Disadvantages of Desktop Virtualization - Coursework Example

Insert Disadvantages of Desktop Virtualization Introduction Desktop virtualization is centered on separating an instance of an operating system from a terminal application that is used to access it. The virtual desktop software alters the end having the desktop environment to one that is virtualized on a server. Normally it happens in the data center. The server offers accessibility to applications settings and operating in the desktop environment through the network. The models of desktop virtualization fall under those that are remotely managed and those with local execution. However, not all desktop virtualization is dependent on virtual machines. It employs a concept called remote display protocol (Chang, Tsai and Chen). The protocol enables users to interact with their desktops via a network connection. The idea about desktop virtualization has changed the way business is operated. It has an impact on the way end users perceive technology. Virtual desktop infrastructure is a form of desktop virtualization that is in comparison to a sophisticated hard virtualization. It uses a desktop terminal to interlude with a host computer. Therefore, there is no need for a mouse, monitor, and a keyboard. It happens to a link, for example, where there is a local area internet or a wide area network (DEPLOYMENT AND USAGE OF DESKTOP VIRTUALIZATION AT UNIVERSITY). Thus, phones can also be used in the interaction. Most of the server systems can run more than one virtual machine at the same time. Virtual Desktops can also be hosted in the cloud leading to what is called the hosted virtual desktops. Such virtual desktops are monitored and managed by hosting firms. The terminal computers used in desktop virtualization are affordable and easily connect via the network. They lack most of the components contained in the usual desktop applications including small storage capacity and lower memory. In addition, they have slower speeds of operation. In this project, it is noted that the scenarios that will not support virtualization and examine if virtualization will work for a case study organization (Fennell). Project schedule Task/ time (week) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Feasibility study Preliminary design Project implementation Testing and error correction System maintenance Final report writing Objectives To find out disadvantages associated with desktop virtualization To determine ways in which the limitations can be accounted in developing a cross-platform project design. Resource requirements To accomplish successfully the study of disadvantages concerning the server, materials and application will have to be acquired. Moreover, skilled human resources will be key in carrying out the design, implementation and testing of the project. Material requirements include servers, storage equipment, network devices, access to cloud computing and special category software. Microsoft is a big corporation and to make use of their system will require that permission be sought. In liaising with the project supervisor, documentation for the application of the use of their system with access to full functionality will be developed and forwarded. The team will come up with a schedule as detailed above, a budget proposal and resource allocation from Microsoft Corporation and individual devices to be acquired and used in the study. Expectation from the study By implementing a virtual desktop approach vertically in the management hierarchy of the institution, the team is ready to witness a centralized access to services from the server. Moreover, a disruption of the normal running of the operations in the company will be witnessed. The network will be slowed down due to increased users on the available network bandwidth. The lower level management will be eager get a glimpse of what the top management have access. The system should run smoothly because the team will have put the software part together without errors. Knowledge applied Having learned about servers in class, network, and development of application, the theoretical concepts will be put into practice. Networking techniques of troubleshooting and client management/ administration is essential. In addition, using applications via a network will come handy. Much consultation with IT specialists in Microsoft Corporation will be involved as the system disadvantage is tested. Management of configurations manager will provide a comprehensive deployment of the system operating systems. It also considers the use of applications, software, making hardware updates independent of physical, and clients located remotely connected via the server and other mobile devices. Migration must be current or else security features may not work consistently. The skills for optimizing on a personalized experience as regards desktop features will be imperative to acknowledge. Installation of the right software making use of the right approach will be a crucial procedure and mandatory to ascertain effectively the operation of the system (Fennell). Moreover, mobile devices need to be enabled on the server system to incorporate all workers regardless of their location. Digital signal processing is necessary to understand the topic for the technology to be rolled out. Risk factors Implementing such a platform in a big corporation may result in resistance from management. One of the biggest challenges will be the running down the Microsoft corporation server. Data loss of the company will be the riskiest decision. Moreover, devices are prone to failure, and the team anticipates network jams. Digital signal processing is an idea that implementation demands extra care. Security is a major concern server system. An institution like Microsoft cannot allow hacking of the system to take place and malicious entry of clients into restricted