ESXi and XenDesktop?

[jrparks67]

I'm very new to the VM world and still learning. Here is the situation. Our Citrix Presentation server is DOA and I'm looking into going to a VM solution. We have about 15 full-time Citrix users and mainly use our accounting software package (Microsoft Dynamics SL) and a few other applications and really need to be able to print remotely. Our company is growing I expect to add another 15 to 20 users in the next 18 months. We have plenty of Citrix licenses that are eligable for upgrade. My thought would be for the following solution.

Use current VM Server running VMWare ESXi

VM Windows 2008 Standard w/ 20 CALS

Citrix XenDesktop

I know that there are benefits of going to ESX but my budget is very tight.

Any recommendations?

Thanks!

[mreed9]

Staying with ESXi would be the better option as version 4.1 was the last release of ESX and both provide rougly the same functionality except that ESXi lacks a service console. Vcenter is needed to perform certain functionality within XenDesktop as it accesses the SDK for task like provisioning new desktops via the virtual infrastructure. ESX does have the SDK which is what XenDesktop is accessing on a Vcenter server but I'm uncertain whether it will provide the same functionality.

[jrparks67]

Hi mreed!

Thank you for the information. I really appreciate it. I'm running Citrix Metaframe Presentation Server 4 a Windows Server 2003 Standard R2 VM. The performace is ok but not the best. I was interested in going to XenApp or XenServer in a VM (2003 or 2008). Any suggestions? Thanks!

[idle-jam]

XenServer=ESXi comparison. I would advise going XenApp on ESXi4 as the latest version would be optmized to run on virtualization.  Also check out this best practice: http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/.../XenApp_on_ESX_Case_Study_June_2010.pdf

[jrparks67]

Hi idle-jam,

Thank you for the information. I'll definitely check the case study out. We have the licenses to upgrade to XenApp. I was wondering if XenApp or XenDesktop would be a better solution?

[AndreTheGiant]

You can also consider the VMware View option instead of XenDestop.

Andre

[Duncan Epping]

depending on how many hosts you expect you will need you might even consider starting with the free version of ESXi!

Duncan (VCDX)

Available now on Amazon: vSphere 4.1 HA and DRS technical deepdive

[jrparks67]

Hi Duncan,

I'm running 3 hosts on ESXi now which is going well. No performance issues so far. One of these is a Citrix Metaframe Presentation Server 4. I am trying to determine if I should upgrade to XenApp or XenDesktop? Thank you!

[jrparks67]

Hi Andre,

I've mostly dealt with Citrix. I've looked at VMView briefly but will take a closer look. Thanks!