately have to select one (or more) of those methedologies for a production rollout.
Client consolidation is all about the use of RDP to connect to Windows systems. RDP is what it’s all about (some solutions prefer/support ICA). If you know how to use Remote Desktop, you’re most of the way to understanding what CCON is all about. Everything after this is about services and features built around the use of RDP accessed Windows systems (VM’s, Blade PC’s).
The components of CCON are:
- Client Access Devices (thin clients, repurpossed PC’s)
- Connection Broker (software)
- Host Systems (VM’s, Blade PC’s)
Client Access Devices are straight forward. You need a device that can understand how to connect to remote systems using RDP. The client device can be a full blown XP/Vista PC, or a thin client running the proper client software. You’re going to hear a lot about Windows XPe in this space. XPe is a stripped down version of Windows XP often used for development and loaded onto many thin clients.
Host systems are also straight forward. You can run your XP/Vista/Other hosts as VM’s or on Blade PC’s.
Connection Brokers is where all the fun is. Connection Brokers handle the setup, and advanced features of CCON. Brokers decide (based on policy) which VM/Blade should be assigned, the features that are available to the user, and in some cases the robustness of the service. I think of Brokers as travel agents. A client shows up to the broker with a request. The Broker knows how to handle the request based on requirements and makes all of the arrangements including the connection. The broker is usually finished at that point, though the broker is an intermediary in some solutions.
That’s basically what CCON is all about.
CCON is barely at a 1.0 level. There’s very little information out there (other than Citrix) and all of the solutions are patch up jobs. There’s no long standing, widely accepted solution. Most of the solutions that I have found have been assembled piecemeal. The absolute best information that I have found comes from Massimo at http://it20.info/misc/brokers.htm. He’s created a table with extensive descriptions of all the features he’s been able to confirm for brokers and clients. It’s not a complete list of brokers and features, so do your own research and testing (HP SAM, IBM TMP missing). Regardless, it is a must read if you are going down the CCON road.
Two other items of interest are VMware’s VDI forum and HP’s CCI forum. Notice that there is very little activity at those forums. That’s because most people still aren’t working on this. Also, VMware’s product is in Beta. That’s right…VMware’s broker is vaporware, yet they’re calling it VDM 2.0. Now that’s good marketing.
That’s it for now. Please let me know if you have any questions or if you have something to add. There is so much information out there that I’m positive there is more to come.
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