areas. To test desktop virtualization across the departments, security measures will be employed yet caution will be taken not to allow malicious entry that ill impact greatly on server database content and other sensitive information (Jang). Contribution from Microsoft Company Because the problem the team anticipates testing, include finding out disadvantage of cross management level use of a single server. It is anticipated that the company will allow the use of hardware components and network structure. The team in the study will make an amendment to the server protocol, administrative privileges across the management and department before the system test is rolled out. The team carries out the feasibility study, system design, system testing, error correction, and data collection via observation and filling in tables for the purpose of analysis. The entire study will be a team’s affair. The team is interested in coming up with a solid understanding of the disadvantages of using virtualization in sections that does not require the same technology. As such, other players will act as watch dogs and guide to the team. The mentorship program at Microsoft will surely help curb many errors as the system is rolled out. Lecturers will come in handy during the study because their supervision tasks will help the students to amass data in the correct direction (Lan and Xu). In cases where one goes wrong, their counsel will serve right. Linking class work, printed material and the systems implemented in the field is a critical agenda that all players will contribute towards the success of the analysis. Literature review Whereas there are super benefits from desktop virtualization, there are also strong challenges. They include increased initial costs. To implement this technology, the user needs very powerful servers and licenses for software. There is also more bandwidth that is needed to run on such a network. It also involves changing the settings on previous machines to the new infrastructure (Park, Kim and Jeong). In the end, the cost of purchasing a personal computer is very affordable than acquiring the server. Further, there is networking equipment and storage facilities that make it even more expensive. There will be more disk storage needed to function properly. The virtual desktop infrastructure server needs to store a peculiar image for the individual clients. Most of them require varied applications and need to secure their customized settings (Patil). They may also need to install applications tied to them at will. The organization stands a chance of losing everything it has since all the data will be centrally located in the data center. In case the server goes down, all the personnel relying on it will not be able to do their duties. On the other hand, when a single personal computer stops to function, other clients are not affected. To counter this, redundant servers are needed to save the situation when the master is not functional. Of course, this is even more costly. There is an overall reservation by many people and organization to license applications running on virtual machines as compared to the normal servers. It is now a challenge on the side of the software vendors to accommodate the modernized tech through incorporation of virtual machines and softwares for that matter (Zhao et al.). Now and more so in the future, one will have to purchase licenses for applications and operating systems that will run on the virtual machines. Failure to adhere to this will expose the organization to litigation or even penalties that may affect the organization greatly. Software that is custom build in an organization is the fastest and most suitable way to develop a software application that will address all the problems. However, alteration of the hardware may affect the application and could cost the effort of re-developing the entire application. It is one of the loopholes that affect the virtualization. The software may not just be compatible with virtualization (Zhao et al.). Alternatives will be to switch to commercial software that will enable one to achieve their goals. On extreme cases, the user may be forced to return to the old system. Virtualization is limited in the processing speed and memory availability. Lack of these resources may cause recently released applications to perform abnormally or fail to run. The administrator may be forced to carry out a monitor function in allocation. They will then be able to give more of the resources to counter the latter case. Cases like memory getting very tight so that the disk is dependent on file swapping in the disks greatly affect the performance. Server hardware failure running on virtual machines is very detrimental to the concerned organization. Virtualization does not guard the hardware beneath. When the hardware fails, it affects all the programs running on such a system. When the server has a lot of work to do, failure means that many duties will be suspended. The latter contradicts the traditional servers that ran a single application at a time. When such a failure occurs, and the workload has to start over from a snapshot located in a physical storage, it is affected by the network congestion. Other factors to be considered include the image size and the proximity to the memory concerned. With virtualization comes a lot of traffic on the network. It is shown by frequent errors in the network where some of them cannot communicate. The common cause is the saturation of the network interface card of such a server. The virtual machines always share the network bandwidth among themselves. Worst-case scenario is having most of these servers with only one network interface card. Workloads that report lots of errors or crash are those that are very sensitive to the network latency. Sometimes upgrading the NIC could be vital but they require other switch ports. In