Virtual Desktop Optimisation Categories Explained

In my series of posts pertaining to virtual desktop optimisation, I will add a heading to each post to indicate the area which the settings change will impact. I have classified them into 4 categories.

• User Experience
• Resource Optimisation
• Functionality
• Administration

Next to each area I will indicate the impact one would expect with the set of changes.

• no or minimal impact (-) – does not make much difference
• positive impact (↑) – usually a preferred outcome
• negative impact (↓) – sometimes unavoidable if the benefits in other categories outweigh the side effect

So, what do I consider in each of the 4 categories.

1. User Experience – this is very much around the areas which will affect the feel, sight & sound. e.g. the visual effects and animations within Windows; sound quality and clarity; responsiveness of user input to expected result; video playback frame rate.
2. Resource Optimisation – here we look at impacts to key resources consumption such as, Processor, Memory, Disk I/O Rate, Network I/O Rate. Other metrics also to be considered (but not limited to) includes, Disk Space Consumption & GPU Demands. This category will have an impact to overall consolidation ratio.
3. Functionality – these settings have an impact to some functionalities which may be required in some environments; e.g. Windows Search service in Windows 7. These can include native Windows capability, or VMware View functionality.
4. Administration – these will be areas which have an impact to the operational effectiveness of a Virtual Desktop administrator. It may be changes which reduces overhead in managing virtual desktop environments, or areas of potential pitfalls which can be proactively avoided.