addition, this traffic from many NICs requires distribution among the multiple switches. Otherwise, the switch will suffer saturation on its backplane. There are a large number of users that require storing personal staff, applications and making their own settings. When the number and type increases, the amount of storage required grows substantially. Virtual desktops face many problems when it comes to the graphics. It is the core reason why there has been minimal adoption of the thin model computing because there is no or minimal user experience. It may require concerned parties to invest in other supporting technologies like windows remote desktop protocol that aid improves the way their graphics responds. At the same time, it should consider the user of bandwidth through compression and cash. Virtual desktops have had minimal support for peripherals such as printers, smart cards, scanners and multiple monitors. It has also been a challenge to accommodate audio and video that is bidirectional. Worse is the streaming of video and incorporation of universal serial bus devices. However much they have improved, the performance of the virtualized desktop application has not been achieved optimally. Consequently, the server is in need of great processing capability and resources in the memory. However, it is tied to the number of the end-point machines the organization requires. On the other side, virtualization guarantees faster processes for the users on their desktop. On the other hand, IT is enabled to offer and efficiently deploy the management of application for desktop use and management. It enhances agility and faster application as users via the network easily adopt them. The maintaining of the system in question will require that installation be done on the server. It offers independence of client end and is not affected by the procedure. Compatibility testing is outdated in case central servers are crucial to use. One installation serves the entire corporation. With such a platform comes many advantages which include SaaS while deploying rich applications that constantly offer reliability, reduced risks while minimizing of the capital requirement and affordable operation cost. Conclusion The terminal computers used in desktop virtualization are affordable and easily connect via the network. Microsoft is a big corporation and to make use require permission be sought. The team will come up with a schedule as detailed above, a budget proposal and resource allocation from Microsoft Corporation and individual devices to be acquired and used in the study. Installation of the right software making use of the right approach will be a crucial procedure and mandatory to ascertain effectively the operation of the system. Moreover, mobile devices need to be enabled on the server system to incorporate all workers regardless of their location. Security is a major concern server system. An institution like Microsoft cannot allow hacking of the system to take place and malicious entry of clients into restricted areas. The network will be slowed down due to increased users on the available network bandwidth. The lower level management will be eager get a glimpse of what the top management have access. It also involves changing the settings on previous machines to the new infrastructure. In addition, the end users require training on the new platform. The organization stands a chance of losing everything it has since all the data will be centrally located in the data center. Failure to adhere to this will expose the organization to litigation or even penalties that may affect the organization greatly. The software may not just be compatible with virtualization. Alternatives will be to switch to commercial software that will enable one to achieve their goals. The server is in need of great processing capability and resources in the memory. Works Cited Bhukya, Devi Prasad, and S Ramachandram. Performance Evaluation Of Virtualization And Non Virtualization On Different Workloads Using DOE Methodolog. International Journal of Engineering and Technology 1.5 (2009): 404-408. Web. Chang, Bao Rong, Hsiu-Fen Tsai, and Chi-Ming Chen. Empirical Analysis Of Server Consolidation And Desktop Virtualization In Cloud Computing. Mathematical Problems in Engineering 2013 (2013): 1-11. Web. DEPLOYMENT AND USAGE OF DESKTOP VIRTUALIZATION AT UNIVERSITY. Systems and Means of Informatics 24.1 (2014): n. pag. Web. Drepper, Ulrich. The Cost Of Virtualization. Queue 6.1 (2008): 28. Web. Fennell, Dustin. Desktop Virtualization In Action: Simplicity Is Power. Community College Journal of Research and Practice 34.11 (2010): 883-885. Web. Fennell, Dustin. Desktop Virtualization In Action: Simplicity Is Power. Community College Journal of Research and Practice 34.11 (2010): 883-885. Web. Jang, Su Min. Client Rendering Method For Desktop Virtualization Services. ETRI J 35.2 (2013): 348-351. Web. Lan, Yuqing, and Hao Xu. Research On Technology Of Desktop Virtualization Based On SPICE Protocol And Its Improvement Solutions. Frontiers of Computer Science 8.6 (2014): 885-892. Web. Park, Jong, Hyun-Woo Kim, and Young-Sik Jeong. Efficiency Sustainability Resource Visual Simulator For Clustered Desktop Virtualization Based On Cloud Infrastructure. Sustainability 6.11 (2014): 8079-8091. Web. Patil, Pranit. Desktop Virtualization Technologies And Implementation. IOSRJEN 02.02 (2012): 310-314. Web. Sabahi, Farzad. Secure Virtualization Technology. International Journal of Computer Theory and Engineering (2012): 826-830. Web. Treese, Win. Virtualization Virtually Everywhere. netWorker 9.2 (2005): 13. Web. Zhao, Guo Yu et al. Efficient Inline Deduplication On VM Images In Desktop Virtualization Environment. AMM 307 (2013): 488-493. Web. Zhao, Guo Yu et al. Efficient Inline Deduplication On VM Images In Desktop Virtualization Environment. AMM 307 (2013): 488-493. Web. Read More